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I'm hoping I can post regularly but we'll see what actually happens...
this is a game we are playing when time allows...
Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path:
Character backgrounds and game introduction:
CYPHER
Her name was Cypher but at one time it was not. Her first name was a distant memory and if spoken out loud one she would not readily recognize as her own. Her original name was only something that she sometimes thought about as sleep overtook her in the evenings. Her past was another life but one irrevocably intertwined with her current one. Even though the memories of her past seldom came to the surface, buried deep through suffering and hardship, her past continued to influence her present and future. Once, deep in her cups while with her current companions, she spoke of her past…
Daughter of a Chelaxian scholar, she was doted on by her father. He was a specialist in Osirionalogy, the study of the ancient histories of Osirion. Despite her youth, she was quick of wit and intelligence, and spent hours a day with him in his study, poring over dusty scrolls and maps. She quickly picked up Ancient Osirion, a dead language of hieroglyphs. Her father and mother were amazed that a child of six years could learn something that easily. A man of modest means, her father often was called upon by nobles and other scholars to assist in deciphering ancient tomes and manuscripts written in the desert language. Then, one day, he was offered a position on an expedition to the land of the pharaohs itself. Taking out loans to finance his needs he kissed his wife and hugged his daughter goodbye. A year passed without word. Cypher’s mother was desperate as money was running out quickly and the debt collectors were wanting the debts settled.
In Cheliax slavery was not only legal but a thriving business. It was not unusual for persons defaulting on loans to be sold into slavery to settle the debts. So it was, two years after her father disappeared into the sands of Osirion, Cypher and her mother had their house confiscated and sold with its contents and they walked across the auction block. She last saw her mother being led away, collared and chained. Cypher, being a not unattractive child of eight years, was sold for a handful of coins to a brothel specializing in child prostitution. The next seven years Cypher was a slave in the capital city of Egorian, serving the perverse pleasures of men and women at an establishment called Angel Eyes.
Cypher became cold and distant, learning to hide her emotions. She became hardened to cruelty and the darker side of people. She learned not to become attached to anyone and expect the worst in people. The moment she showed a concern or care for something or someone it was snatched from her causing her to become cynical and apathetic. To survive in the present she buried her past life deep within and rarely thought about it. She soon did not even think about her father and mother, only concerned with making it through the day. Her only escape was the stories she had memorized of Osirion; the blowing sands, the dry heat, ancient empires, powerful pharaohs, and desert heroes.
Fire. Fire was the cause of major changes in Cypher’s life when she was fifteen years of age. Fire raged through the city one night, jumping from wooden house to the next, whipped to an inferno by high winds. Chaos ran amuck in the city that night with people burning alive in their homes and other dying in the streets as mobs of refugees attempted to escape the flames. Cypher found herself in a position where escape was possible. And she grabbed that possibility by the throat and ran with it.
But, she was a young woman of no means in the streets with no income and no contacts. Hellknights from the Order of the Chain were scouring the city and surrounding countryside for escaped slaves. Fortune shined on her when she was caught stealing dates from a merchant’s store front. Sefu was a merchant in the capital city specializing in importing goods and produce from his home country of Osirion. Quickly recognizing her as an escaped slave he pondered turning her in for a reward. It was when she spoke to him in the modern Osirion tongue that the dark-skinned Garundi took pity on her and allowed her into his home. Sefu quickly discovered Cypher to be very intelligent but also swift and sure of hand and limb. He found the withdrawn young lady intriguing and began teaching her the basics of the arcane arts but also the joys of swordplay. Sefu was a student of the Way of the Magi. A blending of spell casting and swordsmanship it was an uncommon and almost lost teaching. Cypher took to the teaching with a fanatical attitude and soon was very adept in the scimitar and spear but also with offensive spell casting.
Cypher spent five years with Sefu. She assisted him with his imports and learned his merchant contacts in Osirion. When Sefu had customers or acquaintances in his shop Cypher only spoke Osirion and Sefu passed her off as a fellow merchant’s daughter from Osirion who’d sent the girl to him for training and experience.
Then misfortune stuck again. A former patron of Angel Eyes came into the merchant shop and recognized Cypher as an escaped slave. Cypher and the patron knew each other at first sight. The old nobleman had often requested Cypher when she’d been at Angel Eyes. He left without causing a scene but the damage was done. She knew the Order of the Chain would be coming soon. Sefu also recognized the threat and had her quickly pack her few belongings and walked her to the river docks. He booked her passage on the first ship sailing downriver to the ocean.
Sefu knew he was doomed for harboring an escaped slave and Cypher’s last view showed him drawing a scimitar with his right hand and his left glowing with arcane power as he squared off with the Hellknights thundering onto the docks.
Cypher didn’t even know where the ship was bound and when she asked she was delighted to hear it was headed to Sothis, capital city of Osirion. She wasn’t the only passenger on board. There was a Halfling named Ebon, a dwarf named Dane, and a young man named Bendigo. They all had to share a cabin for the six week journey. Ebon, Bendigo, and Dane were very friendly and entertaining to be around. Ebon especially was intriguing to her and she found that he was able to bring out the good in her. He often made her smile and on occasion laugh which is something she had not done in a long time. He specialized in alchemy and was always causing the cabin to reek from the fumes of his last combination of elixirs. She realized upon reaching Sothis that she’d actually made friends and wanted to stay with them on the journey up the River Sphinx. They were bound for Wati to explore the necropolis in the city. It was about to be opened up for exploration by the Ruby Prince, Pharaoh Khemet III.
EBON & BENDIGO
Deep in the Mindspin Mountains, the border between Nidal and Nirmathas, is a vale far from the common paths. In this vale is a walled compound and fortress. It is called Quicksilver. Its remoteness is such that common travelers are infrequent.
Founded almost 100 years ago, the original settlers were refugees from a far land on the continent of Garund. That land is now called the Mana Wastes. Rebellion and civil strife caused the settlers of Quicksilver to leave the Mana Wastes and find a new home far from the politics and dangers of the homeland. A place far enough away that they’d be forgotten.
Quicksilver is unique. Housing only a few hundred people, they are a mix of halflings, humans, dwarves, and several gnomes. They do not readily welcome visitors and outsiders are not normally allowed into the granite walls. A person viewing the fortress and compound would see unique cut-outs in the walls with great bronze tubes protruding.
What is known about Quicksilver is very little. Merchants know most if not all of the alchemical products sold in cities in Nidal and Nirmathas come from here. Tindertwigs, smokesticks, sunrods, and alchemical fire are just a small portion of the mundane products that come out twice a year. There is also an excellent glassworks and metalworking. But its most precious product is one that is not sold and exported. Quicksilver’s founders brought with them the secret of black powder. Whispered about in taverns and docksides, black powder is said by some to be a new type of arcana. Others say it is not magical at all and part of something called ‘science’. A third group says this science is only another type of magic. What is known is that the denizens of Quicksilver seem to have mastered this black powder and harness it into weapons called thunder sticks or muskets, bombards and cannons. It is said some are small enough for use in one hand and others need teams of mules to move and position them. They belch an acrid smoke and push out anything from lead pellets to large stone boulders. The rumors say that the giants in the mountains avoid Quicksilver due to the devastating effects of the weapons on the walls.
Bendigo and Ebon were born and raised in Quicksilver. Bendigo was a young human man serving in the permanent militia that manned the walls of the fortress. A large man, solid built, he regularly used black powder weapons and was very good with them. He commonly had a worn musket and two flintlock pistols with him at all times. But he also carried a long sword as he knew there were limitations on the powerful weapons he used. Quicksilver was a rigid society and as with most youth Bendigo chaffed under it. Law and Order were strong in Quicksilver. He longed to leave and explore the world. He and Ebon would read in the library of far and distant lands and exotic places. For some reason they fixated on the desert countries of northern Garund: Osirion, Rahadoum, Thuvia, and Katapesh. Perhaps because it was so far away. Either way they both longed to visit places like Shiman-Sekh and Eto, and see places like the carved Cliffs of Kusha-ta-Pahk and the Valley of Shards.
It didn’t help that his father and mother were making arrangements for a marriage between him and the Oakley family’s oldest daughter, Annie. This was the last thing Bendigo wanted but his father said it was a good match despite protests from Bendigo. Annie had an acidic personality and was very obese. The mole on her chin didn’t help either. Every time Bendigo looked at Annie all he could see were the three dark hairs growing out of that mole. Ebon teased him mercilessly about the pending marriage. Bendigo knew if he got married his life was done. A future with children, a fat dull wife and constantly walking the walls of Quicksilver was not what he wanted for himself.
Fortunately for him, his best friend Ebon also wanted to leave. And Ebon knew how to make black powder.
The best qualities about Ebon were that he was curious and clever. The worst qualities about Ebon were that he was curious and clever. Ebon worked in the one of the alchemy labs making smokesticks. He’d started working in the lab making alchemical fire but there’d been an ‘accident’ and he was transferred to a lab with less likelihood for him to blow it up or burn it down. But his cleverness paid off and the smokesticks he made burned almost twice as long as others.
For him, it was boring and mundane work and when he was done for the day he would retire to his small house and do his own experiments. Experimenting in the home was against the rules but Ebon was not one to always obey the rules. If he didn’t experiment in his home he would never be able to expand his skills. Ebon had already made several discoveries and kept them bottled up in vials. Ebon felt the rules of Quicksilver were overbearing and restrictive. He knew he would never achieve his maximum potential unless he left.
He knew life was tough for a Halfling out in the world. Halflings were often kept as slaves in some societies and countries. He needed Bendigo with him; not only as a friend but as protection. Bendigo was normally a calm and reasonable person but Ebon knew Bendigo was ferocious when his blood was up. Plus he was proficient with the musket and pistol.
For the past six months Ebon and Bendigo had been stashing supplies away. Ebon had squirrelled away some old laboratory equipment and Bendigo had found an old cart that he began storing small quantities of gunpowder in. Just recently they’d decided they had everything they needed to survive on the road. They both knew they would not be allowed to leave without a search. Attempting to leave with gunpowder and weapons and the laboratory equipment would not be allowed and to attempt to would get them arrested and put in the stockade. They were both at a loss on how to manage an exit unobserved.
Recently, a dwarven priest of Torag had arrived at the gate. He’d requested admittance but had been denied and was staying in one of the merchant huts that were outside the walls. The community had little to talk about and the arrival had set tongues to wagging.
While the dwarf had been denied admittance there was no rule about going outside the walls to visit or socialize with a visitor. Ebon and Bendigo drifted out one afternoon and met Dane. They found him pleasant and like them, very curious about the world. He’d heard about Quicksilver and wanted to find out more about it. He was also a craftsman and blacksmith and enjoyed building things. Ebon, Bendigo and Dane quickly became friends and they confided in Dane their desire to leave the community and explore the world seeking fame, fortune and glory. Dane agreed to travel with them.
Two nights later a furious storm came through the mountains and lightning bounced among the peaks and rain pelted the vale. High winds ripped at the walls and people shuttered windows and bolted doors.
Bendigo managed to steal a mule and hooked it up to the old cart. Ebon used an elixir and tricked a guard at a side sally port. The slumbering guard wasn’t found until the next morning after the storm passed. By then Ebon, Dane and Bendigo were far down the trails headed to Korvosa.
In Korvosa they booked passage on a merchant ship owned by the Bale merchant family that was headed to Sothis with trade goods. Ebon picked Sothis as a destination as rumors abounded in the dock taverns that the Ruby Prince was opening up another region to explorers near Wati.
The ship put in at ports along the way and in Egorian they added another passenger, a tall willowy young woman with a long brown braid. She carried a scimitar and spear and seemed to know them well. They had to share a cabin with her and at first they were put off by her aloofness and air of disdain. But, Ebon, sensing more to her slowly drew her out of her shell and made friends with Cypher. He was delighted to hear she spoke both Ancient Osirion and modern Osirion.
Ebon, the eternal optimist, sensed greatness ahead.
DANE
There was unrest in the temples dedicated to Torag, Father of Creation. Bishops and deacons argued in closed door meetings and brothers spent long hours in supplicant prayer asking for guidance. Priests for the god of the forge, protection and strategy spent their days mediating using hammer and tongs on the anvils hoping for enlightenment while crafting and blacksmithing.
Then the archbishop’s ruling came down and the edict was dispersed. Torag’s followers would have no acceptance or interaction with black powder and the weapons associated with it. All contact with such banned contraband was to be reported and passed up the ranks of the church for evaluation and judgment.
The technology was not new but whispers of it were becoming more common and sightings seemed to be cropping up more as the decades passed. Prior reports of the black powder had placed it all on the continent of Garund but now there were rumors it was here on Avistan in the Mindspin Mountains. Other reports indicated the black powder weapons were being used in Magnimar and Absalom.
It was a faith divided.
One half of the faith had determined it was a destructive creation and against the main tenets of the teaching of Torag. The opposing view was that Torag was the Father of Creation and would not have brought if forth into mortal hands without purpose. The first half was for rooting out the sources and users of this technology and erasing it from the lands whilst the other side was wanting to learn more about it and embrace this new technology.
The edict itself was a compromise. Whilst the church would not accept black powder and the weapons associated with them; it also would not actively destroy them when found. It would only track the usage and spread and monitor its impact on the societies of the two continents. Of course, dissenters of the edict were many with some saying it was not strict enough and others believing it was not a necessary ruling at all. It was an issue that could easily destroy an established church hierarchy leading to a church permanently divided.
Dane was born and raised in Highhelm, the capital of Five Kings Mountains, the stronghold of the dwarves. One of many children, Dane was taught at an early age the skills of metalworking. Not only did he learn the anvil and tongs of blacksmithing but also the delicate skills for making clockworks and other devices. The ring of hammer on steel and the shower of sparks from red hot iron were his life and he loved the feel of creating with his tools and hands. But as a young man he answered Torag’s call when it appeared on the wall of the smithy. He went to Larrad and was taught the teachings of the Father of Creation. A dedicated worshipper, he was quick to learn and grasp the tenets.
In the caverns of Larrad he was taught another use for the hammer and he soon found joy in sparring and combat.
Black powder and guns fascinated Dane. Whilst he’d never seen it he read everything he could on it. More than anything he wanted to get his hands on a weapon and break it down and rebuild it and learn how it worked. He wanted to be taught how black powder functioned as it did and what else could be done with it.
The church edict was not one he agreed with but he was only a journeyman priest and his input was insignificant. Many a tankard of ale was draught in the ale houses as adepts and journeymen argued over the ruling.
Dane’s mentor, Deacon Roldur, thought as he did and believed it best to learn more. He came to Dane asking if he’d like to seek out black powder and report back to Larrad with his findings. Dane was overcome pride at the request and overjoyed at the opportunity. While it could be interpreted as violating the edict, Dane thought the risk worthy. He was to send his reports directly to Deacon Roldur and not discuss his mission with anyone else.
Dane gathered supplies and bought a mule which he named Bobo. He journeyed from Larrad down into Druma to Kerse and booked passage across Lake Encarthan to Tamran in Nirmathas. He was headed to the Mindspin Mountains seeking a community called Quicksilver. Reports indicated this secluded enclave had what he was seeking. Several months after his departure from Larrad he arrived. Much to his consternation he was not allowed into the walls and encamped in the primitive shacks outside the walls.
This was when he met Ebon and Bendigo. They expressed a desire to leave Quicksilver and Dane befriended them and said he’d journey with them. What better way to learn of black powder than to travel with two persons intimately familiar with it. And one would actually have some of the guns he was so fascinated by!
In middle of a storm the three left the mountains and travelled to Korvosa. They were headed to Osirion. Dane himself was not particular on where they were going so long as he was able to research Bendigo’s guns and the black powder in the cart. In Korvosa he penned a letter to his mentor and sent it off.
Dane got on well with Bendigo and Ebon. In Egorian their ship took on a fourth passenger named Cypher. She unsettled Dane with her aura of bitterness but Ebon and Bendigo liked her well enough. He could tell she had a hard and difficult past but nothing in his life experience could prepare him when she was full of wine and related her experiences. He openly wept during her account of the atrocities she went through.
Dane had never thought much of Osirion. In Five Kings Mountains it was a far land and little was known about it. But speaking with Ebon and Bendigo and Cypher he found a new fascination: Pahmet dwarves. He’d never heard of them before and was desirous to learn more on why they were called sand dwarves. They were said to be most common in the Brazen Frontier area of Osirion and maybe he’d be able to learn more.
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The four travelers debarked the ship in Sothis. Cypher was able to find a barge reasonably quick that was headed up the River Sphinx to Wati. The heat was a shock to all of them and they were quick to follow local custom and wear pale robes to reflect the heat and retain body moisture. Dust and sand were always in the wind and Bendigo was constantly griping about the conditions.
They were headed to Wati, the Half City. One half was a living city but other half was a walled off necropolis. A plague had ravaged the city hundreds of years ago with over half the population dying. The city had been abandoned entirely but was later reclaimed by the Church of Pharasma. Pharasma priests walled off the abandoned city and put the dead inhabitants to rest. A new city sprung up around the necropolis, soon eclipsing the vast cemetery.
Seven years ago, Pharaoh Khemet III, the Ruby Prince, formally opened Osirion’s ancient tombs and burial sites to foreign explorers. Khemet III understood that adventurers who’ve traveled great distances in search of treasure typically do not return from whence they came to sell their discoveries. Instead, they typically sell or trade what they do not keep as quickly as possible. The Ruby Prince’s policy has attracted not only explorers to the desert nation but also countless scholars, private collectors, special interest groups such as the Pathfinder Society, and financial interests from all across the Inner Sea.
When Ebon and his companions arrived in Wati they found lodging in a dark and cool inn called the Tooth and Hookah. Several other adventuring bands were there also. The Church of Pharasma was responsible for opening the city’s necropolis to adventurers but was keeping a firm hand on the procedure. Groups had to register with the church at the Grand Mausoleum and a lottery system was being used to determine what areas were to be explored by each adventuring band.
Ebon, Cypher, Dane and Bendigo went to the Grand Mausoleum and were awed by the sweeping arches of the cathedral. A church clerk took them to a side room and began registering their names. He asked them what the name of their adventuring band was and he got blank looks in return. The man sighed and informed them the church required a group name for the lottery. The four huddled and mulled over some names. Most shook their heads at the suggestions. Ebon turned to the clerk with a clever grin on his face, “Fools’ Errand”. The others exchanged glances and ruefully shook their heads in agreement.
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The bustling desert city of Wati was near bursting with excitement. Adventurers from every corner of the Inner Sea region were assembled beneath the hot Osirion sun to explore the tombs of the city’s necropolis, waiting only to be assigned their first sites for exploration. Surrounding the participants, the public had gathered to observe the ceremony as well. A festival-like quality was in the air, and numerous street vendors were hawking goods and refreshments to participants and spectators alike. Bendigo and Dane took advantage and were eating some meat-like substance from a stick sold nearby. Merchants were going around pitching that they’d be more than willing to purchase any recovered treasures and antiquities at their establishments.
In front of the imposing edifice of the Grand Mausoleum, an immense awning had been erected between decorated pillars in the market to provide shade for the priests of Pharasma overseeing the lottery. Beneath the awning, two urns sat atop a table elevated a few feet above the ground on a wooden stage constructed for the event. The high priestess of the church, Sebti the Crocodile, sat behind the table, while two acolytes conferred with her at either side.
Sebti rose to her feet and a silence fell over the crowd. She began with an invocation to the Lady of Graves, followed by a brief history of the necropolis.
“Let the lottery begin! Although many of you have requested specific sites to explore, we must leave these matters to fate. The Lady of Graves is a far better judge of destiny than we of this mortal sphere. The gates of the necropolis will open at sunrise tomorrow. Use this evening to prepare yourselves for the task ahead. Let these rules guide you in your endeavors in this holy place: remember how this came to pass, every slave’s hut is a memorial, and honor the departed. May you go with the Lady’s blessing.”
The acolytes begin drawing tokens from one urn with the names of the adventuring bands and matching them to tokens drawn from the other urn.
Fools’ Errand’s token was matched up with the token for the Tomb of Akhentepi.