"Greedy thug? Bah! You haven't even begun to see my greedy side. And if I wanted you dead, I wouldn't wait for some flying head to do the job. I have have plenty of means and opportunity. Now, either shut your yap and let me get on with my job, or walk on out of here. And pardon me, but it's your face that offends me, not your words."
Brennan set down the chest and stood, knives sliding into each hand as he moved into a fighting crouch.
"Ah. Maybe if those devilish heads had jabbed at your fragile ego you might have drawn your blades sooner. You can put them, and your petty little insults, away, Brennan." He waves his hand dismissively, "Please, continue doing what you do. Pay heed to those around you only when you need them and chase whatever lucre sparkles in the dark confines of that box."
"In case you weren't paying attention, I killed one of the devilish heads, after you failed to do so. I was hired for a specific job, and I do my job well. I'm not even sure why you are here. I don't remember putting a request out for a useless windbag who can't see past the end of his nose."
"Maybe we can carry on this discussion after we have left the Necropolis? While one of those creatures was removed from this plane of existence, two remain. My resources for healing are waning and I am not sure how much more there is to this estate, or if I am willing to spend another night within, or even if those creatures will return to torment us again."
Ignoring Chephren's attempt to soothe things for the moment, Omen laughs heartily, the sound booming in the small room. "Why does it not surprise me that you would claim credit when most of the work had already been done for you? Were it not for Gabriel and myself you would have been that creature's first meal. But no, no, by all means, exalt yourself in your own eyes as you must, Brennan." He shakes his head, still chuckling deeply. "And my purpose here is as mystery to me as it is to yourself. Though, as it was you who wakened me, you have none to blame for my being here but yourself."
He then turns to the priest, and a chuckle still echoes in his voice, "Brennan was so skilled at dispatching one of those creatures, Chephren - perhaps he is confident enough to hunt the pair that remain?"
"Why does it not surprise me that you would claim to have done most of the work, after accusing me of wanting you dead? I could have let them continue gnawing on you, but I felt bad for Chephren. And if your being here is purely up to my whim, I can fix that particular situation right now."
Brennan lifted a dagger and started forward, stopping only when Chephren interjected himself.
"Fine, Cheph. Come on Suru, let's finish this place off and go get an ale. And Cheph? Keep him away from me, or we'll be looking for yet another partner in this venture. Got me?"
Brennan turned, sliding his daggers back to their hidden places. He and Surubi moved towards the nearest doors that had not been opened yet, checking them over before opening them.
Surubi, still at a loss for how best to stop the fight, makes a little bow to Omenhotep and looks pleadingly at Chephren, her eyes moving sharply twice before running after Brennan. "On my way Mister Darkblade!" she calls after him as she rushes to catch up.
Omen mirrors Surubi's bow as she turns to rush off after Brennan, the gesture genuine and respectful. He shakes his head ruefully as she departs, and mutters quietly to no one in particular, "Wasted effort, I fear, chasing after a toothless jackal."
Surubi sees that Brennan has the lock well in hand, and takes a minute to look for any recoverable arrows before returning to see if he has completed unlocking it.
The room is more alive now during the heated arguments than it was during the fight where more than half the group was paralyzed. As Brennan and Omen go at it, Chephren spreads healing all around to the group. Oddly, neither of Brennan's injuries accept the healing. As he looks everyone over for any remaining effects from the bites, he discovers that the creatures' bite wounds are tinged with a poisonous effect preventing them from closing with healing.
As the argument rages on, Brennan easily feels the click of the tumblers, considering he is unable to hear them during the heated words. The box opens to reveal a notable amount of currency. There are twenty small gold ingots, each bearing a seal.
Brennan and Surubi head for the next door, eager to either be away or finished or both is undetermined. The door is actually a double set, within an alcove south of the open balcony over the inner courtyard. They are neither trapped nor locked, and open easy enough. A large lacquered desk, now in poor condition, sits in the center of this room. Bookcases stand along the eastern and southwestern walls, sagging as if ready to collapse at any moment. Their shelves have fallen out, and the piles of dust at their bases are all that remains of books and scrolls that failed to survive the long years. The lacquered wooden frames of what might once have been divans stretch along the north and south walls, but their upholstery has disintegrated. The door you entered in the western wall is the room’s only exit.
Omen waves for Chephren to follow when he hears the double doors down the hall creak open at Brennan and Surubi's touch. "Come, it would not do well for that creature to return and find our members separated and more vulnerable." As the pair arrive, he shakes his head slowly as the extent of the decay and erosion settles. "Anything of note?" His question isn't directed at anyone in particular and his gaze wanders across the shattered shelves and room.
As the rest of the group moves over to where the others have gone, leaving the heavy chest of gold ingots where it lay for the moment, Gabriel focuses his attentions on looking every possible direction for signs of evil. He is quiet and determined, but he also looks as equally crestfallen.
Casually looking over the contents of the room, Brennan lets his irritation at Omen cloud his efforts. He is eager to declare the room as done, just to get more space between himself and the man. Omen also finds nothing of note in the room.
Surubi looks around the room with Omen. "Did you get whatever was in that box? It might make Mister Darkblade a little less moody." she whispers to him as they search.
Omen shakes his head. "Whatever those creatures were, one remains at large. Irritable as your companion is, I did not care to expose our backs to that strange winged beast as we plucked gold from a box. At least, not when it was only the two of us. Until we're sure the devil has gone or it's dead, we should move as a group. We can retrieve the ingots as we depart this place."
Surubi remains focused on the reason for even coming to the buildings in the Necropolis in the first place, and gives a more thorough search of the rooms contents. As Brennan moves on to begin his inspection of a different room that does not contain Omen, Surubi manages to turn up nothing in the room, except for a single brass key stuck in the back of one of the desk's drawers.
Omen regards the key as Surubi produces it, "I am tempted to wager that key fits the lock Brennan was so focused up while we were all beset by flying devils." Something in the timbre of his voice suggests that, somewhere behind the mask, a rueful smirk plays across his face.
"Shh! Mister Omen, even if that is true, there is no certainty we would have found it. But let us at least check." Surubi takes the key back to the prior room and checks whether it fits the chest, after which she empties the contents of the chest into one of her sacks.
Surubi easily learns that the key does in fact unlock the box that contains the ingots. She also finds that quickly grabbing the ingots is no small endeavor, given that there are twenty of them, weighing in at almost a half pound a piece.
"Look, in my experience, the key is laying about unattended about a third of the time. The rest, you have to do it the hard way. So this time was the hard way. Next time, you can try. Let's split those gold bars up to make it easier to carry about. Everyone take a couple. After this fiasco, I want to make sure we get paid."
He carefully didn't say anything about the trap he had been disarming. It had turned out not to be an explosive one, but you could never tell. At least not until the room was filled with fire and smoke and yelling. Besides, if that conversation started back up again, he was certain he would be putting a dagger through someone's eye.
Once the gold had been distributed, Brennan motioned Surubi to the next set of doors, and then checked them over himself. Once he was satisfied that all was well, he opened the rightmost one, preparing to dodge away if something nasty was on the other side.
Chephren brings up the rear of the group as before, but as he watches Brennan examine the doors, he casts detect poison to ensure that toxin has run its course.
"Okay. Here you go." Surubi hands out ingots to everyone, splitting them up evenly before assisting Brennan with the door.
,
Not much of a search is required for the next set of doors, as one of them is left open, but it could be for the best considering Surubi was paying more attention to handing out ingots than looking over Brennan's shoulder. Either way, the door doesn't appear to be trapped, and most of the contents of the room beyond have fallen apart or otherwise been reduced to dust from the dry desert air anyways. A foul, cloying smell fills the room, most likely left behind from the flying head that exited it.
Despite appearances, Brennan took his time looking over the room beyond. There was, as Omen continually harped on, still an enemy about. Plus, you never knew what treasures might be hidden in this mess.
perception
Omen shakes his head at the odor in the room, "Perhaps this served as the den for one of our winged adversaries. It reeks of rot and death."
Surubi quietly assists Brennan in searching the room.
Brennan's search turns up not much more than a small rusted dagger, a handful of marbles, and a small lacquered box with several small carved stone pieces within.
"Meh, junk. Although I did find Omen's lost marbles. Heh. There is this box, though, and it's got to be worth something, though I couldn't tell you what. Collectibles like this aren't my usual fare. Still, I think we can safely say that we explored this room. Let's finish off the next set of door and then get out of here."
"Yes, Mister Darkblade!" Surubi rushes to the doors and helps Brennan search them.
"Lost marbles?" Omen glances from Brennan to Chephren, then to Surubi, then back to Brennan. Then, there's a sound that comes from behind his mask, something in between a snicker and chortle. "Brennan! And here I was beginning to think your tongue and wit were no sharper than a wooden spoon." He chuckles freely then, obviously grinning beneath the old, gilded mask. "Good! Good!" He waves the marbles off, gesturing for Brennan to keep them. "No, please hold to them. I'm sure I'd only lose them." He waves Brennan and Surubi forward, a light chuckle still playing on his lips.
Despite his doubts, Brennan guesses that the box and pieces could probably still fetch a decent fifty gold to a collector of antiquities, if for no other reason than it being both old and Osiriani.
Moving on to the next room, the door here is also not likely trapped, as it too lies open from the exit of the other flying head. Dust blankets the room beyond. The walls, once brightly painted to depict life in ancient Wati, are now faded. A smaller room or alcove takes up the northeast section of the room; it was once closed off by a wooden door that since has rotted away, leaving only its hinges in the doorframe. A strong, cloying odor of decay pervades the room.
"Something dead here. Be careful." Cautiously, Brennan moved into the room to check it out, looking for both the source of the smell and for any valuables.
Surubi scans the room with Brennan. She moves quickly but misses nothing.
"I believe that lingering odor is from one of the winged devils that attacked us; we have found its den. The stench is similar to what still clung to everything in the room we found the key."
The debris in the room reveals little of worth among it, but Brennan and Surubi manage to discover a large darkwood box buried beneath the larger portion. The rubble is likely what remains of a once posh bed.
Surubi carefully looks over the box before checking its contents.
Looking over the box itself, Surubi finds no sign of any danger, and opens it to examine the contents. The most prominent of the contents is a white silk Osirian wedding robe, that looks to be fragile with age. The chest also contains several pieces of jewelry, among which is a fairly nice string of pearls. There is a small sealed tube, about the size of a dwarf's thumb, and a scroll tube.
Barely breathing, Surubi slowly closes the lid on the box. "I do not know if it has value, but the contents of this bos are extremely fragile. We should find someone who can preserve them properly. Mister Chephren or Mister Omenhotep, can you check for magic on the pearls, and the two tubes without disturbing the rest?"
Omen shakes his head, "I'm afraid not, Surubi."
Gabriel speaks up suddenly, "Oh, um, sorry, I've been distracted looking for where the flyers went. I can check them for magic, but I will have to drop my detecting evil." He looks around pensive, "Which may no longer be useful, as I have found no sign of them since the fight." Defeated by his own statement of not finding them, he decides to cast detect magic on the box. After a few seconds of concentration, he declares, "The small tube, and the contents of the scroll tube are both magical."
"Thank you Mister Gabriel." Surubi carefully removes the two items identified as magical and closes the box back up before putting it into one of the sacks. "Have we missed any rooms, or should we head back into town? Maybe we can find out whether that Sigrun lady got to go to 'The Erudite Eye'"
"I think this was it. Let's get out of here."
"Other than providing a proper burial for the household of Pentheru, I have no problem leaving this estate one that is completed."
Surubi almost put the box into one of her sacks, but then thinks better of it and carries it in her hands, handling it carefully.
Omen nods, "So be it then. Let us perform your rites, Chephren, then put this den of evil behind us."
The most logical place in Chephren's mind is to bury the remains of the household in the area just outside of the Pentheru family tomb. With is skills in embalming, he will wrap the remains as best he can and prepare them for entirnment in the tomb complex. Then saying a few prayers to Anubis for their safe guard and continue support in guarding the tomb of Pentheru.
Chephren is able to gather the bodies, and wrap them for internment as best he can given what few materials still remain at the site itself. His knowledge of the rites of Anubis allow him to treat them as best he can as servants of the Pentheru household, ensuring they are not interred under better conditions than the namesake of the family itself.
Brennan waited impatiently for Chephren to finish his business so that they could be off. He had no burning desire to bury dead bodies. the dead were dead. But, Chephren had kept him alive through some pretty hairy business, so he kept his mouth shut.