[Gameplay] 6. Sepulcher of the Servant

"I think we could figure something out, if I ask her real nicely," Tabat says, patting Andromeda on the neck.

He leans in to the camel, "Nice work, girl. I am impressed with your bravery."

He walks over to Iseret and asks about what she's found, listening to the details in the writing. "This is all very troubling, but it gives us an idea of what we may face as we venture further into this place. That mask seems to be at the center of it all - do you think that cultist was wearing that very same mask? Perhaps trying to deliver it to Nebta-Khufre to finish what he was searching for all those years ago?"

You explore the rest of the upstairs before heading down, and the only other fight you encounter are some foul, diseased undead dogs (called festrogs). If Khadi wants to spend another Channeling attempt, that will largely take care of them, and Tabat would be immune to any disease they obviously carry.

In one of the other rooms, you find a scroll of death ward, hidden behind a panel. There is nothing else of value.

Down the stairs
At the bottom of the stairs, carved from the bedrock beneath Wati, you find an immaculate chamber tiled in blue ceramic. Large bronze double doors exit the room to the south.

"Iseret, if you're up for leading the way after that collapse earlier, please do - if not I'll do my best to keep an eye out for more traps." Either way, Tabat will keep his eyes peeled as they approach the doors and open them.

The doors don't open, and Jaware says, "They're magicked. Wait, take cover!" Just as he's about to explain, the blue floor tiles rise up into the air and begin to swirl about, banging into you faster and faster.

You can retreat from the room, or attempt to defend yourself from the flying tiles by destroying them (destroying 20 will end the threat, they're size Tiny). If they hit you, they'll do damage.

Tabat takes Jaware's cue and retreats back the way they came. "What was that about?" he asks - "How do we get past something like that?"

Kadi also retreats back and looks to Jaware. Fancy some extreme target practice?

He fires an arrow off, at one of the tiles. The tile shatters and falls to the ground. The other tiles settle back into place, with no intruders to defend against.

"Well that wasn't so hard. If we can keep them airborn."

Iseret considers the situation, wondering if she can use acrobatics to avoid the tiles, but keep them airborne.

'Before we go risking ourselves...' Khadi takes ones of her bolts and throws it in the room to see if it can be triugers without someone stepping in.

The bolt clatters to the far side, but the trap does not go off.

"Hmm, let me try something...assuming all those blue tiles might do this, maybe we don't need to wait for them to be in the air." He steps near the edge of the tiles and swings his adamantine heavy flail hard against the ground, seeing what effect it has on the tiles.

You can easily smash the ones you can reach, but not the rest.

Tabat grunts with the exertion, but seeing results smiles behind his mask. "They deactivated when we left the room again. Perhaps a skirmish?" He steps further into the room, prepared entirely for the tiles to rise up again, bringing his weapon down to destroy more of them, then attempts to withdraw to the stairs once again.

Sure, that makes sense. You can move and attack, then roll initiative. If you win init., attack and move out, otherwise, you get attacked by one tile. Jaware can shoot a few as well.

Seems like a lot of back and forth, but I can summarize if that's your plan.

Iseret takes out her crossbow and loads a quarrel. "Ready!"

Iseret takes out her crossbow and loads a quarrel. "Ready!"

Iseret notices a couple things, as you pick your way through. There is a secret door to the right hand side (map left) and inside, you find spare tiles to replace the broken ones. There are also shards and remnants of broken tiles carefully stored in the corner. With a little magical insight, you also find a magical coin in the rubble.

After unlocking the doors in the blue room, you find a short hallway, then more doors. Carefully checking for traps, the unlocked doors open to an octagonal room.

A fifteen foot stature of a matronly woman with long, flowing hair stands in the center of this chamber between two large stone tables. Ten curtained alcoves break up the hieroglyph-covered walls. Enormous bronze doors stand to the north and south.

"Jaware, what do you make of this coin?" Tabat asks the magus as they proceed into the larger room.

Tabat carefully moves to examine the statue, wondering if it has religious significance.

She's the Lady of Graves: The statue in the center of the room depicts Pharasma, with a dagger in one hand and a sprig of kheper-wer—a medicinal herb used in childbirth—in the other.

"It's magic all right, but I'll need more time to work out what it does."