It's bigger on the inside.
Reaping 26, 594 CY
A desert temple
It turned out to be not one mummy, but two, and fire worked again, however, I couldn’t cast any spells, so I had to tumble through the doorway to light each in turn. The first managed to reach Keth, and both mummies exploded into a swarm of locusts. I continued down the hallway with Fash to a room at the end; we got the double doors open and immediately closed one. Holli soon followed and closed the other! Keth came bursting through a moment later, bowling us aside. We shoved the door closed again and let the bugs burn in the hallway beyond.
The chamber we found ourselves in was filled with treasure chests, urns and a sarcophagus. We carefully checked through each (saving the sarcophagus for last), finding coins, gems, and a silver statue with the dog-head motif. Now, we just needed to find a way out!
We went over every inch of the room, when we detected air flow in one corner of the room. Keth climbed up to the ceiling and found a trap door. Shoving that aside, he disappeared into a tunnel that took him back up near the entrance. Holli decided to close her eyes and rest a few minutes, so I suggested to Fash that we play dead when Keth came back. In spite of the dire situation, the thought made me giggle.
Sadly, that was the last conversation I had with Fash. As Keth slide down the rope he’d secured to the escape hatch, we made plans to open the sarcophagus, figuring we’d have an escape a mummy couldn’t follow us through. While Holli and I waited in the tunnel above, Fash and Keth opened the sarcophagus. It was not filled with a proper mummy, but with scarab beetles, alive and biting! Keth scrambled for the exit, thinking Fash would follow, but instead he chose to splash oil on the bugs (which were biting him) and light the oil (including the oil on the bugs biting him). I didn’t see what happened next, but Keth paled and quickly shut the trapdoor, insisting that Fash didn’t survive his encounter. I tried to get back to the room, but Holli and Keth forced me back. I know I swore a blue streak at them about leaving our brother to die. What cruel fate allowed us to finally find each other after so many years only to be separated by death so soon?
I probably should have told them about that— I’ve pondered this since I was in the pyramid in Exag, and have been sure we were separated as children since arriving in this sandy wasteland. Now we, or at least Fash, will never learn the truth of our circumstances.
We found ourselves in the hallway with the sphinx statues, and I was feeling reckless. We pushed the doors open at the end of the hall and saw a long room with a sarcophagus at one end, and four more of those awful tomb guardians. I tumbled between the lot of them and jumped up on the sarcophagus, planning to make a last stand, goading Holli to shut the doors. Alas, Keth stormed the room with me, so Holli followed. Not caring much about my fate, I climbed up a carved column so I could rain bolts down on the undead guards, all of which were incapable, or too stupid, to climb up after me. I shot each in turn till there were none left, and ironically, didn’t get a scratch on me. After the last fell still, I leaped down. We opened the sarcophagus and ransacked it. The mummy was dead and stayed dead. We found a jade scarab, a strange hooked sword and six sealed jars. Further searching revealed a stone box containing gems, a gold ankh, two small jars and two vials. I popped the top on one of the vials and drank it, figuring it would kill me and spare my siblings from watching me die from whatever disease the mummy gave me, or it would cure me. I felt much better immediately, but I don’t believe I found a cure, just a stay of execution. I tried the stuff in one of the jars and again, felt a bit better. Keth seemed to understand what I was doing, but I could tell Holli was a bit upset with me. We also found a silver tongue in the mummy’s mouth. I grabbed that too, but, reckless though I feel, I’ve not had the nerve to put it in my own mouth….
Reaping 26, 594 CY
Muhar
We heard voices in the hallway beyond the room we were in. They sounded human, or at least more human than anything we’d heard so far. Keth and I opted to hide while Holli sat in the middle of the room, the remnants of our previous victory scattered about her. Problem was, the voices in the hall were taking an awful long time to decide whether or not to come in— we had to do some coaxing. A pair of human males opened the doors and started a conversation with Holli, then one went to take water from that well we’d found earlier. After much frantic waving on my part, one of the humans finally figured out Holli wasn’t alone and introduced himself to us. Pyotr, some sort of gypsy sorcerer, and his cat have been betrayed by some traveling companion and wound up here in the deserts of Har’akir. The cat, Volos it’s called, stares at me and makes me very nervous. Or it has, at least, ever since I decided to pop that silver tongue in my mouth it’s stared at me. I would blame the halfling in me, but I was only raised by them. Of course, the darn thing is stuck in there now, fused to my own tongue, so now I have a silver-looking tongue.
The other human Albus (Keth followed him around during our chat with Pyotr) returned with some potable water and some useful advice about our mummy rot situation. There is a small town called Muhar which has a powerful priestess that could heal us. Albus doesn’t apparently get along with the priestess and opted not to join us— instead, he turned into a big white bird and flew away. Pyotr seemed eager to travel with us— he’s on a quest of his own, which apparently is not in as desperate need of being finished quickly. We walked all night, and other than finding some very dry zombies (or ashen husks, as they are called), we arrived at Muhar.
The small tent town surrounded an oasis (which we had been warned not to help ourselves to, as it’s considered quite rude) and asked to see their priestess. Now, we had always joked with Janet about the duties of her holy order (or at least her self-appointed duties), but when this priestess stood up naked out of a pile of pillows and human males, I was struck speechless.
Unfortunately, we had come to realize I was the only one that spoke her language “Akiri” and I had to translate for my companions. I was trying my best, but Pyotr kept asking me what she said, so I finally snapped and told him she wanted him to remove his pants. My glee at his immediate blushing and cessation of questions became my own embarrassment a moment later when the priestess Snefru agreed with me that he should do that (for the record, he kept them on). Only then did I realize that the silver tongue I was stuck with translated not only what I was hearing, but what I was saying as well. Oh, and when Pyotr said he wished he had such a useful item was when Volos started staring at me.
As for the mummy rot, the Snefru agreed that we could be cured, but she lacked an item that would remove the curse, something called the Chalice of Neferti. The chalice, of course, is a two-day journey across the desert to the Temple of Neferti in the shadow of the Pharaoh’s Rest. Oh, and it seems that we must avoid someone called Anktepot at all costs, as his shadow is deadly.
We’ve been given all manner of hospitality by the people of Muhar. I would give up on the quest myself, if Keth did not have the same curse, as I feel that my time is drawing to a close. It’s hard to believe that a week ago, I was traveling with Janet, Elizair and Fash to Exag….
I was awake for almost a full minute when I noticed that I was alone. Breathing a heavy sigh I picked up Volos, my close friend and companion, and looked at my map. I headed off in the direction I believed I should be going, and after a short distance I saw a figure some way off. I watched it for a minute when it stopped and looked in my direction, so I stopped and looked back. When the stranger started in my direction and didn’t appear hostile, I started walking towards him. He turned out to be human and could tell from how new my clothes looked that I wasn’t from around here. We both went through a few different languages before speaking to each other in a strange speech known as common. I offered him some water and he told me where a nearby well is, so off we went.
Once we entered the ruined temple it became clear that it wasn’t the same as he had left it a week prior. He led me to a door that should have been sealed, and during our discussion on what we should do a voice told us to “Come on in.” Now I could be wrong but I don’t think it’s normal to be invited into a tomb, but he opened the door and what we saw amazed me. One single small person sitting alone surrounded by the remains of what was once undead. Talking to her for a few minutes while my new friend went to get some water, it became clear she wasn’t alone.
Holli’s friend, Fortuna, showed herself and after Albus returned I asked if he knew of a cure for their ailment. Apparently Fortuna and another one I had yet to meet acquired something called mommy rot. They apparently had also recently lost a friend.
Albus gave us directions to a person who could help and some advice. I figures if I travel with these strangers to this land I might get the help I need to find the scepter my clan requires. So as the sun set I headed off north with what turned out to be three new travelers; Albus had left hours ago.
We made it to our destination as the sun started to rise; the only real excitement was some wandering undead in the desert, no problem at all. Fortuna could understand and speak to the natives because of a silver tongue in her mouth, nice ability, but watching her try to rip out her own tongue in an attempt to remove it makes me wounder if it’s cursed. I spoke of this to Volos, he’s sometimes quiet about his thoughts, but I don’t foresee him doing anything, for a while anyway.
After some refreshing hospitality, we were allowed to visit the priestess who told us that if we could get a chalice for her she could remove the curse from my new traveling companions. It happens to be located at the same place as the scepter I need to find, I figure I’ll tell them about this after we leave here.