[Pathfinder] Mummy's Mask, part 50: The Four-Fold Path

Beyond the grinning sphinx, the chamber was occupied by a glowing pyramid as tall as a person, carved from a single block of crystal. When the Ruby Scarabs approached the chamber, the mummified sphinx spoke to them, telling them that should any of them cast a spell he would consier them enemies. He also mentioned that the crystal pyramid was a power source, and that he himself was a high priest of the god Set. The Scarabs moved a little farther into the room as this introduction took place, seeing that inside along with the sphinx and the crystal pyramid were two lightning elementals, one on each side.

Uto asked the sphinx if he was truly devoted to the Sky Pharaoh. The response was that the sphinx had served the pharaoh well as a general in his armies and his undead existence was his reward. The implication seemed to be that eternal unlife was not what he had desired. The sphinx then told the Scarabs that if they could answer his riddle, he would allow them to use the crystal pyramid power supply.

Next to the pyramid stood a pillar engraved with heiroglyphs. Uto, Kaa, and Hutt studied this pillar as the party considered what to do next. The sphinx did not interfere with them. It soon became apparent that the pillar was similar to the wall they had seen in the pyramid that attacked Wati, a communication device that would transmit any message written upon it to other pyramids. The pillar's current command was to send other pyramids to Sothis.

While the others discussed the riddle the sphinx posed, Kaa and Azzaria looked at the pyramid. Kaa asked the sphinx what would happen to him the pyramid was destroyed. Would he be freed of the Sky Pharaoh's control if Hakotep truly died?

Then Kaa used the command phrase for the pyramid to open it, revealing the controls concealed inside. Meanwhile Azzaria tried writing a command on the communication pillar, telling the recipients to travel to open desert and wait. Uto added to her message, but aside from receiving a demand to know who the message was from, there was no other response. As this exchange was ongoing Kaa determined how to decrease the power output from the pyramid. Uto wrote a message ordering the other pyramids to obey or suffer a power cut. There was no reply.

Uto asked the sphinx if he wanted the pharaoh to die. If the Scarabs attacked Hakotep, would the sphinx stand aside? The sphinx replied that he would wait while the Scarabs opened the other crypts within this structure. Before the party left to pursue that goal, Kaa took out his adamantine 9-ring sword and smashed the communication pillar.

As the Scarabs retreated from the chamber, the sphinx spoke to the two elementals in a language the party members didn't understand and the two beings of lightning began to clash with one another. The sphinx himself settled down on the edge of the platform as if to watch.

The Ruby Scarabs descended from the platform and returned to the door from which they had entered the pyramid. As they passed through the passage filled with the gas that had caused Sula and Hutt to become confused, everyone held their breath. Sula carried Nyema through to keep her safe. Once they had exited the pyramid they walked around to its north face and climbed up to the opening there. The platform outside the entrance on that side was only five feet deep, thought it was twenty feet wide. On the stone in the opening were red tiles marked with flame glyphs. The stone was warm. The inscription on the tiles revealed that this entrance led to the part of the pyramid that was held by a balor demon called Okarer Sendef.

Kaa detected a trap on the entry and told the others to back down the staircase a short distance while he disabled it. Uto prepared by casting a spell on everyone to protect them from fire. When Kaa disabled the trap he heard a ticking sound, which concerned him. Everyone descended further out of caution, but the sound turned out to be the noise of the mechanism that lowered the door stone. Hutt looked through the opening and described to those behind him what he saw. Waves of heat emanated from inside, and beyond the doorway pools of lava roiled beneath stone walkways.

At the end of the walkway from the doorway stood a square chamber, with a black iron statue in each corner. The statues resembled images of the god Ra, but distorted into pot-bellied creatures with four legs. As the Scarabs were about to enter this area, Hutt realized that the stones leading to this platform were affected by magic to make them slippery as grease, threatening to cause any unwary person to slide off into the lava.

Sula had already assumed the shape of an earth elemental and she carried Azzaria over the slippery spot, while Uto lifted Nyema over it, and Kaa leaped across. As they set foot beyond the greasy spot, the four statues began to move. Kaa flew across the platform to deliver a punishing kick to the statue in the far left corner. Azzaria turned on the statue in the opposite left-hand corner. Sula charged the statue on the far right and slammed her fists into it, the blows flaring with both fire and lightning as she summoned the powers of the celestials and her own djinni ancestry. Uto and Nyema were left by the statue in the near right corner. Hutt cast a spell on everyone to speed their movement and warned them that the four "statues" were actually advanced constructs, tougher than living creatures and immune to fire.

The construct beside Uto grabbed him and its beak-like mouth distended, revealing its red-hot interior. Its jaws distended as it prepared to swallow him, but Uto blinked out of its grasp to reappear a short distance away. Sula attempted to push her opponent off into the lava pool but was unable to shift the construct. Azzaria cut her enemy in half and its torso fell into the burning pool. Kaa's fists and feet pummeled the construct in a frenzy and it crumpled into an intert heap of metal, its fires gone out. Azzaria turned to face the construct that had attacked Uto, while Kaa went to join Sula. Hutt cast a spell on her weapon to make it more effective against the construct's iron skin. Uto activated a ring he wore and slammed a blast of force into the construct that had tried to swallow him. Kaa's foe was in bad condition after dealing with the tengu's blows. Azzaria's freshly enchanted weapon dropped the third construct, leaving only one still standing. Hutt drew a wand and sent five missiles into the remaining construct, and it toppled into the lava.

In the remains of one construct that hadn't fallen from the platform, Azzaria found a brass object that proved to be an amulet. When Hutt examined it he determined that when worn the amulet could transform the wearer's fists into fiery adamantine, and the person would also be protected from heat and fire. Kaa checked the remains of the other constructs but only the one had born an enchanted object within it.

From the platform where the constructs had waited, four hallways led off into the depths of the pyramid. The Ruby Scarabs decided to go to the left of the entrance. This passage led them to a chamber in which twenty-four statues of the god Anubis stood. To their horror, chained to each one of these statues was an emaciated, nearly naked person.

Uto detected magical auras within the chamber, but the chained people did not appear to be undead. When he approached one, the person pleaded faintly for water. The Scarabs were wary, for they had already met a disguised demon once who had begged them for water before turning on them. The person also seemed slightly translucent. As Kaa approached another person, Uto reminded the others of that previous trick. Hutt responded by giving another person his water bottle. Uto decided to produce a bucket and use his magic to fill it with water to see what would happen. More and more of the prisoners began to call for water, their voices growing louder and louder. Azzaria tried asking another person where hey were from and what was their name, speaking in the modern Osiriani tongue rather than the ancient one, but she received no reply. The cries for water were now so loud that the chamber was filled with a cacophony of pleading voices, much louder than seemed natural. Nyema began to bite at her own leg in response.

Kaa began trying to unlock the chains binding the prisoner nearest him, while Uto had his invisible servant carry water to someone else. Upon seeing what had happened to Nyema, Uto began to wonder if the vision of chained prisoners was a kind of haunting. He channeled divine energy into the room in an attempt to halt the effect of the rising tumult. Azzaria used her weapon to smash one slave's chain. At the same time Uto realized that his healing power had no effect on the miserable slaves. He then attempted to use the same power to harm them, but that also failed to affect them. Sula cast a spell on Nyema to heal her self-inflicted injury, but almost as soon as she did so the lioness bit herself again. Kaa also began to show signs that the noise was disturbing his mind as well.

Hutt cast the spell to create his mansion and began to move some of the captives inside. As soon as he did so, they transformed from living people to desiccated corpses, naturally mummified by centuries in the heat. Sula picked up Nyema and attempted to carry her out of the chamber into the passageway, but because Sula's elemental form filled most of the passage this was difficult. Kaa ran into Hutt's mansion to escape the maddening cries, then darted back out again to fetch one of the prisoners. After a few moments of struggling with Nyema, Sula changed her mind and carried her companion into the magical mansion instead.

After Azzaria destroyed the last of the shackles, the chamber fell quiet. But by this time the noise had driven Hutt and Kaa mad as well as Nyema. Nyema attacked Sula. Azzaria took a set of shackles and used it to bind Hutt. Uto examined them and realized that the insanity effect caused by the haunt had become permanent. Uto was able to cast a spell on Kaa to heal him of the madness, but he didn't have sufficient magic to heal them all. Nyema began to yowl loudly. Kaa offered to stun her to give her temporary relief, but Sula was instead able to coax her back into the mansion and then calm her enough to let Sula transform her into a figurine, where she would be safe until a solution to her madness could be found.

The Scarabs decided to bury the corpses of the long-ago slaves who had died suffering inside the pyramid, and then Hutt would transport them to Sothis to purchase magic scrolls to heal everyone since they couldn't fight the balor while half the party were afflicted with insanity.

Next: part 51, Fire and Water

[Pathfinder] Mummy's Mask, part 49: Deeper Into the Pyramid

The winged lion statues had appeared oddly distorted when they stood immobile in their niches. But as they began to move their stony exteriors cracked open and fell away, revealing that within were not winged lions but hideous tentacled monstrosities with too many eyes and mouths. These nightmares flew at the Ruby scarabs, lashing with their tentacles and snapping their teeth. They struck Azzaria and Hutt. Hutt cast his spell granting extra haste to everyone, but was unable to reach Sula as she was too far away. Uto quickly cast a spell to heal any remaining injuries from the battle between a confused Sula and her companions.

Then one of the horrors struck Hutt again, and in an instant the mage dissovled into a puddle of gelatinous goo, his possessions tumbling to the ground beside him. Limbs, eyes, faces, and other body parts emerged from this puddle and then submerged again as it shifted constantly from one form to another.

Azzaria had already hit the creature nearest her several times, and when it flew within reach of Nyema's claws she knocked it to the ground and Kaa kicked it until it stopped moving. When it died it transformed back into a statue, albeit a broken and malformed one. Kaa dodged and weaved, avoiding the blows of a second monster. Azzaria raged, her form becoming blurry and flickering. Sula summoned a storm of lightning and directed bolts at the creature that had attacked Hutt. Hutt meanwhile was able to reform himself by an effort of will, but he realized that the effect was a curse and would require special magic to remove.

Kaa valuted into the air and sent a stream of acid at a creature, causing some of its extra appendages to melt. Azzaria knocked a second monster down, though it didn't transform into a statue. Another creature managed to connect its tentacle with Sula, but she was able to fight off the curse while Nyema took a bite out of it. Uto also avoided being transformed. Hutt filled the area with flames and the third monster turned to stone and exploded. Kaa's blows knocked the remaining beast to the floor, allowing Azzaria to surge across the space and slam her flail into it. When was nearly gone Nyema began to maul it and in moments it joined its brethren as a broken statue.

With the monsters destroyed, the Scarabs looked around the room. The niches the monsters had emerged from were deeper than Uto was tall and behind where the 'statues' had stood were wooden sarcophagi. When opened they revealed carefully wrapped mummies with fine jewelry, possibly those who had served the pharaoh in life. While the others were looking at these, Uto removed the curse that afflicted Hutt, restoring him fully to his natural form.

Beyond this chamber, the Scarabs came to a huge vertical shaft, its circumference more than ten times the height of any member of the group. At the top, far overhead, they could see clouds and flashes of lightning. Nearly as far below on the floor were what appeared to be an image of a bird and  a large black disk. Opposite where the Scarabs stood was another ledge, and they could see two more, one above them and the other below.

Uto wanted to know what the black disk at the bottom of the shaft was, so he and Azzaria decided to descend to examine it, Azzaria granting herself magical flight and carrying Uto. As they descended she felt some magical force trying to affect her but nothing happened. The two of them observed that a statue of a man with the head of an ibis stood on one of the ledges, which they thought at first was a figure of the ancient Osirian god of knowledge, Thoth, but Uto realized that the statue held scrolls rather than the traditional ankh symbol. This reminded him that Pharaoh Hakotep had had a single son, Haktothes, who had been renowned as a scholar and known as the Ibis Prince. He surmised that instead of Thoth the statue might represent the Ibis Prince.

When he and Azzaria reached the bottom of the shaft, they found that the bird image was that of an owl. Beside it, the disk in the floor was made of iron divided visually into quarters. In each quarter was a different symbol that seemed to represent one of the four elements. Uto also detected strong magics on the disk. After learning this they decided to return to the rest of the group up above. But while they ascended they encountered the same magic Azzaria had noticed before. This time they suddenly felt her flight magic desert them. Uto quickly cast a spell to allow himself to levitate and they continued to embrace one another as they floated up the shaft to the ledge where the other Scarabs awaited them.

Once Azzaria and Uto had rejoined the party, the group began to discuss what they should do next. Should they go up or down? Hutt declared they should go up, but Kaa worried what the consequences might be if they bypassed the "four-fold path" the woman outside had spoken of. Uto also expressed a desire to go up, and the others acquiesced. But now they had to decide how to accomplish that, as the ledge above was quite far from their current location. It was decided that Uto and Azzaria would fly and carry the others. Uto was strong enough that he could even carry Nyema, though he took her and Sula at the same time so Sula could keep the big cat calm during the journey. Hutt flew on his own.

The passage leading away from the next ledge was blocked by a massive chunk of black basalt. In the center of this block of stone was an indentation in the form of a face that precisely matched the Forgotten Pharaoh's funerary mask that Uto wore. Glyphs on the block read, "The Ibis Prince makes clear the path."

This made the Scarabs reconsider. Would they need something from the passage beyond the Ibis Prince statue to get past this stone? They decided to descend to the Ibis Prince to find out.
The Ibis Prince ledge led into an antechamber where four statues stood against the opposite wall. Kaa was leery of them after their experience with the winged lions earlier. Hutt detected a spell of illusion on one of the statues. As soon as he sensed it, the faces of the statues melted, releasing several swarms of vicious wasps.

The wasps filled much of the space, stinging Sula badly before she summoned lightning down on them. Their sting was poisonous. Kaa breathed lightning at those near him as well, then turned on the swarm around her, destroying them. Uto melded himself into the stone wall to avoid them. Another swarm attacked Sula, draining her of all her agility until she was paralyzed. Then they began to crawl into her nose, mouth and ears. Hutt realized these were hell wasps, which were capable of invading and possessing a paralyzed body. Azzaria surged across the room with her flail and smashed the swarm by Sula to paste while Hutt used more lightning to help eliminate the swarms in the other part of the room.

With the wasps destroyed, the Scarabs saw the stone block in this passage descend, opening the way into a hall that descended. Before they entered the hall Uto restored Sula's mobility with a spell. The hall led to a pillared chamber. The chamber smelled of incense. At the far end of this chamber stood a curtained bed surrounded by several people in priestly robes. One of these figures turned to Uto and told him that there was nothing more they could do for the person on the bed and his body should be taken to prepare for burial. Uto moved closer, to see that the person on the bed appeared to be sickly but the bed curtains partially blocked his view.

Kaa had moved up beside Uto, and he warned Uto that the bed was armed with a dangerous trap that was meant to shatter the bones of the unwary. Uto then realized that the priests, the sick person, and even the curtains were illusory. The speech the priest had made to him had been part of the illusion. The priests were now statues, with gaping holes where their vital organs would have been and showing clear indications that they had been deliberately vandalized. Azzaria remembered that an apparent name the priest had spoken when referring to the sick man was actually a derogatory term for a person who betrayed their master. With the illusion now recognized and the trap on the bed now disabled by Kaa, the body on the bed revealed to be a contorted corpse, long dead. Uto decided to make a fetish of the dead man and use the effigy of Anubis he carried to speak with the dead man's spirit.

Uto placed the effigy inside the abdominal cavity of the corpse and summoned its spirit to speak to him. The dead man told him he had betrayed the Sky Pharaoh by conspiring with the Shory Empire and providing them information about a battle the Pharaoh planned. He had been punished by being afflicted with all sorts of diseases. The priests had been charged with keeping him alive and suffering. When he died they, too, were punished.

Once Uto released the spirit, Kaa went out to the ledge and used his immovable rods and some rope to descend a little way down the shaft. He found the magical trap that had caused Azzaria's flight spell to fail and disabled it. Hutt then cast a flight spell on Nyema and Sula rode astride the lioness as they rose back to the upper ledge.

The ledge on which the statue of the Ibis Prince stood led into a long hallway lined with pillars. The walls were covered in paintings of ibis. The chamber at the end of this hall held a sarcophagus set in an alcove. The floor around the sarcophagus was littered with numerous bones. The alcove was surrounded by an inscription describing the life of the Ibis Prince Hakmothes. The prince had been a scholar, who showed no interest in his father's martial pursuits. Nevertheless, Hakotep had required his son to go on a hunt, during which the prince was slain by a manticore. The Scarabs speculated that perhaps the bones were those of the men who were meant to protect the prince during the hunt. Closer examination by Sula indicated the bones were probably human, and that the men the bones had belonged to had been subjected to terrible torture.

Kaa searched the chamber, finding a trap on the sarcophagus itself. It proved to be extremely difficult to disable. As soon as he disabled one trap, he realized there was another, and another. Layers and layers of very challenging traps. After Kaa had been struggling with all of these traps for some minutes, Uto grew doubtful and used a spell to identify that there was an illusion on the sarcophagus that Kaa had failed to recognize. In fact there were no traps at all, only the illusion. Once Uto dispelled this, the sarcophagus proved to contain the mummy of the prince, wearing a silver funerary mask that was identical to the mask Uto wore except for the precious metal from which it was made. Because the stone block on one of the other ledges had an indentation in the shape of the pharaoh's face, the Scarabs decided to take it with them. Kaa carefully removed it and the easily accessible jewelry from the mummy, but otherwise left the wrappings undisturbed. None of the other Scarabs wanted the jewelry so Kaa claimed it for himself.

The Ruby Scarabs left the Ibis Prince's and descended together to look at the iron disk at the bottom of the shaft. When Hutt examined the enchantments laid on it he recognized that one of them was meant to prevent living creatures from approaching it, along with other protections. Overcoming those protections seemed like a very difficult task. They decided to leave the disk again and go to the uppermost balcony that they had yet to explore, which was located only a little over three times Uto's height below the lightning clouds at the top of the shaft.

The block in the entrance from that ledge had another face indentation in it. Azzaria used the Ibis Prince's mask in the indentation. As the block descended, the Scarabs heard the sound of bells from somewhere in the shaft. The block only descended a slight amount. At the same time, the storm in the top of the shaft lowered untll it was almost level with the ledge. Then the Scarabs heard the screams of a bird-like creature. Two massive birds came swooping out of the clouds, lightning dancing over their huge feathers. Severe gusts of wind began to sweep the ledge. In response, Sula transformed herself into an air elemental. One of the birds sent a bolt of lightning toward Hutt. The rougarou granted his companions hastiness and then summoned up a small magical structure that he could retreat into to be hidden from the eyes of the gigantic birds. Sula encouraged Nyema to go nto the shelter, joining Hutt, Azzaria, and Uto.

Kaa took flight, breathing a gout of flames at one of the enormous birds. Uto cast a spell on everyone to protect them from the birds' lightning. Sula summoned a fiery sirocco wind into the center of the shaft, which did little harm to the birds. One of the birds caught her airy form in its claw. Azzaria flew out of the shelter to attack. Soon all of the Scarabs were in the open but for Nyema. Lightning struck Uto but did him no harm. Sula slammed her fists against her captor, but these birds were fiendish in nature and the bird responded by smiting her. Kaa attempted to petrify the second bird. As they fought, the block in the entrance began to descend again with a grinding sound. Glancing back through the opening it left, Uto spotted a creature pacing inside the chamber beyond the stone.

While Uto looked into the room, Sula smashed her fists against the bird gripping her again and it released her and fell to the floor. She moved toward the second bird, but before she could strike Kaa brought it down. The storm surrounding them dissipated with the deaths of the two birds, but there were still clouds and lightning at the top of the shaft. Meanwhile Uto saw that within the chamber stood a pyramid of glowing crystal as tall as a man. The creature in the room with the pyramid stepped in front of the opening, revealing itself to resemble a mummified sphinx. Its gaze met Uto's and it grinned.

Next: part 50, The Four-Fold Path

[Pathfinder] Mummy's Mask, part 47: Return of the Sky Pharaoh

Kaa listened at the thick stone door and through it heard the wailing that had drawn the Ruby Scarabs back to the bottle-shaped room full of canopic jars. The voices from within seemed to be crying out in pain and sorrow. Kaa also told the others that he heard something that sounded like grain being scattered on the stone floor. With the encouragement of the rest of the group, he opened the door. Within the room he could see only impenetrable darkness that he suspected was not of natural origin. The noises were loud enough now that the other Scarabs could hear them.

Suddenly the source of the noises was revealed as a swarm of many black insects that looked like across between spiders and centipedes rushed out and clambered all over Kaa, stinging him. Some of them had wings. Azzaria immediately produced a bead of fire and hurled it into the mass of insects, but it appeared to do them no harm. Uto advised the others that these creatures were living things. Meanwhile the swarming insects had caused Uto's invisible spirit companion to vanish, and they spread out into the hallway stinging Sula. She realized that she had been poisoned. To avoid being stung further she retreated into the floor.

Hutt backed up to the intersecting hallway and sent a burst of lightning at the scurrying insects. Kaa followed this by splashing them with acid, and remembered that he had heard of such creatures before. He warned his companions that if they should fall unconsciou or die, the insects could inhabit their bodies and control them like terrifying puppets. In response Uto jaunted himself to stand beside Hutt.

The insects had stung Kaa badly by this point, and he had been scorched by Azzaria's fire bead. Azzaria drew out a potion and handed it to him, then moved away from the room. Sula had by this time recovered from the insect's poison and pushed her face up through the floor to see what was happening. She began to summon a storm of lightning. But before she could bring the lightning down on the insects, the combination of Hutt's lightning and Kaa's acid eliminated them all.

Once the unnatural darkness in the room was gone, the Scarabs could see that many of the canopic jars inside had been smashed. They saw no sing of more insects within, so they left that room behind and crossed the hallway to the next doorway.

The chamber across the hall was rectangular in shape, with two alcoves in the corners at each end. These alcoves were occupied by stone sarcophagi. On the walls to either side of the door were a bas reliefs of children and elders being pursued by horrible creatures. Hutt recognized that these were representations of a legendary creature called a Kalnaka, which in old stories would feast on children and disobedient slaves. On the wall opposite the door was a huge map of the Sekrephrenet. Eleven tiny lights glinted on the map.

Uto walked across the room to get a better look at the map. As soon as he did so, the lids of the sarcophagi in the alcoves flew off and mummified creatures that closely resembled the the kalnaka sprang out. Sula had never cast her lightning spell at the insects but still had the magic within her grasp, and she immediately sent a bolt at one of the mummified kalnaka, but she could only see two of the creatures not all four. Two of them rushed at Uto and began clawing him. Kaa entered the room and blasted one of the kalnaka with lightning. Azzaria surrounded herself with images of herself and moved in to attack the first kalnaka that had charged Uto. Uto flew up toward the ceiling to get out of their reach. Hutt cast a spell on Azzaria, Uto, and Kaa to grant them increased speed.

One kalnaka exploded into dust after being struck by another lightning bolt from Kaa. A second was badly injured. The lightning seemed to be very effective against the creatures. The fourth kalnaka turned on Hutt, seriously wounding him. Uto flew over to Hutt to channel the healing power of the spirits into his body, but that wasn't sufficient to prevent the kalnaka from dealing the rougarou wizard another serious blow. Hutt took advantage of the paired magical rings he and Azzaria wore to exchange places with her. But as soon as he had appeared where Azzaia previously stood, another kalnaka moved in to attack him again and dealt him a fatal wound. To Uto's horror, as soon as Hutt exhaled his last breath his body disintegrated into a pile of dust.

Uto moved himself within range of the kalnaka's claws. The bracelet in the form of a serpent that he wore reached its fanged head out and bit the kalnaka, injecting it with healing magic, but because the kalnaka was undead the magic harmed it instead. Azzaria slew another kalnaka that was nearest to Uto. When all four of the kalnaka were gone, Uto took out one of the precious vials of oil the Scarabs had found and carefully gathered up Hutt's remains to pour the oil on them. Within moments Hutt's body had been reconstituted, though all of his possessions still lay on the floor beside him.

Once Hutt had been resurrected, the group members examined the map of the Sekrephenet more closely. Sula noticed something odd about the mouth of one of the sculpted kalnaka on the wall, which led Kaa to discover that there was a hidden compartment behind it. Inside the compartment were a wand with a lightning bolt symbol engraved on it that represented one of the ancient Osirian gods, a silver and jasper anklet, three gems that could be used to summon elemental creatures, an enchanted kopesh with the name 'Duhua' engraved on it in ancient Osiriani, and a foot tall malachite statuette of a jackal-headed man. Inside the statue Hutt detected something magical that was revealed to be a scarab enchanted to keep golems at bay, which could have been very useful to the Scarabs if they had found it earlier. The wand with the lightning symbol proved to be capable of casting a lightning spell, and the Scarabs realized that it could also be used to activate the map.

Now that the Scarabs had the activation wand in their possession, they considered a method of gaining more information about the Sky Pharoah, the Sekrephrenet, and the pyramids. The canopic jars in the bottle-shaped room held more of the kind of creatures that had attacked the Scarabs earlier, though not the flying and stinging variety. The insects in the jars were creatures called cenovaths, which could store memories. It was an application of a technique developed by the Shory Empire, though Tef-Naju had mentioned that the ancient Osirians hadn't fully mastered it. Uto decided that it would be worthwhile to see if the memories stored within the cenovaths could be retrieved by consuming the creatures.

After some thought, all of the Scarabs but Hutt decided they would be willing to try eating a cenovath. Uto went first. The cenovath clawed at his mouth and throat as it was consumed, but when he swallowed it he felt his mind fill with information. Azzaria learned better how to wield a kopesh. Kaa and Sula both learned how to deal more harm to undead creatures. Uto tried eating a second cenovath to learn more, but got nothing for his trouble but a headache.

After they had eaten the cenovaths, the Ruby Scarabs decided it would be wise to pay a visit to Sothis and purchase some items to help them fight the Sky Pharaoh after they brought down his flying pyramid. First they went to the sun disk to tell Tef-Naju and Aivara what they planned to do. Then Hutt teleported them to Sothis to do their shopping and relieve themselves of some iems they had collected in the Sekrephrenet but had no use for.

When the Scarabs returned to the Sekrephrenet the following day, they immediately went to the map room to activate it with the lightning wand. Then they met Tef-Naju and Aivaria again at the solar disk. The entire structure began to crackle and spark with lightning. As the hum of power increased, the Scarabs realized that the myriad bones scattered around the earthworks were rising up and combining to form bizarre constructs, ten to twelve feet tall and equipped with multiple pairs of arms. As they formed these things were surrounded by elemental energies: acid, lightning, fire, or water. These bone elementals began to move toward the sun disk where the key had been placed.

The wind around the structures began to rise along with the thrumming power that surged through it as a storm formed over the earthworks. Uto called the lightning to strike one of the bone creatures, while Hutt sent a blast of flames at another. Aiverai began to sing, heartening them with her song, and Tef-Naju drew his swords. Sula also called lightning, and she, Hutt, and Uto concentrated their attacks on one bone elemental at a time while Kaa and Azzaria attacked the creatures that came closer in range. Kaa leaped through the air, his wings emerging, and hurled himself feet first at the creatures. The elementals responded by breathing out blasts of elemental energy mingled with fragments of bone. When the creatures were destroyed they left behind heaps of shattered bones.

Gradually the elementals were destroyed one by one. As the supply of bones was used up they grew smaller and less threatening. In the meantime Hutt surrounded the solar disk with a wall of iron to protect the key. He put himself inside the wall to defend him against the elementals. The wall became infused with lightning that struck anyone who stood too near, including Hutt.

As the power emanating from the earthworks reached a crescendo, the Scarabs saw a huge black pyramid crackling with lightning approaching from the southeast. As it lowered itself to the ground a great wave of sand rose up beneath it. The Sky Pharaoh had arrived.

Characters are now 15th level.

Next: part 48, The Sky Pharaoh's Pyramid

[Pathfinder] Mummy's Mask, part 48: The Sky Pharaoh's Pyramid

As the giant black pyramid settled into the sand, bolts of lightning sparking between the black spikes protruding from its surfaces, the Ruby Scarabs realized they were not prepared to face the Sky Pharaoh just yet. Uto turned to Tef-Naju and asked the shaitan if he would be willing to keep watch on the Sky Pharaoh's pyramid while they made a short trip to Sothis to acquire some additional equipment. Tef-Naju acquiesced to the request.

Feeling assured that they wouldn't be attacked and Hakotep was waiting for them to come to him, they accompanied Tef-Naju to a hidden chamber below that they had somehow managed to completely overlook during their explorations of the underground chambers. This chamber held the reward that had been promised to Tef-Naju for his service to Hakotep. The items stored there included drums of water from the elemental plane of water, a puzzle box containing miniature chariots, several vials of oil that had long since gone rancid, a small kopesh of fine workmanship but without any enchantment, a wand, several acorns that would have grown into treants but which had become petrified after six thousand years, a puzzle book that held an enchantment to increase the wisdom of any person who solved the puzzles, a cat mask equipped with magical goggles, an enchanted flail, and a set of armor made from some strange creature's hide. They also found various ancient records, including records of the elementals the pharaoh had taken into his service, as well as the contract for Tef-Naju's service.

When they had removed these items, which Tef-Naju had agreed to give them in exchange for helping him gain his freedom, Hutt murmured the words of a teleportation spell and the Ruby Scarabs vanished from the Khepsutanem.

Two days later, when the Ruby Scarabs had sold some of the items they had acquired and replaced them with other things of greater use to them, Hutt's spell carried them back to the Khepsutanem. They found Tef-Naju and Aiveria waiting in the same spot they had stood in when the Scarabs left, next to the solar disk. Tef-Naju told them that there had been no activity from the pyramid. The enormous pyramid still stood where it had landed, lightning sparkling over its surfaces. They could see a staircase rising partway up the face that was toward them, with what appeared to be a balcony at its terminus as they had seen on the flying pyramid that attacked Wati.

The Scarabs decided it was time for them to go to see the pharaoh. They set off toward the structure, pausing only for Uto to cast a spell on them all to protect them from electricity. As they neared the pyramid they could see what appeared to be a door on each side, though the south side didn't seem to have any stairs. Sula transformed herself into a falcon and flew over to get a closer look. When she returned she reported that the seeming doors were actually stone blocks made of a different color of stone, marked with some kind of glyphs. Just after she conveyed this information to her companions, the sound of the electricity from the pyramid changed. The Scarabs turned their attention back to it and saw two massive scorpions climbing down the outside, creatures larger than an elephant.

As the Scarabs moved in, the two scorpions launched themselves into the air to everyone's surprise. The first landed before Azzaria and Kaa and attacked them with its huge tail stinger. Hutt cast a spell to grant everyone greater speed and Kaa sent a line of acid spraying at the creature. The second scorpion landed by Uto's bronze sentinel and snapped its enormous claw around the construct. Sula transformed herself into an ankylosaurus and swung her club-like tail at the first scorpion, but her blow only slid off its shiny black carapace. Then its stinger struck her, penetrating the ankylosaurus's armored hide and injecting poison into her body. Kaa flew into the scorpion, fists and feet flying. Its claw caught Kaa and began to crush him. It attempted to sting him as well but despite being grasped in its claw Kaa was able to avoid the stinger.

The second scorpion tried to sting the construct, not recognizing that it wasn't a living thing, but it only managed to spray some of its virulent poison through one of the portholes without harming Uto inside. Uto sent a green ray at the first scorpion and it disintegated into a pile of black dust. Hutt summoned a magical cannon that fired at the remaining scorpion, then brought a storm of ice down on it. Kaa landed on his feet after his captor vanished and moved to pound the creature until it collapsed and died.

When both scorpions were gone, Sula was weak from the poison. Hutt cast a spell on her to help her fight it, and Azzaria gave her a potion. Then Uto cast a spell to heal her of the detrimental effects of the poison. Afterward she felt foolish to realize that she had prepared the same spell but hadn't thought to use it to treat herself.

The Scarabs had hardly recovered from that battle when a figure appeared on the peak of the pyramid, some 500 feet above them. A woman's voice spoke loudly, making a pretentious proclamation about the Sky Pharaoh and demanding to know why the Ruby Scarabs resisted his entirely appropriate rule over Osirion. While she spoke, Hutt's magical cannon continued to fire. The woman concluded her speech by telling the Scarabs that if they sought to meet Hakotep they would have to pass through water, fire, earth, and air. Then she vanished from sight, punctuated by another 'boom!' from Hutt's cannon.

The Scarabs approached the pyramid, finding at the bottom of the southern face a block of stone covered with glyphs that referred to a demon. They decided to bypass this and head to the east side instead, moving quickly before Uto spell of electricity protection could wear off. Hutt flew up the staircase to examine one of the blocks Sula had seen during her reconnaissance flight. A large block of dark shiny stone stood there, covered with blue tiles. The ancient Osiriani heiroglyphs on its surface spoke of an erinyes devil of air.

Kaa ascended the stairs, checking for traps, but found none. The stairs had appeared very narrow in contrast with the size of the structure, but they were sufficiently wide to allow Sula to climb them in her ankylosaurus form. When Kaa reached the block he pressed the blue tiles in the correct sequence and the block slid aside to reveal a narrow passageway filled with mist.

The Scarabs suspected the mist in the passageway was dangerous, but didn't know what it might be. To get some idea, Sula summoned a dire rat and sent it into the mist. It returned much sooner that anticipated, bearing a wound that a brief examination indicated was self-inflicted. They had already noticed that the mist smelled of roses and mint, but Hutt now mentioned that there was something different about the aroma though he couldn't identify what it was. Kaa also tried to determine what was different about the smell but had no more success than Hutt. Uto took out his gem of air elemental summoning, but didn't crush it.

As the Scarabs moved into the misty passageway, they found that it eventually turned back on itself. It was so narrow they could only move in single file and Nyema had to go last as she filled the passage. Once they had made a turn and begun to move back in the direction from which they'd come, Sula was suddenly overcome with confusion that left her unable to recognize her friends. Seeing an unfamiliar shape in the mist, she stabbed Azzaria with her spear. When her companions realized what was happening they struggled to find a way to dispel whatever was affecting her. Kaa meanwhile kept going, following a the passage around another bend and found that ahead of him the narrow passageway opened into a larger room where the mist was gone.

As Kaa called this information back to the others, Azzaria moved away from Sula to avoid her spear, heading for the large room. With her nearest foe gone, Sula turned her attention on Uto, who used a spell to move himself to where Azzaria was. Sula then noticed Hutt behind her, and turned on him. In response, Hutt employed a spell he had repeatedly tried to use on enemies in the Khepsutanem without success. He had an obsession with trying to transform enemies into ducks. This was the only occasion on which the magic worked for him. Hutt shouted, "Duck!" and Sula was immediately transformed into a duck, with no more intelligence than an ordinary duck.

Azzaria relayed to Kaa what had happened, and the tengu ran back down the passage and grabbed the duck to carry her to safety. Nyema, disturbed when she lost the scent of her mistress, pushed past Hutt to seek Sula, nearly knocking the rougarou mage off his feet. Unfortunately at this point Hutt had also succumbed to the effect that had confused Sula, and he hurled a ball of fire after the lioness. Sula was singed by it, but the transformative magic had left her with her normal vitality and she survived.

Uto had moved into the large room by this time, and Kaa now ran past him, carrying the duck that had been Sula. Uto then used his magic to dispel the spell Hutt had placed on her, transforming her back into her true self. Uto's magic didn't eliminate the effect that had left her confused, though, and as soon as she was no longer a duck she tried to attack him. Fortunately Kaa was still holding onto her. To further protect himself, Kaa, and Azzaria, Uto cast a spell on Hutt to put him to sleep.

When Kaa had first entered the large chamber, he had observed that it was lined with pillars, and there were alcoves in the walls with statues of winged creatures standing in them. He hadn't been able to see much else as there was no light in the chamber and his own magical light didn't extend far. He was suspicious of the statues and kept an eye on them. Just as Uto left Hutt slumbering on the floor, Kaa thought he saw movement from one of the statues and directed a stream of acid at it. Kaa's suspicions were confirmed when the statue shifted, dodging some of the acid spray. The statues in the alcoves on the opposite side of the chamber stirred as well.

While Kaa was preoccupied with the statues, Sula began to recover from the confusion effect, realizing that she had been poisoned a second time in less than an hour. Uto took the opportunity to heal the wounds Sula had inflictd on Hutt. Sula moved into a corner next to Nyema. After Uto healed Hutt, Azzaria took him by the shoulders and shook him awake. On discovering that the statues were moving, Hutt drew out the wand he had just acquired from Tef-Naju's treasures and fired five missiles of force from it at one of the statues, which had revealed themselves to be winged lions. As the missiles unerringly struck their target, the lions unfurled their wings.

Next: part 49, Deeper Into the Pyramid