Meebo has been distracted, following along while inspecting some of her salvaged goods, but the sudden familiar commonness of a bedroom in the midst of these weird ruins brings her out of her own head.
What was this place, anyway? Out here, in the middle of the desert. Weird old machinery and traps. And now there was some guy's bedroom? Who would live out here? What were they doing here? She mulled over what she knew of the area's history, from her studies, before she'd been expelled.
Baheera's investigation of the corpse notices a rather large stinger sticking out the back of the discolored arm. The genie-kin's best guess is that the hobgoblin died from the poison associated with that sting.
Myev looks around the room, but doesn't notice anything odder than the room itself, with its rotting furniture and desiccated corpse decor. As she approaches the bronze door in the eastern wall, she hears an insect-like buzzing from beyond the door.
Despite being thoroughly trained in the history, both modern and ancient, of half of Faerun, Meebo is still unable to fully understand what sort of culture lived here, although she is certainly seeing telltale signs that whoever once lived here were human - or very close to it at least.
Utsuri rummages through the desk and finds only wooden symbol on a leather necklace. The symbol is in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Myev shudders and lets out a grossed-out sound, pointing at the door. "Something's buzzing on the other side - might be more of those little bloodsuckers we fought earlier."
After she informs the group, she'll go and stand next to Tek and look down at the gnome with a concerned frown. "You alright, man? You looked like you were having a rough time outside that door, kinda like how the vets would describe having one of their flashbacks," Myev says to him, pitching her voice low for discretion's sake.
Silas enters in cautiously, the light from his holy symbol washing over the room. Looking around the room, he approaches the body as well and observes the dry, dessicated arm that was stung by the stinger.
He is unfamiliar with the poison but it must've been great for it to have caused such a lingering wound on the arm of the hobgoblin. When Myev speaks up, Silas shakes his head.
"That or perhaps whatever has such a stinger like this? I can only imagine how excruciating the pain was." Silas says, looking over at the half-orc and the gnome. He remains quiet but watches the whispered interaction, a mild look of concern before his attention turns back to the room.
Myev shudders and lets out a grossed-out sound, pointing at the door. "Something's buzzing on the other side - might be more of those little bloodsuckers we fought earlier."
"I think it might be something worse. See the discolored arm? There's a stinger of something insectoid that broke off in it. He most likely died of poison." Baheera explains. "Which means whatever is on the other side of that door is probably pretty nasty, and we should be ready for it."
"Huh?!" Tekumbray starts. His thoughts still somewhat trapped in the past. Finally, his eyes focus on the slightly worried face of Myev. A offers her a quick shake of his head and weak smile.
"Oh...no. I'll be fine." He says quietly, a bit embarrassed at having let the memories get the better of him, even if only for a few moments. Despite his best efforts to come across hardy and hail, his voice still comes across as tired, worn thin, even a bit distant.
"This place. It just reminds me of another where...where some bad things happened." He says. "I'll be alright." He adds before nodding toward the buzzing door and drawing his short blade.
"Sounds like there is plenty on the other side of that door to keep my mind focused on the present."
"Huh?!" Tekumbray starts. His thoughts still somewhat trapped in the past. Finally, his eyes focus on the slightly worried face of Myev. A offers her a quick shake of his head and weak smile.
"Oh...no. I'll be fine." He says quietly, a bit embarrassed at having let the memories get the better of him, even if only for a few moments. Despite his best efforts to come across hardy and hail, his voice still comes across as tired, worn thin, even a bit distant.
"This place. It just reminds me of another where...where some bad things happened." He says. "I'll be alright." He adds before nodding toward the buzzing door and drawing his short blade.
"Sounds like there is plenty on the other side of that door to keep my mind focused on the present."
Myev nods, her face softening slightly at the gnome's response. "Happens to the best of us, Tek. But yeah, we should...be prepared for more bugs."
She nods to Baheera, grinning at the woman with appreciation.
"Unless there's anything else, we should be ready to tackle whatever is on the other side of this door. When you all are ready, I'll open the door, let you all blast whatever's on the other side, then I'll charge in..." She hefts her maul across both shoulders as if she's a milkmaid carrying pails, one arm looped around it in a relaxed fashion. "I mean...if someone else has an idea, I'm definitely open to it. I'm not the boss or anything." She has the grace to look a tad embarrassed about all but barking orders, but she's used to taking command and doesn't actually feel that bad about it.
Having searched the desk, Utsuri moves to the chair and finds it nothing more remarkable than a chair constructed of dry-rotted wood.
Likewise, as he moves to the bed, they nearly choke on the dust cloud generated by the tattered blankets rotting remains of the bed's mattress.
Finally, opening the small chest at foot of the bed, they find priest's vestments made of blue silk and adorned with gold trim and chain mail shirt. Under the vestments and armor, there is a golden mask in the form of stern faced, bearded man with braided hair, and small leather bag that contains 15 gold coins of a minting that they nor anyone else in the party have ever seen - although you all suspect the coins would spend just fine in any shop in Faerun.
Myev carefully opens the bronze door in the eastern wall of chamber to reveal a twenty foot by thirty foot chamber. In the center of the room you see a ten-foot-tall cage. In the bottom of the cage is a pile of coins and gems. Hanging from the top of the cage is a giant beehive. Several large one-foot long bees are buzzing around the room. The mesh of the cage is wide enough for the bees to fly through. There is also a one-foot square hole high in the south wall.
Meebo poked her head between Myev's knees to peer into the room. "Bees! Bah, if I had time I might be able to make something that'd smoke up the room and make them fall asleep or whatever smoke does to bees, but I don't have anything on me that'd work," she whispered.
Eyes widening as she peers inside, Baheera steps into the doorway, her eyes swirling with the dark grey of a roiling inner storm as she channels the power shared with her by her patron, unleashing a powerful burst of cacophonous thunder that echoes through the area.
- fail
All others die regardless of making the save or not.
Baheera, obviously having no time for flying pests, unleashes a wave of destruction in the room dropping all but one of the large, stinging insects to the ground. The lone survivor unsteadily flies toward the one foot hole in the south wall.
Beyond the cage, now that the room is no longer obscured by flying insects, you see two bronze doors in the eastern wall.
Seeing the giant bees, Tek quickly switches out blade for bow, only to watch as Baheera calmly swats the creatures down with her southern magic. With only one remaining and it looked to be on the run, the gnome simply slips his bow back in its sheath and take a closer look at the room and opposite doors.
"Not sure we should really leave it..." Myev says, gritting her teeth slightly and charging into the room to try to swing at the remaining bee.
Myev, deciding that total elimination of any potential enemy is the best course of action, proceeds to smash the remaining large bee into the wall of the chamber.
Tek begins to investigate the room. He finds laying in the bottom of the cage, covered with a splattering of honey, a large number of silver coins, roughly a quarter of that in gold, two red garnets, and a gold chalice set with tiny emeralds.
Moving on towards the doors, both bronze doors appear to be similar to the one you had just entered through. As you get closer to the doors, you hear voices coming from beyond - speaking some strange dialect of the common tongue.
As the sounds of rolling thunder fade, Baheera grins as she sashays into the chambers, her grin widening at the sight of the accumulated coins and gems, picking up the chalice and studying it with a professional eye.
She shares a look with her companions at the sound of voices near the doors.
"Well, assuming we don't die in here, and also find a way out of the desert without dying of hunger, thirst, heat stoke, or another sand storm...we'll be rich." She stepped gingerly around the dead giant bees.
The desert witch was welcome to the hoard as far as Tekumbray was concerned. She'd vanquished the bees with a wave of her hand. It was all hers.
The more pressing concern to the suspicious gnome, were the voices beyond the door. The hobgoblin's bereaved ancestors? Hungry ghouls looking for a bit of honey to sweeten their anticipated gnome steaks? His thoughts run wild as he crosses the room. Once again slipping his sword into his hand he approaches the door and pauses off to the side. Waits for whoever it is to come bursting through to investigate the thunderous blast that had just rattled the whole place.
"Well, assuming we don't die in here, and also find a way out of the desert without dying of hunger, thirst, heat stoke, or another sand storm...we'll be rich." She stepped gingerly around the dead giant bees.
"Yeah, and I wonder the odds at that..." Myev says wryly, nodding at her gnomish friend. They'd faced a few weird things during their short time together, but nothing quite like a labyrinthine structure in the middle of a desert.
She approaches the door after Tek, maul at the ready, and loudly whispers to the group: "Maybe we can get the drop on them? Be ready."
The group prepares for what or whoever lies beyond the bronze doors to come investigate.
"You go too far this time, Magi! Prepare to meet Gorm's Justice!" you hear from beyond the door.
Both doors fly open to reveal a total ten men dressed in blue tabbards and iron chainmail, each wears a golden mask.
Seeing the motley assortment of folks in the chamber with the cage, gives the blue clad humanoids pause, as if they are a bit confused.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Myev puts her maul down against her side, easy to pick back up, and holds up her hands in the universal, 'I mean no harm!' gesture. "What in the world are you talking about? What Magi? Who's Gorm?"
"These will make valuable donations towards the church. Who knows how many lives will be able to be saved with a portion of these riches?" Silas thinks for a moment, imagining how many diamonds could be purchased and lives lost before their time returned to the world. "My share, of course. I wouldn't want to assume what you all do with yours." The cleric shared with a smile as they made their way to the door where voices spoke up. As the door were opened, they were confronted with ten masked individuals in the midst of some sort of heated discussion.
"Oh! H-Hello there! We've stumbled across your...home? We mean you no trouble." The cleric offers, his smile wide as he follows Myev's lead.
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Tekumbray is just as startled and caught by surprise at the sight and actions of the mask-clad folk beyond the door. He'd been expecting red eyed skeletal undead or disease riddled, flesh eating ghouls. The sight of some ancient god worshipping cultists with an obvious dislike for scholars of the arcane arts leaves him momentarily speechless. Instead of clanging steel and screams of the wounded and dying, Tekumbray hears the mild voice of Silas greeting the puzzled newcomers.
Taking a cue from the priest of Lathander, Tekumbray steps forward and sweeps his hat from his head while conducting a deep bow.
"Greetings strangers." He says rising from the formal bow. "It is truly as my good companion and chosen of Lathander says. We are travelers waylaid and brought low by the recent desert storm. The only survivors of a caravan brought low by the Dark Lady's storm riddled luck. Thinking this place long abandoned, we entered seeking shelter from the elements and with the distant hope of locating water or food that might help us finish our desert crossing."
"While we did indeed use a bit of magical means to dispatch several giant bees which had taken residence in this chamber, I would say none of us would be considered Magi of great power. And most certainly we harbor no ill will toward Gorm, his justice, or those who serve him." He plops his hat back upon his head and smiles at the opposing strangers. "In fact, it is with great gladness to encounter living, breathing folk who are not nefarious hobgoblin's in nature."
Meebo tried to recall an old saying she'd heard, something about one brush stroke too many ruining a masterpiece. She didn't think anything she said would make their introduction any better, so she affected her best cute, harmless look and hoped that behind the masks these people were not hobgoblins, or Tek's last sentence would land pretty differently.
One man, whose mask and robes appear to be a bit more ornate than those worn by the others steps forward.
In an oddly and heavily accented dialect of the common tongue, the man says, "Hmmm...you are not the orange skinned ones, neither are you any obvious followers of Usamigaras, Madarua, nor the vile one, Zargon...you have killed our bees, and that cannot go unpunished. How have you come here? The upper reaches have been buried beneath the sands for day immemorial."
"You....are quite right of that. I cannot profess the religious ideologies of my compatriots but I am a humble servant of Lathander the Morning Lord." At the mention of punishment, a frown spread across the cleric's face before shaking his head. "The same storm that waylaid our caravan exposed a passageway into your...temple, I assume? We apologize for slaying your pets and guardians, you must understand that we are just as surprised to find anyone living here. Perhaps amends could made?" There had to be something that these people wanted right? The cleric tried to go through his mind, looking for any of the names that the man mentioned.
Silas is very certain it was not on any of the tests he had to take.
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Myev steps back slightly, slowly, letting those better at talking take center stage, and moves to stand near Meebo. She looks down at the gnome, a confused expression on her face, and asks quietly: "What the hell is a Zargon?"
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"He's the vile one, they just said so." Meebo whispered back to Myev, never taking her eyes from the strangers.
"It is as my reflective friend says." Tek adds waving a hand upward toward the ceiling. "Tymora, Lady of Fortune has finally looked with a gracious eye upon your once buried realm. The sands have shifted and now this place sits exposed once again to the bright light of the sun."
As he and the others speak, Tekumbray keeps an eye on the masked strangers, carefully watching for any signs that their willingness to talk is fleeing in favor of a willingness to draw blood.
The apparent leader of the masked priests says, "There are none here that have ever seen the sky." as he removes his golden mask to reveal a face of incredibly pale, nearly translucent skin, white hair - a;though you are unsure if it is white from age or other reasons, and white pupilless eyes. "I am Kanadius, who might you be strangers?"
"Legends talk of the skies and the great ball of fire that resides there...I suspect that would not be pleasant for our kind." he adds, placing his mask upon his face.
You wish to make amends?" the priest asks, Silas, confirming the intent. "Help us banish the Zargonites from Cynidicea...it will not be an easy task, as most of Cynidicea have forsaken the old ways to follow the beast. I suspect he magi and warrior maiden's hearts have been polluted by the foul one and would be of no help to us."
"Any chance Cynidi...cyndic...whatever he said! rings a bell, Meebs?" Myev whispers out of the corner of her mouth, watching the events unfold. She was keen on finding out what the hell this weird-looking tomb creature was and finding out more about whatever the heck it was talking about. If they could do it peacefully, well...that was always ideal.
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"I knew a Cyndi back at the academy. Didn't like her very much. She had a big mouth."
"I think Cynidicea is where we are. This place." Silas said softly to the artificer and warrior, keeping a smile on his face the entire time before clearing his throat. He nods intently when Kanadius asks if they meant they they would make proper amends; he was not expecting to partake in perhaps a holy war that was entirely unknown to them a day ago.
"Kanadius, allow me to introduce myself and companions. I am Silas Asgaven, servant of the Rose And Gold God Lathander. This is Myev, mighty warrior and protector. This is Meebo, an ingenious inventor. Tekumbray, our cunning friend. Lastly, this is Utsuri who strikes with the wisdom of his guide, Basho." With each introduction, Silas turns to the side and presents them in the best light possible. "While it is part of my creed to eradicate darkness and wickedness wherever it may lurk, we know nothing of Zargon, Grom, the magi, or the warrior maidens. Could you enlighten us please to what has happened here in, what I presume, is Cynidicea."
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"Don't forget Baheera! She killed the bees," Meebo adds to the introductions helpfully.
"Yes! The beautiful and powerful Basheera!" Silas says, parting the crowd to show off the beautiful and mysterious woman.
Tekumbray swallows hard and his face pales, although not nearly as pale as the Cynidicean, when the under dweller removes his mask. Is it a living creature? A ghost? Ghoul? By the Dark Lady's curse their skin is as deathly colorless as an undead. The momentary thought scrabble through his mind. But he sees the rise and fall of the man's chest. The slight beating pulse along his throat. Or at least he thinks he does.
A tilt of his head as Silas introduces him along with the others survivors. His eyes watch for any sign of subterfuge or readiness to attack even as he ponders who any of these entities mentioned by the golden masked men might be.
Nothing immediately comes to the gnome's mind. A result of still reeling from his initial earlier reaction and flashback to another unpleasant ruin of a city. That, and the simple fact that as a youth he always avoided Temple Days as if they were a plague riding into town upon the bloated corpse of an undead ogre.
So he waits to see how the man responds to the good priest's question.
"This was the Great Pyramid, built in honor of the greatest, and last of the Cynidicean Kings, Alexander. This structure lies in the heart of what was once mighty Cynidicea." Kanadius begins.
"It is said that this once was the capital of a rich and fertile kingdom. The ancients had reclaimed much land from the desert via extensive networks of irrigation channels, especially during the reign of King Alexander. Upon Alexander's death he was laid to rest in this very pyramid, along with his Queen, Zenobia. During the construction of the pyramid, many riches were found in the earth below, digging continued until a massive cavern was located, complete with an underground lake of clean, pure water. Unfortunately for our people, greed ruled the day and the excavation continued...until they unearthed Zargon. Zargon corrupted most of the city, with many seeing the monster as a god. With the presence of their new 'god', most forswore the Three - leaving only the small remnants of the faiths of Gorm, Usamigaras, and Madarua."
When Meebo "helpfully" points out Baheera was chiefly responsible of death of the bees, Kanadius stops speaking and turns his gaze toward the genie-kin woman. While Kanadius's mask hid his visage, there was little doubt as to the man's feelings on the matter.
"Zargon poisoned the hearts and minds of Cynidicea, and the city itself fell into disrepair. It is my most ardent belief that the city was buried beneath the sand as the retribution of the Three for our people's treachery. Those who follow the Three still seek to undo the damage done by Zargon...but few among the disparate faiths can seem to agree on just how to go about that task."
Baheera silently listens to the conversation, running the names, accents, masks and style of dress through her mind for any hint as to whom they might be dealing with, though if what they said about none of them having ever seen the sun, they were talking about a civilization at least two generations gone.
She smiles, giving a silent nod as Silas introduces her, maintaining an air of mystery as she evenly meets the masked man's gaze. "I empathize with the loss of your pets, however, the threat posed to my companions could not be ignored, especially given the presence of a bee-stung, and poisoned corpse we encountered earlier." she says calmly.
Meebo mulled over Kanadius's words. "You said Zargon is a monster. What's he look like? Huge and hairy? Fire breathing? Are there tentacles?"
Kanadius does not seem to respond to Baheera's well reasoned response to the Gormite priest's comment about the bees.
The priest's head turns to Meebo. "Indeed, Zargon is a monster, It has been many years since last I saw the creature, but when last I did, it was at least twice as tall as man, standing on a mass of squirming tentacles and a number of tentacles at its sides that end in wicked black barbs. Zargon's mouth is a mass of recurved teeth than set below its single, bloody eye. Above the eye, it has a single black horn, flecked with silver."
"Hubris mostly." Kanadius seems to reluctantly admit.
"Soooo...not exactly popular on the dating circuit." Tekumbray offers with a deadpan voice following the man's description of their enemy. The gnomes heart had slowed substantially once he did indeed see that the folk before him were living, breathing, creatures. Sure they are odd-mask wearing-trapped underground-fighting-a-never-ending-battle-against-the-ultimate-ancient-evi l-cultists, but at least they weren't UNDEAD-odd-mask wearing-trapped underground-fighting-a-never-ending-battle-against-the-ultimate-ancient-evi l-cultists. He could work with the former.
Finally slipping his sword back into his scabbard, the gnome tucks his thumbs into his belt and considers Kanadius' description of Zargon a bit less flippantly.
"Hrmm...sounds like a bit of a job you're asking of us, but necessary. After all, if the city is now unsealed, which our arrival here would seem to suggest. Then how long before Zargut decides to leave all this behind and start corrupting other lands and cities?" His stomach interrupts with a telling grumble. "If we are to rid you of this Zurgon, can we at least start off with a full stomach and maybe a place to rest and recover from the ravages of the storm? Maybe you could fill us in on these magi and maidens as well?"
"What we have may not suit the tastes of those who have not been here, but you are welcome to a meal and to rest in one of the rooms behind me."