The hawk on Khufu's shoulder screechs briefly as the small winged creature swoops down on them.
Khufu settles Little Ra and studies the little masked critter.
"My goodness! It is a Nosoi. A little psychopomp that serves as a messenger in the afterlife. I have no idea what it is doing here."
Nak'T brandishes his glaive and watches the curious thing in continued confusion since his awakening.
"Easy there Nak'tack ....." Khufu struggles with the half-dragon's name.
"I don't know what it wants, but these little Nosoi aren't known to be dangerous."
"A Nosoi? Never heard of it. But you say it's a messenger? Wasn't that Ptemenib the priest we met at the temple? Do you suppose that priest sent this messenger?"
Irakelesh cocks his head to the side and watches the bird creature curiously. He makes a tentative gesture to reach a hand out to it hoping it will land on his arm.
Khufu furrows his brows and shrugs.
"That might be the case. He might be have been able to summon up this little creature as a messenger."
"Easy little friend." Khufu says to the little outsider.
"You must speak slowly if we are going to understand your message."
The bird slows down and eventually lands on Irakelesh's outstretched arm. It takes a few breaths and then finally speaks in common "Yes, yes... sorry, sorry... the important-ness of my message-atude had me in a tizy. My friend of all friend-ness Mr. Ptemenib has been imprison-ated! I could not stop the bad-ness of the men in taking him..."
She pauses and takes another few breaths, still trying to calm herself. "I think-s it not good to go to the friends of Ptemenib at the church-iless. Worried his recklessness-atude get him in trouble. Saw you all at the auction Qasin did, so here I finally find-ed you to help. Yes?" She finishes the last part as a question.
"Where is Ptemenib being held? We should rescue him now as they chruch will need him and all their priests in the time to come. Qasin can you take us to where he is?" Aliva asks
Qasin hops about on Irakelesh's arm excitedly when Aliva agrees to help "Yes, yes! Qasin can take you all new friend-isness's to Mr. Ptemenib. You follow Qasin, the fastest-ed you can, yes?" She flits off Irakelesh's arm and starts flying to the west. Repeatedly turning around to make sure you are following calling out "Come, come! This way to save-th Mr. Ptemenib!"
The journey takes to all the way across town to the Veins district. Nestled between Midwife and Bargetown, Wati’s harbor district stacks block upon block with woodcarvers, tar kilns, warehouses, and whatever shanties can be crammed between them. Its myriad shallow canals breed unabating clouds of insects, the bites of which spot the bodies of the locals, who stain their hands and cheeks with pitch to repel the pests.
Along the way, Qasin explains what she knows of what has happened up to this point telling you that Ptemenib recognized some members of a local gang, the Silver Chain gang, at the auction, before things went south he followed them to their secret hideout where he was eventual captured by strange masked figures before being dragged underground. She also offers her meager magic to assist you in rescuing her friend.
Eventually she brings to the Bright River Brickworks. Two fire-scarred mud-brick walls and a half-dozen crumbling clay kilns are all that remains of the building that once stood in this weed-choked lot. A boarded-up, scorched door stands in the southeast corner where the walls join. Qasin flies over toward the door calling "This way!"
Opening the only door still standing you see the floorboards of this ramshackle, soot-stained office have been pried up and used to construct a crude stairway leading underground. The air is quite musty.
With nothing hindering your progress Qasin lands on Irakelesh's shoulder, since he had offered himself as a perch before, as you head down the stairs. The stink of mildew and stale incense fills the air in this long chamber. Sputtering lanterns provide just enough light to reveal peeling paint on the walls and a floor covered in sand. The rickety staircase you just descended leads up to the north, while sturdy wooden doors exit the hall to the east and west.
Khufu casts Light on the tip of his spear.
"Interesting. I wonder what sort of place this is." Irakelesh moves forward to the closest door and examines it. "If this is a secret, well, not so secret, hideout, they might have traps on these doors." He cautiously checks it. Once done with the first door he moves to the second and checks it also.
Irakelesh moves up toward the first door to check it for traps, but as soon he steps close to the door a hatch swings out from beneath him and Aliva as the floor drops out beneath their feet.
"Ahhhhh!" Irakelesh lets out a howl as he trips the trap.
Both Irakelesh and Aliva are in total shock as the floor just vanishes from underneath them and they fall thirty feet down into a dark pit, with a sickening crunch.
Nak'T spreads his wings and gauges the pit's breadth before deciding it is large enough. He then begins lowering himself down to them on his wings. Once there, he holds a claw out to them and flies them back up one at a time.
"Ouch!!!" Khufu calls out.
He quickly looks to see if his companions and the little Nosoi are ok.
"That was not what I expected at all. Who digs a pit like that in a town?" Aliva asks those who are local.
Aliva and Irakelesh are pretty banged up from the fall. The pit itself was a well constructed trap. It was counter weighted so that only if you stepped on the southern portion of the trap would it actually trigger. It was a good thing more people weren't standing on top of it when it triggered.
After Nak't flies the others across the pit, Irakelesh resumes his work of checking the doors and gives the all clear on both of them, while the group decides their next moves.
Irakelesh
Aliva pulls out her healing wand and touches herself then Irakelesh. "We should be good now" Aliva says.
Khufu tells Aliva: "I have a healing wand as well. Should yours run low on power you are welcome to use it."
Landing with a thud at the bottom of the pit, Irakelesh groans. He turns to see Aliva on the bottom with him. "That wasn't fun." He grimaces with a sharp pain in his rib cage. With effort, he accepts Nak't's help to get out of the pit.
"That was not what I expected at all. Who digs a pit like that in a town?" Aliva asks those who are local.
"Yeah, I have no idea. Obviously someone didn't want us to find this place. Secret lair, or treasure room, or bandit's hideout. Oooh, ooh, I know, it's probably a backdoor into a long lost undead king's underground kingdom. I'm sure that's it!"
Once Aliva applies the healing wand Irakelesh stretches and then continues down the hall to check the other doors. "Ok. Now what?"
"This is supposed to be the secret hide-out of a criminal gang."
"I think we should try the east door." Khufu says.
"Better check it for traps to make sure it's safe."
Checking the door and finding no traps the group procceds to the east. Four stone wells fill much of this otherwise unremarkable room. Disassembled mechanical remains lie scattered around plumbing connections in the southeast corner. There is a door immediately to the north and it looks like the room opens up further north. You see another set of double doors heading north, across the room to the east.
Khufu holds his spear, the tip shining brightly with light, up high to get a better view of the room.
"Some sort of sewer or plumbing system for a larger structure?" he asks the others.
He studies the mechanical artifacts for a moment.
Then he walks up to look in the nearest well.
Aliva follows beside Khuf as they walk when she can. "A maze almost down here." Aliva says scanning the room.
Khufu takes a look at the mechanical remains while Aliva looks around the room. From what Khufu can tell these 30-foot-deep sump wells serve a dual purpose of keeping the basement from flooding with water from the nearby canals and storing water, likely for fire control and use
during the dry season of the ruined brickworks above. The various parts appear to be supplies for repairs to the pump, but it looks like they have had mixed success.
Both Kufu and Aliva can hear something, a light tapping coming from inside the southern well.
"Someone or something is tapping." Aliva says stopping dead in her tracks, once she is sure of the location, Aliva moves over to the Southern Wall.
Seeing the increased tension in the people with odd tongues, Nak'T tightens his grip on his glaive and steps forward along with them.
Ai'sha moves along with the group.
"Tapping? What kind of tapping? It is a code or message or something?" Irakelesh moves to where Aliva is and tries to hear the tapping himself. He glances around at the wells and tools and machinery. [b]"Ahhhh. The all too familiar machines for dealing with floods. Oh, and fires.
Getting closer, it sounds like the tapping is coming from inside the sump well. Climbing up a nearby ladder and looking inside you see Ptemenib, beaten, bound, and deprived of his holy symbol at the bottom. With a concerted effort you are able to get him out and free him.
Qasin flits about happily and finally comes to land on Ptemenib's shoulder after he sits up, rubbing his sore wrists from the binding. Qasin pecks him in the head once as he says "You do all the stupidness coming here alone, but Qasin is glad you are ok dear friend of all friend-ness. Qasin bring help!" she motions toward the group, though it is already obvious you were here to help.
Ptemenib smiels and pet's Qasin's head gently before looking to the group. He looks exhausted and pretty beaten up but happy to be saved "Thank you all for coming to rescue me. I cannot offer much aid without rest, but I can offer some information. The Silver Chain now serves a new master, a man in a golden mask, who dwells in the next room. I exhausted almost all of my spells when captured, but if we can find my holy symbol, I can channel energy to heal you if needed. Once I get my gear I would like to return to the Grand Mausoleum."
"Pardon me and excuse my ignorance, but who exactly are the Silver Chain?"
The man laughs uneasily "Oh... sorry, these grave-robbing gangs are of personal interest to me, sometimes I forget others may not be as interested..." Qasin just shakes her head at her friend.
He slowly makes his way to his feet holding on to what can only be assumed to be a bruised or broken rib. "They are one of Wati’s oldest criminal organizations, the Silver Chain claims to take its name from the first major score its members made, a valuable lifted from the great cleric Nefru Shepses when he first arrived to bring order to Wati.
The secret to the gang’s longevity is also the secret to its fortune: the Silver Chain targets only the dead for robbery. While not the cleverest criminals in Wati, the Silver Chain’s members are talented tomb robbers accustomed to scaling walls, uncovering lost secrets, and dodging ingenious traps in the inky darkness of tombs. Less violent than most underworld gangs, the Silver Chain even hires its members out as guides for adventurers and scholars. Of course, their clients are just as likely to be relieved of their valuable finds as they are to profit from them."
Aliva hands the man her water skin before looking around the room from where they are for anything of interest.
"What can you tell us of this leader in the next room? He wears a Golden mask for what purpose?'
Ptemenib gladly takes the offered water and drinks deeply from it. When he finishes he hands it back with a brief bow of his head and replies "Honestly, not much, though I admit I've never seen anyone like that associated with the gang before. He wears a funerary mask, like you would entomb with a mummy. I have the feeling he would have had me killed if it weren't for the other gang members fearing ill luck for dispatching a priest of Pharasma..."
"In any case, from what I've overheard he has most of the gang scouring the necropolis for some artifact, another funerary mask, but I know little else."
He frowns and points to the double doors to the east "He and his few remaining men are in there."
To the north you see the room continues on and then heads west where it appears it has been turned into a dormitory of some sorts. Eight bunks provide accommodation for gang members who are guarding the brickworks or need a place to lie low. A rickety shelf in one corner is crowded with books about Osirionology. The smaller room to the southwest is a storeroom converted into a makeshift game room and bar. The dormitory is currently unoccupied.
Ptemenib nods his head toward the west as he notes "When they brought me down, after they had stripped me of my gear, they took my stuff that way through the other door leading off the main hall down here."
"A mask, you say? Hey guys, didn't find a missing mask in that last tomb we were in? Remember? Or maybe I'm just imagining things." Irakelesh idly strokes his short, pointed beard. "Hmm. Ok. So this mask guy. We need to take him out, I'm sure. Curious as to what he's up to. Oh look! There are books here!"
Irakelesh moves swiftly to the books on Osirionology and starts leafing through them.
Khufu switches his spear to his left hand and pulls out his Wand of Scorching Ray to get ready for the next fight.
Nak'T fidgets about uneasily as the others talk in their foreign, undignified tongue.
"ምን እየተካሄደ ነው? ወደ ትክክለኛው ቋንቋ ለመተርጎም የሆነ ሰው አለ?"
Irakelesh looks through the books briefly and while interesting, they don't appear to be anything of real value past a good read.
When Khufu starts prepparing for a fight Ptemenib holds his hands up for them to pause "If you plan to fight now, you will need to do so alone. Without my gear I can't be of much help. Though assuming you win I can hide and heal you afterwards."
When the half-dragon speaks up Ptemenib turns his attention to him with a bit of a smile and introduces himself in ancient osiriani and explains what has transpired. Though once he finishes he gives him a questioning look and asks in the ancient tongue.
"We can deal with the tomb robbers." Khufu says back to Irakelesh.
To the others he asks: "Are we ready?"
"You said your gear was over in that direction?" Irakelesh points west. "Let's go get that first. Khufu, maybe that would be better. I think everyone would agree that prepared is better than not prepared. That was something one of my nannies used to tell me in the palace. Always, 'Little Kelli, always be prepared. Great things are coming your way'. She always thought that some amazing thing was about to happen. Sadly, she died before that 'great thing' happened, whatever it was. But I still remember to always be prepared. You know, making plans, getting equipment, knowing your enemy, discussing the plans, oh, and talking about the enemy too. That's important. There was a famous book I read once about that."
He pauses for a breath then continues. "The book said something about knowing your enemy was the first step to defeat. Or was it victory? No, it was defeat, but your enemy's defeat -- which would be your victory. So I guess it said that knowing your enemy was the first step to both defeat and victory. Hmm. That's confusing..."
He stops talking and looks at the rest of the group. "So we're ready to start?"
Nak'T turns to the creature and then replies in his language.
"West is fine with me."
"Alright, lets go west first."
"Yes we get Ptemenib his stuff back then we head out to confront this leaader in a mask, what colour was the mask so we know?" Aliva asks before heading to the western door.
As you head back to the west Ptemenib replies to Aliva "It was a golden mask."
Opening the door to the west, cracked ceramic tiles cover the walls and columns in this expansive chamber. In the center of the room, iron posts connected by chains delineate several smaller subsections, each crowded with boxes, crates, urns, and sarcophagi. The stink of soot and the leathery smell of death hangs heavy in the air. There is another set of doors across the room to the west and on the southern wall, though the southern route appears to have been boarded up.