I wound the action back to the burial chamber, then the group did the taking back of Jose to be tended by Utana’s servant and the Camel driver and vet, who, apart from Jose is the nearest thing to a healer that you have. Jose being badly bruised by the trap, they decided to draw out any poison from the blood, and applied a poultice of cloth and then camel dung.
Harvan was slightly miffed at not being kept up to date, but he listened as you explained the situation and the Mountain Folk that you encountered. He is happy for you to help them as long as it does not interfere with the work you are doing.\n\nIn the watch, Utana hears hoofbeats and wakes the sleepers, a herd of antelope gallop past and one is severely injured by an arrow from Jushuur. Despatched then gralloched, its meat provides a hearty breakfast.
Enough remains on the carcass to take with the group to present to Ghushamay and the Mountain folk, before heading back to the Burial Chamber. Checking over, only the Antechamber proved to have anything of interest, the large bronze panel, cunningly set into the wall, where the three gods were shown subservient to the lord Gathpaxpes, the three of them holding aloft a shallow bowl that acted as an offering altar.
Eventually Utana managed to slide that to the side, levering open a door to a set of stairs leading below, to the chagrin of Farshad who was convinced that there was a trapdoor somewhere directly under the floor.
Cautiously they proceeded down, coming to a broad corridor running east to west, with three niches each North and South, with plain wooden doors at the end.\n\nIn each niche was a stone statue and all bar the first niche to the north has a smaller niche on the wall in which is set an object. The first has a narrow passage behind it. The group spend most of the time searching the object for traps and taking the objects before turning their attention to the passage.
With much care, under the supervision of Farshad and Jushuur, the objects were examined and withdrawn, only one was trapped, the statues, and the objects before each, were
NORTH
- A tall man, as tall as a normal man even while kneeling, with the head and claws of a great cat, a passage behind
- A cloaked female figure. This statue is hollow as can be seen from the empty space behind the eyes, A metal tablet, connected in some fashion by a metal wire to the statue
- The god Tikran, as an androgynous figure bearing an axe in one hand and a barbed whip in the other, an embossed gold plate with a bone flute resting against it
SOUTH
- A crouching skeletal creature with the head of a lizard, the wings of a bat, long, skinny forearmed ending in hands like bird claws, a Human skull covered in enamelling set in gold wire
- A man with the claws of a scorpion and only a single eye in the centre of his forehead, a large, enamelled eye
- A large statue of Gathpaxpes, clad in armour, a sceptre in one hand and a staff in the other, the hair held back by a fillet, a whitish-green jar of some translucent material
What these statues showed, nobody knew, but there was a commonality of depiction between the various creatures and the god, as if there was a link beyond just a common sculptor.
All are looted, the trap, seemingly connected to a glass container in the statue bypassed by the cunning use of a brick.
The passage was eventually explored, coming to a small chamber, in which were yet more statues, three of them , made of wood they depicted powerfully built warriors, the wood remarkably not cracked with age and the dry climate.
Each held weapons. One had a spear and shield. One a short hafted axe and a khopesh like sword. The last had a bow, also in good condition and 12 arrows. These were silvered, silver inlaid in the blades and heads, done, sometimes, as a measure against spirits.
The ceiling and walls depicted scenes of the three wooden warriors battling and overcoming not only creatures like those in the hallway, but also other creatures unknown to the group, who were being defeated using the weapons carried. The style of these statues was not the same as those outside, they seemed more wholesome in some manner, and are not connected to the floor.
(Mark left his machine, so Jushuur was not there for the looting.)
Utana took the spear, Dhran the arrows and sword, and Farshad the axe. They noted that each had engraving in the blades into which had been inlaid silver. When he came back, Jushuur took the shield and bow.
The next set of doors were opened up, revealing a large octagonal chamber with a door on each wall, in the centre a table and four marble and onyx pillars. On the table was a dessicated corpse, surrounded by bronze tools, long hooks, scrapers, scalpels, tubes and funnels.\n\nIt is decided to open one of the doors nearest to the entrance, in order to facilitate a quick escape, in doing that, all the doors fly open, with five creatures emerging, one to each door to a small chamber, bar one
The creatures also look like dessicated corpses from the torso up, but are roiling, oily smoke below. They bear weapons and are slow, just as well as the escape plan goes out the window when combat starts. It is quickly shown that not only are these things resistant to damage, they are not easily affected by weapons that are not silvered.
Jushuur lands mighty blows that they shrug off, and even those blows taken from the silvered weapons need to get through an inherent toughness greater than the armour the group wears.
These creatures seem to be amongst those depicted in the small chamber where you found the weapons, being battled by the warriors whose weapons you took.\n\nThe group is chipping away at those they are fighting, though the others are slowly coming closer, but are getting battered in turn.
Gunion has been preparing something while this goes on, then springs into action, ramming three runesticks into the dried flesh of one of the creatures, pronouncing certain syllables. The creature starts, and then turns and moves towards one of the others of its kind, the hail mary pass of the Control Entity spell taking effect. It is injured, but at least it is on your side, for the moment
And we shall pick up the fight next time….