Maqej can't help but me impressed by the show of the hardware. Guns were not common in Sothis and even the ifrit had never made one. Still, anyone interested in artifice and construction had read about them...
He shakes his head slightly, "A fresh set of eyes indeed. We leave at dusk from the West gate. Did you see the woman I was talking with a moment ago? She will be meeting us there. Three against Rasatjia, a fitting match."
Maqej grabs the gunslingers hand and pumps it once.
Lurodir grins.
"I'm pretty sure everyone in this room saw her. I'll get my gear and make the necessary arrangements. See you at the West gate."
He grabs his book, downs his drink, and heads off.
Shortly thereafter, Elbion approaches you.
"Looks like you got at least one person to join you. Good on you for that. I talked to Malia and got you half up front. 500 gold."
He jingles the pouch and hands it to you.
"Don't get dead."
He smiles warmly and nods.
Rolled up in the pouch is a map.
Maqej nodded, happy with the news. Half already but still, he had to divide it three ways.
The ifrit nods to Elbion, "That is the idea." and leaves the Hammer and Tome.
First he had some shopping to do, now that he had a job. With Uraeus in tow, he heads to the closest bazaar, cash in hand.
After this he sits as an outdoor cafe, and spreads out the map, peering at it.
You examine the map closely. Looking at it, there's nothing that requires there to be any other rooms, but the ancient Osiriani were pretty practical people. This kind of setup inside a small pyramid just doesn't make sense. Besides, nobody has yet found the sarcophagus containing Rasatjia. Generally, tombs require corpses.
Before heading to the West Gate, Madqej stops and haggles with an old man over a donkey and a saddle. The man senses his urgency and keeps the price up to something fair, to the ifrit's dismay.
With that done he goes to the Gate to wait for his new companions.
It isn't long before the sun and the temperature both begin to drop. Lurodir is the first of your companions to arrive, riding atop a camel.
"Ho there! How goes it? This is Wendell. He's a good camel, but he might spit. Don't irritate him."
Almost immediately after Lurodir's arrival, a person wearing full plate armor rides up on a very fine looking light horse. They stop shortly in front of Maqej, and the wrought sun on their helm begins to shed light like a torch.
Maqej is just about to answer Lurodir when the new figure rides up. The fine horse puts his donkey and the elf's camel to shame.
Shielding his eyes against the light, Maqej squints at the new figure. 'Hello, can I help you?"
With another hand he steals a hand toward a pocket full of magical gadgets. Just in case.
The figure reaches up and lifts the guard of its helm. Beneath, you can see Sobeky's smiling face. She chuckles.
"Were you expecting someone else?"
She carefully removes her helm, shaking her hair out, and places it in her saddlebags.
"I'm sorry, but the shock never gets old."
'Cute." Maqej says shortly then pulls a small gadget out of his pack. "Speaking of that, I hope don't mind, I do like to know who I am dealing with."
The gadget is a small monocle and he holds it to his eye. As he does so a small crystal starts to hum, and the spell See Alignment is activated.
Seeing nothing, Maqej tosses the now useless monocle away and grabs two pouches of coins.
"Now, for happier matters. Here is 100 gold coins each, a forward on our eventual prize." he gives each of them a small pouch containing the coins. "Anyone need to do some last minute shopping?"
At his feet, his snake traces intricate patterns in the dust.
Both of them graciously accept the pouches and assert that they've no further business to tidy up.
The ifrit takes a long look around the city and the gate, to make sure no one is following or skulking after them.
He climbs aboard his unnamed donkey, lays his snake behind him and sets off toward the tomb that will make his reputation.
To pass the time he trikes up a conversation with Lurodir about riddles and other places he has been. Sounding out the elf on his past experiences, places he has been.
You discover that Lurodir has been delving the ruins in this area for nearly a decade and has met with a fair amount of success, if not enough to make name for himself. Sobeky has had a bit more success, though that's more a case of her choosing her delves wisely.
You get the sense that neither of them can match you in raw intelligence, but they're not inexperienced fools.
Maqej is slightly disappointed he didn't manage to get some hulking barbarian that couldn't count to three, but there were advantages to having smart colleagues. Competence, for one.
They ride into the chilly desert night, talking until dawn when Maqej suggest they find a decent, hopefully shady, place to make camp. As they do so he asks which languages they know, in case they need to communicate secretly in front of others.
Sobeky is the most prepared of you all, erecting a small cloth pavilion. There's plenty of room for the three of you inside.
Once you all settle in, the discussion turns to language. In this part of the world, adventurers tend to lean more toward the scholarly side and you're pleased to learn that both of them speak several languages. It seems that the only ones you all share are Osiriani and Ancient Osiriani, however.
The list of languages spoken is as follows:
Lurodir - Ancient Osiriani, Common, Cyclops, Draconic, Elven, Osiriani, Sphinx
Sobeky - Abyssal, Ancient Osiriani, Celestial, Common, Infernal, Osiriani
Maqej looks at the silken pavilion. "You enjoy a certain level of comfort, Sobeky?" He unrolls his own small set of blankets in a corner.
As he does so he adds, "I can take first watch, if you like. I rarely sleep well as it is."
In addition he lays out his series of gadgets. Pointing to them, he announces "These are all magical devices of various sort. I make a few every day, but what is important is that you van use them to. True Strike, Ironskin, Shield quite a range of them. If we run into trouble, don't forget about them. They can make both of you even more formidable."
Sobeky smiles.
I suppose you could say that. Sunburns are dreadful."
Lurodir nods as Maqej offers to take first watch.
"Wendell can take a watch as well, if you'd like. He's a bit jumpy, though."
As everyone winds down to rest, you notice a few tidbits of information. Lurodir does indeed carry a gun at his hip, though one more advanced than you've seen before. He also carries a whip. Sobeky on the other hand, seems only to be armed with a quarterstaff and sling.
Maqej looks at the camel in surprise but shrugs. "Very well. Sobeky, I shall wake you next. Get a good night's sleep, who knows what we may encounter in the desert."
For a long time Maqej sits and ponders his new comrades. He still knows little about them, and lacks ways of manipulating them. And a paladin....dangerous. And yet, very useful.
He needed leverage. It would take time, but he was sure he could get it.
The day passes peacefully. Nobody on watch spots any dangers and everyone gets a good long rest.
He checks on his donkey, patting the beast's neck. With speed, he also checks his belongings, making sure no one rifled through his things. He did have the snake coil around them but none can never be too safe.
The ifrit then says, "I suppose no one has objections to traveling at night? Seems the cooler course."
All agree that this is a sound plan.
The night wears on quietly. Some amount of small talk occurs, but everybody is just eager to explore the tomb.
Sobeky, bored and looking for anything to entertain her, manages to spot something out on the dunes.
"Guys, there's...something...out there. I can't quite make it out, but it looks big. What do we want to do?"
Mqej straightens up. A beast of some sort? Big implied it wasn't merely bandits or something like that.
The investigator looks around for any type of high ground or reasonably defensive position. Even as he does so, "I'd suggest you load up your gun. Anyone has a sunrod close at hand?"
As Sobeky points out the direction it's in, you can just make out the outline of the creature. It looks like it's loitering around a small oasis. There isn't really much high ground leading up to it and even less to hide behind.
Sobeky casts light on her helm and slides it on.
'Do you think we can safely go around?" the ifirt asks, peering into the darkness. "Perhaps if we don't bother it, it won't bother us."
"It's a possibility, but the Tomb is in roughly that direction. We'd have to make a pretty wide berth to go around it. Might add a couple hours to our trek. I don't really have an opinion until we can figure out what it is."
"We go around." Maqej says firmly, 'I'd rather lose a few hours of travel then get hurt fighting some desert monster. Sobeky, maybe we should put our your light, we don't need to attract its attention if we can avoid it?"
Sobeky dispels her spell and the three of you alter your path to avoid the beast. As you're going around, you reach a point where you're better able to see what it is. Surprisingly, it is a lone hippopotamus. What it's doing this far from the river is a mystery, but it seems to be happy just splashing in the oasis.
Maqej eyes the large beast, resting in the muddy water of the oasis.
'Tell me, are the hides or teeth worth anything? It is an impressive beast." A little exchange money wouldn't hurt anything but he doubts he has the skill to properly tan a hide. The tusks however...
"Hippo hide is pretty thick, so it mostly gets used for hard labor stuff. Hippos are mean, though. If you wanna try to take it down, it won't go down easily."
'Maybe on the way back." The ifrit nods. 'Although we may be too busy carrying heaps of gold and jewels by then. Let us go around and leave it alone."
Steering his donkey, he gives the beast a wide berth.
You continue your path around and avoid the hippopotamus. You arrive outside the tomb a few hours after dawn.
Maqej looks at the entrance to the tomb. He brings the donkey to a halt, standing in front of the others.
A pyramid. Not as impressive as some of the others in Osirion, but a pyramid nonetheless. The amount of effort that went into its construction clearly indicates that the person entombed was of some importance.
There's new construction on the outside. A stone tunnel, built to keep the ever-shifting sands as far from the entrance as possible. No sense in digging out the entrance every time someone wants to enter.
Sobeky yawns.
"Are we making camp for the day, or are you too excited to see what's inside?"
Maqej's pulse quickens at the sight of the pyramid. Perhaps to Sobeky it is just another old tomb in a land overstuffed with such things, crowded with the legacy of the past. Cold stone, nothing more.
But to the ifirt it was the start of his legacy. This mission, this tomb, Rasatjia would be the first building block, the foundation on is way to power, glory. He could feel a touch of destiny just looking at the gaping maw of the entrance.
Still, he tries to master his tone and keep his voice casual saying, "I think we should go in, it will at least be cooler indoors, no?"
He nudges his beast of burden closer.
Sobeky grudgingly agrees and the three of you enter the tomb. Sobeky casts light again and it reveals a thick layer of sand and dust covering the walls and floor. Clearly, nobody has been here in years. After the initial excitement woreoff people must have just gone after easier prey.
You do notice, however, that there is some detritus littering the floor. Perhaps something has been using the tomb as a lair.
Maqej pauses at detritus on the floor, putting up a pale hand. Who knows what desert beast moved in here, attracted by a safe haven from the heat. or worse, perhaps humans?
Even as he peers, he pulls out a gadget of Ironskin, resting in his palm.
From a few cast off bits of exoskeleton and crawl patterns in the sand, you surmise that the likely current inhabitant is scorpions. Big ones.
'Hold up, we may not be alone!" Maqej says, trying to keep his voice down. Perhaps the beast is out, or merely sleeping. Maybe it it is not too late to come upon it unaware.
'Scorpion....big one." he says and hands Sobeky the Ironskin gadget, and pulls out one of True Strike for Lurodir, quickly explaining what which does.
'Just in case it comes to that..." the ifirt says, eyes scanning the darkness for movement, ears trained for sound.
'Sobeky, lead the way, you have the light." The investigator does follow right behind her though.
Sobeky nods and takes the lead, quarterstaff in hand.
As she reaches the first junction she turns back to you.
"Do you want to head for the known chamber, or do you want to explore the side passages? I'm sure you know more about scorpion behavior than I do."
Maqej looks over the map in his mind, clear as the parchment he carries.
"Let us go to the right. I would hate for it to come behind us.Besides, perhaps some old clue lies in a side chamber that will help us uncover the real secrets of this place."
The hallway twists back and forth, intentionally designed in such a manner to confuse tomb robbers. Two rights and two lefts brings you to the end of this passage. Set into the wall at the end is a relief of a gibbous moon carved of polished limestone.
"Our first riddle, Lurodir. What do you make of it?"
The ifrit goes up the moon, looking closely, rubbing it with his hands, seeking some old clue perhaps that was missed.