The Ruby Scarabs found themselves unwilling participants in a chariot race decreed by Muminofrah, Right Hand of the Ruby Prince, a powerful but self-indulgent woman. They, along with approximately twenty other participants, were to guide camel-drawn chariots through the city of Tephu for Muminofrah's amusement. A few of their opponents were clearly experienced chariot racers, but many of the others were like the Scarabs, randomly chosen for this "honor" to entertain the nobility.
The chariots were meant to carry two people, or possibly three if all of the occupants were small. Muminofrah had declared that the race had no rules beyond a designated route the charioteers must follow. After considering their own limited driving skills and experience with camels, their personal strengths and talents, and the number of their group, the Scarabs decided that Sula and Kaa should claim a chariot together, Azzaria and Uto would be paired in a second vehicle, and Abdallah the guide agreed to ride with Igby because it would be exciting to ride in a chariot race. Magical enhancements were not prohibited so Uto cast a spell on Azzaria to aid her. Azzaria then decided to cast a spell of her own on one of their competitors, enlarging him so that he would be a heavier load for his camel to pull.
The route for the race traveled through the city streets, which had not been cleared of residents during the race. This created more obstacles for the racers to overcome. One of the first obstacles was a bridge over a canal that was currently undergoing repairs. When Sula and Kaa's chariot reached the bridge, Sula was able to persuade the camel to leap over some construction debris blocking its path. Azzaria and Uto had managed to get ahead of Sula and Kaa, and they were obliged to avoid having a chamber pot dumped on their heads from the upper story of a house. One of the other competitors tried to rush Sula's chariot and collide with it, but his own chariot hit the side of a well and he was toppled out of the car and fell down the well shaft. Sula next managed to steer the camel down a steep flight of steps, and despite the jouncing ride she and Kaa caught up with the chariot bearing Azzaria and Uto. But they were not yet free of obstacles, as a group of golden-masked members of the Cult of the Forgotten Pharaoh appeared on a rooftop and fired crossbow bolts at them. Kaa deflected the bolts raining down on Sula and himself. After passing by the cultists they entered a camel market and had to avoid running down a merchant in the street. More cultists appeared as Azzaria and Uto passed through a sandy area not far from the finish line. Flying sand nearly blinded them, and when they were free of sand they had to avoid being dazzled by glaring sunlight. But Azzaria and Uto succeeded in avoiding all of these traps to emerge victorious, the first chariot to cross the finish line.
As the winners were congratulated by Muminofrah, she kissed each of them, reserving a more passionate kiss for Uto. She also presented them with a jeweled statue of a camel, and at Uto's request gave the Scarabs a writ to permit them to visit the Dark Depository. The Scarabs informed the local authorities of the cultists who had tried to attack them, and city guardsmen were dispatched to search for the cultists. After departing from the palace, the Scarabs gave the camel statue to Abdallah so his family could sell it, although they advised him to wait a little while before doing so lest word of its sale get back to Muminofrah. Uto was invited to return to the palace that evening for dinner and a private visit with Muminofrah.
The morning after the chariot race, the Ruby Scarabs set out to visit the Dark Depository in search of the Scrolls of Inquiry from the reign of Pharaoh Djederet II. The Dark Depository lay beneath the Grand Library like the Spiral Archive, but it was a much less appealing location. A deep shaft descended 450 feet below the surface, accessed by iron ladders. Sula did not want to leave Nyema at the top of the shaft, so she used a spell to transform the lioness into a tiny stone figurine that she could carry in her belt pouch. After that long climb the Scarabs faced a set of bronze doors at the bottom of the shaft. Kaa found no traps when he examined the doors, but as soon as they were touched an explosion of frigid cold burst from a magical glyph, sorely injuring several members of the group. Kaa was shaken by his failure to detect the glyph. Everyone was so wounded by the cold that Uto was obliged to use healing magic so they could all recover enough to continue.
Beyond the entrance the Scarabs faced a cruciform hall. Each of the arms facing them terminated in a circular doorway, which Kaa observed could swivel on a central pivot point. Each of the doors bore a mask wearing a different expression: fear, sorrow, or disgust. The hall itself was crammed with crates, statues, scrolls, tablets, and other items. At the center stood a stack of skulls and other bones. Sula detected no sign of recent visitors in the thick later of dust covering every surface. While visually examining the heap of bones, Uto suddenly realized it was some sort of constructed being and warned his companions to steer clear of it.
Uto cast a spell on Kaa to aid him and Kaa cautiously approached one of the round doors, checking for traps and triggers every few paces and skirting around the bone construct. The rest of the Scarabs waited near the entrance. On the door with the expression of sorrow he identified what he suspected was another glyph, which would fill the entire antechamber with flames if triggered. He was unable to disable the diabolical trap as it was an enchantment rather than a pin or wire that would set it off. Kaa moved to the door bearing the mask of disgust and found that it had a mechanical trap, a scything blade that would swing down to strike the unwary. This led Sula to comment that perhaps the masks were associated with the type of trap; it would be sad if the flames burned all of the scrolls and texts in the antechamber, and if the scythe sliced someone in two it would be disgusting.
Kaa attempted to disable the scythe trap, but because the cold trap on the entrance had evaded him his confidence was shaken and he bungled his effort. Fortunately the blade did not activate. Uto then summoned an invisible servitor and sent it to try to open the pivoting circular door. The moment the servitor pushed on the door, the bone construct in the center of the antechamber rose up from the floor, revealing a giant vaguely man-like form made of various different types of skeletal remains. But the construct, which Uto had now identified as a bone golem, did not attack the Scarabs. It appeared to take up a sentry position facing the door that had just opened. Sula remarked that perhaps it was not there to prevent someone from entering, but to prevent departing visitors from stealing anything from the Depository.
Kaa peered through the open doorway, seeing an arrangement of shelves that created a maze-like series of passages. He spied something moving among the stacks, a shadowy dog-like shape. Then the creature bayed, and a panicked Kaa fled from the doorway, racing around the antechamber and actually running up the walls in his desperate attempt to flee. When he ran away from the door the bone golem moved toward him, apparently assuming that he was taking something from the chamber beyond. Three of the shadowy dogs emerged from the room into the antechamber. Uto summoned two guardians made of magical force to stand before the dogs, but one dog avoided them and knocked Uto to the ground.
Sula, who was standing near the entrance to the Dark Depository, cast a spell on herself to give her skin the toughness of tree bark. She then took the little figurine of Nyema out of her pouch and set it on the floor, speaking the word that would transform it back into the living lion. But Nyema was too big to get through the crowded clutter in the antechamber. The shadow dogs and Sula's comrades filled up the space in front of her and neither she nor Sula could move forward.
The golem snapped its teeth on Kaa. At the same time Uto got back on his feet. One of the dogs moved toward Sula and knocked her down. She summoned fire to her hands and slapped her flaming palms on the dog's hide. Uto's guardians continued to hold off the dogs, and Sula called out to her friends that healing magic would harm the golem. Uto then cast a healing spell on it which caused its movements to slow. A burst of flame from Sula seriously burned one of the dogs. Kaa overcame his panic and began to punch and kick the golem. Then Azzaria smashed her adamantine flail against it and it collapsed into a heap of disconnected bones.
With the golem out of the way Nyema was able to move forward and snap at one of the dogs. The dog used its tail to trip her, but she bit it while she lay on the floor. Sula then stabbed the last remaining dog with her spear and slew it.
Kaa found a silver collar among the crocodile bones that composed part of the golem's remains. He looked through the door he had opened again, seeing the maze of passages crammed with objects. He also noticed on the wall another mask, this one wearing an expression of anger. It too was connected to a trap, which he disabled. As the Ruby Scarabs considered how well-protected the Dark Depository was, it occurred to them that the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather must have been very determined to prevent anyone from learning about the Sky Pharaoh.
While Kaa looked into the archive room, he announced that he thought he saw another exit but it was blocked by stacks of things. He moved into the room among the shelves that stood 20 feet high filled with items, and found an opening only three feet tall. A secret door led into a short tunnel. He discovered a scroll that mentioned the Blue Feather in its title but was clearly trapped to harm anyone who read its contents.
The Scarabs left Nyema in the antechamber and squeezed through the tunnel, which was too small to accommodate the lioness. It emerged into a small room occupied by more shelves full of objects. Beyond that they found a room containing a dozen or more sarcophagi, all of them with faces eerily lacking any features. The heiroglyphics inscribed on the sarcophagi explained that the occupants had been punished for crimes against the library. One such crime was researching too deeply into the Sky Pharaoh. This sarcophagus had clearly been tampered with long ago. Kaa took out a pry bar and he and Uto pried it open. To their surprise it held two mummies, with mouths open as if they had been buried mid-scream. In fact, one of them began to actually scream as the lid was removed. Its eyes glowed red. It seemed to be another construct like the bone golem. Kaa attacked it with his fists and feet but his blows did not seem to harm it. Sula charged her spear with her flames and tried to strike it but missed her aim. Kaa then called his own fire and set it ablaze. Azzaria's flail harmed it, as did the fire sheathing Uto's hands. But the wrappings covering it seemed able to reach out independently of the creature and grappled Azzaria. Kaa chopped through the bandages to free her.
Azzaria flew into a rage and swung her flail at it again, while Uto burned it and Kaa pummeled it. This onslaught finally destroyed the thing. With the construct out of the way, the Scarabs were able to determine that the sarcophagus it came from had belonged to a scribe named Khnenti, whose name they had seen in one of the other scrolls during their research. Uto then suggested casting a spell to interrogate the mummy's spirit.
When the Scarabs were done with the sarcophagus chamber, they crawled through another tunnel into yet another tiny room, where they found a magic headband amid the rubbish. They were not able to determine what magic the headband held. By this time Kaa was certain that their exploration had identified all of the boundaries of the Dark Depository and there were no other rooms or secret doors to be found. He did uncover one more trap, which contained a deadly spell, but this he was able to disarm.
The Scarabs returned to the antechamber to examine what they had found. The information they had recovered told them that the Sacrosanct Order of the Blue Feather had desired to uncover the secrets of the Shory Empire, and that Khnenti had become too fascinated with the Sky Pharaoh and had been punished by being buried alive. They also discovered that the other item stolen from the Sky Pharaoh's tomb, his heart, had been taken to the city of Sothis and buried beneath something called Azhaard's Spire. Their discoveries included architectural plans by the architect Chisisek, which described a secret entrance to another library, the Vault of Hidden Wisdom, that could only be found by observing the shadow of the Tower of Ra's Glory on Midsummer's Day. Unfortunately the Tower of Ra's Glory, which had stood in Tephu, had long ago been disassembled for building materials. The Ruby Scarabs speculated that perhaps they could find out how tall the tower had been and from that estimate where the secret entrance could be found. Then they remembered that they had seen a scale model of Tephu in the Great Library - and it had included the Tower of Ra's Glory.
Loot:
Scroll of animate dead
Scroll of contagion
Scroll of ray of exhaustion
Scroll of symbol of pain
Scroll of blight
Scroll of finger of death
Scroll of soul bind
Iron tablet of clone
Iron tablet of energy drain
Iron tablet of wail of the banshee
2 canisters of kohl - oil of shield of faith
Next: part 17, The Vault of Hidden Wisdom
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