[Pathfinder] Mummy's Mask, part 20: Slavers and Scorpions

When Uto had completed the ritual to begin his new life path, he returned to his companions and the sphinx bid them farewell. The Ruby Scarabs then spent a little time examining the items they had found in the Jackal Pharaoh’s tomb. In addition to a magical headband, they had also found an enchanted rope that would carry an extraordinary amount of weight and could be commanded to anchor or release itself.

The Scarabs then set off once again on their search for the burial place of Chisisek, following the dwindling stream that led away from the ruined pharaonic tomb. Only half a day had passed when at midday they spotted smoke from a campfire rising over a rocky outcrop ahead. As they drew nearer to the location they could see several gnolls in an encampment, and hyenas on watch. Kaa crept closer and spotted a group of a dozen or so people who all appeared to be tied together with ropes. Clearly the gnolls were slavers transporting their captives.

The other members of the Scarabs had wanted to approach the gnoll camp openly and assume no unfriendly intent, but when Kaa went forward they abandoned that plan. Sula brought Nyema out and transformed herself into a lioness, and the two of them trotted toward the largest rock outcrop where the slaves were gathered. Uto began to fly toward the camp. The hyenas on watch howled and yelped at the appearance of the Scarabs. Kaa emerged from behind a rock and sent a blast of draconic breath at one of the hyenas. Azzaria drew on her furious rage to give her speed and make her difficult to perceive, then rushed another hyena. A third hyena had begun to run forward toward the intruders, but retreated when it saw Sula and Nyema approaching.

A gnoll emerged from a tent and began to make spellcasting gestures. One of the other gnolls who had already been visible did the same. Two gnolls moved toward Kaa and Uto. Uto used his hair to grab one of the gnolls and then rose higher into the air, hovering seven times his own height above the ground as he struggled with the gnoll, who wielded a scimitar and kept trying to attack Uto with it despite being suspended so far above the sand.

The gnolls all had whips in addition to their scimitars, and one of them attempted to use his whip to trip Kaa, but Kaa deftly avoided the maneuver. Sula and Nyema climbed over the rocks seeking gnolls standing guard over the captives, but found that all of the gnolls had moved away from their prisoners to engage the Scarabs. The two lionesses then moved to join Azzaria against one of the gnolls near the tent, combining their attacks to bring down the slaver. Kaa pummeled his opponent until the gnoll dropped, and Uto finished the battle by dropping his foe, who didn’t move again after plummeting to the earth.

The freed slaves were all weak from their journey across the desert, and the Scarabs didn’t feel comfortable sending them off on their own to face the hazards of the Parched Dunes. The scarabs decided that after they had looted the bodies of the fallen gnolls they would escort the former captives to the nearest town of Ipeq. From the gnolls they acquired bottles of magical sand, chain shirts, scimitars, whips, a shortbow, and manacles. They then spent the next four days trekking to Ipeq with the freed prisoners. On arriving in Ipeq, Uto asked the city leaders and the temples to help the travelers. The Scarabs also gave five gold pieces to each person to help them return to their homes. While they were in Ipeq, Uto also sold the magical page of spell knowledge they had found in one of the libraries in Tephu, which had proved to be of no use to any of the Scarabs. Once this item and some of the loot from the gnolls had been sold, each of the Scarabs received a portion of gold. Sula also claimed one of the gnoll scimitars, which was of good quality.

Once the ex-slaves had been taken care of the Ruby Scarabs returned to the Parched Dunes and resumed their quest. As they were traveling through a rocky area they saw a rock that at first appeared to have been shaped by something other than natural forces, but closer examination proved that it was still a natural formation. Then they observed a large creature flying overhead, which Sula thought might be a roc.

As they entered an area of badlands, a tall spire of stone caught their attention. On the pinnacle of the spire was a shape that looked like a ship. This was so curious that the Scarabs decided to approach it for a better look. The spire appeared to be natural, but the object at its peak was in fact a genuine ship! The explorers couldn’t resist a closer look at a ship that had somehow landed in the desert on such a high perch. Kaa scampered up the spire like a monkey climbing a palm tree, while Sula transformed into a large eagle and flew up. Uto began to levitate up, grasping Azzaria with his hair to carry her.

Kaa reached the ship first, and found that the hulk of the ship was full of trees and other rubbish. All of this appeared to form a nest for an egg that had a shell large enough for a tall man to climb inside it. Kaa let the egg be and searched the ship for anything of use, finding a single glove and a brass lamp full of an unusually warm liquid. Assuming the glove to be magical, the tengu put it on. While he was searching, Sula spotted the roc approaching its nest. She swooped at it in an attempt to distract it from her companions, as Uto and Azzaria had also reached the ship by this point. The roc ignored her and headed straight for Azzaria, who was the most obvious of the Scarabs in the ship. Kaa breathed a blast of fire at the enormous bird, which it responded to by grasping him in one of its talons. Azzaria tried to intimidate the roc by threatening its egg with her weapons. Kaa pounded the bird with his fists while Uto grabbed Kaa’s foot with his hair in an effort to pull him free of the roc’s grip. The roc swooped over the nest, swinging Uto behind it in a wide arc by his prehensile hair, and at the same time it released Kaa and dove for Azzaria. Uto used the momentum of the roc’s swing to drop toward the ship. The bird’s attack on Azzaria was defeated when she created multiple images of herself to surround her. Kaa then breathed electricity at the bird. Sula continued diving at the roc in her eagle form, but she now sheathed her claws in electricity. Uto released his hair from Kaa, who had manifested his wings and begun to fly. Kaa then attempted to trigger the magic he believed the found glove held, but nothing happened. Azzaria and Sula both attacked the roc again, and Kaa gave up on the glove and sent a blast of flames at the bird. Azzaria was knocked off the ship in the midst of this, but Uto dove after her to catch her.

The combined attacks finally sent the roc plunging to the base of the spire in a heap. When it was gone the Scarabs decided to search the ship again, discovering a rod of dwarven craftsmanship, a fine silk shawl, a bejeweled fly whisk, and a sack containing a moderate amount of platinum and gold coins. Sula determined that the brass lamp and the glove were magical, but unfortunately for Kaa the glove needed its mate to function and the second glove was nowhere to be found. The rod was also magical but Sula was unable to determine what it did. When they had found everything of value in the ship the Scarabs harvested some meat from the dead roc, which Nyema found more than satisfactory.

Though the Scarabs knew that the roc egg was valuable, they had neither the desire to transport it to town to sell it nor any wish to make the fledgling roc into someone’s pet. They briefly considered hatching and raising it themselves but decided that would be too much effort. Then Uto proposed summoning a creature from one of the other planes to take it to some place where it could be hatched and released when it was fledged. Though Kaa still wanted to sell it, the rest of the group decided that they liked Uto’s suggestion. The following day he summoned a janni from Elysium and bargained with it to take care of the roc egg. The janni introduced itself as Mountain Wind. As Mountain Wind was about to depart it asked if the Scarabs would like to name the unhatched roc. Kaa then suggested it be called Sirocco.

When the roc egg was taken care of, the Scarabs used the high vantage of the nest to scout the area before setting off once again. As they were traveling, several members of the group noticed something odd: many scorpions were keeping pace with them, always remaining about the same distance away. Concerned by the presence of so many scorpions, Uto brought out some anti-vermin repellent he had brought. Then the Scarabs heard a feminine voice say, “This place is not for you.” When the Scarabs replied, the voice added that it guarded an ancient place. Uto then explained why they were in the desert, but there was no response from the voice. Instead the scorpions formed two parallel lines, as if delineating a path for the travelers to follow.

As the Scarabs passed an odd rock formation, they saw a flickering light ahead. They emerged into a sheltered area and saw before them an ancient obelisk carved in the style of the most ancient pharaohs of Osirion. Around this obelisk burned five different colored flames, four of which appeared to symbolize the four elements. Uto theorized that the fifth flame might represent life, or death, or both. Inside the circle of flames, against the base of the obelisk, was a heap of skulls. The skulls had been there so long and were so many that those on the bottom of the heap had been crushed to dust by the other skulls piled atop them.

Uto took out his magical tablet to interpret the ancient hieroglyphics inscribed on the obelisk. As he did this, a woman emerged over the rise of a low hill lying on the opposite side of the strange monument. She appeared almost human but her features were unusually angular. As the Scarabs watched the rest of the woman’s figure came over the rise and they saw that below the waist her body was that of a scorpion as large as a horse. Uto and Azzaria began to explain that the Scarabs were searching for Chisisek’s tomb and Uto even told the scorpion-woman about the mask he wore. When he finished, she scornfully remarked that creatures such as the Ruby Scarabs were too short-lived to be responsible for such a powerful artifact, and demanded that Uto hand the mask over to her for safekeeping.

When Uto replied that he wasn’t willing to give her the mask, she began to chant a spell, which Sula recognized would summon something. Sula called out a warning to her companions. Azzaria then became enraged and charged at the scorpion-woman. As she passed the obelisk she felt a sense of doom emanating from it, but her fury prevented it from affecting her. Her charge disrupted the scorpion-woman’s spell. The small scorpions that had escorted the Scarabs into this place had all vanished, replaced by two giant scorpions as large as the woman but lacking her human-like features. Sula conjured two balls of lightning and sent them at one of the giant scorpions. One scorpion moved to attack Uto, who transformed into a living statue of stone and flew toward the woman.

Kaa tumbled past one of the giant scorpions and aimed a blast of electricity at both of them. Both scorpions crumpled, their limbs drawing up and stingers falling limp on the sand. Sula moved toward the woman, directing her spheres of lightning toward the same target. Through the mask, Uto could see that Azzaria’s attacks and the effects of the lightning were doing her considerable harm. He told her that she should stop, that she didn’t have to die, but she retorted that his words did not match his actions and continued to fight Azzaria with the spear she wielded. Sula directed Nyema to move to the woman’s opposite side, flanking her. Uto again urged the woman to surrender, telling her that he didn’t want to destroy another guardian, but she refused and aimed her spear, claw, and stinger at him. He fell, and at the same moment two talismans he wore shattered. Kaa then rushed in and dealt the woman a blow that stunned her.

Uto rose to his feet again and channeled the healing power of the gods both for himself and for the scorpion-woman. She seemed surprised that the Scarabs hadn’t slain her, but she warned Uto that their rashness would not help them. Uto took a moment to look at the obelisk and realized that it might be a seal, sealing away something very evil, possibly even one of the evil gods that had long ago vanished from knowledge. The Scarabs heard the sound of drums from a distance. The woman had called out several times in a strange language none of them understood, and they suspected she had called for reinforcements. They decided to leave the same way that they had come before her reinforcements could arrive. As they departed from the obelisk, Uto channeled more divine energy into himself, and the scorpion-woman called out to him in warning, “Take care in the ancient places.”

Next: part 21, Quest for a Queen