Melech opens the doors.
The heavy stone doors slide open with a long, painfully audible grinding of stone on stone. A stone sarcophagus rests atop a stone platform occupying the southern end of this room. The lid of the sarcophagus bears the likeness of a man and is inlaid with gemstones and trimmed in gold. Two lacquered benches run parallel to the east and west walls just north of the platform. Hieroglyphs line the walls of the chamber, and stone torch holders are set in all four corners.
Filibus immediately heads to the hieroglyphs and begins deciphering them, scribbling furiously in his journal as he relates the story on the walls.
"Pentheru the Younger rests here. His father, Pentheru the Elder, was raised to nobility by the pharaoh. Then he died, and his son, Pentheru the Younger, inherited his title and lands. There's some boasting here... really great land managers, really nice to their slaves, blah blah blah. Typical nobility circle-jerk stuff... aaand a call upon the gods to smile on Pentheru the Younger and bless him in the Great Beyond for leading a good and just life." He finishes scribbling in his notebook and shakes his head. "Never really realized how much flexing they do in these murals, you know? Kinda hard to take a guy seriously about being 'good and just' when he owned slaves." He clears his throat. "Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway the story trails off. Normally there'd be something about his son inheriting, and certainly they were excavating up to the north there, but there's nothing here. Ran out of slaves, maybe?"
At the mention of slaves, Melech's jaw clenches and he absent-mindedly touches the scar on his forehead. He suppresses an urge to smash the sarcophagus to rubble.
Instead, he takes a look around the room and at the sarcophagus itself.
Ulysses is fairly certain there are no traps on the sarcophagus, though he'll have to open it up to check inside. The coffin lid is solid stone, but Melech could open it with some help from Nevai without too much difficulty.
Melech waves Nevai over. Once everyone is ready, he and Nevai push the lid.
Nevai mutters a prayer to Anubis for forgiveness, then helps slide the lid off.
The two slide the off the lid of the sarcophagus. Inside is a withered, wrapped humanoid figure bearing a beautifully-crafted funerary mask and holding a mummified cat. As soon as they lay eyes on it, a wave of horror spews across the room.
Melech feels the absolute horror of his actions overwhelm his higher thought processes and runs pell-mell out of the room. Almost as if reacting to the slayer, as soon as Melech runs past him, Filibus screams, drops his crossbow, and follows hot on his heels. For their part, Nevai and Ulysses feel the wave of fear wash over them and fade away within seconds.
Melech feels his blinding terror slowly fade, and he stumbles to a stop in the undershrine. Filibus is about 15 feet ahead of him, hands on his knees and panting heavily. "W... w... what the f+#& was that?"
As soon as he regains his senses, Melech turns and runs back to the tomb, afraid of what he might have left Ulysses and Nevai alone with.
Melech scrambles back to the tomb, and runs into Nevai halfway, who had hustled after the fleeing party members. "Melech! What in the Hells was that??"
The party returns to the sarcophagus, and nothing has changed. No monsters have risen from the open coffin, and no traps have set off. Whatever caused the waves of horror, it has passed. A sweep of detect magic reveals a magic aura coming from the sarcophagus--specifically, the mummified cat.
There is also a gold-and-turquoise scarab pendant. As well, gold filaments and semi-precious stones constructed into the sarcophagus itself, though taking those would definitely be construed as defacement.
This cat is a mummified guardian. Because the fear effect has been depleted, this reduces its value to 3,000gp.
The semiprecious stones and gold filament, if removed, are worth 50gp.
The pendant is worth 50 gp.
The funerary mask is worth 150gp.
Nevai shakes his head with an irritable sigh. "I have no idea what this thing is. Or if it is going to send us running off screaming again."
Melech reaches into the sarcophagus and grabs the pendant and the mask, being especially careful not to catch the mummified cat. Then he nods to Nevai to help him replace the lid.
"We should get rubbings of everything that we can in here, then take the time to look around carefully. I feel like we're missing something down here."
Filibus shrugs without looking up from his work (he'd already started adding rubbings to his journal). "I doubt it. Seems like the Plague of Madness put an end to construction before they could finish. Probably killed the whole family too."
Melech's thorough search of the room reveals nothing of note.
Nevai glances uncertainly at the mummified cat. "Should, ah... Should we leave that? I mean, it is a magic item of some kind. Could be worth something. And I do not feel entirely comfortable leaving it for someone else to find; if it triggers again, it could send someone into danger."
Melech shakes his head. "You surprise me, cleric. This creature was interred with its master; would removing it not be a violation of the third rule? If you wish to take it, I will not stop you, but keep it away from me."
Ulysses starts walking toward the door. "This is boring. Let's go check out the rest of the house."
Nevai shakes his head. "I do not believe so. This is... different somehow. I cannot say how, exactly, but I feel it." He shrugs. "If you wish to leave it, I will not argue."
He follows the others out of the crypt.
You arrive at the top of the crypt, back in the dead garden.
Melech and Ulysses examine the western doors, and Melech opens them if they detect no danger.
The doors explode in a massive nuclear blast, vaporizing Wati. Radiation mutates the desert's scorpions into huge super-intelligent mutant man-scorpions bent on world domination, and Golarion is plunged into a new era of darkness and horror.
Fortunately, unlike Ulysses' overactive imagination, the residents of House Pentheru didn't put traps on the doors they walked in and out of on a regular basis because that would be absolutely absurd.
Ulysses has just enough time to think wait, what's "nuclear"? before the door swings open to absolutely nothing happening.
The party steps into a hallway in the dilapidated, crumbling house. Huge cracks in the stone add to the sunlight spilling in from the windows. There are three paths you can take. To the left (north) is a large room with an enormous stone table. To the right (south) is another large room, perhaps a parlor of some sort, with a stairwell leading up. Directly in front of you is an opening into an inner courtyard that has been choked with drifts of sand over the centuries.
Melech and Ulysses check out the northern room.
An enormous stone table, the marble top polished and smooth, runs parallel to the west wall of this large room. A much smaller stone table stands in the east side of the room. Splintered piles of dust and wood lie in the corners and along the walls--the only remains of chairs after untold years. A strong, fetid stench pervades the room. An open doorway leads east.
As you step into the room to investigate, the source of the stench becomes immediately apparent: six human skulls lie on silver platters in a grim mockery of a meal. Suddenly all six burst into green flames and rise off the table, jaws clicking animatedly as they swoop toward the party.
[color=green]
?? 1 (0 dmg)
Filibus (0 dmg)
?? 2 (0 dmg)
?? 3 (0 dmg)
?? 4 (0 dmg)
Melech (34/35 hp)
?? 5 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (23/24 hp)
?? 6 (7 dmg, dead)
Nevai (25/27 hp)
[/color]
Four of the skulls turn almost as one and launch themselves at Nevai, trying and failing to head-butt him, though only one is successful.
In a moment of uncharacteristic competence, Filibus fires at one of the skulls and powders it in one shot.
"Beheaded! Shouldn't be hard to kill but someone... created these." A shudder runs through him as memories of Viqir's early experiments flash in his mind.
He studies the one nearest him, then attacks with his falchion.
Another beheaded veers straight for Nevai. Now there is a veritable swarm of them around him. It goes to head-butt Nevai but glances off the shield.
[color=green]
Beheaded 1 (0 dmg)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Beheaded 2 (0 dmg)
Beheaded 3 (0 dmg)
Beheaded 4 (0 dmg)
Melech (34/35 hp)
Beheaded 5 (0 dmg)
Ulysses (23/24 hp)
Beheaded 6 (7 dmg, dead)
Nevai (25/27 hp)
[/color]
Nevai stumbles back out of the horde of flying skulls, brandishes his holy symbol, and snarls, "By the light of the Sky God, go back to the grave!"
All five remaining skulls explode in a flash of brilliant light, as if the sun glinted off a massive mirror. Your eyes all sting for a moment from it, leaving spots on your vision for a few moments.
COMBAT OVER!
Nevai blinks at his holy symbol, then at the small cloud of bone dust slowly drifting toward the floor. "Huh."
Ulysses laughs and moves to examine the powdered skulls. "Fascinating! I am glad Horus is on our side!" He traces B&B in the powder, then waves Melech over to help him search the room.
The silver platters on which the skulls sat appear to be real silver, tarnished by time but still valuable. A silver goblet stands next to each platter.
Each of the six platters are worth 45 gp. Each of the six goblets are worth 30gp.
Ulysses mumbles, "Well, aren't these nice?" as he blows skull dust off of them and sweeps them into the loot bag. Then he and Melech check out the next room.
This room appears to be the servants' dining room, significantly smaller and empty save for a great deal of sand and dust, and the crumbled, ancient remains of a shoddy stone table.
Melech leads the party through the smaller dining room, through the corridor to the east, and examines the northeastern room.
As the party passes the servants' dining room, Melech suddenly feels very sluggish. Within seconds, the slayer collapses to the floor in a deep sleep. Everyone feels it coming on, but nobody else succumbs.
Suddenly the sand in the inner courtyard begins to rise up and take the shape of a comely woman, with long, flowing hair and thin, graceful limbs. She appears to be wearing a billowing toga, and the entirety of her physical composition is apparently sand. Her face shifts like a wave from one of serenity to mild concern. She speaks in a strange, earthy language none of you understand, but seems to be somewhat sheepish, as if she caused the sleep but on accident. She tries to speak to the party once, twice more, but seeing none of you understand her speech, her demeanor undergoes a startling and abrupt change, from chagrin to frustration to rage. Without further ado, she leaps at the party as her lovely face rips in half, revealing a horrid monstrous visage beneath.
[color=green]
Ulysses (23/24 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Nevai (25/27 hp)
?? (0 dmg)
Melech (34/35 hp, asleep)
[/color]
This is a creature known as a "sandman" (despite having no actual gender). It is a type of malicious elemental that enjoys lulling desert travelers close enough to it to strike them with its sleep aura, which is what everyone felt as they passed the entrance to the inner garden. Now that you have all been affected, you are immune for 24 hours. As to why it didn't strike you when you first walked past the courtyard, it may have been in a slumber and then roused by the sound of your combat with the beheaded.
As an elemental, it has the standard elemental traits (including immunity to sneak attacks, critical hits, and flanking).
The creature also has DR 10/bludgeoning. In addition, it can, as a standard action, compress into a pile of sand, effectively being treated as a small earth elemental. It retains its sleep aura, but loses its DR while in this form.
In addition to a sleep aura, the sandman has the ability to knock its victims unconscious with a single blow. Anyone struck by its slam attack must succeed at a Will save or fall unconscious, as if by its sleep aura. Unlike the aura, a target can be affected by its sleep attack multiple times.
"Filibus! Wake Melech up! And don't worry - it can't make us sleep again! Now... let's see if I can turn this thing to glass."
Nevai steps up to the creature, drawing his khopesh as he goes, and swings at it.
The bomb makes a direct hit and turns several chunks to glass. The creature shrieks as those pieces fall to the sandy ground with a dull thump.
Filibus hustles over and rouses Melech with a hard shake. The slayer drowsily opens his eyes, then starts at the sight of his companions on full alert.
The creature laughs cruelly at the pathetic swing from the cleric, then strikes back. A fist made of hard-packed sand as dense as stone slams hard against Nevai's shield, just barely missing.
[color=green]
Ulysses (23/24 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Nevai (25/27 hp)
Sandman (13 dmg)
Melech (34/35 hp, prone)
[/color]
Melech stands and moves to flank the creature .
Melech ducks almost lazily under the sandman's telegraphed haymaker directed at his temple and moves into flanking position.
[color=green]
Ulysses (23/24 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Nevai (25/27 hp)
Sandman (13 dmg)
Melech (34/35 hp)
[/color]
Satisfied with how effective the first bomb was, Ulysses tosses another .
Nevai swings again.
Filibus' bolt sails wide.
The sandman continues to be a useless pile of uselessness, missing by a mile.
[color=green]
Ulysses (23/24 hp)
Nevai (25/27 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Sandman (21 dmg)
Melech (36/37 hp)
[/color]
Melech studies this strange thing, wondering if a blade can even hurt a creature made of sand.
Melech continues to wonder.
[color=green]
Ulysses (23/24 hp)
Nevai (25/27 hp)
Filibus (0 dmg)
Sandman (21 dmg)
Melech (36/37 hp)
[/color]
I guess I'll do this myself.