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The mists here congeal into a thick and silvery fog that cools the lungs. Arranged throughout this large hall are exhibits on the funerary traditions of several civilizations, along with preserved corpses arrayed in grim stillness. A giant warrior looms from the haze, his arms crossed at his chest, his helm solemn and still. Beyond lie sarcophagi of varied designs, and a few glass cases wherein withered dead are held upright by rods and string; grim exhibits of long-dead citizens whose fallen empires were erased an age past.
A placard above this hall reads “The Honored Dead” in blood-red calligraphy.
As the party slowly works its way through the serried ranks of the long dead, you cannot suppress a shiver from working its way up your spines...
...suddenly, as one, three corpses smash their way free from their display cases: One is a withered, mummified thing from beneath Osirion’s sands bearing a jeweled scarab on its chest among its spiced wrappings, a scarab seer and warrior-priest of an old Pharaonic age. Another is a hulking skeleton, a towering ancestor of the Kellid race who wields a greatclub fashioned from a mammoth’s ivory tusk. The third is a shrunken, emaciated corpse wrapped in rotten silks, and holding a silvered Qadiran scimitar in its bony fists.
Round 1: Alie, Scarab Seer, Talhaearn, Proto-Kellid, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Wadi, Fog.
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Alie's force bolts slam into the hulking Proto-Kellid warrior's sternum, causing it to arc back its head in a voiceless roar.
In response, the embalmed corpse on the other side of the party rushes forward , and attempts to take a bite out of Talhaearn!
Fortunately, its teeth are turned aside by the Half-Elf's armor. Nonetheless, the stench from the beast - a cloying mixture of incense and old, decayed flesh, is distinctly nauseating.
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Talhaearn nimbly tumbles around to the other side of the mummified corpse, and delivers a vicious blow to its back, causing it to stagger, but not enough to return it to its eternal rest...
The huge, hulking, Proto-Kellid skeleton lurches forward , and takes a swing at Alie with a huge hunk of carved mammoth tusk...
...but the little Gnome nimbly dodges out of the way, and the blow instead cracks some floor tiles.
Meanwhile, the skeleton wrapped in rotting silks, showing an alarming degree of intelligence, moves around Talhaearn to a flanking position , and takes a swing with a silvery scimitar...
...which glances off his armor.
Round 1: Alie, Scarab Seer, Talhaearn, Proto-Kellid, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Wadi, Fog
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Kovar turns green for a moment but clears his nerves and draws his weapon. Looking to his companion,he gives a feral growl that can only mean one thing, violence. "Attack, rarr." Kovar waves his hand to moves to cut down the scarab.
Move P5, and with his scimitar.
Kovar hopifully can give an order to his CA- to move to P6 and then for
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Despite feeling incredibly nauseated, Kovar, connecting with Grey on a bestial level, manages to urge his companion forward.
The wolf, however, *really* does not want to bite the creature emitting that gods-awful stench, and so his heart really is not in the blow.
Kovar, nonetheless, manages to deliver a vicious slice with his scimitar, snapping a few ribs and spraying powdered incense and embalming fluid everywhere...
...but the ancient corpse stays on its feet.
Round 1: Alie, Scarab Seer, Talhaearn, Proto-Kellid, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Wadi, Fog
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Anashaka steps out on her own and perhaps surprisingly begins to sing a lament for the corrupted dead. She grasps the silver songbird medallion around her neck and a gentle faintly rose scented breeze passes through the room. When the verse comes to a close she grips the glaive and prepares herself for the worst.
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Anashka holds her holy symbol high, and channels the divine energy of her Patroness...
The flesh coating the bones of the Osiriani corpse begins to char, and then, suddenly, it disintegrates into a pile of fine ash, leaving only the scarab-shaped medallion that was embedded in its wrappings, behind.
Similarly, the bones of the other two blacken, but neither is dropped by the attack.
Round 1: Alie, Talhaearn, Proto-Kellid, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Wadi, Fog
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Wadi yells at Talhaearn to step aside, and prepares to throw a bolt of fire at the scimitar-wielding skeleton...
Fog, with a bestial roar, body slams the other, hulking proto-human skeleton, which cracks a few of its ribs...
Alie steps back, and, focusing inward, throws another pair of force bolts at the same skeleton, shattering its rib-cage, and blowing bone chips across the room.
Round 2: Alie, Talhaearn, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Wadi, Fog
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Heeding Wadi's warning, Talhaearn retreats, moving behind the bulwark of flesh provided by the others.
As soon as he does so, Wadi unleashes a torrent of flame, which scorches bone and melts cartilage.
In response, the skeleton charges Wadi ...
...but what would have been a solid blow to his shoulder becomes a miss wwhen its ankle twists at the last moment.
Round 2: Alie, Talhaearn, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Wadi, Fog
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Adopting pack tactics, Kovar and Grey flank the remaining skeleton. Although a scimitar is not really intended to be a good weapon for smashing bone, he finds a weak spot near its neck, almost severing its skull. Incredibly, however, it continues moving...
Grey latches onto the skeleton like a dog with a bone, but is unable to pierce its armor with his teeth...
Anashka moves around to a better position, and takes a swing with her glaive, but the skeleton manages to dodge out of the way...
Round 2: Alie, Wadi, Talhaearn, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Fog
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Fog moves over to Alie, pats her on the head in a congratulatory fashion, and then rubs his cheek against her in a friendly manner.
Round 3: Alie, Wadi, Talhaearn, Qadiran Warrior, Kovar, Anashka, Fog
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Amongst the ashes of the Osiriani corpse, you find a jewel-encrusted gold scarab.
The Proto-Kellid skeleton has a MW Greatclub, carved from mammoth ivory.
On the silk-wrapped skeleton, you find a breastplate, a heavy steel shield, and an alchemical silver scimitar.
Additionally, clutched in the hands of one of the exhibits that did *not* animate (a naturally-mummified corpse, still enshrouded in the peat which preserved it) is MW bone-handled kukri, its blade carved from jade.
The bejeweled scarab and the scimitar radiate magic.
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Wadi grimaces at the displays of the proto-ape members of the party before he glances at the bog mummy remains. "I think that bog mummy was a former member of the Jambala Jaeg tribe — a people who once vehemently opposed Angazhan’s followers in the Mwangi Expanse and were wiped out for their opposition." He shrugs. "If anyone cares about such stuff. Anyway I think it is time to move on here." He looks over to the eastern part of the room. "Aren't there some offices over there?"
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At Alie's suggestion, the group moves forward to the Offices.
The door to this chamber was once a pane of expensive frosted glass, which now lies in broken shards on the floor. Within, several desks lie overturned, papers in disarray, and chairs smashed to kindling. A sturdy steel cabinet sits against the back wall, its doors much battered and dented. The mist here roils near the floor and ceiling, creating a strange patch of visibility stretching from knee-height to a few feet overhead. The smoky tendrils flow up and down the walls unnaturally and savage visages swirl to life, fanged mouths agape, before dissolving into mist once more.