PFS Quest #1: The Sandstone Secret (Inactive)

Game Master Super Zero

To be honest I was striking the big one as well.

The big one is down: kill the last one!

Then it was a miss. Also, less relevant now.

Good thing the attack misses her. It is now her chance to fight back, but it is brought down by the others now, which is a good thing, she thinks. All that is left is the last mummy. She rushes to the undead and gives it a blow of her warhammer into the husky head.

Warhammer Attack vs Red Mummy Shambler: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Warhammer Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 Bludgeoning Damage

And another to bring it into a pulp.
Warhammer Attack vs Red Mummy Shambler, MAP: 1d20 + 7 - 5 ⇒ (18) + 7 - 5 = 20
Warhammer Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 Bludgeoning Damage

◆ Stride
◆ Strike
◆ Strike

The first blow lands with a thud. The second with a crunch.
The mummy's head falls forward, but the rest of it falls back.

All is quiet.

Naple sighs, but is thankful that the undead is dead again. She recites a short prayer so that Pharasma may guide the souls of the undead bodies to the Boneyard and sanctify the mummified bodies that were desecrated.

After that, she checks the area for something that might be of interest, else she invites the others to look around to other areas just in case there are more threats to eliminate.

Sam looks around, her eyes still slightly wide at what just happened.

"So, um, that's it?"

"Sam! Are you okay? Um, is everyone okay?".

There is no response from Nefaram, who does not appear okay.

Sam shoots Ronnie a slightly annoyed look.

"I'm fine" she says, "I studied in a mage academy so it's not like I'm a weakling. I just felt that maging is not my idea for a career. But thank you for asking." She gives Ronnie a mischievous wink.

Naple approaches Nefaram if he is okay after what just happened. "Hey, are you alright? Is everything okay? The mummies are gone now. You are safe as well." she tells him and inspects the man for injuries and all.

Still no response. He doesn't look like he took the hits from the giant mummy well at all, and may be beyond rescue.

Well we cleaned up the place from undead. That’s a good news. Undead are the worse we can encounter.

The half elf refocuses.

Naple drops her weapon and shield to check the man but it is too late, Nefaram is gone. She offers a short prayer for Nefaram so that his soul is led to the Boneyard by Pharasma.

Let’s finish to explore the site and bring his body to the guards. Then we can meet the venture-captain.

"You mean confront the Venture Captain? Quite convenient that his compatriot died down here."

Ronnie looks to Nafaram's limp form. "I wish that he were not dead, but I like to see that crime doesn't pay."

I never said to confront. Now he’s dead. I mean simply to go back to the venture-captain to report what we found, what saw, what we fought and defeated.

Let’s finish the exploration.

The next room on the Pathfinders' circuit contains, of course, a burning brazier.

At either end of this long, narrow room stands a statue of a humanoid skeleton wearing robes. They point accusingly at each other.

The half elf looks at both and tries to manipulate the hand of the statue.

Elduin finds that the outstretched arms do rotate.

And he takes it down.

The arms settle into a lower position with a clunk. A much lost CLUNK record from somewhere near the entrance.

The skeletons' new posture gives then a rather different feel. They now look more like they're getting each other peacefully.

Well next room.

The half elf is perplexed.

The next room is the largest, save perhaps the entrance hall. It is an elaborate shrine. The centerpiece is a 10-foot statue, presumably of a god, holding a brazier of lit coals. The statue is flanked by two larger braziers, also burning.

Religion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

The half elf has a look.

Religion: 1d20 ⇒ 7

"He sure did light everything up nicely, didn't he?"

Ronnie will let the others ponder and record the information.

The goblin is watching too.

Religion:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

"The only logical explanation is that the Venture Captain was working with that imposter,"

Religion: 1d20 ⇒ 10

I dunno if that's a bit, but he did confess, albeit briefly before being attacked by the giant mummy. He was a clerk in the permit office who created s duplicate when he realized the real one wasn't going to be used for a while.

Gnurk us completely certain that it's a statue of Set, an Osiriani god of darkness, deserts, and murder. Well, that our a statue of the necromancer himself, who obviously had quite an ego.

One of those two things, anyway.

Dubious Knowledge, right?

The nearby doors lead back to the entrance hall. Someone steps on a pressure panel with an audible click--but nothing happens. After a bit of examination, the Pathfinders determine that these doors are designed to slam shut and seal to split a party. The mechanism in the skeleton statues is a switch that enables or disables the trap. Changing the skeletons from accusatory to welcoming posture disabled it.

Notably, Nefaram was almost certainly aware of this trap and had left it enabled, though the Pathfinders sidestepped the issue by traveling through the narrower hall.

The remaining unexplored doors in the entrance and the hallway... are held closed by seals that were certainly not recently placed! While the Pathfinder Society will certainly want to continue exploring down that way sometimes soon, it is clear that Nefaram had not yet gone through. The presence of the impostor needs to be reported, so exploration into other areas will have to wait. For now.

The guards are surprised by the Pathfinders' reports, and taken aback when told that Nefaram is dead. "You didn't have to kill him!" With further explanation of the encounter with the mummies, their focus turns to gratitude that the Pathfinders successfully prevented the cursed creatures from escaping the site.

After a bit more report-writing and -submitting, Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir sends a letter thanking the team for handling the hostile creatures, and expressing deep concern about the impostor. Balentiir reassures the team that he will work with government officials to root out the source of the problem; shortly after, an elderly woman representing the permit office arrives. She seems dismayed to report that the body does indeed belong to a former subordinate of hers who resigned suddenly some times ago. "And yes, it looks like he issued this permit. With a delayed start date because I knew I needed to iron things out with your Venture-Captain--we don't often award these to outside organizations, you know. And this one, issued for immediate use. He took advantage of the delay to come here while he knew he'd be alone... We'll need to figure out who his sand-clearing crew was, too, though they could be hired hands who didn't know he was a fraud for all we know..."

For now, though, the Pathfinders have earned a rest in the gardens of the Sandswept Halls.

"Seems like the paper work can be more dangerous than the monsters at times.". Ronnie says with a shake of his head.