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

[paracount]

[ he heals up neferet last, and she groggily awakes, staring up at him with wide eyes, looking stricken for a second. he chuckles at her expression, giving her a hand. ]

It's alright, Lonicera. The jig, as they perennially say, is up, I think. We've entered into a momentary truce with these fine folks, so we have no more need of a spy in their ranks.

[ she cuts a nervous look in phineas' direction, and then shrugs unapologetically.

"All that work for nothing? They almost got me killed." ]

[thesleeper]

[Oh. boy. Phineas snarls.]

Plenty of time to arrange that yet.

1/2

[lissatrinall]

[ "Oh, don't be sore, darling." she looks a little less afraid as she steps next to the massive half-orc. "All's fair in love and treasure hunting." ] Just tell us what you know about getting out of here.

[paracount]

I've a theory. The pharaohs buried here believed that they would rise and walk out to the afterlife, which means they had to have been furnished with some manner of broaching the spell that traps us here. We find their burial chambers, look for clues.

[likeagod]

We shouldn't waste time here, then. Any idea where the burial chambers might be?

[paracount]

Likely both above and below us. The pharaohs do like their space.

[likeagod]

Well, if we're going to look for an entrance, I'd suggest we go up rather than down if possible.

[Because dragon.]

[lissatrinall]

Presuming we won't need to look in both places, eventually. But fine. We'll go up. [ she stands aside, clearly wanting the others to get on the platform first so she doesn't have to turn her back on them. ]

[paracount]

[ julistar removes a bronze sculpture from his pack. anyone who makes a spot 15 might recognize it as the one he bought on auction at the beginning of this log a million years ago. his party gets on the platform, waits for the others to do the same, then he reads the egyptian word for 'up' off from the thing and they begin their ascent. ]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri makes sure that everyone makes it on, and you can bet he's watching Julistar and his entourage with a grim eye in case of any double crossing. Up they go!]

[lissatrinall]

[ the platform finally comes to a stop above. a fifty-foot corridor extends beyond the archway. a row of eleven large windows lines the wall on the left-hand size. a cool desert breeze flushes across the chamber. ]

[thesleeper]

[Phineas exhales deeply.]

Well... this is much more pleasant than the hall with the mummy dragon.

[likeagod]

[Dimitri doesn't say anything as they move into the corridor, instead looking around for traps or potential exits (spot 17).]

[paracount]

[ no traps, but he does notice that out the windows is...

a city??? warriors, artisans, slaves, and merchants bustle amid busy streets far below. so that's weird. ] Or it's designed to lull us into thinking so.

[likeagod]

[Um, what.]

An illusion?

[As he tilts his head towards the windows.]

[paracount]

Certainly more likely than us having abruptly traveled back in time thousands of years.

[ julistar gives it little notice, pushing onward, his assistants at his heels, and stepping into the chamber that opens up around the corner.

the magnificent chamber is tiled throughout with a brilliant, rainbow-hued mosaic. a floating sarcophagus, which appears to be composed of an indigo light, slowly rotates in the air in the back half of the room.

as soon as they enter into the room, the lid on the sarcophagus disintegrates from top to bottom, and its occupant slowly rises. as she stands to greet them, she removes her translucent burial shroud, revealing a woman of striking beauty, her skin still flushed with youth. her eyes flash with indignation at their presence, but there's curiosity in them as well as she addresses them in what must be ancient egyptian.

anyone who makes a spot check 25+ can notice a hairline slit bisecting the center of the room running north and south, between them and her.

julistar answers in ancient egyptian, and lis'sa cuts him a sharp look. the woman's eyes narrow as she stares them all down. ]

[thesleeper]

...

[Phineas whispers to Lis'sa;]

If this is an illusion, then what the hell is she?

[lissatrinall]

[ she murmurs back, eyes never leaving the woman. ] I don't think she's part of any illusion.

She's Ankana. One of the Four Pharaohs. You remember the story about the insects we read?

That's her. [ julistar says something else, and now lis'sa speaks up sharply as well, as if overriding him. ankana turns to look at her with a tight frown, before speaking again. ] She says she'll let us live... if we can best her in a contest of strength. [ ankana reaches behind her, touches a stone in the wall, and there's a large shifting sound in the floor beneath them. a green veinstone wall falls in place behind them, cutting off their exit. with a few words from the pharaoh, a wall behind her opens, revealing a towering throne that fills a small chamber. behind the throne, a wide-runged ladder composed of veinstone ascends to the blackness above. a finely sculpted statue, with a muscular body topped with the head of a feline predator steps forth from this alcove. its stone parts are composed of veinstone, while its wooden parts are a blackened darkwood, its metallic components a well-polished bronze. her sarcophagus floats back into this alcove and she steps back with it, to sit upon the golden throne. she leaves the door panel open to observe the 'contest' as it were.

the arrival of the heavy panthereon golem causes ankana's half of the floor - on her side of the near-invisible line bisecting the room - to descend a few inches, and for the ground they're all on to rise the same amount. everyone must make balance checks or fall over from the sudden movement. lis'sa catches herself by gripping phineas' sleeve, and julistar and lonicera grab onto each other, while scepter hardly budges. big ol' hroken, however, lands on his orcish ass.

a smug smirks works its way onto ankana's imperious expression as she gives them a moment to let this sink in. ] It's a scale. [ ankana says a few words to the golem, which turns to head towards one of the walls on its side. they would see that these walls are honeycombed with dozens of slitlike alcoves, each containing a giant circular weight. the golem pulls one out and sets it down on his side... and again, his half of the floor sinks, and theirs rises, although they are now prepared enough to not trip over themselves from it. lis'sa looks up at the ceiling that's about thirty feet above them, hissing: ] It's going to try to crusssh us!

[likeagod]

Then let's make sure it doesn't!

[And his strength check is a 16, action point says 21 to help pull down weights.]

[paracount]

[ julistar draws out of his pocket a tiny emerald statuette of a jade mantis, whispering a few words to it and then setting it on the ground... where it grows into a giant man-sized mantis, which he directs to go start pulling out some weights b/c it's stronger than he is, tbh.

scepter manages to lift quite a few of them despite his skinny frame (str 18), even more than hroken (str 15). lonicera can barely lift one, and strains audibly to carry it, dropping it with a gasp that says she's had about enough of this already (str 3). ]

[lissatrinall]

[ lis'sa starts pulling shit out of her pack and jury-rigging some kind of mechanical pulley system to do the heavy lifting for her (craft mechanical 39). it takes her whole round though. ]

[paracount]

[ with their combined prowess, they easily heft more weights than the golem with its strength check of 12, and they gain thirteen feet on their side of the scale, as the floor begins to lower significantly, sending the golem almost halfway towards the ceiling.

round 2! julistar's mantis skitters about to add some weight to their side (str 18), which is better than his own subpar efforts (str 11). scepter continues to heft them with ease (str 19) and the half-orc finally gets in the swing of it, grunting as he starts piling more rapidly (str 21). lonicera again can't even lift a single one (str 3). ] Don't stop now. We'll crush the bastard yet!

[likeagod]

[Dimtri's not slouching in the slightest, and it seems like their progress has bolstered his resolve (str 24).]

[lissatrinall]

[ lis'sa's machine manages to move a few (str 12), but ankana does not seem pleased with this turn of events. she angrily shouts some words in ancient egyptian, and a creature manifests from sand on the golem's side, a seven foot tall, well-muscled egyptian laborer composed of the same colored stones that composed the chamber's mosaic. his weight along helps the golem's side, and their combined str check 25 & 24 make progress over the heroes and their reluctant assistants, causing them to lose three feet.

round 3~ the mantis steps up its game (str 22) but julistar is quickly tiring (str 6). scepter continues to work with steady diligence (str 19) but hroken slows slightly, growling at the way ankana's cheating (str 15). lonicera manages to lift ... as much as phineas but that's not very impressive (str 10). she still looks rather proud of herself. lis'sa's machine hefts with consistency (str 16) ]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri slows this round (str 15), beads of sweat obvious on his brow.]

I didn't realize this contest of strength wouldn't be fair.

[As he glares over at Ankana.]