As the Ruby Scarabs stood before the ornate double doors, Azzaria and Hutt examined the constellations portrayed there and recognized that though they seemed familiar there was something strange about them that neither of them could identify. After a moment the group decided to push on through the doors. When Kaa had confirmed they were unlocked and there were no traps or snares, Azzaria tapped herself with a wand that would surround her in a protective shield and they opened the doors.
The doors opened slowly and ponderously to reveal a large room with a very high ceiling. It widened at intervals as it reached from the doorway to the far end, where a white stone statue of Areshkagal stood on a dais, flanked by two slender bronze rods or poles. The ceiling of this massive chamber was decorated to resemble a nighttime sky. Toward the center of the room lay a pit in the floor, filled at the moment by many cushions. In the center of the pit stood a short pillar with a bronze shield mounted atop it. As the Scarabs took in this scene they realized they heard voices. In the pit reclined a single male maftet, his wings and legs black rather than the red and blue scheme assumed by the other maftet cultists they had encountered. Two other maftets, one male and the other female, stood at the edge of the pit conversing with him. The maftet in the pit resembled the description Erayu had given of Userib, the member of his tribe who had first unleashed the evil of Areshkagal within the Sphinx.
As soon as Userib saw the Scarabs, he began trying to convince them to abandon their mission and give themselves to the service of Areshkagal. As he talked it dawned on them that Userib meant for them to "serve" Areshkagal as sacrificial victims, but they were meant to be willing sacrifices, which explained why he was attempting to convince them to give themselves over.
Uto emerged from the bronze sentinel and asked Azzaria and Kaa, who were standing nearest to him, if they were ready. Then to Userib and the other maftets he said, " We'll try to spare Userib but he seems too far gone." The male maftet vanished at that moment. As Azzaria cast a spell the female also disappeared. Userib took flight, calling a column of fire down on Uto, Kaa, the sentinel, and Little Anubis, who had been riding on the sentinel while Hutt was encircled by the magic-suppressing spell. Kaa moved toward the pit, while Uto summoned his spirit ally and directed it to attack Userib. The male maftet suddenly appeared next to Uto. Azzaria entered her battle fury and her image became difficult to make out. This enabled her to see the female maftet hovering above the pit and allowed her to charge toward the female. Userib began casting another spell, directing it toward Azzaria as he ran to take cover behind the statue of the demon lord. Kaa pursued him and aimed three bolts of fiery energy at him, while Uto's spirit also followed and attacked him. Uto himself cast a spell upon him, and Sula began to summon a storm of lightning to blast him. When the lightning came she moved closer to Uto.
Userib flew out from behind the statue to attack Kaa with a spell that drew some of his life energy from his body. The effect was clearly painful and violent, but this didn't prevent Kaa from striking Userib repeatedly. Uto assumed his spirit form to protect himself. Azzaria knocked the female maftet out of the air and she fell to the floor, lifeless, followed a moment later by the male when Azzaria turned on him. Userib sent a cloud of purple motes at both Kaa and Azzaria, to which Kaa retaliated with another bolt of flame. This dropped Userib.
Once the maftets were brought down, Kaa checked the room for hidden doorways or compartments. While he searched, Azzaria examined the statue and the two poles. She found that they each contained an apparatus for viewing the exterior of the Sphinx, one for each side. Nyema began sniffing a chest that lay in the bottom of the pit beneath the cushions, indicating that there was something very interesting to her inside it. Kaa examined the chest and opened it, revealing that inside it was a large insect cocoon that could only contain the kidnapped thriae queen larva. Uto took charge of the chest and its precious content after confirming that the larva within was still alive.
Kaa found that there were a number of other items in the pit after he tossed all of the cushions out of it. He uncovered a silver bowl and matching ewer engraved with the symbols of the goddess Sekhmet, a bag full of gold coins, a lacquered box inlaid with gems, a pouch of sapphires, a wand wound in silver thread, and a tile decorated with an image of a roaring sphinx. The tile bore no enchantment, but was of interest because the Scarabs had found others like it bearing different images, all of them collected as though they held some significance to the cult of Hakotep.
While Kaa discovered the contents of the pit, Uto gathered up the items that Userib and the other two maftets had carried on their persons. Userib had borne two sickles of very fine make rather than the customary scimitars of his people, as well as an enchanted ring, some fragments of jade, a quantity of diamond dust, and another tile. This one depicted an armored warrior. Hutt determined the properties of the magic items, finding that the unholy symbol of Areshkagal that Userib had carried was an unusual object that could be molded into the form of the bearer's chosen deity and could also enable a priest to control the area of effect when channeling energy to heal or harm.
Hutt then remarked to his companions that the Sphinx was still larger than the space they had explored so far, indicating that there were still areas they hadn't found. They had yet to locate the armor and weapon the spirit of the priestess of Sarenrae had bequeathed to them, nor had they located a true altar to Areshkagal. The shield on the pillar in the center of the pit proved to be a scrying device that could view the chamber where they had fought the crocodile-man. Uto then suggested that perhaps they should rest before seeking the missing parts of the interior structure. Their many battles had left him depleted of healing powers. He also offered the thought that they could use one of the wands he carried, which enabled the bearer to shape stone to his whim, to make a tunnel through the external wall of the structure to reach the outside or other parts of the interior. Kaa then volunteered that he had recently learned an ability that would allow him to do something very similar. The others agreed that Kaa should use this surprising new talent, but first Sula passed through the wall to determine how thick it was.
Kaa then opened a passage through the wall to allow them to go outside, as Sula had expressed a desire to rest under the open sky rather than inside the Sphinx. When they were outdoors they discussed the possibility of having Hutt teleport the thriae larva to the hive. They found that Rubila and the other girtablilu were still resting inside the tent where they had deposited the captive maftets. Uto talked with them, and Rubila told him that they intended to leave the following morning. But Uto gathered from the way that she spoke that they would be willing to remain if the request was made in the form of a contract for work, so he hired them to continue standing guard over the maftets while the Ruby Scarabs made their magical journey to the thriae hive.
Because Hutt had never been to the hive, Uto used his wand to form a stone into the shape of it so Hutt could visualize his destination. His spell carried the whole group safely to the hive, leaving the sentinel behind and transporting Nyema as a tiny stone figurine in Sula's belt pouch. The thriae sentries recognized the Scarabs and led them at once to their queen, who was overjoyed at the return of the stolen larva. The thriae then proposed a celebration with dancing and feasting, and the queen offered an enchanted bow as a reward. None of the Scarabs were archers, and Uto realized that the thriae were a practical people. The queen was not offended when Uto courteously suggested that the hospitality and friendship of the hive was reward enough and the queen should keep the bow for the protection of her people.
On the following day Hutt prepared the teleportation spell again and transported the whole group to the capital city of Sothis where they could sell some of the items they had acquired and purchase other useful objects. Uto also used a spell that could send messages over long distances to tell Erayu about the captured maftets and the death of Userib. When the Scarabs had sold some of the other equipment they decided to keep the silver bowl and ewer with the symbols of Sekhmet and present them to the maftets as they worshipped that goddess. Erayu had responded to Uto's message by saying that they would arrive at the Sphinx in two days.
When the Ruby Scarabs returned to the Sightless Sphinx, they re-entered the structure through the main entrance and proceeded to the stone wall that Sula had questioned, the wall that told her there was a hallway beyond it. They passed easily through this wall into a long narrow hallway, girding themselves with protective spells before entering. The wall itself was not of great thickness. Some fifty feet beyond it the hallway made a turn to the right. Kaa found a hidden door there, which led into a room some twenty feet long ending in a wall perforated by narrow slits. These slits allowed one to look into another room beyond, which was much larger and similar in size and configuration to the chamber where they had found Userib. The small room was full of sand and smelled very musty, as though it had been disused for a long time. A plain door led into the larger room, likely a concealed door since there had been no effort made to decorate it. That room also appeared to have been disused for many years. Bits of bone were scattered among the heaps of sand, and there was evidence of a battle taking place there. The far end of the room was hidden in darkness. Uto took out a spell scroll and summoned a light like the sunlight outside to illuminate the chamber. This revealed that two steps led up to a dais, where the wall behind it was covered with images of monstrous creatures rending human bodies apart. A statue of Areshkagal stood on the dais.
Uto gave his light to his invisible servant and sent it toward the dais. The wall behind the statue had thirteen skeletons impaled upside-down upon it. Over the center skeleton hung a tarnished bronze mirror. Nyema refused to enter this chamber, prompting Sula to warn her companions, "There's something wrong in here." The dais and the statue were covered in bloodstains. Just as the Scarabs realized this a low moaning filled the chamber. Three creatures emerged from within the side walls, two on the right of the Scarabs and one from their left. Something unseen touched Azzaria and she felt herself weaken. One of the visible creatures did the same to Kaa. Kaa realized that these were specters, capable of draining away a person's strength and vitality but adversely affected by sunlight. He moved to the exterior wall of the Sphinx and opened a gap in it to allow the light of the sun to reach the chamber. The specters recoiled from the warm brilliance.
Little Anubis ran into the pool of light, and Hutt used a spell to exchange places with the homonculus. Sula also moved into the sunlight, summoning a lightning storm to attack the specters. The three specters surrounded Uto where he stood inside the sentinel. Kaa opened the wall further, letting more light into the room and then manifested his wings to take flight. Uto channeled the power of the ancestral spirits to harm the specters, realizing that they were a kind of undead creature that could be injured by positive energy. Azzaria attacked the invisible specter that had injured her, making herself difficult to attack by causing herself to flicker and blur. Kaa removed yet more of the stone a a higher level so that it would spread the sun's radiance even farther into the room. At that point two of the specters fled into the opposite wall. The invisible specter was destroyed by Azzaria. She and Uto combined their attacks on the remaining specter and it too was eliminated.
When the specters were gone, Nyema cautiously entered the chamber to join Sula. Uto healed Azzaria and Kaa of the harm done them by the specters, then moved closer to the suspended skeletons. The wings of the statue formed an altar, demonstrating that this was the altar they had been missing. Kaa discovered that there was a concealed compartment in the floor of the dais beside the altar. Within it was a sack made of lizard hide, which Uto detected was magical. When Kaa opened it he found that the interior of the sack was much larger than its exterior. Inside it he found a greatsword, three potion vials, and another tile bearing the image of a serpent.
There was a second small room on the other side of the chamber, opposite the observation room they had entered. Sula investigated this room, which did not have observation slits. Within it was a silver box bearing the emblem of Sarenrae. Another concealed doorway led from it.
The Scarabs exited the altar room into another long hallway, from which two rooms opened out on either side. The hallway continued on beyond them. Neither of these rooms had doors. Both were the same length, but the room on the right was broader than the one on the left. The left room showed more indications of combat, its walls scarred. Some stones had been removed from the walls and laid out on the floor in the form of Sarenrae's holy symbol. The room to the right was full of mud and steam.
Beyond these rooms the hallway curved, leading them to a third room filled with armor and weapons. Beyond that was a fourth, hidden room, protected by a magical trap. Hutt cast a spell on Kaa to improve his ability to disable it. Inside was another silver box, which Kaa opened to reveal three crossbow bolts engraved with holy symbols, a spell scroll, a wand of white ash, and six vials of holy water. Hutt told the others that the bolts were imbued with holy power, the scroll could be used to raise a dead person, and the wand was charged with a healing spells. The room of weapons and armor was also marked with the symbol of Sarenrae the Dawnflower. Eight mannequins stood bearing suits of heavy plate armor arranged as though worn, though time had caused them to fall in on themselves. The swords on their racks had rusted with age. But among them was one blade that was undamaged, and a suit of armor to match it. These were enchanted to give the wearer and wielder the ability to strike incorporeal creatures like the shadow demon the Scarabs had fought in the sculpture gallery.
Next: part 38, An End to the Darkness
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