Mummy's Mask (OOC)

[Gwynfrid]

Welcome to the Mummy's Mask OOC thread!

I greatly appreciate this opportunity to play with you guys, and hope we will have a long-lasting, enjoyable game.

The first couple of posts here is where the in-game information will be stored, including additional info about the setting, NPCs, loot and any other reference data. If you really like or dislike something in the game, or have concerns about how I'm handling things, please let me know. To make sure this game to be fun for everyone, feedback is very helpful.

Characters

Player	Character	Race	Class	Init	AC	TAC	FFAC	CMD	Fort	Refl	Will	HP
DarkOne7141981	Vershab Fethi	Human (M)	Arcanist	+11	15	11	14	13	+4	+4	+7	57
JWallyR	Lehasti Gesmeha	Human (F)	Paladin	+1	19	11	18	24	+13	+7	+9	98
Farmerbink	Turi	Human (M)	Fighter/Rogue	+5	22	16	17	22	+9	+11	+7	88
JWallyR	Azkin	Human (M)	Cleric	+2	19	12	17	18	+9	+5	+10	57
Starbin	Natala	Ifrit (F)	Oracle	+8	21	15	17	23	+6	+8	+9	72
SanguinePenguin	Vlarga al-Lamashten	Gnoll (F)	Bloodrager	+1	19	8	25	+14	+5	+8	+5	100

Deceased or retired characters

Player	Character	Race	Class	Init	AC	TAC	FFAC	CMD	Fort	Refl	Will	HP
CleverDragon	Calathon Amradi	Elf (M)	Alchemist	+4	18	14	14	19	+6	+10	+5	38
Farmerbink	Grekka Cailean	Half-orc (F)	Warpriest	+4	18	12	16	20	+9	+6	+10	55
Farmerbink	Grekka Cailean	Half-orc (F)	Inquisitor	+5	20	12	18	18	+8	+5	+9	44
Untarr	Menedes IX Tombguard	Dwarf (M)	Zen Archer Monk	+2	18	17	16	22	+8	+7	+9	57
Inspector Valin	Tabiry / Sunset	Aasimar (F)	Vigilante	+5	22	15	17	24	+3	+11	+7	47

Osirion

Locations visited thus far: Wati, Tephu, Crook River, Parched Dunes desert, and Ipeq.

Spoiler: Map

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Tephu

Spoiler: Map

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1: Medina
2: Inn of the Desert Winds
3: Plaza of the Bright Horizons
4: Great Library
5: Sanctuary of Nethys
6: Eye of the Heavens
7: Academy of Scribes
8: Houses of Order and Wisdom
9: Gate of the Moon
10: Gate of the Sun
11: Dark Depository

Wati

Wati is the city where our story begins. All of the background below is known to all characters who spent most of their lives in Wati. More detailed information may be available to characters with Knowledge(Local) ranks.

Spoiler: Wati, the half-city

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WATI, THE HALF-CITY

The city of Wati sits on a sandstone shelf at the confluence of the Asp and Crook rivers, which provide it with building materials, rich farmland, and deep harbors sufficient to support a settlement three times its size. But even with its tenacious citizens, abundant fish and game, and thriving marketplaces fueled by the most important rivers in Osirion, Wati is forever a city better known for its dead than for its living. Behind sanctified walls, an entire quarter of the city quietly sits as a massive, urban tomb. Shops, schools, markets, and estates serve as eternal resting places for those lost to madness and disease. To manage such an immense project, the city’s entire economy shifted to the industry of interment. Almost 1,800 years after the necropolis’s inception, many of Wati’s residents continue to serve the city’s funeral industry, either directly as embalmers, undertakers, and clerics of Pharasma, or indirectly by crafting the myriad grave goods all Osirians hope to carry with them into the afterlife. Death has become the city’s lifeblood, and Wati prospers from its morbid specialty.

HISTORY
In –1608 ar, Pharaoh Djederet II ordered the construction of a grand city to mark the birthplace of the Osirion’s greatest natural resource: the River Sphinx, springing from the confluence of the Asp and the Crook. With its early foundations magically laid by the church of Nethys, the city sprang to life within just a year. Named Wati, the riverside town soon dominated trade across southern Osirion. Hardwoods and spices from Katapesh and the Mwangi Expanse bound for Sothis, and manufactured goods and luxuries from the nations surrounding the Inner Sea bound for Osirion’s southern territories, all paused long enough in Wati’s warehouses and markets to make its citizens famously wealthy. For centuries, Wati endured through political upheaval and the births and deaths of entire dynasties as it dominated its younger sister cities of An and Tephu.
But Wati’s destiny was forever warped in 2499 ar, when the cult of Lamashtu unleashed the Plague of Madness among the city’s thriving populace. Many of those whom the fever did not immediately kill were driven to murderous insanity, and within months, more than half the city had fallen in painful, anguished death. Most of the survivors fled Wati to make new homes elsewhere, but a stubborn minority remained behind, determined to reclaim their city. But even once the plague had run its course, their livelihoods collapsed as An and Tephu took over Wati’s once-exclusive trade routes, and their floundering community struggled against recurring outbreaks of the undead from the city’s many abandoned buildings-turned-tombs.
It took almost half a millennium for Wati’s fortunes to reverse thanks to the church of Pharasma. With the tacit permission of Osirion’s Keleshiite sultan, a Pharasmin priest named Nefru Shepses marched on Wati in 2953 ar with a small army of alchemists, masons, and morticians under his banner, intent on consecrating the entire city to the Lady of Graves, beginning with a new, monumental temple to Pharasma called the Grand Mausoleum. Over the next 30 years, Nefru Shepses and his followers recovered the bodies of those slaughtered in the Plague of Madness from their hasty, makeshift graves and the Pharasmins walled off that portion of the city that had been abandoned, transforming it into a metropolis of makeshift tombs. Thousands of corpses were given formal burial rites and reinterred in this dead copy of the living city, which continues to serve as Wati’s necropolis today.
The consecration of the city and its necropolis revitalized Wati, and though it never reclaimed its dominance among the cities of the south, over the next 1,700 years Wati grew until its necropolis—once more than half of the city— took up less than a quarter of the city’s total area. Today, long after the necropolis’s completion, Wati continues to produce a great variety of grave goods for Osirion’s honored dead. A steady stream of burial figures, canopic jars, embalming fluids, prayer books, and sarcophagi sail downstream on the Sphinx, outpacing Wati’s crop and textile exports. Even Wati’s criminal underworld revolves around death, as competing gangs regularly raid the necropolis for valuables and even human carrion.

CITY OF THE LIVING
From the tidy Midwife district to the mazelike streets of Asp, Wati’s citizens appreciate life in ways that only come from respecting the dead. Taverns, dance halls, bathhouses, and game parlors dot as many corners as shops and artisans, and Wati’s boulevards and markets teem with life under the hot Osirian sun.

DISTRICTS
Wati is divided into six districts, with its necropolis serving as an unofficial seventh district.

Asp: This long, winding district of low buildings and twisting alleyways runs along Wati’s southern edge. Asp was built without the planning or engineering insight of Wati’s core, making navigation difficult for newcomers. Few of Asp’s residents think of themselves as members of a common community the way inhabitants of Midwife or Morning Sun might. Instead, the district is a loose alliance of dozens of blocks, neighborhoods, and streets all pursuing their own agendas. These associations hold bitter rivalries as well, usually along economic lines, which run from the well-off estates in the west to the slums of mud-brick hovels huddling against the walls of the necropolis in the east.

Bargetown: Wati’s unwashed masses, heretics, and down-on-their-luck foreigners gather in this semipermanent floating district literally built atop the River Sphinx. Lashed vessels replace buildings, and narrow planks and rope railings make up Bargetown’s rickety streets. Each family maintains its own tiny barge or keelboat, and joins the community for years or for only a few days, meaning Bargetown’s layout is constantly in flux. The downtrodden bargers supply most of Wati’s fish and shellfish, drawn from the Sphinx’s sacred waters. The crocodiles and giant crayfish that prowl the river are a constant threat to the bargers, scavenging leftovers, waste, and the occasional drunk who falls into the water.
Bargetown hosts most of Wati’s smuggling operations, as its residents are mostly ignored and anonymous in the eyes of Wati’s mainland citizens.
Bargetown is a dangerous place, and not merely for its criminal element. Disease spreads quickly, and the city guards are quick to sever the ropes securing Bargetown’s boats to shore at the first sign of plague. Fire is also a constant worry on the poorly maintained collection of wood, rags, and pitch.

Midwife: The district of Midwife is the heart of Wati, cradling most of the city’s temples, markets, and professional artisans. Along with the necropolis, Midwife is the oldest of Wati’s districts, with a history stretching back to the city’s founding, and its residents take pride in maintaining their ancient community. Midwife’s buildings, carved from stone and towering two to six stories tall, reflect the grandeur of Osirion’s First Age, and house a wide variety of apartments, shops, and workshops.

Morning Sun: The majority of Wati’s noble estates sit on a small rise west of Midwife called Morning Sun, so named because the district enjoys the first touch of the sun’s rays at dawn. Morning Sun is Wati’s least populous district, containing a mere two dozen wealthy estates that consist of palatial homes, storage buildings, servants’ quarters, orchards, vineyards, and a handful of lavish apartments—all of which are colorful, well maintained, and surrounded with lush gardens and statuary. Morning Sun is the home of two major noble families who squabble for dominance in local politics. The older, conservative Mahfre family enjoys the support of many of Wati’s longtime residents and those who look to the past, while the Okhenti family holds the hearts of romantics, the young, and many newcomers to the city.
The Mahfre family was one of the stubborn remnants who stayed in Wati following the Plague of Madness, rallying their fellow citizens when times got hard and overseeing the city’s management in the absence of official leadership from Sothis. Their influence has declined in the centuries since the coming of the Pharasmins and the rebirth of the city, but the family’s loyalty and bravery in Wati’s darkest hours all but guarantees the Mahfres will always have a place in the local government. The family’s current matriarch, Damej Mahfre, sits on the city council and revels in her ancestors’ legacy while resenting the influx of lowborn outsiders into her city.
The Okhenti family, on the other hand, fled Wati after the Plague of Madness, journeying through northern Garund and across the Inner Sea. A noble family with no lands or people to govern, the Okhentis finally returned to Wati alongside Nefru Shepses and the church of Pharasma. Today, the house of Okhenti has its fingers in most of Wati’s trade and counting houses, and many acolytes at the Sanctum of Silver and Gold are either distant relations or adopted family members. The Okhentis still send their young scions to study abroad and bring back fresh new ideas and contacts to govern with a wider perspective. Critics accuse the family of being globetrotting dilettantes with no concern for their hometown, while proponents claim the Okhentis bring new lifeblood to Wati’s markets. The family’s swaggering, middle-aged patriarch, Ahbehn Okhenti, spent his youth as an adventurer in Absalom and Thuvia, and does little to convince detractors of his family’s competence. Ahbehn’s roguish charms have earned him both a reputation as a ladies’ man around town.

Outer Farms: West of Wati, beyond the stable sandstone shelf on which the city rests, miles of silty, verdant farmland stretch along the banks of the Crook River. Barley, beans, cabbage, cucumbers, flax, garlic, melons, and millet fill Wati’s fields, but onions reign supreme on nearly every farm. Wati’s residents believe that onions are a gift from Pharasma. Beyond being a representation of the Great Beyond, the onion’s stalk represents life, while the bulb’s persistence represents the many stages of a soul’s growth before, during, and after mortal existence. Many local recipes incorporate one or more varieties of onion, and embalmers across Osirion stuff onions into the chests or eyes of the dead. Most farms also support a small stand of date palms or pomegranate trees, as well as goats and chickens. Larger livestock like oxen are considered an affectation of the rich or out-of-touch foreigners, and any farmer investing in them opens herself up for ridicule. Livestock must be brought inside or otherwise protected for several weeks every summer when the rivers flood, making large animals more trouble than they’re worth.
Most of the region’s farmers are composed of independent families, though they tithe a percentage of their crops to the pharaoh, whose wisdom and counsel with the spirits ensures the yearly flood and the rich silt it delivers. Wati’s haty-a, or governor, collects these tithes as the pharaoh’s representative, and his surveyors spend the end of each summer measuring and marking each farm after the annual floods shift the land. Small intrigues abound just before autumn, as farmers beg, bribe, and cajole bureaucrats to enlarge their properties or squabble over strange treasures washed ashore by the floodwaters.

The Veins: Nestled between Midwife and Bargetown, Wati’s harbor district stacks block upon block with woodcarvers, tar kilns, warehouses, and whatever shanties can be crammed between them. Its myriad shallow canals breed unabating clouds of insects, the bites of which spot the bodies of the locals, who stain their hands and cheeks with pitch to repel the pests.

NOTABLE LOCATIONS
The following are some of the more notable locations found in the living city of Wati.

Getwahb’s Tarworks: The largest and most profitable business in the Veins ironically has little to do with shipping. Instead, the sprawling, brick structure belonging to Getwahb Zet houses dozens of enormous kilns and cauldrons. Day and night, Getwahb’s dwarven and human workforce process wood shipped down the Crook River into tar, charcoal, and wood alcohol for the city’s other industries. With Wati’s reliance on barge traffic, fired bricks, and embalming, the old dwarf’s venture has paid off, making him one of Wati’s richest citizens and giving him unparalleled influence along the waterfront. While city politics bore the aging engineer, the same can’t be said for his eldest daughter, Meehr Zet, who eagerly spends her father’s money to buy her way into high society events.

Golden Lake: Separating the Grand Mausoleum from the Sunburst Market, this artificial pool takes its name from the coating of gold dust cast over its surface each year on the Day of Bones. The lake also houses a rare breed of white crocodiles that are sacred to Wati’s Pharasmin church. Regularly fed and cared for, these long-lived cousins of the more dangerous crocodiles found in Osirion’s rivers pose little threat to tourists or residents. Crocodile Keeper Neb-at demonstrates an uncanny control over the sacred beasts.

Grand Mausoleum: Rivaled in size and importance only by the High Temple of Pharasma in Sothis, Wati’s temple of Pharasma dominates the cityscape and handles the business of the city’s births and deaths, as well as the details that occur in between. Since the Lady of Graves eclipsed Nethys and Abadar as Wati’s patron deity, her followers have assumed control over much of the city’s infrastructure, and have combined the Grand Mausoleum into a cross between a house of worship and city hall. All final decisions are still made by the city council and overseen by the haty-a—the pharaoh’s personal representative—but council meetings and the day-to-day affairs of state are held within the sprawling complex. The temple’s high priestess, Sebti the Crocodile, rose to power from the common rabble. Daughter of the previous keeper of Pharasma’s sacred crocodiles and largely self-educated, Sebti has been a constant thorn in the side of Wati’s nobles since assuming control of the church a decade ago. Preaching a doctrine of personal fulfillment rather than happiness, wealth, or achievement, Sebti invariably sides with the common citizenry on government matters, making her popular with the common folk.
In addition to the temple’s clergy, the Grand Mausoleum hosts an arm of the militant wing of the church called the Voices of the Spire, dedicated to eradicating any undead within the city’s sprawling necropolis. They are led by the humorless Nakht Shepses, a bastard son of the influential Shepses line.

Hall of Blessed Rebirth: A multitude of professional funerary organizations once flourished in Wati before Bahjut Everhand took control of the city’s influential embalmer’s guild. Most of the region’s morticians, doctors, and alchemists have joined the guild, transforming the guildhall into an academy specializing in anatomy, chemistry, and medicine, and even tutoring exceptional students in alchemy and wizardry. While most of Wati’s residents give the school a wide berth, ambitious families across Osirion send their children to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth to master the Half-City’s techniques in medicine and embalming.
Mistress Bahjut Everhand is a worshiper of Anubis, the ancient Osirian god of the dead, and the Hall of Blessed Rebirth contains a shrine devoted to the jackal-headed deity. Bahjut gained her epithet from her desiccated left hand. Rumors claim that she preserved the exquisitely mummified appendage while still an apprentice. Others claim the old crone mummified her heart as well, as she’s never shown a hint of fear or compassion, even to the Pharasmins whose oversight she has come to resent.

House of the Pharaoh: Wati’s massive and illustrious House of the Pharaoh is the pharaoh’s personal estate in the city. The palace hasn’t seen a royal occupant in over 30 years, however, and the building functions as the center of Wati’s secular authority—though in practice, more of the city’s governance takes place at the Grand Mausoleum. While the pharaonic apartments remain empty, the rest of the estate buzzes with bureaucrats maintaining the city’s property laws and economic records. Oshep Kahmed, the personal representative of Pharaoh Khemet III, serves as Wati’s haty-a, or governor, and head of the city council.

Insula Mater: The prominence of Pharasma’s faith in Wati attracts many expectant mothers to the city from outlying villages and regional settlements. Many of Pharasma’s clerics donate time as caretakers and midwives at the Insula Mater, a temple, clinic, and dormitory for pregnant travelers and new mothers. Although eclipsed in importance by the Grand Mausoleum, the Insula Mater still enjoys a steady stream of donations and gifts from Wati’s wealthiest women. “Aunty” Anjet Jehuti leads the Mother’s Handmaidens, the temple’s small, full-time staff of clerics and healers.

Mender’s Row: While Wati’s sister city of An exports far more raw textiles, Wati dominates the trio of southern sister cities in the creation of finished garments, funerary wrappings, and rugs. Mender’s Row—more often referred to as “the Mend” by locals—is the core of Wati’s textile industry, stretching from the Rising Phoenix dye market for several blocks to the city’s only textile mill, run by the Essesh family. Competitive pride keeps several dozen independent weaver’s shops churning out quality clothing at a steady pace and in a variety of hues. The Rising Phoenix’s technique for creating a distinct reddish-purple dye from the local giant crayfish remains a closely guarded secret of the proprietors, Shamihn Hep and Ohmun Kotem, and ensures that Wati’s fashions stand out in markets as far-flung as Absalom.

Precinct of Left Eyes: This retrofitted fortress houses Wati’s town guard. Long ago, Wati’s laws dealt only two punishments: gouging out the right eye, or death. Though these laws soon proved untenable, over the years, the locals’ nickname for the palace of justice came to be its official moniker. The precinct encloses guard barracks, a jail, and two dozen pillories used for public punishments for minor transgressions. Befitting a city obsessed with death, Wati’s criminal underworld revolves around the trade in grave goods and even the dead themselves. In response, the militant wing of the Pharasmin church, the Voices of the Spire, has taken over guarding the tombs in the city of the dead.

Sanctum of Silver and Gold: This small, comfortable temple of Abadar has held sway over Wati’s economy for thousands of years, and has been rebuilt and remodeled dozens of times to accommodate the waning and waxing of Abadar’s appeal in the region. The result is a confusing layout that confounds visitors and faithful alike, but protects the temple’s vault like no guard ever could. The Sanctum’s leader, Banker Anok Tejuht, implies (but never outright states) that minotaurs stalk his temple’s forgotten corners, and at least one would-be burglar has been found at sunrise, mysteriously gored in the temple’s adytum.

Shrine of Wadjet: When Pharaoh Djederet II ordered Wati’s construction, he laid a golden brick where the Asp and Crook rivers mingle to form the Sphinx. The priesthood of Wadjet, the ancient Osirian goddess sometimes revered as the embodiment of the River Sphinx, established a small shrine on the site and constructed a stone staircase on either side leading down into the water. Although Wadjet’s faith is no longer as popular as it was during the city’s founding, the shrine remains, and most religious and civic festivals in Wati begin or end on these stairs and the plaza before them. Popular superstition claims that water drawn from the base of the stairs under the sun of the solstice has healing properties, and pilgrims come from across Osirion to make offerings and bathe in the first currents of the holy river. Even the priests of the Grand Mausoleum draw the water for their fonts from the stairs’ edge.

Sunburst Market: This enormous open-air market forms the bustling heart of Wati. Decorated pillars mark out a regular grid, and various merchants hang attention-grabbing banners and samples of their wares from the painted sandstone columns. On busy days, the open plaza transforms into a maze of tents and tables that display goods ranging from artwork, cosmetics, and food to weapons, poisons, and magical tomes. Traveling merchants from neighboring cities often come to the sunburst market to ply their wares. In theory, all merchants must register with and pay a fee to Abadar’s Sanctum of Silver and Gold at the north end of the market, but in practice, as much as a quarter of Sunburst Market’s retailers are squatters who move in and out of the city with all the oversight of the desert wind. Most of the fees the temple collects pay for the services of the so-called “Marketwives,” Rekitre and Khipa Yannanza, who patrol the market in daylight hours, watching for pickpockets and delivering swift justice to thieves. Anyone foolish enough to violate Abadar’s law under their gaze soon finds one of their hands added to the dozens already dangling from the plaza’s grisly Pillar of Second Thoughts.

Terhk’s Fine Expeditions: Part caravan company, part hunter’s lodge, and part adventurers’ guild, Terhk’s Fine Expeditions tries to be all things at once for anyone traveling the deserts of southern Osirion. Terhk Fourwinds, the towering, scar-riddled proprietor, is always eager to bring on new guards or wilderness guides, though word about town claims he eats those who fail him once too often.

Threshed Souls Fragrances: One of Wati’s countless perfume and incense sellers, Threshed Souls Fragrances stands out both for its variety of iris-based scents.

Tooth & Hookah: This modest inn and hookah bar is best known for its mascot, Toothy—a tiny crocodile that lives in the inn’s well.

Ubet’s Folly: Built atop a fang-shaped jut of rock in the River Sphinx, this fortress was among the first structures completed in Wati’s infancy. Intended to protect the harbor from waterborne raiders, it saw little use and was eventually abandoned. Centuries later, the half-crazed dwarf sorcerer Ubet Sandborn took possession of the neglected ruin and spent a lifetime shaping the fortress’s exterior into the likeness of a sphinx and carving tunnels deep beneath it. Ubet and his small cult vanished overnight more than 100 years ago. The general assumption is that one of their poorly planned tunnels collapsed, crushing the lot, but some whisper that Ubet stumbled across a secret from Wati’s founding best left buried. Ubet’s Folly, as the sphinx is now known, still draws occasional curious adventurers, but most of Wati’s residents recognize it for what it is—a crumbling ruin more likely to collapse than reveal any treasure. Still, it remains an open secret around town that real sphinxes occasionally visit the structure for some mysterious purpose, otherwise ignoring the city proper.

Whispering Stone: Run by Teht Blackblossom, the Whispering Stone has been Wati’s most popular tavern, inn, and game house for generations. The bar is built around an enormous, ruined statue buried up to its shoulders and broken off halfway up the head, leaving only a chin and pair of lips visible atop a 7-foot-high neck. Determining the identity of the so-called “Stone Lips” is a popular pastime in Wati, and the statue has been variously identified as representing Pharasma, some ancient Osirian goddess, one of Osirion’s forgotten pharaohs, a local noblewoman lost to history, a warlord who conquered Wati in its earliest days, or a nameless wizard who supposedly tamed the local elementals. Those looking for luck in love sneak a kiss from the sandstone smile—usually after buying a few drinks, of course.

CITY OF THE DEAD
The sturdy stone buildings of Wati’s necropolis were once part of the living city, and even now could still be mistaken for apartments, estates, shops, or tenements if not for the faded paint and desert sand piling up in the streets. Separated from the rest of the city by high stone walls inscribed with prayers and blessings, the necropolis has an outward appearance of peace and repose. The dusty streets are mostly empty of life, but a variety of creatures, both living and undead, still call the necropolis home, surreptitiously avoiding the notice of Pharasma’s clergy. Entrance to this section of the city is highly regulated by the Church of Pharasma, and the priesthood reconsecrates the necropolis each year as part of a weeklong festival surrounding the Day of Bones. Astute locals know that this ceremony provides little actual protection from the dangers hiding in the necropolis.

NOTABLE LOCATIONS
The following are some of the more prominent locations within Wati’s necropolis.

Acrid Street: Once the center of Wati’s incense and perfume industry, this area takes its present name from the stench of the ravenous dead that now inhabit its streets—ghasts and ghouls. The ghouls have existed here since the Plague of Madness, and even the Pharasmin Voices of the Spire have thus far failed to eliminate them.

Archives of the Ibis: A combination library and monastery, this quiet retreat for contemplation and learning was dedicated to Thoth, the ancient Osirian god of knowledge, literature, and science.

Cenotaph of the Cynic: After the Plague of Madness decimated Wati’s population but before the necropolis was consecrated, Wati’s few remaining citizens constructed this tomblike monument in honor of all those who had fallen to the plague. With the coming of the Pharasmins and the creation of the necropolis, the cenotaph was repurposed to house the remains of those citizens who professed no faith in the gods at all.

The Dry Veins: Once part of Wati’s busy harbor district, most of the canals in this section of the necropolis have been drained and bricked over, creating a network of crypts for the poor and unknown. Artistically inclined clerics of Pharasma make room for new bodies by stacking the desiccated bones into creative sculptures and decorations, giving the catacombs an unsettling charm.

Dust Parlor: Wati’s largest gambling house now stands eerily empty, avoided even by the undead of the necropolis. Strange lights and noises float through its shuttered windows under the new moon, leading most residents of Wati to conclude that a powerful ghost or demon haunts the building.

Pharasma’s Needle: Soon after the Pharasmins arrived in Wati to rebuild and consecrate the city, a burning rock fell from the sky into the River Sphinx where Bargetown now floats. Nefru Shepses took this as a sign of approval from the Lady of Graves, and ordered the black stone dredged from the river’s depths and carved into a capstone for a sacred obelisk, erecting the monument just inside the gates to the necropolis. Today, mourners interring their loved ones inside the necropolis still stop at Pharasma’s Needle on their way to the gravesites to gain the goddess’s blessing for the deceased’s journey to the Boneyard.

Sanctum of the Erudite Eye: This ancient temple of Nethys was abandoned following the Plague of Madness.

Tahetep’s Dance Hall: Born a nameless slave to a Keleshiite master in Totra, the warrior who would be called Tahetep won his freedom after saving the life of his master during a slave uprising. Ashamed that he had sided with his master instead of his fellow slaves, the freedman fled to Wati and took a new name, Tahetep. He established a popular dance and music hall to help drown his guilt in shallow pursuits of the flesh, but the Plague of Madness struck before the old warrior could find any peace. With inhuman strength and skin that reportedly turned aside iron blades, Tahetep slaughtered his wife, children, and two dozen patrons in the course of a single night. Local stories claim the authorities boarded up Tahetep in his dance hall, fearing a confrontation with the lunatic, and other stories insist he remains there even after centuries: immortal, insane, and forever singing the few songs his broken mind remembers.
The story would likely end there, had Tahetep not left his master’s service with a fortune in foreign silver. Every few years, a silver ingot stamped with Qadiran markings surfaces in the Sunburst Market, tempting treasure hunters and adventurers to brave the sealed dance hall in search of more. The only person ever known to return is the so-called Dancing Lady of Wati, a now-elderly woman who emerged from the dance hall blind, deaf, and mute, and who waltzes on her single remaining leg through the city streets to a melody only she can hear.

Umbracene Well: This deep shaft carved into the bedrock beneath Wati existed even before the city’s founding, covered by an immense stone plug crafted by unknown hands. In the worst throes of the Plague of Madness, the well became a makeshift pauper’s grave, and corpses by the hundreds, if not thousands, were cast into its black depths, which showed no sign of ever filling. Locals believe the well is bottomless, but sages speculate that the shaft likely connects to the Darklands, possibly plunging as deep as the Vaults of Orv. The stone plug that originally covered the well is long lost, and residents of Wati, both living and undead, avoid the site, no doubt due in part to the hundreds of tiny, toothed mouths that line the walls of the shaft, hungrily smacking their lips in the darkness.

Vizier’s Hill: Before the Plague of Madness, many of Wati’s nobles settled upon this hill, but like the other residents of the current necropolis, they abandoned their estates during the pestilence. A clan of dark folk known as the Xotl emerged from the Darklands into Wati’s necropolis more than a century ago, taking up residence in the subterranean wine cellars of the villas upon the hill. The church of Pharasma tolerates the dark folk’s presence in the necropolis, as they help keep the more dangerous vermin in the district under control.

Spoiler: Wati: Information not everyone knows

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Bargetown: Those in the know can easily find looted grave goods, poisons, drugs, and all varieties of poached animals and bizarre magical reagents on the ever-shifting flotsam market. To skirt inspections and find buyers, local smugglers generally rely on the genderless halfling fixer and fence called Dredge, while most of Bargetown’s more bizarre goods and narcotics flow through the fingers of the self-titled “Queen of Scows,” Eswab (female human).

Threshed Souls Fragrances: This shop is know not just for its perfumes, but also for cornering a very special market - trade in mumia, a drug made from the flesh of the mummified dead. The shop serves as the headquarters for the Fading, Wati’s most successful gang of mumia smugglers. The proprietors of Threshed Souls, Khim-ali and Jhen-din Seht (male humans), are the sons of wealthy Katapeshi immigrants.

Spoiler: Wati: Map (updated March 1, 2017)

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(Red arrow = direction pointed at by the elegiac compass)

1: Grand Mausoleum
2: Hall of Blessed Rebirth
3: House of the Pharaoh
4: Insula Mater
5: Mender’s Row
6: Pharasma’s Needle
7: Precinct of Left Eyes
8: Sunburst Market
9: Canny Jackal
10: Tooth and Hookah
11: Sanctum of Silver and Gold
12: Shrine of Wadjet
13: Ubet’s Folly
14: Whispering Stone
15: Tomb of Akhentepi
16: House of Pentheru
17: Sanctum of the Erudite Eye
18: Bright River Brickworks
19: The Dry Veins
20: Cenotaph of the Cynic
21: Asetiti Estate
22: Marid’s Caress
23: Shiny Bauble
24: Gulla Market
25: Tomb of Menket Maatya
26: Kawab Villa
27: Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss
28: Observatory of Truth and Wisdom

Spoiler: The sixteen

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1. What game system are you running?
Pathfinder.

2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
Standard Pathfinder set in Golarion.

3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
In this case, the 4 of you guys. Should you wish to add somebody else, that's fine, as long as you think that person would be a good fit and unlikely to drop off. There's a small chance I propose for someone else to join at some point in the distant future, conditional on acceptance from the group.

4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
OOTS forum, with IC and OOC threads. I'm also open to using Hangouts in addition to the regular OOC thread.

5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
Level 1.

6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
Average starting wealth for the class.

7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
Anything from Paizo is allowed, although I always reserve the right to nix something if it looks unbalanced or somehow inappropriate (I haven't ever nixed anything as far as Paizo material is concerned, so this is mostly a precaution clause).
If one or more characters elects to use firearms, then firearms will exist in Osirion; otherwise, you won't encounter any.
Third-party or homebrewed content is not allowed.

8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
Anything from Paizo is allowed. However, non-Core races are exceedingly rare. This means, if you want to play one, you'll have to come up with an extra strong story to explain why the character became an adventurer, how he/she relates to other races, etc. Special scrutiny will be given to races with RP>10. Also, please be prepared for the character to have trouble getting accepted by NPCs. That said, I won't stand in the way of an innovative, exciting character idea.

9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
25 point buy. Max hit points at first level. Afterwards, roll a half-die + half max (example: instead of 1d10, roll 1d5+5).

10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Yes, characters are expected to be following their alignment in RP. No alignment restrictions, but characters must be able to work with the party as a team. Evil or criminal acts towards NPCs will be met with proportionate reaction from NPC authorities and/or allies of the victims.

11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Normal Pathfinder rules.

12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
Most rolls should be made in the IC thread, together with your post concerning the action. When a description of your action depends on the roll result, it is recommended that you edit your post after the roll, rather than writing another post. If you mess up a roll (that happens to everybody), just post the make up roll in the OOC thread. Characters will roll their own rolls, except when necessary in the interest of speed: For example, I will roll for Perception and Inititative most of the time.

13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.

Spoiler: Traits

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Your character gets two traits, one of which is a campaign trait (please refer to the Mummy's Mask Playr Guide), and can optionally get a third trait together with a drawback. If that's not enough traits, you can have more with the Additional Traits feat. Your traits and drawback (if any) need to be somehow linked to your background, and they should be roleplayed accordingly.

Spoiler: Raising the Stakes

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http://esix.pbworks.com/f/RaisingtheStakes.pdf
This is an entirely optional rule, ie. using it or not is each player's choice. The general idea of Raising the Stakes is trying to implement more exciting combat by making up temporary rules on the fly, for mechanics that the rules don't cover, or just to make your character look cool. All raises should be made in the OOC thread. I may counter raise sometimes, meaning I like the idea, but it is balanced too heavily in your favor.

Spoiler: Initiative and action order

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The point of this rule is to speed things up in the PbP context. It works like this:
- Each character has individual initiative, while enemies have initiative as a group (equal to the average of all members).
- If one party only is aware of their opponents, then that party gets a surprise round.
- Round 1: The characters with inititiative higher than the enemy initiative act; then, the enemies act.
- Round 2: All characters act; then, the enemies act. Etc.
- Character actions are resolved in the order of posting. When necessary, you can indicate conditional actions to modify that order: For example, "Berndik waits until Alzobar casts his spell, then he charges the ogre leader; if the leader is down, he charges the closest ogre instead".

14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
Yes. You don't need to write a very long story (but if you wish to do so, it's fine, especially if you can make it an entertaining read). But I'd like you to cover at least: Who the characer is and where he/she comes from (race/ethnicity, place of origin, family, upbringing, training), why he/she chose to do what he/she does, and what brought him/her to Wati in search of tomb exploration opportunities. Originality and flavor are strongly encouraged. Your story should indicate at least a few specific links to Golarion places, events, and/or people. It should also explain about at least a couple of NPCs that are important to your character's story (parents, siblings, mentors, past or present love interests, children, friends, enemies, etc). In addition, I request that you write a personality description - again, not necessarily a long psychological profile, but at least something to help understand how the character interacts with other people. And a short physical description is in order.
On top of that, as a group, please write a description of how you got together. Chose a team name (if you haven't done so, as soon as you arrive in Wati, you'll notice every other would-be tomb raider group has one). You may have known each other for years or for a couple of hours, but you must present as a team. If you decide your characters have known each other for a long time, please also write something to explain what they think of each other.

15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
The game is a Pathfinder Adventure Path, so I expect it to include healthy doses of RP, exploration, and combat, and very few if any puzzles. Due to the specific constraints of RP, it is likely that I accelerate the scenario a little bit, for example by merging some encounters, or skipping them altogether. In particular, I will strive to make exploration faster by reducing the need for characters to listen and check for traps at every single door in a dungeon; so, you may sometimes see a post that describes the group exploring a whole lot of rooms in one go.

16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Anything by Paizo on the pfsrd is allowed.

17? Any other things that would be nice to know?
Players are expected to post about once per day, and I will endeavour to do the same. Whenever you are offline for more than 2 days, please post an advance notice. If waiting for a post from a player makes the game stop for more than 48 hours, I may bot the character without warning.
I request that every character have a sheet up on Mythweavers, detailing feats, class features, equipment, racial abilties etc. Please don't forget to indicate your favored class bonus choice. Please use the boxes at the bottom of the sheet to record your backstory, personality, description etc.

For IC posts, I appreciate a modicum of effort to use correct grammar and spelling (but I know we all make typos...). Also, I recommend a degree of consistency in style, namely, either everybody writes narration in the present tense, or everybody uses the past tense. I don't mind either way, but I prefer a consistent take: One or the other. I find it makes reading more natural.

Please use the regular text style methods for PbP:
- Every character has a unique text color.
- Character speech is written between quote signs, in the character's color.
- Character thoughts are written without quote signs, in the character's color, in italics.
- Description of actions is in black, regular font.
- Technical descriptions and die rolls go in a spoiler.

Spoiler: Additional rules

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1) We will use the Unchained rules for crafting.

2) Arcanists can equally use Pearls of Power and Runestones of Power. These two items have different functions.

3) If you describe your movement but don't state map coordinates, I will assign coordinates for you. I will not be open to correction after I have posted enemy action, unless my interpretation turns out to be unreasonable (mistakes happen, after all). The only way to guarantee you don't run into trouble with that rule is to post coordinates.

4) A familiar is considered part of its master's gear as long as it hides inside the master's clothing or carried equipment. In that situation:
- The familiar can't take any action and doesn't get to take rolls separately from its master.
- The familiar can't take damage separately from its master. It doesn't roll any saving throws.
- The familiar doesn't count as a separate creature and cannot be subject to spells or effects separately from its master (this includes channeling).
- The familiar is treated as gear for any practical purposes (e.g. Invisibility, it becomes invisible with the same conditions as gear).
As soon as the familiar leaves its master's protection, it is treated as a separate creature for all purposes, and can act. This includes the familiar showing itself, even if it remains in physical contact with the master. Switching from the hidden to the active state, or back, is a move action.

5) Flying up (at an angle of 45 degrees or more) reduces movement to half speed. For the purpose of charging, this is considered "hindered movement".
Therefore, one cannot charge when flying upwards.

[Gwynfrid]

Important findings

Spoiler: The Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh

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Vershab hurriedly withdraws beyond the reach of the fanged monster, ducking to leave a clear shot to Menedes. The dwarf takes full advantage of the opportunity, landing two superbly aimed arrows, one of which destroys half of the creatures' skull. Then Lehasti steps in, and the great falchion finishes the monster off. It collapses to the floor in a clatter of bones and small metal joints.

Grekka turns her head towards the ruckus, just in time to see Menedes push his next, half-drawn arrow back into the quiver.

Vershab avoids the ouat's gaze as he comes back into the secret chamber. "I thought whoever had taken the artifact would have dispatched any guardians. My mistake. They must have bypassed it somehow. This means they're very good at burglary, or had magical help of some sort.

A touch from the healing wand would be most welcome..."

Vershab comes back to examine the remnants of his attacker. "This is not an undead monster. It's called a necrophidius, a magically built guardian. Its fascinating dance is its most dangerous weapon, it's fortunate that we resisted its lure."

He turns back to the hieroglyphs on the wall. "All right, where was I... Ah, yes. Obviously, the place's builders wanted to threaten would-be thieves in the hope of scaring them away." Oblivious to the irony of his words, he resumes his translation:

"Woe to you who would plunder the Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul. Turn away, lest the harsh judgment of the Forgotten One fall upon you and your descendants for a thousand generations. Turn away, for his ka cannot be appeased and it shall call forth legions of the dead and the damned. Turn away, and may the All-Seeing Eye and the Lady of Graves take pity on you, for if not, the Forgotten Pharaoh shall consume you, body and soul."

Then, he takes the group upstairs, to the ransacked library. "While I was on my own, I took a deeper look here. I found these things, I think they could be interesting", Calathon explains to Vershab. He presents his godson with a few magical scrolls, and two stone tablets, one of them large and heavy, and the other smaller. This one bears a text in Ancient Osiriani:

Toilday, 29 Rova to Oathday, 22 Lamashan

After rendering their prisoner to the Grand Mausoleum, the Relic Knights can finally take an extended rest. For some, it is a busy one. Vershab, naturally, expounds on their discoveries for the diligent examination and record by the Pharasmin priests, particularly their resident scholar, Lempteph. Together, they go back to the Sanctum, to recover the contents of the temple's library before looters and random monsters can ransack them. It takes them nearly a week to pore over the rich contents. Vershab strikes a deal with Lempteph: The documents are left to the Mausoleum in exchange for a nice sum in gold, as well as the right to come and consult them for information, should he need it in the future.

The arcanist gathers his friends over a round of the most excellent of the Tooth and Hookah's ales, but out of sight, in a private room at the back of the tavern, for what he has to share should not be made public. He explains the gist of the discoveries he made. The tablet they found is really a royal decree of Pharaoh Djederet II, who was the founder of the city of Wati (clearly identifiable with terms like "the new city where the Crook and the Asp join"), reigning sometime around –1600 AR, over 6000 years ago. It would seem the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye was built, in part, with the purpose to hide the artifact that Vershab sensed a lingering trace of, when the group found the hidden underground room in the temple.

"The language of the warning we found is not completely clear, but it is worrisome. It speaks of the "Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul". Most likely, this is the relic that was hidden there. The tablet Calathon found in the library hints at this, too, and it mentions a "scandal" and an "obscenity". Obviously, Djederet wasn't happy about the turn of events and wanted it kept secret. We couldn't find any record at the Mausoleum, and not even when Lempteph sent to Sothis for information! He speculated that possibly, the authorities of the day purged the records. This is the only way the secret could stay buried for such a long time...

The warning also speaks of a "Forgotten Pharaoh" and his ka. The ka, as you may know, is a portion of a man's soul in the religions of ancient times. Our ancestors believed in a concept of the soul, which was divided into five parts. The ka contains a person’s “vital spark,” that which distinguishes the living from the dead.

So, when it says "his ka cannot be appeased and it shall call forth legions of the dead and the damned", this is a terrifying threat. Sebti the Crocodile came to listen to the conclusions of our research, and urged us not to disclose this to anyone; I'm making an exception for you, because you know a lot already, and you need to understand the import of this discovery we made. So, please, keep your mouths shut... such news could cause a panic in the city, and even the whole kingdom.

To think that someone would be irresponsible enough to steal the relic even in the face of such a clear warning..."

Spoiler: Nebta-Khufre

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Evenly, the skeletal champion replies to Vershab. The arcanist quickly understands that the undead isn't about to volunteer any information, but neither is he capable of resisting his commands in any way.

"Neferekhu was Nebta-Khufre's grandmother. She had oracular insights sometimes. That brought wealth to the family. Then she died. Nebta-Khufre animated her head and placed it here so he could continue to benefit from her prescience. She had visions of a golden mask and a god-king of the skies. Nebta-Khufre used her guidance to come here and find the mask, and the power to raise the dead.

But Neferekhu hated him and spat many insults. So he locked her up here, with us. He only comes when he needs to know about the future."


Behind the table, Calathon lifts his eyes from the sheaf of papers haphazardly spread over the beautiful mahogany surface. "This story seems confirmed by these writings over here." Indeed, a mass of journals in front of him, once examined, reveal the grandmother and grandson story in similar terms.

Spoiler: Hakotep, the Sky Pharaoh

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Looking for the lineage of Hakotep yields only frustration, but he soon finds another way, via indirect religious references. Here, his prodigious memory and many hours of study serve him right: At long last, he lays his eyes on an index that catalogs all of the scrolls copied from Hakotep's library. However, the scrolls are not where the index says they should be! They have clearly been moved or hidden at some point.

...

Working from Vershab's clue, but focusing on the history of the pharaohs' successive reigns, Calathon makes another breakthrough: The missing scrolls from Hakotep's library, a huge pile containing several references to the Sky Pharaoh and his participation in some ancient war... The two scholars excitedly spend the rest of the day going through this treasure trove of information.

The Sky Pharaoh is represented by a very distinct hieroglyph of a winged pyramid. According to the scrolls, the Sky Pharaoh was convinced that an attack was coming from enemies who lived in cities in the clouds, and that he was frantically searching for a weapon to defeat them. Apparently, the pharaoh eventually succeeded in finding it, but all that remains of the scrolls that detail this weapon are a handful of ragged papyrus scraps depicting confusing geometrical patterns - these scrolls should be here, but have clearly been removed. It appears whoever wanted this knowledge hidden went to great lengths to make it vanish from the records.

Calathon picks up where he left off the earlier day, and continues tracking the long line of pharaohs across the many ages of Osirion. A large collection of tablets bound in cloth marked with the Sky Pharaoh’s winged pyramid hieroglyph contains a number of transcribed recollections of several courtiers at Hakotep’s court. These accounts make passing references to the Sky Pharaoh having access to stolen Shory magic. "The Shory! Interesting..." He mutters. As his friends cast puzzled looks at him, he explains: "Yes, the Shory. That is the name. An ancient people. They traveled the world in great flying cities during the Age of Destiny. What a time of wonders that must have been! They built an empire in central Garund known for its arcane engineering and cities in the sky."

Vershab, having understood the complex layout of the library, sets out at a great speed, feverishly browsing through the endless stacks of papyrus, until he makes several great finds. A dusty, otherwise unremarkable scroll contains a lengthy passage about the burial of Hakotep I, with a remark about his tomb having wings. The scroll also contains a tantalizing fragment of the confession of a member of a group called the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather, who claimed that when the Sky Pharaoh was interred, his heart and funerary mask were stolen from his tomb before it was lost to the skies. These two objects supposedly contained the pharaoh’s soul, but his body was left behind in the tomb. This confession was extracted in -1560 AR, some 50 years after the pharaoh’s death. There are also references to considerable efforts by Hakotep’s successor, Pharaoh Djederet II, to round up members of the Sacrosanct Order for questioning. The results of the interrogations were recorded on a collection of scrolls called the Scrolls of Inquiry, but this collection is not held within the Spiral Archive.

Vershab remembers having heard of the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather, a secretive sect of the priesthood of Nethys dedicated to the collection and preservation of knowledge. The Order is not necessarily concerned with keeping such information hidden, but secrecy is a useful tool for safeguarding it. The order’s members are also unconstrained by such mortal concerns as morality - the acquisition and preservation of the information is paramount, not the methods used to do so.

At this point, the companions feel like they have found everything that they might be able to get in this place, but at the end, it is the paladin, stubbornly refusing to lay her bulky armor down for the purpose of research, who makes the final breakthrough. Her patience and humility are richly rewarded, when her exhaustive search for all Nethys references leads her to an old curator’s catalog. It reveals that the Scrolls of Inquiry were moved to another of the Inner Sanctum’s libraries, the Dark Depository, 103 years ago.

While the group recovers from the fight, Vershab combs the shelves for additional information. It takes him hours to go through the unreliable classification methods and the multiple cross-referencing systems of the ancients archivists who left their life's work in this place. He finally extracts a bunch of cumbersome rolls - the Scroll of Inquiry. Another hour is spent going through records of many criminal interrogations, the importance of which has long been lost to time. Then, at last, his eyes fall on the transcript he was looking for:

Inquisitor: Why did the Sacrosanct Order enter Hakotep's tomb?
Prisoner: Mercy! May the gods pity me!
Inquisitor: Why did the Sacrosanct Order enter Hakotep's tomb?
Prisoner: To take the Pharaoh’s heart and death mask.
Inquisitor: Why?
Prisoner: I cannot! Death is better than the punishment I'll receive.
Prisoner subjected to further flaying for approximately one hour, and subsequently revived after passing out.
Inquisitor: Why did the Sacrosanct Order steal the Pharaoh's heart and mask?
Prisoner: [unintelligible] Please, no more!
Inquisitor: Why? Answer!
Prisoner: It was believed the Pharaoh's soul, his ib and ka, were contained within them. Please, gods have mercy!
Inquisitor: Why did the order want the Pharaoh's ib and ka?
Prisoner: No, I cannot!
Inquisitor: Why did they divide his soul?
Prisoner: No more! Have pity!
Prisoner subjected to the Trial of Seventy-Seven Scarabs.
Questioning resumed.
Inquisitor: Why did the order steal the Pharaoh's ib and ka?
Prisoner: We hoped to learn the secrets of the Shory from his soul.
Inquisitor: Did you succeed?
Prisoner: No, no! May the gods pity us for our hubris!
Inquisitor: Where is the Pharaoh's heart? Where is the mask?
Prisoner: No, no, please! I'll tell you! The heart was taken to Sothis, hidden beneath Azghaad's Spire.
Inquisitor: And the mask?
Prisoner: A shrine. A shrine to Nethys in Wati, where none would ever find it. No more, I beg you!
Questioning continued for three more days without further confessions until subject expired. Subject interred for future questioning, if needed.

Further Information here.

Calendar of events

Book 1 - The Half-Dead City
Oathday, 17 Rova, 4715 AR: Ceremony and lottery for attribution of explorer permits to the Necropolis.
Fireday, 18 Rova: The necropolis is open. The Relic Knights explore Akhentepi's Tomb.
Starday, 19 Rova: Report at the Grand Mausoleum, treasure trading, evening at the Tooth and Hookah, meeting with Turi and Azkin.
Sunday, 20 Rova: Meeting with the Sand Scorpions, battle plans.
Moonday, 21 Rova: Shopping and crafting activities.
Toilday, 22 Rova: Victory over the two ghoul gangs. Arrest by the Voices of the Spire, release thanks to Lempteph's help.
Wealday, 23 Rova: Exploration of the House of Pentheru. The wounded Relic Knights get help from the Pharasmins. Calathon, feeling ill, takes leave of the group to recover. The Voices of the Spire impose the presence of Menedes in the group.
Oathday, 24 Rova: Back at the House of Pentheru, the Relic Knights vanquish the vargouilles and the doru div. Worried about the vargouille's curse, they leave, but it turns out none are affected. There are some trust issues between Menedes and the rest of the group, but a night of inebriated revelry together eases the situation.
Fireday, 25 Rova: The Relic Knights explore Pentheru's crypt.
Starday, 26 Rova: The Relic Knights set out to the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye. Ambushed by six thugs, they disperse them, capturing two. After leaving them in custody, they return to visit the Sanctum. They are forced to withdraw after receiving several curses from an agash div, a foul monster that seems to have taken residence in the temple's nave.
Sunday, 27 Rova: After attending to religious duties, the Relic Knights get back to the Sanctum. The agash div is nowhere to be seen, so they can explore freely. They find the temple library, and the entrance to the catacomb. There, they are stopped by a graven guardian, a stone that wards against non-Nethys worshippers. Grekka falls unconscious, and they barely save her. They spend the night in a quiet place within the Sanctum, but are attacked by another guardian - an ahkhat, a magical construct tasked with maintaining the temple's structure.
Moonday, 28 Rova: Calling upon Calathon for help opening locks and upon Vershab for illusions to bypass the graven guardian, the companions discover a hidden room in the temple underground. They find that this place used to hold an extremely powerful artifact, hidden there by order of Pharaoh Djederet II, the founder of Wati. However, someone else was there first, and made away with the artifact.
Then, the Relic Knights are attacked by the Scorched Hand, a rival group of adventurers led by the Osirianologist, Velriana Hypaxes. They are worshippers of Nethys, who resent the intrusion into what they see as their temple and attempt to take possession, in violation of their exploration permits. A fight ensues, during which Khelru, one of the Scorched Hand, is killed. While her other companions surrender, Velriana fights to the end. She is finally vanquished and taken into custody.
29 Rova - 22 Lamashan: The companions rest, purchase new equipment, and share their discoveries with the Pharasmins.

Book 2 - Empty Graves
Fireday, 23 Lamashan: Auction at the Canny Jackal. The evening is interrupted by a deadly undead uprising. The Relic Knights manage to save most of the auction hall employees and customers from zombies and crawling hands, and even come to an understanding of sorts with Amadjawet, an ancient mummy woken up from her grave by the necromantic forces at play in Wati. Coming out in the streets, they meet and save Bal Themm, a Pharasmin cleric guard, before they let Amadjawet return to the Necropolis in peace.
Starday, 24 Lamashan: Wati is under a situation of near complete lockdown. The Relic Knights explore the streets to try and find the source of the uprising. They detain the grief-maddened Sehhosep, destroy the crazy undead judge Sotenre and find the Wati jail has been hit with an undead attack, losing a lot of guards and prisoners. They meet the nosoi Qasin, and help find her master, the priest Lempteph, who had been captured by the Silver Chain smuggling gang.
Sunday, 25 Lamashan: The group meets with High Priestess Sebti the Crocodile and commander of the Voices of the Spire Sakht Nepses. The two Pharasmin leaders are fighting over Sakht's plan to vanquish the undead by unleashing summoned guardian psychopomps over the city. The conflict is resolved in a trial by combat against Nakht's most powerful psychopomp ally, a vanth. The Pharasmins agree to entrust the group with finding the source of the necromantic wave, and give them equipment and hints for their upcoming exporation of the Necropolis. Devices called elegiac compasses will help tracking down the necromantic source.
Moonday, 26 Lamashan: The group enters the Necropolis through the tunnels in the Dry Veins. They find a destroyed elegiac compass. They also find another one at the Shiny Bauble shop, and manage to get it back in operation after a tough negotiation with Shardizhad the crystal dragon, from whom they purchase magical equipment in exchange for gems. They find they have been followed by Azkin and Turi, who now unofficially join the group, provided they behave and stay out of harm's way.
Then they visit the Marid's Caress bath house, to find it destroyed, very likely along with the elegiac compass that was there. Then, following Lempteph's advice, they seek out the xotl at the Asetiti Estate. They meet the leader, Unwrapped Harmony, who's willing to help but asks the group to apprehend a rebel who formed his splinter group, Gaunt Cadaver. They decide to visit the Gulla Market first, but on the way they are attacked by an undead horde. The boys hold their own well, and in fact Azkin discovers in himself a great vocation as a servant of Sarenrae. In a former spice shop in the Gulla Market, they discover a group of drug traffickers from the Fading. In the battle, two of the gang are killed, but one of the thugs, Date Palm, and the undead alchemist, Bheg, manage to escape.
Toilday, 27 Lamashan: After spending the night barricaded inside the former Fading outpost, the group visits the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss. Menedes manages to make a discreet entrance though a window, and finds a dead cultist inside, with some very informative notes in his pocket. Unfortunately, the dwarf takes one risk too many, and is very nearly killed by two mummies. His companions rescue him in the nick of time, but Menedes comes out of the encounter very badly hurt, and cursed with the infamous mummy rot disease. As they finish exploring the old masons' guildhouse, the companions see a group of Forgotten Pharaoh cultists approaching. They ambush them and win a decisive victory, making two prisoners and killing the rest. After that, they use flight magics to exit the Necropolis and repair to the Grand Mausoleum for help.
Wealday, 28 Lamashan: Azkin is welcomed by the priests of Sarenrae as one of them. The group confers with Lempteph at length, to decide on their next steps. They decide to enlist Shardizhad's help against the undead, then to go investigate the Kawab Villa. They find the renegade dark stalker, Gaunt Cadaver, busy turning his followers into juju zombies. The fight against his cultists, armed with magical darkness, is won with the help of Vershab's conjured archons. Having thus saved the lives of several misguided xotl, the group earns Unwrapped Harmony's gratitude. She gives them information about a man in a golden mask, and a star chart that the left behind.
Oathday, 29 Lamashan: Having rested at the Mausoleum for the night, the Relic Knights decide that all hints found thus far point to the Observatory of Truth and Wisdom. Exploring it, they find a magically hidden and sealed trapdoor, leading them to a huge underground complex: A sepulcher to the leading luminaries of Wati. They are attacked from behind by a gang of Forgotten Pharaoh cultists. In the nick of time, they're joined by Calathon, who finally recovered from his ailment. They're victorious, with only the cultist leader, a woman, escaping. Unfortunately, just after this success, they're attacked by the revenant of their old enemy, Velriana Hypaxes. Bent on revenge against the ouat who captured her, the undead Velriana kills Menedes.
In spite of this tragedy, the group presses on. They have a hard fight against the undead head of Neferekhu and her skeletal guards, but, having controlled one of them, Vershab learns a great deal about their enemy, the necromancer Nebta-Khufre. Finally, the group confronts the half-orc ghast, Naghut, an ally of Nebta-Khufre. Vershab manages to control her for a moment, and obtains a great deal of information from her, until, driven by hunger, she attacks, forcing the group to destroy her. After, the tired explorers use an extradimensional space to spend a quiet night outside the Sepulchre.
Fireday, 30 Lamashan: The group makes their final move against Nebta-Khufre. The fight is merciless and deadly, costing Grekka her life. The necromancer has a veritable army of zombies at his command, and also two mummies which paralyze and kill the unfortunate warpriest. Vershab uses a scroll from the pharasmins to call a vanth to attack, causing the necromancer to flee away. During the brief lull in the fight, the group discovers that this place is the tomb of the great hero and builder, Nefru Sepses, founder of the Necropolis. Nebta-Khufre has been performing unspeakable rituals to desecrate de tomb and bend Sepses' soul to his will, not yet successfully. The necromancer comes back to attack, having animated Menedes' body as a juju zombie. Lehasti and Turi, helped with spells from Vershab and frozen bombs from Calathon, finally managed to vanquish Nebta-Khufre and capture the artifact called the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh, which appears to have been the source of the necrotic pulse through Wati. The pulse ceases with Nebta-Khufre's death, however.
The victorious group carries the bodies of their friends, as well as that of Nebta-Khufre, back to the Grand Mausoleum, where Lempteph and Sebti the Crocodile welcome them.
Starday, 18 Abadius, 4716: After several weeks spent resting, recovering, and researching the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh, Nebta-Khufre's documents, and the names Hakotep and Sky Pharaoh, the Relic Knights meet again with Sebti and Lempteph. Sebti announces that Pharasma's guidance indicates the that group should keep the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh, as it is tied to their destiny, as well as that of an immense number of people. Vershab decides he will be wearing the Mask, using a magic disguise to make it not immediately apparent to onlookers. Lempteph advises that the next logical step in the group's research should be in Tephu's renowned libraries.

Book 3 - Shifting Sands
Moonday, 20 Abadius, 4716 AR: The Relic Knights arrive in Tephu, and hire the services of Sabef, a young boy, as their guide to the city. They stay at the comfortable Inn of the Desert Winds. They visit the Great Library's Outer Sanctum and Upper Stacks, when they find just scraps of information about Hakotep. They're informed that getting to the next, more secret level of the Library - the Inner Sanctum - they need a written permission from Deka An-Keret, Tephu's haty-a (or governor).
Toilday, 21 Abadius: The group visit the Sanctuary of Nethys, which is the seat of power in Tephu. They manage to convince Deaconess Sekek that their mission is important enough that she should sollicit a meeting with the haty-a on their behalf. But she can't set up a firm appointment and asks them to come back daily, until the governor is available.
Starday, 25 Abadius: After spending several days enjoying the life of tourists in Tephu, the companions finally get to meet Deka An-Keret. To their shock, their request for access to the more secret areas of the Great Library is turned down, without explanation. However, they overhear something important: Her Excellency Muminofrah of Sothis, Fan-Bearer on the Right Side of the King, is in town. This great noblewoman has rank superiority to the haty-a and could possibly overrule her. They decide to go and pay their respects, which requires the acquisition of a suitably tasteful (and expensive) gift for Her Excellency. They briefly experience the life of courtiers on Muminofrah's barge. As it turns out, the noblewoman becomes infatuated with Turi! while the young boy fails to responds to Muminofrah's advances, Vershab and Lehasti contrive to present their story in the form of a show, supported by impressive illusions. Pleased with them, Muminofrah calls the haty-a to her and has a permission arranged for her new friends. During the show, mingling with the courtesans, Turi recognizes the voice of one of the Forgotten Pharaoh cultists the group had to fight, back in Wati.
Moonday, 27 Abadius: The Relic Knights finally visit the Spiral Archive, in the Great Library's Inner Sanctum. The place is guarded by a monstrous ceustodaemon, but they have official permission, so they pass. They meet a strange woman who seems engrossed in her reading, and, a little bit later, a stone statue of what seems to be mist, shaped into a humanoid form. The Spiral Archive is a circular chamber crisscrossed by a lattice of bridges made of papyrus. In it, they begin to find references to Hakotep, the Sky Pharaoh, but cannot finish their research that day.
Toilday, 28 Abadius: The Relic Knights find references to the Sky Pharaoh having access to stolen Shory magic; also, a fragment of the confession of a member of a group called the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather, who claimed to know about what happened to the Sky Pharaoh's body. But the interrogation records were moved to another of the Inner Sanctum’s libraries, the Dark Depository.
Wealday, 29 Abadius: The group goes back to the Sanctuary of Nethys to seek further permission to visit the Dark Depository. but Diaconess Sekek turns them down. Thanks to Sabef's contacts in the city, they obtain a map of the Depository's data, but this information is not only secret, it appears to be dangerous - Sabef demands a large payment, and arranges to disappear for the rest of the day. Undaunted, the group decides to continue their exploration illegally, and at night. They find the Dark Depository at the bottom of a deep well, well protected by traps, monsters, and secret passages. After a fight with a bone golem, they use an extra-dimensional space create by Vershab in order to spend the night in safety.
Oathday, 30 Abadius: The group continues with the hard work of deciphering ancient papyrus in the Dark Depository. They find the Scrolls of Inquiry, a full account of the interrogation of the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather.

NPCs

Due to excess character count in the top posts, the NPC table is now found here.

Spoiler: New Magic Items and Spells

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Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh
Major Artifact
Slot: head and headband
CL 17th
Weight 5 lbs.
Aura: overwhelming necromancy and transmutation

Carved from gold and inlaid with cobalt, lapis lazuli, and onyx, this elaborate funerary mask is a powerful artifact. When worn, the mask occupies both the head and headband magic item slots. After 24 hours, the mask attunes itself to its wearer, granting its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to one of his mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma). The wearer chooses which ability score is enhanced the first time he puts on the mask. If the mask grants a bonus to Intelligence, it also grants ranks in skills as a headband of vast intelligence: first in Knowledge (nobility), then, as the bonuses increase, in Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (religion). Once the mask is attuned to a wearer, the enhanced ability score cannot be changed unless the mask attunes itself to a new wearer (which takes another 24 hours). In addition, the mask provides its wearer with deathwatch as a constant spell-like ability. The mask cannot be detected by any sort of divination magic, and grants its wearer a constant nondetection effect. Once attuned, the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh has additional powers based on its wearer’s alignment. If worn by an evil character, the mask enhances the wearer’s control over undead, doubling the number of undead the wearer may control with animate dead, control undead, the Command Undead feat, and similar effects. Additionally, the wearer can cast animate dead once per day as a spell-like ability. If worn by a good character, the mask grants its wearer immunity to disease, including supernatural diseases such as mummy rot. In addition, the wearer can cast death ward and speak with dead each once per day as a spell-like ability. A neutral character who is neither good nor evil must choose to be treated as either good or evil when he first dons the mask. Once made, this choice cannot be reversed. A neutral character who uses the mask to create undead gains 1 permanent negative level for each Hit Die of undead created. These negative levels cannot be overcome in any way (including restoration spells), but they are immediately removed if the undead creatures are destroyed. The Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh reveals additional powers as its wearer increases in levels. At 7th level, the mask’s enhancement bonus to a mental ability score increases to +4. Also at this level, an evil wearer can cast create undead once per day, and a good wearer can cast eyebite once per day instead. At 11th level, the mask’s enhancement bonus increases to +6, an evil wearer can cast control undead once per day, and a good wearer can cast finger of death once per day. At 15th level, an evil wearer can cast create greater undead once per day, and a good wearer can cast symbol of death once per day.

The mask is the source of the necromantic pulse. There's certainly more to know, especially about how it was created and how it can be destroyed (mundane and regular magical methods will fail). But such knowledge is beyond the reach of mere Spellcraft.

Puzzle Falchion
Price: 4000 gp. CL15 (mending, magic weapon, flame strike)
This special falchion needs to be assembled, just like a puzzle, by its owner, as quickly as possible, for its magic to function. This action takes about one minute, the puzzle not being very difficult. Depending how fast the user is in assembling the puzzle, its magic manifests more strongly. Roll a Dexterity check. If the result is 12 or less, the weapon behaves as a +1 falchion. If the result is 13 to 19, the weapon becomes a +1 flaming falchion. If the result is 20 or higher, it becomes a +1 flaming burst falchion. Any additional properties fade after 24 hours, after which the falchion is just a regular +1 weapon. The owner can disassemble it, with a simple twist of the falchion's guard, and reassemble it later, but new attempts will not change the result unless 24 hours have passed since the last one.
The falchion has only hardness 5 when submitted to a sunder attempt. However, if it gets sundered, it isn't broken, but simply disassembled: It is possible to put the pieces back together, providing none goes missing. The falchion cannot be reassembled unless all 27 pieces are present.

Ushabti of the Willing Servant
Price 3900 gp. Slot: none, CL 7th, weight 1 lb., aura: moderate evocation
This small stone figurine depicts a mummiform servant holding carved tools in its crossed arms. It appears similar to the funerary figurines called ushabti frequently found buried with the deceased in Osirian tombs. Upon command, an ushabti of the willing servant conjures a ghostly attendant that performs simple duties or manual labor at its owner’s behest, as an unseen servant. The ghostly attendant remains for 1 hour at a time, and cannot move farther than 30 feet from its ushabti. If the ushabti’s owner inscribes his or her own name on the figurine (which requires a successful DC 10 Craft [sculpture] or [stonecarving] check), the ushabti of the willing servant gains an additional power. While it can still summon an unseen servant, the owner can command the ushabti to instead summon a ghostly warrior to fight and defend its owner. This warrior functions as a spiritual ally armed with a flail for 7 rounds. Once an ushabti of the willing servant has been used to conjure a spiritual ally in this way, the ushabti loses all of its magic, becoming only a mundane figurine.

Summon Lesser Psychopomp
School conjuration (summoning); Level cleric 5, sorcerer/wizard 5, summoner 4, witch 5
Casting Time 1 round
Components V, S, F/DF (a crocodile skull funerary mask)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one or more summoned psychopomps (see text)
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
This spell functions like summon monster, except that it summons 1d3 esobok psychopomps or 1d4+1 nosoi psychopomps.

Summon Vanth
School conjuration (summoning); Level cleric 6, sorcerer/wizard 6, summoner 5, witch 6
Casting Time 1 round
Components V, S, F/DF (a vulture skull funerary mask)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one summoned vanth psychopomp
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
This spell functions like summon monster, except that it summons a single vanth psychopomp.

[Farmerbink]

Grekka Cailean
High Concept:
Abrasive Divine Devestator
Grekka has always been... big. For her age, for a girl, and now as an adult half-orc; her shoulders are as broad as she is tall. She has never made friends easily, well, or quickly, but has never tired of trying. She continues to go out of her way to both meet new people and attempt to impress them. It seems, however, that perhaps she tries too hard. She often comes off as overbearing and difficult to stomach, to say the least.

Trouble:
Unlikeable, Unlikely Hero
Grekka is... unpleasant to be around. Her sense of humor fails to amuse, and most often offends. She doesn't intend to turn people off, she just never really learned how to interact in society. As an orphan, she was valued by the other children for strength and skill: her "team" would win competitive games much more often than half the time. As an adult, she hasn't ever learned how to translate that usefulness into more social pursuits, and is often viewed almost as an outcast, now despite her strength and skill.

Where do you come from?
Peculiar Partnership
Grekka was born in the insula mater. She never knew her mother, who abandoned her in Wati (she could still be around, and I just don't know, or left Wati when she could). Life was hard as a half-orc orphan in an unfriendly environment. She might not have survived but for the compassion of the matrons and an unlikely partner-in-crime, a halfling boy named Hopton. After several years of companionship and mutual support, the two were inseparable. When the boy died in an ill-fated "adventure" to the necropolis, Grekka became depressed and increasingly difficult to deal with. Just a few weeks later, the first of many "lucky" occurrences took place:

Why are you an adventurer?
School of Hard Knocks
Just after Hopton's death, the man who would become Grekka's mentor wandered into Wati. Andres Shickle, an experienced adventurer, often wowed the locals with his tales of reckless adventure and daring escapades. As the days passed, Grekka would often sneak into the taverns to hear him talk and see his face light up as he described his most recent exploits. When the time came, and Andres wanted to move on, Grekka approached him, and asked to be his pupil. He agreed, and she journeyed with him for several years, learning all he could teach, including how to give due praise to Cayden Cailean, and earn his favor. The apprenticeship was not easy work, she often toiled in the sun for many hours, not understanding the task. The work further hardened her, however; she became steadfast, indeed, in the intervening years.

After an unhappy parting, back in Wati, some 8 years later, Grekka swore that she would remember the halfing boy, long forgotten by the people of Wati. Hopton would be avenged, and the necropolis emptied, or Grekka would kill herself trying.

The hook (brings you BAAAaaaaAAAAACK)
Committed No Crime

Spoiler: Hook:

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One evening, Grekka was walking through the marketplace as the vendors were putting away their stalls for the night. A pair of young boys bumped into her roughly, before scrambling onward past her. Stupid kids! I'da been flayed for that, when I was a child! she grumbled to herself as she resumed walking. Before she had taken two paces, she was confronted by a vendor, who appeared to be chasing after the boys. Stop! You are a thief! I will not let you steal my prized amulet!! Grekka pointed the man to the two thieves, scampering around a corner. There are your thieves! Leave me be, crazy man! she said. No! It was you! I saw you, and I call you a liar and a thief! He insisted.

Knowing the weight of the claim, Grekka turned to face her accuser. Calling to another nearby man, she said, You there! Come give witness to this man's accusation! The man nodded, and approached as requested. Grekka began going through her pockets, starting with the two hidden in her coat. As they were emptied onto the table, finally she reached her belt pouch. You see, old man?! Your accusations are baseless, and you are a liar! As she opens the pouch at her belt, no one is more surprised than she when she pulls out a gem-encrusted amulet. Shock plastered across her features, she throws the amulet at her accuser. You! You fraud! That amulet was planted on me! She looks around, pleading for intercession from one of the many sure witnesses. Come now! You all saw what this man's ruffians did! I will not stand for this!

Her accuser, a wicked gleam in his eye, raises his voice. Guards! Arrest this woman! She is a thief and a liar! As the nearby guards dutifully move forward to oblige, the witnesses remain silent. Grekka looks about in disbelief. But.. but they...

Complication:

Resolution:

Spoiler: Fluffy!

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Spoiler: Appearance

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Grekka is a short, but brawny woman. She is not attractive, but not particularly ugly. She is lean and athletic, clearly built for physical exploits. Her quasi-hulkish form is very distinct, many natives to Wati would recognize her, even if the reverse is not true.

Spoiler: Personality

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Grekka is loud, boisterous, brusque, and generally disliked. She aggressively attempts to meet new people, and often comes across as uncomfortably open. The only thing she enjoys more than meeting new people is showing off her abilities; she eagerly pursues opportunities to prove her physical prowess, infrequently making friends in the process.

Spoiler: Traits

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Shaman's Apprentice (racial- not a "trait" per se): Grekka was apprenticed to a wandering pilgrim, who spread the worship and adoration of Cayden Cailean and that which he embodies. The constant travel and harsh circumstances helped develop Grekka's endurance.
Fate's Favored: For some reason, Cayde Cailean has smiled upon Grekka's life. She is luckier than makes sense. Certainly more so than most people.
Reckless: As a young child in Wati, Grekka was already eager to show off for her meager group of friends. Often, she and her closest companion, a halfling orphan known as "Hopton," would play at the banks of the river, challenging each other and other youngsters to games of 'hit the back.' The person who struck more aggressive crocodiles on the back of its torso was the winner. Through clever and acrobatic tactics, the pair regularly won such contests- and managed to retain all of their limbs.

Spoiler: Drawbacks

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Overprotective: Another common past time for Grekka and Hopton was sneaking into the necropolis. On one such occasion- the last one- they came across a pair of ghouls. Despite their clever antics, Hopton was struck down. Grekka never fully recovered, emotionally, and exhibits unusual generosity to most halflings, and a powerful response to threatened allies.

Spoiler: History

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Grekka was born in the insula mater. She does not know her mother, and was abandoned shortly after birth. Life in Wati was challenging for a half-orc orphan, but she managed to scrape by. The occasional attention from figures in authority among the various religious groups helped, but for the most part, she survived on her wits and the wits of the other local orphans, notably the aforementioned friend, Hopton.

For several years, Hopton led Grekka in minor escapades, his extra few seasons lending to a similar size around age 7 or 8, after which Grekka quickly surpassed him. After his death, when Grekka was 13, she fell into a deep depression. Before a week had passed, the first of many "lucky" occurrences took place: the man who would become her mentor, Andres Shickle, wandered into town. An experienced adventurer, Andres wowed anyone who would listen to his tales of derring-do and fantastic escapades. When he was ready to move on, Grekka finally got the guys to approach him directly. She asked him to teach her what he did. He obliged.

Grekka traveled with Andres for several years, learning everything the man could teach her. It turns out that Andres was something of a wandering prophet/evangelist for Cayden Cailean, so he appreciated the opportunity to have an apprentice almost as much as Grekka appreciated the opportunity to leave Wati- at least for the time. She learned much under Andres tutelage, not the least of which being how to properly respond to grief. She blamed herself slightly less for Hopton's death as the years went by, but never forgot the him- forever engrained into her memory as a happy-go-lucky 15 year old.

From town to town, they traveled. The environment and the apprenticeship molded Grekka into a hearty and tough adult. She learned many things from Andres: different ways to fight, how to please Cayden Cailean, and perhaps most importantly, how to stay alive in dangerous situations. While she never had noteworthy success impressing townsfolk, as Andres did, she never stopped trying, either. Almost 8 years after they left, Andres and Grekka returned to Wati, on their meandering path through the region.

While there, Grekka developed an overwhelming sense of responsibility for Hopton's death again. Much against her master's wishes, when it was time to move on, Grekka stayed. Andres ranted and raved, blaming Grekka for her own problems, and in the end claimed that she would be unwelcome among the church if she did not continue traveling to exemplify C.C.'s wanderlust. She would not be swayed, and they parted unhappily. Since, Grekka has dedicated her time and efforts to aiding the Pharasmin church in their efforts to cleanse the necropolis, but has held on to her faith in Cayden Cailean throughout.

[DarkOne-Rob]

DarkOne/Rob here. I am currently working on Vershab Fethi, a human Undead-Blooded Arcanist (Blood Arcanist archetype) planning to specialize in Necromancy (at level 5). He is a socially awkward but intense and passionate man with a complicated relationship with undead, given his family history (which will be detailed as we continue).

I am planning to use undead (when able) to fight undead - not to become a minion-mancer. I also plan to be a debuffing, battle-field-controller using esoteric magical tricks to altar reality in the favor of the party. One item that will need approval is the use of Words of Power (by way of the Experimental Spellcaster feat) to make undead control less prohibitive (by using the Undeath word, which functions similarly to the spell Animate Dead but lacks the costly material components and can be done at range). I mention this because I don't want it to look like a surprise or "trick" - instead of spending money on onyx stone I would spend a feat.

When speaking, Vershab will use gray.

Spoiler: Fluff

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Spoiler: Appearance

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Intense and focused, Vershab dresses conservatively with a large robe and hood to keep out the sun on his pale skin. His black hair grows to shoulder length with a leather loop to keep it controlled when he removes his hood. When smiles, his blue eyes seem to sparkle slightly with a subdued mirth.

Spoiler: Personality

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Cautious to the point of paranoia and deeply untrusting of most, Vershab often has difficulty opening up to strangers. When interacting with new contacts he is cold and distant, often to the point of being rude. Once he learns to trust you, he remains "hands-off" but is more likely to smile and laugh and less likely to be rude (though it can still be awkward).

Spoiler: Traits

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Reactionary - Vershab has been the target of bullies throughout most of his youth. He never looked tough enough to defend himself, so he learned to avoid conflict when possible by keeping a close eye about his surroundings.

Eyes and Ears of the City - Both of Vershab's parents were devout worshipers of Abadar, the Master of the First Vault and champion of civilization. While Vershab only really gives lip-service to the deity, he did spend time learning the responsibilities of a watchful citizen during his youth in Wati, gaining a better mastery of the tricks used to pierce darkness and illusion.

Cynic (Mendev) - It was during one of the last of his family's many travels that they went to the far north and visited Mendev. While there his parents helped him learn to pierce the deceptions of others who would try and sell relics or services as if they were themselves divinely inspired. Many were not - giving young Vershab plenty of time to practice the skill of reading them.

Blood of Dragons - While not present enough to express itself in his blood (and largely overwhelmed by the more significant influence of undead), a brass dragon made its influence known many generations ago in Vershab's heritage. Today, this expresses itself in his keen night vision.

Mummy Cursed - The incredible influence of the undead originates in powerful magic to which Vershab's parents were both exposed. In the years before they retired and Vershab was born, both parents were active tomb-explorers and were frequently exposed to the taints and curses of the undead. Before it was cured his father lost an arm to the mummy rot that plagued him, while his mother recovered more easily. Vershab was conceived during this time, and his pale complexion and unnatural powers resulted from the timing of their union.

Spoiler: Drawback

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Socially Crippled - Vershab is...off, and it shows. He is categorically unable to open up to anyone, even his allies, which makes it difficult for him. He tends to be a loner with wildly defensive, paranoid tendencies, often making even his allies uncomfortable.

Spoiler: Backstory

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Vershab's childhood was filled with stories of his parents' exploits adventuring in the deserts of Osirion. The family lived an easy life in Wati, where his parents were largely retired consultants for the Pathfinder Society living in the Midwife district. However, as he entered his teens their money started to dry up.

When the Pathfinders offered to send them to Mendev to represent the society there, both Jade (mother - cleric) and Henry (father - wizard) took the opportunity. It helped to open Vershab's eyes to the world outside Wati, but also highlighted how their son was...different.

He had always been this way, but when traveling people would notice and point out how he never made eye contact, was too pale, spoke to the air instead of to the listener, and so on. His parents learned to help him adjust, but it was clear that he would never be "normal" by any measurement.

When his parents were killed in an unfortunate accident, the Pathfinders supplied Vershab with a package of funds to get him "home" to Wati, where he has been ever since. When he arrived he found work as the apprentice of a Garundi employed by the Embalmers Guild working out of the Hall of Blessed Rebirth. Omar Habatani is a good mentor to Vershab - his specialty (undead and defending against them) is in high demand by the residents of Wati, and even the Pharasmins accept him. The necromancer is one of the better kept secrets in town - a well-behaved expert with no ambitions that might lead him to cause problems for the living and no motivation to advance the goals of undead in the Necropolis.

His closest (only) friends (insert PC names here), have taken several years to really get to know him, and it has tried their patience sometimes. He doesn't try to be difficult, but he just doesn't always understand things as easily as they do. Luckily, their persistence has led to him having a small cadre of people he trusts.

When the announcement of the competition is made, Vershab thought it a wonderful chance to start following in his parents' footsteps. He had a company in mind immediately, and spoke to them right away.

Spoiler: Aspects (Backstory)

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Vershab Fethi

High Concept (the character's role-playing concept summed up in a short phrase)
Brilliant and Unorthodox Necromantic Genius
Vershab is a true arcane prodigy, with such a natural penchant towards the undead and necromantic arts that it was inevitable that he would become an expert. Nothing absorbs his attention as much, and few can understand his attraction to this dark art. However, he has never been drawn to the evil that so often consumes the practitioners of such magic, perhaps because of his childlike wonder at its marvels - he simply never saw it as a path to power.

Trouble (how the DM can torture this character that I, as a player, will enjoy)
Utterly Socially Crippled
On the opposite side of his magic lies the rest of the mortal world. For every bit of his genius in the affairs of magic and the living dead, he does not understand the living one iota. Growing up he was always the target of bullies and teasing, even when he didn't realize it, and his few confidants are largely the result of the efforts of his loving parents. Continually bewildered and never understanding people, he has learned to keep to himself and be very cautious, rarely speaking to strangers and even less frequently making eye contact. The fact that these behaviors make things worse has never occurred to him.

From where do I come?
Touched by Death
Even as a child there was an odd miasma about this young man. People would get chills as he walked by, the smell of musty earth (or worse) would occasionally assault those near him, and his pale skin was unlike the other inhabitants of Wati. Traveling the Inner Sea area didn't often help things, as mysterious (and frightening) signs of death or decay seemed to happen when he arrived in a place. Though nothing happened so bad as to attract the attention of authority, people just seemed to know that he had less in common with them and more in common with the dead. And he seemed to agree, most of the time.

What inspired me to be an adventurer?
Following in his Parent's Footsteps
Vershab's parents were very loving and devoted to him. When his mother discovered she was pregnant with him they stopped adventuring and tried to settle down, but their stories and trophies always fascinated him (especially of their many expeditions to tombs and burial chambers in Osirion). His parents encouraged his curiosity and held nothing back from their only son, guaranteeing him excellent tutors and all the guidance they could. When they died supporting other adventurers for the Pathfinders Society, Vershab vowed to become a great adventurer too, one day. His adoration of his parents was one of the only human elements he demonstrated, and mimicking his heroic parents was as natural as could be.

Guest Starring #1 in Lehasti's story (My effort to complicate another PC's First Adventure)
Been the Victim Before
Right before Lehasti enters the alley an unusually pale man says a little too loudly, "They tried to pull this trick on me last week - if you go in that alley they are likely to jump you." The man is dressed in a large, heavy robe with the hood covering much of his head and he seems to be deliberately looking past everyone and not making eye contact with anyone. "You could probably handle a few of them, but at best you will walk away with some injuries. They aren't nice people and have no interest in exploring the tombs..." as he is speaking one of the nearby crowd steps forward and gets in his face, which immediately makes him lurch awkwardly back in discomfort. "Shut your damned mouth, you creep! Just because you could freak your way out of there last week doesn't mean you will get out this time!" the con-man yells, pushing the smaller man towards the alley roughly causing him and Lehasti to bump into each other. "Besides, we have more people this time - you won't get away so easily, even with two of you!"

Guest Starring #2 (My effort to resolve another PC's First Adventure)
Calm in the Face of...being Oblivious to the Danger
As Vershab was walking to meet his godfather, Cal, for lunch he hears a massive commotion coming from a nearby construction area. Turning to observe the locals he sees the fire, his godfather, and his new compatriot Grekka in the midst of the developing inferno. He takes several moments to calmly observe the area before seeing an option to save the remaining workers without placing anyone else at risk.

Quietly he walks over to a rope/pulley system and releases it, causing a lift to raise to the level of the men on the platform trapped above the flame. He watches as they scramble onto it and the balance of weight shifts, lowering them past the growing flames onto the ground. As the flames consume the now empty platform he walks over to Cal and Grekka and says, "I am not an expert on construction, but they usually have some safety precautions in place for this kind of thing. You just have to know where to look. Who wants lunch?"

[CleverDragon]

Placeholder for Marty/CleverDragon!

Speech color shall be blue.

I'll get some character details fleshed out after work today :)

EDIT: Gwynfrid, what would you say to a Samsaran as a race? It has 11RP, same as a dwarf. Granted, it's a somewhat unusual race, and I'm good with being looked at askance as a result. Still not 100 percent sure on class, but leaning towards either an oracle, rogue, or slayer. I know that's greatly diverse

[JWallyR]

Edited post for Lehasti Gesmeha, Paladin of Sarenrae. Per our discussion elsewhere, her parents (Qelifa (mother) and Huushmad (father)) are currently down-on-their-luck merchants stuck in Wati until they are able to finance the next leg of their merchant travels, likely through Lehasti paying back their poorly-timed purchase of a wand of Cure Light Wounds.

Lehasti Gesmeha

High Concept (the character's role-playing concept summed up in a short phrase)
Fiery Redeemer of Sarenrae!
Lehasti is an impetuous young woman whose eyes are lit with a zest for life! While not overbearing or aggressive, she is vocal about the tenets of Sarenrae, and quick both to forgive and to forcibly "redeem" those who make their unrepentant wickedness known. Quick to laugh and quicker still to throw herself into harm's way to protect the innocent (or just to prove her fervor), she seeks to live out the Dawnflower's radiant glory among the people!

Trouble (how the DM can torture this character that I, as a player, will enjoy)
Trusting and Reckless
As with all paladins, Lehasti is motivated by a number of convictions; among them that her life is not her own, but is a sacred trust with which she is endowed to work for the good of others. Her comparative disregard for her personal safety is further fueled by the formative experience that drove her into the church of Sarenrae, and while not precisely foolhardy, she is more aggressive in the pursuit of evil than many would deem prudent. In addition, the personal experience of her miraculous resurrection has made so personal her relationship with her deity that she finds it almost impossible to conceive that others might not be so grounded in the truth as to be lying...

From where do I come?
On the Road Again
As a child, Lehasti was not particularly remarkable. While good-natured, strong and sturdy, her personality was tempered by the realities of life as the child of a merchant family; always on the road, moving from city to city following the winds of trade. While not rich, her family was certainly not poor; while not subject to the rabid anti-religiosity of the Rahadoumites, neither were they particularly religious. As she grew into her teenage years, Lehasti was introduced to the ways of arbitrage and dealing, but she yearned for an existence above and beyond the mundanities of trade and travel, travel and trade.

What inspired me to be an adventurer?
Glorious Purpose
Several days' travel out of the city, the family caravan was passing through the desert. Spotting signs of water nearby, Lehasti shouted out to her parents, and before they could warn her of the first signs of an impending sandstorm she had taken off at the excuse to ride a little harder and feel the wind blowing her hair. Suddenly the storm was upon her, and although she tried to locate her family, her horse lost its footing and tumbled, and off it went into the wilds. Unknowing that she had managed to reach the path mere hundreds of feet ahead of the circled wagons of her family, she pushed on until at last strength had left her.
Just before dawn when the storm had passed, her family broke camp and made to search for her, and the first runner returned almost before the echoes of his hoofbeats had died with Lehasti's motionless form strapped to his horse. The sudden wails of her parents split the morning stillness, and as her mother clutched her daughter to her breast, the sun crested over the dunes. The morn's first light seemed to fall heavily upon them, and a sudden wave of wind (lacking the gritty teeth of the night before) blew Lehasti's long hair around the two women, and breath returned to her! Claiming to have seen visions of a bronze-skinned woman caressing and somehow healing her sand-scarred skin with her fiery hair, Lehasti would not rest until they reached a temple of Sarenrae, where she pledged herself to be a living emblem of the glory of the Dawnflower.

Spoiler: Hook, Complication and Resolution

Show

New Kid in Town (Story Title)
Fresh from her training, news reached Lehasti of the opening of the tombs of Wati. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to glorify Sarenrae in bringing life back to the parts of the city relinquished to the grasp of death, she left on the first caravan out, arriving in the city with her arms and her good name, and little else. While no stranger to the sights and sounds of commercial districts, the freedom to wander the roads seized her attention, and she found herself walking along a canal in the Veins. As she turned a corner, she came upon a man shouting, Adventurer wanted to explore the tombs! Well-armed and strong! Having not considered the need for a party, Lehasti rushed to the man, eagerly giving voice to her zeal! Right this way, young woman! I'm sure we can use your... skills! Unfortunately, she didn't see the wicked grin that split the man's face as he turned away to lead her down to an unremarkable side alley...

Been the Victim Before
Right before Lehasti enters the alley an unusually pale man says a little too loudly, "They tried to pull this trick on me last week - if you go in that alley they are likely to jump you." The man is dressed in a large, heavy robe with the hood covering much of his head and he seems to be deliberately looking past everyone and not making eye contact with anyone. "You could probably handle a few of them, but at best you will walk away with some injuries. They aren't nice people and have no interest in exploring the tombs..." as he is speaking one of the nearby crowd steps forward and gets in his face, which immediately makes him lurch awkwardly back in discomfort. "Shut your damned mouth, you creep! Just because you could freak your way out of there last week doesn't mean you will get out this time!" the con-man yells, pushing the smaller man towards the alley roughly causing him and Lehasti to bump into each other. "Besides, we have more people this time - you won't get away so easily, even with two of you!"

Bonk
Just as the two of them get roughly shoved into the alley-way, the con-man nearest the road goes crosseyed and falls to the ground. Suddenly, the forces propelling them towards the alley diminish, and in the vacancy, they see a stunningly wide half-orc woman. With a slightly-lopsided and overly toothy grin, she hefts what appears to be a heavy, ornate wooden staff and slams it into the head of another one of the thugs. "Come on, then! What's three, when you're ready for two, eh?!" The half-orc's eyes widen as she looks past the pair of unlucky victims. "Erm. There's quite a few of them, back there. MOVE!" She grabs the hands of the man and woman, and helps them regain their balance as they move towards the street. Tossing the staff aside, she yells behind her "Sorry about the damage!" As if to punctuate her statement, she topples a nearby cart in front of the alley-way. "That should hold them; follow me!"

A few short minutes later, it becomes apparent that they're no longer being followed. Smiling her toothy grin, the half-orc extends a hand in greeting. "Name's Grekka Cailean. I'd avoid that particular block, unless you care to be recruited again. It's one of many unpleasant little districts about Wati. Though, you're eager to help clear out the necropolis? There's someone I'd like you to meet." She lifts her hands, making it clear that she intends no threat. "That is, assuming you trust me to not jump you!" Grinning, she laughs aloud before turning the unlikely trio down a side street and towards the Pharasmin cathedral.

[Gwynfrid]

Welcome all!

due to the 3 day weekend I'm playing catchup, as I have vastly MORE time while I'm in the office than when I'm at home, and expected to be sociable with the wife and friends, help around the house, etc.

Looks like you have your priorities in the correct order

Now that we've got the placeholders for everybody, we can chat about characters to our hearts' content. My comments on what you've said so far:

@ Farmerbink: Inquisitor and travel are fine choices. What of divinity/philosophy?

@ DarkOne: I need to read and understand the Arcanist (I have no prior knowledge of the hybrid class), but it looks like an interesting new take on spellcasting. On Words of Power... Well... That option strikes me as rather complicated, maybe needlessly so. Am I correct in my understanding that you are only interested in it to circumvent the regular cost of animating undead? I'm not sure that's worth using up a feat for. That said, it's a level 5 plan, you'll have plenty of time to decide if that's the right thing for you. At this time I'm not saying yes or no (unless you ask me for a decision now, in which case I'll ask for a couple of days to think about it).
Some comments on your backstory:
- I suggesting adding details about childhood and coming of age. The arcanist is a scholar, so he must have had at least a teacher and/or go to some sort of school. You mentioned bullying, some detail could be interesting, for example, did he make lasting enemies, is there somebody he remembers with feelings of hate and/or fear from that time? Did his parents do anything about it?
- How on earth did he make any friends? You need to develop that, since we'll need some starting point for the group's interaction.
- With this type of background and personality, I would expect the character to have a dismal score in Cha.

@ CleverDragon: Samsaran... Never seen that before. Interesting. Like I said in the 16, you'll need a strong backstory behind it. However, assuming you're from Osirion, or, even better, Wati itself, I can readily think of a logical way it would fit in the AP's setting. Naturally, that will make the character a freak in many people's eyes, by you're ready for that, right? As for classes, we may or may not need a healer in the group, it's up to you guys. If nobody takes the role, I'll come up with something so that it doesn't hinder the group (like a NPC friend who happens to be a cleric, or some cheap source of healing potions...).

@ JWallyR: Why not a paladin indeed. What would be his motivation for institutionalized tomb robbing, is a question for you... And maybe an opportunity to define an interesting personality/background to deal with it. Maybe he opposes tomb robbing but since it's going to happen anyway, he wants to ensure it's done in a way that's respectful to the dead? Or he thinks all those dead are cursed/undead and he wants to purge them... Or many other possibilities.

@ All: Does everybody agree that the group starts as friends who've known each other for some time as suggested by DarkOne? I recommend you collectively come up with your backstory as a group, in that case. Many combinations are possible, I'll leave it to you. However it goes, I'll ask that you give a short description of what your character thinks of the others. I find this is very useful to inititate RP in the first couple of pages of a game.

On my side: I just started reading the AP. Tonight I will post some material on the city of Wati, which I'll encourage you to read so that you have some framework to help build your backstory and think of your first steps.

[Farmerbink]

Re, all: I'm happy with it. It'll take doing on our part, but should simplify the actually difficult part more.

[DarkOne-Rob]

@ DarkOne: I need to read and understand the Arcanist (I have no prior knowledge of the hybrid class), but it looks like an interesting new take on spellcasting.

Arcanists use a hybrid system of semi-prepared spellcasting and "exploits" that "bend" the laws of magic. Their spellcasting is primarily based on Intelligence, with their exploits largely based on Charisma. The archetype I am planning to take gets them most of the characteristics of a sorcerer's bloodline, and I plan to learn the "School Understanding" exploit (Necromancy) at level 5.

On Words of Power... Well... That option strikes me as rather complicated, maybe needlessly so. Am I correct in my understanding that you are only interested in it to circumvent the regular cost of animating undead? I'm not sure that's worth using up a feat for. That said, it's a level 5 plan, you'll have plenty of time to decide if that's the right thing for you. At this time I'm not saying yes or no (unless you ask me for a decision now, in which case I'll ask for a couple of days to think about it).

I do not want to handle all of the Words of Power subystem - only a very, very small list of "words" (spells) with some unorthodox casting methods. It isn't too bad when you look at the feat first (which I would advise). That said - it is a long ways away, so I understand it not being a priority.

Some comments on your backstory:
- I suggesting adding details about childhood and coming of age. The arcanist is a scholar, so he must have had at least a teacher and/or go to some sort of school. You mentioned bullying, some detail could be interesting, for example, did he make lasting enemies, is there somebody he remembers with feelings of hate and/or fear from that time? Did his parents do anything about it?

If you think it be a worthwhile addition to things I can go into more details, but I hadn't anything in mind specifically yet. The bullying is intended as part of the overarching theme of social awkwardness. I can try to come up with a teacher, but would also be fine if there is an appropriate NPC contact you find I would be fine with that. And finally, I imagined Victor's folks being rather busy and more interested in their son being tough enough to stand up for himself than they would be interested in interfering. That said - you're the DM, so if you want to have them (as NPCs) try to do something, I am open to discussing it.

- How on earth did he make any friends? You need to develop that, since we'll need some starting point for the group's interaction.

Agreed - to do that I would like to have the help of all the other players, since it closely involves them. As a teacher (in what feels like another life) I had students (with tendencies like I am describing in Victor) who developed friendships with outgoing and kind young people around them (most of whom were also in choir with the socially awkward student). If this gives the other players some ideas on how to get started, great!

- With this type of background and personality, I would expect the character to have a dismal score in Cha.

The Charisma score is as much mechanical as it is based on fluff. That said - he is not intended to be the face of the party, but has a strong sense of self. I plan to play up the socially awkward part by not spending any points in the social skills and only rarely rolling those checks. If this is a big hang-up, let me know and I can begin rethinking everything about his backstory.

@ All: Does everybody agree that the group starts as friends who've known each other for some time as suggested by DarkOne? I recommend you collectively come up with your backstory as a group, in that case. Many combinations are possible, I'll leave it to you. However it goes, I'll ask that you give a short description of what your character thinks of the others. I find this is very useful to initiate RP in the first couple of pages of a game.

It has been mentioned in our google hangout that using the aspect system (as applied in the Dresden Files RPG/Fate system - see "Character Creation" here for some discussion on the topic) has worked well in several of our previous games to get the PCs connected. If this appeals to you and the other players, we can do a truncated version of that here, too.

[Gwynfrid]

If you think it be a worthwhile addition to things I can go into more details, but I hadn't anything in mind specifically yet. The bullying is intended as part of the overarching theme of social awkwardness. I can try to come up with a teacher, but would also be fine if there is an appropriate NPC contact you find I would be fine with that. And finally, I imagined Victor's folks being rather busy and more interested in their son being tough enough to stand up for himself than they would be interested in interfering. That said - you're the DM, so if you want to have them (as NPCs) try to do something, I am open to discussing it.

I'm not going to push you to pick a particular story or other, but I do request some more detail (per the 16) to flesh out the character, and create links that I can use later to develop the story and allow for richer RP. Indeed a NPC from the AP might fit that purpose, it's a good idea. I'll see if I can find a suitable one and come back to you.

The Charisma score is as much mechanical as it is based on fluff. That said - he is not intended to be the face of the party, but has a strong sense of self. I plan to play up the socially awkward part by not spending any points in the social skills and only rarely rolling those checks. If this is a big hang-up, let me know and I can begin rethinking everything about his backstory.

From my perspective, the character's personality should drive the mechanics to some degree, or at least, the two shouldn't be in contradiction. If a character has high Int and Knowledge ranks left and right, he can't also be an illiterate street urchin; if he has low Wis, he can't also be a successful adviser to the king, unless the king is a madman or a 4-year old child; if he's a bar brawler he can't have low Str, unless he loses every fight but continues fighting for some crazy creason; etc. In the case of Cha, I wonder how a paranoid, socially inept guy can get Cha bonuses to Bluff, Diplomacy etc.

I don't want to force you to rewrite the whole thing though. Bossing you around isn't why I was interested in being DM . This is more to encourage you to think of an explanation for the social awkwardness in an Arcanist. Or is there an archetype somewhere that would let you swap Cha for something else in the exploit mechanics?

It has been mentioned in our google hangout that using the aspect system (as applied in the Dresden Files RPG/Fate system - see "Character Creation" here for some discussion on the topic) has worked well in several of our previous games to get the PCs connected. If this appeals to you and the other players, we can do a truncated version of that here, too.

I'll check it out later, thanks.

[DarkOne-Rob]

I'm not going to push you to pick a particular story or other, but I do request some more detail (per the 16) to flesh out the character, and create links that I can use later to develop the story and allow for richer RP. Indeed a NPC from the AP might fit that purpose, it's a good idea. I'll see if I can find a suitable one and come back to you.

- Perhaps one of the other guys helped out instead of Victor's parents (re: bullying). I will put out the plea to someone to step into Victor's history in that way.
- I will wait excitedly for a possible teacher to show up from the AP. Let me know if no one does and I will try to imagine someone interesting.

From my perspective, the character's personality should drive the mechanics to some degree, or at least, the two shouldn't be in contradiction. If a character has high Int and Knowledge ranks left and right, he can't also be an illiterate street urchin; if he has low Wis, he can't also be a successful adviser to the king, unless the king is a madman or a 4-year old child; if he's a bar brawler he can't have low Str, unless he loses every fight but continues fighting for some crazy creason; etc. In the case of Cha, I wonder how a paranoid, socially inept guy can get Cha bonuses to Bluff, Diplomacy etc.
-------------------------------------------

I don't want to force you to rewrite the whole thing though. Bossing you around isn't why I was interested in being DM . This is more to encourage you to think of an explanation for the social awkwardness in an Arcanist. Or is there an archetype somewhere that would let you swap Cha for something else in the exploit mechanics?

Everything mechanically about Charisma is centered on the following exploit, which I am planning to pick up at level 5:

School Understanding: The arcanist can select one arcane school from any of the schools available to a character with the arcane school wizard class feature, but does not have to select any opposition schools. The arcanist gains one ability of that arcane school as though she were a 1st-level wizard, using her Charisma modifier in place of her Intelligence modifier for this ability. The ability must be one gained at 1st level and is limited in its use per day to 3 + the arcanist's Charisma modifier. As a swift action, the arcanist can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to bolster her understanding, allowing her to treat her arcanist level as her wizard level for the purpose of using this ability for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1). During this time, she also gains use of the other ability gained at 1st level for her selected school. She does not gain any other abilities when using this exploit in this way, such as those gained at 8th level.

I am planning on taking Necromancy as my specialist school for the Power over Undead ability (Command Undead as a bonus feat - as noted in the quoted text above all the ability score dependent stuff is Charisma-based again, unlike the Wizard). To have more than 1 round of functional use of the ability I need some Charisma.

However, if you want to rule I can do it all with Intelligence and something else, I am flexible. There is not an archetype currently that changes the ability scores of the exploits to something other than Charisma. From an optimizing standpoint, Charisma is the weakest ability score other than Strength for my PC, so changing from Charisma to something else will be a stealth-buff, which is not what I was aiming to get...

[Gwynfrid]

In typical fashion, I'm finding that getting ready for this adventure takes a little longer than I was hoping for. I'm still working on extracting a description of Wati for you guys. Hopefully I'll be able to do it tonight.

- Perhaps one of the other guys helped out instead of Victor's parents (re: bullying). I will put out the plea to someone to step into Victor's history in that way.
- I will wait excitedly for a possible teacher to show up from the AP. Let me know if no one does and I will try to imagine someone interesting.

I hope the closest thing to an arcane school in Wati will make of sense for your character: The Hall of Blessed Rebirth, the city’s influential embalmer’s guild. Lead by an old halfling woman called Bahjut Everhand (so nicknamed from her desiccated left hand), it gathers most of the region’s morticians, doctors, and alchemists. It serves as an academy specializing in anatomy, chemistry, and medicine, and even tutoring exceptional students in alchemy and wizardry - that would be you! While most of Wati’s residents give the school a wide berth, ambitious families across Osirion send their children to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth to master techniques in medicine and embalming.

I am planning on taking Necromancy as my specialist school for the Power over Undead ability (Command Undead as a bonus feat - as noted in the quoted text above all the ability score dependent stuff is Charisma-based again, unlike the Wizard). To have more than 1 round of functional use of the ability I need some Charisma.

However, if you want to rule I can do it all with Intelligence and something else, I am flexible. There is not an archetype currently that changes the ability scores of the exploits to something other than Charisma. From an optimizing standpoint, Charisma is the weakest ability score other than Strength for my PC, so changing from Charisma to something else will be a stealth-buff, which is not what I was aiming to get...

For the reasons I gave before, I think this is a bit contradictory in RP terms. However, I prefer that to tweaking the rules, and to pushing you to redo a backstory that you have settled on. So, let's go with it as is.

@ all: Any news of the other 3 characters? How about the group's story of getting together?

[DarkOne-Rob]

I hope the closest thing to an arcane school in Wati will make of sense for your character: The Hall of Blessed Rebirth, the city’s influential embalmer’s guild. Lead by an old halfling woman called Bahjut Everhand (so nicknamed from her desiccated left hand), it gathers most of the region’s morticians, doctors, and alchemists. It serves as an academy specializing in anatomy, chemistry, and medicine, and even tutoring exceptional students in alchemy and wizardry - that would be you! While most of Wati’s residents give the school a wide berth, ambitious families across Osirion send their children to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth to master techniques in medicine and embalming.

That sounds like a perfectly weird place for my PC to get his start! Shall I use Bahjut as the mentor or make up an NPC and have them be affiliated with the Hal?

For the reasons I gave before, I think this is a bit contradictory in RP terms. However, I prefer that to tweaking the rules, and to pushing you to redo a backstory that you have settled on. So, let's go with it as is.

I will do my very best to not make you or anyone else regret that. If it helps - I am open to a home-brew drawback instead of Paranoid that gives a big penalty on Charisma-based checks. Additionally, I will do my best to hinder Victor's (few) social interactions in ways that reasonably apply penalties to the rare check he attempts.

Would it help for me to plan to be "charismatic" with regards to his interactions with undead specifically? Sort of like a little kid talks to their toys, very animated and comfortable even though they aren't real...Does that make sense and help make it easier to stomach?

[Gwynfrid]

That sounds like a perfectly weird place for my PC to get his start! Shall I use Bahjut as the mentor or make up an NPC and have them be affiliated with the Hal?

Not Bahjut herself, she's more versed in alchemy than spellcasting, and more of a political/business figure than a teacher. Feel free to invent a NPC, or to remain vague by just saying he was trained by the guild.

I will do my very best to not make you or anyone else regret that. If it helps - I am open to a home-brew drawback instead of Paranoid that gives a big penalty on Charisma-based checks.

Not sure I want to play the homebrew card for that relatively minor issue. How about existing drawbacks for the same purpose? For example, Anxious?

Would it help for me to plan to be "charismatic" with regards to his interactions with undead specifically? Sort of like a little kid talks to their toys, very animated and comfortable even though they aren't real...Does that make sense and help make it easier to stomach?

This is a very good idea, I love it. Not only does it bring more consistency, it adds great flavor to the character.

Regarding background, if characters are from Wati: I recommend you look up these short descriptions of Osirion and the Garundi people. It has useful background, and help for things like character names etc. You can also lookup Wati, although I'll give you a more detailed description later.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Not Bahjut herself, she's more versed in alchemy than spellcasting, and more of a political/business figure than a teacher. Feel free to invent a NPC, or to remain vague by just saying he was trained by the guild.

Will do - I don't have any ideas yet, but will try and think of something tonight if I have time.

Not sure I want to play the homebrew card for that relatively minor issue. How about existing drawbacks for the same purpose? For example, Anxious?

I am not opposed to that drawback instead, though I was honestly thinking of something more detrimental as far as "3rd party" would be - like -2 on all Charisma checks, not just Diplomacy. That said, if you want to avoid anything out of the Paizo-realm for consistency sake, I will look at either take Anxious or something similar instead of Paranoid.

This is a very good idea, I love it. Not only does it bring more consistency, it adds great flavor to the character.

Glad to hear it! That will be a plan then.

[Gwynfrid]

I am not opposed to that drawback instead, though I was honestly thinking of something more detrimental as far as "3rd party" would be - like -2 on all Charisma checks, not just Diplomacy.

Hey, my point wasn't to nerf him just for the hell of it

Also, you know that you are under no obligation to have a drawback in the first place, right?

[DarkOne-Rob]

I wouldn't consider it much of a nerf, honestly.

An yeah, I am a trait-aholic. I never seem to have enough on a PC.

[CleverDragon]

The alchemist contact might be an in for the character I'm considering. I'm tossing up either some version of an alchemist or investigator, both of which make heavy use of alchemy. I still haven't narrowed it down, though.

[Gwynfrid]

The alchemist contact might be an in for the character I'm considering. I'm tossing up either some version of an alchemist or investigator, both of which make heavy use of alchemy. I still haven't narrowed it down, though.

Both are fine, it would give the two characters a natural connection.

[Farmerbink]

BTW, I'm updating the above post as I hash out the fluff on my inquisitor. I can post in the thread to direct you there, but it's taking all the free time I've got left to keep up with other games and make meager progress on this.

[Gwynfrid]

BTW, I'm updating the above post as I hash out the fluff on my inquisitor. I can post in the thread to direct you there, but it's taking all the free time I've got left to keep up with other games and make meager progress on this.

Thanks for flagging that. I wouldn't look to the top of the thread otherwise, because when you edit a post, I don't get an alert from the forum.

[Farmerbink]

Also, I'm thinking that Grekka might be at least some portion of a tie that binds this group together. She's very outgoing, and usually disliked, so while Victor may not make friends easily, neither does he make an effort to NOT be Grekka's friend. And really, that's about all it takes.

That said, it's fairly late, I've gotta get up early and drive in the snow tomorrow, so.... g'night! Hopefully, I'll get background and the rest of the fluff up tomorrow. It's gonna be good.

[Gwynfrid]

I edited the OP with a good description of the city of Wati. Enjoy, and please use this as inspiration to write character backstories with ties to the city.

[DarkOne-Rob]

I haven't had much time today, but I did get to read the info on Wati over lunch. When I have time I will update my back story with some new connections to the setting.

[DarkOne-Rob]

So, it has been a busy day or two for me, Gwynfrid. The wife and daughter are both sick, but I hope to have some more background written today.

Have you been able to get into google hangouts? There has been a bit of conversation there between everyone else, so I don't want you to think we have forgotten about this game. They just haven't posted here...

Let me know when you want an invitation to the hangout!
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I read the "Raising the Stakes" .pdf. Some of that sounds entertaining, but most of it seems like it would work better in person than via PbP to me. If the other players want to use any of those rules, I am game, but my vote is a neutral-emotionally "no" due to the venue.
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I was browsing the drawbacks in http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ (while trying to determine a better drawback to fit the fluff of my PC) and came upon a couple of things that got me thinking:

Anxious (which was suggested earlier) is pretty good but only penalizes one of the social skills. I am fine as a player with Victor struggling with all the social skills.

Misbegotten is a drawback that hits Dexterity skills the way I would be comfortable hitting Charisma skills. There are 7 Dexterity-based skills and there are 7 Charisma-based skills. How about I take a (new) trait with that effect?

The fluff for Vain is completely wrong, but the effect is closer to what I imagine Victor suffers.

How about we describe the drawback mechanically as "-2 to Charisma-based skills" and give it the fluff of "socially crippled" ? Does that sound like a manageable home-brew drawback?

[DarkOne-Rob]

Edits to Victor's Backstory
Victor's childhood was filled with stories of his parents' exploits adventuring in the deserts of Osirion. The family lived an easy life in Wati, where his parents were largely retired consultants for the Pathfinder Society living in the Midwife district. However, as he entered his teens their money started to dry up.

When the Pathfinders offered to send them to Mendev to represent the society there, both Jade (mother - cleric) and Henry (father - wizard) took the opportunity. It helped to open Victor's eyes to the world outside Wati, but also highlighted how their son was...different.

He had always been this way, but when traveling people would notice and point out how he never made eye contact, was too pale, spoke to the air instead of to the listener, and so on. His parents learned to help him adjust, but it was clear that he would never be "normal" by any measurement.

When his parents were killed in an unfortunate accident, the Pathfinders supplied Victor with a package of funds to get him "home" to Wati, where he has been ever since. When he arrived he found work as the apprentice of a Garundi employed by the Embalmers Guild working out of the Hall of Blessed Rebirth. Omar Habatani is a good mentor to Victor - his specialty (undead and defending against them) is in high demand by the residents of Wati, and even the Pharasmins accept him. The necromancer is one of the better kept secrets in town - a well-behaved expert with no ambitions that might lead him to cause problems for the living and no motivation to advance the goals of undead in the Necropolis. (I have not given him a level or character sheet - I figured it would be better to leave that up to you, Gwynfrid.)

His closest (only) friends (insert PC names here), have taken several years to really get to know him, and it has tried their patience sometimes. He doesn't try to be difficult, but he just doesn't always understand things as easily as they do. Luckily, their persistence has led to him having a small cadre of people he trusts.

When the announcement of the competition is made, Victor thought it a wonderful chance to start following in his parents' footsteps. He had a company in mind immediately, and spoke to them right away.

[Gwynfrid]

So, it has been a busy day or two for me, Gwynfrid. The wife and daughter are both sick, but I hope to have some more background written today.

No worries. I got pretty buried at work myself, especially the last 2 days. Still got some to do over the weekend I'm afraid.

Have you been able to get into google hangouts? There has been a bit of conversation there between everyone else, so I don't want you to think we have forgotten about this game. They just haven't posted here...

Oopsie. I just sent you a PM about that.

I read the "Raising the Stakes" .pdf. Some of that sounds entertaining, but most of it seems like it would work better in person than via PbP to me. If the other players want to use any of those rules, I am game, but my vote is a neutral-emotionally "no" due to the venue.

Not a problem. Like I said, it's your option and if you don't feel like using it, it just won't come up.

I was browsing the drawbacks in http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ (while trying to determine a better drawback to fit the fluff of my PC) and came upon a couple of things that got me thinking:

Anxious (which was suggested earlier) is pretty good but only penalizes one of the social skills. I am fine as a player with Victor struggling with all the social skills.

Misbegotten is a drawback that hits Dexterity skills the way I would be comfortable hitting Charisma skills. There are 7 Dexterity-based skills and there are 7 Charisma-based skills. How about I take a (new) trait with that effect?

The fluff for Vain is completely wrong, but the effect is closer to what I imagine Victor suffers.

How about we describe the drawback mechanically as "-2 to Charisma-based skills" and give it the fluff of "socially crippled" ? Does that sound like a manageable home-brew drawback?

I'm OK with either one of these:
- Take the effect of Vain, and just rename it "Awkward".
- Homebrew as you suggested, even though I find it rather harsh relative to most drawbacks.
Your call.

Edits to Victor's Backstory

This is fine. We'll say that Omar is something like expert 5 / necromancer 4, in his sixties. No need for a character sheet at this point, I think.

(Edited for clarity) The only remark I have left is about your character's name, Victor. As he is a local, you might want to pick a name more in tune with the setting, don't you think?

[DarkOne-Rob]

- Homebrew as you suggested, even though I find it rather harsh relative to most drawbacks.
Your call.

This is fine. We'll say that Omar is something like expert 5 / necromancer 4, in his sixties. No need for a character sheet at this point, I think. The only remark I have left is about the character's name. As he is a local, you might want to pick a name more in tune with the setting, don't you think?

Went with the -2 Cha checks option, called it something stupid like "Socially Crippled" (it needs work).

I had intended that name to fit - change it if you feel so motivated and I will follow along.

[Gwynfrid]

I had intended that name to fit - change it if you feel so motivated and I will follow along.

My bad, I was unclear. Omar is fine. I meant Victor: rather not a Garundi style of name.

[DarkOne-Rob]

My bad, I was unclear. Omar is fine. I meant Victor: rather not a Garundi style of name.

A decent point - let me think on it.