C2 Session 8: City in Peril Report
General Summary
25th of Haelynir 1545 Continued
At the pre-auction mixer continues as Margaret she talks with Maru and Namaru Meshhoten about the jewellery and they are very interested. Next she went to Baketra to tell her about the tapestry and chariot, which she takes a mild interest in. Finally she speaks with Manaat about fine chests, lockboxes and pottery, which they are interested in. When Margaret gets time she points out to the others who the people are. Meanwhile Brin and Ana discuss the rumours they overheard. Brin talks loudly about their first assignment and a few people take note. Ana mingles and tries to play up the authenticity of the objects, and how difficult some of them were to find. Though many are sceptical. Brin takes over Idorii with Khammayid and after a brief discussion Idorii heads back to the inn. At 9pm the auction starts. Jamal has arranged to have their items go first which sell for a combined total 4,418 gold. Everyone is allotted 1236.33 gold to allow them to bid on any items they might like. Partway through the group's items, Margaret through magical subtleness she indicates she is ready and for Brin to lament over the stolen item from their last assignment. As he does, Brin mentions the dead pharaoh's soul and Khammayid questions how the Khirdai priests should have stopped that. Privately Khammayid is disgusted by the idea of some old soul in an item as Margaret listens to his thoughts and causes her to draw the conclusion it was unlikely for Khammayid to be the noble culprit. As the auction continues Margaret gets Phoenix Feather Quill for 320 gold and Jamal buys a map for 1200 gold. Meanwhile Ana and Brin notice Ptemenib leaving the auction about halfway through. Ana leaves the auction to follow him and Margaret sends Luna with her.Eventually the auction is slowly starting to wrap up, announcements are made about collecting gold, items and whatever the clients have need of. At this point Brin and Margaret notices Jamal collapse. Ubek is by his side immediately, gently tapping his face as he pleads for Jamal to wake up. Recognising what this means, Margaret goes into action with directing Ubek and dispelling any worry it makes around the crowd. She stays near Ubek and Jamal as she collects the money for the guild on Jamal's behalf. Brin notices but stays with his charge. As the auction winds down and the attendees mill about, paying for their purchases and gloating over their acquisitions, a frantic pounding comes from The Uncanny Jackal's front door. Margaret directs everyone away and as Margaret and a few servants move to open the door, it suddenly collapses, reduced to splinters, and a horde of zombies shamble in, hungry for the blood of the living. When the zombies first burst through the doors, two of the Canny Jackal's servants, Ahteb and Hamapetra were injured. They both lie on the floor in front of the door, unconscious. The rest of the attendance stand their in shock, taken by surprise. Brin actively guards his charge and advises him not to run but instead stay with Brin. Magaret blesses herself, Ubek and Brin with the magic of the moon. Ubek is conflicted on if he should protect Jamal or attack zombies. The zombies surge forward and start attacking civilians. One gets punched in the face for getting too close to Brin. Then he unleashes a martial display, dismantling the zombie in front of him. Margaret twin spells her Mind Whip spell to hit two zombies. By this stage Jamal has started to stir and Ubek throws himself into the fight. The zombies continue to attack hitting Ubek and several civilians. One goes down while three more are rather hurt. As a result there is a mass panic as they run in every direction. This causes another civilian to go down while two get out the front door though they are badly injured. Brin advices his charge to stay as he briefly leaves to destroy another zombie before coming back to him. Margaret draws down a beam of moonlight onto the pair of zombies across the room. She advices the crowd to get to the back of the room. Jamal slowly sits up and looks around confused. He notices someone else on the ground and heals them as he takes in the situation. Ubek nearly destroys another zombie. Meanwhile the zombies have hurt two more civilians. Some of the civilians listen to Margaret and back up while others continue to run. Another civilian goes down trying to run and two hurt civilians just cower and cry. Brin destorys another zombie while Margaret keeps calling on the moon to hurt zombies. Jamal starts to throw his necrotic magic at the zombies as he stands while Ubek misses. The zombies continue to attack and a few civilians escape out the door one of them is knocked down. Brin is quick to finish off another zombie, their numbers dwindling while Margaret takes out another one. Jamal finishes off the last current threat as Ubek is doing what he can to stabilise a civilian who went down. One of the fallen civilians gets back up as an undead threat. As the auction attendees flee the zombies, the ruckus destabilizes scaffolding at the front of the building. Maru and Namaru Meshhoten had moved to the door to try and call those who flee back with the threat dealt with (not seeing one of their own rise), and are caught under the collapse. Brin is very quick to put the new zombie down. Margaret and Ubek stabilizes a nearby civilian as she tries to direct everyone to help the fallen. Jamal goes to the scaffolding to try and dig out the people buried beneath it. The civilians outside start running back inside screaming as hands chase them. Brin and Okhenti move back towards the enterance as he tries to convince the lord to organise the nobles here. The Lord says he is no hero but does try to get the nobles towards the back of the auction house and the people do as he says much to his surprise. Margaret and Ubek tend to a dying person and stabilises them as Jamal continues to work on the rubble. The hands scurry in to run after some of the nobles. Brin squishes one hand while Margaret uses the moonlight to fry a pair of hands. Jamal continues to try and work with the rubble while Ubek destroys another hand. A few of the servants have run over to help Jamal. One of the hands tries to attack Ubek while another starts to strangle a civilian. Brin and Margaret destroys the last of the hands. Ubek and Jamal continue to dig through the rubble as one of the back doors bursts open as the Four Lanterns run out and call for people to get away from the door as a bandaged figure shambles after them.
Ptemenib is moving as slowly and carefully as Ana is. He's heading into the Veins. Ana notices that the group that Ptemenib is following has noticed the man. Ana ducks into an alley as he enters the ruins of a building, following the group that had disappeared into the ruins. There is a pause before he's jumped and dragged into a part of the building that still stands and the door closes, two men stepping out to guard the door. Ana decisions that this is not the time to involve herself. She heads back to the auction house. As she does she hears faint screams in the distance. As she creeps through the city, she can see some zombies. However she also sees a strange skeletal figure fighting them. She runs off screaming, giving up on being stealthy in favour as running as fast as she possibly can.
The Four Lanterns have run into the room with a mummy following them. The civilians are terrified as the mummy kills a civilian. Brin springs into action, pulling Lord Okhenti to safety. Margaret attempts to beguile a mummy, but it is able to shrug off the spell. She instructs Jamal to keep working on the rubble while Ubek should help them deal with the new threat. Jamal looks around a little confused but nods at the direction he is given and continues his work. Ubek runs to the frontline of the fight. The civilians all run in fear. A mummy goes to strike Ubek and for a moment it seems to have caught him by surprise but Margaret's staff erupts with light to distract the mummy, and the light settles around Ubek. Brin unleashes his fists on the mummy while Margaret calls down the moon on the undead. Ubek uses the power of what Margaret gave him to strike the creature down.
As the Mummy falls, Ana arrives back to see the scaffolding at the front of the auction house collapsed and Jamal digging through it. She immediately goes over to help Jamal with Margaret as Brin checks on the nobles. Margaret and Ana update one another on what happened while they were separated. After pulling people out from the wreckage of the scaffolding, they close up the building to get some rest for the night, hoping help will arrive in the morning. They move all the bodies of the dead and fallen to one side of the room and have everyone else on the other side as they take watches. Ana goes around and heals as many of the civilians as she can. Then they settle down to try and get some rest.
26th of Haelynir 1545
At 7:45am when Brin and Jamal are on watch. As resting finishes up, everyone hears some banding around in one of the storage areas in the auction house. Those of the magical sort put up their magical protections as Ana uses her magical hand to open the door. She opens the door to see a strange, disgusting creature floating out of a urn. Ana screams and throws an eldritch blast at it.
Ana gets comfortable on her couch as she opens the bag they were gifted at the gate. The bag contains 5 pp, 483 gp, 358 sp, a gold ring, and an outlandish silk hat. The wand is a wand of cure wounds. This wand has 6 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast the cure wounds spell from it. For 1 charge, you cast the 1st-level version of the spell. You can increase the spell slot level by one for each additional charge you expend. The wand regains 1d6 + 1 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the wand's last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the wand crumbles into ashes and is destroyed. Afterwards Ana heads downstairs to sit in the parlor and take a short rest. She takes some time to talk to Oryn to get to know him. She learns he's not really a fighter, but can play a guitar okay. He's no bard, but he's decent and can write a strongly worded letter. As they talk, Ana can hear someone on the floor above calling out for the blue one. Oryn is worried they will wake Selene if they keep yelling, so Ana runs off to see what's up.
Margaret retreats to her room to write a note to the Hall of the Blessed Rebirth that Luna can take for her. It says: Hello, this is Margaret. We made it through the night, please let us know how we can help moving forward. Luna will wait for a reply. She uses her new Phoenix quill to write it before heading to the balcony to let Luna out. As Margaret opens the door, a strange bird is standing on one of the tables. It hops in surprise as the door opens. Twists it's masked head to the side.
The commotion has woken Brin so he heads upstairs with Ana to see Margaret with a distressed strange bird. Jamal and Ubek have also come out of their rooms. When the bird sees Ana, it flies at her. Ubek tells the group this pretty birdie was at the auction. It was hanging out with Ptemenib invisible to everyone but Ubek. The bird asked the group for help to save Ptemenib. The bird had seen Ana following them and thought she would be able to help. The bird is getting louder and more distressed, which wakes Selene and she starts to cry downstairs. The group sends Brin back to get more rest while they try and question the bird, whose name is Qasin. Luna is sent off on her mission by Margaret before she sends messages to Date Palm to check on Selene. He's going to do what he can to get her back to sleep and that she's having a bad pain day. Ana calms down Qasin a little. Enough to stop yelling. The Silver Chain has been grave robbing, something Ptemenib was trying to stop. Ana and Margaret head upstairs to the Arcane Study to talk with Qasin while others sleep. Upstairs, Ana and Margaret sit down with Qasin to talk. They do their best to try and keep him calm when they talk so he doesn't get loud again. They learn:
- If Qasin starts singing people will find it hard to look away. This is one of the abilities he offers to try and help rescue Ptemenib.
- Qasin is a psychopump.
- She comes to see Ptemenib for a break from work. She thinks he is clever, smart and he shows her many things of the living.
- Ptemenib has died before as a child. This is when they met. She brought him back to life when she got attached to him and got in a lot of trouble.
At 11am the girls are done waiting for Brin and go to wake him up. He wakes up and is tired but is able to push through as he gets up. They decide to leave Ubek and Jamal behind to watch the guild as they head off. As they leave, Luna returns to the guild. She takes the letter to check the reply. "Still taking stock of the situation. We have a few missing agents. Will let you know when we have managed to get a better handle on the situation. Expect communication tomorrow morning." -Everhand As the group walks through the town, they hope to get the Silver Chains to release Ptemenib without a fight. They develop a basic game plan. As they pass an intersection Brin faintly hears pleading and the banging of something hard on the table. It's coming from a low sandstone building, worn smooth from centuries of exposure, stands out among the larger, more recent constructions. Statues lining the wall hold swords and scales, but the fresh corpses scattered on the street outside the doors hint at something far darker with in. The group takes a moment to consider if they'll get involved and in the end they agree to. They sneak up to the building. They peak inside to see a skeleton judge bang his gabble once more. "Guilty!" Before advancing on a man held down on his knees between two other undead.
At 12pm the group arrives at the area that Ptemenib was taken in. Two fire-scarred mud-brickwalls and a half-dozen crumbling clay kilns are all that remains of the building that once stood in this weed-choked lot. A boarded-up, scorched door stands in the south east corner where the walls join. There are two guards by a door. Ana takes charge, marching up to the guards and demanding the release of Ptemenib. Ana offers them a deal. They get Ptemenib and then everyone forgets this ever happened. The guards go to get their boss. When he arrives, he's accompanied by a masked bodyguard. After a moment of back and forth with Ana, an agreement is reached and Ptemenib is given to the group. He's very badly hurt when they get him. Margaret takes the time to subtly cast detect thoughts on the masked man. The body guard is thinking about the group being a problem and decides to warn the Master about this. The leader just seemed worried about this location being compromised. Meanwhile Ana heals Ptemenib a bit. Ptemenib is a handsome Khinasi man with a thin build, and though his hair is prematurely stark white, his face is quite youthful. At the moment one eye is swollen shut and he's black and blue all over. He wakes with the healing but is struggling to breath.
At 1pm they arrive back at the guild. Ana seems happy for Ptemenib to sleep it off but Brin demands they get a healer since he'll be damned if he dies in his sleep after what they just went through to get him. However, the yelling seems to have woken Selene as crying can now be heard in the guild. Ana keeps on eye on Ptemenib as Brin runs to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth with Qasin. Shortly after Brin leaves, Date Palm comes out of the barracks looking exhausted. He has a bundle of blankets and a strange dog in them who whimpers. He holds the door open as Ana carries Ptemenib into the barracks.
Brin arrives at the Hall of Blessed Rebirth without issue. He collects Mistress Everhand who scolds Qasin for getting Ptemenib into trouble again. He escorts her back.
At 1:45pm Brin returns with Mistress Everhand. Oryn tells the pair where the others can gone. There is a faint howling coming from out the back near the kitchen but the pair is directed to the barracks. Ana is glad that they weren't eaten by zombies. Brin makes a comment about them not eating their own, which has Mistress Everhand confused. It is revealed that it was a joke from a very tired Brin who is quickly told to hit the sheets. Brin lends the group his room to work on Ptemenib who needs surgery now. Ptemenib is moved there so others in the barracks, including Brin may get some rest.
Margaret and Ana assist Mistress Everhand as she works on Ptemenib. She drugs the man and starts to work. Her hand seems to reach through flesh as she examines him. A blessing from Anubis it seems. Ana leaves for the bloody parts and returns afterwards to assist with healing. Mistress Everhand carefully goes through, rebreaking ribs and setting them before applying direct healing as Margaret precipitates the blood away as required. It only seems to be two ribs that set slightly wrong that was impacting his breathing. He breaths easier after that. The next surgery is on his knee, piecing his knee cap back together and healing it before sowing that up. Afterwards she knocks on the door to get Ana back in so the pair can help with other minor things like cleaning wounds and checking for any missed wounds. At 3pm the job is done. Ptemenib is resting more peacefully on the table then before. They talk about the Silver Chain. Mistress Everhand has a mixed opinion on them. Overall that they are scum but Mahga's not so bad as she just manages their fighting pits. She hopes the woman isn't involved in this or they would be having words. They start to get ready to escort Mistress Everhand back to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth as there is scratching at Brin's door. Ana opens the door to see a dog sitting on the floor. Ana pets her, which she allows for a pet or two before getting a little nippy. Not hurting. More mouthing just to say enough as it gets up and squeezes past ana to start exploring the room. Mistress Everhand reprimes Selene for selecting a form that people want to touch and then complaining when people do. The dog turns into a snake after letting out a whine. They go to see where Date Palm is, but he's pasted out at the kitchen table. No doubt when Selene gave him the slip. Mistress Everhand tells the pair a bit about Selene and Date Palm. They used to be like siblings. However, Date Palm outgrew that relationship and matured while Selene did not. Her growth was significantly slower. Date Palm changed from sibling to parent. They wake Date Palm, direct him on where his ward went and Mistress Everhand gave him some supplies. Afterwards, the trio headed off. Unfortunately, they were attacked by a ghost on the way to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth. Thankfully working together they put the spirit to rest in pieces. When they do arrive at the Hall, Margaret buys some supplies at slightly higher prices. They arrive back at the guild at 4:30pm. Margaret starts to scribe Phantom Steed into her spell book. Ana wonders around the guild.
Ana goes to visit Ubek in his smithy. There she finds Ubek with a Goliath (F) and a Dwarf (M). They are Ubek's hirelings. There is Keld Ironforge. The mountain dwarf clarifies gruffly. Keld is a stout dwarf with a braided, fiery-red beard. His hands are calloused from years of working the forge, and his eyes gleam with a keen focus. He wears sturdy leather and chainmail, adorned with symbols of his dwarven heritage. And Thessa Stonesunder. Thessa is a towering goliath with gray skin and intricate blue tattoos. She wears practical, durable armor suitable for both combat and smithing. Her large hands are surprisingly deft when handling delicate tasks in the forge. It seems Ubek's teacher had recommended them to the guild. They tell Ana about what happened overnight. Undead crawling all over the building, falling through the skylight until they closed it. Thankfully the Sunrise Fellows and Selene kept them safe. Thessa and Keld are no defenders. They have slightly more combat skill then a civilian but they're no match for a horde of undead. Through this Ana learns a little more about what Selene can do through their observation. This leads to Ana realising that Selene is likely a Lunar dragon.
At dinner time, Ana runs into Selene who looks tired but back in human form. They talk as Ana starts to put some food together for Selene. It seems that Selene has chronic pain issues. They were really bad today but are a little better now. They talk about some more personal things over dinner. Not long after this Ana heads to bed. Meanwhile Jamal brings Margaret dinner as she continues to work on her spell before heading to bed.
At 10pm Brin wakes up. He goes to get something to eat and finds one of Sunrise Fellows, Oshwytm sitting on the grass of the courtyard as he stares up through the hole in the building to the blocked off skylight. After having a small chat he goes to find Jamal to find him resting in his cramped bedroom. Jamal updates Brin on what happened while he was sleeping. Brin decides to go check on his fighting pit connections. Jamal advises him to wait until midnight when Jamal has finished resting. Brin doesn't want to wait and instead goes back to get Oshwyt to go with him. The pair head out into the night. As the pair head out into the night, when they reach an area not far from the Hall of Blessed Rebirth, they hear an unseasonable boom of thunder from down the street to the east, even though the sky is clear. They get closer to have a look at what is going on. Outside a home is a mob of what looks to be angry locals as a woman is leading a cloaked figure with a rope. She has her hands up. She is begging the crowd to leave her be. Brin creates the sound of drums slowly approaching which riles the crowd up. They blame the woman and accuse her of summoning an army of undead. They don't believe her denials. Brin and Oshwyt rush over. Brin intimates the group into leaving and they do some screaming with promises to return to burn the witch later. Brin offers the woman to stay at the guild for some cheap rent with her husband so this group cannot find her for the moment. She introduces herself as Sehhosep and her husband as Bentu. While the woman runs around to collect some things, Brin tries to talk to the husband, but doesn't get a response. Brin doesn't push the issue. After that they head back to the guild and arrive at 11pm. When they arrive Brin goes to see Jamal who is still resting in his room. He fills Jamal in and Jamal offers his room. He just needs to finish his rest for another hour. Brin relays this and they are happy to wait for the room.
27th of Haelynir 1545
Just after midnight Jamal goes to find Brin and informs him that Bentu is actually undead. Not in the same way Jamal is, but in the dangerous and mindless undead way. He's restrained and not an issue for the moment. Jamal does not know why some undead wake up like he does and why some wake up as beasts. Brin rests until morning, but keeps watch at Jamal's door.Ana is the first up of the girls. She goes about getting breakfast before joining the alert team for trouble at sunrise. At 8am Margaret gets up before going about her morning routine before heading to the lobby to meet whoever else might be up. Jamal is there. He takes over for Brin so Brin can explain the situation. Brin was expecting to be chewed out for bringing an undead here, but Ana is more upset that that was his expectation from them. Margaret wants to go out and find a courier to take a message to her order. She gets information from Jamal via the message spell as he guards his bedroom door. He tells her of one near a tea shop that is nearby. Brin stays at the guild to keep watch for trouble while Margaret asks Ubek to join her and Ana for her trip out.
As the group approaches the business that might have courier services, Luna notices a gang of eight young men thugs taking advantage of the chaos to loot a local shop called the "Sun-Ripened Teas". They agree they should help out and Ana steps forward. With the assistance of Thaumaturgy, Ana scolds the looters and has them all running in shame and fear from the small half elf. The old man who owns the tea shop and had been attacked by the looters is very grateful for their assistance. He gives them some Seer's tea as a thanks. Heading next door, Margaret hires a Courier to take her report to her order in Muden. Her order is called the Apogeal Listeners in the area of Trestahlen in the foothills to the SW of the Archestial Mountain. It will cost her 6 gold and takes 10 days to get there at most. Ideally it would only take 6, but time is allowed for delays. The letter contains details the dreams she had, along with the few details we know about the divided soul artifacts, and the current state of the undead outbreak. She mentions Jamal and Mistress Everhand as allies. It's addressed to Mistress Gambrel. Afterwards they head back to the guild. There Margaret goes to identify the tea. Ana catches Jamal leaving as they arrive. Apparently a Cleric is doing something that might hurt him.
While the group is gone, Brin is in the kitchen when he hears his bedroom door open. He sticks his head out the kitchen to see a familiar white haired man is cautiously sticking his head out the door and looking around curiously. His face is heavily bruised but no longer swollen and covered in blood. He's wearing his vest and desert loose pants. Brin checks in with Ptemenib and invites him into the kitchen to have some breakfast. He tells Brin that the Silver Chain, the thieves guild, are the ones who kidnapped him. He refers to Mistress Everhand as Bahjut Everhand. It seems they work closely together at the Hall of Blessed Rebirth. Due to being kidnapped at the time of the outbreak, Ptemenib has no idea about the undead roaming the living city until Brin tells him about it. He had been following grave robbers and they spotted him before attacking him. Ptemenib has been in city for 18 years. He arrived as a young boy when he arrived. He also knows Sehhosep. He tells Brin of the tragedy of her husband's death a few days before the auction. Brin breaks the news that the body is up and about again, which causes Ptemenib to limp to action. Qasin sees Jamal and freaks out as he detects his undead nature. Brin is able to get them to focus on the actual problem as he knocks on the door. Ptemenib and Qasin confirm that Bentu is undead, breaking Sehhosep's heart as she is overcome by grief. Brin tries to offer an explanation about the stolen object, but she pays him no mind. Ptemenib offers to send the man on when she is ready. Brin tells Jamal to give them space in case the magic effects him as well. Jamal does so, acknowledging he is a problem. Brin also gives them space but stays within earshot.
Jamal explains the situation upstairs. Ana offers to help him in anyway she can, but Jamal redirects her support upstairs to Brin. Margaret continues to the courtyard as Ana goes upstairs to see Brin. He updates her on what has been happening. By the time he's finished, Margaret comes upstairs as well.
Margaret identifies the Tea.
Seer's Tea This rich tea can be made from any number of herbs. When the tea is brewed without a filter and imbibed, the drinker can read the patterns in the leaves remaining at the bottom of her cup, gaining the benefits of an augury spell. Additionally, the unbrewed tea can be used as an extra material component when casting augury, removing the need for a focus. In this case, the caster instead reveals information as if she had cast divination instead.Afterwards she heads upstairs to check on the others with the situation.
As Margaret arrives upstairs she is given the short version of the situation at hand. This ranges from Sephhosep's situation and Ptemenib helping to Jamal's condition being revealed by Qasin. Ana points out that they should tell Ptemenib and Wasin that Mistress Everhand knows about Jamal and they should leave him alone. At this point Sephhosep comes out of the room and heads out onto the balcony as she sobs. Brin goes to check into the room. Ptemenib has moved the chair in front of the bound zombie which is tied to the posts for the underneath of the single bunk bed and forced to sit on the footlocker Jamal has under there. He praying quietly as the zombie reaches forward to try and eat him but can't reach. Brin starts to pepper Ptemenib with questions. He puts up a hand of wait to brin as he continues his prayer. Then with his other hand he touches the zombie's forehead. It makes a groan before stopping moving. Ptemenib sends him off with kind words before turning to Brin. He requests something to wrap the body in before greeting Margaret. Ana goes to get some spare sheets. Ptemenib is carefully unbinding the body though his fingers seem to be having trouble. Margaret enquires into how Ptemenib is feeling. He's sore and doesn't remember much but is grateful to the angels that saved him from the torture. Brin takes over unbinding the body for Ptemenib. This leads a discussion about the angel god Xeldarix that Ana has and some comments are made about her god by Qasin. Ptemenib scolds Qasin for her rudeness. In the end they agree to all go to the hall of Blessed Rebirth to sort a few things out. Brin goes to get Jamal, Ana sulks and Margaret goes to find Ubek. Ubek will keep watch over the guild as the others head out and the others discuss what has transpired here today. Ptemenib is slowly coming down the stairs, one step at a time with a limp, carrying a wrapped up body. Brin hurries to help Ptemenib. It's very clear that Ptemenib is doing more then he should be doing, so Brin takes as much of the burden as he can. Margaret summons a disk to take the body on. They head to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth and go around the back to a new entrance the group has not seen before. Ptemenib wants to see Nakht Shepses who is the head of their forces. Ptemenib reveals this is a secret because the Khirdai priests get nervous when there is more then one trained force in town, however they need them to escort funeral services into the necropolis. As they go down, Ptemenib notices some of the wards for this space have been disabled. Ptemenib leads the group through the door to an area with a lot of bickering people that stop arguing as the door opens. Mistress Everhand is there. She is gently scolding Ptemenib for being up and about when he should be resting. Meanwhile the Khinasi man, Nakht, demands to know who Ptemenib has invited down to their private space. The party is introduced and given high praise by Mistress Everhand while she forces Ptemenib to sit. The planning of possible action then continues with introductions done. Nakht wants to summon an army of psychopomps to destroy the undead and uncover its source. The others are concerned with so much undead energy around the creatures might not easily be able to discern living from head. Ptemenib proposes working with the Khirdai priests to focus on community support with patrols. The party considers raiding the Silver Chain to learn more, but then dismiss the idea. Ptemenib mentions some relics in the necropolis that might be able to help track the source. Nakht doesn't believe the party can help and demands they prove themselves. Seeing that the group will have to fight some psychopomps to get this to continue in a positive manner, Mistress Everhand has Jamal help her with Ptemenib to keep him away from the fight and more psychopomps. Nakht takes them into the training room. There he summons a bird reaper and a dog alligator creature.
- When the necropolis was first walled off, more than a dozen necromantic detectors called elegiac compasses were concealed inside. These devices can sense large sources of necromantic energy, and church inquisitors have used them to track and subdue fell influences in the necropolis. They were last used 30 years ago, and could possibly be used to triangulate the source of the undead uprising. They're labelled G, K, L, M, N and O on the map.
- Nakht suspect that a cult of atheist lamias called the Amushet might be behind the undead uprising. The lamias know bizarre magicks and have been known to take paramours from the city's populace, releasing them only after blinding them and driving them insane. They're labelled them H.
- In Ptemenib's investigations into the city's grave robbing gangs he made contact in the necropolis with a clan of dark folk called the Xotl. Their leader is called Unwrapped Harmony. They're labelled I. They might have information about the outbreak."
- Also there is a possibility of looking into the people who took Ptemenib. If nothing else the Veins are riddled with smuggling tunnels into the necropolis. That might be an alterative way in as opening the main gate would be dangerous to the city. Labelled as 6.
- From the Uncanny Jackal owner for saving their staff. The collection consists of an oil of etheralness, a potion of aid, a potion of sanctuary, and a potion of spider climb.
- From Lady Meshhoten and her granddaughter who were buried under scaffolding during the incident at the Uncanny Jackal. 600 gold worth worth of diamonds, and is willing to donate gold to a temple of the group's choice in their name.
- From Lord Menya of the Sunburst Market who was nearly struggled to death by severed hands. Mistmail and willing to offer the group discount in future through his direct stores.
- From Ptemenib. A metamagic rod of Lesser Ectoplasmic.
At noon, the group arrives back at their guild house. While Margaret works on her spell, the others divide up the gifts and consider how to sort out the spoils and if they wanted to use the same system as the lottery or not. For now they will hand them out to make them useful and consider the fairness of the split later.
Brin and Ana find Ubek in the forge with a female Goliath and male Mountain Dwarf. The pair fill Ubek in on the patrons who had donating things to their cause. Keld, the Mountain Dwarf, looks over the mistmail and determines it was of elven make. Specifically sea elven make. While this happens Brin and Ana explain they will be going back into the Necropolis soon and would likely need this armour. Through the conversation, Keld nearly lets slip about Selene's true nature but Thessa, the Goliath, keeps him in check. Afterwards, Brin goes to take a nap and Ana heads to her room to relax with Jamal in tow.
Jamal follows Ana and sits politely on the couch before massaging his temples. It turns out Jamal has had a steady and persistent headache since the auction. Ana suspects the mask is messing with Jamal's aura. Jamal explains he feels disconnected from his body a little. However, he then redirects to ask about Ana to try and change the subject. They end up discussing Selene and Date Palm. They consider talking Selene about pretending to be a druid, so if she is ever spotted shifting into animal forms it could be easily explained.
At 3:30pm after a nap, Brin goes to check in with Margaret. They talk a little and Margaret suggests getting some of the Sunrise fellows to patrol the city to try and help out. Also they discuss the possibility of waiting until tomorrow to head into the necropolis. Brin then leaves Margaret to finish up and goes to see Ana. At 3:45pm Brin knocks on Ana's door and Jamal sits up on the couch. Brin is invited in. He tells the pair what he discussed with Margaret. They end up deciding to go tonight. They agree to wait here for Margaret but Brin does briefly go down to the barracks to talk to the Sunrise Fellows about patrolling. They're open to it and are only just getting up as they sleep in the day so they can be defenders at night. They decide to have a pair patrol while one of them stays to protect the bastion. Just after 5pm Ana gets a message from Margaret telling the party she is downstairs. They all get up to head down.
At 5pm Margaret has finished her spell work and has also had a short rest. Afterwards she went down to the parlor where Selene was entertaining Oryn with a story. It's about a princess who goes on an adventure to find water for the town that lost theirs. It's silly but Oryn seems to be enjoying it. During this story Margaret sends a message to Ana telling her where she is.
Ana, Brin and Jamal arrive in the lobby to find Margaret and Oryn listening to Selene telling a silly story. After reviewing the scrolls and potions, the group heads out. They head to the SE point of the wall near the old sealed off gate at the back of the Necropolis. Jamal casts Spider Climb on Brin so he can climb to the top and piton a rope in so the party can climb up and over. Jamal takes Margaret down the other side on his moon disk. Ubek is climbing down the rope. On the other side Margaret notices movement nearby as something attempts to sneak up on her and Jamal which causes her to alert the group to trouble. Three zombies move in to attack. The group easily take care of these zombies. For a brief moment one of the zombies nearly takes Margaret down but she calls on the power of the moon to intercept the claws and cause it to miss. With the problem dealt with Ana climbs down. Brin had made his way down during the fight. Ana uses her mage hand to untie the rope and bring it down. Brin helps the group to sneak around the necropolis and head to N on their map. The building they're after has a unique trapezoidal roof and has a walled in courtyard around it. There is an opening in the wall to the South. Doesn't look it ever had a gate there. Margaret has Luna do a flyover to see what’s beyond the walls before we get too close. Luna sees A long-neglected garden and thirty-foot-tall obelisks decorate this broad, walled-in courtyard. Several squat out buildings stand near the western wall, but a sprawling sandstone building with a steeply pitched pyramidal roof and elaborate reliefs dominates the property. There is no sign of any creatures in the courtyard. The group sneaks towards the main door. Brin opens the door and sees deep niches line the walls to either side of this wide passage, dividing blocks of detailed hieroglyphs. Scrolls and loose bits of parchment lie scattered across the floor. As Brin steps through the door, two shadowy creatures turn and look at him before screaming inhuman shrieks. These creatures are a lot more dangerous then anything the group has faced in the last 24 hours as they wreak their hands through Brin and. They're also able to whisper compulsive orders to attack one another which only effects Ubek and Ana as Ana successful hits Ubek but Ubek misses her. Thankfully the group is able to heal one another in the fight until they beat the shadows down. After a bit of healing Brin heads past the hieroglyphs and parchments to the opening at the end of the hall. Tools and notes have been placed upon this chamber's broad stone worktables with apparent significance and precision. Several sarcophagi lie along the walls, surrounded by dusty models, urns, and statues. In the north east corner, a disorderly campsite mars the mathematical order of the room's design. Brin investigates the old camp sight. He gets a little confused as to why shadows would need a campsite though. Ana can't see anything more. Margaret gets distracted by the papers and scrolls in the entrance hallway. These looks like original manuscripts and historical treatises that are likely worth a lot of gold. Margaret collects them for later with Jamal's help. Meanwhile Ana wanders around the room, tapping on random sarcophagi. Everyone notices to the south as two creatures wrapped in bandages shambles into the room as Ana starts knocking on various sarcophagi. The group attacks the mummies. However Ubek and Jamal are badly hurt and Ubek is cursed with Mummy Rot, though the group doesn't know it yet. Afterwards Ana tries to heal Ubek, but it doesn't do anything which freaks the group out. Margaret sits down to detect magic. Ubek is coming up as being effected by magic and so is something in the old camp. The one on Ubek is necromancy and the one in the camp is transmutation. Margaret goes to the came and find a ring in the bottom of the sleeping bag. Ana takes time to identify the magic on Ubek while Margaret identifies the ring. At the end of the next 10 minutes Ana knows about the Mummy's curse and Margaret has identified a ring of feather fall. The group decides that they need to find the compass here and then get Ubek out of the necropolis and to the Hall of the Blessed Rebirth. They give Ubek the ring of feather fall in case something happens climbing over the wall and a +1 dagger. For the moment they take a short rest to prepare to protect Ubek. At 6:45pm everyone has finished their short rest, including Ana who needed a little longer. They head to the room the mummies came out of. A corpse in robes and a metal mask lies on the floor and a mechanical device is in the corner. It is badly damaged, but comparing it to the drawing reveals this was likely one of the devices. Seeing in real life Margaret who looked around the oil shop in the ghoul market would recognise that there was also a destroyed one there. Looking over the device Margaret can see that it is too badly damaged to be fixed. At least quickly anyway. Given a few years maybe, but not really helpful currently. Also, now inspecting it, they realise that in the space they found the Sunrise Fellows there was a similar device that had been stripped down. The group then raids the corpse. The corpse has a potion, scroll, oil vial, dagger, darts (5), shortsword, a nice looking cloak, spell components pouch, spellbook, personal notebook, thieves tools set, brass funerary mask (exactly like the one that the body guard of the Silver Chain indiviudal you spoke to to get Ptemenib back was wearing), 2 gems and 4 gold.
- 3x potion
- 3x scroll
- 3x oil vial
- 3x dagger
- 3x darts (5)
- 3x shortsword
- 3x a nice looking cloak
- 3x spell components pouch
- 3x spellbook
- 3x thieves tools set
- 3x brass funerary mask
- 9x gems
- 12 gold
- 4x cloak of protection
- 4x scroll of sending
- 4x potion of advantage
At 8pm Jamal returns. They discuss their next step. Camping at a broken compass would mean for a less likely chance for disruption. Though going back to the location they were just at isn't a great idea due to the facts others might come looking for the people they killed. The head for location O on the map. Brin focuses his energy to muffle their movements to best move quickly through the necropolis. They approach the location to find a very small building kind of in the same style as the first tomb they went into. Ana opens the door with her magic. The door easily pulls open to reveal a 10x10 room decorated with starscapes and stairs going down. The stairs twist around to stay under the building with the starscape continuing down. 15 ft down is a wooden sarcophagus on one side of the room. On the other side a stripped browns and stone frame that looks similar to the last device found. Ana is immediately drawn to the sarcophagus and uses her magic to open it. A huge fireball trap goes off, hitting everyone. Jamal and Worm both are knocked out by the force. Ana quickly heals them both a little to bring them back round. Brin is enraged by Ana's carelessness and fumes off to the side. Ana is apologetic and look into the sarcophagus now it's open. Inside there is a small wooden box and a small chest. The mummified body has a gold funeral mask, a necklace with a locket on it and a small gold bracelet. They give Worm a cloak of protection to use while he's helping them, which he gratefully accepts. Margaret tries to look through one of the spell books, Ana ritually detects magic and Brin stops sulking to look through the journal. He tries to start at the last entry.
- Ana: Sees the wooden box, things inside the chest are magical and the sarcophagus is magical.
- Brin: This person has been given a mission by Master Nebta-Khufre had given this person a mission to go to several location in the necropolis (K, P, N, 17, L and O) to investigate for signs of the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh. K and 17 are crossed out. This is dated a week and a half ago.
- Margaret: This one book you're looking at has Burning hands, disguise self, detect magic, identify, comprehend languages, feather fall, mage armour, shield, plus charm person, False Life, and Grease.
- Potion of frost giant strength
- Wand of Magic Detection
- Game of Fortunate Passing
- 1200sp
- 1200gp
- 70pp
- Pair of engraved bone dice
- Copper chalice with silver filigree
Game of Fortunate Passing This wooden box contains a popular Masesian board game called senet, a game which has been played since the earliest days of Cerilia. Ten pawns (two sets of five) carved from petrified wood are stored within the box. The top of the box serves as the game board, with three rows of 10 squares each. Two characters can play the game against each other, or a single character can play against the game itself, which animates to play against its opponent. While a mundane senet game emulates the journey into the afterlife, a game of fortunate passing exerts genuine influence over a player’s fate—it’s said that a winner the protection and favor of the gods. A game of senet takes 30 minutes to play. At the end of this time, the players make opposed Intelligence checks; whoever wins the check wins the game. If playing against the game itself, the game has an effective Intelligence bonus of +4. Winning a game of senet with the game of fortunate passing (either against another player or the game itself) charges one of the game’s pawns with magic. For the next 24 hours, the winner gains a luck token that they can use on a reroll. Once used, the game looses it's magic for 1 week before being useable again.Afterwards they discuss watches and sleeping conditioned in the cramped space. It works out okay if they split up between the top level and bottom level with Jamal resting on the stairs. Brin is given the wand of Detection for the moment. Ana will take first watch while everyone else gets some rest. In the first hour of her watch Ana can hear some creepy howling outside the building. There are noises going on outside. Ana wakes Brin and tells him about the noises. Brin wakes everyone else. They all listen and wait for five minutes. Before the end of this time the sound seems to be fading. The group relaxes and everyone heads back to continue sleeping while Ana continues her watch. The rest of the night is uneventful as the change watches.
28th of Haelynir 1545
The group gets up at 5am. Margaret takes out the map to carefully plan their route. They're going to K and then checking in with the Xolt group afterwards. They stealthily move through the city. When they arrive at the building, they see it is a derelict building. Brin goes in first. He opens the door to see a morass of mud, mold, and crumbling stonework fills this old bath house's humid interior. They look around and Luna sees something shiny and also finds the device is destroyed under a crumbled wall. The shiny item was a pair of glasses. They're old but not damaged. The party moves on, going directly South and over the wall into the estate the Xotl (I) are apparently in. Brin climbs up to the top of the wall and hammers in a piton. They all use the rope to climb up and sit on this wall. Margaret climbs down the other side first. As she does, three figures cladded is tattered clothing approach. They're short and come from the mansion. When they speak, they do so in a halting stammer manner.
- She found a starscape scroll in the bathhouse the other day.
- She has been tracking masked strangers in the necropolis in the recent week. They filled her apprentice's head with bad ideas.
- The masked strangers go to L (The Shiny Bauble) and never come back out. The creature that lives there does not like strangers.
- She has also seen them go to M, K, O, G, and P. Though they move freely unlike L.
- The Xotl leave the Llamia alone and the Llamia leave the Xotl alone. The Unwrapped Llamia never sends her men there as they never come back.
- Eyes of the Eagle
- Circlet of persuasion
- Screaming bolts
- Potion of Blur
- 2 potions of greater healing.
