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
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