Asciiman's page

Has anyone had to even do the Khenpathes fight? He's at E18, locked in his own crypt at the final area and frankly, he's behind a stone block and wall that prevent him from even being encountered.

Has anyone had to even have their players fight him and the Witchfires? In order for the PCs to do that, they have to ignore an open hallway, that heads toward Hakotep is, and instead invest time and resources in an entirely optional fight. Did anyone even do it?

For that matter, a large dark brown stone block in the the way and near as I can tell there isn't even a description on how to open it.

Can anyone offer insight into these issues? The fight with Khenpathes? The dark brown block? Or why the PCs would even go there?

do the group of PCs win as long as one PC wins, or should I keep the winner individual?

PCs win. But this is an odd question so it makes me wonder what you think the difference is. Either way wouldn't Mumminafrah actually provide assistance to the group? As for the rewards of a more tangible nature it would be that the winning chariot would get what they get and then it's up to the group to decide how the rewards are given out.

In my group one pair of players won, the others didn't. It wasn't an issue.

Also, I have 6 players - what's a good way to scale the library research for 6 players (arcanist, alchemist, druid, cleric, fighter, and barbarian)? At this point, I've increased the complexity DC of each library stack by +1-+3, and added 2d10 kp, but the scaling of the kp unlock amounts are very subjective and manual. Not sure if there's any better ideas.

Have you noticed that they really can't be failed? As in this is all there to just take more or less time. If your PCs do it in one day or one hundred what actually changes? I mention this so you can decide what you want to happen with changes? I had 5 players, and I changed nothing. It didn't really matter. They may have gotten through a library a day faster than average but it wasn't a focus.

Choose something and move on.

Finally, I've read lots of posts here on the nameless assassin attacks being confusing. I'm not sure if I read it correctly now, but I was assuming that one assassin drops down on a PC from a roof at point A with the studied death attack (which would be melee), and then that assassin high tails it through the alleys to point B, where the other two assassins were waiting to ambush with ranged attacks from the rooftops. But everyone else here seems to have read it very differently.

Thoughts?

You are right on this being confusing. As I recall this was a mistake in the writing as death attacks from assassins can't be done at range. So there is some controversy regarding this. In the end, I ran it as written. As in I allowed the death attack(DC was so low it didn't matter), players survived but I told them that it was an assassin's death attack. That immediately got their attention and they then responded with the seriousness I wanted them to.

In the end this encounter is mostly there to up the tension about what is going on and remind the players that they are being hunted. Whatever changes you opt to make, try and maintain this aspect.

Hakotep's ba is still in his body, which is still in his tomb. Serethet has the body of Chisisek so would be able to find out from him the same information the PCs can and head to the Slave Trenches.

So if the group DOES survive this they'll have to chase after Serethet and her cult, which will lead them to the Slave Trenches, they can have a stand-off somewhere in or near them, and the game can progress as normal. Or maybe Serethet has taken control of the Five Pointed Sun pyramid and attacks Wati (or just the PCs as they're searching for her, or she's taken control of it and is camped out near the Slave Trenches) so that she's the final boss of the pyramid instead of Isatemkhebet... Or the PCs have to fight both at different points in the pyramid...

If the group doesn't make it and they want to continue the story, the Five Star Pyramid attacks Wati, allies or other people from Wati storm the pyramid, Serethet is in the pyramid somewhere so that the new PCs can find out what's going on, and the story continues. (If some of the group want to play their original PCs they can likely get the location of the bodies out of Serethet so that they can bring them back to life.)

Or something like that.

Okay, it sounds like you came to the same sort of conclusion I did. I figured that replacing Istakhemebet(sp) in the Five Pointed Sun Pyramid was a logical step too. As in, Serethet raises ONE of the pyramids as she remembers elements of that.

But if she did go to the Slave Trenches, what would she do there? This is more of a 'thought experiment" to make sure I am covering all angles.

I hope someone can offer some insight into this. I am looking for a few different perspectives on what to do next.

My party got to the Sphinx and began the process of assaulting it. It has been slow going. I run a fairly difficult campaign, and my party has been struggling. They have had to retake the entrance three times but now the Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh has run out of reinforcements to hold the entrance. Instead they are retreating to the forge/pyramid room with all cultists and girtablilu. Everything else that is the Forgotten Pharaoh cult has been eliminated, aside from the two girtablilu in the sauna room who retreated to their main force on the parties last attack.

The party elected to explore a little more. They burst through the stone wall at K14 and were on their way to where Lady Sophronia resides. In the process, the Shadow Demon, Sargota, overheard them all call out before they got into the fight with the mud elementals. At which point the party was being overwhelmed and opted to retreat. In the process, the rogue was left behind and this allowed Sargota to use magic jar and take over the rogues body.

From this point on it all goes south and quickly. When the rogue(possessed by the Shadow Demon) rejoins the group she proceeds to drop the bard, ranger and fighter in two rounds. They were all nearly dead from the mud elementals after all. And then she turns to eliminate the Wizard. With that done the cultists had heard the battle, as the party ran and fought down the halls, and went to investigate. They find the wizard dead with the mask on her face. Of course they immediately take the mask, cheering in incredible luck and victory, taking it to the Forgotten Pharaoh.

As for Sargota(shadow demon), his description lists that he wants to gain sacrifices for Ninureset and as such using the rogues body, grabs the ranger and heads off to give the bodies over to the demon.

So my question is ultimately this; What happens if the Forgotten Pharaoh/Serethet gets the mask?

Assuming my party can recover from this(slim chance), I need to know a follow on plan and to be clear, I think I am in "make it up as I go along" territory. Not much here is happening by the book.

Keep in mind that this is the Forgotten Pharaoh/Serethet version that attains the mask. Not the full on Hakotep. He has NOT been resurrected yet as the Forgotten Pharaoh/Serethet hasn't been killed.

I hope someone can offer some insight into this. I am looking for a few different perspectives on what to do next.

My party got to the Sphinx and began the process of assaulting it. It has been slow going. I run a fairly difficult campaign, and my party has been struggling. They have had to retake the entrance three times but now the Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh has run out of reinforcements to hold the entrance. Instead they are retreating to the forge/pyramid room with all cultists and girtablilu. Everything else that is the Forgotten Pharaoh cult has been eliminated, aside from the two girtablilu in the sauna room who retreated to their main force on the parties last attack.

The party elected to explore a little more. They burst through the stone wall at K14 and were on their way to where Lady Sophronia resides. In the process, the Shadow Demon, Sargota, overheard them all call out before they got into the fight with the mud elementals. At which point the party was being overwhelmed and opted to retreat. In the process, the rogue was left behind and this allowed Sargota to use magic jar and take over the rogues body.

From this point on it all goes south and quickly. When the rogue(possessed by the Shadow Demon) rejoins the group she proceeds to drop the bard, ranger and fighter in two rounds. They were all nearly dead from the mud elementals after all. And then she turns to eliminate the Wizard. With that done the cultists had heard the battle, as the party ran and fought down the halls, and went to investigate. They find the wizard dead with the mask on her face. Of course they immediately take the mask, cheering in incredible luck and victory, taking it to the Forgotten Pharaoh.

As for Sargota(shadow demon), his description lists that he wants to gain sacrifices for Ninureset and as such using the rogues body, grabs the ranger and heads off to give the bodies over to the demon.

So my question is ultimately this; What happens if the Forgotten Pharaoh/Serethet gets the mask?

Assuming my party can recover from this(slim chance), I need to know a follow on plan and to be clear, I think I am in "make it up as I go along" territory. Not much here is happening by the book.

Keep in mind that this is the Forgotten Pharaoh/Serethet version that attains the mask. Not the full on Hakotep. He has NOT been resurrected yet as the Forgotten Pharaoh/Serethet hasn't been killed.