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

[likeagod]

[With just that small bit of space to go, Dimitri pulls out another str 24. Looks like he found something to give him that extra push toward the finish line.]

[lissatrinall]

[ the panthereon and his elemental pal are really losing steam (str 13), which means they have more than enough just from dimitri alone...

ankana lets out an anguished cry as her golems are smashed to pieces against the ceiling. when the floors finally reset, only crumbled dust remains where they once were. the pharaoh, however, is nowhere to be seen. her sarcophagus, however, remains there, and lis'sa and julistar both head over that way to investigate even as the door they entered through finally grinds open. while julistar gets hroken to push the lid aside, lis'sa stares up at the ladder on the wall. ] She ran. [ she frowns, clearly disturbed by the potential implications of this, but the expeditionary is more interested in seeing what's in there. julistar runs his hands through the numerous silver coins nestled within, and scepter lifts out an ornate silver flask. julistar doesn't seem to notice the large book nestled there yet.

[likeagod]

[Hopefully a spot 18 is high enough for Dimitri to see it instead, and he moves to snag the book before the others can get to it.

Information is better than jewels, if they're going to get out of here.

He moves to give the book to Lis'sa, considering he might not even be able to read it, and she's in charge.]

Should we pursue her?

[lissatrinall]

[ she gets a nat 20 sleight of hand to stick it in her pack before anyone else sees her, before nodding. ] Let's go. [ spot checks as they ascend the ladder plz! ]

[likeagod]

[Sneaky teamwork ftw.

Dimitri starts for the ladder, heading up first (spot nat 20 woot).]

[lissatrinall]

[ ahahahaa welp.

the 45th rung of the ladder, 11th from the top... has a small rune engraved on it that dimitri can't help but see. :') ]

[likeagod]

[tmw your awesome spot check is actually a really bad thing.]

One of the runes is on the rung of the ladder here. Don't look at it.

[because he already did :')]

[lissatrinall]

[ the rest of their party can avoid seeing it, thanks to his warning, but julistar crit failed, and as his party proceeds to climb up behind them, they could hear him swear the moment he sees it.

the ladder tops off in a small alcove, whose secret door has been left ajar by ankana. moving forward through it, they would find a black sarcophagus etched with hieroglyphic numbers standing upright in the center of the room, facing away from them. the walls, ceiling, and floor are covered in carefully scripted mathematical formulas.

ankana stands in front of the sarcophagus, reciting some kind of spell, her voice resounding off the symbol-covered walls. a bunch of sand is swirling beside her, coalescing into some kind of form... ]

[likeagod]

[suck it julistar

He catches sight of Ankana, and whatever she's doing can't be good, so he tries to close the distance between herself and him, stake out and ready.]

Stop what you are doing!

[paracount]

[ ♬ the mark - black light burns

the expeditionary gathers up behind them as dimitri moves toward ankana. she responds in egyptian, and then raises one finger to point at him and electricity crackles outwards towards him. he can make a reflex save DC 16 for half damage from the 30 electricity dmg. ] She said it's too late! [ and indeed, the sand is swirling into a human shape now...

a familiar one.

it's ella - or something that looks a lot like her. the same shape, the same clothes, but when her eyes open, the color is drained from them, and they are instead as white as driven snow. her skin has a pale, powdery cast to it that looks slightly unnatural.

:') ]

[sorceresslite]

[ the last thing ella remembers is pain, incomprehensible and irrepressible, filling her up until the only thing in the world was pain. every fraction of every second stretched on for hours, for days, of unimaginable pain, every nerve ending on fire, every iota of her body screaming for release.

and then nothing.

until, in a swirl of sand, it all came rushing back, the memory of pain and blood and a horrifying vision of death that rips a scream from her throat as the sand stills and her body becomes her own. she recoils violently from ankana, looking around wildly, eyes lighting over her companions and julistar, the latter of which prompts a reflexive sneer, as she scampers back away from both parties. her hand shoots out to point at ankana. (will save 23) ]

I am not your fucking pet! You cannae control me!

[likeagod]

[Action point means his reflex save is a 21, and he has evasion so...no dmg? I think?

Either way, he's quickly distracted by SUDDENLY ELLA.]

Ella!

[She looks terrible but she's alive(?) and that means enough for the moment. He looks to Ankana, and while he's grateful that she brought ella back to whatever state she might be in, attempting to control her means that disappears in an instant.]

You're outnumbered. I suggest you give up.

[lissatrinall]

[ her expression blackens considerably when ella breaks her attempted control, and she shoots dimitri an angry glare, looks around at them all... and then turns towards the sarcophagus, reaching out to bash her elbow against the seal there (str 22). she yells something in a high-pitched shriek before turning back to them.

annd init! ]

[sorceresslite]

[ without hesitation, ella casts scorching ray, a jet of fire leaping from her palm and shooting straight for ankana. (ranged atk 24, dmg 16) she's not sure if she'll crumble back into dust if ankana dies, but it's a chance she's willing to take.

fire free from her hand, she quickly casts mage armor on herself, boosting her ac from 17 to 21 for six hours. just in case. ]

[thesleeper]

[After being of literally zero use in the strength contest, he's not going to be dead weight any longer. Also, he's pretty pumped about Ella being back as a horrible sand monster.]

Alright, now it's a party!

[He'll step forward, and unleash his own line of fire as a breath attack, dealing 24 Fire damage vs a Reflex DC 17.]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri dashes in, intent on preventing her from doing any more damage to whatever seal she's trying to break, reaching out and trying to grapple her (atk 21).]

[lissatrinall]

[ the first strikes ankana in the chest, and singes her, but she doesn't burst into flames or anything so dramatic. she does, however, subsequently fail her reflex save vs phineas' breath weapon (ref 14). if dimitri does not have improved grapple, she tries to slam into him with her attack of opportunity, but isn't fast enough anyway (atk 20). she cries out in anger as he grabs her, but can't break his grip (grapple 16). she attempts to cast a spell, but the pain is too great and her concentration check is shit, so that doesn't happen.

the damage, however, is already done to the seal on the sarcophagus, it seems. the lid slides aside, and they get a glimpse of a desiccated mummified corpse, that disintegrates into ashes when the air hits it, slowly drifting away, as if carried by some unseen breeze. (spot checks plz).

hroken draws his scimitar and crosses over beside dimitri, unable, however, to stab her with the way she's struggling (atk 13). scepter pulls up his rifle and takes careful aim, but the grappling pair twists away from his bullet (atk 14). lis'sa aims with her excalibur as well, taking the negative so that she doesn't accidentally shoot dimitri, and therefore getting nowhere (atk 11/4).

lonicera starts nervously humming a tune to inspire courage and give everyone a +1 to attk and dmg rolls. julistar decides to turn around this pile of fail and gets a (nat 20!!!!) turning check, holding aloft a golden cross that hangs from around his neck, and ankana screams in horror, trying desperately to escape dimitri so that she can run from y'all. ]

[sorceresslite]

[ with a spot check of a whole 5, ella's focus seems to be firmly on ankana. single-minded to a fault, she casts magic missile at the pharaoh while dimitri still has her. she has no qualms continuing to attack an enemy combatant that is trying to flee. three missiles shoot from her fingertips, glittery green, and all three head with undeviating accuracy for ankana. (dmg 6, 4, & 5) ]

[thesleeper]

[Well... Phineas is going to dogpile onto the grapple to hold this bitch, with a grapple of 22! (B/c she's already grappled, the grab auto-succeeds, and she doesn't get an AoO, but she does get an opposed grapple.)]

[likeagod]

[Keeps up the grapple chain, because its so much fun to hold and let people punch. Or magic to death as the case may be (atk/grapple 24. I think he also does unarmed damage, which would be 8 if that's the case).]

[lissatrinall]

[ her grapple against phineas was only a 17 and against dimitri less than that. can you be grappled by two people at the same time? idk, why not. either way, all that damage is enough to murder her :( so she crumbles to dust in their grip with a shriek.

they think, for a moment, that that's the end of things... but the dust from the sarcophagus has coalesced into thousands of tiny jagged hieroglyphic numeric characters that create a roiling cloud of black smoke. it fills the air around dimitri's head and he must make a fortitude save to see what happens before i do everyone else's shit... ]

[likeagod]

[He turns as the smoke starts rolling out, holding up a hand as if that will help protect him from it (fort save 15).]

[lissatrinall]

[ the black smoke of numbers abruptly pours itself down dimitri's throat, and he would feel something start ripping at his internal organs, a sharp lancing pain (7 dmg). he is allowed another save each round to try to cough it out.

there's still more of the smoke hanging around his head, and hroken looks appropriately freaked out by it STUFFING ITSELF DOWN DIMITRI'S MOUTH so he's going to swing his scimitar at it, because that's how he solves problems (atk 28, dmg 9), which is... altogether useless, his weapon just going through the smoke like it's nothing. scepter casts a flaming sphere at it, which seems to burn away some of the smoke (dmg 10). lis'sa hesitates, before trying to shoot it (NAT 20; and a 14; 20 dmg). lonicera keeps up singing (+1 to attk and dmg for everyone) and julistar casts invisibility on himself over there. ]

[sorceresslite]

[ ella looks horrified for dimitri, but doesn't have any idea of what to do so she goes back to her stand by of violence, firing a scorching ray at the cloud of smoke. (atk 25, dmg 19) ]

Lis'sa, what is that?! [ 'cause she don't know with her wis of 4. ]

[thesleeper]

[Suddenly feeling like I'm back in the strength contest room... Phineas is just staring in horror, and probably backing away quickly.]

What the hell?!