Uthe gives a snort of disgust at the idea of the woman's cats being mummified.
"We believe that they should have directed more of their efforts towards bettering their own lives rather than ensuring that everyone that they dealt with in life is forced to give up said life to join them in the Boneyard."
She considers the possibility.
"Of course if they did then there wouldn't be much in way of valuables for us to find, would there?"
She shrugs.
"Or at the very least completing the protective measures on the tombs." Jazadi adds. "I'll bet you that what was supposed to be her tomb has already been thoroughly pillaged by now."
Ammon grins at the idea of a good day's worth of religious gossip with Dhakira and Say'ri, but doesn't comment. "If there's no rush, I suggest going back and selling all this stuff and buying better gear for ourselves first. If we get that chariot out, chances are it will be close to evening anyway when we're done. Might as well rest another night."
When the tomb, his mistress and the dead slaves are discussed, he shrugs. "Akhentepi probably spent most of his life defending the land, improving the lives of the folk by keeping them safe. I'd like to think Say'ri is right and that he was genuinely loved by his people, causing his 'servants' to willingly follow him into the afterlife. That he went out of his way to secure a tomb for his mistress, who wasn't even his family, also speaks well of him in my book. Not many men would do the same."
Then, he smiles. "So, first round at the tavern is on me?"
The Tooth and Hookah is much less crowded this evening, and it is much easier to hear each other talk, enjoy a drink and some hearty local cuisine.
The next morning, you report back to the Grand Mausoleum to receive your next assignment. The two priests at the temple ask about your general impressions of the site and whether you feel that you explored it fully. They ask for details such as who was interred at the site and are eager to find out the information you gleaned, such as Akhentepi's Mistress' unfinished tomb and many mummified cats. A young acolyte is writing notes of everything you share, but can't help but keep subtly eyeing Jazadi, occasionally missing some of the information.
"Your next site is a walled two-story mansion with some surrounding grounds. We believe it might have belonged to some minor nobility of Wati. Here, let me mark the location on your map." The young acolyte, still with acne blemishing his face, offers.
"A noble's manor, eh? I do not think there will be much need for a trap finder there. But no doubt all manner of monsters will be inhabiting it. A warrior then..."
Jamie taps her chin before looking up at Ammon. "Ammon, you know this city. Can you take me to somewhere... violent? I need to be in a place where lots of fighting has occurred to channel my potential."
When she finds Say'ri in a quiet moment she appoaches and starts a conversation,
She loins the group after her ablutions and prayers. She salutes the two acolytes of her religion anf helps give them inforamtion. ''And we have thoughrowlly explore the ruin assigned to us, and I made sure my companions respected the interred and did not disrupt its rest. Not that they seemed really inclined to do so.''
Then she comments to Jamie: ''Well nobles can be pretty tricky too, but the best is to follow your instincts. They sure have helped to save our hides in the last two days. But I find it fascinating how you can change personnalities from one day to another. Do it work through divine inspiration?''
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"Either way it seems as though he was a reasonably decent guy." Say'ri say with a shrug. "Hopefully he doesn't mind losing his chariot too much."
She perks up at Ammon's offer. "Well... if you're sure. Uthe and I will see you later!" And with that she drags the catfolk, and the lions share of the loot, off to the market!
As Ammon and the others leave the priests behind, he lags in the rear a bit and whispers to the pimpled acolyte. "Ease up on the milk and fat. Do a hundred pushups, situps and weight presses once every three days, then come buy her a drink in the Tooth and Hookah in a month."
Later, in the inn, he looks up from oiling the sabre-like weapon he bought from his share of the loot. "A place of great violence? Why, m- Jamie, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing! Colour me pleasantly surprised."
He drops the tease after a moment to seriously consider the options. "There's a few places in Wati that suit that description. But if you're talking about serious combat, one in particulat comes to mind. In the barge town district - that is the poorer one I was raised in - lies a combat ring of sorts. A place where good money is bet on the outcome of vicious matches between humanoids or often ravenous animals. I believe the champion crocodile, Sebek, nears his hundreth straight win as we speak. Would that satisfy you?"
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Jamie’s blue eyes light up. ”Yes, that sounds perfect! Lead the way, please!”
Soon, she and Ammon arrive at the fight club. Numerous men and women sit on benches around the central ring, cheering and exchanging bets as muscular warrior brawl for their entertainment. Jamie keeps her cloak drawn tightly around her so her flashy clothes and jewelry don’t stand out among the largely shabby crowd.
”I’ve never been to one of these before. Brings out a real salt-of-the-earth type, yes?” Jamie says to Ammon. She smiles and watches the fights for a few minutes, but when Ammon next looks at her, the halfling’s eyes are closed in concentration. There is a slowly gathering feeling of power around her, and an unseen wind begins to billow her cloak.
I could be a mighty warrior. A champion brawler. A heroic knight. A raging barbarian. I am Jamie Vernisant, and there’s a million things I haven’t done. Just you wait. Just you wait!
Without thinking, Jamie reaches over and puts her hand in Ammon’s. Her small fingers lace with his, and the warrior can feel power resonating between himself and the halfling. Ammon can feel his insight into skill at arms expanding.
Finally, after an hour, the wind fades away and Jamie opens her eyes. ”Ready for battle!” she declares. She looks over at Ammon, then looks down to see she has been holding his hand. ”Oh! Uh, sorry about that!” She blushes and quickly extracts her hand from his.
Dhakira looks ambarrassed and Say'ri can see some red going up her her cheeks under her dark skin. ''Oh, I guess I must have misunderstood. It was during the exploration of the tomb, so I must have missed some details, between two combats.'' She talks goodheartedly, but inside she's frustrationg with herself for getting it wrong. ''But it's fascinating that you are also descendant from a grat pharaoh. I, myself is the descendant of the great Menedes, one of the two pharaoh interred in the necropolis of Erekrus, and guarded by my people. I really wonder if Pharasma had a hand in getting us all together, with two others having died once, and you being from the line of kings... ''Mmhhh...I wonder about Jazadi and Uthe...
She draws a slender wooden dowel from one of the bottles and holds it closer to her nose. A frown follows and she quickly returns the dauber. Another is examined and suffers the same fate. "These are all much too strong," she says in annoyance. Spying a small bottle off to the side, she draws the stick from it and takes a slight sniff. She smiles. Recoating the applicator, she traces a line with it from her neck down to the middle of her chest.
Still holding the wooden applicator in her hand, she leans towards Say'ri and turns her head. "Does it suit me?" she asks. The fragrance is much more subtle than the others, but spicier. Ginger and sandalwood are dominant, but with an underlying musk. Or perhaps that's Uthe's natural scent.
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"That's a lovely scent. Ginger?" She says, half to Uthe and half to the proprietor who is hovering. "Since we're here, do you have any vanilla?" She asks the woman, who frowns for a few moments and then produces a small cloth package of dried beans. Say'ri examines them for a moment and then nods. "Perfect, I'll take her perfume too please." The warrior woman has paid for all the purchases before Uthe can extract her money pouch, or give more than a token protest.
"You can't refuse." Say'ri says with a grin as they walk away and she hands Uthe the bottle. "In Osiriani religion it is very important to propitiate the god's with gifts to their sacred cats. If you won't take this gift then we'll have horrible luck and we wouldn't want that now would we?"
She does no more than a token protest when the woman buys the perfume for her.
"We are no more a cat than you are an ape. However, we will accept the gift. Unless you are attempting to buy our physical affection." Her eyes sparkle when she says this and the bells on her tail tinkle as it twitches. "Then we would have to decline, of course. We do not mount for payment."
Jazadi busies herself with trying to decode the papyrus scrolls and peruse their contents. When the acolyte comes around with the group's next assignment, she offers the group's map for marking.
"Right... now I need to get myself a proper whip." She starts trolling the markets.
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"So," She says as the pair turn their footsteps back towards the Tooth and Hookah. "I've got everything I need to make the shampoo. Would you like me to mix you some tonight? They'll keep fine for a few days so there's no rush."
"If you are simply teasing, then we would be willing to try your sham-poo, but we've never done anything like that, so may need help," she says as they walk along.
"And if it's truly daas-da-may, then with two queens ... females ... then ..." with a quick shift in steps, she slips behind Say'ri. "Position would be one of the first thing negotiated," she says over the woman's shoulder in a huskier voice.
A laugh follows and she moves quickly along amid a flurry of tinkling bells.
The morning after she's uses some of the money from the first expedition to buy a healers kit, before joining the others to get their next lottery lot.
Using the map to find the second site, is very simple. On arrival, you find some sandstone walls reaching ten feet high enclosing this estate, affording those who once lived inside some privacy. A two-story stone house is visible beyond the walls, adjoining the rear wall of the property. In the centre of the estate’s southern wall stands a pair of tarnished bronze gates hanging partially open. A pair of statues flank the gate. Dusty hieroglyphs are carved into the wall at eye level to the left of the gate.
The statues depict two men with a regal bearing and dressed in loose, short robes and traditional Osirian head cloths.
The Hieroglyphs read House of Pentheru.
There are small hieroglyphs on the statues’ bases that identify the figures as Pentheru the Elder and Pentheru the Younger.
The bronze gates are decrepit and appear to have been broken open long ago. There is no means to secure them, and they would not stand much punishment.
Looking through the bronze gates, dust and sand cover the ground of a small courtyard with no signs of any footprints. To the east and west stand pairs of columns, once brightly painted and now bleached from the sun, which support stone archways leading to other section of the property. Tarnished bronze gates hang open under both arches. To the north, a small flight of steps leads up to a pair of ornate doors in the south wall of the house between another set of columns.
As soon as everyone enters the courtyard through the gates, the violent sounds of an angry mob erupt from outside the walls, yelling and calling for blood. A desperate woman’s voice cries out in Ancient Osiriani.
Powerful blows shake and rattle the gates.
"House of Pentheru..." Jazadi reads the hieroglyphs next to the gate.
The archaeologist almost jumps out of her skin when the banging and yelling starts.
"Alright... I'm guessing the original owners of this manor weren't exactly popular with the people."
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Say'ri jumps too, of all the things you expect in an abandoned house people knocking on the door you just came through isn't usually one of them.
"Yeah... and this place is haunted." She agrees. "That's not fun. Let's stick together and be careful."
Jamie takes an involuntary step closer to Ammon but maintains her composure. ”Hmph! We will not some simple haunts scare us away! Onward, Falcons!”
She draws a long, curved blade that she didn’t have yesterday and gestures to the manor with it, holding it with the ease of a practiced warrior.
Ammon notices Jamie grabbing his hand and going silent, apparently concentrating heavily. He decides to patiently wait for her to finish her channel, even if he didn’t completely understood what she was doing, nor how it worked. Not that he was complaining. Her frown was very cute, like the rest of her, and if he ever grew tired of it he could just look the other way and wash away with cuteness with a nice helping of bloodsport! What more could a man ask for?
When Jamie finally finishes and quickly lets go at the end, he grins devilishly. ”It’s all right; everyone is nervous for their first time.”
Noticing her blush, he laughs. ”Seriously, though. For someone claiming to be a guy until recently, you sure have a way of charming your way into-“
He stops, suddenly noticing something was off. His common holy symbol of Osiris had started glowing , and he felt… more alert. From the corner of his eye, he saw both current combatants and somehow instinctively knew the exact way each of them could overpowered and kill the other in seconds.
”How…? What did you do ?” he asks, confused, as he hesitantly touches his symbol and brings it in for a closer look. The light makes his deep brown eyes shine in the night.
Ammon, having bought some kind of black sabre-like curved sword to go along with his shield, had already seemed a little out of it today. When the sounds of battle and an angry mob suddenly appear right behind them, he starts, only briefly glances around and storms straight at the doors ahead. "Quick! Get inside before they reach us!" he cries.
Dhakira is startled and grabs her holy symbol, for a moment she thinks this is real then realizes that Say'ri is right. ''If this haunt causes us too much trouble, I'll send some positive energy it's way.''
Under her breath ''I wonder what these Pentheru did to deserve the wrath of such a mob?''
When she sees Ammon running towards the front door she shouts: ''Ammon stop, it's not real!! It's a haunt!''
The halfling gasps when Ammon tells her of his expanded insight. ”Remarkable! It seems the echoes I channeled into my spirit have somehow rubbed off on you! I did not know it was possible to share my gifts with others! I wonder if I could share it with the whole party if they are present for the seance? I will have to try it tomorrow. All will share in the glory of Jamie Vernisant!”
Jamie laughs triumphantly.
***
”Where are you going? Come back here!” Jamie shouts when Ammon runs off. She follows to make sure he doesn’t get himself in trouble.
~~~~~
Uthe turns suddenly towards the sounds of the hostile crowd, the short fur on her back standing up and the bells on her tail ringing as it stiffens. Her ears flatten to her head and she stands motionless for a moment, a low growl forming in her throat, before she takes off after Ammon.
Dhakira, hoping that the positive energy helped, takes of after Say'ri and her fleeing comrades. ''I hope the effect will stop before they get us into trouble!
"Oh no..." Jazadi unlimbers her new whip and takes off running after the frightened cat and warrior.
Ammon dashes forwards towards the door to find safe defensible cover, Uthe quickly overtaking Ammon who is slowed by his armour.
Uthe flings open the doors to the mansion, and is confronted by three skeletons staring down the door! Unable to flee through the door, she aims to flee in another direction, Ammon in tow.
With undead blocking her immediate escape route, Uthe turns and dashes to the the gateway to the east.
Jazadi lets out a yelp of surprise before digging a small square of butter out of her spell component pouch.
After saying a word of power, she throws it at the entranceway--causing it to become coated in a layer of grease!
Seeing the enemy already both in front (and supposedly) behind him, and Jazadi casting some oil-thing directly in front, Ammon backs out, quickly moves to the western door instead and opens it, hoping that would be a safer path!
Running east, Uthe bolts through the stone door in the compound and finds herself in a ginormous, sandy and abandoned courtyard, filled with outbuildings.
Running west, Ammon legs it through the gate, leaving it wide open and is confronted with another sandy courtyard, this time with a pool filled with sand.
From out of the pool, disturbed by the racket that Ammon has made, a giant centipede crawls out menacingly, its double tail lashing angrily behind it.
Back in the entrance to the house, the skeletons rush forward with their scimitars into the Grease. Two of the skeletons clatter to the floor, but one makes it through and slashes at Jazadi.
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”Dammit!” Jamie curses. She drops her long blade and draws a morningstar to smash the skeleton!
Snapping out of it and seeing a huge centipede in front of him, alone and with the rest of the party engaged in a different fight behind him, Ammon decides to fall back and places himself in between most of the party members and the approaching skeletons from the north. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me! Huge insect around the corner there, but let's deal with whatever comes closest first!"
Seeing the skeletons and worried tht the haunt might discharge again, Dhakira channels a second time: ''Pharasma, we need your jelp again to fight these undead.''
Trusting in luck, Jazadi ditches her whip and brings her light mace to bear before swinging it at the standing skeleton!
Uthe, coming to her senses, realises that she is now alone in a new courtyard and can hear her friends caught in a tricky situation. She makes her way back to aid them.
As Dhakira channels Pharasma's forces, two of the skeletons that are on the ground shatter into many pieces as their bones tumble down the steps. Jazadi's mace makes contact with the stair rail instead of the skeleton.
The humongous centipede approaches Say'ri and it met with a deafening BANG. Its sting lashes towards Say'ri.
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Jazadi swings again, this time trying to aim.
Unfortunately, her lack of combat prowess shows itself yet again.
Jamie swings at the skeleton again, draining some of her spiritual essence to ensure a solid blow!
Seeing all enemies around the party die in seconds, Ammon nods appreciatively at Dhakira and Jamie. He turns the other way and approaches the giant centipede to strike.
Her tail twitching in annoyance, Uthe makes her way back to the others. Seeing something there that she can vent her energy against, the amurrun sends a bolt of magic into the centipede.
Dhakira flicks her wrist to get the wand out and uses it to cast Bless ''Pharasma , guide my allies hand in combat and protect us from fear.''
''This should help if the haunt triggers again.''
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The scorpion bites Ammon, a burning poison entering into his shoulder.
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Dex; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
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Jazadi steps over to her fallen whip and drops her mace to pick it up. Standing up, she snaps it at the centipede, trusting in luck again!
Ammon screams as the centipede's stinger pierces him straight through the shoulder. By some miracle, he holds on to his shield. The next moment, a cold feeling begins to spread from it...
"Damn.. ! Poison! A little help!?"
Knowing this thing would make mincemeat of the party members, he struck one final time before slightly flling back, opening a clear line of fire to it while placing himself in reach for healing. Maybe hitting would keep its attention a bit longer...