Rosalia follows Javi's example with the strange, flowing keffiyeh (a garment she still hadn't gotten used to--although she appreciated its use in the daytime heat), eyes watering from the sand granules still managing to make their way into her face. "If they've been to the pyramids, they may have some useful information," she replies to Javi with a nod. "I doubt our Chelaxian friends would be riding away from the pyramids, after all."
The gnoll nods at the sound thinking, "I don't think I should approach them. They might find me... troubling."
"I say we move to the pyramid and enter as soon as we can. Before this storm hits," says Lyrian.
Javi looks over at the remaining pathfinder, "The balance vote goes to you, Heldar. Do we go on or go see what these travelers have to say?"
Javi and Rosalia (and anyone else who so desires) pick their way down from the dry and rocky hills, on camelback, to intercept the group hurrying down the road. At closer distance, the group seems to consist of two half-orcs, an elf, and three humans-- the elf looks up startled at your approach and reaches for a bow, calling the others to a halt.
After a few fraught seconds, the elf's fingers relax a bit, keeping her bow at the ready but not pointed your direction.
One of the half-orcs yells gruffly in Qadiran-accented Common, over the open ground between your groups, "Where the hell'd you come from? We didn't find so much as a coin, so if you're planning to take our plunder without any of the risk, be off with you. In any case, you're goin' the wrong damned way-- if you've any sense, you'll turn and go back to town like we are. Can't you feel that f&*~ing wind?"
"Easy fellow travellers" - Heldar raises his hands in a non threatening manner - "We are not here to threaten or rob you - we look merely for information regarding what lieas ahead in our path. Since we are moving in opposite directions, you seem like the best ones to provide it" - he smiles - "Whatever you may share with us will be useful, since you have probably already surmised we travel towards the pyramids"
Javi smiles innocently as they approach. At the half-orc's words, he barks out a laugh. "Having sense isn't something I've been accused of over-much. Plus, i'm pretty sure people with sense take up sensible professions. Basket-making, fishing, and trading. Ya know, boring stuff."
Several of the group relax somewhat at Heldar's easy manner and open hands (although the half-orc who had first spoken keeps a wary eye on Javi. Gods-damned little halfling thieves grumble rumble etc).
They share glances among themselves-- they appear to be a diverse group, much as yourself, with various ethnicities represented as well as races. After a few seconds, the elf-woman with the bow nods and speaks.
"There's little to tell," she says with a short shrug. "Like everyone else, we came to explore the four pyramids the season's storms have revealed. There is one we could not find an entrance to at all, nor any of the other groups, methinks-- it's solid stone, no gaps or cracks. Another has the entrance plain enough, but to hear the tales from those who did go in, it's pits and swinging blades and poison darts... for no pay. Just trap after trap. I heard a Taldan fellow say he had lost half his colleagues to it before they gave up and retreated. The third is bare as bones-- there was a team of halflings in it convinced there were secret doors they hadn't yet found. More luck to them," she snorts. "The fourth, we tried our hand at. It's a maze. A maddening, endless, winding, gods-cursed... we chalked the walls, we laid string, and it did us little good. Our strings were cut, our chalk seemingly vanished... and as my colleague says, not a coin did we see for our troubles. I am only glad we found the way out again."
The rest of their group keep looking back towards the east, clearly restless to be moving again. The wind pulls and plucks at your clothes, drives the sand against you in fine stinging pebbles.
"Come, Chaira," one of the humans mutters. "If they wish to ride into the storm, so be it-- I want a drink and a bed back in the town, and walls around me!"
"Aye," says the elf, and aims her camel's head west again. "The wind started picking up at dusk. We were already packed to leave, but most of the other teams were doing the same, when we left. I hope the storm buries the worthless tombs all over again," she mutters. One of the half-orcs spits on the ground in agreement.
"Go on, if you will-- you might have more luck than us," says one of the three humans, with a morbid grin that suggests he doesn't really think so.
Rosalia is happy to let Heldar do the talking. The combination of his pretty face and empty head made for a perfect 'face' towards the public. Of course, she could talk to people quite well; her young years contained many years of learning to kiss arse like any good noblelady, and the skills had come in handy many a time during her tenure as a Society agent. But... this was much easier. Listening was far more useful than speaking, in the end.
With no further questions herself, she waits until the group has left before addressing her companions.
"Seems like everyone's on their way home," Rosalia says, pointing down the road to where she can make out the vague figures of further groups hurriedly making their way away from the strange desert storms. "Good! Means we won't have any more competition than we already have. Hope it scares those damned Chelaxians away as well."
In other words, she's completely unperturbed by these travellers' warnings.
"...Do we have any idea which of these pyramids is the one we're interested in?" she wonders idly.
Javi just keeps on smiling until the other group leaves, then his smile slips and he turns to look at the pyramids and the storms beyond.
"I don't remember the old blind man saying, actually." He pauses and taps his pack where the mask is stowed, "My money would be one where the halflings couldn't find a door, but I'm hoping our key will help us figure out the right path."
He hunkers down and returns the keffiyeh to its protective place, and his remaining words come out muffled. "Guess we should go get Shaggar and keep moving. This tomb isn't going to raid itself."
Heldar bows to the travelers - "Thank you for the information - none of us expect this to be an easy endeavour... Why, adventuring never is" - he smiles - "In any case, it is a good feeling to find cooperation in the midst of this beautiful desert - godspeed on your travels" - the man bids them farewell.
Once they have left, he turns to Javi and laughs - "Even though I don't agree with the form, I agree with the actions - let us move and meet with Shaggar. I want to hear his expert opinion on what appears to be a storm heading our way"
"Good! Means we won't have any more competition than we already have. Hope it scares those damned Chelaxians away as well."
In other words, she's completely unperturbed by these travellers' warnings.
"...Do we have any idea which of these pyramids is the one we're interested in?" she wonders idly.
"No idea yet Rosalia" - Heldar retorts - "I think we need additional information once we are on site" - he ponders - "And I have not yet taken a careful look at the artifact in our possession - maybe additional useful details can be garnered"
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Heldar, Rosalia, and Javi quickly reunite with Shaggar and Lyrian, sharing what they'd learned. The Pathfinders-and-honorary-Pathfinders pick up the pace... the terrain gets increasingly hilly, and visibility is a shifting thing depending on the current force and direction of the wind-- sand is whipped to-and-fro across your vision as the winds sporadically change direction.
If they were not so close to their destination, and time not of the essence-- if this were merely some expedition for pleasure-- Shaggar would probably prefer to seek shelter in some niche in the rocky hills, for the fitful wind isn't natural or predictable. As it is, he guides carefully forward through the rocks...
During the lulls in the wind, you can see the road below, the travelers hurrying along it, all in the same direction: leaving the pyramids for the safety of town.
The last few hours seem to take forever as the the pace of travel drops with the blinding, stinging wind and the uneven terrain. At one point, Shaggar's camel stumbles over a large rock-- revealed to be a chunk of half-buried masonry. The trail of broken rock leads to a toppled statue, the eroded and weathered face of a beautiful, imperious woman. The five travelers take a few moments to catch their breaths in the shelter from the wind afforded by the larger-than-life bust, then draw keffiyehs around their faces tightly once again and press forward.
A minor eternity filled with reluctant camels later...
You crest a rise of rocks, and the desert opens up before you on a magnificent and eerie sight. Below you is a valley gorge, bathed in an eerie twilight of moonlight, and flashes of lightning, and half-dawn, and at the bottom of the gorge you can just make out the shapes of four large pyramids, clustered close together in a square. Under normal circumstances, the sight of these ancient, magnificent structures would be a breath-taking view in its own right, but at the moment it seems almost an afterthought to what lies further east:
On the far side of the gorge, nature is at mad, roiling war with itself. Lightning bursts in near-constant flashes, the sky pierced with bolt after bolt of energy arcing between black clouds and the desert floor below. To either side of the conflagration, there is a wall of sand raging that must stretch a half-mile into the sky. The stinging sand and wind that has plagued you the last few hours is but the barest periphery of this raw, elemental chaos. You are perhaps a quarter-mile from the heart of this battle, and the air smells thickly of ozone and dust.
Even as you stare, you realize that at the places where the raging sand meets the incessant lighning, you can actually see figures in the maelstrom-- those aren't merely clouds, but pattern and deliberate movement. The massive boulders you see hurtling through the distant air are actually bodies, after a fashion, figures in their own right. On the other side of the titanic struggle, due east, the sun is trying to rise: but it is little more than a flickering disc of pale gold on the other side of the sandstorm haze and the brilliance of the lightning flashes.
None of you have ever seen a storm like this, and you are very certain that were you to be on the opposite rim of this valley, you would enjoy a short-lived exposure to nature's magnificence-- nothing mortal would survive for long being at ground zero of a full-fledged war between a dozen enormous elementals.
Fortunately for you, your aim is not that primeval battlefield, but the valley floor beneath, where the canyon's walls offer some shelter from the battle taking place to its east. Shaggar must shout to be heard over the wind, guiding the others along the road that leads down from the rocky mountains to the valley floor.
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Shaggar makes a quick chopping motion indicating their course and the need for haste. He spurs the camel down the road, trying to ignore the massive figures battling at the other side of the valley. He'd seen such creatures warring from a very long distance on the road to Sothis... but the scale was almost beyond imagining. Now, all he wanted was to reach the valley floor quickly and find some modest shelter without drawing the attentions or accidental blows of these elemental juggernauts. He shouts at his companions, "If you wish to live, make haste!"
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Rosalia pulls up her camel when the elemental juggernauts finally come into view, her mouth slack-jawed at the sheer immensity of the events occurring just on the near horizon. Her own magic allowed her to borrow powers from the elemental planes; those titans? They were made of her meagre magics. They had the ability to shape the face of Golarion with a single booming step. To a mage such as herself, it was nothing but awe-inspiring.
But Shaggar's voice, ever the realist, brings her back to reality, shattering her amazement like a single stone dropped into a perfectly placid lake. Rosalia nods, spurring her camel into action and following the gnoll's guidance down the rocky route to the valley base.
When they are far enough away from the living storm to not need shouting, Rosalia informs her allies, "I've been thinking about the conversation we had with Raegos back in Sothis, and I think I know how we get to the pyramid we're interested in. We need to go to the four pyramids those other travellers told us about and put on that mask!"
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Javi nods at Rosalia's words, his voice coming out muffled and barely audible over the rushing sands and winds. "You're probably right." He hurries after Shaggar, "Do we think we can make it before we get stomped to nothing?"
"Nope," says Lyrian with a grin, heading out in the direction Rosalia indicated. "What're we waiting for?"
It's a pell-mell, nail-biting progress down the path into the valley-- you feel your hearts in your throats every time one of the camels skids a few feet on gravel scree, and each boom of far-too-close thunder vibrates right down to your bones.
Fortunately, Shaggar's bond with the beasts-of-burden, formed over the days of travel, keeps the spooked camels in line-- Hatyah lopes alongside, keeping the camels going the right direction and from turning and bolting the other way.
The further down into the gorge you get, the less you feel the effects of the wind. It still plucks at your clothes and kicks up little eddying whirlwinds of sand on the canyon floor, but it no longer threatens to blind you with stinging sheets of sand. The sounds of the titanic battle are still audible, but less deafening.
The bottom of the valley shows signs of a good deal of recent activity-- there are abandoned tents and tools and campsites (many of them already half-buried by the newly-blowing sands), the detritus of the horde of would-be treasure hunters who have already fled back to Nemhep.
The four pyramids are made of a green, veined marble that you recall as being the same veinstone of which the Sothis Exhibitory was crafted (as well as that set of senet pieces which the party had not bid on). Each one is a hundred feet on a side, and rises above the desert to a height you would guesstimate at about sixty feet at its apex. Each pyramid is 550 feet from its neighbor, creating a vast open square between them all. This square shows signs of excavation attempts-- several crude pits and digging equipment, abandoned now to the wind and the sand.
Shaggar pulls the keffiyeh clear of his face and shakes the sand from it. He points his muzzle in the direction of one of the pyramid doorways.
"I think I saw people there, just now. Shall we go speak with them?"
"You think they'll be in danger if we use the key while they're here?" He shrugs, "Might be good to get them to clear out before then."
"Actually, I didn't want them following us. I was thinking we should make it clear we won't be kind if they dog our steps."
Javi smiles over at Shaggar, ”Six of one … half a dozen of the other, right?”
As they make their way towards the figures, Javi makes himself small, hiding behind Heldar as he watches their surroundings for trouble.
Javi hunkers down behind Heldar like a desert flea as the group rides their tired camels over towards the pyramid structure.
As you approach, a figure steps out of the entrance towards you, leaning against the green stone of the archway with with arms crossed. The figure is dressed in a variation on the usual tabard of a Chelish soldier-- a tabard usually worn over a chain hauberk, although you don't see the hauberk on this person (perhaps the heat caused the soldier to take it off?)
The loose tabard, in conjunction with a keffiyeh over the face, makes exact details of figure hard to tell at first, but the soldier tugs the keffiyeh down enough to talk-- you're fairly sure it's a woman. A vivid red mark covers half her face-- the Chelish circle-and-cross.
"I'll be damned-- someone came here despite the wind? Ha! Well, find your own storm shelter, strangers-- there's three other pyramids, I suggest you take one of those and bugger off from our doorstep."
Javi can’t see much more than the obvious without compromising his hidden position, so instead he slowly draws his bow and nocks a tiny arrow … just in case.
Shielded from the Chelish soldiers' view by his camel, the ranger lowers his hand and waggles three claws - indicating the number of the potential enemies. Shaggar then slides off the camel, and stretches his seven foot frame briefly. He strides forward with Hatyah at his heels and drops his keffiyeh so they can see who - more specifically what - they face.
His red eyes regard the speaker. "You speak rudely, outlander, to a child of the desert. Cheliax is far away. Here hospitality is the rule."
Heldar remains silent as the others exchange pleasantries, but he observes these strangers that seemingly decided to stay behind when all others apparently left.
Does Heldar recognize anything about the insignia? Should I make some other roll or something? :D
Heldar dismounts and follows behind Shaggar without taking his eyes from their interlopers.
Ah, Chelaxians. Wooonderful. Ever pleasant people to be around. Rosalia rolls her eyes at both the hamatula-woman's attitude and Shaggar's counter-swagger.
"I wasn't aware that walking by these pyramids constituted such offence," the Brevic woman says dryly, having to raise her voice somewhat as a result of the elemental storm's infernal racket. "Or, for that matter, that you could claim territory around here. Rumour has it there's nothing of any worth in these tombs anyway." She remains on her camel and behind Shaggar, but keeps an eye out for any funny business from these tomb-robbers.
Additionally, your ears pick up that there may be more of them beyond where you can see-- the faint scuff of a boot against stone, the low murmur of voices.
At Shaggar's deliberate, species-displaying approach, the woman arches a slow, unimpressed brow and spits down into the sand. Another particularly spectacular chained lightning far up on the cliff wall briefly illuminates her starkly, and throws her shadow onto the green pyramid wall. She does not visibly react, but waits for the deafening thunderclap to die away before answering.
"Oh, I'm very sorry if I've offended a gnoll's idea of hospitality," she drawls, to the low chuckles of those behind her. "I'll tell you what, I'll see if we have a bone for you to chew on. Would that help with your hurt feelings, mayhap? As for Imperial Cheliax...? Why, she's only ever as far away as those who serve her."
Rosalia's comment makes a thin, sardonic smile appear on the woman's face.
"Mmm. Yes. Empty tombs. Nothing here. So it's all just academic, isn't it? You go find your pyramid, waste your time digging, whatever, and we'll stay in ours. That civilized enough for you, gnoll-and-friends?"
Javi cuts his eyes over to Shaggar at the woman's insult, then takes stock of the positioning. No good, he thinks as he stows his bow. He'd need to be far closer to make any kind of decent shot placement.
He draws his scimitar instead, waiting to see how things would play out.
Lyrian approaches, not bothering with stealth, and holding his bow in his right hand.
"They never found the last guy who spoke to Shaggar like that," he says conversationally. "And they never will. I suggest you apologize for your rudeness."
The woman pushes off from the wall and uncrosses her arms at the sight of Lyrian approaching with a weapon already in his hand, her eyes narrowed.
"Նրանք ունեն զենք կազմվել հիմա. Վեցերորդ կլօր," she says in a harsh-sounding tongue to the others, two of whom step beside her, staring coolly your collective direction. Their faces are also marked with the Chelish cross-circle. The two others Shaggar saw move closer down the corridor.
In Common, the woman says flatly, "House Thrune apologizes to nobody, least of all for words you might hear in any tavern. You have weapons drawn and you are now acting in a threatening fashion to soldiers of sovereign and imperial Cheliax. This is the only warning we will give you to disengage."
The camels shift restlessly as more thunder booms overhead, sensing the tension in the air-- both environmental, and personal.
Shaggar acknowledges the archaeologist's approach and commments with a polite nod. "Kind of you, sayyid. But this girl has just apologized for her offense." He says, selectively ignoring the Chelaxian's tone and focusing on her words. "We of the desert are used to overlooking the... deficiencies of outlanders."
The gnoll considers his choices carefully, cursing the change of heart that dictated he couldn't handle the Chelaxians in the most pragmatic and (likely) necessary manner. As the old saying went three people can keep a secret... provided two of them are dead.
"Mmm. Yes. Empty tombs. Nothing here. So it's all just academic, isn't it? You go find your pyramid, waste your time digging, whatever, and we'll stay in ours. That civilized enough for you, gnoll-and-friends?"
Shaggar gives the Chelaxian a hard look. "I'll hold you to that - academic or not. Any of your people comes sniffing around our dig - looking to 'expand' Cheliax's claim - will be buried in these sands. And as their leader, you share their fate. This is your only warning." He blinks at her twice, "Consider that a fair return for your desert hospitality."
He gives the Chelaxian a moment to figure out another snide insult or (he fervently hopes) an opportunity to do something really stupid. Assuming neither happens, the ranger turns his attention to Lyrian. "Let us go and find shelter before the storm hits. We have little enough time." He signals Hatyah back to the camels and starts looking for suitable but close shelter out of sight of the entrance to the Chelaxian pyramid.
Once they are safely on the hunt for lodgings, Shaggar says, "There are at least seven of them near the door. There could be several more... I am curious to hear your thoughts on the situation. For me, knowing there are more Chelaxians in town and having every faith they will try to take over our dig and summon aid once the pyramid appears, my thought is to wait for the storm to truly hit. Then we raid their pyramid and kill them off if we can't seal them in." He adds, "It would be nice if the summoned pyramid crushed them out of existence but I suspect it will appear in the center of the square. Even under cover of the storm, I think they will see it."
Javi remains hidden even when Shaggar turns to discuss their plan. He does, however, try to get a general sense for the Chelaxian team's equipment and supplies situation.
The Chelaxian woman snorts at Shaggar's ultimatum to her as leader. "Oh, I'm not ranking officer. Just don't see any reason to wake my captain for this. But I'll be sure to let him know what you said."
She smiles fixedly until the group of Pathfinders move away.
***
As far as shelter from the wind goes: well, there are two other pyramids that have obvious entrances. Each one is 550 feet from the other, so the one across the diagonal would be 780 feet from you... The pyramids are certainly the most solid structures around if you are prioritizing shelter from the wind.
Aside from that, the natural canyon walls are irregular-- Shaggar can pick out a handful of semi-hollows that would provide some shelter from the wind, at least, while putting you a decent distance away from the Chelaxians.
***
Javi: of the three you can currently see, they are all dressed similar to the first. If their uniforms included armor, they must have shed it in the desert heat. The two who joined the first woman are unsmiling, lean-faced, with dark eyes, and both have what appears to be a sword strapped over their back, and pouches at their belt. They are all pale-skinned and would, you guess, be native Chelaxians. You can't really see any visible supplies with them, but if they're using the pyramid as a base, their gear might be back inside it. The keffiyehs indicate they at least have done the basic preparations for desert travel, anyway, and their tabards are probably loose enough, yet covering-enough, to serve the same function as your hot-weather clothing. None of them show any signs of sunburn, so it's possible they have traveled by night, like yourselves, or that they have magics to protect them from the heat.
Heldar had been purposefully silent this time - on the one hand he did not want to disallow his companions, and on the other he was somewhat out of his element as far as the 'rules of ruin exploration' go - he had never heard anything about it, but it seemed to make sense that the first one arriving would be given priority.
As they move away from the Chelish entourage, and in spite of her obnoxious attitude, the Oracle could not avoid smiling at the woman, and throwing her a wink though.
"We should move to one of the other piramyds?" - he pipes in - "Perhaps the one furthest from this group?" - the man suggests while straining his eyes to discern any details of the other structures.
He finds himself drawn to observe the titanic fight taking place miles away, and marvels at the sight - "I would very much like to be in a spot from where we can appreciate that spectacle... I have never seen nothing quite as amazing as those raw forces pitted against each other" - he acctually wanders into a halt, staring mesmerized at perhaps the most mind boggling sight he has ever set eyes upon in all his life.
Though happy to get away from the obnoxious Chelaxian crew without needing to draw her blade, Rosalia is nevertheless busy frowning as the group retreats back to a safe spot to plot their next move.
"The problem is," she says once they arrive, jumping down from the camel and stretching after a long day's ride, "we don't know what to expect when we put this mask on. Is it like seeing an illusion? Does it summon the pyramid out of nowhere? Does it alert us which of these four is the "right" one? Who knows! What I do know is that I don't want some stinking Chelaxians around here when we do it..."
"As I recall, the old man said that first there was no pyramid and then it 'appeared'. I suspect it will appear in open desert, possibly between the other pyramids."
Javi waits until the group has fallen back far enough that he won't risk exposing himself to the foreigners before he speaks up ... remaining careful to stay out of sight.
"I don't know that i'm comfortable killing them just because they're inconvenient and might try to horn in on our exploration." He looks back at them. "I could certainly be convinced to sneak into their camp to make life less fun for them ... maybe see if we can get them to abandon their position. I mean, they're ass-holes, but I'm not sure that's a killing offense."
He pauses to consider, "Plus, if this place is as deadly as we've been told, they may get themselves killed even if they do get access when we use the mask." He shrugs, "I've never turned down a bit of competition. I say we claim a pyramid of our own, see if we can secure it, then see about that mask."
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The gnoll shrugs, "You have more faith in Cheliax than I. They are already taking a 'might makes right' approach to their pyramid, forgoing all desert hospitality. Offering us temporary shelter from the storm, even under guard in the entrance, would have been acceptable. I don't, for a moment, believe that they will respect our claim on a new pyramid that magically appears. They will try to take it... as Cheliax does with anything that falls in their view and desires." He pauses for a moment, thinking. "While I don't mind a fair fight and a race of raiding parties - I don't want to die because of mistakes they might make in the pyramid. Consider the old man's warning, one of their people saw the final symbol, releasing undead and eventually some force preventing anyone from leaving the pyramid. In the end, the structure vanished again. Perhaps the mask had to be outside the temple before the force blocked the entrance... but what if it didn't? Assume we can get into the pyramid and past the runes. Then some bumbling soldier comes in later and sets off the defenses. Do you want to be trapped in a pyramid whisked to elsewhere fighting life-stealing undead because of some fool?"
Shaggar rubs sand from the fur of his muzzle. "I would prefer to trap them in their pyramid but I don't know if that is possible. I have heard of spells that collapse stone but I suspect no one here has that knowledge." He shrugs again, "My job was to lead you here safely and help face the dangers of the pyramid. I will do that, even if you decide to rely on the Chelaxian sense of 'fair play'... but it's a poor guide who doesn't point out the risks."
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There is a disturbingly-excited look in the halfling's dark eyes at Shaggar's mention of being whisked away in the pyramid amidst danger, ghouls, and who-knows-what.
Javi waits a second or two for the pathfinders to weigh in, but then continues. "I don't like it, either. And I trust them about as far as I can throw them. Given the circumstances, though, I can't come up with a better way of getting them out of our business. And unless we can find a way to shut them in that tomb, I think we're just going to have to be read to deal with them muddling in our business."
"Like I said, I can try to take a look in their camp to see if I can pick up any way of sending them packing once we settle in. I"m fairly certain they didn't make me back there, so they won't be looking for a halfling." He grins with a manic confidence, "... not that it'd help them catch me."
He nods at the pyramid farthest from the demon-lovers. "Should we go check in at that inviting inn over there?"
If Shaggar has any further concerns, he doesn't voice them. "As I told the girl, I will return hospitality for hospitality and agreement for agreement. Any Chelaxian following us into the pyramid has forfeited his life."