"Damn all over clever trapsters! It couldn't just be something simple like a big pile of rocks. No, it had to be undead kitties!
Among the debris falling from the ceiling, two big cat-like creatures appear. Judging by their looks and the fact that they’ve been trapped here waiting for a long while, Elliander suspects they are undead. He sends a fire spell at one of them and then draws his sword.
Attacking blue cat
Casting Level2: Scorching Ray, ranged touch attack
fire damage, +50% if vulnerable to fire
fire damage, +50% if vulnerable to fire
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistance: yes
(Spell Penetration)
Devin begins inspiring his allies, and readies his longspear to meet a charge from whichever cat attacks first...
vs charging (-2 to AC)
+5 bab +2 heroism +1 enhancement +2 inspire courage
doubled vs charge, +2*2 heroism +2*1 enhancement+2*2inspire courage
Francis, Elliander and Nevitash have heard of these creatures - the ubashki, deathless guardians of Osirion's pre-Keleshite emperors for the most part, but also used to protect important sites. Nevitash is well-versed in these undead guardians, knowing that Ubashki were prized for being stealthy, agile, and preternaturally perceptive sentries that made for effective spies and watch guards for the tombs of Osirian god-kings. Emperors often filled their crypts with the bodies of strangled and mutilated cats before they themselves were entombed, believing that a feline’s suffering in life would translate to strength in undeath.
Whether or not such theories were true is up for debate in the inquisitor's opinion, but those felid creatures that did rise from death with their masters were indeed beasts to be reckoned with, and a sizeable pack of the mummified things could very well spell the end for would-be tomb raiders. Ranging from tiny housecats to desert-roaming mountain lions, the feline enshrined with a deceased pharaoh varied in type depending on the predilections of its master, but all were known to be significantly more powerful than their living iterations.
In any case, Francis is aware that these ubashki, like mummies in general, are particularly vulnerable to fire and possess the usual traits common to all undead. In addition to this, Elliander is aware of the notorious Ubashki rot that they deliver with their bite - a particularly nasty disease that requires strong magic to cure. Nevitash is aware of these facts, and more. The Ubashki rot acts quickly, draining the victim's strength and causing confusion and mental fatigue (STR and WIS damage), a curse and disease both - and each must be treated with magic or the victim will most certainly die horribly. The half-orc also knows that the yowl of these undead cats causes unreasoning fear to steal into the souls of their victims, causing them to run in fear, making them easy prey...
Moonday, the 21st day of Desnus, 4714 AR
Weather is overcast with high clouds, hot and a bit humid with little to no wind.
Hour of Sunset.
----------------------------------------------
Amenhep sets his spear, anticipating the ubashki to pounce at the party and Devin does the same. Elliander sends two fiery rays at the undead cats - which almost seems to immolate one of them (21 & 25 = 46 fire damage), though it comes through the scathing fire still intact, if barely. Francis steps forward boldly and channels his divine power to bring harm to the undead creatures - a fact he quickly establishes with a glance through the eyes of the magical mask that adorns his face - and though the badly burned cat resists the cleric's holy energy, the other catches it full blast (13 damage to Red, 6 damage to Blue).
= Success!
= Failure!
Undeterred by the damage taken, the undead monsters stalk forward, heads lowered and moving with feline grace, mirroring their living cousins. They skirt the rubble and move in on the party, pinning Francis between them, and close enough for everyone to smell the strong scent of death and the faintly nauseatingly sweet smell of herbs used during the mummification process when they both utter hellish yowls that put the bone-chilling screams of pumas to shame!
rounds duration
rounds duration
Frightened is like shaken, except that the creature must flee if possible. Panicked is a more extreme state of fear.
[b]Research Rolls for Tomorrow:
Francis: 19 (Nobility, includes the +5 for having ranks in the relevant Knowledge type AND +2 from the clockwork servant)
Research Rolls for Following Day:
Francis: 34 [Crit Confirmed! (Nobility, includes the +5 for having ranks in the relevant Knowledge type AND +2 from the clockwork servant)
The funerary mask they recovered in Wati, known only to them as the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh actually belonged to Sky Pharaoh Hakotep I, who ruled Osirion during the Second Age over six thousand years ago. References to Hakotep as the Sky Pharaoh recounted his ability to 'ride the stars by night'. Thanks to a few other obscure clues in the library, combined with their knowledge of history and the arcane, the party suspected this might refer to magic once possessed by the Shory, an ancient people said to have created great cities that flew through the skies thousands of years ago.
The hidden Spiral Archive library revealed that Hakotep was involved in some ancient war, and he was convinced that an attack was coming from enemies who 'lived in cities in the clouds' - further solidifying the idea of Shory involvement. Apparently the Sky Pharaoh was seeking to find a powerful weapon to defeat his enemy, and there was evidence that he actually found this weapon - but the only details the party found were the remains of papyrus scraps depicting confusing geometrical patterns.
A scroll was found describing Hakotep's tomb as 'having wings', part of the confession of a member of a group called the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather, which also claimed that the Sky Pharaoh's heart and funerary mask were stolen from his tomb before it was 'lost to the skies'. This document indicated that these two items possessed pieces of Hakotep's soul, which were separated from his physical body. Hakotep's successor, Pharaoh Djederet II, ordered that members of this order were to be rounded up and questioned - but those scrolls were to be found in yet another secret library known as the Dark Depository.
Having now found this second library, the adventurers have yet to find these Scrolls of Inquiry as they were called, but they located the journal of a Priest of Nethys who was either a member of the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather or doing very similar research. The priest's name was Khnenti, and he was apparently obsessed with the mystery of the Sky Pharaoh. Khnenti wrote extensively about the funerary mask of Hakotep I, and that it also contains a portion of the Sky Pharaoh's soul, specifically his ka, which apparently fuels the magical abilities of the mask. It was also noted during their search of the room that all of the sarcophagi in the chamber they're resting in contain the remains of those that were being punished by being embalmed and mummified while still alive for various crimes involving the search for knowledge that had been deemed as protected by order of the pharaoh. And, in fact, the occupant of one of these sarcophagi was none other than Khnenti himself - a contemporary of Pharaoh Djederet II and apparently during the time period when the Scrolls of Inquiry were purportedly written.
It is apparent to the party that these scrolls, and perhaps more information, are still to be found somewhere in the Dark Depository - perhaps in one of the other rooms they've yet to explore. As well, they hope to find the location of this Vault of Hidden Wisdom, where Khnenti indicated he stored his most precious research on Hakotep, including the Sky Pharaoh's 'darkest secrets'...
It takes several hours to go through everything, and truly the adventurers have no clue as to what time it us in the world outside of this ancient library by the time they've gleaned everything available. In fact, they're fairly certain that there isn't any more to learn in this particular place. Their research has finally revealed the Scrolls of Inquiry, found in this very chamber. The scrolls are cumbersome and difficult to read, and most of the confessions recorded upon them are of no use to them. One transcript, however, does contain some useful information (OOC - see Player Handout #2 in the Google Slides below for details). After hearing the others tell of this, Devin realizes he may have heard something about that. The half-orc bard recalls he heard some months earlier. The story went that an important and high-ranking priestess of Nethys was said to have discovered an artifact of some kind beneath Azghaad's Spire in Sothis. Her name, as he recalls, was Serethet - and soon after the discovery that had all the treasure hunters and nobility in the capital city of Osirion buzzing with excitement, the priestess disappeared. There were rumors that she had fled Sothis after being summoned to an audience with the Ruby Prince himself.
Besides the grim contents of the scrolls, the party also discovered a collection of architectural plans detailing a series of tomb designs of incredible complexity. Each plan is labeled with a double hieroglyph of an owl inside a house. It didn't take long to cross reference the hieroglyph as the signature of a very famous architect from the First Age of Osirion, a talented man called Chisisek. There is also a note mentioning a meeting between Chisisek and the Sky Pharaoh, but nothing more is found on this topic here. It appears that the interred priest Khnenti possessed further research on Hakotep and the architect both, but these can only be found in the Vault of Hidden Wisdom. The location of the Vault is secret, but there is a notable clue that "worthy scholars can find the entrance by casting their eyes from the summit of the Tower of Ra’s Glory at dawn on midsummer’s day." Of course, it seems likely to Francis that casting Speak with Dead might make their efforts much easier than that...
Getting ready for his attempt to communicate with Khenti, Francis firsts casts Comprehend Languages, then casts Speak with Dead. "How would I find the Vault of Hidden Wisdom?" The corpse rises in response to Francis' spellcasting, gazing at the cleric with empty eyes as he asks his question. The voice of the corpse is like the fetid stench released from a deep grave as it responds. "Seek the Vault of Hidden Wisdom where the shadow's tip of the Tower of Ra's Glory touches the land as the sun rises on midsummer's day."
He considers the other things that they wanted to know. Maybe.... "Why is the Temple of Nethys hiding information about Hakotep?" Again, the sepulchral voice speaks its answer to Francis' query. "The Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather, a sect of the Temple of Nethys, sought to learn the secrets held by Sky Pharaoh Hakotep I, where he lay interred in his tomb. But the knowledge they gleaned was deemed too dangerous by Pharaoh Djederet II and the Order was charged with keeping it secret from all except themselves. For not even the Pharaoh, himself a worshipper of Nethys, would see valuable knowledge destroyed."
Francis asks "Where is Chisiek buried?" Again the raspy voice of the long-dead scholar speaks in answer to Francis' question. "Chisiek's tomb lies in the Parched Dunes, north of the source of the Crook River in the foothills of the Barrier Wall within a steep-sided ravine at the western edge of a valley hidden from those that are not seeking it carefully." The cleric is struck by the preciseness of the answer, and is not surprised when the corpse's empty eyes seem to bore into his own as it surprisingly continues to speak briefly, apparently in an addendum to its final answer. "Find the tomb of the architect who built the Sky Pharaoh's sacred pyramid. Finish my work!" And then the corpse seems to groan as it falls back into its crypt.
Player Handout - Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh
Player Handout - Scrolls of Inquiry Excerpt
--------------------------------------------
Amenhep 58/58 [Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
Devin 59/59 [Heroism (+2 morale bonuses on most d20 rolls) for 220 minutes; Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes; Heightened Awareness (+2 competence bonus to Perception checks) for 110 minutes]
Elliander 63/63 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day; Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
Francis 53/53 [Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
Ubashki Red (Wounded, -13 HP); Blue (Wounded, -52 HP)
Nevitash 71/71 [Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
+5 Bard +2 Luck +2 resistance +4 Morale
Devin continues to inspire his allies, and backs it up with even more enhancement...
Devin will run as well...
Caught between the two monsters Francis calls on Pharasma's power again.
Nevitash cries out and runs away.
Elliander first gets a feeling he should leave together with Nevitash, but The Biter pushes him to attack instead. The sword craves the unpure remnants of whatever blood is still left in these undead beasts. He swings the weapon with a grin on his face.
Full Attack on Red, Channeling Disrupt Undead
The Biter: (undead)
(Arcane Strike, undead bane)
The Biter:
(Arcane Strike, undead bane)
An undead creature you touch takes no damage of either sort, but it must make a successful Will saving throw or flee as if panicked for 1d4 rounds + 1 round per caster level.
Spell Resistance: yes
(Spell Penetration)
An additional +3/+3 to each of the previous attacks, plus and extra attack at full bonus:
The Biter: (undead, inspire , flag, haste)
(Arcane Strike, undead bane, inspire , flag, haste)
@GM West: My Caster level check wasn't that impressive before. If these kittens have SR, but I hit them more than once with Disrupt Undead, do they just need to roll for one Will Save in total, or one per hit?
Moonday, the 21st day of Desnus, 4714 AR
Weather is overcast with high clouds, hot and a bit humid with little to no wind.
Hour of Sunset.
----------------------------------------------
Nevitash feels a stab of icy terror in his gut, but the paladin's presence keeps him grounded, though the half-orc hesitates as he steels himself to stay and fight. Amenhep drives his spear at the badly wounded beast and pins it to the ground (13 damage)through its head, where it twitches for a moment and then lies still. The paladin steps swiftly to stand beside Francis and drives a strike at that one as well, opening a gash (12 damage) in its flank. Devin casts a spell to hasten his allies, and Elliander makes good use of the magic, connecting three times with his magical sword (51 damage total) to lay the monster low.
= Success!
= Success!
= Hit!
= Hit!
Picking through the rubble that was dumped in the middle of the room, the party stares up at the now-revealed ceiling. Domed in shape, the entire ceiling is one vast illustration, a fresco that must once have been incredibly vivid. The painting is confusing however, consisting of several scenes surrounded by a mass of hieroglyphs and strange, geometric shapes. It seems that the fresco is telling a story of some kind, but it is not immediately evident as to what is being depicted. Perhaps some of the texts in the library will shed further light on the scenes.
Research Rolls for Tomorrow:
Francis: 19 (Nobility, includes the +5 for having ranks in the relevant Knowledge type AND +2 from the clockwork servant)
Research Rolls for Following Day:
Francis: 34 [Crit Confirmed! (Nobility, includes the +5 for having ranks in the relevant Knowledge type AND +2 from the clockwork servant)
The funerary mask they recovered in Wati, known only to them as the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh actually belonged to Sky Pharaoh Hakotep I, who ruled Osirion during the Second Age over six thousand years ago. References to Hakotep as the Sky Pharaoh recounted his ability to 'ride the stars by night'. Thanks to a few other obscure clues in the library, combined with their knowledge of history and the arcane, the party suspected this might refer to magic once possessed by the Shory, an ancient people said to have created great cities that flew through the skies thousands of years ago.
The hidden Spiral Archive library revealed that Hakotep was involved in some ancient war, and he was convinced that an attack was coming from enemies who 'lived in cities in the clouds' - further solidifying the idea of Shory involvement. Apparently the Sky Pharaoh was seeking to find a powerful weapon to defeat his enemy, and there was evidence that he actually found this weapon - but the only details the party found were the remains of papyrus scraps depicting confusing geometrical patterns.
A scroll was found describing Hakotep's tomb as 'having wings', part of the confession of a member of a group called the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather, which also claimed that the Sky Pharaoh's heart and funerary mask were stolen from his tomb before it was 'lost to the skies'. This document indicated that these two items possessed pieces of Hakotep's soul, which were separated from his physical body. Hakotep's successor, Pharaoh Djederet II, ordered that members of this order were to be rounded up and questioned - but those scrolls were to be found in yet another secret library known as the Dark Depository.
Having now found this second library, the adventurers have yet to find these Scrolls of Inquiry as they were called, but they located the journal of a Priest of Nethys who was either a member of the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather or doing very similar research. The priest's name was Khnenti, and he was apparently obsessed with the mystery of the Sky Pharaoh. Khnenti wrote extensively about the funerary mask of Hakotep I, and that it also contains a portion of the Sky Pharaoh's soul, specifically his ka, which apparently fuels the magical abilities of the mask. It was also noted during their search of the room that all of the sarcophagi in the chamber they're resting in contain the remains of those that were being punished by being embalmed and mummified while still alive for various crimes involving the search for knowledge that had been deemed as protected by order of the pharaoh. And, in fact, the occupant of one of these sarcophagi was none other than Khnenti himself - a contemporary of Pharaoh Djederet II and apparently during the time period when the Scrolls of Inquiry were purportedly written.
It is apparent to the party that these scrolls, and perhaps more information, are still to be found somewhere in the Dark Depository - perhaps in one of the other rooms they've yet to explore. As well, they hope to find the location of this Vault of Hidden Wisdom, where Khnenti indicated he stored his most precious research on Hakotep, including the Sky Pharaoh's 'darkest secrets'...
It takes several hours to go through everything, and truly the adventurers have no clue as to what time it us in the world outside of this ancient library by the time they've gleaned everything available. In fact, they're fairly certain that there isn't any more to learn in this particular place. Their research has finally revealed the Scrolls of Inquiry, found in this very chamber. The scrolls are cumbersome and difficult to read, and most of the confessions recorded upon them are of no use to them. One transcript, however, does contain some useful information (OOC - see Player Handout #2 in the Google Slides below for details). After hearing the others tell of this, Devin realizes he may have heard something about that. The half-orc bard recalls he heard some months earlier. The story went that an important and high-ranking priestess of Nethys was said to have discovered an artifact of some kind beneath Azghaad's Spire in Sothis. Her name, as he recalls, was Serethet - and soon after the discovery that had all the treasure hunters and nobility in the capital city of Osirion buzzing with excitement, the priestess disappeared. There were rumors that she had fled Sothis after being summoned to an audience with the Ruby Prince himself.
Besides the grim contents of the scrolls, the party also discovered a collection of architectural plans detailing a series of tomb designs of incredible complexity. Each plan is labeled with a double hieroglyph of an owl inside a house. It didn't take long to cross reference the hieroglyph as the signature of a very famous architect from the First Age of Osirion, a talented man called Chisisek. There is also a note mentioning a meeting between Chisisek and the Sky Pharaoh, but nothing more is found on this topic here. It appears that the interred priest Khnenti possessed further research on Hakotep and the architect both, but these can only be found in the Vault of Hidden Wisdom. The location of the Vault is secret, but there is a notable clue that "worthy scholars can find the entrance by casting their eyes from the summit of the Tower of Ra’s Glory at dawn on midsummer’s day." Of course, it seems likely to Francis that casting Speak with Dead might make their efforts much easier than that...
Getting ready for his attempt to communicate with Khenti, Francis firsts casts Comprehend Languages, then casts Speak with Dead. "How would I find the Vault of Hidden Wisdom?" The corpse rises in response to Francis' spellcasting, gazing at the cleric with empty eyes as he asks his question. The voice of the corpse is like the fetid stench released from a deep grave as it responds. "Seek the Vault of Hidden Wisdom where the shadow's tip of the Tower of Ra's Glory touches the land as the sun rises on midsummer's day."
He considers the other things that they wanted to know. Maybe.... "Why is the Temple of Nethys hiding information about Hakotep?" Again, the sepulchral voice speaks its answer to Francis' query. "The Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather, a sect of the Temple of Nethys, sought to learn the secrets held by Sky Pharaoh Hakotep I, where he lay interred in his tomb. But the knowledge they gleaned was deemed too dangerous by Pharaoh Djederet II and the Order was charged with keeping it secret from all except themselves. For not even the Pharaoh, himself a worshipper of Nethys, would see valuable knowledge destroyed."
Francis asks "Where is Chisiek buried?" Again the raspy voice of the long-dead scholar speaks in answer to Francis' question. "Chisiek's tomb lies in the Parched Dunes, north of the source of the Crook River in the foothills of the Barrier Wall within a steep-sided ravine at the western edge of a valley hidden from those that are not seeking it carefully." The cleric is struck by the preciseness of the answer, and is not surprised when the corpse's empty eyes seem to bore into his own as it surprisingly continues to speak briefly, apparently in an addendum to its final answer. "Find the tomb of the architect who built the Sky Pharaoh's sacred pyramid. Finish my work!" And then the corpse seems to groan as it falls back into its crypt.
Player Handout - Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh
Player Handout - Scrolls of Inquiry Excerpt
--------------------------------------------
Amenhep 58/58 [Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
Devin 59/59 Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes; Heightened Awareness (+2 competence bonus to Perception checks) for 110 minutes]
Elliander 63/63 [Armor Crystal - DR 1, has absorbed 0 (of 10) damage this day; Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
Francis 53/53 [Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
Nevitash 71/71 [Tears to Wine (+2 to INT & WIS skill checks) for 110 minutes]
"Thank Pharamsa those....creatures...have been put to their final rest." Nevitash says with a shaky voice.