Neither Melech nor Ulysses can denote any traps on the door, but they do find the hidden latch and pull the room open. It takes both Melech and Nevai to pull open the heavy sandstone door. The shimmering yellow light of both Nevai's ensorceled shield and the ioun stone hovering above Melech's head spill into this twenty-foot-by-fifteen-foot chamber.
A stone effigy of a humanoid figure stands at the north end of this room, its arms spread in a gesture of supplication, or as if commanding an object to rise in the air. The figure's face is devoid of detail, immediately reminding you of the ankhat that now follows dutifully behind the gnome; it has only vague contours where the eyes and nose should be, and absolutely no mouth. An extensive series of hieroglyphs covers the western wall, opposite a stone bench that stands against the eastern wall.
Stepping over to the hieroglyphs, Ulysses and Melech both read the following:
"Woe to you who would plunder the Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul. Turn away, lest the harsh judgment of the Forgotten One fall upon you and your descendents for a thousand generations. Turn away, for his ka cannot be appeased and it shall call forth legions of the dead and the damned. Turn away, and may the All-Seeing Eye and the Lady of Graves take pity on you, for if not, the Forgotten Pharaoh shall consume you, body and soul."
You also note, in the center of the room directly in front of the stone statue, a large glyph scorched into the sandstone.
Though being heavily sealed for countless centuries has left the room surprisingly pristine, there are clear footprints in the floor here, marked with what appear to be soot and burnt skin. The prints are from a barefoot humanoid, probably male and tall, by their size.
The ka is, in Osirian culture, one of five parts that comprise a person's whole being. The ka is known as the "vital spark," and is often compared to Northerners' concepts of the soul. It is what distinguishes the living from the dead. The dead have no ka anymore, even intelligent ones.
There are subtle indentations around the "face" of the statue, implying a mask or helmet of some sort recently resided there.
The glyph on the ground is a glyph of warding. It was activated recently--no more than two days ago.
The statue to the north contains the faintest traces of magic. You can tell that the magic that was here was in fact overwhelmingly powerful necromancy, but whatever was radiating the aura is gone now and its aura has finally begun to fade.
Interestingly, the necromantic aura, while powerful, does not carry the Evil energies usually accompanying necromantic spells to conjure the dead such as animate dead, but rather a sort of weird, miasmic potentiality fluctuating between good and evil magic.
Nevai sweeps the room with detect magic, particularly interested in the burned glyph on the ground.
Melech frowns. "Well, that's only a little ominous."
Melech points out the footprints and the evidence of a mask. "It looks like someone has been here recently and pilfered whatever was here. I wonder if the legions of the dead and damned took him."
Melech tries to follow the footprints.
Ulysses looks on as Melech tries to track footprints on a hard stone floor.
The tracks appear to be the same barefoot humanoid you noticed on the first floor. You recall now those footsteps vanished as soon as they stepped outside, where the winds caused shifts in the sands on the staircase that eradicated any footprints that might have been.
As to the glyph on the floor, though Nevai can't identify it, he does detect that whatever magic it contained is already fading; at a guess, he'd say it was a glyph spell of some sort that has been triggered and is now inert.
Melech shrugs. "I think whatever was here is long gone. Might as well keep looking around." They leave the room and head around the corner to the chamber where Ulysses found Velriana and Friends.
There is a set of double doors to your northwest. A locked gate blocks your path into the room to the south, where Velriana's bloated corpse still lies. You can unlock the gate with relative ease or just use the southwest gate that is already open.
Ulysses pops the gate open with his eyes closed, then takes a look around the room.
+2 traps
Two rows of columns support the vaulted ceiling of this large chamber. Inscribed hieroglyphs cover most of the room's walls, but the southern wall is rough and unfinished. Three passages, each with a bronze gate (though now only the southeast passage remains closed) exit the room to the north, southeast, and southwest.
Aside from the hieroglyphs on the wall--most of which are simply prayers to Nethys or expositions on the glories of magic--there appears to be nothing of interest in this room, aside from the dead Hypaxes. She does still have a very fancy wide-brimmed hat with a large white peacock feather jutting from it. Very fashionable.
Ulysses checks the southeast gate for traps and then unlocks it.
One unlocked, he examines the hallway beyond.
+2 traps
The gate unlocks as easily as the northern one. The hallway beyond appears to be untrapped. Stepping around the corner, you find yourself before a set of huge stone double doors, stretching nearly fifteen feet up to the ceiling, engraved with a massive symbol of Nethys: a humanoid face split down the middle. The left door's half is trimmed with some dark stone, possibly obsidian; the right door's half is trimmed with what is clearly alabaster.
Ulysses looks up at the door with unconcealed awe. "Now, that is cool." He reaches out a hand to touch it, but stops himself just short. "Don't touch it yet! Let me check it."
+2 traps
The doors appear to be neither trapped nor locked.
Swinging them open, you enter into a tomb that you presume can only belong to the founder and first high priest of the Sanctum. Hieroglyphs cover the walls, denoting the name of the first high priest as Djedihepet, and that he died in a year in an ancient calendar that takes a moment (and a bit of mental math) to suss out was probably -1599 AR. Below that, it reads, "A wise counselor, trusted keeper of secrets, and good friend to the Pharaoh." In the middle of the room, a large and majestic stone sarcophagus rests atop a raised stone platform, and several clay jars sit on the floor nearby. Two lacquered benches stand near the doors.
The Pharaoh during that year was Djederet II, original founder of Wati.
There is a small button hidden near the head of the sarcophagus.
"Well, what do we have here?" He looks at the others. "Prepare yourselves. I don't know what this is going to do."
He gives it a once over for traps, then presses the button if all seems safe.
All seems well and Ulysses presses the button. It is only as it depresses from his finger that he realizes the cleverness of the glyph's placement on the side of the button. Despite its small size, it packs a wallop; the glyph erupts into a blast of electricity that engulfs both Ulysses and the ankhat standing guard next to him.
The electricity rips through Ulysses but the ankhat manages to duck the worst of it .
As the wild shock of the gnome's hair stands on end and sizzles a bit, hidden floor tracks pull open a small hidden compartment next to the sarcophagus. It contains:
- a small pearl radiating magic (!)
- a ring radiating magic
Sliding off the sarcophagus lid, you find the mummified remains of Djedihepet, as well as the mummified remains of a large rat. He wears a simple onyx funerary mask and a gold and black-enameled holy symbol.
The mask is worth 20gp. The holy symbol is worth 50gp.
The ring is a ring of the grasping grave.
The pearl is, of course, a 1st-level pearl of power.[/ooc]
Ulysses grimaces as his muscles seize up in little aftershocks from the trap. "I can't believe I missed that." He looks up at the ankhat. "You okay, buddy?" When it doesn't reply, he mumbles "rude" and begins to examine the goodies.
He hands the mask and holy symbol to Melech and the ring and pearl to Nevai. "Any ideas?"
Melech just shrugs and drops the mask in the pack. He takes a closer look at the holy symbol.
Nevai shakes his head. "Sorry. I can try again tomorrow." He looks over the mask and holy symbol.
"Well, that's a little underwhelming. Let's check out those doors we passed."
He returns to the doors and checks them out.
+2 traps
The doors are unlocked and neither Ulysses nor Melech find any traps on it. You pull open the huge double doors to reveal a large silver summoning circle inlaid in the floor tiles near the center of this octagonal chamber. In the northeast corner of the room, a set of narrow steps leads up to a raised dais. A concave stone bench, almost a throne, perches atop the dais, flanked by two bronze braziers. Four columns carved in the form of fantastic creatures support the room's vaulted ceiling: a winged woman with hawk features, wings and arms raised in supplication; a cloud in a distinctly feminine humanoid shape, wielding powerful spells; a skeleton in tattered robes, bright eyes seeming to glow from the statue; and a winged, angelic creature that appears to be wearing a metallic mask.
The columns each represent one of Nethy's favored creatures. The hawk-winged woman is Yamasha, a master of conjuration and enchantment; the feminine cloud is Nethys' herald, the Arcanotheign; the skeletal spellcaster is the powerful lich Taral; and the angelic creature is the trumpet archon Bard.
Ulysses walks around the room (expressly avoiding stepping on the summoning circle), in awe of the craftsmanship. He doesn't know what any of it means, but he knows how to look for goodies.
+2 traps
He points at the circle. "Don't step on that, just in case."
Melech carefully puts the foot that was about to step into the circle back down where it was, then skirts around it to examine the room.
His head still swims a little. Even after Ptemenib's healing magics, Nevai is finding it hard to concentrate on any task overlong. He wanders near the dais to inspect it.
Too late, Ulysses realizes he made the mistake of not giving the ankhat the command in Ancient Osiriani not to step on the summoning circle. As the gnome steps further into the room to investigate, it walks across the summoning circle and stands on it, waiting patiently for his master's orders. Time seems to slow down as the whole party turns in horrified unison to look at the ankhat and
...
absolutely
...
nothing
...
happens.
Nevai breathes an audible sigh of relief that that turns into, "Whewwwwooooooohhhhgodlookoutmelech!!" as the statue next to Melech, the one shaped like the feminine cloud, swings down a stone longsword hard at the slayer's face.
[color=green]
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Statue 1 (0 dmg)
Statue 2 (0 dmg)
Melech (49/49 hp)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
These are lesser constructs known as caryatid columns. They are often used in places of worship to guard sacred sites. They can be given simple commands but are otherwise mindless.
While not as potent as their golem counterparts, caryatid columns share their immunity to nearly all magic and are difficult to damage. They have DR 5/-. In fact, caryatid columns are magically treated to be hyper-dense, and can shatter weapons on impact. Any weapon that strikes the column takes 3d6 damage (after hardness).
The magic immunity of caryatid columns are bypassed by a small selection of spells.
- Transmute rock to mud deals 1d6 damage per caster level to the caryatid column (no save).
- Transmute mud to rock immediately heals any and all damage currently suffered by the caryatid column.
- Stone to flesh does not actually alter the column's structure, but it does negate its damage reduction and spell immunity for 1 round.
"Caryatid columns! Don't attack with weapons! That means you, Melech!"
He points at the column accosting Melech and says "hujum" to the ankhat.
Then he tosses a bomb at #1.
The caryatid column on Ulysses, the hawk-woman statue, steps forward with staff in hand and swings at the gnome, but the staff bounces off his toughened hide without doing any lasting damage.
Melech is not so lucky. Though he spotted the column even as Nevai was shouting his warning, the slayer wasn't quite quick enough to get out of the way of its attack, taking the butt of the staff hard to the chest.
[color=green]
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (14 dmg)
Caryatid Column 2 (0 dmg)
Melech (40/49 hp)
Ankhat (0 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
No weapons. Huh.
Melech is momentarily at a loss for what to do, then he hears Ulysses's bomb impact the other statue. He turns and sees all of the gnome's goodies hanging from his belt. Shrugging, he steps back toward Ulysses and sheathes his falchion, then plucks an alchemist's fire off of his companion's belt.
The fight begins in earnest!
[color=green]
Ulysses (32/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (14 dmg)
Caryatid Column 2 (0 dmg)
Melech (40/49 hp)
Ankhat (0 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Ulysses steps away from #1 and tosses another bomb.
The bomb easily finds its mark again and blasts an impressive chunk of marble off the column; the hawk-woman is now missing several fingers and one of her wings. The statue appears not to notice as it slams into the alchemist's arm hard with its quarterstaff. There may be a hairline fracture in there now.
Melech's statue, the cloud-lady, also manages to land a hard blow, smacking against the slayer's thigh hard enough to send a shock of agony down to his foot and up into his stomach.
[color=green]
Ulysses (24/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (29 dmg)
Caryatid Column 2 (0 dmg)
Melech (34/49 hp)
Ankhat (0 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Melech grunts and curses that he can't use his weapons. He remembers that they have weapons in the pack, but digging through a bag is not the way to spend a combat.
He tosses the alchemist's fire at #1, hoping to take it down so they only have to face one of these things.
The fire splashes out to the southwest of the column, catching both it and the ankhat in the splash.
The ankhat steps up and slams its fists down at the caryatid column. Only one of the two fists connects, and doesn't even seem to have scuffed the construct.
[color=green]
Ulysses (24/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (29 dmg)
Caryatid Column 2 (0 dmg)
Melech (34/49 hp)
Ankhat (0 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Nevai, hearing that weapons are not the way to go against these things, does something that the others have never seen him do: he points one long finger at the first caryatid column, and a crackling bolt of electricity leaps forward toward it.
The battle continues in earnest!
[color=green]
Ulysses (24/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (30 dmg)
Caryatid Column 2 (0 dmg)
Melech (34/49 hp)
Ankhat (1 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Ulysses sighs as he throws another bomb. There are only so many of these per day...
The first caryatid column cracks in half from the force of the blast, scorching and melting the marble of the column as it crumbles into two pieces.
The second column, unperturbed by its comrade's fall, swings its quarterstaff at Melech's face, but telegraphs the swing so loud Melech hardly even has to move to avoid it.
[color=green]
Ulysses (24/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (45 dmg, dead)
Caryatid Column 2 (0 dmg)
Melech (34/49 hp)
Ankhat (1 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Melech studies the remaining statue, even as he steps away from it. He digs in the party stash and pulls out one of the masterwork scimitars.
The ankhat sinks into the floor, and the floor next to the remaining caryatid column bulges up and shapes into the ankhat, its bulbous fist slamming hard into the cloud-woman's arm, cracking the marble significantly even through its DR.
[color=green]
Ulysses (24/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (45 dmg, dead)
Caryatid Column 2 (4 dmg)
Melech (34/49 hp)
Ankhat (1 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Nevai looks down at the khopesh from Akhentepi's tomb and sighs. He is a terrible shot with his electric arc, but he has few other options. He does not want to risk what is essentially a relic to fight these cursed things. He points once more and fires at the caryatid column.
Both the ankhat and Nevai's electric bolt smash into the column and leave cracks and scorches. It's finally been scuffed, but it's a long way from destroyed.
[color=green]
Ulysses (24/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (45 dmg, dead)
Caryatid Column 2 (11 dmg)
Melech (34/49 hp)
Ankhat (1 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Ulysses moves to the doorway to give himself a better shot and throws another bomb.
Clearly displeased at the massive explosion that just blasted off entire pieces of it, the caryatid column lumbers forward toward Ulysses and getting a wallop on the side for its troubles as the ankhat swings angrily . The column bears down on the gnome with its stone quarterstaff and cracks it against his arm, but thankfully his hardened skin deflects just enough of it to keep the blow from shattering his arm bone.
[color=green]
Ulysses (19/32 hp)
Caryatid Column 1 (45 dmg, dead)
Caryatid Column 2 (29 dmg)
Melech (34/49 hp)
Ankhat (1 dmg)
Nevai (30/30 hp)
[/color]
Now that he has a weapon he doesn't mind destroying, Melech approaches #2 and swings it in a mighty two-handed blow.
The scimitar buries itself into the caryatid column, sticking with a loud BWANGGG! as the thin blade wobbles in place. Shockingly, the scimitar appears to be entirely unscathed. However, neither does the caryatid column.
At least, at first.
It raises its staff to bring it down on Melech's head, but as its stony limbs stretch upward, the small cracks around the wedged scimitar begin to expand. It looks down and watches impassively as it steadily begins to split in half from the force of the scimitar blow. Its cloudy, nebulous, feminine "face" turns back to Melech and says, "Mak-te in'jut Nethys kal pahmak."
Then the top half releases from the bottom, and falls to the ground, shattering into hundreds of pieces.
COMBAT OVER!
In the rubble of the first caryatid column, some dull gray bit of metal can just be seen.
As the dust settles on the fight, you feel invigorated, mighty even. Like you learned something here today. Like you