egypt ♔ is this called living or something else

[lissatrinall]

♬ amsterdam - daughter

WHO || Lis'sa, Riddick, Phineas, Ella, Dimitri, Raegos, the Mithril Scarab, and more [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights head to Egypt to try and ascertain the location of a lost pyramid
WHERE || Cairo, Egypt
WHEN || Jan 21st, mid-day[forwarddated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

The party arrives in the bustling city of Cairo around mid-day, where it's a beautiful 70 degrees outside compared to the cold London January they came from. Along with whatever gear they brought individually for tomb raiding*, Wynn has also sent them with a chest of 2,000 gold pieces - because the woman who has promised to take them to meet Raegos (the only living man who can claim to have seen the lost tomb) plans to meet them at an antiquities auction.

Wynn has pre-arranged with the woman, who goes by the name of the Mithral Scarab, to recognize the party by the fact that they will cast several bids at the auction - and all of their opening bids will always be exactly ten gold more than the starting price. Once she has recognized them, she will find a way to show them a symbol of the Knights of the Silver Dragon discreetly to identify herself, and they are to follow her away from the crowd. Raegos' rumored paranoia concerning anyone else learning his location seems well demonstrated by the levels of security embedded in Scarab's directions.

The auction itself is a direct result of the recent elemental-driven storm that has unearthed a number of structures long buried in the desert. Some industrious tomb raiders have already taken to looting the lesser pyramids, and this underground sale promises to deliver some of the discovered goods into the hands of eager collectors. Wynn's generous supply of furnished gold was delivered to them with explicit instructions to purchase anything that they thought might be an item of actual valuable historical or magical significance, to become the property of the Knighthood.

* Don't forget to make a list of all items your character is carrying in an entry in their journal before tagging into this post! Please try to stick close to your character's maximum carrying capacity.

Comments

Flight Threads

[lissatrinall]

[ any and all flight threads go here! flight time is 5 hours ]

Vomiting - with side of flying. Also, peanuts.

[thesleeper]

[Phineas has a pile of books about tombs, curses, and Egypt on the ground in front of him spilling into the aisle-way, that he is pecking through - between sprints to the bathroom. He's extremely green, but that won't stop him from trying to learn whatever he can about the ruins. Feel free to bother him, or be bothered by him.]

[lissatrinall]

[ lis'sa turns around from her seat in front of him to affix him with an amused look ] Still worried about that curse, I see.

[sorceresslite]

[ ella's watching a movie on her phone, but the way she keeps pausing it to text or peruse the skymall would lead one to believe she isn't really paying attention to it. feel free to interrupt and come talk to her and her (usually) friendly little ginger kitten. ]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri spends the flight the way he usually spends them, reading a Western novel. They're his favorite, don't judge him.

People can come bother him, though.]

[sorceresslite]

[ aodhagán, the small ginger kitten, precedes his owner, winding himself around dimitri's legs like ATTEND TO ME, PEASANT and meowing plaintively. seriously big dude, pets. all the pets. put your big honey ham hands to good use with the pets.

ella wanders up a minute later, perching neatly on the armrest of the seat next to him. ] Hiya, big fella. Sorry 'bout him, thinks he's a bloody lord, he does. The way he goes on you'd think no one paid him any attention ever.

[ oh yeah, she's very irish. ]

[lightblindbadass]

[Riddick loved flying. He loved being in the air, and he missed it when he was on the ground. He hated deserts. He could deal with the head, and the sand but the sun was what made him loathe deserts. Hated the bright, blinding, glaringly reflective sun that bounced and shone from any and every surface it could find.

Thankfully he had his tricked out goggles Lis'sa had made for him when he first came to the castle. 'Course it was nice that Lis'sa and he were on the same mission for once, just in case he needed her help 'tweaking' something else.

The flight to Egypt would find Riddick kicked back in his seat, head turned to look out of the plane's window. And if one were to look a bit closer, they might even see a book resting in his massive hands.]

[lissatrinall]

[ lis'sa tries really hard to subtly figure out what he's reading, but the angle makes it impossible, so finally she gives up, looking across the aisle and asking bluntly. ] What's that?

The Auction

[lissatrinall]

[ The auction house is a large white pavilion, hidden among dozens just like it, each contributing to the endless maze of tents littering the Malhitu Bazaar. Inside, rows of brightly woven carpets encircle a wooden stage topped with a garish podium. The auctioneer is already in the middle of rattling off sums as curious rich men and women, nobles, scholars of ancient Egypt, and several other would-be adventurers loft their numbered fans to place bets. A seven-man crew delivers the items to those willing to part with the most money - and all items are being sold for real gold, perhaps underscoring the illegal nature of the auction itself, where no trades are done with any traces of paperwork. An unobtrusive security party of eight keeps the corners of the room pinned down, watching exits and the crowd for any potential squabbles. Two other men watch the exits with a cautious eye who are identifiable (with a DC 13 spot check), as not guards - a squat, bald halfling in black armor studded with razored gears, and a gigantic green half-orc who sports a tower shield as tall as a human being, ostensibly decorated to look like the solid gold lid of a sarcophagus. A spot check of 18+ recognizes what definitely appear to be dried blood stains on the shield. The half-orc wears a jet black scaly-looking hood and has a scimitar and a crossbow strapped to him.

The lot for sale currently includes seven large gold coins, which the translator on stage explains are said to date back to the dynasty of the Four Pharaohs. A pair of noblemen are currently bidding on them for 40 gp, only to be topped by the lazy waft of a fan from a man sitting near the front, flanked by an entourage of what looks like six armed bodyguards who each bear a scarlet cross tattooed across their entire face. The handsome man has an aristocratic air to him, dressed in rich red clothing covered in leather armor that has a distinctly ancient Roman flavor to it. Against his shoulder rests a steel rod with a dark emerald magical flame burning at the top. Numerous rings line his fingers and he looks bored as the noblemen raise the price to 60, and he casually counters to 75, which they seem unwilling to top. The auctioneer looks around for other bets as Lis'sa returns with their own betting fans and doles them out. ]

Remember, [ she mutters under her breath, affixing each of the party members with a harsh glance. ] any of our opening bids must be 10 more than the starting price.

[sorceresslite]

[ after a cursory glance around the tent (spot 10), ella's eyes are drawn to the man in the front, or rather his staff -- staff first then man. magic over people, oops, she's drawn to magic fire.

she immediately tucks the fan into her belt when given so she can reach up to adjust the delicate headscarf covering her bright hair and pale skin. the irish are not meant for this kind heat and sun. her dress might be thin and light but she is used to england and ireland, she will actually have to remember that the fan is for betting and not for fanning. especially in a tent. ]

After that, anything is fine though, yeah? So long as the first bid is exactly ten more?

[lissatrinall]

That's the arrangement, yes. [ the auctioneer scans the room looking for any final offers on the coins. going once... going twice... ]

the crook bearer's family estate | that evening

[lissatrinall]

[ ella's friend, the paracount, has agreed to help them break into the crook bearer's estate to get the mask that's needed to open the pyramid they're seeking, saying he'll be bringing some 'friends' along. lis'sa frowns at the idea, but doesn't complain much, and so they meet across the street from the estate a little before midnight, waiting on julistar. ]

Are we sure this is the best idea?

[sorceresslite]

No. [ scoff. of course it's not. it's an awful plan, this is why no one should let her plan things. ] If they turn out to be bad guys, I will electrocute them [ :D yay lightning! ]

[likeagod]

[His rather dark expression gives away his opinion on this plan too. Breaking into somewhere is not exactly his style, after all.

But he keeps his opinion to himself for now, at least.]

across the desert

[paracount]

[ although still in the middle of sun-blasted nowhere, julistar's shortcut leads them through far from typical desert terrain. the deep shadowy trenches beneath the walls of sand are called the Underdunes by locals, canyon-like ridges formed by competing clans of nomadic air and sand elementals during the storm seasons. ] This should cut the trip in half, but we do have to beware sandslides. [ his camel trots along unperturbed by the hazards however, while the mustachioed man who has now been introduced as scepter, and the half-orc, hrokon the assailant, ride along behind him, the latter looking particularly comical on his steed. ] Scepter can steer us a safe course. [ the group can either leave the survival checks to avoid potential sandslides up to scepter, or make their own as they travel. ]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri will make his own survival check because it's his thang (survival 20 total) because he doesn't trust these guys for shit at this point. As they follow along, he'll be sure to point out anything dangerous as they walk.]

[paracount]

[ dimitri notices the bits of rock slowly bouncing down the sides of the trench ahead of them, and scepter either doesn't seem to notice, or says nothing. either way, they seem to be walking directly towards a sand slide... ]

into the tomb~

[lissatrinall]

[ dimitri successfully guides them around, but they do lose some time, and all track of the paracount and his cronies. in the distance, four identical pyramids rear up, each about 100 feet on a side and 550 feet from their neighbors. one of them is half-buried in sand.

they wouldn't be the first thing noticed however, because apparently julistar's been busy with that mask.

the four pyramids now serve as the base for a truly massive 5th pyramid, about 556 feet tall and 750 feet to a side. it looks composed of a light green stone rippled with fissures of deep green, and interlocks perfectly with the four other pyramids, even the tiny individual fissures in the stones matching up.

three hundred feet up on the pyramid's south side, an entranceway beckons.

a spot check of 15+ will notice pitons hammered into the side below the entrance, every thirty feet. ]

[notafraidofthedark]

[ Spot:22. Riddick looks up the face of the pyramid, scowling at the green stone. He notices the pitons, stopping beneath and looking up to the door where they lead, saying nothing because he is pretty sure the rest of the group is more than capable of noticing all of this as well.]

[thesleeper]

[Don't over-estimate Phineas. Spot 9.]

A fifth pyramid. What an annoyance.

conclusion

[lissatrinall]

[ the two groups decided to take on the pharaoh on the main floor first, and found a room full of 56 canopic jars full of entrails. these turned out to be the chopped up remains of the fiend pharaoh, which animated into three swarms when hroken busted one of the jars at ella's suggestion. they managed to destroy all three, which left only further exploration of the floor below, where the undead dragon lurked. putting together that the remaining pharaoh was the cerulean pharaoh, they realized it was likely a blue dragon, and made a semblance of a plan before heading down to face it once again, with greater numbers. with the fighters in the front, dimitri managed to spot it before it burst out of the coins, allowing all three of them to get some hits in on it when it came out. hroken was enlarged by a scroll from scepter, and they tried to split up so it couldn't hit them all with its breath weapon. a ray of enfeeblement spell from scepter brought its strength down considerably, and riddick even managed to grab it around the neck, distracting it from ripping them all apart while they got some more great blows in. lonicera successfully fascinated the beast, and they all lined up around it, flanking it, but the obvious threat allowed it to break out of the enchantment and it unleashed a line of electricity straight through hroken's chest, killing him. finally, however, they finished it off, phineas getting the finishing blow with a cold spell, which it was vulnerable to.

they raced for the sarcophagus in the middle of the room, but found the pharaoh's mummified remains within, decked out in gold. realizing that the funeral mask was still only split in 3 places, a thorough search found a false bottom in the sarcophagus (by dimitri and lis'sa), which was full of several shattered pieces of blue dragon scale and obsidian. ella started to put the obsidian puzzle together but realized partway through that she was constructing one of the runes and stopped in time. dimitri (i think?) put together the blue dragon puzzle, which spelled the hieroglyph for 'exit'. the mask shattered, and they gathered up what treasures they could, before realizing that the pyramid was rumbling around them. lis'sa noted that it was probably heading back into its home dimension and they began to race for the exit, heading through an indiana jones style gauntlet with a swinging pendulum, spear trap, tipped over statue, a magic wall of fire and a pit trap. while the knights kept stopping to try and disable the traps, the expeditionary tried to rocket ahead, caring little about bringing their friends along (riddick had grabbed hroken since they hadn't bothered to even get their fallen friend). this wound up screwing them over when most of them fell into the pit and couldn't get out. the knights risked their own lives to help get them out of there, managing at the LAST POSSIBLE SECOND to escape the pyramid and start climbing down. phineas, however, failed his climb check, and would have fallen to his death if riddick hadn't caught him. dimitri, now carrying hroken, managed to catch lonicera and spare her the same fate... but julistar was not so lucky. falling off the rope, ella made an attempt to save him, even grabbing his hand as he fell past her... but she was not strong enough to hold onto him and he fell the nearly three hundred feet to the base of the pyramid, where his brains splattered out below.

#karma

the pyramid sinks into the sands itself as they watch, and leaves them alone in the middle of the desert with a distraught lonicera, scepter, and the dead body of hroken. ]

[sorceresslite]

[ ella actually seems a little shaken by julistar's pancaked body. he was a dick and it was karma, but she can't help feeling like if she'd held on a little better or if she'd been a little stronger... but she shakes it off, pushing away from the dead body and rubbing her shoulder absently. he was heavy. ]

We should find a cleric for him. [ she motions to hroken before adding, awkwardly, ] And... me.

[lissatrinall]

[ lis'sa gives them a cursory look, before nodding. ] Hopefully the camels aren't far. We likely won't find anything until we get back to the city.

ella & wynn

[sorceresslite]

[ with wynn, ella is normally the most at ease. she's known him for nearly her entire life in some capacity, after all and she is never one to shy away from hugging him in public. but this time... this time she is an awkward poodle. it's one thing to put on a brave face and power through for lis'sa, dimitri, and phineas in the middle of a mission, fueled by impotent irish rage and adrenaline alone.

it's quite another with wynn.

and finn, oh how she doesn't want to tell her big brother that she died because she can't control herself and now she's undead and can control herself a little. she hopes. for now. they'd just buried their parents, how could she do this to him on top of that? she's a horrible sister.

but here she is, loitering anxiously and resisting the urge to throw up in a potted plant. ]

[wynn]

Ella. [ his voice interrupts her pacing, as he appears in the entrance to the round table room and gestures for her to enter. his eyes rake over her appraisingly for a second, but at least not judgmentally - they seem more filled with concern than anything. ] Please. Come in.