A table displaying a three-dimensional diorama occupies much of the north side of this room. Three shields with different designs are displayed upon a rack against the east wall, while various weapons hang from another rack along the south wall.
Arrayed around the room are five small chests and a clay urn.
As Diffa steps into the room, three tiny wooden dolls in the diorama spring to life and clamber down the diorama to attack.
➤ Dee'Ly'Lah ⛨ 18/19 │
➤ Shantanna Lyrs ⛨ 18/20 │
➤ Alvarius Bufo ⛨ 17 │
⠀⠀➤ Hetkoshu
➤ Diffa ⛨ 14 │
➤ Layla, Angel of Knives ⛨ 17 │
Warrior Doll A │
Warrior Doll B │
Warrior Doll C │
Erebos Sunbreaker ⛨ 18/20 │
Iryani Kalyeer ⛨ 18/20 │
Rols ⛨ 18 │
As part of the diroama display comes alive, Diffa carefully steps backwards towards the rest of group near the chest that was already opened.
"Shantanna, do you think damaging living art trying to harm us qualifies as desecrating Akhentepi's tomb?"
"If they prove to be aggressive against us, I'd say this qualifies as 'we need to first survive if we are to be judged or not'!"- she responds, then extending - "Pull them in, team - let them come closer to us!"
Diffa steps back. He cannot figure out what these dolls are.
Shantanna, though, knows that it has the following immunities: bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, healing, mental, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, spirit, unconscious, vitality, void.
And, because it is a construct, has hardness. A sufficient amount of damage or a critical hit will break its shell, removing its hardness and lowering its armor class.
➤ Dee'Ly'Lah ⛨ 18/19 │
Shantanna Lyrs ⛨ 18/20 │
➤ Alvarius Bufo ⛨ 17 │
⠀⠀➤ Hetkoshu
Diffa ⛨ 14 │
➤ Layla, Angel of Knives ⛨ 17 │
Warrior Doll A │
Warrior Doll B │
Warrior Doll C │
Erebos Sunbreaker ⛨ 18/20 │
Iryani Kalyeer ⛨ 18/20 │
Rols ⛨ 18 │
Layla was ready to pause. But when the frog-person attacks, she rolls into the room and hurls dozens of sharp little stilettoes into them. Once it's a fight, you have your people's backs.
Alvar moves and sends an arrow into the ceiling.
Layla, sends some shards down the line of the dolls.
The first two dolls are only scratched, while the third's hardness prevents most of the damage.
Warrior Doll A strikes at Layla three times with its spear.
Warrior Doll B strides up to the group.
Warrior Doll C strides up to the group and strikes at Layla.
The dolls all miss except for the last strike that pierces Layla's side.
➤ Erebos Sunbreaker ⛨ 18/20 │
➤ Iryani Kalyeer ⛨ 18/20 │
➤ Rols ⛨ 18 │
➤ Dee'Ly'Lah ⛨ 18/19, Delay 1 │
➤ Shantanna Lyrs ⛨ 18/20 │
➤ Alvarius Bufo ⛨ 17 │
⠀⠀➤ Hetkoshu
➤ Diffa ⛨ 14 │
➤ Layla, Angel of Knives ⛨ 17 │
Warrior Doll A │
Warrior Doll B │
Warrior Doll C │
Diffa activates his kinetic gate and wills one of the pebbles to grow in size and smashes into the warrior doll that just struck at him.
At the same time he reaches out with his left hand as water spreads out over his outstretched hand to touch Layla, the water transferring to her and quickly spreads to provide a thin layer of water all around her, healing her wounds, though the thin layer of water remains on her for the time being.
He then moves back to allow room for one of the more martial members of his group to engage with the living dolls.
◇ Elemental Blast vs
◆ Ocean's Balm on
"Interesting little buggers." Iryani thought and wondered, what electricity would to them.
Lightning shot from his fingers, jumping over Shantanna at the two dolls he could see.
◆◆
He also ◆ drew his whip, just in case.
Diffa channels a blast at Warrior Doll B, and half the damage goes through. Then, Diffa heals Layla a bit.
Iryani sends an arc of lightning.
➤ Erebos Sunbreaker ⛨ 18/20 │
Iryani Kalyeer ⛨ 18/20 │
➤ Rols ⛨ 18 │
➤ Dee'Ly'Lah ⛨ 18/19, Delay 1 │
➤ Shantanna Lyrs ⛨ 18/20 │
➤ Alvarius Bufo ⛨ 17 │
⠀⠀➤ Hetkoshu
Diffa ⛨ 14 │
➤ Layla, Angel of Knives ⛨ 17 │
Warrior Doll A │
Warrior Doll B │
Warrior Doll C │
Shantanna switches her attention towards the doll closer to her now, exposing its amulet to it while pronouncing her thaumaturgic words.
Trying to get a better understanding of the enemy to empower her attacks, which she immediately follows with.
◆) Stride
◆) Strike
Lumbering forward with a mini sprint, Hetkoshu tries to put Doll B in his jaws!
CHOMP
Layla realizes she needs to focus her efforts so she slashes out with a powerful blow, then tries to slip past them to let others forward.
Shantanna exploits the vulnerabilities of Warrior Doll B.
Shantanna then sends a hammer that smashes Warrior Doll B into pieces all over the floor.
Alvar shoots (and misses), then commands Hetkoshu to attack Warrior Doll C. Even with the hardness of these constructs, the doll's head and feet are the only things you see as Hetkoshu gulps down the rest.
Layla sends a blast at the remaining doll, and shards of metal destroy it.
"Is anyone hurt?" Diffa asks the others.
With a sculpted landscape and tiny stone and wooden statues, the diorama depicts an ancient battle between the city of Wati and an unidentified enemy. The rack to the east proudly displays three shields.
The shield on the right is a light wooden shield identical to the shields carried by the soldiers in the diorama. It bears Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs that spell the name “Akhentepi,” marking those soldiers as under the command of Akhentepi.
The light wooden shield on the left does not appear to be Osirian in origin.
The center shield is unusual in that it is a light steel shield shaped like a scarab; it matches the one borne by Akhentepi in the engravings on the doors in the lower shaft room and the trapped corridor.
The rack on the south wall holds a composite shortbow, a khopesh, and a spear — all of which belonged to Akhentepi.
The chests are of good craftsmanship but less ornate than the one found in the Chariot Chamber. None of the chests are locked or trapped, but each has been sealed with wax. They contain a sack with a 10 gp, 4 sp, and 2 cp, and several scroll tubes holding papyrus records, private memos, expense ledgers, speeches, and private correspondence.
There is little else of interest in the papers, but to a collector or Osirionologist, these documents are worth 25 gp total if undamaged.
The clay urn is also sealed with wax and contains nard, an expensive, oily perfume, worth 7 gp and 5 sp.
Most of the arms and armor on the racks are mundane items, but Akhentepi’s khopesh and spear are both +1 weapons. The composite shortbow is still serviceable, but its string has deteriorated, and must be replaced before the weapon can be used. The scarab-shaped steel shield is a scarab shield
After spending an hour looking at, collecting, and cataloguing the items in the room, you go back to the Foyer, and the southern door you did not go through yet.
The south doors open without difficulty onto a short stairway that descends to additional sets of doors. You open those doors.
A massive mirror stretches across the southern wall of this chamber, flanked by two statues. The statue to the east depicts a tall, gaunt woman in a flowing, hooded gown, holding an hourglass. The figure to the west is that of a jackal-headed man carrying a scepter or staff in his hand. Stone double doors, standing slightly ajar, lead to the east and west. A third set of double doors exits the room to the north. Torch holders sculpted in the shape of bird skulls are built in each corner, and a thin layer of dust covers every surface.
"The design of the shield on the left is similar to shields used by tribes of the Mwangi Expanse."
Can I use Society to attempt to read the Ancient Osiriani?
With your GM fiat that Diffa will become fluent in Ancient Osiriani at level 2.
As I have mentioned, I am working with the Beast eidolon, Maahess (HF mini), being connected to ancient Osirion and the deity Bastet, could be how Diffa becomes fluent in Ancient Osiriani.
If you want, I could swap out the typical language beast eidolons make the summoner fluent in (Sylvan) for Ancient Osiriani instead.
Diffa picks up one of the scroll tubes, and discovers the papyrus inside has ancient Osiriani inked on them.
The elders of his village would occasionally use ancient scrolls with ancient Osiriani inked on them to see if any of the children of the village had knack for deciphering the meaning of the complex hieroglyphics. Growing up Diffa was usually the first of the children to be able to decipher the meaning of the hieroglyphics.
"This is in ancient Osiriani, as expected, but I have never seen some of the hieroglypics the author used," Diffa tells the others, "Shantanna, you are a guardian of the tombs. Can you read this?" he asks as he hands her the piece of papyrus.
This reading and exploring, he knew it was necessary but his own skills weren't exactly made for such things. So he looks himself over in the mirror, checking Armor straps etc. this was called Reflection so he takes the time to do so
"Unfortunately not. I am but a guard, my friend, and not a researcher of the old ways." - says the Nagaji, limited in her languages - "As for these items, as before, we should put to service whatever can help us immediately, and pass by here as we leave to collect the others that may be of interest outside the tombs. For instance, I feel I could make use of the shield for now as we continue spelunking."
"For instance, I feel I could make use of the shield for now as we continue spelunking."
Diffa looks at Shantanna to let her know he is considering her words, and after a few seconds of silence tells her and the rest of the group what he thinks regarding taking or leaving the shields from the room.
"Which of the shields are you referring to? Do you think this scarab shield is Akhentepi's personal shield or a replica of it? I think we should leave it be if it is his personal shield. That said, I suspect his personal shield would have been placed with him whereever he was laid to rest down below. As for the shield his warriors used, how rare is it? Have you ever seen any others like that in your time in Wati? Should it be the only one of its kind that is left in the world, we should leave it here. The Mwangi warrior shield could be replaced I think, though it might take time and effort to replace it."
Society
Dee looks at the ancient symbols... turns them upside down... looks at them in the mirror but can make no sense of them.
"We can use all the help we can get down here. These dead haven't needed all the goods in hundreds of years; chances are they won't need them any time soon. I would suggest we can take the weapons and move their magical abilities to our more current weapons. Having the runes off one of these weapons on my fine dogslicer would be good. As far as that scarab shield... I would have no fear in putting it to use if nobody else is inclined to use it.
"Yes, I'm referring to the scarab shield... And I don't think we need to leave it here. Plus, his own personal shield likely would look a lot older than that, I'd imagine." - she says - "Then again, my knowledge is limited. I'm mostly thinking from a practical perspective."
”Wait. I can’t take the book, but you can take the shield? How is that fair?!”
Diffa looks at Alvarius, and speaks with a calming, soothing tone in his voice, "Alvar, I have shared my thoughts regarding taking or leaving the shields where they are. Both Shantanna and Dee have stated how taking them could be used to better defend our group. How would you use the cumbersome biography of Akhentepi to aid the group without harming the antiquity?"
"Would you please stop arguing? This is annoying and not worth our time. If the frog wants to haul around the book, let him. It's his repsonsibillity then. Let's please move on and look for more important things." He slightly shoves them forward.
Diffa looks at Iryani, "Iryani, I find it curious that a devotee of a deity, which you have told the group you are such a devotee, who should know the great value of abiding by edicts and not committing actions that are anathema would so easily suggest to the group to ignore the clearly outlined rules that allow our group the privilege to be lawfully exploring Akhentepi's tomb."
Diffa then looks back at Alvarius, "Alvar, you shared your wisdom with the group when you voiced aloud your thought wondering whether or not taking the book might be a test."
Diffa then address the group as a whole, "Some of our group might not think they are at risk of being cursed for taking whatever they want from the tomb. I cannot speak with certainty on the possibility of any of us becoming cursed as a result of being here. What I can do is remind all of us of the legal ramifications if we violate any the rules for being allowed here to be exploring this tomb."
Diffa pauses briefly before reciting the consequences of violating the rules, "Failure to comply with these rules can result in, but is not limited to, expulsion from the necropolis, a ban on continued exploration, seizure of recovered valuables, and arrest and prosecution by local authorities."
Diffa pauses briefly before concluding, "Our group was given the privilege of being allowed to explore here. The actions of a single member of our group could have consequences for all the members of our group. So whether you care or you do not care if your actions might risk you being personally prosecuted for what you decide to take from here, I ask that each of you consider that the items you choose to take could risk prosecution for all of us."
After a pause, DIffa addresses Iryani again, "Iryani, you were mistaken when you said discussing things is not worth our time. I ask with respect that you do not suggest to the group that we should not discuss whether or not actions we might take could be interpretted as being anathema to the rules that are providing us the privilege of being allowed to explore here."
Then thinking of a different tact regarding Alvar's desire regarding the biography, Diffa kneels down so he is face to face with Alvarius and quietly whispers to him for a few minutes.
"Alvar, that book would take up a lot of the capacity of your pack. Would you not rather save the limited capacity your pack has for items that would not be at risk of being confiscated by the authorities for being deemed important historical items, without them paying you for the book and potentially prosecuting you for removing it from the tomb. Once we are done exploring below, I will wait for you to read the entirety of his biography if you want before we leave this place. Who knows what we will find in this place. What happens if you find something below you want much more than the book and the only way to be able to bring your new find with you is leaving the book below? By leaving it here for now, you have the option to decide whether it is more important to you than things you have collected from below. You should never stop wondering if things are a test while we are here. That shows you have the potential for great wisdom. If leaving the book is passing a test put before you, maybe your reward will be to find something much more valuable to you below, something that the others would have no interest in. You might find something below that is as cumbersome as the book, that you want for Hetkoshu. Maybe a magical saddle. The group could benefit from you and Hetkoshu making use of such a thing to better ensure the whole group survives exploring this place."
Diffa smiles at Alvar, hoping he has made him appreciate the benefits of leaving the cumbersome book in the chest while the group continues to explore the tomb.
Diffa wonders to himself if Iryani is a true devotee or a pretender, and if a pretender, wonders what secret might require impersonating a devotee of a deity. Diffa, thinking Bastet might have deemed him worthy of becoming aware such a potential secret before the the group, Descending Ascendents, start to descend the steps into the deeper depths of the tomb.
Who made him the boss? the old Elf wonders. Yet Iryani was not impressed by the young Garundi. He clearly likes hearing his own voice. And he's reading too much into all of this exploration thing. Someone should give him something to relax.
But the Clergyman was above starting an argument with a child and just gave him a pitying look, before grabing the piece of papyrus from Diffa and Shantanna.
He quickly studies the hieroglyphics, then announces their meaning to the group. He does so with some satisfaction in his tone.
Iryani figures out that the papers are discussions regarding the unfinished tomb of Akhentepi’s mistress.
He turns around, (i guess nothing from that he saw), then back to the mirror, then back to his companions
"Uhm, comrades... the one of this tomb, Tepi something, not too pleased with us, very unhappy. Perhaps we should leave the objects where we found them, yes? I like fighting, but godly man? Erebos has yet to fully earn his name, and now is not the time to try"
Diffa avoids looking at his reflection in the mirrror as he looks around making eye contact with Dee, Shantanna and Iryani, "It appears our actions and words in the tomb have repurcussions. We are not here to be plunder all the treasures that are in Akhentepi's tomb. There will be other important historic antiquities that some of us might be tempted to take, which would be unwise for any of us to give in to such temptation."
He then turns and looks up at Erebos, "Erebos, how do you know this?"
Diffa waits for Erebos to reply before he decides if he wants to take intentional look at his own reflection in the large mirror.
"Yes, there is a difference between using what we find to help our immediate spelunking, and simply collecting things for posterior profit." - says the Nagaji - "Yet, I see no reason to extend these discussions any further. We will simply leave it all undisturbed. Just don't let your greed cloud your judgment to where the righteous intentions may reside."
"So working this hard... risking my life... for no reward??? NO THANKS"
Erabos points to the mirror, "God man 'Tepi in mirror, he looked very upset with everyone" as he looks around the group
Iryiani is quick to answer the Goblin. "Some are more afraid than others, Dee'Ly'Lah. Afraid of what, I don't know. The wrath of Akhentepi maybe. Or the judgement of the Wati judical systemperhaps. I say, feel free to take, what you deem necessary for your survival or what you deem fair compensation for this risky undertaking. Nobody here is above you."
Iryiani turns to the imposing Minotaur. "And so he should be. We're trespassing in his grave after all. But I do think of us as the good guys. We may be here for many different reasons, but none of us, I judge, is here to desecrate the tomb or raise a sleeping corpse. In contrary, we're clearing this place from whatever unwanted pests began to nest in the years since his passing and we're resurfacing his history and memory. For these deeds alone, some form of compensation is more than accepatable.
Layla is doing her bit to keep out of the argument. Still, she's ready to draw down when it boils over.
Satisfied that everyone who might not have read the stipulations of The Lottery, or participated in the discussion of the stipulations, before the group arrived at Akhentep's tomb, are now aware of the stipulations regarding removing some items from the tomb could cause negative ramifications for themselves and the rest of the group, Diffa waits for the group to decide which set of double doors to open next without adding anymore to the debate.
In response to hearing Erebos' answer to his question, Diffa keeps his body and head angled so the mirror is not within his direct line of sight or his peripheral view.
"Erebos, where would Akhentepi be standing amongst us if the image of him in the mirror was his reflection?"
Dee picks up the spear, and nudges the scarab Shield towards Shantanna. If not taken she'll pick it up as well.
"Well these are mine now. If some curse takes me, you can use them in my grave".
Layla doesn't take anything at the moment. But she's clearly ready to move on.
@ Erebos: Will you be responding to Diffa's question?
@ Everyone: Is anyone else looking at the mirror?
The reflected images always appear stern and disapproving, regardless of the actual facial expression.
This includes you also.
Dee simply shrugs and moves forward. She checks the door to the East for any traps.
The large bovine looks around a bit, then points where he saw the image of the deity stood
"There, hard to be exact due to it being in the mirror"
Diffa nods at Erebos, motions for anyone currently standing in the place Eerbos pointed out to move out of the way. He then activates his kinetic aura and creates a palm-sized amount of sand in air above where Erebos pointed out where Akhentepi would be in the room based on his reflection, with gravity doing the rest.