As promised, a cadre of camels loaded with travel supplies awaits you at the city gates. The air buzzes with chatter about local market prices, recent events in the Inner Sea, and, of course, the sandstorm that uncovered a mighty pyramid in the inhospitable depths of the desert. The journey is dozens of miles across shifting dunes, taking four days under the brutal sun and four nights under a freezing star filled sky.
On the fifth day, the pyramid comes into view in the distance. It seems to take longer to approach than it looked like it might at first - a combination of the heat-distorted air and the sheer size of the sand-battered stone. An incredible human-made mountain, the pyramid rises out of the desert sands, a relic of an earlier age. Its limestone casing blocks are weathered from millennia of scouring sands, but the structure seems solid and intact. A stone wall, buttressed by drifts of sand, surrounds the entire structure.
On the south side of the wall stands a squat stone structure, connected to the pyramid by a long, covered causeway. No visible entrances to the actual pyramid's interior can be seen.
Akri takes in the uncovered pyramid and its surroundings.
"The Pahmet were instrumental in constructing the pharaohs' tombs. It was not uncommon for the Pahmet architect to be entombed in the pyramid of her own design.
Perhaps the best approach is the pillbox on the south wall. The covered processional should lead us directly into the pyramid. Be prepared, her hosts of guardians are hostile and most likely deadly."
"Looks like we are the first team here - and we shall be the last."
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The south wall stands bare and silent, save for the occasional gust of wind throwing sand against it.
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"Well," begins Sionnach who is in his own form for a change, "I guess it's time to call on the Hierophant. Anyone who would like to join in my séance will receive the Pallid Princess' blessing.[/b]"
And with that proclamation, he begins setting up an area where he can spend an hour focusing upon his holy symbol and the spirit held within.
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"The pallid princess, eh? An interesting choice. Do you worship that goddess? Many find her detestable, but I found during my years of study that undead can be handy for mundane tasks, and as faithful guards." Eisalka says. Man busies himself with holding up the spellbook for Eisalka once more, allowing her to prepare her spells. When everyone is ready to enter the pyramid, Eisalka will cast mage armor on her faithful familiar... you think that you see Man's hand move subtly and his lips move in a whisper when Eisalka loudly chants the arcane text required for the spell, but that may just be your eyes playing tricks on you.
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In response to the bird, the now pasty white, gaunt-looking, black-haired Sionnach offers a shrug and says, "Indulging in the joys of life and refusing to give those up makes some good sense to me. Realistically, I don't think anyone is in a hurry to meet Pharasma, and Urgathoa is kind enough t give her children the option not to."
Then, with a broad smile, he adds, "As one inhabiting spirit to another, I'd think that makes good sense to you."
Akri quietly and with reverence allows the casters to prepare themselves, knowing full well the team will need arcane and divine magic to see the desert again once they delve into the pyramid's depths.
Akri busies himself with observing the pyramid complex, looking for any breaks in the walls, unusual features, scantily-hidden openings, and the like.
(*+2 if there are undead roaming about)
and, assuming 1 hour to snoop-
Akri turns to Kairam.
"Well, if you need to get yourself ready, I suppose now's the time. I'm going to scout the complex in short intervals, these casters tend to tarry. When the Fox and the Bird-Man are ready, we should be, too - And I don't doubt you'll be ready. How are you with traps?"
"Get ready, I'm ready! I have my vials and bow, that and my intellect have seen me discover the secrets of the ancients, it will see me through this too. As for traps, none have I set off yet, I don't intend to start now!" Khairam answers back to Akri, his voice raspy from the dry dust. His words spoken sharply with annoyance. "As for this gift, who amongst you can use it?" he asks, looking around the group as he picks up a slender wooden baton, "It has the power of healing."
Khairam stops to study the small stone structure, his eyes narrow as he looks intently at the building, both using his knowledge to understand the way the building is built and its history.
"Not sure if I've come across such a design before, any of you seen this sort of thing before?" he asks pointedly at Sionnach, but makes it plain he seeks answers from any of the
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Sionnach's attention is pulled away from his theological discussion with the bird as he hears the inquiry about healing.
"I believe I would be the figure you're looking for," he replies, moving toward the investigator. "Always ready to help those gluttons for punishment indulge themselves." And with that statement, the hierophant of Urgathoa flashed a broad smile and took the wand.
"So, shall we head inside then, or are we still searching for the door?"
"Aaah, I might have known the least healthy looking should hold the key to stop our blood staining the desert. Or is it your spirits that do that, for I neither wish to meet Pharesma nor ask your god to keep me from her." Khairam smiles as he speaks the words to Sionnach.
"Bah!" scowls the investigator, as he watches the man/woman take liberties with the aid given to them. "I have no time for playing games, we must venture on and find the way into this ancient tomb." his face stern and rigid. He whips his dirty cloak around as he turns and stomps off towards the building.
Akri chuckles at the banter.
"All right, mates, get it out now, we'll need to be focused once we get inside."
"Khairam, be sure to thank your backers for me; they may be surprised I'm still alive. From what I've heard, you are worth poaching- professionally, of course. If all goes well, we may have a gilded future ahead of us."
"Sionnach, be sure to use the non-business end of that magic twig, we're going to need it."
Akri squints again at the compound.
"Well, there must be a way in... Eisalka, can you give us a view from above?"
"I can indeed look from above. Give me a moment."
Eisalka flies up from Man's shoulder and takes a look around the pyramid, trying to find all the routes inside.
The explorers follow the causeway several hundred feet south to the stone building at the end. It is constructed of large stone blocks, with a 50-foot wide portico facing south, its ceiling supported by two rows of granite columns. A dark passage leads north, deeper into the pyramid.
Sunlight shines into this area, revealing sand-worn walls. It looks as if the walls were once carved in relief, but the sands have worn them down too much to make out anything other than the fact that they once existed.
Sunlight trickles into the room behind the portico, lighting it dimly. A pair of carved and brightly painted granite columns support the ceiling of this darkened, roughly triangular chamber. To the left and right stand stone statues of a regal man holding a crook and flail and wearing a striped cloth headdress, although the right statue's head lies cracked and broken on the floor in front of it. Diagonally forward-left and forward-right stand two more statues depicting winged creatures with leonine bodies and falcons' heads.
The smooth granite walls are decorated with hieroglyphs and faded murals that depict loyal subjects and slaves presenting offerings to a pharaoh who sits on a gilded throne, flanked by the same winged falcon-headed lions that the statues depict.
This room narrows to the north, and a ten-foot wide passageway stretches off north into the dim causeway. Khairam examines the area, and working on a hunch, crouches down to examine the floor. It seems that the ten-foot area past the bird-lion statues is a large pressure plate! Surely it sets off some kind of nasty trap.
"Hmm. Sionnach, my expertise tells me there are no depictions of dwarves in these hieroglyphs. Perhaps this one here, but the Pahmet are always poorly represented by the Nobility. And here, there are depictions of different sphinxes..."
Akri nods towards Khairam.
"Seems our man Khairam has found something, though."
"I know not what those might be."
Khairam blinks as he looks into the darker places, after the brightness of the burning sun. It takes but a few moments for the investigator to get his bearings. "Some interesting aspects to this tomb, there surely are" he grumbles to himself as he rubs his hand across his face. He slowly takes his other sand encrusted hand and runs it slowly over the stone, his fingers delicately feeling the indentations. He nods, "Sekh-pa-Mefer III, the Pharaoh of Sphinxes if I'm not mistaken. I wonder is this really his last resting place...hmmm!!"
Hearing the others looked questioningly at the statues, Khairam smiles to himself. "Come now, surely you must recognize this. The statues are of hieracosphinxes. Don't tell me you've not come across these winged creatures with lion bodies and falcon heads before? You know they are cruel and stupid creatures, and often pressed into service by more strong willed and similarly evil beings. Surely this is set up to warn others away from the treasures within. That and maybe they warn of evil within, I hope Akri you are ready to fight such things, as sure as the scorpion has a sting, evil will be within." The investigator says in that self satisfied, lording his superior knowledge. "Well, when you're ready lets move on." he voice syrupy slick, the raspiness gone with his ego fed.
Khairam takes but a step when his arm shoots skyward, "Stop!" he hisses a warning. His satisfaction gone, he seems edgy and concentrates on looking at his surroundings. He takes his backpack off, placing it carefully on the ground, taking out a roll of cloth. He unrolls the cloth revealing a strange selection of metal and wooden tools. He points to the ground in front of him, "A trap, wait whilst I try and neutralize it." He uses a brush to remove the grit and sand around a paving stone, the edges of which now look slightly higher than its neighbors. "Now for the tricky bit..."
"Well done, friend. I may have flown over that, but poor Man here would have been in trouble."
"Already seeing a trap, I'd rather not fly in all on my own, as my eyes are not as keen as Mister Khairam's there."
Eisalka and Man would rather stay toward the middle of the group.
Khairam fiddles with the pressure plate, trying to tinker with its mechanisms without setting it off. Although this trap must be thousands of years old, it's in remarkably good shape. Khairam expertly works around most of the pressure points, disconnecting triggers and the like. With a final click, he adjusts the last one. There is the sound of shifting rock, and a panel in the ceiling opens just a crack as boulders above fall - but then stop, still safely in the ceiling. The doorway behind you to the portico makes sound as well, and the tip of an iron gate pokes down from the ceiling. It seems Khairam has successfully circumvented your burial and barrier to the outside!
The opening to the north leads to the ten-foot wide causeway. It's dimly lit, but there seem to be occasional shafts of light further down the tunnel...
To the north, shafts of sunlight shine down from slots in the ceiling of the long corridor, illuminating the piles of sand that have accumulated beneath each slot. Elaborate carved reliefs, their paint now faded with time, cover the walls on both sides of the passage, depicting the legendary deeds of a great pharaoh.
The hallway continues for quite a ways. Almost four hundred feet down the causeway there's something blocking the path. As you get closer, it becomes clear that there is a ten-foot square stone pyramid in your path. You are currently about 100 feet away from it.
"Khairam, your skills are as advertised."
Akri steps back before continuing his thoughts.
"If Khairam is agreeable- given his acumen with traps and tomfoolery- He and I should take point. My expertise lies more in anticipating danger, and my nose is perpetually attuned to the rot of the undead."
Akri balances his axe and his mace in each hand, seemingly comfortable with each.
"But it's best not to lean too hard on any one teammate. Never know when you need to step up. See this up ahead? an impediment..."
(*additional +2 if Stonecunning counts)
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"No idea what we're looking at here. Of course, that's not my specialty. What is my specialty is bestowing the blessing of my goddess. Care to have a touch of Urgathoa's guidance, Khairam? How about you, Eisalka? Akri?"
"Oh, and if you two want to take point, I'll just go ahead and bring up the rear to ensure no one snatches our bird or her pet man."
And with that, the cleric looks around to see if anyone would like Urgathoa's blessing before he moves to his spot at the back of the order.
"Yes, I'll accompany Akri at the front, I feel safer with an warrior next to me, never did get the hang of using anything much bigger than a dagger for close combat. Personally, I prefer to stand off a bit and use my bow, I have a little more accuracy when using that." Khairam matter of factly, relieved that the trap didn't go off. Beads of perspiration drying on his forehead.
As they move down the corridor, he stops periodically to study the reliefs. "Definitely looks as though this is the tomb of Sekh-pa-Mefer III. You see why he is called the Pharaoh of Sphinxes, see these drawings show him learning the wisdom of the Sphinxes that were in his court. It could prove a very interesting find....hmmm "
Looking up at the pyramid ahead, he scratches his head, "Strange...why is that there?...what is it's purpose?...best be on our guard." he muses.
"That pyramid looks to be animated... I think it'll fight us if we get near!"
"I have little prepared to deal with such things. The best I could offer is damage, and knowing how animated objects resist almost all types of physical damage, it would likely be mostly unhelpful."
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"Crazy thought here, but what if we weaken the supports for the entryway, then one of us gets the construct chase him or her and the rest of us topple the entry on said beastie as it's coming out?"
"Otherwise, we could start peppering it with bolts and arrows and hope for the best," he said, reaching back to touch his light crossbow.
"Crazy thought here, but what if we weaken the supports for the entryway, then one of us gets the construct chase him or her and the rest of us topple the entry on said beastie as it's coming out?"
"Otherwise, we could start peppering it with bolts and arrows and hope for the best," he said, reaching back to touch his light crossbow.
The pyramid looks pretty bulky, and presumably couldn't roll over a blockade of rubble. It could work, but you'd have to find some way to weaken the sturdy, millennia-old stone...
"Hmm. It might take a lifetime to smash it. What if we outrun it?"
"I... am willing to try, I suppose. If it looks like the thing can reach up to me, I will be getting my feathered a$$ out of there."
Eisalka will fly along the ceiling as tightly as possible and try to fly above it.
Eisalka skims the ceiling of the causeway, gently brushing it with her wing tips. As soon as she gets within forty feet of it, it shudders with animation! The raven will be able to easily clear it, but that doesn't stop it from starting to roll forward!
Initiative!
Akri sighs, gripping his clan's waraxe in one hand, and his mace in the other. Eyes focused on the object in the distance, he directs his voice to his mates.
"Get past this thing as best you can. I'll try to get its attention before I try and bull my way past it. I think the faster we can get to the entrance the better."
Akri smiles, crow's feet forming a solid pattern on his visage.
"It's always funny when the dwarf espouses speed, eh?"
Under his breath, Sands, give me strength.
(Akri will move up 20', with a readied action to smack the sand out of the pyramid should it reach him. If it doesn't, he'll move 40' instead.)