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Story Hour
"Out of the Frying Pan" - Book I: Gathering Wood (reprise)
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<blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 73791" data-attributes="member: 11"><p><strong>Session #9 </strong></p><p></p><p>“Father Anubis, please grant your stay of death upon this young girl so that she may continue to help to do your work in this mortal realm,” Beorth said, laying his hands upon Jana’s head. She stirred and her eyes fluttered. “Rest, Jana, you will be alright now.” </p><p></p><p>The girl slowly sat up and leaned her back against the crypt wall. </p><p></p><p>“What do you think that thing meant by, `his son will rise’?” asked Jeremy. </p><p></p><p>“Did he say, ‘his’ or ‘my’?” asked Kazrack. </p><p></p><p>“He said, ‘his’” replied Beorth. </p><p></p><p>“Well, I think we should search this place a bit more,” said Kazrack. </p><p></p><p>Kazrack spent the next few hours carefully searching the southern wall behind the tapestries, while Beorth examined the etchings on the golden sarcophagus for clues and Jana rested. Chance merely sat beside Jana, trying to comfort her. Ratchis, convinced that the wooden stairs must along the inside of the rubble-covered structure they had seen outside, made his way up the stairs, being careful to step lightly. Jeremy followed, but the loud creaking of his boots on the steps cancelled any attempt Ratchis made to remain quiet. </p><p></p><p>Kazrack made his way up to where the stairs came up through a floor to a narrow corridor. Worried about going too far without aid, he made his way back down. Jeremy’s torch had flickered out and he was startled by Ratchis coming by him in the dark. </p><p></p><p>“How do you see in the dark like that?’ Jeremy asked. </p><p></p><p>“It runs in my family,” Ratchis said, by way of explanation. </p><p></p><p>Kazrack’s dwarf sense of stone and structure could find no anomalies in the stone work, and Beorth found no particular significance to the hieroglyphics (72) around the golden casket. </p><p></p><p>Deciding they needed to rest after such a grueling combat and before exploring the upper chamber, the party made their way back down the narrow tunnel, through the countless bugs and back into the room for the embalming of the dead. Here they found the care-taker had awakened and was wiggling his way up on the bier and towards the chain that hung through the trap door. The man began to scream as soon as he heard the party approach. </p><p></p><p>“Let me go! Let me go!” he cried. “I hate you. You evil bastards! You killed Cousin Ernie. You killed him! You killed him.” </p><p></p><p>“He was already dead,” said Kazrack. </p><p></p><p>“Anubis wanted your family to rest,” said Beorth. </p><p></p><p>Tears began to stream down the pathetic man’s face, “Why’d you kill me family? Why? Why? Why are you so terrible? He was just a little boy! A little boy! Set curse you! Set. . . “ </p><p></p><p>Kazrack knocked him out with one punch again. </p><p></p><p>“He is scary when he starts to say that,” Jeremy commented. The party climbed up the chain and handed the insane care-taker up through it. They went outside and camped a few score yards from the shack, making sure to replace the stone cap before leaving, bringing the man with them. </p><p></p><p>The night passed without event.</p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Ralem, 22nd of Ese – 564 H.E</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Morning found Ratchis climbing up the rubble that had the mastaba mostly buried. The steep pile was loose in many places and he was extra slow and careful in his ascent. He then began to noisily pry the wooden boards that were nailed into the soft stone around the doors to the tomb on top. </p><p></p><p>“Ratchis! What are you doing?” Kazrack called up. The tall woodsman did not reply. Thinking that he had not heard, Jeremy made the perilous climb after him. </p><p></p><p>“Jeremy! Where are you going?” Kazrack called.</p><p></p><p>Jeremy looked back down, “I’m going to tell him that I don’t think everyone can make this climb.” </p><p></p><p>At the top Jeremy informed Ratchis of this, and after a few moments of judging the distance and lowering a rope, Ratchis agreed that climbing up would likely be too tough for Jana and Chance. </p><p></p><p>Ratchis climbed back down followed by Jeremy.</p><p></p><p>“Why did you pry those boards off?” Kazrack asked in his usual parental tone when someone has done something he disapproved of.</p><p></p><p>“I figured that if we end up in that chamber, we might need a quick way out,” Ratchis said.</p><p></p><p>“Why do you insist on doing things on your own all the time without consulting anyone else?” Kazrack said with frustration. </p><p></p><p>“It only makes sense. It thought we might explore from that direction – but even though we cannot do that it is best that we keep an extra way out,” Ratchis explained with much effort.</p><p></p><p>‘Fine,” the dwarf replied.</p><p></p><p>The party began to pack their belongings and prepared to enter the area beneath the shack once again. As they were about to enter the shack, Ratchis sighed and looked at Kazrack.</p><p></p><p>“Do you have a hammer?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” the dwarf replied.</p><p></p><p>“Can I borrow it?”</p><p></p><p>With Kazrack’s hammer tucked in his belt, Ratchis made the slow climb back up the rubble to the tomb doors. </p><p></p><p>“What in the name of hell are you doing now?” Kazrack called.</p><p></p><p>Chance and Jana laughed, while everyone watched Ratchis hammer the boards back in place. Eventually he climbed back down.</p><p></p><p>“What did you do that for?” Kazrack asked, his mouth agape at the odd behavior of his traveling companion.</p><p></p><p>“I realized that those boards were keeping something in. I was afraid something would come out and get away or cut us off if we left the boards off,” Ratchis explained.</p><p></p><p>Kazrack growled, and Beorth was his usual impassive self, but Jana, Chance and Jeremy laughed. Beorth and Jeremy removed the stone cap again and this time the bound and gagged care-taker was tied to his bed. They all went down and braved the endless bugs again and came back to the chamber where they had fought the mummy, and made their way up the creaky wooden steps.</p><p></p><p>As they began the ascent, Beorth groaned, still feeling the effects of the previous day’s battle. Chance who was walking up behind him, laid a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “I know your wounds ail you, but perhaps with a little bit of luck you’ll be feeling better soon.”</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the aching of Beorth’s wound lessened and he could feel them closing some. He looked to Chance, who put a finger to his lips and smiled.</p><p></p><p>The last set of steps opened at one end of a narrow hall. They walked down the hall past a series of bas relief engravings of heroes of some kind fighting a mummy creature, being killed and animated to serve as guardians and servants. Beorth looked at them closely for clues, worried that the heroes in the carvings might be images of the party made by some form of magic, but that was not the case.</p><p></p><p>At the other end of the hall was a stone door, with a hinge mechanism that made it seem that from the other side it must appear like a bare stone wall. Beorth stepped forward to examine the door with Ratchis, and Chance stepped up to look as well, Kazrack now stood between them. </p><p></p><p>“We need better light,” said Beorth. “Ratchis and Kazrack may be able to see, but the rest of us are going to be in trouble.” </p><p></p><p>“Elochem,” said Kazrack, the dwarven word for light, and suddenly the end of Beorth’s staff glow with a bright light in a 20 foot radius. Everyone turned and looked at Kazack, whose mouth was wide open in amazement.</p><p></p><p>“How’d I do that?” Kazrack asked.</p><p></p><p>“What did you say?” said Beorth.</p><p></p><p>“I said the word for light in dwarven and suddenly, poof!” Kazrack was amazed. He looked at his halberd and said the word again, but nothing happened. </p><p></p><p>“I definitely hear, shuffling of some kind on the other side of this door. Get ready!” Ratchis said.</p><p></p><p>Ratchis and Kazrak pushed the stone door slowly open, and immediately heard the shambling of zombies behind. They dug in and pushed harder catching two zombies between the door and a perpendicular wall. They pushed back, but the bones of the inner one could be heard to start crunching as embalming fluid pooled beneath the dwarf and the half-orc’s feet. </p><p></p><p>Pressing their backs against the door, they could see they were in a short and narrow corridor or alcove that opened into a much larger vaulted chamber, with a statue of a snarling jackal-headed figure against the wall to their left which seemed to continue onward to another hallway on across the chamber. More zombies moved slowly towards them, but Jeremy and Beorth came forward to stop their progress, and push the zombies back into the larger chamber. Jana and Chance followed, and after one last hard push to finish off the crunching zombie, Ratchis moved forward to join them, leaving Kazrack to finish the other by himself.</p><p></p><p>The vaulted chamber was definitely the inside of the tomb they had seen atop the mastaba. The walls were lined with two rows of vaults for the dead, one row above the other, with a narrow space above them. A few of the stone seals were smashed open. In the front of the tomb two large columns flanked the double doors. </p><p></p><p>Jeremy and Ratchis took on two zombies immediately around the corner, while Beorth stepped beside the statue to face another. Jana and Chance hung back, to move in if someone needed help. Another zombie was crawling out of one of the broken seals. These zombies were all dressed in fine velvet clothes stained with embalming fluid and grave dirt. </p><p></p><p>Kazrack quickly dispatched his opponent, and left the other for Jeremy to finish, going over to face an approaching zombie that looked like it might flank Beorth. The paladin noticed a few nearly invisible strands stretched out across the chamber – but thought perhaps it was a trick of the eye, as the zombies seemed to be able to walk through them as if they did not exist. However, when Ratchis stepped over, he felt his movement arrested by something, and looking down finally noticed the fine threads; but too late! Ratchis jerked and raised his arms, and felt one of the ultra-fine threads snag his arm as well, and before he knew it several of these very sticky lines were holding him hopelessly in place. Two zombies moved towards him, as if these threads did not exist to them. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Kazrack was having trouble keeping the door open, so he let go suddenly leaping back into the hall the party had emerged from. The zombie shambled forth past the door towards Chance who yelped and turned brandishing his short sword. The red-head stabbed forward sinking the blade deep into the dead flesh, but the piercing weapon did not seem to do much, but Kazrack’s halberd blade did. The dwarf opened the door and stepped out flanking the undead monstrosity and cleaving deeply into its hip and sending it down, but however it immediately began to try to get back up.</p><p></p><p>As Ratchis struggled with the threads, the two zombies that flanked him, began to rip violently into his flesh. The large man grunted in pain, and continued to try to break free. Beorth stepped up, and sliced deeply into one and it turned towards him. Jeremy still struggled against his one foe. And then, the thread became easier to see as it quivered all about. It stretched from the statue of Set, across to the columns, and from one set of vaults to another. And from atop the crypts to the left of the statue, emerged a horrific creature. </p><p></p><p>It appeared as spider, bone white and hairless, it’s body a good foot across, it’s legs twice as long. It crawling towards the trapped Ratchis, and one zombie moved away from him towards Beorth. The spider walked lightly on its near invisible webs until its deep green fangs were right in the woodsman’s face. He could see that one fang was broken at about the half-way mark, but as the maw came closer he turned his head, and felt the deep and painful bite puncture the flesh of his neck and shoulder – something like liquid heat flashed through his veins, and he felt his muscles begin to harden and become immovable.</p><p></p><p>Beorth chopped a zombie deeply, and it folded in half and tumbled, it’s entrails snaking out on the marble floor. Jeremy finished the zombie he was fighting and moved to attack one that was still on Ratchis, it turned to face him, and the Neergaardian hesitated, feeling weak from his loss of blood, the repeated blows of zombies having taken their toll. Chance squeezed past him and chopped at the webs holding Ratchis, and Jeremy backed him up, holding off the zombie that had been beating on the half-orc. The bone spider turned away from the now paralyzed Ratchis and climbed up on the statue of Set, hanging over Beorth. It sunk it fangs deep in the paladin’s side, and he felt the liquid fire tighte his muscles in place. And soon, he could not move either.</p><p></p><p>Kazrack finished the zombie that Chance left him with and came rushing out to the main chamber, in time to see Jeremy finish the last zombie, and the spider climb over the frozen Beorth and bite Jana. In a moment, she was paralyzed as well. </p><p></p><p>The bone spider came bearing down on them; the webs allowing it to go anywhere it wanted. Chance withdrew back into the hallway, as did a severely injured Jeremy. This left Kazrack alone to deal with the spider. He struck a heavy blow from over his head onto the spider’s body, causing a puncture that squirted blue liquid, like the embalming fluid they had seen before. It got past his defense, and bit quickly, and retreated waiting for the poison to come into effect. Kazrack gritted his teeth through the pain, and the poison did could not overcome his dwarven constitution. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile Chance and Jeremy talked:</p><p></p><p>“Git bachk ot there, Jeremy!” Chance said, pushing his companion back towards the main chamber.</p><p></p><p>“Yeah, I know. I’m just hurt really bad. I need to catch my breath,” Jeremy said, and readying himself moved to join Kazrack.</p><p></p><p>“Wait,” called Chance and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Bes, Bless this brave worry. Give him a chance for his luck to change.” </p><p></p><p>And suddenly Jeremy felt his wounds begin to close, and the warmth of divine healing power. His eyes widened as he turned and stared at Chance. </p><p></p><p>“Wha. . .?”</p><p></p><p>“Just go!” Chance said, pushing Jeremy back in the room. Jeremy confidently strode forward, longsword in one hand and short sword in the other. </p><p> </p><p>He stepped beside Kazrack, in time to see the spider bite the dwarf deeply again. The blue venom dripped from the wounds, large punctures in the dwarf’s scale mail, but still Kazrack fought on. The only two of the companions left fighting they struck the bone spider over and over, small cracks appearing in its exo-skeleton. The creature bit the dwarf a third time, and when that failed to work, yet again, it bit Jeremy, but by now the swordsman’s adrenalin was pumping, and the venom did not take hold. </p><p></p><p>Kazrack struck another devastating blow to the creature and it clambered away, climbing back up to where it came from atop the crypt vaults. Jeremy and Kazrack could not see where it went because it climbed back too far into the shadows. </p><p></p><p>“Wey ahve ta git the others otta here,” Chance said, chopping at the webs about Ratchis. Jeremy moved over</p><p></p><p>Jeremy walked over to help move Jana and Beorth, but Kazrack climbed atop the crypts across from where the spider had fled. He left his halberd leaning on the wall, and unslung his crossbow, taking aim at the now visible spider, cowering against the far wall. </p><p></p><p>He fired, and the sound of the bolt bouncing against the exoskeleton echoed in the tomb. Kazrakc reload and as he fire again, the creature came scrambling out of its hiding spot towards him. The bolt hit it near one of its eight empty eye-sockets, and more ichor splattered. But the bone spider did not slow down. It climbed down the web and back up at Kazrack biting at him, but the dwarf turned and put his foot in the creature’s face, to give it less of a target. The dwarf slid off the crypt onto the floor and reached for his halberd, the creature followed and bit the dwarf again. Another deep puncture, had the dwarf reeling, and blood staining his clothes, but he did not stagger. He brandished his halberd and turned. </p><p></p><p>Jeremy sighed, and ran back over to help with the spider. He rushed over and slammed it hard with his long sword, causing a large crack to appear in the outer casing and more of the blue liquid to gush forward. It tried to retreat again, but Kazrack did not give it a chance, slamming down his halberd axe blade where the thorax met the top of the creature. There was a sickening popping sound and the creature stopped moving. </p><p></p><p>Weakened and near death themselves, Jeremy and Kazrack let out long slow breathes, and the only sound was that of Chance chopping at the threads around Ratchis</p><p></p><p>----</p><p></p><p>What seemed like an unreasonably long period of time passed, but finally Ratchis began to stir, but the venom left him with a weakened constitution. Jana also felt the strain of the strain of the venom, and lowered herself to sit on the floor with her back to the wall. Only Beorth seemed unaffected by the venom, when he regained control of his movements again. </p><p></p><p>Kazrack searched the other alcove looking for a secret door that matched the one the party came through, but after 20 minutes of searching decided there wasn’t one there. </p><p></p><p>Still aching after calling the power of his goddess down to heal him, Ratchis asked Beorth for the pendant with the malachite stone back. He compared the curved green “stone” to the tooth in the spider’s maw, and measure it held it up to where the broken one was. If not for the clasp it looked like it would be a perfect fit. </p><p></p><p>“This pendant was made from this spider’s tooth,” Ratchis said, handing it back to Beorth. “Hold it out.” </p><p></p><p>Ratchis prayed for the vision that allowed him to see magical auras and the pendant shone brightly. </p><p></p><p>“Necromancy,” he said. He looked about some more, but nothing else in the room shone. Beorth put the pendant away. </p><p>It was then decided they’d burn the webs away, and so Ratchis lit a torch and set them ablaze, and the party retreated back through the door and down to the lower level to rest and wait out the flames and smoke. </p><p></p><p>After waiting a good three hours, they climbed back up the stairs and open the door to allow the smoke to clear. Except for Ratchis, who went outside, pried the boards off the doors and came in through the front. </p><p></p><p>“This place must be destroyed,” Beorth said. “It is a place of evil, and goes against the will of Anubis. Having no means of consecrating and warding it, it must be destroyed. </p><p></p><p>Using a rope, and with Kazrack slipping into the space between it and the wall, the party toppled the statue of Set . The heavy black stone slammed into the marble floor, and everything shook and there was a frightening echo of a sound, followed by a loud cracking of stone, as a fissure appeared and widened where the head had struck. The statue was still in one piece, but the floor below them did not seem to be holding up to well. </p><p></p><p>“I think there is a shaft of some kind below us,” said Kazrack, wiping the sweat from his brow. </p><p></p><p>“Maybe we can collapse this whole place,” Ratchis suggested. </p><p>Kazrack examined the two columns in the front of the chamber, and noticed that large wooden blocks were used to help support the columns. </p><p></p><p>“If we can knock out or burn the supports, this whole place should come down,” Kazrack observed. </p><p></p><p>So the plan was put into action: Kazrack, Beorth, Jana and Chance went back down the stairs and through the bug-infested corridor and up into the shack, where they dragged the caretaker outside. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Jeremy climbed up on Ratchis’ shoulders and shoved rags covered in oil among the column supports and in the spaces between the supports and the stone itself. He then lit one and then the other, leaving a pile of wood and debris burning at the column’s base as well. They then ran out and climbed down rubble, waiting for the fire to do its job. </p><p></p><p>They waited for a long time as the care-taker moaned and cried non-verbally as he was still gagged. They have nearly given up hope of the fire’s catching, and Ratchis was creeping back towards the rubble-buried mastaba to climb up and check, when they all heard a loud boom and crash, and smoke and dust came billowing out of the double doors. Ratchis ran back to where the others waited safely, and suddenly the crash was deafening as the entire tomb, mastaba and rubble disappearing into a black cloud. Black smoke and dust climbed high into the air, and the party retreated further back. The sound of tumbling and cracking stone filled the area, and nothing could be seen for a good long time. The sobbing of the crazy care-taker could not be heard. </p><p>Eventually, the smoke cleared to reveal a rubble-filled depression in the ground where the mastaba had stood. The party avoided walking there not being sure of it’s stability. Ratchis lit a torch and went into the cabin, knocking over an oil lamp he set fire to it as well. </p><p></p><p>“We don’t need anything climbing out that way,” he said, and the party agreed. However, the care-taker did not agree. He had worked his gag off with is tongue and lips and let out a long mournful wail. </p><p></p><p>“You’ve destroyed everything!” he cried. “You burned my house! You burned my house! You destroyed the crypt! You killed my family! Why are you so evil? Why are you so evil? Why? Oh, why? What did I ever do to you? Why?” </p><p></p><p>Kazrack stood by him fist raised, so when the man opened his mouth to curse them, he closed his mouth and just sobbed pathetically, occasionally repeating “my home”. </p><p></p><p>-- </p><p></p><p>The party began to march back towards the orchard to camp for the night before making their way back to the main camp and the rest of Crumb’s boys. </p><p></p><p>“I think we have one day to make it back or they might leave without us,” said Beorth. </p><p></p><p>“Yes, he said we’d be in Stone Bridge for 3 or 4 days. I think tomorrow will be the third or fourth,” Jana added. </p><p>Ratchis had tossed the bound and babbling care-taker over his shoulder, but he squirmed and wriggled and fought too much, the woodsman let him fall off his shoulder with a loud wind-knocking thump and began to drag him along. The man continued to fight and claw to slow down their progress, but Ratchis was just too big an strong. And when he finally gave up fighting, and the ground became broken with sharp rocks, Ratchis picked him back up again, though now the man’s spirit was broken by bruises, cuts and skinned knees, elbow and chin. </p><p></p><p>Making camp where they had two nights previous (where two fallen trees created something of a natural shelter), the dropped their gear and rested their battle-weary bones. Ratchis dropped the care-taker who after a moment of catching his breath, went back into his seemingly endless tirade against the party. </p><p></p><p>“You are all going to pay for this. Evil like this does not go unpunished,” he screamed over and over with righteous fury. “I was only doing my duty like my father taught me. I was only protecting my family. You are bad people. You will suffer greatly for this.” </p><p></p><p>“Do you want something to eat?” Ratchis asked him. </p><p></p><p>“You will pay! You will pay!” </p><p></p><p>Ratchis shoved some jerky in his mouth. The man chewed it up hungrily, and then continued on his tirade. This was repeated several times, until tired the bound man began look uncomfortable. </p><p></p><p>Ratchis looked at him curiously, “Do you need to relieve yourself?” </p><p></p><p>The man nodded. Ratchis looked around at the snickering faces of his companions (except Beorth who was impassive as always) eating their rations. He sighed, and stood and led the man several yards away by a tree. And lowering the man’s pants said, “Go ahead. I’ll be right over there.” </p><p></p><p>Ratchis walked away and waited a few minutes admiring the orange of the sun melting into a blur behind the mountains to the west. However, when he looked back to where he had left the care-taker, he saw him awkwardly hopping with his pants around his ankles, back towards the south. Ratchis ran to tackle him, but the man tripped, his chin slamming heavily against a rock, and causing an explosion of blood. </p><p></p><p>Ratchis grabbed him. </p><p></p><p>“Nooooooo!” he wailed. “Let me go! Let me go! Why are you tormenting me? Let me go! I haven’t done anything. Please! Please!” </p><p></p><p>This pathetic begging continued as Ratchis covered him back up and carried him back to camp. </p><p></p><p>---- </p><p></p><p>“What are we going to do with that guy?” Jeremy asked. </p><p></p><p>‘We will bring him to Kennoch. He will know what to do,” Beorth replied. “The man is sick. He needs help. Perhaps Kennoch can cure him. What we are going to do with the amulet is more of my immediate concern. I bet it was what made that green glow I saw the other night, and if so, it controls, if not creates undead. It must be destroyed.” </p><p></p><p>“Yes, I was thinking the same thing,” Ratchis agreed. “Let’s try.” </p><p>Once again, Ratchis borrowed Kazrack’s flail and Beorth lay the pendant on a rock. Ratchis slammed it again and again with the weapon, but when he stopped and looked, there was not a scratch on the thing. He tried several more times, until his arm was growing numb from the exertion. However, the pendant did not break. Sighing, he handed it back to Beorth. </p><p></p><p>“We will have to ask Kennoch about what to do with this as well, it seems,” Beorth said, referring to the pendant. </p><p></p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p></p><p>(72) Hieroglyphics are used to mark tombs, crypts and sacred places. They are less and less often used form of communication, which was formed to give two different messages at once – the obvious message depicted by the characters and a secret message to those familiar with the specific hieroglyphic form that the figures represent, spelling out words.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="el-remmen, post: 73791, member: 11"] [b]Session #9 [/b] “Father Anubis, please grant your stay of death upon this young girl so that she may continue to help to do your work in this mortal realm,” Beorth said, laying his hands upon Jana’s head. She stirred and her eyes fluttered. “Rest, Jana, you will be alright now.” The girl slowly sat up and leaned her back against the crypt wall. “What do you think that thing meant by, `his son will rise’?” asked Jeremy. “Did he say, ‘his’ or ‘my’?” asked Kazrack. “He said, ‘his’” replied Beorth. “Well, I think we should search this place a bit more,” said Kazrack. Kazrack spent the next few hours carefully searching the southern wall behind the tapestries, while Beorth examined the etchings on the golden sarcophagus for clues and Jana rested. Chance merely sat beside Jana, trying to comfort her. Ratchis, convinced that the wooden stairs must along the inside of the rubble-covered structure they had seen outside, made his way up the stairs, being careful to step lightly. Jeremy followed, but the loud creaking of his boots on the steps cancelled any attempt Ratchis made to remain quiet. Kazrack made his way up to where the stairs came up through a floor to a narrow corridor. Worried about going too far without aid, he made his way back down. Jeremy’s torch had flickered out and he was startled by Ratchis coming by him in the dark. “How do you see in the dark like that?’ Jeremy asked. “It runs in my family,” Ratchis said, by way of explanation. Kazrack’s dwarf sense of stone and structure could find no anomalies in the stone work, and Beorth found no particular significance to the hieroglyphics (72) around the golden casket. Deciding they needed to rest after such a grueling combat and before exploring the upper chamber, the party made their way back down the narrow tunnel, through the countless bugs and back into the room for the embalming of the dead. Here they found the care-taker had awakened and was wiggling his way up on the bier and towards the chain that hung through the trap door. The man began to scream as soon as he heard the party approach. “Let me go! Let me go!” he cried. “I hate you. You evil bastards! You killed Cousin Ernie. You killed him! You killed him.” “He was already dead,” said Kazrack. “Anubis wanted your family to rest,” said Beorth. Tears began to stream down the pathetic man’s face, “Why’d you kill me family? Why? Why? Why are you so terrible? He was just a little boy! A little boy! Set curse you! Set. . . “ Kazrack knocked him out with one punch again. “He is scary when he starts to say that,” Jeremy commented. The party climbed up the chain and handed the insane care-taker up through it. They went outside and camped a few score yards from the shack, making sure to replace the stone cap before leaving, bringing the man with them. The night passed without event. [size=3][b]Ralem, 22nd of Ese – 564 H.E[/b][/size] Morning found Ratchis climbing up the rubble that had the mastaba mostly buried. The steep pile was loose in many places and he was extra slow and careful in his ascent. He then began to noisily pry the wooden boards that were nailed into the soft stone around the doors to the tomb on top. “Ratchis! What are you doing?” Kazrack called up. The tall woodsman did not reply. Thinking that he had not heard, Jeremy made the perilous climb after him. “Jeremy! Where are you going?” Kazrack called. Jeremy looked back down, “I’m going to tell him that I don’t think everyone can make this climb.” At the top Jeremy informed Ratchis of this, and after a few moments of judging the distance and lowering a rope, Ratchis agreed that climbing up would likely be too tough for Jana and Chance. Ratchis climbed back down followed by Jeremy. “Why did you pry those boards off?” Kazrack asked in his usual parental tone when someone has done something he disapproved of. “I figured that if we end up in that chamber, we might need a quick way out,” Ratchis said. “Why do you insist on doing things on your own all the time without consulting anyone else?” Kazrack said with frustration. “It only makes sense. It thought we might explore from that direction – but even though we cannot do that it is best that we keep an extra way out,” Ratchis explained with much effort. ‘Fine,” the dwarf replied. The party began to pack their belongings and prepared to enter the area beneath the shack once again. As they were about to enter the shack, Ratchis sighed and looked at Kazrack. “Do you have a hammer?” he asked. “Yes,” the dwarf replied. “Can I borrow it?” With Kazrack’s hammer tucked in his belt, Ratchis made the slow climb back up the rubble to the tomb doors. “What in the name of hell are you doing now?” Kazrack called. Chance and Jana laughed, while everyone watched Ratchis hammer the boards back in place. Eventually he climbed back down. “What did you do that for?” Kazrack asked, his mouth agape at the odd behavior of his traveling companion. “I realized that those boards were keeping something in. I was afraid something would come out and get away or cut us off if we left the boards off,” Ratchis explained. Kazrack growled, and Beorth was his usual impassive self, but Jana, Chance and Jeremy laughed. Beorth and Jeremy removed the stone cap again and this time the bound and gagged care-taker was tied to his bed. They all went down and braved the endless bugs again and came back to the chamber where they had fought the mummy, and made their way up the creaky wooden steps. As they began the ascent, Beorth groaned, still feeling the effects of the previous day’s battle. Chance who was walking up behind him, laid a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “I know your wounds ail you, but perhaps with a little bit of luck you’ll be feeling better soon.” Suddenly, the aching of Beorth’s wound lessened and he could feel them closing some. He looked to Chance, who put a finger to his lips and smiled. The last set of steps opened at one end of a narrow hall. They walked down the hall past a series of bas relief engravings of heroes of some kind fighting a mummy creature, being killed and animated to serve as guardians and servants. Beorth looked at them closely for clues, worried that the heroes in the carvings might be images of the party made by some form of magic, but that was not the case. At the other end of the hall was a stone door, with a hinge mechanism that made it seem that from the other side it must appear like a bare stone wall. Beorth stepped forward to examine the door with Ratchis, and Chance stepped up to look as well, Kazrack now stood between them. “We need better light,” said Beorth. “Ratchis and Kazrack may be able to see, but the rest of us are going to be in trouble.” “Elochem,” said Kazrack, the dwarven word for light, and suddenly the end of Beorth’s staff glow with a bright light in a 20 foot radius. Everyone turned and looked at Kazack, whose mouth was wide open in amazement. “How’d I do that?” Kazrack asked. “What did you say?” said Beorth. “I said the word for light in dwarven and suddenly, poof!” Kazrack was amazed. He looked at his halberd and said the word again, but nothing happened. “I definitely hear, shuffling of some kind on the other side of this door. Get ready!” Ratchis said. Ratchis and Kazrak pushed the stone door slowly open, and immediately heard the shambling of zombies behind. They dug in and pushed harder catching two zombies between the door and a perpendicular wall. They pushed back, but the bones of the inner one could be heard to start crunching as embalming fluid pooled beneath the dwarf and the half-orc’s feet. Pressing their backs against the door, they could see they were in a short and narrow corridor or alcove that opened into a much larger vaulted chamber, with a statue of a snarling jackal-headed figure against the wall to their left which seemed to continue onward to another hallway on across the chamber. More zombies moved slowly towards them, but Jeremy and Beorth came forward to stop their progress, and push the zombies back into the larger chamber. Jana and Chance followed, and after one last hard push to finish off the crunching zombie, Ratchis moved forward to join them, leaving Kazrack to finish the other by himself. The vaulted chamber was definitely the inside of the tomb they had seen atop the mastaba. The walls were lined with two rows of vaults for the dead, one row above the other, with a narrow space above them. A few of the stone seals were smashed open. In the front of the tomb two large columns flanked the double doors. Jeremy and Ratchis took on two zombies immediately around the corner, while Beorth stepped beside the statue to face another. Jana and Chance hung back, to move in if someone needed help. Another zombie was crawling out of one of the broken seals. These zombies were all dressed in fine velvet clothes stained with embalming fluid and grave dirt. Kazrack quickly dispatched his opponent, and left the other for Jeremy to finish, going over to face an approaching zombie that looked like it might flank Beorth. The paladin noticed a few nearly invisible strands stretched out across the chamber – but thought perhaps it was a trick of the eye, as the zombies seemed to be able to walk through them as if they did not exist. However, when Ratchis stepped over, he felt his movement arrested by something, and looking down finally noticed the fine threads; but too late! Ratchis jerked and raised his arms, and felt one of the ultra-fine threads snag his arm as well, and before he knew it several of these very sticky lines were holding him hopelessly in place. Two zombies moved towards him, as if these threads did not exist to them. Meanwhile, Kazrack was having trouble keeping the door open, so he let go suddenly leaping back into the hall the party had emerged from. The zombie shambled forth past the door towards Chance who yelped and turned brandishing his short sword. The red-head stabbed forward sinking the blade deep into the dead flesh, but the piercing weapon did not seem to do much, but Kazrack’s halberd blade did. The dwarf opened the door and stepped out flanking the undead monstrosity and cleaving deeply into its hip and sending it down, but however it immediately began to try to get back up. As Ratchis struggled with the threads, the two zombies that flanked him, began to rip violently into his flesh. The large man grunted in pain, and continued to try to break free. Beorth stepped up, and sliced deeply into one and it turned towards him. Jeremy still struggled against his one foe. And then, the thread became easier to see as it quivered all about. It stretched from the statue of Set, across to the columns, and from one set of vaults to another. And from atop the crypts to the left of the statue, emerged a horrific creature. It appeared as spider, bone white and hairless, it’s body a good foot across, it’s legs twice as long. It crawling towards the trapped Ratchis, and one zombie moved away from him towards Beorth. The spider walked lightly on its near invisible webs until its deep green fangs were right in the woodsman’s face. He could see that one fang was broken at about the half-way mark, but as the maw came closer he turned his head, and felt the deep and painful bite puncture the flesh of his neck and shoulder – something like liquid heat flashed through his veins, and he felt his muscles begin to harden and become immovable. Beorth chopped a zombie deeply, and it folded in half and tumbled, it’s entrails snaking out on the marble floor. Jeremy finished the zombie he was fighting and moved to attack one that was still on Ratchis, it turned to face him, and the Neergaardian hesitated, feeling weak from his loss of blood, the repeated blows of zombies having taken their toll. Chance squeezed past him and chopped at the webs holding Ratchis, and Jeremy backed him up, holding off the zombie that had been beating on the half-orc. The bone spider turned away from the now paralyzed Ratchis and climbed up on the statue of Set, hanging over Beorth. It sunk it fangs deep in the paladin’s side, and he felt the liquid fire tighte his muscles in place. And soon, he could not move either. Kazrack finished the zombie that Chance left him with and came rushing out to the main chamber, in time to see Jeremy finish the last zombie, and the spider climb over the frozen Beorth and bite Jana. In a moment, she was paralyzed as well. The bone spider came bearing down on them; the webs allowing it to go anywhere it wanted. Chance withdrew back into the hallway, as did a severely injured Jeremy. This left Kazrack alone to deal with the spider. He struck a heavy blow from over his head onto the spider’s body, causing a puncture that squirted blue liquid, like the embalming fluid they had seen before. It got past his defense, and bit quickly, and retreated waiting for the poison to come into effect. Kazrack gritted his teeth through the pain, and the poison did could not overcome his dwarven constitution. Meanwhile Chance and Jeremy talked: “Git bachk ot there, Jeremy!” Chance said, pushing his companion back towards the main chamber. “Yeah, I know. I’m just hurt really bad. I need to catch my breath,” Jeremy said, and readying himself moved to join Kazrack. “Wait,” called Chance and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Bes, Bless this brave worry. Give him a chance for his luck to change.” And suddenly Jeremy felt his wounds begin to close, and the warmth of divine healing power. His eyes widened as he turned and stared at Chance. “Wha. . .?” “Just go!” Chance said, pushing Jeremy back in the room. Jeremy confidently strode forward, longsword in one hand and short sword in the other. He stepped beside Kazrack, in time to see the spider bite the dwarf deeply again. The blue venom dripped from the wounds, large punctures in the dwarf’s scale mail, but still Kazrack fought on. The only two of the companions left fighting they struck the bone spider over and over, small cracks appearing in its exo-skeleton. The creature bit the dwarf a third time, and when that failed to work, yet again, it bit Jeremy, but by now the swordsman’s adrenalin was pumping, and the venom did not take hold. Kazrack struck another devastating blow to the creature and it clambered away, climbing back up to where it came from atop the crypt vaults. Jeremy and Kazrack could not see where it went because it climbed back too far into the shadows. “Wey ahve ta git the others otta here,” Chance said, chopping at the webs about Ratchis. Jeremy moved over Jeremy walked over to help move Jana and Beorth, but Kazrack climbed atop the crypts across from where the spider had fled. He left his halberd leaning on the wall, and unslung his crossbow, taking aim at the now visible spider, cowering against the far wall. He fired, and the sound of the bolt bouncing against the exoskeleton echoed in the tomb. Kazrakc reload and as he fire again, the creature came scrambling out of its hiding spot towards him. The bolt hit it near one of its eight empty eye-sockets, and more ichor splattered. But the bone spider did not slow down. It climbed down the web and back up at Kazrack biting at him, but the dwarf turned and put his foot in the creature’s face, to give it less of a target. The dwarf slid off the crypt onto the floor and reached for his halberd, the creature followed and bit the dwarf again. Another deep puncture, had the dwarf reeling, and blood staining his clothes, but he did not stagger. He brandished his halberd and turned. Jeremy sighed, and ran back over to help with the spider. He rushed over and slammed it hard with his long sword, causing a large crack to appear in the outer casing and more of the blue liquid to gush forward. It tried to retreat again, but Kazrack did not give it a chance, slamming down his halberd axe blade where the thorax met the top of the creature. There was a sickening popping sound and the creature stopped moving. Weakened and near death themselves, Jeremy and Kazrack let out long slow breathes, and the only sound was that of Chance chopping at the threads around Ratchis ---- What seemed like an unreasonably long period of time passed, but finally Ratchis began to stir, but the venom left him with a weakened constitution. Jana also felt the strain of the strain of the venom, and lowered herself to sit on the floor with her back to the wall. Only Beorth seemed unaffected by the venom, when he regained control of his movements again. Kazrack searched the other alcove looking for a secret door that matched the one the party came through, but after 20 minutes of searching decided there wasn’t one there. Still aching after calling the power of his goddess down to heal him, Ratchis asked Beorth for the pendant with the malachite stone back. He compared the curved green “stone” to the tooth in the spider’s maw, and measure it held it up to where the broken one was. If not for the clasp it looked like it would be a perfect fit. “This pendant was made from this spider’s tooth,” Ratchis said, handing it back to Beorth. “Hold it out.” Ratchis prayed for the vision that allowed him to see magical auras and the pendant shone brightly. “Necromancy,” he said. He looked about some more, but nothing else in the room shone. Beorth put the pendant away. It was then decided they’d burn the webs away, and so Ratchis lit a torch and set them ablaze, and the party retreated back through the door and down to the lower level to rest and wait out the flames and smoke. After waiting a good three hours, they climbed back up the stairs and open the door to allow the smoke to clear. Except for Ratchis, who went outside, pried the boards off the doors and came in through the front. “This place must be destroyed,” Beorth said. “It is a place of evil, and goes against the will of Anubis. Having no means of consecrating and warding it, it must be destroyed. Using a rope, and with Kazrack slipping into the space between it and the wall, the party toppled the statue of Set . The heavy black stone slammed into the marble floor, and everything shook and there was a frightening echo of a sound, followed by a loud cracking of stone, as a fissure appeared and widened where the head had struck. The statue was still in one piece, but the floor below them did not seem to be holding up to well. “I think there is a shaft of some kind below us,” said Kazrack, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Maybe we can collapse this whole place,” Ratchis suggested. Kazrack examined the two columns in the front of the chamber, and noticed that large wooden blocks were used to help support the columns. “If we can knock out or burn the supports, this whole place should come down,” Kazrack observed. So the plan was put into action: Kazrack, Beorth, Jana and Chance went back down the stairs and through the bug-infested corridor and up into the shack, where they dragged the caretaker outside. Meanwhile, Jeremy climbed up on Ratchis’ shoulders and shoved rags covered in oil among the column supports and in the spaces between the supports and the stone itself. He then lit one and then the other, leaving a pile of wood and debris burning at the column’s base as well. They then ran out and climbed down rubble, waiting for the fire to do its job. They waited for a long time as the care-taker moaned and cried non-verbally as he was still gagged. They have nearly given up hope of the fire’s catching, and Ratchis was creeping back towards the rubble-buried mastaba to climb up and check, when they all heard a loud boom and crash, and smoke and dust came billowing out of the double doors. Ratchis ran back to where the others waited safely, and suddenly the crash was deafening as the entire tomb, mastaba and rubble disappearing into a black cloud. Black smoke and dust climbed high into the air, and the party retreated further back. The sound of tumbling and cracking stone filled the area, and nothing could be seen for a good long time. The sobbing of the crazy care-taker could not be heard. Eventually, the smoke cleared to reveal a rubble-filled depression in the ground where the mastaba had stood. The party avoided walking there not being sure of it’s stability. Ratchis lit a torch and went into the cabin, knocking over an oil lamp he set fire to it as well. “We don’t need anything climbing out that way,” he said, and the party agreed. However, the care-taker did not agree. He had worked his gag off with is tongue and lips and let out a long mournful wail. “You’ve destroyed everything!” he cried. “You burned my house! You burned my house! You destroyed the crypt! You killed my family! Why are you so evil? Why are you so evil? Why? Oh, why? What did I ever do to you? Why?” Kazrack stood by him fist raised, so when the man opened his mouth to curse them, he closed his mouth and just sobbed pathetically, occasionally repeating “my home”. -- The party began to march back towards the orchard to camp for the night before making their way back to the main camp and the rest of Crumb’s boys. “I think we have one day to make it back or they might leave without us,” said Beorth. “Yes, he said we’d be in Stone Bridge for 3 or 4 days. I think tomorrow will be the third or fourth,” Jana added. Ratchis had tossed the bound and babbling care-taker over his shoulder, but he squirmed and wriggled and fought too much, the woodsman let him fall off his shoulder with a loud wind-knocking thump and began to drag him along. The man continued to fight and claw to slow down their progress, but Ratchis was just too big an strong. And when he finally gave up fighting, and the ground became broken with sharp rocks, Ratchis picked him back up again, though now the man’s spirit was broken by bruises, cuts and skinned knees, elbow and chin. Making camp where they had two nights previous (where two fallen trees created something of a natural shelter), the dropped their gear and rested their battle-weary bones. Ratchis dropped the care-taker who after a moment of catching his breath, went back into his seemingly endless tirade against the party. “You are all going to pay for this. Evil like this does not go unpunished,” he screamed over and over with righteous fury. “I was only doing my duty like my father taught me. I was only protecting my family. You are bad people. You will suffer greatly for this.” “Do you want something to eat?” Ratchis asked him. “You will pay! You will pay!” Ratchis shoved some jerky in his mouth. The man chewed it up hungrily, and then continued on his tirade. This was repeated several times, until tired the bound man began look uncomfortable. Ratchis looked at him curiously, “Do you need to relieve yourself?” The man nodded. Ratchis looked around at the snickering faces of his companions (except Beorth who was impassive as always) eating their rations. He sighed, and stood and led the man several yards away by a tree. And lowering the man’s pants said, “Go ahead. I’ll be right over there.” Ratchis walked away and waited a few minutes admiring the orange of the sun melting into a blur behind the mountains to the west. However, when he looked back to where he had left the care-taker, he saw him awkwardly hopping with his pants around his ankles, back towards the south. Ratchis ran to tackle him, but the man tripped, his chin slamming heavily against a rock, and causing an explosion of blood. Ratchis grabbed him. “Nooooooo!” he wailed. “Let me go! Let me go! Why are you tormenting me? Let me go! I haven’t done anything. Please! Please!” This pathetic begging continued as Ratchis covered him back up and carried him back to camp. ---- “What are we going to do with that guy?” Jeremy asked. ‘We will bring him to Kennoch. He will know what to do,” Beorth replied. “The man is sick. He needs help. Perhaps Kennoch can cure him. What we are going to do with the amulet is more of my immediate concern. I bet it was what made that green glow I saw the other night, and if so, it controls, if not creates undead. It must be destroyed.” “Yes, I was thinking the same thing,” Ratchis agreed. “Let’s try.” Once again, Ratchis borrowed Kazrack’s flail and Beorth lay the pendant on a rock. Ratchis slammed it again and again with the weapon, but when he stopped and looked, there was not a scratch on the thing. He tried several more times, until his arm was growing numb from the exertion. However, the pendant did not break. Sighing, he handed it back to Beorth. “We will have to ask Kennoch about what to do with this as well, it seems,” Beorth said, referring to the pendant. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Notes:[/b] (72) Hieroglyphics are used to mark tombs, crypts and sacred places. They are less and less often used form of communication, which was formed to give two different messages at once – the obvious message depicted by the characters and a secret message to those familiar with the specific hieroglyphic form that the figures represent, spelling out words. [/QUOTE]
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"Out of the Frying Pan" - Book I: Gathering Wood (reprise)
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