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Mummy, Greater (Senmet)
The so-called Children of Anhktepot are a horrible and sinister lot. Most were created by the dread lord of Har'Akir himself and are wholly loyal to that vile creature. Senmet, however, was given his power and undead stature by Isu Rehkotep, a priestess who stumbled upon a magical scroll. Now free to act as he will, Senmet has vowed to bring down Anhktepot and replace him as the lord of Har'Akir. Like all mummies, Senmet is a desiccated corpse wrapped in funereal cloth and bearing an unholy symbol on a chain around his neck. An odor of spices and herbs lingers in the air about him. In places Senmet's wraps have fallen away, revealing withered brown flesh stretched tightly over a skeletal frame. It is impossible to distinguish Senmet from a normal mummy. Senmet is highly intelligent and speaks many languages in addition to that of Har'Akir. Further, he has a natural ability to command all normal mummies that he might encounter. This power is telepathic, requiring neither words nor motions, and functions on any mummy of whose presence Senmet is aware. Combat: Senmet is a terrible enemy. Like all greater mummies, he radiates an aura of fear that forces everyone who sees him to make a fear check at a -1 penalty. If this check is failed, the normal results are doubled due to the great power with which Senmet has been infused. Spells like a cloak of bravery or remove fear can enable adventurers to overcome this power. When Senmet attacks in close combat, he does so by striking with his powerful fists. This allows him to make a single attack (at +1 bonus) that delivers a staggering 3d6 points of damage with each blow that lands. Anyone hit by Senmet will contract a terrible rotting disease that will prove fatal in 1dl2 days. On the day after the disease is contracted, the victim begins to suffer uncontrollable shaking and tremors, making spellcasting and feats requiring fine Dexterity impossible. Further, the victim loses 1 point of Strength and Constitution from the debilitating effects of the disease and 2 points of Charisma as his or her skin begins to flake and wither away. Ridding oneself of this disease is only possible through use of a regeneration spell. A stricken character without access to regenerative magic can be kept alive with cure disease spells, one for each day that has passed since the disease was contracted. Note, however, that this merely halts the rot from progressing, and the disease remains in the victim's system until a permanent cure is effected. In most cases, a diseased person crumbles into dust when he or she dies. If Senmet chooses, however, he can convert someone infected with his rotting disease into a unique breed of zombie or an actual mummy. In either case, the newly created horror is completely under Senmet's control. When he wishes to create a zombie, Senmet strangles his victim. Within 8 hours, the body rises from the dead as a desert zombie. These creatures are described fully in the adventure RA3, Touch of Death. For those who do not own that product, desert zombies are similar to common zombies except that they are faster (MV 9) and do not suffer initiative penalties. Desert zombies are able to burrow through sand at a rate of 6 feet per round; their favorite method of attack is to hide beneath the sand, grab passing characters (who are considered AC 10 for purposes of this attack; Dexterity bonuses do apply), and drag them to their doom. Desert zombies resemble desiccated corpses. In order to create a mummy, Senmet captures someone infected with his disease and takes his victim to his hidden temple. Here, he mummifies the person alive (a terrible and gruesome fate, to be certain). When the process is completed, the victim dies and promptly rises again as a mummy. Unlike other greater mummies, Senmet is unable to employ clerical spells, having sacrificed this ability for the power to make and control desert zombies. The means by which he made this exchange is unknown and may well tie into Isu Rehkotep's dark worship of the evil Set. If any have learned this secret, they did not live long enough to share it with the world. Senmet is immune to attacks made with nonmagical weapons, while magical weapons inflict only half their normal damage. Spells and other attacks that depend upon cold, ice, or nonmagicai fire to inflict damage do not harm him at all. However, Senmet is very vulnerable to lightning-based attacks, which do half again their normal damage when used against him. Like all undead, Senmet is immune to charm, hold, sleep, or similar spells and cannot be harmed by poisons or disease. He is further immune to damage from holy water, although contact with a nonevil holy symbol burns him for 1d6 points. Contact with an unholy symbol of Set actually restores Id6 hit points per round. For this reason, Senmet always wears a coiled cobra medallion around his neck and regenerates 1d6 hit points per round so long as it remains in place. Habitat/Society: Long before the domain of Har'Akir was drawn into Ravenloft, Senmet was a priest who served the powerful Anhktepot. An ambitious man, he was not content with his servitor's role and began to plan the downfall of his master. When Anhktepot discovered Senmet's treasonous plotting, he had him mummified and entombed alive. In order to provide the illusion that his reign was unchallenged, Anhktepot buried Senmet with full honors and cast him as a martyr who died to support his pharaoh. Centuries later, long after Anhktepot's evil earned him a domain in Ravenloft, a young priestess named Isu Rehkotep discovered a magical scroll. She saw at once that it was the process by which Anhktepot created his dreadful greater mummies. As a noble priestess of the god Osiris, Rehkotep attempted to destroy the scroll, recognizing that it had great power for evil. Her attempts failed, for the magic of the thing would not let it be so easily cast aside. Anxious to see that none should find and use so terrible a treasure, Isu hid it away, naively thinking that it would be lost Forever. Over the years, the power of this evil began to gnaw at her heart. She began to study the works and teachings of Set, the blackest of the dark gods. At first, she believed that she did this only to learn how to recognize evil and thwart it. Gradually, these sinister writings began to take their toll on her. In the end, she began to worship Set as devoutly as she had venerated Osiris. Now a minon of evil, Rehkotep recovered the mysterious scroll that she had hidden away so long ago. She began to study it and to make plans for its use. What Rehkotep did not fully understand at the time was that her scroll fragments were incomplete. She was able to awaken Senmet, but not to exercise complete control over his actions as she had expected. Still, she does have a limited power to force her will upon Senmet, commanding him for 2 to 8 (2d4) rounds each day. The rest of the time, Senmet is free to do whatever evil deeds he pleases. Once he was reanimated, Senmet set about plotting to destroy Anhktepot and claim Har'Akir for his own. Ecology: Unlike all of the other greater mummies that guard Har'Akir's temples and tombs, Senmet was not created by Anhktepot. As such, he cannot be commanded by the lord of Har'Akir. Adventure Ideas: Senmet is featured in module RA3, Touch of Death. It is quite possible that he will survive the end of that scenario, although his foul plans will have been thwarted. Being a creature of great determination and ambition, however, Senmet will look upon any defeat as nothing more than a set-back. His desire to rule a land of his own may lead Senmet to travel beyond the domain of Har'Akir. He would certainly find the land of Sebua or Kalidnay (as presented in RR1, Dark Lords and the Forbidden Lore boxed set) to his liking. Because he seeks to destroy the lord of Har'Akir. player characters might be inclined to help and even trust Senmet. Those who do will quickly learn that they have made a dreadful mistake: The sinister machinations of this undead fiend have no place for mercy or kindness. Senmet is a harsh and cruel creature whose hunger for absolute power makes him as deadly a foe as Anhktepot himself. As his evil continues to grow, Senmet will become more and more interesting to the dark powers. Indeed, it may not be long before the Mists reach out to grant him his own domain, no doubt to the dismay of PCs who thought him destroyed. If she survived the events of Touch of Death, Isu Rehkotep (P8, LE, 35 hp) will accompany him to his new domain; if she perished, she might still be encountered in undead form.
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