GM PDK'S PFS RPG 'TOMB OF THE IRON MEDUSA' (Inactive)

Game Master Purple Dragon Knight

@Kel: the sarcophi all have the Adella Curse on them. Their lids are mortared in place, and must be chiseled open (this takes 2d6 rounds of work with the proper tools). Your detect magic told you there are magic items inside, but without line of sight you can't analyze their dweomers.

"THe sarcophagi all have the curse on them... probably the same curse we encountered earlier - the Adella Curse. Most likely will affect anyone who tampers with them... The lids are, as you can all see, mortared in place and it looks like it will take some time to chisel them open. Adamantine would probably do it faster, but that's not the point... the curse will apply no matter what methods are employed. I can tell there are magic items within, but no way to analyze what they might be. The blade we seek may be inside... or not. No way of knowing without looking, but with the curse present, it might be best to explore other avenues before trying this one."

We'll keep looking, but if worse comes to worst I doubt I can be extra cursed.

"That's a morbid and frankly fascinating take on your situation, Thrag. I approve. Also, as far as hats, just a nicer one. Perhaps gold trim. Big feather. Also also, let's keep looking around. Nothing should be stopping us from getting back in to check out the sarcophagus."

"I'm concerned that these are just some elaborate trap. If I can detect magic inside through the sarcophagus walls, whatever is there must be fairly powerful or some kind of trick. The auras could be just a trap to make folks like us open them and become cursed... or worse. Let's look around more, check out other options first... leave these for later, for if we don't find what we're looking for elsewhere."

Are you pushing button 1, 2 or 3?

Well, it seems we have three options... the raging medusa, the mocking medusa and the cross-eyed medusa. Each plate seems to be a push-plate of some kind, and hopefully leads to one the three tombs we were told not to disturb. If we are very careful, perhaps we won't have to disturb the tombs themselves. Shall we push them starting on the left, as we have been making a habit of and see what happens when we push that one? The other two will have to wait their turns.

So GM told us the flight of stairs leading down into the mist had 3 push plates in the floor, one for each of the 3 different medusa heads - one raging, one mocking and one with crossed-eyes. if those are in order left to right, we might as well stick to our left first strategy and start with raging eh?

I see no reason to go in any other order besides our left-first

That seems as good as a plan as any, Kel. I just do not want to be left behind...this time. she grins.

"We are, for the time being an adventuring family. I know a lot of languages, and every one of them has a word for family. In Elvish, the word for family is ohana. Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."

sorry, I couldn't resist... with all apologies to Chris Sanders and Disney Corp.

"Raging? Sounds ominous..."

"O, Dawnflower, protect us from those who would do us harm." (Casting magic circle against evil on Glaube, duration 130 minutes. The touch of glory activated earlier should also still be in effect.)

Raging it is. Don't worry Dora, we'll drag you out if we have to.

As you step upon the face of the howling medusa, the entire staircase begins to shift to the left to link to another spiraled staircase leading to the depths below.

Following this newly revealed staircase, you arrive in a large oval-shaped chamber. Flickering light dances on the walls of this room, thrown from fat, black candles in silver fixtures wrapped around supporting pillars that rise twenty feet to the ceiling. Frescoes cover the walls, all depicting a handsome, red-haired man of noble mien engaged in acts of heroic prowess: single-handedly dispatching a cohort of fearsome demons, speaking movingly to an adoring throng, and leading a column of Taldan soldiers toward an enormous mob of Qadiran infantry. On a raised dais in an alcove on the northern wall, an elaborately carved mahogany coffin, decorated with motifs of vines and eyes, sits on a stone base.

Slide #5, right? I moved into the room and added an "aura" to represent the effect of the magic circle against evil.

Map 6 actually. You missed the entire previous encounter. I've added you on Map 6 along with your Magic Circle vs. Evil! :)

Map 6 actually. You missed the entire previous encounter. I've added you on Map 6 along with your Magic Circle vs. Evil! :)

Thanks!

Mal follows his allows through the fold again.

Dora and Rusty follow as well...

Kel stays together with GLaube, wanting to stay within his circle of protection.

Thrag keeps ahead of Glaube and Kel, at the leading edge of the magic circle, while keeping an eye out for whatever defenses remain active in the necropolis.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (2) + 17 = 19

Moved myself up a bit on the map. I have light cast upon my holy symbol.

Kel moves up with Glaube and looks around, casts heighetened awareness and detecting magic, and watching for magical and mundane traps as well as just random auras.

perception: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (8) + 27 = 35 +1 to detect traps

Kel finds a secret door to the east, and sees that the coffin has three locks, one of each of the sides without hinges. Kel detects two auras of moderate transmutation inside the coffin.

At the southern edge of the raised dais, a rough stone pillar rises 10 feet, halfway to the ceiling. The pillar is painted white, obscuring the carvings on its surface. Carved at the base of its north face, Kel finds an inscriptions saying, “Ursula, 4191–4222.”

Dora watches as Kel inspects the coffin.

So do you think this is it? Ursula. What about the curse?

"Well, there's a secret door there on the east wall... And this pillar is painted white, in what looks like an attempt to obscure the carvings on it... but here at the base, it reads, Ursula, and the dates of what are presumably her birth and death... just 31 years old... so many young deaths... so sad."

"The coffin itself has three locks, one on each side without hinges. There are two auras coming from inside the coffin... both signify moderate transmutation. We were told not to disturb the three tombs... so maybe it's best to leave the sarcophagus for now and check out the door that leads east first."

Sounds fair. Secret doors tend to be good spots to pick up obscure trinkets that might get us out of here.

"Plus, the last thing we need are more angry whip ghosts coming after us."

Kel checks the door for traps...

perception: 1d20 + 27 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 27 + 1 = 29

If he detects a trap, he'll try to disarm it...

disable device: 1d20 + 23 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + 23 + (6) = 34 (adding some investigator inspiration to the roll)

Beyond the secret door is an octagonal chamber. Five
white marble pedestals, each four feet high, line the walls.
A single mundane item sits atop each pedestal, identified
by bronze plaques that read (north to south), “His Shaving
Razor,” “His Comb,” “His Favorite Goblet,” “His Pipe,” and
“His Gaming Dice.”

Trap: A 3-foot-square metallic plate occupies the center
of the chamber floor. Four locking devices of particularly
cunning design (hardness 10, hp 25, Disable Device DC 30)
secure the plate along its four edges. Only after all four locks
are open can the panel be removed, but doing so triggers a
deadly trap.

(Chain Lightning Trap, which you easily disable)

Treasure: The five items on the pedestals are all of
exquisite manufacture—each is worth 100 gp. The true
treasure in the room, however, is found in the 2-footdeep
compartment below the metal plate. Within are 12
ingots of platinum (worth 800 gp each) covered by a folded
tapestry depicting a woodland scene of satyrs and nymphs
(8 feet by 12 feet when unfurled, worth 1,200 gp). Beneath
the ingots is a thin, unlocked wooden box containing a
portable hole, folded into quarters and wrapped in a blue
silk kerchief. The chamber inside the portable hole is
furnished as a cozy study, complete with large overstuffed
chair, a lantern containing a continual flame, and shelves of
trashy, relatively worthless books of poetry. A bottle of air
sits on the arm of the chair.

Going back the way you came, you're back at the wide flight of stairs with the three circular tiles set into the floor; each tile depicts a different medusa’s face. You've already stepped on the one howling in rage which led you to the previous tomb. The next two on the list: one mocking with a forked tongue, and one with crossed eyes. Which one do you step on?

Forked tongue? Might as well save our patron for last.

Mal agrees, fine by me

The priest agrees.

Mal agrees, fine by me

What the...???!??!

So y'all stepping on the forked tongue yes? or is this the other way around?

Kel shrugs. "Works for me"

Aye, the forked tongue seems as good as any in this crazy tomb.

Dora nods to Kel.

Thrag steps on the medusa with a forked tongue.

See you on the other side.

Mal follows shortly after.

Brother Rabbit does the same.

Kel follows suit.

Dora follows as well after hosteling Rusty into her armor.

Hey! Don't forget me!

Following along.

As you step on the mocking medusa the stairs realign towards another passage. Going down, you arrive in a corridor which splits into forks heading east and west. Broken marble fragments lie strewn across the east and west alcoves. The fragments suggest rather beautiful sarcophagi once stood in these areas, apparently obliterated by a powerful and malignant force. A magnificent marble sarcophagus, carved with all manner of sea creatures—dolphins, squid, sharks, shellfish, and merfolk—remains in the northern alcove.

Chiseled in delicate script on the lid of the one remaining sarcophagi are three names and sets of dates:

“Malachi Voxus Adella, 4372–4422,”

“Trepso Voxus Adella, 4374–4438,” and

“Lexana Voxus Adella, 4378–4449,” along with the phrase, “We Shall Not Be Mocked.”

Opposite the northern alcove stands the Voxus mocking medusa in bas-relief on a massive stone block that fills the entire wall.

What do you do?

"Hmmm... all three born within a span of 6 years... siblings, perhaps?" Kel looks around for any other clues of who these three might be, and who might have been buried in the broken sarcophagi.

Well, I guess we best check these out dates and see if they were indeed siblings. What have we got to lose but time? Dora chuckles.

Dora remounts Rusty and looks around as well.

perception,hero: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 14 + 2 = 20

But why put all three on one sarcophagus? Wouldn't each sarcophagus be one person?

Thrag begins to search through the rubble, focusing on the largest pieces.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (3) + 17 = 20

The Sarenite dons his reading glasses, "What are we looking for?"

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Kel examines the sarcophagus for traps, magic, curses, symbols, glyphs and the like, making sure he enhances himself with heightened awareness first.

perc: 1d20 + 27 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 27 + 1 = 40

If he finds nothing on the sarcophagus, he'll extend his search to the rest of the room...

“We Shall Not Be Mocked.”

Opposite the northern alcove stands the Voxus mocking medusa in bas-relief on a massive stone block that fills the entire wall.

Mal carefully inspects the medusa.

Take 10 on perception for a 42

The Medusa incorporates a deadly trap that appears to be activated by touch and involves negative energy!