Session 41: The Blade Trap and the Mummy's Bargain

S41 Recap: The Blade Trap and the Mummy's Bargain

TL;DR

A quieter, exploration-heavy session. After freeing and (insincerely) agreeing to serve the lich-mummy Chafkin last time, the party scouted the gladiator-quarters level: a two-way teleportation portal, an Absalom-on-fire painting, and torn-up spliced creatures they pin on the Sagathi flesh-warper Jafuque. The set piece was a brutal six-plate blade trap that nearly killed Veve; the party cleared it methodically using Mage Hand to trigger plates from cover while Venris studied the pattern and disabled them one by one. Loot was modest: a portable alchemist lab (Sterling toolkit) and three glue bombs. They returned to the mummy Chafkin, agreed to hunt the worm-like flesh-warper Jafuque in exchange for information, and copied his dungeon map. Venris then repaired the Awakened Portal teleportation circle solo. Both Veve and Venris earned a half-level and a couple of hero points.

Previously on

The party was back in town trying to find the cause of Venris's worsening affliction (his rot-ravaged hand) when they returned into the Gauntlight. They went straight to the mummy's room and freed it — Venice picking the lock easily. The freed mummy turned into a powerful undead and began giving orders; Cid jokingly offered to be its slave, Venice refused, and the party play-acted compliance with no intent to obey, agreeing to come back with questions. In the next room a big skeleton (a 'bone gladiator') rose and was quickly put down. Venris is showing off a new light hammer.

What happened

The party finished searching the skeleton room. The bone gladiator yielded only one gold piece — a sad day. They examined an active two-way teleportation portal and a chasm; after testing it (throwing an object through) and waiting ten minutes with nothing returning, they left the portal alone.
Scouting the symmetrical gladiator quarters (empty footlockers) and the see-through-walled arena, they studied wall paintings — including one of Absalom on fire — and joked about selling the 'antique.'
They found a torn-up creature with tentacles and a jaw and recall-knowledge'd it, connecting it to the Sagathi flesh-warpers Jafarke had told them about and to the hybrid 'mixed creatures' from Belcorra's lounge and the Gorum fight. Theory: a flesh-warper splices these monsters together from spare parts.
Venice stepped on a pressure plate and triggered a deadly blade trap. Blades raked the hallway and room; Veve was dropped to about 9 HP ('mostly dead'). After a long table debate about what the initiative roll meant, the party sheltered behind a door the blades couldn't reach and patched up with Battle Medicine and 10-minute heals. Veve's Oracular Warning gave the party temporary HP / a +3 damage buffer.
In an adjacent room with a stone desk (someone had been trying to solve the trap), they looted a portable alchemist lab (the Sterling/expanded toolkit, +1 alchemical crafting) and three glue bombs. They sorted the rules — bombs are Dex-based ranged weapons that work with Quick Draw — and handed them to the best-Dex character. A book in Dwarven/Elven/Necril/Aklo was readable by Veve.
The party cleared the six-plate blade trap the smart way: Veve triggered plates with Mage Hand from cover while Venris studied the ~2-second cycle and disabled the plates one at a time with Thievery across many cycles (with an hour break in the middle). 'Two down out of six' eventually became all six; walking calmly past the cleared plates was safe.
They returned to the mummy, Chafkin (Shaqim) — careful not to call him 'Jafuque,' the name of his enemy. Chafkin wants the party to destroy a worm-like flesh-warper, Jafuque/Jeff Key, who embraced/trapped him and who creates the spliced monsters. The party agreed to kill (or, per Venris, capture) Jafuque in exchange for information and a copy of the dungeon map, learning that anything returning through the portal bears a sigil on its forehead. They also recalled the devils Cormac (released from a contract) and Soslaring, plus an unfound devil, Ubian.
Back at the portal room, Venris repaired/attuned the Awakened Portal teleportation circle. They confirmed it needs no secondary caster (it allows 'up to five'), so he cast it solo rather than risk a -4 from a failed Aid. The ritual succeeded.

Downtime and table beats

During the ritual hour, Veve mischievously threw bones and fire into the portal; Venris practiced throwing daggers/chakra and watched a 'spooky shadow' he'd glimpsed down a hallway, quietly steering Veve away from it.
The whole back half is light on combat — it's mostly careful dungeon-crawling, a trap puzzle, and NPC negotiation.

Loot and rewards

Portable alchemist lab (Sterling / expanded alchemist toolkit): +1 to alchemical crafting when deployed; stored in the bag of holding.
Three glue bombs: Dex-based ranged weapons; handed to the best-Dex thrower.
A copy of Chafkin's dungeon map of the level(s).
One gold piece from the bone gladiator.
Both Veve and Venris earned a half-level and a couple of hero points.

Decisions made

Left the active two-way teleportation portal alone after testing it.
Skipped the gladiator/prisoner rooms with the oozes; checked only a couple of empty ones.
Cleared the blade trap by remote-triggering plates with Mage Hand and disabling them one by one rather than rushing through.
Agreed to hunt the flesh-warper Jafuque for Chafkin in exchange for information and the map.
Repaired the Awakened Portal teleportation circle (solo cast, no secondary).

Open questions / reminders for next session

Jafuque/Jeff Key, the worm-like Sagathi flesh-warper, is the party's new target — kill or capture for Chafkin's information.
The 'spooky shadow' Venris spotted near the portal room is unidentified and unaddressed.
The two-way teleportation portal is now repaired/active — where does it lead, and do they use it?
Venris's worsening affliction / lost hand is still unresolved (the original reason they came back down).
Unfound devil Ubian, and the standing situation with Cormac and Soslaring.

Scene timeline (10)

00:00:14	Pregame chatter and tech troubles Players gather while one player's GPU/stream crashes and comes back. Off-topic banter (a 'Costco girl' running joke, no-boyfriend jokes) before the recap. One player jokingly garbles the last session as 'killing Blue Cora in the Mwangis' and a 'Hydra beneath the Geld Lake' before settling into the real recap. [S41 · 00:00:59 · turn 0003 · scene 001]
00:02:17	Recap: the freed mummy, the bone gladiator, and Venris's affliction A player recaps the prior session: the party was in town trying to find the cause of Venris's worsening affliction (his lost hand / rot), then returned into the Gauntlight. They went to the room with the mummy and freed it; Venice swiftly picked the lock. The freed mummy turned into a 'beach' (lich-like undead) and started giving orders; Cid playfully wanted to be its slave, Venice refused, and the party is play-acting compliance with no intent to obey. In the next room a big skeleton ('bone gladiator') rose and was quickly killed. Venris is showing off a new light hammer. The mummy will give information only if asked specific questions when the party returns. They also fought cultists/ghouls. [S41 · 00:03:00 · turn 0014 · scene 002]
00:09:00	Looting the skeleton room and probing the teleportation portal The party searches the room after the bone gladiator. Venris looks the skeleton over for anything of value; identification yields only one gold piece (a 'sad day'). They examine an active teleportation circle/portal in the room and a nearby chasm. They confirm the portal reads as active both ways and debate whether it is a trap. Cid (the bard player) wants to throw or 'time' an object into the portal to see what comes back; Venice throws a 'spool'/object through it. After ten minutes nothing comes back through, so they decide to leave the portal alone for now. The party heals up during the downtime. [S41 · 00:10:17 · turn 0051 · scene 003]
00:24:12	The gladiator quarters, the Absalom-on-fire painting, and the flesh-warper theory The party scouts the symmetrical halls flanking the see-through-walled arena (gladiator quarters / prisoner rooms with empty footlockers). They examine wall paintings/depictions, one of which depicts Absalom on fire, and joke about selling the 'antique.' Venice scouts ahead with lights-out / avoid-notice while the others keep a healthy distance. They find a torn-up creature with tentacles and a jaw/mouth and recall-knowledge it, connecting it to the Sagathi flesh-warpers Jafarke mentioned and to the hybrid 'mixed creatures' seen earlier in Belcorra's lounge and the Gorum monster fight. Theory forms: the flesh-warper Sagathi who trapped the mummy makes these spliced creatures from spare body parts. [S41 · 00:37:29 · turn 0229 · scene 004]
01:11:22	The deadly blade trap: pressure plates, initiative, and a near-death scare Venice (Venris) steps onto a pressure plate, triggering a metallic blade trap that fires blades down the hallway and into the room. A long debate about what the initiative roll represents (perception to react vs. turn order) follows. The party retreats into a side room after learning the closed door isn't struck by the blades, using it as cover. Veve is dropped to roughly 9 HP ('mostly dead') by the blades; the party patches up with Battle Medicine (myself/Veve/Cid) and 10-minute heals. Veve's Oracular Warning grants the party temporary HP / a +3 damage reduction. The GM calls it the deadliest trap they have faced yet. [S41 · 01:14:52 · turn 0406 · scene 005]
01:59:07	Looting the alchemist lab, glue bombs, and Acklo lore In a side room with a stone desk that looks like someone was trying to figure out the trap, the party finds a portable alchemist lab (the Sterling/expanded alchemist toolkit, granting +1 alchemical crafting) and three glue bombs. They sort out the rules: alchemical bombs are ranged weapons, work with Quick Draw, use Dexterity for the strike (so the bard/best-Dex character should carry them), and don't 'tag' into the bag of holding the same way. Venris reads a small book; the text is in Dwarven/Elven/Necril and Acklo (Aklo). Veve, who knows Aklo, can read it while refocusing. [S41 · 02:08:33 · turn 0698 · scene 006]
02:13:48	Disabling the six-blade trap one plate at a time The party works out a method to clear the blade trap: stand safely inside the room (the door is never struck), have Veve use Mage Hand to trigger the pressure plates from cover while Venice studies the blade pattern, then dart in to disable plates one at a time with Thievery. The trap has six blade plates that pop on a roughly two-second cycle with a brief refraction period. Venice disables them across multiple cycles, worried the noise might aggro a wandering monster (e.g. the mummy). The GM jokes that barring the door only works 'when the GM doesn't have an idea of what monster to put in the next room.' [S41 · 02:25:26 · turn 0785 · scene 007]
02:42:35	Break and finishing off the trap (two down, then all six) The table takes an hour break (off-topic Disneyland / kids chatter). On return they continue disabling plates ('two down out of six'), confirming that walking calmly past the now-cleared plates is safe. Cid touches the see-through window magic to peek into the lower chamber with statues/pillars and confirms the stairs don't lead down to them. They scout the gladiator quarters/footlockers (empty) and a secret door / cave-in back toward the skeleton room. The blade trap is fully disabled. [S41 · 02:57:00 · turn 0891 · scene 008]
03:07:32	Back to the mummy Chafkin: the quest to kill Jafuque and the map The party debates next moves (down the stairs, the portal, or back to the freed mummy) and chooses to revisit the mummy, named Shaqim/Chafkin, who wants the party to destroy a worm-like creature called Jafuque/Jeff Key (the flesh-warper that embraced/trapped the mummy). They roll a fear/paralysis save vs. the mummy's aura (Cid is immune to fear 1 via the Dread Marshal aura). They confirm the spliced monsters are Jafuque's creations. The party offers to kill Jafuque (or capture it alive, which Venris wants) in exchange for information, and Venris points at the Gladiator Meat Hall teleportation circle to ask where it leads. They also recall the devils Cormac (released from a contract) and Soslaring, and an unfound devil Ubian. The mummy hands over / lets them copy the dungeon map (anything returning through the portal gets a sigil on its forehead). [S41 · 03:20:44 · turn 1036 · scene 009]
04:03:34	Repairing the portal, downtime antics, and the half-level Back at the portal room, Venris attempts to repair/attune the Awakened Portal teleportation circle (an occultism ritual, ~1 hour). They sort out that Awakened Portal needs no secondary caster (it says 'up to five'), so Venris casts it solo rather than risk a -4 from a failed Aid. During the hour, Veve mischievously throws bones and fire into the portal while Venris practices throwing his daggers/chakra and watches a 'spooky shadow' he spotted, sending Veve away to keep her clear of it. The ritual succeeds ('this actually works'). The GM awards both Veve and Venris a half-level for their contributions (trap-disabling and healing) plus a couple of hero points, and the session ends with the party leveling up. [S41 · 04:42:18 · turn 1424 · scene 010]

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