Four Pharaohs - Session Three

After spending a cautious night in the keep, you discussed the best way to get to the marked location of the four pyramids on your map from Reagos. The debate was how best to counter the heat and fatigue of hiking through dozens, scores or perhaps hundreds of miles of dunes in the desert heat. Leo's eyes lit up and he said, "Hold on. We don't have to walk at all!" You found yourselves at the 'X' on your map a couple of wind walk spells and 15 hours later. You set up camp and stayed the night.

The next morning you decided Powduc would be the one to put the mask on. He put it to his face and winced a bit as the magic activated. He found it difficult to remove. After some contemplation, he thought about the pyramid appearing and it did. Powduc saw the pyramid coalesce from the nether. The rest of the group saw the pyramid rise from the sands.

As you were deciding how to reach the entrance some way up the side, a large heirosphinx flew over a nearby dune and charged the group. It viciously attacked Schweitzer but soon turned its fury to Powduc, who was wearing the mask. As the beast fell, Powduc and no one else heard the beast say, "Do not enter the pyramid of the Four Pharaohs."

You 'carpetted' up to the entrance some 300 feet up the smooth green veinstone exterior (identical to the small green stones you 'lost' at the auction). The shaft descended deep into the interior where it eventually leveled off. The hallway was made from jet black stone and had runes carved on the floor, walls and ceiling. Pip could tell they were mathematical formulas. As you went further in, the runes started to glow brighter and brighter. Heeding Raegos' tale, you averted your eyes as much as possible. You came to an archway. Schweitzer and Iam had to look through it to see what was on the other side and when they did, the runes on the archway flashed. They saw one of the runes Reagos told you about.

After traveling a short distance through the columned halls, you encountered what some quickly recognized as Seratin, the ranger turned mummy from Reagos' tale. The narrowness of the hall and the columns made it hard to completely surround the beast, but it was quickly dealt with. Descending a short stair you opened a door into a large room. The floor was empty but the walls were lined with shelves and held scores if not hundreds of ceramic vases. You cautiously approached a door opposite when a shattering noise filled the room and broke all the vases. Embalmed body parts poured out of many of the broken vessels and coalesced into swarms if writhing digits, organs, and pieces of flesh. The wriggled directly to Schweitzer, who was wearing his mask. The wisdom of wearing the mask was quickly brought into question as the swarms not only clawed and scratched, but started to cling and constrict. Most weapons proved less effective and all Schweitzer could do was to attempt to remove the parts that were trying to squeeze and strangle him. Area of effect spells started flying and Leo finally was able to get in and successfully turned the undead swarms. 10 rounds of wands and other area spells didn't kill the masses. They returned to Schweitzer and started their gruesome attack anew. Powduc was now in place and punched the swarms. You quickly realized that the swarms were not resistant to bludgeoning attacks. You made short order of them from that point. Zoltan scanned the room for magic and saw that one disembodied finger was wearing a magic ring. Or rather the pearl in the ring was magical. Upon examining it closer, a symbol on the pearl flashed. Zoltan had seen one of the symbols. An identify revealed the pearl to be a pearl of power for 3rd level spells.

Exiting the room you passed a shaft and heard a scraping noise. Cautiously waiting, you saw a stone construct slowly climbing down the shaft; it's arms and hands above its head as if were a platform of a sort. It kept descending.

You explored a bit further on this level and found a room that appeared empty. Thinking about the last 'empty' room you declined to enter. Heading back to the shaft, you climbed on the 'elevator' as the construct was making its way back up from somewhere below. It stopped at an opening and started back down. You all hopped off and found yourself in a long narrow hallway with windows on one side. As you passed a window, Iam noticed a warm desert breeze and realized that the windows that appeared to look out onto a dessert oasis were actually on the 'interior' wall of the pyramid. He closed his eyes and attempted to touch the window with his sword. It past through. Zoltan noticed this and attempted to disbelieve the illusion only to have the window vanish to reveal another symbol flash on the blank wall behind where the illusion was. Zoltan had seen two symbols.

Ignoring the windows, you continued. The hall turned to the right and to the right again after a distance. There was an opening in the wall toward the interior of the pyramid.Tthe group approached and saw a beautiful woman wrapped in decaying linens from the neck down sitting on a stone throne on the far side of the room. Beside her stood a large metal construct. A couple fighters entered the room. Iam charged only to run into an invisible wall dividing the large room in half. She stood and said, "So, you wish to play my game." The construct entered the other half of the room and the floors on either side of the wall became unbalanced by nearly five feet. It punched its fists through one the the many glass windows that lined this room like the halls outside, reached in and set a large flat veinstone weight on the floor. The floors became more unbalanced by about a foot. As others scrambled into the room, Zoltan launched a disintegrate at the wall only to have it reflected back at him. He too climbed into the room. During the brief confusion, she cast a spell from a scroll summoning an earth elemental which began to assist the construct. Its weight alone caused the floors to shift even more.

Deciding the game was on, Leo enlarged himself and others 'assisted' by helping smash windows and set weights on the floor. With nearly all the group helping you made almost completely steady 'progress' of adding more weight than the elemental and construct. However, on three occasions, as people grabbed weights, a symbol on the weight a person removed from the alcove flashed. By the time your half of the room reached the bottom and you heard a deafening crunch of metal Pip, Alorian and Leo (?) had each seen a symbol. The floors soon balanced themselves and all that remained on the floor was a crumpled mass of metal. The wall of force and the radiant woman were gone. A jet black stone ladder could be seen behind the throne she first sat on.

You gathered you resolve and headed to the ladder.

'Till next time.

Four Pharaohs - Session Two

The party completed the flyovers of the vale with no luck in locating the funeral mask. You decided to hike to the area of interest identified earlier in the day. The floor of the vale was filled with all manner of thorny growth - raspberry and black berry, prickly ash, roses, and other plants you couldn't identify. It took nearly five hours to reach your destination. Once there, the growth gave way to reveal a huge thorn wall covered in red roses. A quick fly-up revealed a solid hemisphere of thorn growth punctuated by tree trunks. Brute force won the debate about how to get in. It took 10 minutes for a wall of fire to burn through the thorns. This only revealed another thorn wall and passages left and right. "Crap, it's a maze." someone remarked.

Going left with Pip in the lead checking for traps, you traveled some distance when he stepped in a snare that pulled him 20' in the air. Seconds later you were attacked by several sprites who stepped out of the thorns, fired arrows and stepped back in. They were ineffective. Iam continued in the lead because he could not be snared. He walked through several snares and you made your way to the center. You were not attacked.

The center of the maze was an open area (under the thorn wall) with a stone, spiral stair descending in the middle. The stair was surrounded by several standing stones and three huge trees grew at compass points opposite and left/right. Pip entered invisibly , whispering back "It's clear straight to the stones." Powduce entered to the right, followed by Iam don the middle. The gigantic tree across animated and charged (trampled) Iam and caught Pip. The other trees animated also animated and a few sprites started firing arrows from the thorns. The trees were beat down quickly (vulnerability to fire + meteor swarm = conflagration). One of the sprites was killed. The others disappeared into the thorns.

Down the stairs it was easy to determine which direction to go - a set of ornate oak doors. The grouped bashed at the door and needed a knock or two from Potenzia to get in. Inside were nearly a dozen sprites around a low stone table set with a feast. They were ready for a fight. As you worked your way in some fell under control of their 'suggestion' to leave them alone. The result was 'confusion' as those affected would move in and out of protection circles. The sprites daggers and arrows were poisoned and two (Pip and Potenzia) were affected. Pip used a neutralize potion to avoid secondary effects. Potenzia was struck after the combat with nearly debilitating Str damage. You noticed tha many of the sprites were missing ears.

As the group pushed in, taking care of the sprite caster, a voice from behind another wall of thorns asked "Who are you and what do you want?"

"We're here for the mask." was the reply.

The voice followed up with, "We don't have them anymore."

Another group member said "Too bad for you then." The battle continued.

The group was gaining the upper hand when the sprites used a familiar strategy - obscuring mist. This greatly slowed advancement and allowed the sprite to put up another wall of thorns. Zoltan and Powduc could not penetrate it. The sprite leader and maybe one or two others fled through the thorns. The group chased down a couple sprites who fled in different directions.

The mist finally went away and you burned through the wall with another wall of fire. Behind was a throne room and bedchamber. Alorian quickley noticed a secret door and passage that went back up the the central clearing.

When you reached the surface, there was a small arrow with a note attached stuck in the ground. It read, "You are a quite strong group. In exchange for a favor, I'll tell you where to find the masks."

You agree. Turns out the sprites stole both masks to get the 'ear harvesting' to end. The King of the Roses give you directions to the place where you can find the masks. You ask "What's the favor?" He replies, you'll have to kill the guy we gave them to to get the masks - that's the favor.

You head off with his map and directions.

After clearing the vale, you started up some steep foothills. Periodically you could see in the distance a couple large flying creatures. The next day, when you saw them again, Powduc and Zoltan could tell they were reptilian and likely redish in color. The King of the Roses' directions proved perfect. You arived at a small keep carved directly from the stone with an inviting double door. You approached cautiously and Pip climbed up the wall to take a better look and found nothing. You opened the door and waited for Pip to lead. He found a trip wire a few feet in and directed everyone to skirt to the right. As the group opened a door, Pip looked behind a tapestry for any concealed doors - and screamed in pain, and the door opposite flung open. There were two werewolf like beasts, one of which was blinking. As the first one rushed toward the back of the party, you realized its intent was not to attack but to trigger the trip wire. The tapestry fell and many of you were unable to avert your gaze in time as the symbol of pain glowed brightly. The other beast covered the group with waves of despair. Some of you fell under its influence.

Several rounds were spent fighting and tracking these beasts throughout the keep as they not only blinked in and out but dimension door'd all over. You 'discovered' an illusionary wall, but not until several rounds of their waves of despair attacks. Nearly everyone was effected by now. A couple members were also suggested or charmed. You followed them through this wall to find a laboratory with a fleshy construct on a table. You quickly beat down the golem and explored a bit more. You discovered a treasury and spent several rounds identifying a few items.

Going back about the only way left to go, you came to a hall and Iam entered and saw Count Julistar, a bearded devil, two of the wolfish creatures, the keeps owner sitting ona large stone throne (Xaven - matching the description from the King of the Roses), and an eryines standing next to him. Powduc charged past at one of the wolf creatures only to stop in front and realize that he was on unstable ground. He adjusted his position and disappeared. Pip moved in invisibly to flank. the rest of the group tried as best you could to move in through a 5' hall.

Powduc had fallen through the floor only to land, unhurt, in front of a huge red dragon. It snatched him in its claws and flew off over the the edge of the cliff. He soon after dimension door'd back to the keep.

Blades and spells started flying. Iam engaged Julistar, Schweitzer the devil, and Alorian one of the wolf creatures. A single, bright dart appeared out of thin air several times, drilling through Iams armor and doing serious damage. The figure remained sitting on the throne and another version stepped out from behind, cast a spell, and Schweitzer disappeared. More spells and Iam disappeared. Zoltan started to cast walls of force to separate the dart thrower, erinyes, and Xaven from the group. Pip tried to follow an opponent to continue to flank and 'found' another area of floor that might be illusionary. Xaven disintegrated the walls as fast as Zoltan could put them in place. The wolf beasts dimensioned door'd out and came back and went out again. Zoltan, tiring of the back and forth, placed a force cage around Xaven and the erinyes. They each teleported away. The battle went easily from here. A glitter dust revealed the halfling, Julistar and his beared devil were quickly dispatched, followed by the halfling.

While one side of the battle was waning, a wolf beast appeared at teh back of the group and used it magic abilities. It ran and Powduc followed only to run into Xaven and gang in another room. Pip moved in invisibly only to notice that both the erinyes and Xaven could see him. She entangled him in her rope removing him from combat. Powduc was mazed. Potenzi and Zoltan moved in and let lose with what they had left. Zoltan powerword stunned the erinyes and Xaven was forced to flee (teleport). He did not return.

After several more minutes, all those mazed returned, some curing was done and you finished searching the place. You found a stone coffer behind the throne with two seemingly identical masks.

Until next time.