With the vrocks dispatched, the Ruby Scarabs and their allies found themselves in an armory that was also full of vines and scattered tarry black feathers. There were six armor stands in the room. Along one wall stood eight stands with helmets mounted on them, All of these helmets bore ruined masks that appeared to have been melted or burned by acid, but it appeared that this damage had been inflicted when the helmets were made rather than later on. Despite their condition Kaa assessed that they were still fairly valuable.
Only two suits of armor had survived the millenia inside the Sphinx:one of golden color adorned with a lotus design, and the other made of silk with an attached torc of lapis lazuli. When Hutt examined them he determined that the silken armor would provide protection without interfering with agility or spellcasting like ordinary armors, and the golden armor would protect the wearer from poisons. Both suits were very ornate and clearly meant for ceremonial wear. Uto encouraged Hutt to take the silken armor as it would benefit him to be able to wear more protection that wouldn't prevent him from casting spells freely.
While Hutt looked at the armor, Kaa observed that the dimensions of this armory chamber wouldn't fill up the space between the outer wall of the Sightless Sphinx and the rest of the space around it. He began checking the walls for a hidden entrance to the space that must lie behind this room, but he found nothing. Once he had completed his search, the Scarabs left the armory and emerged into the central area between the four rooms. As they joined the girtablilu there, Rubila remarked that she wasn't surprised the Scarabs had defeated the cultists as they were actually competent fighters. The Scarabs all decided to take this as a compliment.
They decided to open the door with the eye symbol above it next. As had been true of most of the other doors inside the Sphinx, Kaa found no traps on it. It opened into a hallway, with two heavy stone doors along one side. After assuring himself that the first of these doors was untrapped, Kaa went to the end of the hallway to see what lay around the corner. He observed a light coming from overhead and rows of statues, as well as something golden that he couldn't see clearly. Uto then asked Rubila if she and her warriors would stand watch over the hallway intersection to prevent any enemies from creeping up while the Scarabs checked the two rooms. Rubila declined, stating that her people had come to fight the demon not act as sentries. This led to a discussion of what the demon actually looked like. Rubila stated that it was a scaly black and green creature with four arms and pincers, though she only knew this description from the Forgotten Pharaoh cultists and hadn't seen it herself.
As the Scarabs moved toward the first door in the hallway, Hutt remained outside in the central chamber standing guard by the door with the symbol of the woman above it. When the door of the hallway room was opened, the Scarabs saw a male maftet sitting at a table at the opposite end of a room furnished as a barracks. The maftet immediately shouted, "We're under attack!" and charged the group in the doorway. As he rushed forward he suddenly vanished from view, though the Scarabs could hear the beating of his wings and he was still shouting an alarm. Kaa directed a burst of frigid cold at the area from which the maftet's voice came. The maftet responded by attacking Kaa and became visible again. In an effort to save the maftet's life so he could be returned to Erayu's clan, Kaa punched the maftet with his fists and tried to avoid dealing any potentially lethal injuries. Uto attempted to put the maftet to sleep without success. Azzaria began to rage.
Uto moved to hold the next door, but more maftets pulled it open. Azzaria ran into the first room to attack Kaa's foe and the maftet fell to the ground. Sula, who was still in the form of an earth elemental, glided through the stone wall into the next room, telling the maftets, "Abandon the demon lord and return to the faith of your ancestors." Uto caused one of the two maftets there to fall into a deep slumber, while Kaa ran into the room to pummel the second maftet, running up Sula and leaping off her shoulder to reach the flying creature. Then Uto caused the second maftet to fall asleep. Azzaria bound both maftets and laid them on the cots in the room for safekeeping until the Scarabs could take them outside to the others they had already captured. They confiscated the six fine quality scimitars the maftets had been armed with, as well as the aged unholy symbols of Areshkagal they carried.
After this the Scarabs went to the door Hutt had been watching over while they dealt with the maftets. This door opened into a short hallway which terminated not in a stone door but in a curtain of lightning. Sula warned her companions that it was very powerful. Uto cast a spell to protect everyone from some of the effects of the lightning. Hutt then approached and the magic-suppressing field that surrounded him caused the lightning wall to cease. Beyond the opening the Scarabs saw a large chamber with a platform at its center. Chained in the middle of the platform, its flesh pierced by spikes of what Hutt suspected were crystals of salt, stood a large man-like creature. None of the Ruby Scarabs recognized what manner of creature it was. The creature spoke to them in the common language. His voice was difficult to hear, but they could just make out "Help me." Azzaria asked him, "What are you?" Kaa wanted to give it some water, but the rest of the group were reluctant to have him get too close. The creature responded to Azzaria's question, telling her that he was a marid. Uto then wanted to create a large quantity of water to give to the marid, but Kaa suggested giving him only a little in case he was an enemy. Uto put the water in a bucket he carried and Kaa took it to the chained marid on the platform.
As he approached the marid, Kaa looked up and saw that hanging directly over the platform suspended from thick chains was a huge block of stone, the same dimensions as the platform. What he could see of the chains holding it indicated that they were very old and rusty, which concerned him, but he thought perhaps that the age of the chains would prevent the slab from being lowered onto the platform as he assumed it was meant to do. When Kaa was close enough that the marid could reach the bucket, he demanded assurance from the marid that he wouldn't attack. The marid swore that he would not, and promised that if he was freed he would grant one wish, for marids were a type of water genie. Kaa then gave him the bucket of water. While the marid drank, Uto used his ability to see through illusions and invisibility to look at the chains binding him. He realized that the underside of the suspended slab was covered with invisible spikes that were surrounded by the rusty stains of old dried blood. He also realized that the creature on the platform was not a marid but a much larger creature that met the description of the demon Rubila had given earlier. Uto had by this point steered the bronze sentinel into the room and was standing a little behind Kaa. He now moved back toward the rest of the group in the entrance and announced, "It's the demon!"
The demon let out a roar. Uto shouted, "It's the demon!" a second time, then grew larger and cast a spell. Rubila and one of the girtablilu warriors moved in to attack the demon, who discarded his disguise and revealed his true form as a massive creature with green and black scales and two huge arms ending in giant crab-like pincers. A secondary pair of humanoid arms began to execute spellcasting gestures. Suddenly Kaa, Rubila, and the warrior flew up toward the invisible spikes on the slab. Kaa only ascended a short distance, but the girtablilu warrior and Rubila were both impaled on the spikes they couldn't see. Kaa revealed his wings and began to fly. Uto also took flight and extended some of his healing power to the girtablilu warrior. Azzaria grew enraged as she rushed behind the demon to attack it with a strange spell. Sula moved into the room by walking through the platform and swung her stony fists at the demon but failed to connect. Kaa blasted the demon with cold while Uto flew toward it and touched it with his hair, attempting to cause it to return to its home in the Abyss. The demon's outline wavered for an instant but it remained in the chamber.
Rubila fell to the ground, then leaped up on her six scorpion legs and stabbed the demon with her spear. It slammed her with its pincers, leaving her sorely wounded before turning on Azzaria. Azzaria responded with vicious attacks, and to everyone's surprise the demon collapsed. Sula, who had backed away after failing to hit it, surged forward to slam her fists down on it several times to make certain it was dead.
A golden glow suddenly appeared in the center of the raised platform, rising up to resolve into the shape of a woman in armor adorned with symbols of the goddess Sarenrae. As Uto channeled the power of the ancestors to heal his friends, the ghostly woman spoke to the Ruby Scarabs: "I knew Sarenrae kept me here for a reason. There was some evil still in this place. I am saddened I did not strike the final blow. But you did. My armor and weapon I gift to you." When she finished speaking she rose up toward the ceiling, glowing brighter and brighter as she ascended until she disappeared through the suspended slab.
Afterward the Scarabs examined the rest of the room. On the far side of the room from the doorway stood a high relief statue of Areshkagal against the wall, which Hutt felt had a fading magical aura. He also had a sense that the statue was displeased. Kaa searched the chamber thoroughly and found no hidden doors or compartments. Azzaria flew up to look at the space between the slab and the actual roof of the chamber but found nothing. With the demon slain, Rubila and her warriors were now ready to depart. They attempted first to remove one of the demon's claws as a trophy but were unable to do so. Uto healed their wounds, and the Scarabs accompanied them to the exit to see them off, pausing to pick up the captive maftets from the barracks room.
When they reached the exterior of the Sphinx Uto asked Rubila if she would take a message to Erayu to tell him about the maftets they had taken captive. They put the three maftets with the others they had already captured in one of the tents the cultists had set up outside. Once they had said a brief farewell to the girtablilus they returned to the interior of the Sphinx through the hidden door in the ruined left forelimb.
The Scarabs decided to return to the same area where they had found the demon. They proceeded down the hallway where the maftets had been found to the area that Kaa had seen with the light from the ceiling and the statues. This turned out to be a gallery of statues of people they surmised were priests of the cult of Areshkagal, adorned with jeweled pectorals and headdresses that Kaa quickly ascertained were mostly fakes. The ceiling overhead had been lit by some type of enchantment. Amid the priestly statues they found an emperor scorpion encased entirely in gold, which had been crushed prior to the point that it was dipped in gold. The party members considered what they knew about Areshkagal and realized that the statues likely represented the twenty-three riddles sacred to the demon lord, and perhaps the crushed golden scorpion represented Areshkagal's hated sister. Hutt immediately began trying to devise a way to remove the scorpion and sell it.
While the Scarabs were in the gallery they heard voices coming from around the next corner. Suddenly they noticed something moving in the shadows of the sculptures. Uto realized it was another type of demon, this one a creature of shadow, but he could recall little more about such creatures. A red bead flew into the area occupied by the bronze sentinel and exploded into a mass of flames, which Uto realized were only partially real. Kaa heard someone say, "Now, let's go," and the sound of flapping wings. Azzaria moved to attack the shadow demon. It flowed into her body and attempted to take possession of her, but she fought it off, causing it to retreat into the wall.
Kaa moved toward the corner of the passage to meet the approaching maftets. Sula moved toward the same position. Uto summoned a spirit made of force to combat the demon. Kaa fired a spell into the face of one of the maftets as it came around the corner. The demon drew shadows in toward itself, darkening the area surrounding it, but Sula called on the spirits of her ancestors to bring the light of day to the sculpture gallery, banishing the darkness. Hutt ran through the area and the demon pursued him, attacked by both Azzaria and Uto's spirt. Sula punched one of the maftets while Kaa attacked the other. Then Uto used the Pharaoh's mask to cast a spell at the demon and it died. Kaa and Sula were still fighting the maftets so Azzaria joined them and in short order two more of the maftet cultists had been brought down.
After they had dealt with the maftets and gathered up their possessions, Azzaria wanted to smash all of the priestly statues. But the others were concerned that it might bring the full wrath of the demon lord upon them, and they also didn't want to waste time or resources on such a task when they had yet to explore the entire interior of the Sphinx. Instead they proceeded on to a doorway at the end of the hall. It was a much more ornate doorway than the others they had seen, comprised of a pair of doors surrounded by reliefs depicting Areshkagal and a night sky.
Next: part 37, The Altar of Areshkagal
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