While Kaa was looking into the room, he realized that above him hung a cloud-like shapeless blob, which pulsated in a manner that made him think it was some sort of living creature, though he had no idea what it was. When the creature pulsed, all of the metallic items on his person were drawn toward it. Kaa was lifted off the floor and pulled upward by this force. He managed to pull free of it and fell to the floor unharmed. The pulsating monster then tried to surround him with its substance.
Hutt had joined Uto and Azzaria in the passage and he looked into the room to see what was trying to swallow Kaa. The strange creature revived a memory, and he warned the others that it was a kind of ooze creature from the realm of Chaos, which meant that ordinary weapons would be almost useless against it. Hut also remembered that it would split and form smaller versions of itself if cut with edged weapons. Nevertheless, he followed his custom of casting a spell to grant more speed to his companions.
Azzaria meanwhile shouted for Sula to come and join them. Sula was reluctant to abandon her current form as a huge dinosaur and put only her head out into the corridor, calling out to the others to ask them what was happening. While this exchange took place Kaa used the enchanted shirt her wore to slip free of the ooze's grip. The ooze pulsed again and this time it was Uto who was pulled toward the creature by his metal equipment. Hutt took out a wand and fired several force missiles at the ooze, and Azzaria assumed the form of a dragon to breathe on it. Kaa directed a blast of frigid cold at it. The ooze grabbed hold of Uto, but Hutt used a spell to teleport himself and Uto away from its reach.
On hearing all this Sula decided to resume her natural shape and go out to see what was happening, leaving Nyema behind in the shrine with Shendakut. But when she saw the creature she was uncertain what weapons she had to combat it, and instead drew out a curative wand to heal any of her comrades who were injured. The ooze rushed at Azzaria, now in the form of a silver dragon, and Azzaria slashed it with her claws to no visible effect. Meanwhile both Kaa and Uto attacked it with cold magic. The ooze engulfed Azzaria, but more cold overcame it and it went flaccid, releasing Azzaria from its grasp.
With the ooze no longer a threat, the Scarabs looked at the glyphs on the floor of the ooze's chamber while Uto healed their injuries. Kaa found himself unable to read the markings, but Hutt was able to decipher something about the gods of the Dark Tapestry, which he explained was the realm between the stars where the ooze had come from. There was nothing else of interest to the Scarabs in the room so they collected Nyema and Shendakut and moved on.
At the end of the next passage they followed they found another stone block in a doorway. This one had handholds carved into its surface. Kaa and Uto combined their strength to pull on these and the block descended slowly. When it was flush with the floor Kaa set his immovable rod on it to hold it down.
In the room beyond this door the Scarabs saw torches in sconces on the walls and a long shallow pool beyond a low archway. The room widened out to reveal two ornate thrones on a dais, as well as two basalt statues engraved with strange sigils that had octopi in place of heads. Beyond the arch there was only inky blackness. Kaa immediately began to check the area for traps.
Suddenly three tentacled creatures appeared, two from the pool and one flying through the wall from behind Hutt. Their very presence was frightful and Nyema began to cower and snarl. Then a woman with wings of darkness also appeared and Shendakut exclaimed, "The queen!" Uto used his ram ring against one of the tentacled creatures, pushing it beyond Hutt. Hutt warned that these creatures weren't corporeal and couldn't be affected by ordinary weapons, and that they were also capable of draining energy from their victims. He followed by casting a spell of flight on every one of the Scarabs and Shendakut. Azzaria also cast a spell on all but Nyema and Shendakut to protect them from death magic. Sula again assumed her dinosaur form and Kaa sent a line of fire at one of the creatures and the queen.
The queen responded by casting a spell of her own at the Scarabs, but it seemed to have no effect. While one of the creatures turned on Kaa, Uto flew toward the queen, suffering an attack from a second creature as he passed. He touched the clearly undead queen with a spell of healing that was harmful to her unliving nature. Then Hutt cast a spell that stopped the passage of time for everyone but himself. During this brief interlude, he slipped behind a sarcophagus, shielded himself, and cast a fire spell that would be set off later against the queen.
The passage of time resumed a moment later and Azzaria slashed the creature that opposed her with a weapon enchanted to harm such beings. Uto took out a scroll and read the spell from it, and the serpent armband he wore came to life to bite the queen and deliver the magic, which didn't appear to take effect. Hutt cast a spell against her that deprived her of some of her magical enhancements. Azzaria slew one of the tentacled monsters.
Sula flew to the queen and clamped her in her toothy jaws while Kaa pounded another monster with his fists and feet. An orb suddenly flew across the room to the queen. Hutt attempted unsuccessfully to transform one of the monsters into something else. Shendakut cast a spell at the queen that shrouded her in a green glow while Sula held her pinned. Kaa eliminated a second monster, leaving only the one Azzaria faced. The queen wriggled free of Sula's jaws, but Azzaria took out a mace designed to harm undead and struck her with it and a moment later Sula grabbed the queen a second time. Kaa then sent a flock of blood crows flying at the queen and she ceased her unnatural life.
With the queen destroyed, Uto eliminated the last monster. The room beyond the archway was no longer dark. Kaa found no traps near the sarcophagus or the dual thrones. When examined the sarcophagus proved to have been made to house the queen, but it was constructed of a metal that none of the Scarabs recognized, something that had possibly originated from beyond the stars.
Though Kaa found no traps, he did discover a hidden compartment, and a very thin wall disguising another chamber, which they decided to leave for a moment. The queen's remains were searched and valuables removed. Another message wall bore the message, "Soon, my beloved." The room beyond the arch featured a painting of an octopoid creature on the floor and statues of hideous bloodstained monstrosities. Uto detected a strong aura of magic, which Hutt identified as evocation. Then the Scarabs decided to break through the thin wall to see what lay there and Kaa punched a hole through to reveal a small crypt.
Within this crypt stood a single sarcophagus, an image of a woman painted in black on its top. In this image the woman wore a pectoral marked with unusual symbols that were unfamiliar to the Ruby Scarabs. The sarcophagus was not equipped with any traps. The identifying cartouche bore the name Neferesis, who Uto thought was likely a relative of the queen, perhaps her grandmother. This grandmother had been a powerful oracle. The sarcophagus did have a protective magical aura. When opened it revealed no corpse, but instead held two canopic jars that had been the source of the magic. One jar had a lid in the form of a jackal head, the other was in the form of an octopus. Hutt told his companions that the octopus jar was a type known as a preserving flask that could store alchemical extracts, while the jackal would preserve a powerful undead creature. If the creature preserved by the jar died it would disinegrate, but the creature could also regenerate from the jar.
After the party left the hidden room and went toward the pool, a lovely feminine voice spoke to them and the water rippled. Fortunately Uto was able to see past the magic to warn the others it was only an illusion. The alien metal sarcophagus was empty. Uto decided to destroy the contents of the jackal jar, a course of action with which Azzaria and Sula agreed. When the jar was opened they heard a scream as a human lung turned to dust.
The floor of the pool was set with small diamonds, but the Scarabs disregarded these as Kaa opened a secret doorway. Beyond they could see walls covered in glyphs and smelled the scent of sour wine. A column of light filled with swirling limbs and tentacles presented itself, which Hutt confirmed was another teleportation circle like the one they had encountered earlier. As there was no other exit from the area they were currently in, the Scarabs made use of this circle to exit the area.
They emerged into a small square room without doors, its walls bare but a writhing serpent painted on the floor. Hutt detected an aura of transmutation on this mural. Kaa searched the walls for a hidden panel or trigger while Uto and Hutt looked at the glyphs on the floor, which read, "Speak my name and I vanish." Shendakut was amused by this riddle, remarking that it was old when his father was young. When the Scarabs asked him to explain, he told them that while the answer to the riddle was "silence", this riddle was a trick. He then said, "Walls," and the walls around them disappeared.
The Scarabs now saw an exit to the north and a stone block to the east. The room was also occupied by four pillars, around one of which was coiled what at first appeared to be an enormous shed snakeskin. But the snakeskin quickly proved to be a huge creature. Kaa flew at it feet first. It bit him and a dark energy flowed from it into his body. Then it wrapped itself around him and squeezed. Azzaria drew her weapon and was propelled toward the giant serpent on a wave of water, but her attack missed. A cloud of dust emanating from the serpent drained moisture from Sula's body, leaving her weakened. Sula sent Nyema into a far corner to safety and assumed the form of a cloud of desert sand to escape this draining effect.
Hutt called out that the creature wasn't a living thing and also possessed an ability to drain energy, but it was vulnerable to weapons that were enchanted or made of silver. Then he used his own magic to teleport Kaa away from the monster. Uto moved to Kaa to heal him. Kaa then blasted the serpent with flames. Sula took cover by a pillar and resumed her true form while Kaa retreated to the stone block where Shendakut stood. Kaa blasted the serpent with acid, then realized it was rapidly healing from any harm. Azzaria had been badly injured by the monster. Sula stepped out from behind the pillar and called down a burst of intense sunlight on the serpent, rendering it blind. Hutt hastened Sula and Azzaria with his wand while Uto healed himself and Azzaria. Kaa set off another blast of fire, Azzaria struck the serpent, and Sula brought down another searing sunbeam, and with their combined attacks the serpent was transformed into a cloud of snakeskin particles.
Next: part 57, The Sky Pharaoh's Doom
No comments:
Post a Comment