Douena:
All but Douena:
No Douena:
DM:
"Friend Zerekias? Is this truly the quickest way back to the pathfinder Lodge? I would like to get some sleep, and await our little friend before we face the new day." Garai said, obviously confused, but following none the less.
Monty:
Zerekias pauses, "It's your call, but that vermin is not gonna let up on us. Figured you may wanna find out why he keeps spying on us." He resheathes his weapons and continues, "But for once, Neferotep, I'm gonna have to agree with you. It is late and if we have an early morning we are gonna need some rest. I guess you trust in Trestleben to take care of herself then, hm?"
Douena:
They appear to be reasonably well equipped: the dark haired human, Scepter carries a bag brimming with magic - seven or eight separate auras presumably wands, potions or scrolls. Hrokon, the hulking half orc wears a magical cloak and has two magical potions attached to his belt. Finally, Lonicera carries a pouch similar to Scepter's with several magical auras in it. The hood of her cloak is also magical. The strongest aura emanates from the pouch at Scepter's side - a strong transmutation. Before you can begin to analyse each of the magical effects individually, they disappear from view.
Everyone Else:
DM:
Douena:
DM:
Garai, Elysia and Zerekias return to the Pathfinder lodge about two hours after midnight. There are a few staff about, but it is mostly dark and quiet. As you prepare to retire for the night, Douena also returns to the suite of rooms you have been allocated.
Douena bursts in excitedly. "Well?" she asks expectantly. "What did you find out from the halfling?"
Zerekias, wishing he could ignore the bouncy gnome and realizing the futility of it, deadpans, "Nothing."
Garai rolls his eyes at Zerekias, "It would appear that we were stood up. The halfling did not show up, and we believe she may have been waylaid by our enemies. All in all, it was a most unfruitful evening. What success have you had little one?"
A bit crestfallen, Douena searches her companion's faces for affirmation. "But ... the halfling in the alleyway. The one I lit up for you when you came out of the inn so you'd be sure to see him. You did catch him, didn't you?"
A bit crestfallen, Douena searches her companion's faces for affirmation. "But ... the halfling in the alleyway. The one I lit up for you when you came out of the inn so you'd be sure to see him. You did catch him, didn't you?"
*Yawn* "Nope, no catching of any persons of any mysterious or nefarious sorts tonight. Sorry, Douena. I guess I got a little but caught up in the chain I was making, and the stray dog across the square that was chasing its tail, and .....I may not be the best at this studied observation thing," she added sheepishly.
"Oh," the gnome replies, her enthusiasm dampened. "Well, I never would have left him behind if I hadn't thought you all had the situation under control," here she gives a hard look at the warrior-types, "but I thought I should follow Lonicera instead. Or should I say 'Neferet?'"
"Oh," the gnome replies, her enthusiasm dampened. "Well, I never would have left him behind if I hadn't thought you all had the situation under control," here she gives a hard look at the warrior-types, "but I thought I should follow Lonicera instead. Or should I say 'Neferet?'"
Elysia's eyes go wide. "Oh! So I guess you were right about her all along. Well, that isn't very good. It means that they took information from us that we need doesn't it? So what are we going to do now? I mean, we can't just let them win. Or maybe we should. I mean, they might set off some of the traps for us so we don't....no, no that's just too mean. So we'd better think of some way to get ahead of them."
Garai shakes his head at the group's apparent collective incompetence. At the news of Neferet though, his eyes become flames, and his head snaps up.
"What did you see little one? Where did she go? Every detail, quick, quick!"
Pleased at last with the reception her words are receiving, Douena climbs up onto a chair and crosses her legs beneath her, taking an authoritative pose before telling her story. "Well," she begins, "to begin with, she wasn't staying with the others; they were telling the truth about that. But I raised enough of a ruckus at the Pharoah's Rest that the head Chelaxian sent everyone else out to get her." She pauses here, and a look of mild remorse spreads across her face. "I might have caused a bit of trouble for the man running the inn, and he was very nice. Whenever we come back with all the treasure, we should probably go spend some there to make up for it."
"Anyway," she continues, "the three we met at the Exhibitory -- the half-orc, the halfling, and the human -- went to the Drunken Mummy, and I followed them. When they got to the alley there, they met up with Neferet." A thoughtful look crosses her face. "I don't know how they contacted her to have her meet them there. It must have been magic of some kind; Elysia might know more about that. Anyway, the halfling went up to the window to peek in, and apparently one of you saw him because he came back to say you were all in there and he had been seen." She casts a disapproving look at the others. "You really should have stayed out of sight, except for the new guy. They might have gone in if they hadn't seen you with him."
Sighing, she goes on. "So then you came out of the inn, and the bad guys were all there in the alley with their weapons drawn. I had a good shot lined up on the half-orc too, if it had come to blows. But I didn't want them to be able to jump you unawares, so I cast the spell to light up the alleyway. When that happened, the rest of them fled leaving the halfling behind. I thought you'd come find him since you'd seen him watching you, so I followed Neferet to see where she was going. But she only went back to the Pharoah's Rest with the human and half-orc, and I couldn't really show my face in there again tonight, after the commotion I caused earlier so I came back here to find out what you had been doing all night."
"You have done well, little one. Very well. We should have noticed your valiant attempts to lead our way. We did not."
"I believe we have wasted enough time here, and found all that we can. I suggest we each get some sleep, then meet before the dawn gong, and start out into the desert. A few hours travel, then sleep the rest of the day out, and travel at night. Hopefully, between such stealth, and our enemies assuming we still hunt them, we can buy some time to get o the pyramid first."
Garai is visibly regretting ever taking on this task. Now he wants it over with, and quickly.
"We have to pick up the" (Nuveril glances around and lowers her voice) "m... a... s... k on our way, remember, or the man who lives in the spiderweb said we won't even be able to see the pyramid." She hops off her chair in a businesslike fashion. "But, yes, we have to be on our way; we've spent too much time in town already. I had hoped to be able to retrieve those rubbings, but we'll just have to hope there's nothing important in them."
She hesitates. "There's one thing. Neferet ... didn't look like Neferet. And she didn't look like the woman the dockworker described, either. But she wore a cloak with a magical hood; I'm sure she's using it to disguise herself. So we shouldn't trust any human female we meet; she could be any of them." She glances at the halfling. "Elysia and I will have to keep an eye out for magical auras."
"Oh," she adds as an afterthought, "that half-orc has a magical cloak too, and the human mage has a pouch just brimming with magical items. I'm sure Elysia could do wonderful things with it, if we could get our hands on it." She beams.
"Indeed little one, I forget. It is too late in the day to do such in a reasonable fashion though. Ahhh, time she does fly. Let us go for th emask at dawn, and leave here at sunset.
"I am sure you observations will prove fruitful little one, especially if we do manage to wrestle the required items from the fiends."
Zerekias stands, "We'll meet back here at dawn then." He leaves and heads to his room for some needed rest.
You spend what remains of the night sleeping in your rooms, meeting at the Pathfinders' mess hall in a few hours as dawn breaks over the city.
"I had the best dream. I was a cat, but I could fly and I went zooming over the desert, only then there was a lake, and I'm not sure why, and then the camels started singing the loveliest song...I hope the rest of you got a good night's sleep too. Have you had breakfast yet? Mmmm. These sausages are very good. But the sweet rolls are good too. I'm so excited to finally get started today. I've never been on a really truly adventure before."
As Zerekias stares at her blankly, still wondering how she speaks without breathing, "So are we going after the mask or what?"
Garai's long comfortable yawn is interrupted by Zak, and he isn't happy about it, scowling, before taking another bite of the pastry in his hand.
"That would seem to be our only option. I would still think the best route would be the least deceptive, and that we should simply go and ask after the mask. We should take care not to be followed though. Is that a simple enough plan?"
As usual for her in the morning, Douena is brimming with enthusiasm, the missteps of the previous day forgotten. After suspiciously eyeing the food on their plates with a muttered prayer , she digs in heartily, and her response is muffled by a mouthful of breakfast. "Mmff," she agrees. "Garai is right. If we can persuade the Crook Bearer to loan us the mask, maybe in exchange for our astrology scrolls, that would certainly be the quickest and easiest way." She pauses and thoughtfully chews a bite of sweet roll. "If we can, though, I'd really like to get a tour of his collection and see the mask. If the polite, straightforward way doesn't work, I'm going to have to get the mask the sneaky way, and I don't like having to go in blind."
That decided, she turns to Elysia, her eyes shining. "What an interesting dream! You know, Desna often speaks to us through dreams. I think it's a good omen for our journey. Let's see, cats can mean independence and creativity, which we certainly have, and flying over the desert and the lake sounds like a safe and easy journey...."
Douena's journal for day 2 is up.
Zerekias, oblivious to any irritation suffered by Garai, begins munching on a bit of dried rations, "Simple? Straightfoward? What's wrong with you people? That makes to much sense coming from you two. Hope you two are feeling ok. We've no time for any ailments. That'll just slow us down." He says as he finishes his small portion of rations with the same stone look as always.
Douena looks up from her discussion of Elysia's dream. "Do you suppose they have a back door here? Or some other way we could get out than just walking through the front gate? I'm sure that halfling's watching for us; it's what I'd be doing."
"Little one, these are Pathfinders I am sure there are tunnels out of this building that they have forgotten about themselves. The will indubitably have a way to get us out unnoticed. How much is will cost is the next question.
"Why should it cost us anything?" Douena asks, taken aback. "They asked us to be the first to the hidden tomb; it's in their own best interests to help us stay ahead of the competition. Of course, I wouldn't ask any of the guards" she concedes, voice dripping with scorn, "but the Venture Captain ought to be happy to help."
"Why should it cost us anything?" Douena asks, taken aback. "They asked us to be the first to the hidden tomb; it's in their own best interests to help us stay ahead of the competition. Of course, I wouldn't ask any of the guards" she concedes, voice dripping with scorn, "but the Venture Captain ought to be happy to help."
"This is true, perhaps the venture captain will be of some use. Perhaps you would be best suited to making the request?"
After your breakfast, you are able to find Jalden Krenshar without too much trouble. As you are shown into her office, she is standing beside a large table with an elven scribe or scholar of some sort. They are intently examining fragments of an ancient map. The venture captain looks up as you enter and smiles in welcome.
"Zerekias, Garai," she nods pleasantly. "And Douena, Elysia. How are things with you this morning? No more awkward misunderstandings at the Ehibitory, I trust? No more accusations of incompetence levelled at my staff." This last is said with a wink towards Douena.
"How do preparations go for your expedition to the Pyramid of the Four Pharaohs?"
At the flippant wink, Douena scowls and mutters under her breath, "Perhaps if you didn't employ incompetents...", but she recovers quickly at the Venture Captain's question.
"We're ready to leave this very minute," she proclaims. "Only it has come to our attention that there's another group in Sothis after the same prize. We think we can stay ahead of them, but we have reason to believe they might be watching the main entrance of the Lodge to follow us and negate our advantage. So we were thinking that if there were another way out of the Lodge, one not so obvious, we could be out of the city before they know we've left and be all the closer to bringing back all those exciting discoveries to the Pathfinders." She widens her eyes earnestly. "Elysia, look charming," she hisses. "Garai, look stalwart. New Guy ... don't scowl."
Zerekias scowls all the more.
Jalden nods as you explain the situation, thinking to herself. "Well there is the kitchen entrances. Given the daily deliveries each morning, I suspect you could slip out unnoticed without too much trouble," wrinkling her nose slightly she offers another suggestion. "And depending on how important it was. You could always try the sewer exit, there's a grille in the courtyard that some of our more...notorious agents have sometimes used when they need to move around the city. It's a bit of a squeeze for the first hundred feet or so, after that there's a larger tunnel which leads all the way down to the docks. The final grate looks sturdy, but it can be moved aside without too much trouble."
"As I say," she continues with another smile. "It's not the most pleasant way to explore Sothis. I'd only recommend it if you were really desperate to avoid being seen."
Douena brightens as she considers the possibilities. "Maybe there's rats," she exclaims cheerfully. "When I set out to go adventuring, the first job I got was killing rats in a basement under a tavern. Turns out it's really good practice for fighting monsters!" She pauses, a little suspicious. "At least that's what my brother-in-law who owned the tavern said...."
Garai grins, Our thanks, Venture Captain. I believe it would now take a small army now to keep us out of the sewers. he says, not quite realising the acusation in the statement.
"I knew it wouldn't last. With you people, simple and straightfoward must be to complicated. You people spend to much time running scared. I'll be getting Rotaan and meeting you outside the city. You can have your sewers. I don't do sewers."
Without looking at him he speaks to the Venture Captain, "Any chance for more money in this, Captain? I'm not getting paid enough for this......" Not waiting for a response from the Captain he continues, "So when do we leave?"
Douena turns on Zerekias, a bit miffed. "Well, if you're just going to waltz out the front door with your camel, there's really not much point in the rest of us sneaking out, is there? You'll just lead them straight to us." She pauses, the gears turning in her head visible through her gleaming eyes. "Unless you want to be the decoy. You could lead them off to the other side of town from the Crook Bearer's place, and then we could meet you there when we have the mask!"
Garai considers for a moment, Actually, the little one has a point. If you storm out of here, with camel all loaded up, and make a big enough fuss over working with 'those amateurs' I cannot see how you could possibly not take at least part of the group with you. At that point, you can either circle around for a few hours, and leave us to the subtle art of retrieving the mask, or take them all on with your graet skill at arms.
Looking towards the venture captain, he remembers where he is. I am sorry venture captain, this is not the place to discuss our plans. We shall leave you to your busy day. Please accept our thanks for your time, and the information, we shall make the best possible use of it.
Zerekias ponders that for a moment, with his familiar stone look, then responds, "That's acceptable. So when do we leave?"
Immediately. Forgive us for not helping you load the camel, we would not wish to be seen by others. Little One, shall we collect some things and make our way to the sewer?
"Wait! We need the mask and the scrolls the New Guy is carrying, to take to the Crook Bearer's. Do you have room for them in your pack, Garai? Mine's full."
Don't need help loading up the camel. I can take care of that. I'm guessing we meet back here, when?" He asks as he pulls the items out of his pack and hands them over to Douena.
"Do we really have to go through the sewers," Elysia asks, wrinkling her nose. "I love exploring new places and all, but I don't think it's a good idea to get all smelly before we go and see an important person and ask them for a favor. I mean, if I were wealthy and powerful I wouldn't want to talk to a bunch of stinky people."