Golden-Tongued Mummy

With Several Variants

“Goldentongue” Sounds Like A James Bond Porn Parody

Well, after a month where I published more articles here than in the past several years combined, it should surprise no one I took some time off. What might surprise people is I’ve actually been really productive in January, in terms of personal projects, and of course also in terms of work, if my boss or co-workers are reading this. (As if anyone is reading this!)

Earth Delta PF2 is coming along, with the scholar class — a sort of cross between the PF2 Alchemist and the D&D 4e Warlord — starting to take shape. (The Scholar creates “concoctions” which can damage, debuff, or heal, and are usually delivered as thrown items or by touch (i.e, alchemist stuff), and also delivers “lectures”, which draw from a focus pool and provide party-wide effects. It’s really rough now, but I’m happy with the concepts.)

And I’ve really got the bug to run yet another GURPS-based pan-dimensional game (Those of you who like seeing sausage being made can look at the really rough, really in-progress, not-very-good state of it here.),  my third multi-dimensional setting for GURPS and my fourth overall (that one’s gone through 3.5, FantasyCraft, and Pathfinder, and if anyone’s got 3200.00 to spare, I can tell you more about it in public.)

However, none of that is relevant here. What is relevant here is golden-tongued mummies! That links to the BBC article, and if that link goes dead, here’s the summary: Archeologists dug up golden-tongued mummies. These would let them talk to Osiris. The mummies, that is. Not the archeologists. Well, maybe not. I mean, they should try, at least, right?

But anyway, having done mummy parrots, this seemed like it would fit.

So, what makes golden-tongued mummies different from regular mummies? Well, the cheap, obvious, and uncreative answer is “They have some kind of charm/persuade/hypnotize powers, because ‘golden tongue’, right?” So, since we have a cheap, obvious, and uncreative answer, there is absolutely no need to go any further.

Pathfinder

In life, golden-tongued mummies were advisers, counselors, and wise ones, serving the greatest nobles of the land. Some where mummified after their natural deaths, to enable them to go on to counsel the dead and even the gods, but others were mummified while alive, so they could travel with their lord to the land of the dead and aid them in their passage. When released from their tombs, they swiftly ascertain the current situation and use their powers to rise in rank within moral society. Even without their magic, they are skilled dissemblers; with it, they can arrange webs of allies and organize the ruling class around their desires. Even in undeath, they prefer to rule from behind some figurehead leader, though some will assume direct command once they have enough followers in power to support them. Note that the majority of such supporters will be free-willed and unaffected by magic; the golden-tongued mummy is quite happy to use mundane tools such as money and grants of authority to win loyalty.

When it comes to dealing with the mummy’s thralls, remember, a charm isn’t zombie-like mind control – the thrall will act and talk normally, respond as they usually would on most topics, go about their daily lives… they just think the golden-tongued mummy is a fine person who is wise and trustworthy and should be listened to for those reasons. If the golden-tongued mummy is well established, their high Charisma and social skills will cause many around them to reach the same conclusions without magic. A thrall acting as a bodyguard who is paid wages for their work, who believes they chose the job voluntarily, and who has internalized, based on social customs, “My job as a bodyguard is to risk my life to save the person I am guarding” will not need to be explicitly commanded to interpose themselves between the mummy and an attacker, even if it took some enchantment to get them to the point where they accepted the role in the first place.

The Golden Tongue: The tongue, which replaces the mummy’s original organ, is key to their power and animation, and is part of the ritual of mummification. If somehow removed (DC 35 Steal check, permitted if in combat and the Perception check to notice is irrelevant; if the mummy is helpless, no roll is needed), the mummy will instantly de-animate, turning to dust. If the mummy is killed and the tongue is not removed and destroyed (melting or hammering is sufficient; Hardness 8, Hit Points 12) , the golden-tongued mummy will rise in 1d6 days. Any former thralls within 100 miles will instantly know this and must make a DC 26 Will save or travel to their risen lord’s location to free them or offer them service.

On a DC 26 Religion or Undead Lore check, this fact is known. On a critical failure on such a check, the belief is that the tongue must not be destroyed and must be buried with the remains of the mummy to prevent reanimation.

If melted into a new form, and then ground into dust, it is worth 250 gp when used in crafting any magic item with enchantment-type effects.

If kept intact, collectors will pay 100-200 gp for it, but the golden-tongued mummy will still reanimate without it, and the tongue will make its new owner(s) into thralls and bring the two together once more.

Golden Tongued Mummy

CREATURE 8

RARE | LE | MEDIUM | HUMANOID | UNDEAD | MUMMY