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--- game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:adventure_journal [2023/08/20 16:24] – [Searching for Answers] Bryan Stephens
+++ game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:adventure_journal [2025/11/17 20:57] (current) – [Canny Jackel Redux] Bryan Stephens
@@ Line 211: / Line 211: @@
 A stone effigy of a humanoid figure stands at the north end of this room, its arms spread in a gesture of supplication, or as if commanding an object to rise in the air. The figure's face is devoid of detail, with only vague contours where the eyes and nose should be. An extensive series of hieroglyphs covers the western wall, opposite a stone bench that stands against the eastern wallUpon entering the room. Kepher notices writing on the wall behind them which Tumani notes looks like it was a //glyph of warding//. He surmises this was what injured the other party. To Tumani’s //detect magic// the entire room has a dim magical aura, centered on the statue to the north. The nature of the aura is difficult to identify, it seems that until recently, the room held a source of necromantic power of overwhelming strength. Tumani does not think it is active in now. The two move forward and a [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/necrophidius/ |necrophidius]] emerges from behind the statue. This is a snake skeleton construct with a human skill. The fight is brief as Tumani, Kepher and Keva bash it to death. Now the group turns to the contents of the room. Reading the hieroglyphs, they find the message:
-{{ :game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:senenmarek.png?250|}}
 //Woe to you who would plunder the Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul. Turn away, lest the harsh judgment of the Forgotten One fall upon you and your descendants for a thousand generations. Turn away, for his ka cannot be appeased and it shall call forth legions of the dead and the damned. Turn away, and may the All-Seeing Eye and the Lady of Graves take pity on you, for if not, the Forgotten Pharaoh shall consume you, body and soul.//
@@ Line 218: / Line 217: @@
 After a pause to heal up, the group heads to the summoning room. Again, Kepher and Tumani head in. This time, two of the columns come to life to attack. Tumani uses a //shield of faith// on Kepher and leaves the room, telling everyone to depart as these creatures are [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/caryatid-column/|Caryatid Columns]] and in danger of destroying their weapons. As Kepher disengages, the golden glow from the shield protects him as Ina tries a //tanglefoot bag// to stop the others. It is caught in the entangle and the group retreats from the room. The constructs do not follow outside the room, and the party, already low on spells and resources, leaves the room closed.
+{{ :game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:senenmarek.png?250|}}
 Following the outside of the circle, they enter the tomb of the founder. Hieroglyphs cover the walls of this chamber. In the middle of the room, a large and majestic stone sarcophagus rests atop a raised stone platform, and several clay jars sit on the floor nearby. Two lacquered benches stand near the doors to the south. Idorrii says they came into this room but did nothing as her employer did not want to disturb the site. The hieroglyphs on the walls name the buried man as Djedihepet, and reveal that he died in -1599 AR. He is described as //"a wise counselor, trusted keeper of secrets, and good friend of the Pharaoh."// Tumani is able to identify the pharaoh of Osirion in -1599 as Djederet II, the founder of the city of Wati.
@@ Line 230: / Line 231: @@
 Tumani suggests they search for any hidden compartments or secret doors. As they move about, they hear a stirring and a zombie rises to its feet!
+====The Final Clearing====
+|Campaign Date|Abadus 12-13|
+|Game Date|9-16-2023|
+The party is confronted with a coffer corpse. It attacks Keva who responds and easily knocks it down, inert. Horrifyingly, the creature stands back up. The men are shaken but not panicked. Ina however, not a native of these strange lands, runs. Kepher and Keva close and despite the thing going down and standing again, it is at last destroyed.
+{{ :game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:guardian_scroll.png?400|}}
+Healing up, the group heads upstairs to clear those areas. First stop is the library, where they are attacked by a [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/guardian-scroll/ |guardian scroll]]. The animated construct wraps itself around Ina’s head, making attacks difficult without hurting her. Tumani uses //command// to order it to release his friend. Blood dripping from its nasty paper cuts, Ina retreats. Keva and Kepher stab the scroll, Ina returns to stab it. Once free of the magic controlling it, it //again// wraps itself around Ina’s head. Keva rips its free and the men slash and stab it until it is dead. The party rests and heals up, searching the room.
+It is clear this room will take some time to organize the books for sale, tanking most of a day. The group decides to spend the night in the library to rest and recover, and send the prisoners back in the morning. That evening, Keva negotiates to pay 1,500gp to retain Idorii, and the next morning, she helps Tumani and Keva gather up the library, while Ina and Kepher take the bound cleric back to the living part of the city.
+When the two return, the group decides to investigate the haunting. A small shrine occupies a raised dais in the north of this room. Two waist-high fonts stand on either side of the altar, and a small wooden cabinet is bolted against the eastern wall. Two rows of stone benches stand to the south of the dais. A fetid odor permeates the room What they find that instead of haunting, it is in fact two [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/huecuva/|huvecuva]], twisted undead of priests who failed to save their temple. It is easy work for the party to surround and kill them, taking no damage and avoiding their diseased touch. It takes a few moments to secure the area and search it. What is left is the main alter.
+North of the Hall of Protection, the ceiling rises to a high dome 40 feet above the main floor, forming the primary cathedral of Nethys. Three flights of short, steep steps climb up to a large platform elevated 5 feet above the floor. At the rear ofthis platform, a 15-foot-tall statue of Nethys, half white and half black, stands atop a raised octagonal dais. The top ofthe main platform is tiled in black marble while the octagonal dais is a striking white, and the ring that separates them is tiled in red. hiding behind the large statue of Nethys at the far northern end of the room is Shargah-Katun an [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/divs/div-aghash/| Aghash Div]]. This foul outsider reveals itself and opens with a cursed gaze from its single eye. Everyone but Tumani is in its effect, but only Ina is caught in its gaze. She is confused but able to act normally. Keva and Kepher attack, with Kepher using his //smite// power. Shargah-Katun is stunned by the ferocity and damage of the attack and uses its //dimension door// ability to vanish.
+The group gathers itself and starts to search the area, when they notice motion into the room. Shargah-Katun has returned with allies!
+{{:game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:div.jpg?400 |}}
+However, the group does not see the giant eyed Div. Instead they are confronted with two dorus yet again. Shargah-Katun is present however, as his //spectral hand// moves, unseen, towards the party. The dorus immediately //charm// Ina, while failing on Tumani. Ina runs back to further search the library, intent on finding more treasure. Tumani shouts out he can make the weapons good, and does so for Kepher. The fighter moves in to attack, but misses the small divs. The other doru curses Idorrii to also go watch Ina, who is a thief after all, and make sure she does not steal anything. The group is down two of its members.
+The //spectral hand// touches the most dangerous foe for the divs, the paladin Kepher, and he falls into curse of confusion. Kepher starts to hit himself in his altered state. Unable to fight back, he is then bitten by the doru. Tumani makes Keva’s weapon aligned and he joins the fight. The //spectral hand// tries to deliver a curse of ugliness to Tumani, but the cleric shrugs it off. And now he sharp eyes can see the mystical hand.
+Keva continues to try to fight on both divs, even as Shargah-Katun works to curse Kepher yet again. Tumani tries to kill the hand but fails, even as Keva manages to kill the dorus. As the summoned divs fade away, Kepher continues to strike himself. Tumani starts to heal Kepher from his own damage. Now is the point that the Aghash shows himself!
+Both the fighters are stunned by his gaze, while Tumani faces it and stabs with his magical spear. The other two men remained stunned, which at least means the confused Kepher does nothing. Tumani flees to the women and managed to shake them from their stupors, as Keva shakes off the effect of the stun and attacks the agash, eyes shut, relying on his blind fighting.
+As Ina passes Tumani, he aligns her weapon as well, and she and Idorrii join the fight to surround the horrible div, even as they are paused at times by its gaze. And as she passes Kepher, he mistakenly attacks her. This means Idorrii stands alone for a while, because the others are stunned, and Tumani is diverted desperately healing his friend from his own injuries and those of the div.
+Shargah-Katun is arrogant. His primary foe cannot hit him at all. He concentrates his claws on Keva, the self-blinded man in front of him, and his gaze goes from stunning to deadly. The women stand behind him to attack, with Keva in front, but the creature seems to swirl and move, avoiding their damage. Idorri goes down in a vicious attack as Kepher attacks Keva.
+Tumani heals his friends as the fighting continues. Shargah-Katun seems thrilled at the events. However, his luck turns. Keva provokes an attack, distracting him, so Idorrii can stand. The mercenary has been the most adapt at striking the div, and she lands a blow while he is distracted, to the cheers of the party. Startled, Shargah-Katun also is unable to avoid Ina’s damage from behind. The damage from them both drops the foul beast before it can once again escape.
+It is at this point Kepher finally has a moment of lucidity. Tumani and Keva leap to him and explain he is under a curse, and Kepher demands to be bound. Until they can get him magically cured, he is a danger to himself and them. The group binds their friend and prepares to return to the living portion of Wati.
+====== 05 and Lo the Dead Shall Rise======
+{{:game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:images:banner.jpg?600|}}
+|Campaign Date|Abadus 13-16|
+|Game Date|08/25/24|
+==== Return and Recuperate ====
+The Lost Fragments load up their cart, including their bound friend, Kepher, who goes in and out of lucidity. Keva hefts the load, hauling the cart to his home. Once there, they spend then night after Keva takes Kepher to the Temple of Anubis where they offer to heal him. Idori takes her leave of the party, seekin gnew fortunes.
+The next day, Ina is kicked out by Tumani lest she have sticky fingers, while he organizes and categorizes their treasures. She heads to Tooth &. Hookah tavern to relax after their adventures, and maybe get to chase after her romantic interest, Sigrun Firehair. She runs into one Carver “Arclight” Bey, an wizard elf interested in archeology and offers to let him examine what found. Tumani is happy to have his help, and is delighted to have someone to talk with who is also learned in history, the arcane, and religion.
+Burdened as the group is with these magical trinkets, art objects, and valuable information on Wati's past they are interested in exchanging their hard-won treasures for gold. However Ina informs Tumani this has become a difficult prospect when so many local vendors have been flooded with priceless relics recovered from the necropolis. In fact, the price of historical artifacts and art objects has dropped so sharply from their sudden availability that merchants in Wati are currently paying only 25% of the value of most items (instead of the normal 50%), and 75% of the value for trade goods and other valuable items (rather than the usual full value).
+This is solved by an unexpected source. An invitation arrives from a priest named Ptemenib at the Grand Mausoleum inviting them to the auctions at the Canny Jackal in 3 days. They know if they want to get full value for their loot, they'd be well advised to attend the auction-and they might even find some items to purchase as well as sell.
+It seems the ** Grand Mausoleum**  is also suffering an embarrassment of riches, having spent the past several days accepting percentages of adventurers' proceeds as payments for healing and magical services-and occasionally confiscating items from adventurers who didn't show the proper respect to Wati's honored dead. The solutions has been for the Grand Mausoleum of Pharasmahas entered into an arrangement with the **Canny Jackal**, a prestigious auction house and art gallery located at the western edge of the Sunburst Market, to hold an auction where private collectors and other interested parties can bid on items recently brought out of the necropolis.
+To serve the community, the Pharasmins have extended invitations to those explorers who participated in the necropolis exploration as well, in hopes of both keeping many of Wati’s treasures within the city by seeing them sold to local collectors and helping coin remain in the local economy.
+The next day, Kepher returns, much improved and the party makes plans to attend the auction. Carver asks to attend and they agree, though they note their money is their money.
+==== An Evening at the Canny Jackal ===
+{{:game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:npcs:ptemenib.jpg?200 |}}
+The Canny Jackal hosts many of Wati's richest collectors and historians, from local nobles to representatives from An, Tephu, and even Sothis. Auctions traditionally begin an hour after sunset, with a complimentary reception beforehand for the attendees to mingle with one another and enjoy refreshments. This evening, the Jackal is offering cheese-stuffed figs, hard-boiled peacock eggs, onion bread, onion-stuffed squid, fresh and dried fruit, spiced wine, and a sampling of 2,000-year-old honey recovered from one of the tombs. By the time the Lost Fragments and their guest arrive arrive, several noteworthy members of Wati society have already gathered, and more filter in as the night wears on.
+Two dozen attendees other eventually arrive besides the Fragments, Including some of the other groups they met previously. Only a handful of the attendees are there to make serious bids. Notable guests include the following:
+**Baketra** (female human): One ofWati's richest and most notorious gourmands, she's keen to sample forgotten treats or liquors, or purchase ancient artwork to decorate her large dining room.
+**Basiflosep** (male half-elf): A wealthy coffee merchant and avid document collector hoping to uncover records about his human heritage.
+**The Four Lanterns: ** A cocksure band of human Andoren explorers who participated in the necropolis exploration, and now seek to sell their loot and buy masterwork equipment and practical magic items.
+**Khammayid Okhenti** (male human): A young scion of the noble Okhenti family, newly returned from his studies in Oppara and eager to find expensive weapons to impress his family.
+**Manaat Heshwah** (female human ): The humorless representative of a Sothis trading house, keen on acquiring furniture, housewares, and pottery.
+**Maru Meshhoten** (female human) and **Namaru Meshhoten** (female human): An aging dowager and her granddaughter, looking for jewelry, clothing, and scandalous books and scrolls.
+**Menya the Whip** (male human): Rail-thin and with an iron handshake, this ambitious young armorsmith is attending the auction to network though he's also looking for a curious centerpiece for his new armor shop.
+**Ptemenib** (male human Cleric of Pharasma): Polite but distracted, Ptemenib is attending the auction as the Grand Mausoleum's representative. The priest has a tendency to talk to himself when no one is looking
+The Lost Fragments mingle and talk with several of the guests. Tumani makes a point of complaining about their ambush to the two Priests of Neythes who are in attendance. They seem concerned about a site being raided but profess no knowledge at all about what happened. They do express interest in several of the items the group recovered. Ina talks with Baketra and learns of her history with past fake relics.:
+// "Rather nice to see the Pharasmins on board with this auction. At least we'l l know these relics are real. You can't trust the veracity of just anything up for sale, no matter how old it looks. A group calling themselves the Silver Chain took me for a fortune on a 'Second Age' chest last year. It looked a ncient enough, but it turned out the damned thing had only survived a house fire in An."//
+Ina also talks some with the Meshhoten dowager and granddaughter, finding out what they are looking for. It is during this time she and Tumani notice Ptemenib leaving early, less than half an hour in. The auction proceeds after the mingling, and the Lost Fragments make out well, with over 1,000 gold apiece from their findings.
+{{:game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:images:auction_attack.jpg?600 |}}
+As the auction winds down and the attendees mill about, paying for their purchases and gloating over their acquisitions, Tumani and Carver both feel a massive wash of soul energy surge over them. It is //ka// energy, part of the soul that It takes them some moments to understand it. The two find each other in the room and huddle together to discuss. Ina notices them moving and catches Tumani’s eye with a questioning look. Tumani nods, and says, //”It’s time to go”//. Ina’s hands move towards her weapons. It is at this point a frantic pounding comes from The Canny Jackal's front door. The servants move to open the doors, and they suddenly collapse, reduced to splinters, and a horde of zombies shamble forward, hungry for the blood of the living. The two servants, Ahteb and Hamapetra immediately fall, unconscious and dying.
+The heroes spring into action, even as panic runs through the crowd. Even the other adventuring parties fall back, simply not up to the task. Ina warns Baketra to run back and fires her crossbow immediately. Kevan and Kepher both step up, immediately swinging their blades. Kepher shouts //”The doors of Wati are forever closed to you!”// as his blade cuts deeply. It is during this moment that Carver casts //burning hands// scorching the clustered zombies ahead of them. Ina yells to Tumani, //”Can we keep him now!”// with a huge grin on her face. Tumani runs forward as the Zombies shamble into the room, and envelopes the servants with healing light crying, //”Osirus preserve you!”//. Ahteb and Hamapetra are fully restored and leap up to run away, the zombies unable to move quickly enough to respond.Seeing her bolt did not work well, Ina slashes with her rapier, while Carver uses his //burning hands// yet again. Kepher and Keva close on the standing zombies and finish them off.
+After the attack, it is clear the zombies came from the overturned wagon in the streets. But there is little time to rest. Despite the exhortations of the Lost Fragments, the auction attendees flee the zombies, the movement destabilizes scaffolding at the front of the building, and the structure collapses. Two of the auction guests, Maru and Namaru Meshhoten are trapped beneath the wreckage. Tumani immediately casts //enlarge// on Keva, and the now 12’ tall man easily free the trapped woman who rush back insight.
+{{ :game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:crawlingclaw.jpg?200|}}
+Carver sends out his //dancing lights// to get a feel for what is going on in the city. He can hear screaming in the distance. Whatever is going on is affecting the whole city. This is something greater than just an attack. Indeed, just the zombies are not attacking them. Several crawling hands are moving toward the Canny Jackel.
+The punishment for thieves caught in the Sunburst Market is swift and brutal: the thief's hand is severed, dried in salt, and then hung from the market's Pillar of Second Thoughts as a warning to others. The pillar is considered good luck, and shops and stalls compete for proximity to the grisly memorial. But tonight the only luck it brings is bad, as the mummified hands of thieves are animated by the //ka// wave and burst free of their bonds! They all attack, moving to strangle anyone they can grab. One in particular seems interested in Menya, and as he runs, it attacks him. The group goes after the hands, but they are hard to hit. Carver uses acidic spells to damage them, while Tumani uses up all his holy bursts of energy. They finally bring the foul undead to their final rest, saving Menya and themselves.
+==== Canny Jackel Redux ====
+|Campaign Date|Abadus 17|
+|Game Date|11/16/25|
+//Bryan becomes GM//
+{{ :game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:characters:zupload.png?300|}}
+Breathing heavily, the group discussed going into the city to protect the citizens. The spy a Kelishite woman running towards them. She is dressed in chainmail adorned with a shining sun. She carries a spear in one hand while she is trying to take a flask from her bag. Unfortunately, it leaps from her hands, flying towards Ina. She tries to grab it, but at the last moment is changes directions as if batted away. The strange woman snatches it off the ground and says //”Thanks”//. As she drinks it, the wounds on her body close and fade. It is a //healing// potion.
+//”Hello!.”// the new woman says, //”I needed that. Too bad it was my last one. The city has gone crazy. Been in some scraps. You lot look like you have too.”//
+//”You could say that,”// chuckles Keva, flicking gore from his hammer.
+Before their introductions could get deeper, Tumani takes on the far away look of someone receiving a //sending// spell. He turns to Carver with alarm,
+//”The temple of Osiris needs me. I think you will be able to help! Come on!”// and Tumani grabs Carver’s arm.
+//”We will hold down the fort, then”// says Ina.
+As the two men run off in the direction of the small building that is the Temple of Osiris. Before the rest of the group can decide what to do next, they see a pillar of purple flame erupt from the Grand Mausoleum of Pharasma.
+//”Well, that seems to be where we are going,”// grunts Kepher, but just then, screams of terror emanate from inside the Canny Jackel.
+//”Or, maybe not”// Kepher mutters as he charges back into the building. Inside, the haggard staff and auction participants cower in fear at the mummy, Amadjawet. minor noble whose family crypt and its contents were cloaked in illusions to protect them from grave robbers. When the Four Lanterns discovered an apparently empty sarcophagus in the tomb, they opted to retrieve and sell it rather than leave empty-handed, never realizing that the sarcophagus held the permanently invisible mummy of Amadjawet. The ka pulse awakened Amadjawet into an undead mummy, and she has spent the past several minutes clawing at her prison.
+{{:game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:amadjawet.jpg?200 |}}
+//”GRAVE ROBBERS!”// The awakened undead screeches, throwing her wrappings at Kepher, but they fail to entangle him. She smashes him with her fists, and the two begin trading blows, but the enraged mummy is tough, and Kepher keeps failing to hit with a solid strike. Keva and Ina both race up, but stop at the door, the //aura of despair// stopping them. The new woman, is not stalled at all. She charges in, and her spear alights with sunlight, surging forward ahead of her, allowing her to strike Amadjawet’s mummy at distance.
+//”Name’s Zaliki, by the way,”// she grins as she engages alongside Kepher, avoiding the wrappings of the undead monster.
+//”Kepher!”// the paladin shouts then groans in frustration as his foe keeps just away from his blows. The mummy also fails to land a hit, however, and Zaliki uses //forbiddance// to stop the mummy from striking for a moment. This results in the wrappings entangling Zaliki. Keva and Ina shake off their despair and join the fight, but both miss the monster as they close. The monster just keeps avoiding their blows or shrugging them off.
+Struggling with the wrappings, Zaliki still manages to cast //flaming sphere// and takes Amadjawet totally by surprise. She screams as the fire burns her desiccated corpse. She staggers forward, almost blindly to attack Zaliki, but even as her fists land on her entangled foe, Kepher and Keva strike her solidly, destroying the mummy.
+//”Well, I suppose we need to make sure the basement is clear,”// Zaliki says as if the group had not been fighting monsters for the better part of the last half hour. There are sighs and agreement. They head into the side room and down into the basement. Kepher takes his //ever-burning torch// and Zaliki alights her spear with a //light// spell.
+{{ :game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:oozeskelly.jpg?200|}}
+A straight, wide stone stair leads down from the Canny Jackal’s back hall into a cool, dim storage basement. The sounds of the Sunburst Market vanish behind you, replaced by the dry smell of dust, resin, and old linen.
+Low ceilings rest on cedar beams capped in bronze. Lanterns in wire cages throw soft light over shelves and stacked crates, all stamped in neat Osiriani script—lot numbers, noble seals, and warning sigils. Amphorae, wrapped bundles, and long wooden boxes crowd the aisles.
+Near the far wall, a human-sized stone sarcophagus—small enough four people could carry it—has just burst open. Its lid lies cracked in several pieces on the floor, fresh dust still drifting in the lantern light. Deep gouges scoring the inside of the coffin show where something forced its way out… and no sign of whatever it was remains in sight.
+Kepher and Ina find four //potions of healing// on shelves. Kepher is distracted by something and Ina takes the chance to nick all four.
+//”Does anyone hear that?’’//
+Kepher has heard a scraping along the wall. Suddenly, blocks push forth and a skeleton, cover in ooze bursts through the wall, followed by the ooze that spawned it. This creature appears as a large, undulating mass of green-black goo from which rotted and broken bones protrude. It flows into the room, followed by several more skeletons.
+This fight goes easier for the group, despite the horrible nature of the beast. They reign damage upon the ooze and its skeleton constructions. Zepher slashes through the skeletons, cleaving them asunder. Even though she is new, Zaliki fights like part of the team. As the last set of bones fall, Kepher turns to Ina.
+//”I saw what you took. Hand them out.”//
+Ina hands out three of the potions to help the party heal. Zaliki casts //cure light wounds// on herself. Keper picks up his torch and peers though the hold into the darkness. As Kepher looks through the hole left by the skeletons, he sees a jagged opening torn through the far wall—stone blocks shoved inward as if something pushed from the other side. Dust still sifts from the edges, and a faint, sour stink of rot and old alchemy rolls out to meet him.
+{{ :game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:monsters:undeadooze.jpg?200|}}
+Beyond is a smaller, low-ceilinged chamber, clearly older than the Canny Jackal’s basement. The stonework is rougher, the blocks broad and time-worn, carved with half-faded hieroglyphs no one has bothered to whitewash. A narrow stone ledge runs around the walls, cluttered with toppled clay jars, cracked canopic vessels, and the remains of what might once have been neat burial tools—now scattered and fused together by dried, darkened slime from the creature raging to get out.
+In the center of the room, a shallow stone basin is set into the floor, its edges carved with jackal heads and coiling snakes. Whatever liquid it once held has long since congealed into a tarry residue, streaked where the massive ooze dragged itself free. Old bones lie half-dissolved along the basin’s rim, some still twitching faintly as necromantic residue clings to them.
+Here, in this forgotten preparation chamber—sealed and lost beneath the market for generations—the air feels thick and close, as if the room itself resents being opened again.
+Kepher strides forth to smash the twitching bones which remain. The room is a disaster, with its objects smashed and covered in drying ooze and speared with fragments of bone. He leads the search for the room which takes about a half hour. They find scatters coins and jewelry from the distant past, most likely pre-dating the plague. Of more interest however is something else.
+Near the far corner, a carved burial niche has collapsed, spilling its contents onto the floor: a lacquered chest burst open under the ooze’s weight, and a pair of stone coffers shoved half out of the wall. Amidst ruined grave goods there is a cold-iron khopesh with a jackal-headed pommel, a two handed scythe whose head bears a worn sunburst and anvil, and a dull, unknown metal rod etched with faint, shifting runes. Almost missed among the tarnished jewelry, there is fine chain of tarnished silver and blue-green copper, set with a shard of translucent blue “glass” that looks like frozen river water. Kepher holds it an looks at it, then looks to Ina and hands her this anklet.
+==== The Corpse Wagon ====
+{{:game_systems:pathfinder:mummys_mask:images:corpse_wagon.jpeg?400 |}}
+After a search, the group emerges upstairs, wondering about the loot they found. They tell the remaining people to go home in a group or stay here as nothing is left downstairs. They decide to head towards the Grand Mausoleum, which no longer has a purple flame emitting from in. Traveling forward, they run into a wagon which lies on its side in an ally ahead. Somehow, its goods are firmly in place. A body lies beside it, covered in blood and twisted in death.
+Kepher explores the wagon. He easily can tell that the goods remaining in it (half-filled sacks of moldering grain, shoddy pottery, and jugs of long-hardened paint) are a false front. A large hidden compartment beneath it all has been burst open from within. He identifies the peculiar scent of cedar oil and incense-both used in traditional Osirian mummification rituals.
+//”This must be an illicit corpse wagon. I bet this is where the zombies came from”//
+//”Um, yeah,”// says Ina, //”About that”//. Kepher who was examining, missed the approaching 6 zombies still lingering in the area. Ina tossed a flask of alchemical fire, but it barely damaged the zombies. Zaliki teases her comrade at arms, //”Did you check the expiration date on that?”// as they plunge into the fight. Kepher, his sword gleaming in the torch light, cuts them down two at a time as the zombies try to engage the others. In moments, the streets are still.
+The four continue onwards to their goal. Outside the Grand Mausoleum, they spy a man in similar armor to Kepher. Another Paladin of Anubis. Kepher, of course, knows him. It is Setekh Anpu. He is in his late forties, broad-shouldered and thick through the chest, with the kind of solid build that says he once swung a sword on the front line and never quite forgot how. His skin is the warm brown of a native Osirian, sun-weathered at the cheeks and nose. Deep lines bracket his mouth and eyes—not from laughter, but from squinting into desert glare and frowning at people giving him excuses.
+He is giving orders in his usual style: that of a man expecting to be obeyed, with a hint of annoyance that the task had to be assigned or has not yet been carried out. He is not a pleasant man, but he is faithful and determined. He spies Kepher and his features soften.
+//”By the jackel god, it is good to see you”// he claps arms with his fellow member of the order.
+//”The Pharasmins were attacked directly. All hells are breaking lose around here. I see you have been in combat.”//
+Kepher tells Setekh what has been going on and seeks some understanding, in between Setekh having to bark orders //”I told you OVER THERE!”//
+//”I see you are busy. Who else of us are in need?”// Kepher asks his associate.
+//”Yes! It never ends. Bal Themm, a cleric of our order, can use help. We are filling in. Too many Pharasmins are dead. She is at the gate to the Necropolis. If the bodies in the living city are this much trouble, what in Anubis’s name is going on inside the Dead City?”//
+Kepher nods, and with a glance at his teammates it is clear they agree. //”That is where we are headed.”//
+//”Wait!”// comes a cry, and the four see Carver jogging up the stairs from the direction of the Temple of Osiris. They are happy to see their new friend safe. //”So she stayed on, huh? Who is she?”//
+//”She can tell us about herself on the way,”// Kepher barks, wincing as he sounds like Setekh.
+The party of five now heads to the Necropolis Gates.

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