NECROPOLIS

Game summary of 4 - 6 January 2008 (at Ivan's place)

document version 1.5, dated 23 May 2009
document version 1.4, dated 29 January 2008
document version 1.3, dated 13 January 2008
Comments from Sean on 26 Jan in Red

Baron Crayon

Baron Cadra

Baron Ballard

Byron

the Redeemer

       
Hellyeah

Q Featherhammer

Air Marshall Palmerin

  

Inside Rahotep’s Tomb

8 Reaping, CY 577, Rahotep’s Tomb

1                    After the slow process of bringing the party back from the dead or the near dead, the Dwarves think it's time for a break, but you resolve that you can not rest until Rahotep is destroyed, it's a matter of honor now... Everyone rests and learns spells then casts said spells and learns more so they can be casts again. After 2 days of this it's the 8 Reaping and time to get moving with everyone healed and on full hit points, and a full compliment of spells learnt. You have also created 30 Continual Light coins - that should put an end to any magically induced darkness in the future! Byron advises that there was something outside the door that almost made him retch with its stink, but nothing happened.

2                   Reflecting on the near TPK (Total Party Kill) and the fact that you lost 7 of the 8 Evil Objects that you had under your control in the last battle, Cadra and Palmerin do a Locate Object for the Blackened Sun and the Netherladder respectively. As you thought, they appear to be in or around Rahotep's Great Hall (the location of the last fateful battle).

3                   Before proceeding straight to recovering your lost property (which Medinet once again tells you are require of you are to destroy Rahotep), you take a detour to look at the Zodiac room and also those rooms with the Devas - they must be to help fight Rahotep mustn't they? After shaking your head over the carvings and dial in the Zodiac room, you decide to give it a big miss and go to the Devas, with Q disabling the trap at the bottom of the stairway as you go.

4                   Medinet explains the 9 parts of a Khemetian's being to you as you descend. You consider the coincidence of nine Evil Objects. The nine parts are:

5                   You touch the Hawk headed statue and the Deva does indeed appear, but she again tells you "you don't need me yet" and vanishes before you can question her. You look again at the other room with the small devil statues in it, along with the magical Tome, War Hammer, and Ebony Fly. How can you get them??? You recall the Augury which warned you that if you touch one devil statue, then it will case a chain reaction and summon all the devils. Bugger....

6                   After much deliberation, Cadra casts a Divination spell, sacrificing a 500gp gem and a Potion of Endurance (that should impress the deity). He asks:

What should we do with these statues [meaning the Deva statues]? The answer was: Touching stone oppose or perish chained demons over a book with flies.

7                   This stumps our adventurer who mutter about stupid cryptic answers, but Crayon has an idea (he casts the spell of that name) and remembers that a previous Augury advised that touching one demon statue would set of a chain reaction among the demons could this be the "chained demons">? After some deliberation you believe the cryptic answer means that you touch the stone statues to call the Devas to fight the demons after you have touched one of the demon statues and caused all the others to appear in a chain reaction (the DM nods knowingly to back up this theory).

8                   Palmerin casts an Augury when you are considering touching the statues to get the Tome, War hammer and Fly, asking: "If we go after any of these items, are any of them essential in the destruction of Rahotep?" the answer to which is "useful but not essential". You give it all up as a resource drain and decide to go get your Evil Objects back and maybe come back here later.

9                   After some walking you find yourselves once again about to enter the cramped 2 feet square hidden shaft that gives you entry to Rahotep's Great Hall (the location of the last fateful battle). In preparation a whole bunch of spells are cast including Protection From Evil 10' radius and many other Protection From Evils.

10                   Before Q can emerge from the shaft, a lightening bolt shoots down the shaft, searing the first 4 of you (the rest are nicely around the corner). At the shaft entrance you see a corpse in Khemetian armour with a Wand. He looks to be a fellow adventurer who didn't make it and turned to join Rahotep's dark side.

11                   Q emerges from the tunnel only to have a broadsword swung at his neck from a second of the ex-adventurers hiding around the corner, and cries out an alert to his companions that there are a total of 4 of the bastards out here. Lucky he is protected by his Protection From Evil spell, and he starts to force one of the undead adventurers back down the stairs and into Rahotep's Great Hall. [new game ruling for Protection From Evil started here, see Sage Advice page]

12                   Palmerin uses his last free character point to reroll his overbear attempt so he can prevent the dude from using his wand again, but fails, so another bolt of electricity goes down the shaft.

13                   The undead with the wand seems intent on lighting up the shaft and fires off another 3 bolts of lightening down the shaft.

14                   Lightening at the Portable Hole twice and it succeeds the save (magic cloth versus electricity = 18-4 = 14 save roll) - jammy Ivan at work again and he grins his satisfaction with critical die rolls.

15                   Hellyeah casts Haste spell on Ballard, Cadra and Palmerin but Ballard and Cadra are stuck in the shaft behind Palmerin, who himself can not get out because of the undead ex-adventurer blocking the way.!

16                   Palmerin tries to force his way out of shaft for many rounds but an old undead adventurer with a Khopesh keeps him from getting out, and deals him a swag of damage in the process. Eventually Palmerin retreats back into the Portable Hole and Ballard has a shot - succeeding on his first try to overbear the undead dude.

17                   Cadra casts a Forceward (speciality Priests of Fortubo spell) to force back the undead that fail their save by 90 feet and one of the undead starts to retreat away from the fray leaving 3 determined to kill you. Q drinks Spider Climb potion.

18                   Undead start retreating into Rahotep's Great Hall. One gets a fair distance away only to be shot in the back by the Zhi Bow on overkill mode a few times and crumbles to dust (leaving his equipment on the ground). Ballard uses the Zhi Bow on the other fleeing undead and also finishes him off with a few well placed jolts from the overkill mode.

19                   Battle finished, you note that among the possessions of the now dusted undead ex-adventurers are the Netherladder, and the Cleaver of Set - that's 2 of the 7 that you lost retrieved again! Medinet casts a quick Heal spell on Palmerin given that he's down to single figure hit points. Cadra casts a Find Traps before you proceed.

20                   You explore up the Great Hall a bit further but are reluctant to go up these side areas. Instead you decide to summon some monsters to do your bidding for you. Hellyeah casts Monster Summoning I from a scroll and summons:

20                   After realising that there are some linguistic problems (ie. you can not communicate with these things except in hand signals and grunts. You send 5 of the Kobolds down the North tunnel, they come back pointing at you and then cupping their boobs then holding up 4 fingers. Cadra thinks (perhaps not longingly) of the Vamp chick who was jumping his bones, as Hellyeah suggests 4 females down there - you think of prisoners, but decide to get the other 5 Kobolds to check out the South side before moving in for the rescue. A short time later you hear a squeal and 4 Kobolds come running out. Crayon tries to question them but they only give him the finger. Hellyeah signs for them to explain and one draws a finger across its throat and holds up one finger, then cups his boobs and holds up a mismatch of fingers showing 5 females down there.

21                   You cast a few spells like Protection From Evil (kind of like a second skin these days) and form up into skirmish marching order and go down the South tunnel, on the lookout for trouble. In 5 small alcoves you find 4 weeping and overly distraught young females wearing only gauzy see-through gowns and a medallion. The 2nd last alcove appears empty. You try to get some information from the first two and find out that "he" sucks their blood and then lets the amulet revive them, they seem extremely distraught. Crayon keeps asking to see their teeth, but they either burst into tears or talk some more and his toothy request is ignored. They say that they can not escape as "he" threatens to make them undead like "him". Palmerin detects for Evil on them but can find none.

22                   Posting a guard on each alcove you get to the last one and talk to the woman who is seated at a small desk with her head on the desk. Crayon asks to see her teeth and she obliges - 2 nice big fangs shine back at you in your continual light, and she launches herself at you with a screamed command in Khemetian to the other chicks. The other chicks all hiss and lunge for your people who guard them. They try to latch onto your necks as Crayon calls a withdrawal, but none can get a hold. As you get into smiting mode, Crayon states his first law of dating: any young good looking chick in see-though clothing is always a vamp. Hellyeah uses his wand to shoot a couple of Lightening Bolts into the fray (careful not to fry the party), Crayon does some turning, Q throws a dagger and Ballard shoots them with the Zhi Bow. In the end Hellyeah electrifies the remaining chicks with another Lightening Bolt from the wand. When the chicks die they turn to dust and their amulets go with them.

23                  You check out all the small rooms and find jewelry and gems - 5,000gp of each. The gems are placed on top of the Zhi Bow to recharge it, and they each "pop" and disappear. Ballard looks happy.

24                   Having made short work of these Vamp chicks, who do not appear to have been ordinary vamps, you decide to go toast some more in the North tunnel. Spreading out around the entrance, Hellyeah shoots his Fireball Wand in the area and is rewarded with a nice amount of fire and some hissing screams - more Vamp Chicks are there alright. Hellyeah sends some more fire up their collective asses until they are all dead.

25                   You now go back out to the Great Hall, and advance West some more into uncharted territory. The stench becomes overpowering as you walk west, and you see two 12 foot statues of mixed human and animal form, one female dog-faced woman with vacant spaces where her eyes should be in the north wall alcove, and one hyena faced man in the south wall alcove. These statues radiate waves of evil and you give them a wide berth. Byron advises that the stench coming from the dog-faced woman statue is the same he smelt last night which you all slept. Moving further west you see a big statue in the middle of 9 pillars made out of serpentine. Stretched out it would be over 50 feet long and has spider legs, a huge snake body, a scorpion stinger on its 10 foot tail, and a crocodile head. Beyond this statue is a familiar figure, a 12 foot statue of Rahotep facing south with a 3 foot headdress resembling a vulture. The walls here are lined with statues of undead creatures on the south, and demons on the north, and to the west of the Rahotep statue there is an alcove that marks the end of the Hall.

26                   You stand in the open area between the really big pillars and Palmerin casts a Locate Object, looking for the Cursed Star. His arm points almost 45 degrees down and to the west - you all nod knowingly - it hasn't moved. Palmerin then casts a second Locate Object, looking for the Serpent Ankh. He does a quick triangulate and he tells you that it is within this room to the west about 40 feet..

27                   You use a Find Traps spell to check the area out for traps, and find 13 feet around the big croc-headed statue is trapped, even off the ground. Going for a careful reccy around the end of the hall, you see that the statue of Rahotep also has a trap 6 feet around it, extending out and around it like the croc trap. You also find that the Statue of Rahotep has the Serpent Anhk tied around its neck with twine, and that the Seal of the Shadow is on the floor among the feet of the croc-headed statue. Getting back to the middle of the Hall, you also find that there are some hieroglyphs on the plinth under the dog-faced woman statue that are trapped, as are the bass-relief body parts done in stone on the plinth below the hieroglyphs.

28                   Q says that he can get the 2 Evil Objects using his Telekinesis (which, Medinet mutters, came from Set). Cadra casts an Augury and asks the gods: If we try to telekinesis the Evil Object out of the trapped areas, will it set off any or all of the traps?
The following answer comes back to him: One to go, two bad show.

29                   With a green light for the Seal of the Shadow, Q concentrates and you see the Seal wobble a bit then lift off the floor and float smoothly into Q's outstretched palm. There's grins all round - that's cool! You then consider the other objects and Medinet casts a Locate Object looking for the Book of Eternity. He says that it is off almost directly to the north somewhere about 120 feet away. You mark it on the map, which shows this area as solid rock at this stage.

30                   Hellyeah casts a Detect Secret Doors and Portals and walks around the reccy circuit again to find any secret doors. The following secret doors glow softly for 10 minutes:

31                   Hellyeah tries to stay away from the 2 statues as they just ooze Evil, but to investigate the just discovered secret doors, someone has to go there. Q goes in behind the hyena faced statue on the south wall and does the usual push and pull etc etc etc but nothing happens. Cadra has a quick play with the bones made out in bas-relief on the plinth below the hyena faced statue, noting that the 2 he touched moved. Cadra checks for traps on the plinth and there are none, Q checks for magic on the plinth using his thief (such a nasty word) ability and there is none. Hellyeah tells everyone to get out of the way and does a Knock spell, which opens this secret door, but not the one up in the west alcove. Hellyeah makes a mental note that the west secret door has more than 2 types of locking systems.

32                   Q opens the door and finds a stinky corridor. You break the secret door locking mechanism so the door wont close again and then go exploring up the tunnel. It emerges into a series of large alcoves which only disgusting refuse on the floor, excrement and bits of rubbish, none of which is worth any value. One thing of note is the Archway at the end of the area, which you recognise as the same as the ones in the Vamp chicks lair that they used to teleport places. This one has a dead body and an undead creature depicted in a stone bass-relief above it. There is much theorising as to its destination, but when you don the necklaces and try to use it, the thing does not work. Someone (probably Sean, i'm sure he has read the module) theorises that only undead can use the portal. Ballard is elected to search the excrement and other crap for anything valuable and the party snicker quietly while he moves shit around in his search.

33                   Nonplussed about finding nothing (except Ballard who looks a bit dark), you go back to the Great Hall and Cadra and Q have a look at the secret door on the north wall behind the dog faced woman statue (nothing happened to Palmerin when he was playing around behind the other one, so it should be safe). Q can't find the trigger and grumbles to Hellyeah who confirms that he has no Knock spells left. Cadra says he's just going to break the bloody secret door down and proceeds to push the whole door in. The stone door crashes off its hinges etc and falls flat on the floor. Now that's how dwarves open doors!

34                   Not surprisingly there is a corridor behind the door (all dungeons are symmetrical aren't they?) and you follow it up to an area with 6 large alcoves along the east wall and another Archway at the end of the area. Remembering the Locate Object Medinet cast, you go looking for the Book of Eternity in the end two alcoves. Ballard complains that he's tired of searching through excrement and who knows what diseases he has picked up, so Byron gives him a hug and uses his Paladin skill to cure Ballard of any diseases, then Byron takes over the search and finds the Book of Eternity.

35                   You all go back to the Great Hall and are wondering what to do next when Crayon remembers the moving bas-relief bones on the hyena faced statue's plinth. Q ends up pushing all the bones at once when "click" a door opens in the plinth revealing a small secret compartment with a scroll and the Blackened Sun stuck behind the door. Q can feel waves of evil intent coming from the scroll which looks like it is written on old human skin and does not want to touch it. He ends up using the crowbar to break the stone door out of the compartment and onto the floor then grabs the Blackened Sun. He uses the crowbar to drag the scroll out and onto the floor, which it hits like lead and does not bounce or roll - very ominous indeed!

36                   Someone does a Detect Evil and they find that pretty much the whole place is evil, but the statues are very strongly evil and that scroll is just evil incarnate. You can almost feel the scroll calling to you indeed Medinet stares longingly at the scroll and without taking his eyes off it advises you that you could use the scroll to fight Rahotep. Q is having none of it though, and keeps Medinet talking about the uses it may be put to while Hellyeah uses his wand to Fireball the scroll. It fails it's save and blue green flames erupt out of it and a wind picks up from nowhere forming a small tornado above the scroll, drawing ethereal like demons from the walls into a swirling mass which disappear into the flames. Finally you hear a crack and the scroll turns to dust and the flames disappear. Crap, that was some serious shit!

37                   A bit empowered by making the right choice, you check out the plinth below the dog faced woman statue, noting again the holes in the statue where her eyes would go. Medinet casts a Dispel Magic on the magical traps which seems to suspend them, so Q goes to work. In no time he has crowbared the door to the secret compartment off and onto the floor and sees some gems and the Bloodied Moon in there. He again uses the crowbar to get them out without touching them and they fall to the floor - the gems with a leaden thunk, not rolling or bouncing. You see two eyes looking back at you from the floor, or 2 gems cunningly crafted to look like eyes. The Detect Evil shows the same kind of overwhelming evil as the scroll. Medinet sees them and starts to rant about not destroying such a valuable tool, and if you were just to put them in the sockets of the statue...when Hellyeah uses his wand to Fireball them. They fail their saving throw too and there is the same blue green flames erupting out of them as the scroll and a wind picks up from nowhere forming a small tornado above the gems, drawing ethereal like demons from the walls into a swirling mass which disappear into the flames. Finally you hear a crack and the gems turn to dust and the flames disappear, leaving the Bloodied Moon which is picked up. Crap, this place is dangerous, lucky you are experienced adventurers!

38                   You look at each other and advise that you are all worn out and getting low on spells. Palmerin casts a Divination from a scroll and asks the gods: Do we have enough time to rest or should we go after the Serpent Ankh now?
The following answer comes back to him: Time is running out, but not run out yet.

39                   Cadra casts an Augury when you are thinking about using an arrow to sever the twine holding the Ankh to the statue's neck, and asks the gods: Will a shot arrow set off the magical traps around the statue of Rahotep?
The following answer comes back to him: One to go, two no show.

40                  You decide that you need to be fully alert and rested before attempting this, so you troop back to the secret room near where there Iron Mummies were to rest and relearn spells. You sleep for 8 hours and study for a further 10 hours before everyone is ready to go again. You travel back to the small shaft. Q and Cadra carry the portable hole and Zhi Bow through the tunnel while the rest of you step through a Dimension Fold that Crayon has created into the Great Hall (argh, you age a year - thanks Crayon!).

41                  Nothing appears to have changed in the Hall, so you get ready to get the Serpent Anhk. Hellyeah casts a Haste spell on all people which lasts 14 rounds (you all age another year, but who cares, you are young!). Q tries to break down the secret door in the alcove on the west wall, but can not break it (even though he would have succeeded on a normal locked door). Palmerin casts a Find Traps to see if the magical traps are still there - they are (spell lasts 30 min)... Lots of people cast Dispel Magic on the statues trying to suspend the traps but none of them work (Ivan rolled heaps of really low numbers and one high number last of all for Palmerin).

42.                  Ballard takes careful aim, but "twang" goes his bow string as it breaks (Sean rolled a 1). No worries he says, bit of bad luck there, and pulls out his crossbow and loads a +1 bolt, but just as he looses the trigger, the string breaks on it as well! (Sean rolls another 1). Bugger that says Ballard and he's looking for his spare bow string (Scott must have packed one), when Q hands him another bow and admonishes him to go easy on the string while he picks up the +1 bolt off the floor. Ballard again calls the target to him and looses - and neatly severs the string holding the Serpent Ankh to the statues throat. The Ankh clatters to the ground and as luck would have it, slides to a stop just in front of his feet within the trapped area. Before he can do anything the eyes in the statue of Rahotep light up and turn to stare at Ballard, who quickly grabs the Ankh from just in front of him (forgetting about the other trap in the process).

43.                  The headdress on the statue of Rahotep creaks out the following message: so now you have incurred the seventh curse of Rahotep and then flies off the statue's head and starts to circle above you. Ballard feels a brief tingling of fear down his spine but it passes, however Q doubles over feeling a twisting in his guts, a feeling of nausea, a weakness in the knees, as if some plague has passed through his body. He exclaims that another curse to add to his collection is just fine, then everyone does the boltsky down to the open area in the Great Hall in anticipation of a quick combat with the statues.

[begin initiative for new combat next gaming session with Statue of Rahotep + mystery guest]