Or the crack of doom, like your lady friend.
”What?! My lady friends? Dark, fierce, mysterious and dangerous?”
Agreed, lets move back out to the desert then
You exit the Sphinx to see the sun is setting low in the distance. The bloodied corpses litter the statue as you move into the ominous darkness that is the shadow of the great monument and leaves most of you with a chill - Shad feels strangely at home, like the Plane of Shadow has intruded and cast its presence around him.
Noonan buries himself in the sand like the rare sand capybara!
“. . . I like cake . . . Oh yeah, watch for bad stuff . . . With frosting . . .
The night stars twinkle brightly over all of you, the stars offering a brief respite from the horrors of the interior of the Sphinx.
As you takes turns on watch you hear a horrible moaning from the wind over the stone, leaving you clutching your weapons and staring out at the dark.
Dust blows hard across the cobbles swallowing evidence of tracks from the desert and leaving you increasingly isolated in the night. Tariq - sometime after midnight you find yourself on watch you start to see shadows dart around the camp and you swear you start to hear claws scrape across the cobbles.
Zzzzz.Snoreee Wha? Wha?
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Tariq pulls his sheets up under his nose.
”What was that!? . . . “
Dust blows hard across the cobbles swallowing evidence of tracks from the desert and leaving the desert warriorincreasingly isolated in the night.
Shad was in his bedroll. Tariq thought about, for the fifteen-hundredth time, lifting Shads hat to see what was under there. I mean was he really a Jawa on stilts under there? All you could ever see was his two glowing eyes.
He had already checked on the old cleric three times that night thinking he had finally passed on. Noonan held so still sometimes he looked like a statue, then he would snort-snore-gasp like he had died then came back as undead. It was freaky.
Finally Dwali sounded like a damn bear. If someone was looking for them they wouldn’t need to find tracks, they would just have to listen for a sleeping dwarf.
”I wonder if we were dying in the cold someplace , if Dwali’s chest and leg hair could be woven into a big enough Afghan throw to cover all of us AND my camel Habib!? Hummm?
Tariq starts to see shadows dart around the camp and he swears he was starting to hear claws scrape across the cobbles.
F%#!! Someone stole my golden crab golem mount idea! Or . . . Shit! The scorpion people are coming!”
Tariq goes into stealth mode to go scout. He didn’t want to wake the spell flingers if he didn’t have to, but he also didn’t want to let an enemy catch them unaware.
Tariq moves the intercept the threat or determine if it is a false alarm.
Ba’set gets up to move with him, but is directed to guide the cleric. The cat sits next to the venerable man and scents the air.
Tariq vanishes into the night and finds himself climbing one of the statues in the courtyard, perched up top and ready to strike.
As he does he sees ghostly figures seem to snap into focus all at once, pale blue flesh transparently wavering in the starlight. The tortured souls of the long dead seem to march in endless procession chained at hands and waste as they stumble forward towards their death in the profane temple concealed within the Sphinx.
Tariq sees men, women, children of all the civilized races being prodded, shoved and beaten as they are marched remorselessly back into the Sphinx you have exited, wailing silently and crying as if they know they will endlessly repeat this cycle for eternity once the worshipers of Areshkagal sacrifice them on their altars.
The figure of one man stands apart from the procession. The force of rage washes over you he sees the spirits being marched to their deaths. Where most figures in the grim parade are indistinguishable aside from size and sex, his face stands out in stark contrast to the rest of and you see the headdress and beard beloved of Osiriani pharaohs as he turns to look directly at Tariq.
He points at you imperiously and then gestures for you to enter the Sphinx as well before the entire ghostly tableau suddenly vanishes into the darkness. A cold wind seems to pulse outward from where the spirits of the slain disappeared and wash over you, cutting hard to the bone in the desert air.
You blink uncertainly and the rest of the night passes without incident. Come dawn you all to wake up from restive nightmares of being marched through the desert to your doom.
Shad wakes up and feels at his hat...had someone moved it? No, couldn't be. He immediately casts his protection from the sun, and extends it.
Urrhh. I do not snore too much! Noonan creaks up and does some Tai Chi to get his stiff muscles working.
Then he needs an extended time for the latrine. Should of had my prune juice.
Then he has prune juice.
Then he does his prayers
So..We storming the sphinx?
Sounds good to me, especially if it gets me out of this sun.
Noonan casts Magic circle Against Evil on Tariq, to protect his impressionable mind.
A clay lamp atop a wooden table lights this room. Against the wall stand weapon racks holding only a few warped and rusted blades. Rotten quivers hang from spikes driven into the wall. Two small wooden casks sealed with wax stand beneath the quivers. The smashed remains of a third cask lie in a puddle of oil. Two girtablilu bodies lay on the ground, their bodies decaying in the closed stone room.
Noonan examines the bodies
The girtablilu have ancient patterned crossbow bolts buried in their backs, vital spots that would cripple and kill them - two gilded shafts for each body end with hardened gold tipped arrowheads, and peacock fletching stands at the ends. They could easily fetch 50 gold pieces each.
Dwalindor, there are footsteps in the dust beneath you and they look...familiar. Disturbingly familiar.
I'm not a real good tracker or anything, so I don't recognize those boots. I guess we should follow.
The footsteps lead around the corner into a hallway and through a door. They do not come back out.
Shall we prepare for combat?
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Well, I ain't sure. Fighting footsteps ain't so tough. But where they lead and who is attached to them is the tricky part. I am keepin' Amanda at the ready. he pats his adamantine hammer.
But it may be good to have Shad or Tariq spy into the next room to know who and what we are facing if it is you know...who.
Sure. That sounds good to me, Shad says gloomily.
stealth percep
Shad slips through the door into a room filled with clouds of steam where rivulets of water drip down the rough stone walls. In the southwest corner of the room, carved stone seats ring a rippling pool of water—the source of the humid mist coiling through the air. A lump of rock rises above the waterline in the center of the pool, its silhouette disturbingly organic, as if a great beast were poised to erupt from the water. On the wall behind the pool, carvings of clawed tentacles reach up from the mist.
You find two more girtablilu bodies, and a pool of ichor seems to sit around the pool itself.
You do see that one of the girtablilu bodies has a golden circlet around one arm shaped like a serpent whose eyes glitter with the green of emeralds and another pearly glint seems to shine from within the pool.
Aghh! Don't just go around touching things! You don't know where it has been. This is how we lost Thorpe.
”Ummmm I saw a vision last night guys.”
”I think we need to detect magic on everything.”
”Last night while you all slept, ghostly figures seemed to snap into focus all at once, pale blue flesh transparently wavering in the starlight. The tortured souls of the long dead seemed to march in endless procession chained at hands and waste as they stumbled forward towards their death in the profane temple concealed within this Sphinx.”
”I saw men, women, children of all the civilized races being prodded, shoved and beaten as they are marched remorselessly back into the Sphinx we are now in. They were wailing silently and crying as if they knew they will endlessly repeat this cycle for eternity once the worshipers of Areshkagal sacrificed them on their altars.”
”The figure of one man stood apart from the procession. The force of rage washed over me as he watched the spirits being marched to their deaths. Where most figures in the grim parade were indistinguishable aside from size and sex, his face stood out in stark contrast to the rest of and I saw the headdress and beard beloved of Osiriani pharaohs as he turns to look directly at me.”
”He pointed at me imperiously and then gestured for me to enter the Sphinx as well before the entire ghostly tableau suddenly vanished into the darkness. A cold wind pulsed outward from where the spirits of the slain disappeared and wash over me, cutting hard to my bones in the desert air.”
” I was left blinking in uncertainly and the rest of the night passed without incident. Come dawn I woke up from restive nightmares of being marched through the desert to my doom.”
Tariq licks his lips.
”I have always known I have the blood of Pharaohs in my veins. I don’t know if this was a sign just for me or not, but these ancient arrows, the destroyed demons, and the Spirit’s demand that I enter this place. . . Could it be that I am here to correct my family’s failings? Are we here to save all these souls.”
”We cannot fail for them. I should have said it earlier, but I was afraid you would call me crazy.”
Noonan listens silently as Tariq talks about the vision and then claps him on the shoulder. Tariq, ghost visions are no surprise to me. I've been teleported halfway across the country and have battled undead, statues and birds with metal wings because some doofus decided to put a cursed mask on himself. Your in good company.
Dwalindor, the light in the room makes you a tad uncertain but an inky miasma seems to dwell in the pool. Perhaps you should get too close.
”Hummm what? I am trying to put together who the spirit was man.”
The ranger looks around but is a bit distracted.
Shad promptly checks for magic about the room, spending all the time needed.
In my plane, gold is made of shadow so we swim in it all the time.
Noonan keeps an eye out for any possible attacks