Fully justified fear of negative consequences based on similar past experiences that prevents you from taking unnecessary, risky decisions with dire consequences seems to sound a lot like wisdom (as does choosing NOT to open the doors to the underworld in search of treasure after having already unleashed one undead monster/monarch).
SESSION FORTY-FIVE
Having destroyed the ancient undead heart of … someone… the Fated felt it necessary to press on. Following a tunnel westward from the cavern, they came upon a curious room – high-domed, with a balcony overlooking a copse of palm trees laden with pineapples. Zoya’s investigations revealed that these pineapples were, in fact, explosives of some sort, and she “shook free” a few pineapples for later use.
Circling back from the dome of palms, the Fated discovered a sealed doorway with ancient Zaharan runes warning “Beyond lies the test of the satrap, doom of power and evil from a heartless man.” Mahmud decided that the party was too under-resourced to face the satrap’s test, and so the Fated fell back to the hidden room they had discovered earlier on the level below.
About four hours after they settled into their hiding place, an intruder arrived in the form of an invisible gas wafting into the room. Had Mahmud not worn an amulet of detecting invisibility, it’s likely the gas would have passed unnoticed; but instead the paladin saw it and the party was able to react. The gas turned out to be a djinni in gaseous form, a creature which quickly fell to Ethlyn and Cyclone of the Four Quarters. With the djinni dispatched, no further intruder found the party and they were able to recover.
The next day, Mahmud led the part to the rune-carved doorway. Shikra’s summoned berserkers pushed the doors open and revealed a vast hall, with five terraced landings connected by stone steps running above canals of fast-flowing water. At the far end of the hall stood a massive bronze fist. This hall proved the site of a terrible battle.
Advancing onto the 1st and 2nd terrace summoned magical mud-men which, when pierced or cut, split into two mud-men. Soon the party was facing a legion of muddy foes. Only by pushing the mud-men into the streaming water could they be stopped. As the fighting grew thick, earth’s teeth rocked the party, quickly followed by confusion that left Senef befuddled and Rakh doing exactly the wrong thing – Berserking against the mud-men with multiple attacks! A horde of mud-men soon incapacitated the Thrassian Mohammed.
Bellona surmised that a mage of some sort must be casting from near the bronze fist and hurled a fireball. The impact of the fireball “popped” the illusion that was concealing the spellcaster – a dreadful mummy lord whose visage paralyzed a good number of the Fated’s members. Was this Amek himself? No, the creature cackled, it was his vizier, sent to stop intruders from disturbing his satrap’s rest!
Wielding True Death, Mahmud pushed ahead to the 3rd terrace; stepping upon it conjured a wall of fire and wall of stone. Mahmud surmised that these were illusionary and pushed through, but Ethlyn and Androcles, following, were less astute and were stymied by the wall of stone.
Alone, then, Mahmud reached the 4th terrace, where he was faced with a 10 head hydra. Worse, stepping on the 4th terrace mysteriously conjured an evil twin of the paladin, a goateed and black-clad Anti-Mahmud. Mahmud was forced to deal with both the Anti-Mahmud and the hydra; while he was trying to fend them off, the mummy lord unleashed a volley of magic missiles that blew off Mahmud’s arm and left him dying. Androcles made it through the illusory wall just in time to be incapacitated as well.
Suad had, by now, managed to dispel the confusion gripping his party members, and the illusory walls soon fell. Senef healed the most wounded of his comrades. Umar, Wazir, Dornethan, Zoya, and Celic unleashed a steady volley of fire on the mummy lord that prevented him from unleashing further spells while Ethlyn, Bellona and Rakh charged in…
As the heroes reached the 4th terrace, each of them was confronted by their own evil goateed doppleganger. (Ethlyn’s twin lacked a goatee, instead featuring had dark hair and suggestive clothing). Rakh went down to the Anti-Rakh, and the rest were hard pressed by their anti-selves. All might have been lost had Shikra not unleashed an uncanny gyration on the mummy lord. Suddenly the undead vizier began hurling through the air, smashing into walls and ceiling. Taking a careful lead, Dornethan brought forth the crossbow of light and blew off the mummy’s gyrating head. The summoned minions of the vizier collapsed and the battle was won. Doors behind the great bronze fist loomed invitingly…
In the aftermath, it turned out that Rakh and Androcles were merely in shock, but Mohammad’s legs had been lamed, and Mahmud was missing an arm. Senef brought forth a scroll of regeneration, which instantly brought Mahmud back into health; the poor Thrassian was helped to a safe location while the group decided what to do next. An augury by Senef, demanding to know what would happen if they passed through the doors beyond the fist. “Three questions must your answer to pass safely to the Satrap,” was the reply.
Through the doors past the bronze fist was a roaring column of water, a watery shaft held together by magic. A voice echoed from the waters: “Who art thou? What gods rule the earth? On whose hallowed ground stand ye?” Senef answered: “Senef, the Desert Wind. The Chthonic rule the earth. Amek’s ground.” The column of water reversed itself and began to flow upward – it was a watery elevator to reach the satrap! Before advancing, the Fated decided to “clear” the rest of the level. There were no foes left alive to face them so this was largely uneventful; save that Shikra made the mistake of reading a dark and terrible book she found in one abandoned room. This might have blasted her soul had she not worn an amulet against such magicks. Mahmud burned the book and uttered a prayer to Imran.
The party returned, then, to the magical column of water. Because Rakh could swim and hold his breath better than anyone else in the party, he spoke the answers to the questions, and dove into the watery elevator. It was a short 30’ ride upward to a corridor above their current one, and seemingly harmless, so the rest of the group soon joined him. After drying off and re-lighting their torches, the Fated proceed to explore the final resting place of the satrap Amek.
On the west side of the corridor was a 30’ long funerary boat. The boat was laden with chests and vases, but these were empty; as was the setting of a great gemstone. On the east wall, opposite the boat, was a lifelike painting of the same boat, anchored to a cloud in the sky, but in the painting the boat was laden with treasure and adorned with a great red gem.
Past the boat and painting was the sarcophagus of Amek, and beyond that, a statue of the great satrap himself. Upon the sarcophagus lay the staff of ruling they had been sent here to find… Zoya searched everything for traps. There were none, so Mahmud lifted open the great sarcophagus… within was naught but a desiccated corpse of some long-dead being. It was not a mummy lord; it was not even undead. This did not prevent Mahmud from purifying it with fire, of course.
Suad now cast a spell to reveal secret doors; both the statue and the painting were portals. The statue opened up into a small hidden chamber not unlike what they had found far below, in the entrance to the pyramid, with the same cryptic references to the “passage provided” for the satrap. Senef surmised that there must be a means of teleporting between the two hidden chambers, but nothing proved evident.
The painting proved more enticing – for it was not just a secret door, but actually a magical portal into the sky, 10,000 feet above the pyramid. There hung the funerary boat, laden with treasure, anchored to a cloud. Zoya anchored her rope of climbing to the boat, and then – as if out of legend – Zoya, Mahmud, and Suad took to the skies in the flying carpet and soared to the boat of the satrap.
From the boat, the party could see the great pyramid, almost two miles below. Within the boat, after painstaking hours of searching, they discovered vast treasures: 25,000 gold pieces worth of platinum, 30,000 gold pieces worth of rare books and scrolls, many potions, scrolls, swords and shields, a powerful bow and arrow; one of the fabled trumpets of war that marshal armies to battle; and a Zaharan battle crescent, as worn by the warlords of old. Most importantly, they found the star gem of Mo-Pelar, last of the missing star gems.
Rather than head back through the pyramid, the Fated decided the most efficient course of action would be to simply fly the treasure down! The funerary boat seemed permanently anchored to the skies, so Shikra summoned her djinni to transport the treasure. Genies are strong and fast and the treasure was soon loaded onto the Fated’s Camelry. Shikra also commanded the genie to retrieve their comrade Mohammed from the pyramid, but the djinni – perhaps spitefully – removed Mohammed’s helm of alignment change as he returned him. Sadly, the recidivist Thrassian had to be put down.
Still, the greatness of the deed they had accomplished seem to far outweigh any sorrow the Fated might have felt over Mohammed’s tragic death. He was, after all, just a Thrassian. The party rode swiftly back to the Oasis of the White Palm. As was their wont, they called upon the Sheik soon after their arrival, presenting him with many fine gifts they had secured from the pyramid.
The Sheik’s gratitude was boundless but it was clear he was concerned about something. He explained, “My friends, it was time to pay tribute to the dragon Utuk-Xul. My riders went forth to offer him valuables, but when they reached the City of the Phoenix, the dragon was gone, as was his treasure. What could scare off a dracolich?”
What, indeed, the Fated wondered…