| TheScarletSpider |
I was really excited to run this adventure as the end of my first Act in my campaign, but I then read how hard and generic it is. I made some additions to the adventure and will see how this goes in the future.
In my adventure, an ex-adventurer is now forced to work for the villain he failed to defeat (the party have to, too) and he tasks the party with eradicating every undead in this place so he can at least accomplish something, and explains to them their task.
Puzzles & Falling Pyramid - Each room with an undead has a puzzle that must be solved to remove a connection from that undead and the Pharaoh (there is also one on the Pharaoh to the others). If even one connection remains, the pyramid is able to repair all of them. Every 24 hours, any undead in this pyramid rise again if they are connected by this mystical connection. The 24 hour period isn't a race against time, but a story hook to make them want to solve it, as the villain they work for only wants them to kill the Pharaoh to test their abilities (which they realize won't matter since he will just revive in 24 hours). Someone else one day might release the Pharaoh from this pyramid by accident if they don't fully eradicate every undead. When the last mystical connection is severed, the pyramid will start to sink into the sand, and the party has to race back to the entrance (the Mimic Room has doors that came down and sealed the room from every direction). I built a secret door in the East hallway that is opened by a button on a pedestal on the West side, that only opens for 1 round, so someone has to stay and hold it up for the party (they can't not discover this earlier). This leads to the outer courtyard (which is still inside the pyramid). With Sand rushing in all around, their speed will be slowed and they will need to make a few Acrobatic checks if they run (instead of walk) on rising sand. In front of the pyramid was a large sand waterfall hole in a 100 x 100 foot square at the entrance (they had to originally climb down, then climb up) that is 100 feet deep (which will be partially filled now), leading to them using magic or jumping down (and climbing back up)to make it across before the pyramid falls and squashes them into the sands.
Lore - The Pharaoh Sekh-Pa-Mefers was a benevolent ruler who unified 3 other countries, but was betrayed by the ruler of one of those 3 (Abexagh). While meeting with a 4th ruler to make a united kingdom, Abexagh killed the other 3 rulers, had agents in each country take out their wives and children back home, and claimed the kingdoms for himself, ushering in one of the Dark Ages of Osirius. As a cruel joke, and since the Pharoah Sekh-Pa-Mefers' pyramid was already built, Abexagh cursed Sekh-Pa-Mefers to undeath, but allowed him the chance to one day rise again to unify the world, but only if he killed the first person who entered his pyramid every day for 25 (non-consecutive) days, will he be able to leave the pyramid and gain back his humanity (but also keep his new mummy powers; he has killed 22 at the time of the party's arrival). When the party meets Sekh-Pa-Mefers, he wants to 'help' the world with his vision, and even wants to overthrow the villain that has the party under their control, but is it worth sacrificing one of their own, and leading others back here to sacrifice to him for his potential future 'help'? Obviously, he has been corrupted over time as a mummy.
Rolling Pyramid - Finally, I placed a hidden door on the ground in the hallway with the rolling pyramid that leads to a library with notes from the villain that clearly establishes that there are 7 undead connection rooms/puzzles (I turned the Mimic into a Zombie Mimic). One 'puzzle room' they encounter is just a set of instructions, and the book hints that Abexagh fired (or killed) the wizard who created it for not being creative enough with his puzzle. Hopefully, the party will lead the pyramid back to the door that is 80 feet away and have it roll into the hole the open door caused and get stuck, allowing the adventurers to proceed (I've read how everyone can die here before even attempting the actual adventure).
| TheScarletSpider |
I'm new to posting, but why was this moved to Mummy's Mask? There is no 'Risen From The Sands' entry at all under 'Adventure Path - Mummies Mask' because it's not party of that campaign; it's a stand-alone adventure.
I placed it under GM Discussion because I wanted some to see if I could get some input there.