Help, I'm stuck

[the Jester]

Toss 'em in a death trap and see if they can figure their way out. By the time they escape, the mummy lord is on the march with his army.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I like Crothians idea - Capture them, let them go and then scry on them and find out what they do!

Another possible:

Have the players seen the undead army yet? If not, then it should be staging outside the ruins, or at least not in the section the players are in.

Anyway, let the players see them. If they're like most players I know, then they'll dither about what to do for a while. If they come to a decision, or you get bored, then have the Mummy start to move it's army out. As they start leaving, he casts a 'plot device spell' on the ruins.

The complex reforms, seals and sinks into the ground. With the players still inside! The death traps switch on. The hidden guardians come out to play. There is an 'escape capsule', if they can get to it then they live. This could be a teleporter to somewhere interesting, an appratus of Kwalish that digs through the ground or a stargate. Whatever sounds fun really?

By the way: mummys, Shifter-Swarm sand things and ancient ruins. That sounds really cool.

 

[fafhrd]

Is the mummy omniscient? If not, he could just suspect that the party fled. It is, after all and odd idea to go back and hide in his tomb. Maybe he "pursues" them into the countryside.

If he is aware of their location, I could see him simply ignoring them and setting out to conquer the world. They have shown themselves to be ineffectual and stupid. Maybe he sends a couple of lesser thralls to go "take care of the interlopers" and goes about his important activities..

 

[BiggusGeekus]

You could always have some wacky time-travel gizmo that takes them back in time to the point where the pyramid was being constructed. They would have a certain ammount of time to get out before being bungie-jumped back to the present, so they'd have to act fast. Then, have their actions in the past churn up a lot of unintended consequences in the present.

Yeah, I watch a lot of Stargate.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Leave the palyers to a slow death and possible escape. The mummy goes off with his undead army to 'bring back the good old days and or lost love and or item'. Players now are faced with getting out of the hole, getting by a limited number of undead, then finding way to stop the mummy, which is off doing his thing.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I agree with Inconsequenti-Al. Have the Mummy Lord ignore them, or trap them in a room, and leave. Let the temple defenses deal with them. The Mummy Lord is smart enough to know that although he can kill the PC's, they can do a lot of damage to his army before dying. Bypass them, and move on to the real task at hand - conquering the world!

The fun in this session will come from the PC's slowly figuring out they're being led deep into the complex, and then left to die. When they finally get it that the Mummy Lord is just getting around them, they'll hate him even more. Extra Points if they make it almost to the surface as the Mummy Lord locks the door on them, taunting them as they are entombed jsut as he was for so many years.

Maybe he can even tell them where the rituals are to make themselves mummies... suggesting that that is the only way they can survive. And there are enough canoptic jars for all of them but one - so sad.