Jayma and Jeeves look through the western door and see a chamber with ornate carvings on the floor, showing a necromancer in ancient attire leading an army of undead against a city.
Behind the carved necromancer general are several other figures, each leading a lesser army of undead, but these have their face chiseled out and ancient graffiti is scrawled across their bodies.
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Jeeves studies the ornate carvings of the ancient city.
His eyes brighten, "Oh my ... the ancient city of Sothis. Must be nearly 1000 years old. As I recall, there was never an actual undead attack against Sothis. Still ... what craftmanship!"
Realizing we're here to explore and report, he pulls out some parchment, traces some of the etchings, and adds details about their findings up till now. He makes a mental note to return to the shrine to get more information there.
He exits out the other (northern-most) door to the room and finds his way back to the others in the same hallway. Standing in front of the only other door in this corridor, he waits for others to gather, and opens it.
[spoiler=Tanuak believes he knows what the old Osiriani text states]It reads: "ungrateful leeches” and “treacherous scum” and 'unworthy of unlife.”[/poiler]
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Jayma is disappointed by the contents of the western room and pouts attractively to show her displeasure. "I must say, I had high expectations for that room. Oh well, perhaps the rest of the tomb will prove more exciting."
She exits the room and a little dejectedly rejoins the rest of the group outside the southern door of the main corridor. Seeing Jeeves standing in front of another new door, she perks up, "Wait for me Master Jeeves, " she calls out and heads up the corridor to position herself for the opening.
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Beckett leaves Kel to mix up the acid flasks and goes to examine the carvings with the others. "Ha! Someone was none too pleased with the figures mentioned in the graffiti."
Beckett gathers in front of the next door with the others. "So. We've found statues of scarabs, a statue of Set, pits that once contained embalming fluids, and a memorial to an undead invasion that never saw fruition. What do you think is behind this door? Oh! I hope its a necromantic ritual chamber!"
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Beckett gathers in front of the next door with the others. "So. We've found statues of scarabs, a statue of Set, pits that once contained embalming fluids, and a memorial to an undead invasion that never saw fruition. What do you think is behind this door? Oh! I hope its a necromantic ritual chamber!"
At Beckett's suggestion, Jayma starts getting excited again, "Goodness me, dear Becket. I do hope you're correct. A necromantic ritual chamber would be just the thing right now," she says, almost hopping up and down in anticipation.
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"I don't have any empty flasks for you but I do have a pouch I can loan you, if you want to take some of the powers for a later time?"
Kel graciously accepts Hawk's offered pouch, "Thank you Hawk, we'll just scoop some of this into here and save this for later and...."
When Kel asks about a flask, Jeeves quickly searches through his pack to find one. After handing it over, he adds, "I'd be happy to share my waterskin, good Kel, if that would help. Whatever you need, I shall do my best."
"....thank you as well Jeeves, this will come in handy! I'm just going to mix one up right now."
"I think there's enough skill here that we could handle just one necromantic ritual." Kel winks at Hawk, "Though witnessing their assault against the natural order may turn my stomach, the chance at getting to rid the world of their stain would be highly worth it."
The door to the chamber before you opens into a room of bare walls with small alcoves along it. Though the alcoves are now empty, they suggest that this room must have once been used for storage
It is now, however, being used as a campsite as evidenced by a bedroll, satchel, pots, and other gear neatly arranged within the room.
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Jeeves enters the makeshift campsite. Seeing the satchel, he opens it up carefully and looks for clues.
Upon finding the dagger and the mirror, he casts Detect Magic to determine if there's anything of interest besides the fact they are important relics of this tomb.
Once satisfied, he leaves and heads back east down the corridor, carefully looking and listening for any signs of the imposter. When he reaches the eastern door, he decides to quickly check out the northern passageway first.
He peeks inside.
The peeking gnome finds two statues in this room that depict a pair of robed skeletons each of which is pointing at the other.
You discover that the skeleton's arms can be rotated in their sockets.
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Beckett riffles through the contents of the campsite and makes notes about the two items Jeeves found in the sack before following the bard down the hall.
"Those are interesting. The arms rotate.
Beckett jumps up, grabs the arm, and rotates it.
"Well it certainly did something. That sound came from down the main hall."
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Beckett steps back into the hall and listens to see if he hears any distant explosions, screams, or other indications of danger caused by moving the arm.
Hearing nothing, Beckett shrugs and steps up to the last door.
"Well seems like that Kline fellow must be in here. Let's see what he has to say for himself."
Beckett then waits for the others to gather around before opening the door.
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Beckett jumps up, grabs the arm, and rotates it. "Well it certainly did something. That sound came from down the main hall."
Jeeves looks up and listens when he hears the click. "The main hall? Wait...give me a minute, and would you mind terribly trying it one more time, Sir Beckett."
The gnome hustles back to the main intersection and listens.
Jeeves returns to the group, now gathered by the door, and he reports any findings.
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Kel follows the others out, also extremely curious to find the source of the click, "Could it be that main larger door? I'll check there, anyone is welcome to come along. Or should I remain behind and move the statue arms?"
Kel figures that the distance isn't too far and if anything happens it will be easy to regroup again.
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Jayma is definitely not happy and stomps her foot in mild frustration. All the stories she'd read about exploring exotic new tombs always included exciting feats of derring-do; evil undead hordes; rooms full of treasure; hidden passageways; dangerous traps, etc. Except for the pressure plates she'd disarmed, this place was a dud.
She drags her feet a little dejectedly as she follows Jeeves and Beckett down the hallway to the next room. She pokes her head into the room and sees the two pointing statues. "Hmmm... this looks a little interesting," she thinks.
When Beckett grabs the arm and it turns, she too hears the nearby *CLICK*. "Oooh... how exciting. Let's go see what that was," and without waiting for the others, moves quickly back to the main hallway to see if she notices anything new. When she gets there, she sees that Hawk and Tanuak beat her to it. "Did anyone see where that sound came from," she says in a tizz as she cranes her pretty neck to look around Hawk and down the hallway.
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Jeeves looks up and listens when he hears the click. "The main hall? Wait...give me a minute, and would you mind terribly trying it one more time, Sir Beckett."
"Uh sure. I can do it again." Beckett says as he walks back into the room, jumps up, and twists the arm again.
After rotating the arm again Beckett walks back to the remaining door and waits for Jeeves to report his findings.
When Beckett rotates the arms again, Jeeves does indeed hear an audible *CLICK* coming from the area where the trap had been disabled.
There are no magic auras in the area.
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Jeeves returns and rejoins Beckett at the eastern door. "My thanks, good Sir. It seems that the statue in the other room affects that floor trap in the corridor."
He considers and adds, "Hmmm...how many times did you rotate the arms? If each rotation toggles it on and off, then two rotations should return it to the disabled position. Or not." He shrugs, "Perhaps we would be well-served by avoiding that part of the floor upon exiting, just in case."
Jeeves then turns toward the door and waits for Beckett to open it.
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"Yeah, I twisted the arm twice. Definitely safer to avoid it on the way out though." Beckett makes a quick note in his journal to let Society leadership know about the trap and the statues.
When Tanuak approaches Beckett scratches his head and nods. "Sure why not." before banging his tiny fist against the door and shouting, "Excuse me, Mr. Kline! Anybody home?"
"Kline?" comes a response from behind the door. "Oh, yes. Just a moment, allow me to get the door."
The stone door swings open slightly to reveal the form of a dark-haired human male, holding a notebook.
"Yes, I am Durvin Kline." he announces, giving the party a look over, he replies, "You are clearly not guards. This is a secure archeological site of great significance. You are not supposed to be here without a permit, so just who might you be?"
"You have a permit?" The man replies with some surprise. After a moment, he concludes, "Undoubtedly that requested by Norden Balentiir. You must be Pathfinders, then?"
"I had no expected any of you to arrive quite so soon." he notes. "Though, now that you are here, I suppose I could use your help identifying a few things, ascertaining what may be valuable and what is not worth disturbing."
"Come in," he suggests, swinging the door open wide to allow your entrance. "I have already started cataloguing."
The room appears to be a traditional burial chamber. A lit brazier provides dim light in the room. There are a couple areas of interest.
The man who identified himself as Durvin Kline stands near the western wall by the doorway.
You see that he is wearing a compass that resembles a wayfinder.
of the compasses’ true nature.
A weapon, some armor, and a shield lie in the corner of the room. Each shows signs of rust.
You can tell that these items were of poor quality even when they were placed here back in ancient times. They are now rusted beyond any hope of repairing them. The placement of such shoddy equipment in the burial chamber of a warrior would have been considered a mockery of the ancient Osiriani burial rites.
Three stone slabs in the center of the room are slightly loose.
The brazier flickers out. The chamber suddenly goes dark.
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Jeeves enters the room, gives a warm smile, bows, and doffs his top hat with a flourish. "Ahhh, Master Kline. Well met. I am Jeeves, and these are my Pathfinder associates." Jeeves holds up his Wayfinder, which hangs from his neck.
"Perhaps you can help us. There seems to be some confusion because we were sent by the Society to investigate these ruins. We were told we were the only ones, so imagine our surprise to find others already here." He pauses and continues, "You are wise in asking about permits. Officer Elrekah examined it before she admitted us. When we compared our permits, there was an odd discrepancy with the date of yours."
He steps aside to let Kline take a good look at our motley group (well, except for Jayma) of agents, and adds, "If you tell us what's really going on, perhaps we can work out an arrangement."
"Discrepancy?" replies the man, unable to hide his annoyance. "I assure you that the clerks in the Osirion permit office are quite skilled and are not prone to error!"
"I've heard that some Pathfinders are gloryhounds, trying to steal the credit for discoveries made by other agents." he says, eying you suspiciously. "But, I suppose that some credit could be shared. I tell you what, I will clearly those findings that I have already made, but I promise not to disturb any findings that you may now discover. Come in, have a look around. After all, aren't we Pathfinders supposed to work together? Explore, report, corroborate?"
"L-like I said," stammers the man, as he steps away from the gnome. "I'm D-Durvin Kline. I'm a v-very famous P-pathfinder. I-I explored the ruins of ancient Azlant! I d-discovered the lost serpentfolk city!"
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Growing weary of the stammering, Jeeves stares pointedly at the imposter, "Durvin Kline? Do you mean Durvin Gest? Or perhaps Eando Kline? Yes, they are very famous Pathfinders."
Jeeves moves closer. "Sir, you obviously have great respect for our society. Please be honorable and do not insult us any further. Who are you?"
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Jayma is on tippytoes to see over Beckett and into the room where Jeeves and Tanuak are confronting the suspected fake pathfinder. After a few moments of this, she can no longer bear it, and with an, "Excuse me my dear Beckett, but I absolutely must have a closer look," she squeezes around the goblin and enters the room, stopping short when she comes up against to so-called "Durvin Kline".
"Ah ha..." she says theatrically. "...So this is the imposter we've been looking for all this time," she continues, with a look that does not suggest that she's very impressed.
She looks the gentleman over closely and her eye catches on his wayfinder. "Is that a real wayfinder? Is this person really a Pathfinder? Surely not." she thinks to herself.
Without taking her eyes off "Durvin", she calls out to Jeeves, "Master Jeeves, you seem to have a good eye for this sort of thing. Perhaps you could have a closer look at this gentleman's wayfinder and share your experienced opinion with us?"
Jayme waits until Jeeves is about to examine the wayfinder, then holds up her hand to stop him. "A moment Master Jeeves," she says. Then, passing her hand over Durvin's wayfinder, says "Show me.", and casts a Detect Magic on it, chanelling her Blood Magic to Jeeves in an effort to improve his already expert eye.
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With an evil looking grin showing off his rows of jagged teeth Beckett says, "I wonder what the guards would have to say if we told them you were an impostor? That you were a grave robber trying to steal their cultural artifacts out from under their very noses? I can't imagine they'd be very forgiving."
"V-very well. My name's Nefaram, Nefram Subeli. I'm a clerk with the Osirian permit office. I was just hoping to pocket a few treasures, is all. I don't want to hurt anyone," confesses the man. "B-but before you doing anything rash, y-you need to know. Something corrupt still lurks within this place. When I first arrived, it was pitch-black, and there was an eerie moaning sound in the walls."
The man stumbles backwards, putting more distance between himself and the party. His voice sounding more desperate. "Keep those brazier lit. At all times!"
He takes another step back. "You never know--" The man's sentence is cut short as he trips into one of the loose, stone slabs in the center of the room. He stumbles with enough force that he dislodges the heavy slab, revealing the presence of five, mummified bodies lying beneath.
The brazier flickers out! Plunged into darkness, the chamber suddenly goes black!
When the lights flicker back on, four additional stone slabs in the center of this room slide to the side, displacing the fallen Nefaram and revealing the group of five mummified humanoids lying prone within!
Initiative - Combat Round One
Master Jeeves
Undead (red, yellow, purple, green)
Kel
Jayma
Undead (black)
Nefaram
Tanuak
Beckett
Hawk
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Not trusting Nefaram, Jeeves watches him closely as he inadvertently dislodges the slabs. After seeing the mummies beneath, he's startled at the sudden darkness. Worried about the concealed mummies, he immediately casts Faerie Fire. He centers the 10' burst on the portion of the slab directly in front of him. With luck, the mummies should be lined in shimmering green.
In the darkness, the party hears the melody of Jeeves' lyre. Magic fills the air, inspiring them to act as he sings out:
"We find ourselves here in this room.
Where evil and darkness do loom.
.....But we are not scared.
.....Our group well-prepared.
To help mummies return to their tomb."
He adds an extra flourish to his composition to extend the musical inspiration.
The prone mummified creatures being to glow in response to the gnome's spell. Despite the musical cajoling of Master Jeeves, the undead rise from their graves.
Two of the undead lumber forward, while the two before the gnome reach out at the Pathfinder with their bony fists!
The one with yellowed bandages grabs ahold of the gnome!
Initiative - Combat Round One cont'd
Master Jeeves
Undead (red, yellow, purple, green)
Kel
Jayma
Undead (black)
Nefaram
Tanuak
Beckett
Hawk
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"Oh dearie me! How exciting," Jayma cries out as the undead rise from the ground and advance on the pathfinders. She immediately moves her arms in an intricate pattern and chants "Unbalance the unctuous undead."
Seeing the purple undead almost upon her, she exclaims, "By The Many! Perhaps there is such a thing as too much excitement," and backs into the hallway, where she ducks behind Hawk. "Thank you dear Hawk. I always perform better when I keep my audience at a distance."
"Unbalance the unctuous undead."
The dry, wrappings of the mummified creatures thirstily soaks up the grease and provides adequate traction to allow each of the undead to keep their footing.
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The sudden absence and return of the lights in the room caused Kel to freeze, but only momentarily before he was acted. "I heartily agree Jayma, too much excitement by far. We should be able to handle these wretched forms easily enough though. Everyone take care to keep your distance."
"Easier said than done I suppose." Kel thought to himself seeing the shambling forms and how near they were. Seeing the two reach for Jeeves, Kel uses his right hand to point a condemning finger at the undead in front of the gnome and yells "Nein!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Kel notices the undead that had been chasing Jayma is now uncomfortably close and raises the mace in his left hand to strike at the odorous crime against nature.