"By the way, I have some blunt crossbow bolts, Seben, if you want to borrow my crossbow for a bit?"
"Really?" Seben's eyes light up. "That would be awesome. That crossing bow looks like it would be so much easier! Thanks!"
Sitting on Sebens shoulder
...The Sacred Ibis seems to almost clear his throat.
Then it looks to the left, then to the right. Is it... shaking it's head?
"Um, you know what? On second thought, maybe I'd better wait until after we're out of this tomb and I have a chance to practice with it. But really, thank you."
Seben 'accidentally' knocks her bird off her shoulder and makes it walk. They both seem to be sulking.
Indus intones an arcane spell to detect magic in the area.
Neither Indus or Seben detect any magic in this room. The tiles, tapestry and statues are all of excellent craftmanship, but mundane in nature.
Their scan complete, the group gathers arround Indus as he carefully works with his lockpicks to open the locked western door.
Pushing the doors open reveals a short hallway that leads to a decending stair. The walls are decorated with the now familiar images of Pharasma and Anubis, but there are also several images of a unknown female goddess surrounded by serpents. In some of the images, she is attended by a human priestess, whom you assume is Ahkentepi’s mistress, Didibastet.
The goddess depicted is Nuit-Shaes, the serpent form of the goddess Mut. Worship of Nuit-Shaes was rare, even at the height of the ancient Osiriani dynasties, and little is known of the religious practices surrounding her.
From your vantage point in the doorway, it looks like half of the stair is covered with rough earth.
As the doors open, you notice a faint trace of a magic aura coming from the bottom of the stair. Concentration reveals faint conjuration and abjuration auras. The magic is concentrated, likely from a single object or item.
"There's some sort of summoning and warding magic further ahead. We should proceed with caution."
Proceeding, cautiously, into the hallway, your usual careful inspection of the surroundings reveals the faint outline of a secret door on the north wall, just before the stairs. However, even a thourough search does not reveal any ways of opening it.
While most of the group is preoccupied with the secret door, Seben-en-Ra spots something further down the stairs.
You hear the faint sound of chittering and scraping from down the stairs. Glancing down, you see that the bottom of the stair is blocked by collapsed earth and sand. The dirt is ridden with holes and tunnels, from which the sound is coming. You also spot tiny flickers of luminescent light.
Your knowledge of Osiriani flora and fauna leads you to suspect that this is the work of giant mining beetles, industrious little vermin the size of a cat who can tunnels through the ground with ease. Their glow is harmless and lingers after their death, but they have a nasty bite and defend their lair aggressively. They are also the natural prey of the solifugids you fought earlier, so they are likely to be hostile to any intruders.
"Oh!...Hold up, friends! We've, uh, got a problem."
Seben loads her bow with an Ibis-feathered arrow. She points it down the stairs, ready to let loose at any targets that appear below.
Indus relates the information about the secret door. "Maybe we should see if we can find another way into the room behind, before we spent hours trying to break down the door?"
Then he turns to Seben. "Good thing we are good at solving problems then!" With that, he readies his sword while holding a lit torch in the other hand.
"Shall we?"
Having always been an adventurous eater, and having seen several varieties of roasted beetles in the markets of Wati, Diorio is wondering if these beetles before them might be of the edible type...stomach rumbling noises reminding him that it has been a few hours since last morsels.
"Good idea with the torch Indus! Does anyone know if these critters are edible? I'm getting really hungry."
For now, it does not appear that your presence at the top of the stair has disturbed the mining beetles.
Indus proceeds carefully, ready to attack anything that attacks him.
"Good idea with the torch Indus! Does anyone know if these critters are edible? I'm getting really hungry."
.
"Very edible, " she says quietly, her eyes trained downward over the sight of her bow. "Unfortunately, I think the same is true of us for them!"
"Bes favours the bold!" Indus says, continuing down the stairs.
"At some point we should get rid of those beetles. Though they are of nature themselves, they still violate the tomb." When Indus starts down the stairs, Lueck follows, keeping him within tongue range, just in case.
Initiative:
Torch and sword in hand, Indus begins walking down towards the beetle tunnels with Lueck a half dozen paces behind. Almost immediately, an angry buzzing erupts from the holes in the dirt.
"What's this! First the solifugids raid our warrens and then we have to abandon perfectly good tunnels because some wierd sand snake decides to crash on the stairs. And now we have some wierd, two-legged flesh things walking in and waving light around!?"
"Clive, please...if we just ignore them, they will probably leave."
"No, Betty, I have had it. A beetle can only take so much abuse in his own home. I'm going out there to show those intruders what's what."
"No! Clive, think of the brood...I can't raise them all on my own."
"I have to, Betty...what kind of a father would I be if I did not stand up for them and the hive. I love you....Now, let me....HEY YOU THERE, JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? THIS IS OUR HOME AND YOU ARE TRESPASSING! SCRAM, BEFORE I SHOW YOU THE BUSINESS END OF MY MANDIBLES!"
A lone mining beetle erupts from the tunnel and charges at Indus.
Initiative
> Sobekhotep, Seben-en-Ra, Diorio, Lueck
- Mining beetles
- Indus
Indus is so shocked at his sudden ability to understand Beetle, that he almost forgets to act.
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As Sobekhotep observes the image of the obscure Goddess, he unconsciously runs his hand over the image of the serpents, and it triggers a memory of a literal lifetime ago, when he was walking along the riverside at night, observing the stars whilst he pondered a legal case, and encountered an unusual asp with a starburst upon its forehead.
For a moment, he can almost feel the cool night breeze on his skin, and the smell of the river... and then the second of divine inspiration has passed. Still, it was enough.
"Oh. The goddess depicted here is Nuit-Shaes. She is... a somewhat lesser-known Goddess. Some consider Her to be an aspect of Ma'at, but that is not quite accurate. If Ma'at is the Feather of Truth, then Nuit-Shaes is the Serpent of Vengeance. The closest modern approximation that I can think of would be Calistria... if her portfolio lacked hedonism, and focused solely upon law and vengeance.
She was only popular during the 26th Dynasty, from what I remember; Her priests and priestesses wore the most exquisite silver masks, although they were quite secretive when it came to their actual religious practices."
The sudden encounter with an obscure member of the Old Pantheon leaves Sobekhotep in something of an introspective daze, which he is only shaken from when they encounter the beetle.
"Oh dear. I feel somewhat conflicted about attacking things within Khepri's portfolio... but at least they are not actually dung bettles..."
Not having the ability to commune with beetles, or to convince them to stand down, Sobekhotep jabs it with his spear.
As soon as the beetle moves towards Indus, Seben lets her arrow fly...
"Indus!" she cries, "Watch out!"
The Sacred Ibis flies down at the beetle and pecks at its hard shell in 17 different places before suddenly flying off.
Given the congestion on the stairs Diorio will keep an eye on the room we came from and an ear on the poor but potentially tasty beetle massacre.
The combination of Sobekhotep's spear thrust and Seben's second arrow succesfully slays the lone charging beetle before it can reach Indus.
Seconds later, more beetles erupt from the packed sand walls, burrowing out to join the defense of their lair and avenge their fallen hero. Both Indus and Seben sustain painful bites.
Initiative
- Sobekhotep, Seben-en-Ra
- Mining beetles
> Indus, Diorio, Lueck, Ibis
Indus hacks away at the nearest beetle while wildly swinging the torch to keep the other beetle at bay.
Indus' blade is no match for the hardened exoskeleton and neatly carves the beetle in two, spraying insect guts over the dirt walls.
Seeing Seben getting scratched-up by the incandescent beetle of blue, the Sacred Ibis goes into psychotic woodpecker mode. It descends upon the beetle and begins to tattoo hieroglyphs of pain onto the creature's carapace.
Or is he...
MIGHTY BEETLE SHELL ARMOR
Aura Conjuration, Abjuration; CL100; Price If you have to ask...; Weight None of your business, you fat shamer
DESCRIPTION
When the bearer suffers a critical hit from a melee attack, the offending wielder's weapon is immediately destroyed. Additionally, the attacker feels a pang of regret of having attempted to assault so magnificent a creature and reconsiders their life choices.
MIGHTY BEETLE SHELL ARMOR
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As the sounds of beetle battle intensify, Diorio's grumbling stomach gets the better of him and he decides to join the fray. His skinny frame weaves and dodges through his comrades in front until he is able to employ his rapier as a skewer.
The toughness of the beetle’s shells surprise even a trained swordsman like Diorio and the tip of his rapier glances harmlessly off its target.
Lueck cranes his neck to see what is attacking ahead. He gets out his crossbow to try and make a shot at it.
Some of the agitated mining beetles have been defeated, but the Smokin' Bask Brigade still need to deal with a few more before they can safely investigate the source of the magic aura.
Initiative
> Sobekhotep, Seben-en-Ra
- Mining beetles
Indus, Diorio, Lueck, Ibis
Suddenly pinned in on all sides with a gigantic beetle snapping before her, she panics, dropping her bow to the ground with a clatter.
In desperation, she fumbles around, her hands searching. Suddenly she finds... Ahkentepi's spear in her hands!
"Get away!" she yells at the creature, still brandishing the stick in front of her. You just poke with it, right?
Reflexively, Seben rubs the faded scar on her forehead from Ahkentepi's mirror. I might just have to keep this thing, you curmudgeonly jackal.
Although ancient, the masterwork spear slices through the beetle’s hard shell like a flame blade through paper. The slightly perplex Seben suddenly finds herself holding an oversized beetle shish-kebab.
The sole surviving beetle continues to gnaw at Indus.
Initiative
- Sobekhotep, Seben-en-Ra
- Mining beetles
> Indus, Diorio, Lueck, Ibis
Indus winces in pain but continues his attack on the beetle, calling on Bes to grant him victory.
The favor of Bes seems to be on the side of the beetle at the moment, as Indus sword narrowly misses.
Lueck shifts his loaded crossbow to one hand and draws his wand. He gestures with it and intones a command word. Then, with a quick slap of his tongue to the back of his friend Indus, he delivers its healing power.