The party travelled through the sand-filled remains of a dead city, to the large pyramid on its outskirts.
The pyramid was walled on all sides by a massive wall. In the middle of the wall facing the dead city was a small building, the only entrance.
A massive cone-shaped fountain stood between two large curved staircases. At one point a mighty stream flowed from the fountain down what might have been an avenue. Now all was dry and filled with sand.
At the top of the siars were four figures, dressed in robes. These nomads called themselves Thune. They said they were the guardians of the treasures of the desert.
Zaiden accused one of the Thune of being the bandits the party sought. The man responded with violence. Strangely, his companions did not attack.
The party killed the lone nomad and went back to talking, this time a little more careful with their words.
But not careful enough. The party explained their intention to enter the tomb and steal the treasures stored within. They tried to explain that they were doing this because the ghost of the pharaoh buried inside asked them to do so. The Thune did not believe them, or perhaps did not care. Their cause was to kill grave robbers and they saw grave robbers in front of them.
The battle was not long, but very bloody. The Thune each wielded two weapons with skill and were tough and hard to kill. They made good use of shoving attacks, at one point sending the Gnome Ranger flying off the stairs to the sand below. In the end, they were not tough enough.
After the battle, the party were exhausted. It had been a long day trekking through the sand, trying to avoid the sinksand patches.
So, they set up camp at the bottom of the stairs where they had just defeated the pyramid guards. That couldn't go wrong, right? There wouldn't be any more Thune inside the temple who might come out in the middle of the night and wonder (A) where their guards are, and (B) what's up with this big tent set up at the bottom of the stairs. Really, what are the chances?
Not much later, Sheepstrangler heard a door open and a low voice. A few seconds later, the silhouette of a head appeared over the edge of the stairs and quickly disappeared.
After a very short time, several form appeared, one of which started casting.
Hold magic took Sheepstrangler out of the fight. Two Thune rushed to his immobile body and began tying him up, hoping to immobilise him before the magic failed. Baleon rushed out the back of the tent and made a run for it. Zyden and his familiar turned invisible and made a quieter escape. A Thune ran down Baleon while another held a knife to Sheepstrangler's throat. The caster called out "I can't see you, but I know someone is invisible down there. All of you, surrender, drop your spells, or you all die."
Baleon and Zyden both decided that surrendering was better than fleeing. Perhaps they could make it to the edge of the dead city, where their horses and retainers were, but on the other hand both were wounded and out of spells. Also, if they ran, Sheepstrangler was probably doomed.
The caster introduced himself as the Holy Iaseda (whether this was a name or a title was not made clear). He explained that normally Thune killed tomb-robbers but that he had a proposal for them.
He allowed the characters to gather weapons, armour and one backpack each. He and his men led the players into the small building, past a number of Thune in barracks, past another caster studying a white book. All the rooms contained statues of a man wearing finery.
He led them out of the small building, across the gap inside the wall, and up a long flight of stairs into the pyramid.
"Half a tenday ago, the leader of our group disappeared in these rooms. She said she had found something in the Book and headed into the pyramid. When a messenger went to find her an hour later, there was no sign. She and her force did not leave the pyramid, there are no tracks.
If you find her and bring her back, or at least find proof of her fate, your lives will be spared. You have three days."
He gave the party enough food and water for three days and left them to it.
Several people asked if they could read this book that the Thune leader was interested in. The Holy Iaseda's answer was a curt "no". Nothing they said could convince him otherwise, and after a short while he simply stopped listening to them.
The party's first action was to bed down and sleep.
Sometime during the night, Zyden was nudged awake by his sprite familiar. "Hey boss, thought you might like this, I sneaked in invisible and nicked it." The white book. Oh yeah.
The party debated giving the book back but decided to keep it. Zyden started translating it.
Note: The Tome of Amun-Re can be found in the Resources section.
In the morning, the party examined their surroundings. There were three rooms in the pyramid.
The central room was larger than the others. It had pillars down the sides and a large statue of Amun-re at the north end, carved from different stone to the rest of the room. This statue appeared to be able to move. Perhaps a secret door?
The west room had a smaller statue of Amun-re, also carved from a different stone. This statue was holding a large bowl on its knees. There was a flight of stairs leading up to the bowl. Like the central room, it appeared the statue could move.
The east room was the same as the west room except that the bowl had flames coming out of it. The flames were many feet high, but gave off no heat or sound.
The party ignored the two secret doors. The Holy Iaseda said that his missing leader was interested in the east room, so these flames had to mean something. Zyden threw an article of clothing into the brazier. The flames swirled up for a few seconds and then subsided. That was enough for Baleon, who climed into the brazier and disappeared. The rest of the party followed.
It was a good thing it wasn't an orb of annihilation!
The party appeared in an octagonal room. Passages led off in four directions, filled with an orange slightly-sulferous mist. The mist did not enter the room.
In the middle of each of the four walls that didn't contain opening s were levers. Carved into the wal around each lever was "pull me" in various languages.
Of course some-one pulled the lever.
Every metal objects was immediately pulled hard to the ceiling. Those wearing metal armour went with it, taking damage as they hit the top of the chamber. They all stared down at Zyden. Everyone knew he had to pull the lever again, to turn off the magnetic force. Everyone knew it was going to hurt.
It did. A lot.
So now the party, bruised and broken, investigated the passages. Seeing nothing to distinguish them, they picked one and went through. Zyden left a small trail of melted wax behind him.
The orange mist completely blocked vision and deadened sound, like thick fog. It also made everyone feel a little light-headed.
They entered a 10 ft by 30 ft room from a passage in one of the short walls. There were entrances in all four walls. A trail of coins led from where they had entered into the passage to their right. They picked up the coins and exited to the right.
They entered a 10 ft by 30 ft room from a passage in one of the short walls. There were entrances in all four walls. A trail of coins led from where they had entered into the passage straight ahead. They picked up the coins and exited straight ahead.
They entered a 10 ft by 30 ft room from a passage in one of the long walls. There were entrances in all four walls. There was a trail of wax leading from the two entrances in the short walls. They headed across the room and exited straight ahead, the only entrance that didn't have a wax trail.
They entered a t-shaped room, 30 ft long and 20 ft across. There were entrances straight ahead and to the right. They exited straight ahead.
They entered a 10 ft by 30 ft room from a passage in one of the short walls. There were entrances in all four walls. They exited left.
They entered a 10 ft by 30 ft room from a passage in one of the short walls. There were entrances in all four walls. They exited left.
They entered a 10 ft by 30 ft room from a passage in one of the short walls. There were entrances in all four walls. There was a trail of wax leading from the entrance to the left to the entrance straight ahead.
We called it there for the night.
4 Thune, 4 characters for the fight = 45o XP each. TOTAL 7,310.