Mummy’s Mask (converted to Savage Worlds)
1/6: The Half Dead City
GM Notes: I decided to run through Mummy’s Mask with a group of four GMPCs, because;
A: I will be at least 6 months before I have the chance to run it for a group of people,
B: A trial run allows me to spot any potential headaches and tighten up any loose mechanics before running it for a group of meddlesome players,
C: I enjoy reading/playing/writing about Paizo’s Adventure Paths. :D
Session One
GM Notes: I changed up the opening of the AP to introduce an NPC patron for the PC’s group and give them a chance to introduce themselves to one another prior to the lottery. The Okhenti family’s rivalry with the Mahfre family (see the gazetteer) also provided an opportunity to introduce the Scorched Hand as competition earlier than would otherwise be the case. This had the side-effect that it enabled the PCs to instigate contact with the rival group – and in this instance, take direct action against them (see below).
The heroes all have links to the Pathfinder society. Retired adventurer Ahbehn Okhenti retains contact with the organisation and extends an invitation for the heroes to visit him in the half dead city of Wati to discuss a lucrative proposition. The nobleman has caught wind of the Ruby Prince’s plans to open the Necropolis for exploration and wishes to sponsor a group to participate in the lottery. Sponsoring a successful group will bring prestige to his family, especially if they are more successful than the rival group being sponsored by the Okhenti’s political opponents (the Mahfre family). This rival group calls itself the Scorched Hand.
Half-Orc Pathfinder Hanford Jolo listens carefully to the nobleman’s proposition, but doesn’t say much – he’s always been more of the strong, silent type. He hopes to find something in the Necropolis to barter his way back into good standing with the organisation after some previous disgrace.
Despite his advanced years, elderly dwarven archaeologist Burran Moss is excited about the prospect of exploring the Necropolis. He spends a lot of the meeting rambling about ancient Osirian history, although nobody in the room pays much attention.
Halfling rogue (graverobber) Ruferic Trippen eyes up their host’s exquisite silverware and slips a few valuable spoons into his deep pockets.
Human paladin (of Iomadae) Evelyn Cross is the spokesperson for the group. She thanks Ahbehn for his invitation to Wati and for paying for the group’s accommodation at the Tooth & Hookah.
After settling into their rooms, the heroes visit the Grand Mausoleum to register their group in the lottery (whereby they will be randomly allocated the area of the Necropolis that their group is authorised to explore). The Pharasman clerics inform them that their group needs a name and the heroes decide upon the Bonerunners.
The lottery occurs several days later. When their group is called, Evelyn mounts the stage to receive their first assignment (the tomb of Ahkentepi). The heroes hang around, waiting for the Scorched Hand to be summoned. A flamboyantly dressed Taldan woman wearing a large, floppy hat collects the scroll. She returns to her group, which consists of two local men and a heavily armed half-elven woman.
When the Scorched Hand leave, Ruferic follows them, hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation when they open their assignment (Ruferic’s stealth opposed by Idorii’s notice). The sneaky halfling follows them to their lodgings without being detected; they are renting rooms on the top floor. Ruferic scrambles up the exterior wall without attracting any undue attention. The Scorched Hand emerge onto a rooftop garden, Ruferic watches them from the bushes. Velriana, Azaz and Khelru (Ruferic picks up their names after listening to them converse) discuss their first assignment, while Idorii (the half-elf) stands guard. They have been assigned a building believed to have once been a brothel. Velriana is furious, apparently she was hoping for a specific site. She storms off, followed by Idorii. Left alone, Azaz and Khelru get down to some sweaty man love. While they are distracted, Ruferic steals the group’s assignment and slips away. On the way back to the Tooth & Hookah, he rips up the scroll.
(GM Notes: Another bonus of using a group of GMPCs is that you can focus on one character’s exploits without the rest of the table getting bored. Since Okhenti had named the Scorched Hand as rivals, Ruferic’s character (who is a bit of a bastard) took it upon himself to make their lives difficult. The rest of the group would not have known about or condoned his unsportsmanlike actions).
(GM Notes: There have been a lot of threads on the Paizo forums recently, regarding the sudden increase in bisexual/transgendered characters in the last few adventure paths. I don’t object to this and feel my normal group is mature enough to deal with these themes. However, I do not believe the authors should feel obligated to include them in every adventure path, which is the emerging pattern after Wrath of the Righteous. The whole ‘sell my magic sword to pay for a gender realignment spell’ thing in The Worldwound Incursion was just plain weird). :s
The following morning, the Bonerunners assemble outside the gates of the Necropolis, along with all the other groups involved in the lottery. The Scorched Hand are present, Velriana is arguing with a knot of Pharasman clerics (presumably about the loss of their assignment). Ruferic permits himself a mischievous chuckle. The gates are opened and the heroes are swept into the Necropolis with all the other hopeful adventurers. They follow the instructions on their scroll to locate the tomb of Ahkentepi. Burran Moss explains that the site predates the Plague of Madness that resulted in the Necropolis being sealed. The entrance to the tomb is partially buried in windblown sand. Hanford removes his shirt and starts clearing it away. Evelyn assists, but does not remove her shirt. Burran claims his old bones are giving him gyp and Ruferic explains that manual labour brings him out in a rash. Together, they clear the entrance after forty minutes.
Heading into the tomb, the Bonerunners find the way forward blocked by a heavy, stone disc. Hanford applies his strength to shifting the obstruction and (after a great deal of manly grunting) single-handedly rolls it out of the way. The chamber beyond contains a dark hole descending into the tomb proper. An ancient, rotten rope dangles over the pit, suggesting that the heroes are not the first group to seek the treasures buried with Ahkentepi. The heroes secure their own line and climb down.
A desiccated body waits for them at the bottom of the shaft. It has clearly been here for a long time. This being a fantasy game, Ruferic gives the corpse a kick before flipping it onto its back. Both of the poor bastard’s legs are broken, indicating a nasty tumble from the room above. Searching the body, Ruferic finds two dusty flasks of alchemist’s fire, miraculously unbroken. A pair of ornate, double doors exit the chamber. Ruferic checks for traps, but doesn’t find any.
The walls of the passage beyond depict scenes of an ancient conflict. The same warrior (carrying a distinctive scarab shield) features prominently, Burran speculates this was likely Ahkentepi. Ruferic creeps forward to check the next door for traps, inadvertently triggering the pressure plate on the floor. The terrified halfling throws himself down – but nothing happens (GM Notes: In Savage Worlds, traps are required to make an attack roll against the PC that triggered them, in this instance I rolled a 1 on 1d6. Rather than have it miss, I ruled that the device malfunctioned – it is over 2,000 years old after all). Ruferic picks himself up, looking sheepish.
The room beyond the trapped door contains a display of mummified cats. Burran explains that when an Osirian noble died, their servants and pets would often be strangled and buried along with them, to serve in the afterlife. There are two exits from the room (GM Notes: Since I am running with a group of GMPCs, I came up with a simple mechanic to establish which door they would take when given a choice. I cut the deck, if the card was red they would go one way, if the card was black they would go the other). The group take the door in the southern wall of the foyer.
One wall of the next room (down some steps) is dominated by a large mirror. Ruferic takes a moment to inspect his appearance. He starts to get a headache and hurries to catch up with the others (GM Notes: The trapped mirror made an attack opposed by the halfling’s spirit and failed). There are two exits from the room and the party go right. This leads into a preparation chamber, where the bodies of Ahkentepi and his unfortunate servants would have been mummified (GM Notes: I removed the encounter with the spiders).
The Bonerunners take the other exit from the mirror chamber. More steps lead deeper into the tomb. Part of the ceiling has collapsed, spilling sand into the passage. Burran and Ruferic notice something long and serpentine moving beneath the sand, while both Hanford and Evelyn are surprised. Two sandlings (small sand elementals taken the form of snakes) emerge and attack the party.
The first sandling bites Hanford, who grunts with surprise but is not actually injured (even with the +4 attack/damage modifier for the Drop). The second monster lunges at Burran, but the elderly dwarf totters to one side, surprisingly spry despite his age. Ruferic readies his crossbow and shoots at the creature, the bolt passes straight through it! Burran clobbers the sandling with his walking stick to no obvious effect.
Hanford is dealt a joker in the second round of combat, yet still fails to do enough damage to hurt the sandling (GM Notes: Being elemental monsters, the sandlings only take half damage from non-magical attacks. At this earlier point in the adventure path, none of the characters have magical weapons and none of the spellcasters in the party took any offensive spells. Even with a puny toughness 5, the PCs need to roll 10 damage to shake the sandlings, or 14 to take them out. If I run this again, I will likely skip this encounter or replace the sandlings with mining beetles). Evelyn swings her flail and rolls well enough to destroy one of the creatures. The second sandling bites Hanford (shaken + two wounds), he burns through all three of his bennies but only manages to soak one wound.
The Bonerunners decide to retreat through the open door at the far end of the passage. They slam the door closed, trapping the one remaining sandling on the other side. Evelyn uses the mundane healing skill to patch up Hanford’s injuries. There are two exits from the room, the party go north. Stairs lead further down into a large chamber. A golden sarcophagus dominates the platform in the centre of the room. Ruferic rushes forward, belatedly recalling the pressure plate that he previously ran afoul of. Stepping onto the platform, he hears yet another ominous click as his weight depresses the trigger on the death-trap. The doors to the north burst open, releasing a torrent of muddy water into the room. At the same time, the golden sarcophagus animates and attacks!
Hanford draws his pistol (GM Notes: I usually allow blackpowder firearms in all my fantasy games, especially pulpier adventures like this and Skull & Shackles) and takes a pot shot at the sarcophagus. He rolls a critical failure on his shooting die. The weapon does not fire and the half-orc realises the powder got wet when the room started flooding. Ruferic fires his mini-crossbow, the bolt bounces off the sarcophagus’ golden exterior. Burran begins looking for a way out of this death-trap before they all drown. Evelyn clobbers the sarcophagus with her flail, denting it. The sarcophagus tries to bash her, but doesn’t roll well enough to beat her parry (GM Notes: In retrospect, I should have made the sarcophagus a wild card or increased its fighting die to a d8. It’s a cool enemy, but it was pretty ineffective in this fight. If it beat its target’s parry with a raise, it would swallow them, trapping them inside – but it failed to hit once during the whole fight).
The water level rises to the PC’s waists (or mid torso for the shorter characters). Burran notices that the water is draining through a secret door in the western wall of the chamber. He begins searching the area for a switch or trigger, but finds nothing. The water continues to rise; Ruferic holds his crossbow over his head for one last shot before it closes over his head (unsurprisingly, he misses). Burran finally locates the lever to open the secret door (disguised as a torch holder, duh) and pulls it. Water immediately starts draining away. The elderly dwarf looses his grip on the lever and is swept along with it. Hanford delivers a mighty blow to the sarcophagus, shattering its golden armour; it immediately stops trying to kill them. The half-orc ties it closed with a length of rope, then splashes off after the others to find Burran.
The dwarven archaeologist ended up in a room containing Ahkentepi’s grave goods. Wooden chests float around in the knee-deep water. Burran explains that since the last burial chamber was an elaborate death-trap to fool/kill grave robbers, the real burial chamber must be nearby. He finds the secret door leading to the final resting place of Ahkentepi. The Bonerunners loot the tomb and recover…
Ahkentepi’s Armour (+2 armour value, Danger Sense edge)
Scarab Shield (+1 armour value, +2 toughness against ranged attacks, swarms of vermin will not attack the person carrying the shield unless attacked first)
A masterwork longbow (+1 attack/+1 damage)
2x vials of silversheen
Assorted trinkets/relics worth 1200gp
The Bonerunners investigate the doors they missed on their way out of the tomb, but discover nothing of great interest (GM Notes: I condensed all the treasure from the rest of the dungeon into Ahkentepi’s hoard, Savage Worlds is not a great fit for long, meandering dungeon crawls).
When the Bonerunners try to leave, they discover their rope is gone! A voice from above offers to return it to them in exchange for whatever treasure they uncovered from the tomb. Ruferic convinces them that they found little of any real value, unless you count mummified cats (the halfling rolled well on his persuade roll to beat the other group’s smarts). The looters leave the heroes to die in the dark, they try to block the entrance again, but none have the strength to move the heavy disc.
Some time later, a Pharasman cleric called Ptemenib (GM Notes: Pronunciation?!) comes looking for the group after they failed to return. He is relieved to find them alive and lowers the rope for them to clamber out of the tomb. Ptemenib explains that he usually scours the Necropolis after dark in search of looters. However, he suspects the Bonerunners were likely targeted by another group. He indicates there has been all sorts of foul play since the lottery, one unfortunate group even had their first assignment stolen within an hour of receiving it. Ptemenib escorts the heroes out of the Necropolis and tells them to take greater care during their next assignment.
Before returning to the Tooth & Hookah, the party visit their sponsor (who does not appreciate being roused at such a late hour), who buys their loot for its market value. Ahbehn will later submit these treasures to be resold at auction, but he is confident he will make his money back. When the heroes reach the tavern, they find several other groups (including the Scorched Hand) assembled in the common room, exchanging stories about their first day in the Necropolis.
Velriana Hypaxes is still angry about losing her first assignment. She promises a generous reward to anyone with information regarding the theft. She also announces that her group will pay handsomely to exchange assignments with any other group that are assigned the Temple of the Erudite Eye during the next lottery. Ruferic approaches a despondent looking halfling barbarian (Mad Dog Marrn of the Dog Soldiers). Mad Dog drunkenly explains that he found a magic sword in the Necropolis, but securing it (from the caustic depths of a gelatinous cube) cost the lives of several of his beloved hounds. Ruferic gets the barbarian plastered and purloins the enchanted blade when he passes out (GM Notes: I told you he was a bastard). Since the members of the Scorched Hand are at the Tooth & Hookah, it stands to reason that their lodgings will be empty….
In the early hours of the morning, the heroes are woken by Mad Dog Marrn hammering on the door to their room. The barbarian accuses Ruferic of stealing his sword, but the halfling claims to be innocent. He even allows his rooms to be searched. He then tells Mad Dog that he did see Velriana’s bodyguard (Idorii) with a similar weapon. Marrn and his boys head over to the Scorched Hand’s lodgings and fisticuffs erupt between the two groups. The Pharasman clergy become involved and find the missing sword amongst the half-elf’s gear. The members of the Scorched Hand are detained for questioning, leaving them only half a day to explore their second assignment (GM Notes: At this point, the Scorched Hand are beginning to suspect that the Bonerunners have had a hand in their recent run of misfortune).
To be continued….
Session Two
The Bonerunners next assignment is the House of Pentheru. A tall, sandstone wall encircles the silent estate. Tarnished bronze gates hang ajar. Two statues flank the entrance, depicting two stern featured men with a familial similarity. Burran translates the hieroglyphics and identifies the two men as Pentheru the Elder and Younger respectively. Beyond the gate lies a small courtyard leading to the house. Before the heroes reach the front door, they hear the bronze gates slamming closed behind them and the murderous screams of a bloodthirsty horde beating against the other side. An Osirian woman calls for the guards to fall back and defend the house. Ruferic and Burran are both shaken by this vision of the past. The dwarven scholar hypotheses that what they just witnessed were the last moments of the house’s occupants during the Plague of Madness that swept the city. He warns the others that they may experience further scenes of a gruesome nature as they explore the estate.
The heroes enter the house of Pentheru. Several skeletons in rusty armour lie scattered across the foyer. The party hear more ghostly screaming.
“They’re inside! Protect the family!”
“It’s too late! Save yourselves!”
The four skeletons rise to defend the house as they failed to do in life. Burran summons a bodyguard and rolls well enough on his spellcasting die to grant the warrior the Hardy edge. The bodyguard steps in front of Burran and readies its weapon. Ruferic raises his mini-crossbow and fires, knocking a skeleton’s skull off its bony shoulders. Hanford draws his pistol and shoots at the skeleton attacking Evelyn, blowing its skull apart. The stone bodyguard finishes off the last two skeletons before crumbling to dust as the spell duration expires.
Ruferic picks through the scattered bones, but finds nothing of consequence. The heroes decide to clear the ground floor before venturing upstairs. They head right into a disused bath. Any water the pool contained has long since dried up, leaving a loose layer of sand in the bottom of the basin. The heroes skirt around the empty bath and enter the privy, broken glass and beetle carapaces crunch underfoot. A headless body is seated upon one of the johns; it has only been here a couple of years. Although he feels the call the nature, Hanford decides not to use the privy.
“I can’t go with someone watching me,” the half-orc explains.
“But he doesn’t have a head!” Ruferic observes.
Hanford steps into the servant’s yard to take a leak. His presence there attracts the attention of the hungry death dog lurking in the guard’s quarters. Hanford hears the creature’s low, menacing growl a moment before it pounces. Without bothering to buckle his britches, the half-orc reaches for his pistol. He spends two bennies to ensure a hit on the beast, but doesn’t roll enough damage to check its advance. The death dog attacks! It has two snarling, snapping heads and is almost as large as a horse! Its scabby fur crawls with a parasitic worms. One head sinks its fangs into Hanford’s exposed thigh; the half-orc is shaken and infected with wormpox by the creature’s bite.
(GM Notes: in retrospect, the Danger Sense edge given by wearing Ahkentepi’s armour should have given Hanford advance warning of his peril. I awarded the half-orc a benny to compensate for GM error).
The rest of the party hear the gunshot and rush outside, by which time the death dog has bitten Hanford a second time. The half-orc is now exhausted (-2) as loathsome worms writhe in the wounds inflicted by the monster’s jaws. Evelyn wades into combat and swings her flail at the nearest of the two heads, caving in the creature’s skull. The death dog is dazed and Evelyn takes the opportunity to put it down once and for all.
Evelyn heals Hanford’s injuries with mundane medicine and removes enough of the worms to reduce his status from Exhausted (-2) to Fatigued (-1). She casts Heal to kill the remaining parasites and restore the half-orc to prime condition (GM Notes: In retrospect, maybe the Succour power would have been more suitable, since the worms caused fatigue levels instead of wounds. If Evelyn had cast Heal/Succour on the death dog, the spell would have killed the parasites keeping the creature alive and killed it instantly). Searching the guardhouse results in the discovery of some ancient coinage; worth a paltry 80g. There are a few other outbuildings in the servant’s yard, which the Bonerunners investigate before moving on. They are mostly empty, other than the skeletal remains of the unarmed house servants – which the heroes easily dispatch.
The heroes head back inside the House of Pentheru. They explore the family’s private shrine (dedicated to Abadar, Sarenrae and Pharasma), the kitchen and adjacent pantry. A large spider drops onto Hanford’s head, but scuttles off before he can waste a bullet on it. In the dining room, the group find six polished human skulls balanced atop six tarnished silver goblets. The skulls rise into the air and attack!
Hanford draws a bead on the nearest skull and pulls the trigger - even after spending a benny, he still misses. Ruferic rolls a raise on his shooting die and destroys one of the beheaded. Burran swats ineffectually at the flying skulls as they buzz around his head. Evelyn has more luck with her trusty flail and destroys another of the undead pests.
At the beginning of the second round, only four of the six skulls remain. Hanford and Ruferic are both wounded, but spend bennies to soak the damage. Evelyn destroys another skull. Burran actually strikes, but with insufficient force to cause any harm. Evelyn rolls her eyes and smashes the skull into a cloud of tiny bone shards. Hanford is also struggling to land a blow on the flying skulls (GM Notes: Due to their small size, every attack to hit the beheaded was rolled with a -2 penalty). Evelyn destroys the last two skulls, shattering them like pieces of crappy pottery (the kind your kids bring home from school). The rest of the group shuffle their feet and try not to look completely useless (GM Notes: Which was weird, because Evelyn only has fighting d6, while Hanford has d8, she just rolled well during this combat and make good, tactical use of wild attacks).
Having cleared the ground floor, the party rest a while before venturing upstairs (GM Notes: The party rested for three hours in order to recover expended power points). The first door off the upstairs balcony leads into the master bedroom of Pentheru the Younger, which is presently occupied by a pair of twisted vargouilles. The hideous monsters drift closer and try to force their loathsome tongues down Hanford’s throat (it’s just like a night out in Birmingham!). The half-orc unloads his pistol at point blank, but misses his mark. Evelyn swings flail at the closest vargouille and caves in one side of its monstrous face. Suddenly, Evelyn clutches her own head and moans.
(GM Notes: Before the heroes reached this room, Imanish the div cast Invisibility and hid. In the first round, he cast Puppet on Evelyn, but the opposed die roll was a draw).
Evelyn is a dealt a Joker in the second round and manages to shake of the div’s mental dominance before it even takes hold. She warns the rest of the party that something tried to take control of her body. Burran looks for the invisible menace and spots the veiled creature floating across the room (GM Notes: -4 to notice roll). Imanish flees from the room (breaking line of sight) and hovers over the inner courtyard. Hanford’s notice skill is crap, so he starts reloading his pistol and waits for someone else to point the div out. Ruferic moves out onto the balcony but fails to spot the creature.
This continues for another few rounds, until the div runs out of power points and his invisibility power expires. The party can see the creature clearly for the first time; a bestial, disembodied head with wild, tangled hair and six horns. Imanish attempts to flee through the square hole in the roof. Hanford clambers up after the cowardly div (GM Notes: The half-orc is the only PC with the climbing skill). Before Hanford can pull himself up, Imanish head-butts him in the face, causing him to lose his grip and fall 20ft into the inner courtyard.
Unfortunately, Imanish manages to escape. The Bonerunners loot the other bedrooms and gather loot worth 505g. Evelyn finds the bronze key to the hidden chest in the master bedroom. Ruferic checks for and disables the crossbow trap. The chest contains twenty-five gold ingots worth 500g and a cursed headband that animates the wearers head as an independent, undead creature upon their death (which would explain the abundance of flying skulls).
Having cleared the house, the heroes descend into the Pentheru family’s private mausoleum. The entire party is surprised as a swarm of mummified cats (ubashki) spill out of the tomb. Everyone takes (2d4+4) damage in the surprise round, everyone is shaken and Ruferic is wounded as the undead moggies claw at his britches. Remembering the flask of alchemist’s fire that he found in Ahkentepi’s tomb, Ruferic spends most of his remaining bennies to unshaken and succeed on an unskilled throwing roll to target the swarm. The mummified cats are consumed by the flames.
(GM Notes: I also forgot that the scarab shield that Evelyn is using should have made her immune to attacks from the ubashki swarm, unless she did anything to antagonise them. Again, a benny was awarded to compensate for GM error. Real players would be more likely to remind me, re; the special effects of any magical gear they happen to be rocking).
The party loot the mausoleum and gather loot worth 350g and a mummified guardian. Ruferic looks forward to using this item for pranks on the other members of the party.
(GM Notes: At the end of every two sessions, the PCs get an advance to develop their characters. Hanford takes the new edge: Quick Draw. Burran takes a new power: Burst. Ruferic learns a new skill (throwing) at d4 and Evelyn boosts her agility from d6 > d8).
To be continued….