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Each of you are summoned to the Grand Lodge in Absalom for a mission of great importance, albeit a mysterious one to boot. Upon arrival you are sequestered in a small chamber while awaiting to be taken to Aram Zey, Master of Spells, to be briefed at his leisure. A table with a spread of wine, cheese, and bread is provided for your refreshment as you await his summons...
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A well appointed and fashionably dressed tiefling walks over to the table. Well, cheese AND wine. They are certainly going to be trying to get us killed this time. He turns back toward the gathered team, "Well met, and happy returns to those of you I know. Please, address me as Izlin." He spreads some brie on to a slice of the honey loaf and pours himself a goblet of chardonnay. He then hoists it above his head, "Cheers!" After taking a long sip, he saunters as far away from Po as he can and takes a seat in the most comfortable chair he can find.
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Zaarah, a scrawny girl with auburn hair and amber eyes. She is standing with closed eyes. Her features seem Chelaxian but also have something else mixed in.
She is wearing light mithral armor and carries a black pulsing Scimitar at her hip that is attached to her wrist with a very fine chain.
Zaarah seems to be dreaming ... pulled her into her state of trance ...
She suddenly stands up and draws her Scimitar that is so black that it almost absorbs light.
"I know exactly what you mean Mesh! I want to puke on the Zey guy’s feet... " she says angrily. She seems to listen to something and intently looks at her black magical sword.
”Ha ha ha ... “ you hear as she bursts into laughter. ”Oh Mesh!! You are so naughty!!“
She turns towards no one in particular and has a slightly absent view when she starts speaking.
"You know ... I am glad I see familiar faces!!"
5 seconds of silence
Tears are visible in her eyes.
"... well ... I always say this to new people I meet so ... sometimes what I say might sound crazy but I promise it will be logical!"
Suddenly, she starts smiling.
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Zaarah grins at the Tiefling.
”Izlin, you look frightening! What’s the thing you do? I whirl around. But I am a poor danger dancer. People surely find you strange but fascinating. Me ... they just find strange. ... “ she says and the last words show some sadness.
”But I’ve got Mesh. He likes you too. But she lies a lot ... “ she says with a smirk to Izlin.
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"You don't say." A long pause slowly takes root between the two. "Thank you for your feedback." Silence fall between the pair once again. Seeing the young woman will not be so easily deterred or rebuffed, a sigh escapes the tiefling. He pulls his jerkin up slightly and gestures to the four daggers on his belt. "I toss these. They hurt...and they are quiet. That is to say, they do not talk to anyone." He pours more wine and looks for a location in the room equidistant from Po and the crazy child. Why is this room so small?
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The grand doors open, revealing a tall and well built human man- blond hair loose and in curls about his face. He wears a flowing silk robe in white and blue, top loose and displaying the symbol of a hand. Over the robes, he wears a golden cloak matching his hair.
As he strides into the room, his hair and cloak billows behind him. He carries himself as though his body would make a perfectly adequate weapon, should it be required. It is a grand entrance. He approaches Aram Zey, and bows quite formally, extending the palm of his right hand to the Master of Spells. He raises from the bow before speaking.
"My pleasure to be here, man. Like, maybe this time I could hear the dets for I get thrown into sometin?" He smiles generously, and it becomes quite clear that, despite his casual speech he is indeed showing Aram Zey great respect.
Now turning his attention to the other pathfinders, he smiles at the sight of Zaarah. "Yo, Zaarah! It's wild to see you again so soon!". And to the Tiefling he again bows. "Hey Dude! The name's Ischell de Ivocus. Don't call me 'Sir', that's my father's name!"
He then grabs a goblet of wine, takes a deep drag, and smiles again.
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A furry tail reaches up from under the table and grabs a carafe of wine, dragging it below. Gulping and slurping sounds are heard. Presently, a dirty simian humanoid emerges from his hiding spot and climbs up on the table to find another carafe. The simian wears a fine cloak, soft supple boots, and a loincloth.
"Good of the Master of Spells to provide libations in advance! The wine is even passable. Ah, new students! I am the Revered Master Poh! You may call me Sensei."
Poh squints at Izlin: "Are you sure you're in the right place, eh?"
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Azrael, or as he sometimes prefer to address himself as the Talon, walks in. He is a well built individual donning a mithril shirt and a short hooded red cloak that's been sliced into a strip like pattern. On either side of his persons, two well made kukri's, one etched with runes that depict fire. At all times, Azrael keeps his hood up, and wears a mask over his mouth depicting something similar to a bird's beak.
"Am I late?" He asks as he looks around at the gathering of Pathfinders but then notes Master Poh, well, being himself and relaxes his own posture.
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With the expert maneuvering and magic of the gnomes, you get close enough for Lovissa's keen eyesight to see the following...
The dinghy vessel bobbing in the water looks like it’s in dire need of a new paint job, its maroon paint having faded to a grimy puce and peeling away where the water laps at the hull. The planks appear sturdy though, and the boat’s sails are carefully mended. The word “Lionfish” is painted across the side of the ship in clumsy blue letters, and a light on the ship’s deck illuminates the work of several figures hustling to and fro.
You are able to maneuver the ship without suspicion to the fore of the ship...
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One of Zey's lackeys enters the room and beckons you all to follow him to the Master of Spells...
Deep beneath the Pathfinder Society’s headquarters in Absalom’s Grand Lodge, an otherwise austere stone chamber now teems with activity, as Pathfinder scholars scamper across several levels of wooden scaffolding surrounding a large tapestry laid out in the center of the floor. Some examine the five-by-seven foot tapestry with magnifying glasses or magical lenses, while others work diligently at small work desks, consulting ancient tomes and performing complex arcane mathematics.
From the crowd steps the Master of Spells, Aram Zey, who motions to a relatively clear and quiet corner of the room. Arriving in the corner, he speaks in a hushed voice. “I am very busy, Pathfinders, so I’ll keep this short. Before you lies the mythical Hao Jin Tapestry, the result of all our efforts to win the Ruby Phoenix Tournament in Goka this year. I know it looks like a ragged piece of abstractly woven cloth, but Pathfinders of your experience should know that looks can be deceiving. Within that rag lies an entire world, a demiplane created by the sorceress Hao Jin to hold the most massive and dangerous exhibits in her world-renowned collection of wonders. In addition to housing the extraplanar museum, the tapestry also acts as the sole portal into that wondrous world. And now it is ours to explore and research as much as we want with no risk of interference.
“My scholars have been hard at work analyzing the tapestry itself, and the Society’s diviners have located a number of treasures within the demiplane that we want investigated firsthand. Among them is the long-lost Dog Pharaoh’s Tomb, for which we’ve been searching for decades. It turns out the deserts of Osirion were the wrong place to look. Hao Jin moved it into the tapestry a thousand years ago!
“Your mission is to explore the tomb and recover any treasures you might find particularly valuable from the Dog Pharaoh’s doubtlessly substantial horde. Along the way, keep an eye out for any information on the Dog Pharaoh’s life, as details on him beyond his name are scarce. If you are successful, this could be among the most significant finds in recent Pathfinder history, so don’t disappoint me."
As he looks over and appraises each of you, he nods as he recognizes a couple of faces. "Ah, I see a couple of you have come for a return entry into the tapestry; craz...errr, I mean Zaarah and Ischell. I see that scoundrel Flyn skipped out on this mission; he mentioned a summons to Mendev by Venture-Captain Lautenbury, so you shouldn't have to deal with his incompetence this time, at least..."
Looking back to the party as a whole, he queries, “Any questions before you go into the tapestry? Quickly if you please, my time is precious...”
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Zaarah looks a little insulted but then steps forward.
”Aram, I truly believe that you are smart but you are very arrogant! Master Flyn was responsible to bring the evil duergar down and free all those cute little Wayang! And I
learned a lot from him. So in Ischell’s word ... Chill out, dude. R-E-L-A-X!“ she says and shows Aram Zey her tounge.
”Aram, now seriously. Who was this Dog Pharaoh? Why is this ruin so important? I really love pharaohs but ... well ... that’s another story ... “
She then turns to Ridley.
”I have heard about you. Hmmm ... you are quite the demon and fiend defeater, right? Saved Absolom, right?“
Then she bows to master Poh.
”The researchers show us a point on the tapestry and then we say something and jump into the other plane. There is a light that only you can see. Jump in and you are back here!“ she says smiling.
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Aram Zey arches an eyebrow at Zaarah, a little miffed at her impertinence before saying, "Be that as it may, I think you'll do just fine without that Elf's smug presence here. As for relaxing, with my position here in the Society, my time is better spent on worthwhile tasks and not in idle amusement."
Looking to Poh, he adds, "You forget you speak to the Master of Spells; I can easily cast each of you into the tapestry...but leaving it is a different matter...
"Zaarah's simplistic explanation on exiting the tapestry is basically correct. Our analysis indicates that a creature entering the tapestry leaves a planar eddy in its wake, which should be visible and usable only by that creature as long as it remains alive. So return to the location of your arrival and you should know what to do.”
Zey clears his throat just a bit before answering Zaarah's question about their mission. “Little is known of the Dog Pharaoh, aside from his epithet and rumors of a tomb complex in the Sahure Waste. We now know that tomb wasn’t lost to the sands, but taken whole cloth by Hao Jin to add to her collection. The Dog Pharaoh was involved in a power struggle with a rival pharaoh, who eventually prevailed, and erased all records of his foe from the annals of history, replacing his chosen name with that of the 'Dog Pharaoh.' Hopefully his tomb will present you more information about him than his victor’s slander.”
Seeming to notice the ifrit for the first time, Zey exclaims, "Izlin, you were not summoned here for this particular mission; I have a different proposition for you. Stand aside...once these people are on their way, I'll be with you at my leisure..."
Turning back to the party, he impatiently queries. "Well, does that answer all your questions? Or is there anything else that you fail to understand?"
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"Open the tomb, and find out about this dog dude. Got it!" There is a few moment pause before Ischell catches himself "Master."
Ischell stands and bows, first at the Master of spells and then to Poh. He stands back up- straighter than before- and more alert and physically imposing than before. He absentmindedly checks to ensure that his Kama is in place on his belt.
"Let's get amped, dudes!"
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Aram Zey nods to Azrael. "Perhaps, perhaps not...if there were any demons present in the locations she 'moved' to the tapestry then yes. I would deem it likely as our last party there found a variety of creatures, including an eidolon, graudrs, fossegrim, duergar, and an oni...not to mention the presence of the Aspis. Your debrief upon returning will need to include any creatures you encounter..."
Tapping his foot impatiently, he asks yet again. "Any more?"
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The Master of Spells nods firmly. "Alright, be off then!"
With the party ready to proceed, Aram Zey escorts them one by one onto the scaffold and instructs them to place their finger just to the left of a beige chevron design in the tapestry’s weave. Upon uttering a trigger word provided by the Master of Spells, each Pathfinder disappears from the Material Plane, whisked into the tapestry, and Aram Zey turns to the next to repeat the process. Each of you arrives in Hao Jin’s demiplane instantaneously upon uttering the command word while touching the tapestry, and finds oneself in a foot of cold, brackish, standing water. The air is oppressively humid and smells of decay and death. Behind each of you upon arriving floats a 2-foot-diameter sphere of pulsing blue light, each visible only by the one whose journey to the tapestry created it. You recognize this as the eddy Aram Zey mentioned that you'll be returning by...
The Pathfinders arrive in Hao Jin’s realm a quarter-mile south of their target, the Dog Pharaoh’s Tomb, which each of you can see rising from the mire. As you approach, you see...
A grimy sandstone building rises from the swampy water, hemmed in by mossy, drooping trees whose roots look to have been grinding away at its foundations for centuries. What must have been an impressive wooden door has rotted away to the point of nonexistence. Only giant rusted hinges show that it once covered the dark entrance to the tomb. Mere hints of intricately carved pillars and false arcades are barely visible underneath the moss, creepers, and mildew that now cover the structure. Two fetishes flank the tomb’s entrance, each the skin of a fox or small wolf stretched over the flayed fork of lashed bones and painted in strange pigments, topped off with reptilian skulls carved with illegible writing.
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Azrael leads the way, striding boldly forward, entering through the tomb doors. Upon entering, he discovers the stone floors are very slippery due to algae buildup and the standing water .
Most of this chamber is lit well enough to see from the light (normal to dim) coming from the open door .
This cubic chamber is full of stagnant swamp water to a height of a foot and a half. The walls are shallowly carved with a complex Osirian motif, with hundreds of ancient pictograms overlapping in an intricate pattern, the outlines of which can barely be made out under the grime. A door in the north wall is decorated with a scene in bas-relief: a jackal-headed man holding two matching kukris, around whom a throng of bestial warriors bow. There is no obvious mechanism to open the door, but there is a gap between it and the wall as if it is being held partially open. Water sluggishly trickles through the gap, flowing deeper into the tomb. Empty doorways open into two rooms to the east and west.
From his current position, Azrael notices that a portion of the bas-relief is strangely indented in a way that does not fit the rest of the sculpture...
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Ishell is lost at the magnitude of the temple, missing even simple details about its construction or lack of ornimentation.
"Pretty cool, huh guys?" is about the most that he can manage in terms of meaningful conversation.
Moving to the front, he traverses alongside Talon, Kamas at the ready. As they enter the temple, he reaches into his belt, setting a brightly glowing Ioun stone in orbit about his head. He refocuses on anything that might be a threat to the others in the group.
Keep the others safe. That's my primary goal.
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Poh spends the short journey to the tomb swigging Aram Zey's free wine. Upon arrival he notes the lizardfolk's signs.
"Pah! I have fought the lizardolk extensively. Wild savages! Their scales are softer on their bellies."
"Ugh. Flooded. Probably the lizardfolk's doing, mark my words!"
Poh looks to the walls and ceiling for handholds.
The Revered Master focuses his ki, toughening his body in anticipation of danger. Then he swigs from the last of Zey's wine.
"Side passages first."
Poh activates his own Ioun Torch and moves up with the rest of the front line.
"Oh, do any of you know how to use a wand of mage armour?" Poh brandishes just such a device.
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As Azrael moves a bit further north to get a better look at the statue, he steps on a plate beneath the water and the floor slides out from underneath him.
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Azrael reacts quickly to the crumbling floor, deftly jumping back and avoiding a nasty fall...the standing water in that room, as well as from the rooms to the east and west drain into the pit, leaving the rooms basically free of water.
Zaarah detects no other traps in the room; however, with no more standing water in the room now, she sees that the northern door is propped up partially by a small statue of a humanoid resembling the jackal-headed man on the bas-relief, in the same pose and holding two similar kukris...
As Ridley buffs himself in preparation for exploring the tomb, Zaarah and Azrael then continue on thru the eastern hallway, finding it opens up into another room...
This twenty-foot-square room is home to a foot and a half of stagnant water that covers everything but a wide shelf on the east wall. That shelf contains a score of fifteen-inch-tall statues carved of shiny white stone, each of jackal-headed humanoids in different poses and holding different accoutrements; you realize these statues are of similar make and size of the one holding up the northern door in the entry room. Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs and jagged sigils cover the walls, in jarring contrast to each other.
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Zaarah rubs her chin.
"Hey team, I speak this old language. Ancient Osiriani. The pictograms recount the rise to power of the Dog Pharaoh, referring to him as the Jackal Pharaoh, and a conflict between himself and a rival pharaoh known as the Illumined Pharaoh. At the time of the engraving, their conflict had apparently not been resolved, and several references to ongoing feuding persist among the historical accounting. This seems to be the first hint to solve this puzzle here. But I don't understand this other language unfortunately."
Zaarah casts detect magic and scans the surroundings, concentrating on the auras.
If she doesn't discover any magic she will check the fifteen-inch-tall statues thoroughly and if nothing special can be discovered will put them into her bag of holding.
She will then search for secret doors.
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If no one speaks Abyssal, Ridley will take a minute to mix up an extract of Comprehend Languages to translate the Abyssal.
Neither do I... but I can... gimme a sec...
Ridley spends a minute fiddling through his pack, mixing reagents, then downs an extract.
These symbols speak of the Jackal Pharoh's armies - he used gnolls, jackalweres and yaenit demons for the bulk of his forces.
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After Zaarah and Ridley successfully decrypt the hieroglyphics and jagged symbols, Zaarah examines the small statues. She detects no magical auras on them but she can tell they're very valuable, securing them in her bag of holding.
Zaarah finds no secret doors, nor anything else of value, in this room...
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"Thanks a lot Ridley! Seems like these pharaohs were not really good guys ... let's go back."
Zaarah returns to the main room and approaches the northern door that is propped up partially by a small statue of a humanoid resembling the jackal-headed man on the bas-relief.
She casts detect magic and tries to also observe the statue properly.