After the Scarabs boarded the reed boats, they very soon spied a statue of a man with the head of a frog, holding a trident in one hand and an inverted ankh symbol in the other. The boats took the left-hand turn at this statue, then a turn to the right to reach a small landing. This landing felt colder and mist filled the air. The chamber beyond the landing was rimed in ice, though murals of winged serpents could still be made out on its walls. Kaa disembarked from the boat and looked into the L-shaped room, reporting that beneath the ice he could see a large red winged serpent. Also below the ice was a wooden sarcophagus. Floating at about his height above the ice was another crystal pyramid. Kaa quickly discerned an icy trap on the pyramid and disabled it. But when he took control of the pyramid and attempted to disable it he was uncertain of his success.
The other Scarabs searched the icy room while Kaa worked on the pyramid. Kaa then suggested that they all back out onto the landing while he used his dragon's breath ability to try to melt the ice. But when he breathed, his breath seemed weaker than usual and had no effect on the ice. Azzaria suggested that this might be because this was the temple of water and fire and water were opposite elements. She tried making a fire herself, which briefly melted a bit of the ice but it quickly refroze. When it seemed that heat couldn't melt the ice, Kaa decided perhaps brute force could shatter it and took out his sword. The ice didn't reform as he began to chop through it.
Eventually Kaa was able to expose the wooden sarcophagus. The inscription on the outside told the name of its occupant, a woman named Khesem who had been a trusted adviser of the pharaoh. When the cover was removed the mummy of a dwarven woman was revealed. Within the sarcophagus Kaa found a metal flask and some quite valuable jewelry. The flask proved to be magical, capable of producing a never-ending supply of cool water.
After leaving Khesem's burial behind, the Scarabs moved on into a passageway and through a large opening into a room centered on a pool with a mosaic at its bottom. On the far side stood a statue of red stone depicting a elf woman with a water jar on her head. The domed ceiling overhead was painted blue, giving the chamber the feeling of being underwater.
The Scarabs noticed that the statue of the elf woman wore a necklace that wasn't merely a sculpted depiction of a necklace. She also held an ancient Osirian crown of war, which like her necklace was a real object and not a sculpture. Uto observed that the crown bore some magic. While Uto was looking at this, Kaa leaped across the pool into a side area of the chamber where there was a small pool shaped like a coffin. He spied a mummified woman in this pool, and there was a second such pool in the same area. An alcove on the opposite side of the chamber held two more such pools. Uto took flight and hovered over the pool holding the mummy, informing the others tat while he sensed something undead it didn't appear to emanate from the mummified woman. It was the bottom of the pool itself that seemed to radiate this aura.
Hutt decided to examine the red stone statue more closely, flying across the larger pool to approach it. He read the name Nailah on the cartouche carved on the statue. Some of the materials the Ruby Scarabs had read previously had told them that this person was the adopted sister of Hakotep's wife. Hutt tested the crown she held for magic and determined that whatever aura it held was being partly suppressed. He pulled the crown free of the statues hands. Immediately four mummified women rose from the small pools and a spectral figure of an elven woman appeared, attacking Azzaria. Sula drew out her spear to attack one of the specters. The elven woman turned on Hutt. Azzaria leaped into the large pool and reported that Hutt was behaving oddly. Azzaria used an enchanted bandolier she carried to grant protection to the others. But it was no use against the elven specter's scream. The moment her screech rang out, Sula collapsed, clearly slain in an instant.
Uto flew to Sula and cast a spell on himself to grow larger. The specter tried to touch him but was unable to do so. Kaa leaped over to Sula's body and sent a line of lightning at the elf and one of the other specters that were hovering near the statue. The elf's screeching ceased. Hutt began to attack Azzaria, and was able to connect even though she was not quite where she appeared to be. Azzaria reacted by flying away from him and toward the elven woman.
Uto pushed Sula's body behind his enlarged form and brought out an oil he had acquired in Sothis that could restore the dead to life, annointing her with it. A moment later Sula breathed again and got to her feet, taking cover behind Uto as she summoned lightning to blast the attackers. Uto summoned positive energy to harm the undead specters while Sula's lightning bolt struck the elf. One of the specters managed to take possession of Azzaria's body, while the specter that had possessed Hutt abandoned him. The elf woman vanished and the other woman reacted with terror at her departure. Despite their fear, one of them attempted unsuccessfully to possess Sula.
Hutt had been forced to dive into the water by the specter possessing him, who had apparently been attempting to drown him. He climbed out of the pool and warned the others that now it was Azzaria who was possessed. Azzaria plunged into the water. Kaa and Sula both directed more lightning at the remaining specters while Uto called on more positive energy to harm them until only one remained, the spirit possessing Azzaria. Kaa tried to grapple her but was unable to hold her, having forgotten she wore a ring that prevented this. Uto then used one of his rings to knock her into the pool with a burst of force. Hutt turned his body to iron and punched her with his iron fist, and Uto followed this by casting a spell that temporarily caused her to cease to exist. When she returned a few moments later Kaa pummeled her with his fists until the specter was finally defeated and Azzaria was free.
After all of the specters were gone, the Scarabs removed the valuable necklace from the statue, as well as an ivory cartouche. With these items and the crown in hand, they returned to the boats and continued along the canal. Eventually they came to another frog-headed statue, this one twice as large as the first, but Hutt and Uto detected no magic in it. A third statue they encountered bore the head of a hippopotamus with long fangs, wielding a spear. This statue depicted an underworld demon named Ekutamun. Kaa noticed that the hippo's jaws were hinged, and a large blue sapphire had been mounted in the back of its mouth.Of course this was protected by a trap designed to snap the hippo's jaws shut, which Kaa easily disabled. He had a bit more trouble with a magical trap encasing the jewel itself, but after a few moments of repeatedly disabling traps he realized that it was merely a spell to make the gem appear endlessly trapped.
The boats next took the Scarabs to a landing where the opening was blocked by heavy bars of black metal. There were no traps on these and Uto detected no magical aura. Kaa attempted to open a passage, but this failed. Uto then cast a spell to speak with the stones that held the bars, but the stones were uncooperative and unimpressed by the regal mask he wore. He attempted to meld himself into the wall as well, but was prevented from doing so. When they could find no way to get past the bars, the Scarabs moved on.
The next chamber they came to had murals depicting river scenes, pools, and hieroglyphs representing crocodiles. Two figures sat on thrones, and there was something else on the floor they couldn't quite make out. Around a corner was another figure with a sapphire in its mouth and more of the same type of traps Kaa had encountered on the hippo-headed statue, which he was able to overcome easily. After the gem was removed they heard a low grinding noise. Hoping that removal of the gem had opened the bars, they returned to that landing, but found the bars still in place. Instead the grinding had come from twin openings they had passed earlier that had been blocked. Now they saw a flooded chamber that smelled of salt water. Huge plants rose from the water to the ceiling, making it impossible to see what lay beneath the water. A crystal pyramid floated above the water.
As Sula began to summon a water elemental to investigate under the water, there was violent motion among the plants and some unseen creature issued a mighty roar.
Next: part 53, Chambers of Mystery
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