Through fire and into the pan 19SEP20
21
SEP/20
Light finds Oni:
Mar’iya and Naga started to gather water to test it for poison. Back in Raam they had heard that the water might be poisoned here in the pyramid. Mar’iya was about to drink some when Sora smashed out of his hand. Herman moved up on to Oni’s shoulder. The sound from the water was mesmerizing. Herman changed his hum to match that of the water falling. Oni felt his eyes close. He was drifting into a meditative state. He was drawn into that state. He was without control and pulled into the state.
Oni opened his eyes. His eyes hurt and he could not see. The brightness was intense from all sides. The light penetrated him. He was on a plain of light. It came from all directions and went out in all directions. With a little focus his eyes were starting to function again. As the pain subsided he could tell they were working the entire time. It was just bright, and he thought he could not see. He started to breathe again.
He could hear the vibration of the water flow, even as he was not anywhere near it. Oni looked done and he could see Herman still on his shoulder. Herman’s shell was moving and shaking in an erratic matter. Oni grinned as he looked down at his little buddy. “I am grad you are here with me.” Herman’s little antenna twitched, and his eyes made contact with Oni when he spoke, “Are you sure I am here?” he spoke in a voice that was booming and loud enough to spread out across the entire plain of light. Oni’s face twitched back. He stared at Herman. Here, in the wherever here is, Herman can speak out loud. Oni loved it. Herman’s bug face smiled
Oni and his little buddy started to scan the plain. Their eyes scanned together, bringing life to the plane as the looked. Oni could see far behind him the Black Spire, that he has seen a few times before. They both scanned Oni’s body to see if he was wounded or maybe even dead. Oni thought he might now be beyond the tower and now lost to his friends and quest. Herman, again speak in his booming voice, “are you dead my friend? I am pretty sure I am not, but maybe you are.” Oni grimmest at his little buddy, “nice.”
They started to scan again. They were looking for anything. Oni did not want to go to the spire. He was hoping to find anything else to investigate. The tower was or is his end. He could still hear the waterfall. Off to the right he saw someone. He did not think they were there before, but just appeared. He did not move but thought about moving towards the person. He was there. His legs were fatigued but they did not move. They felt like he had been walking all day in the sand. His joints even felt a little gritty.
He could not tell if this was a man or woman. From his perspective they might have been both or all. They were hard to look at. Light came from them as much as the plain itself. Oni thought this might be the source of all light. This person was chained to the plain with a blue-black chain. Next to them was a globe of glass filled with every part of the rainbow. The colors of the rainbow flowed and moved within the glass ball. Colors smashed into the glass from time to time. The glass ball was chained to the plain as well. Oni thought about touching it but knew he could not.
Oni and Herman made eye contact with the person. Oni felt like he made contact with them. He felt the sun’s rays come into your body. He could feel the energy and heat warm him from the inside out. He felt warm and safe again. He wondered again if he was dead. The creature spoke in a familiar voice. It spoke in Arnia’s voice. Oni did not see her in this person but her voice sprang from it’s mouth. She was now Arnai, in Oni’s head. Oni could now see a tear form on their face, “you must hurry. You might be able to free me,” A couple of more tears formed and she looked at the glass of flowing rainbows, “but you will never feel the glory of the sun.” The person looked off as if they saw something. Then, span back to Oni, “Time is short. You must bring my power to the right person.”
Oni’s eyes blinked and in the time of a blink he was back in the hall with his friends. They had moved to the far side. In Oni’s mind he screamed, “noooooooooooo!” He knew it was over and rushed to join them.
Dreams within the Pyramid:
The group was exhausted. Oni wanted to rest and gather his and their strength. He felt like they were about to enter a new level of the quest. Ra had brought them here yet fought them as he did. Oni could feel the forces of Tiamat and Ra at struggle here. He asked the group, “I think we should rest.” Mar’iya and Naga wanted to push on with just a quick rest. Oni brought them together in their conversation, “we need a real rest.” He looked around the hallway, “it does not look like they have been here. I think we are safe from the cult within these secret chambers. Besides with rest I should be able to read the messages in the fire statue chamber” Mar’iya nodded, “yes, let’s make camp in the big chamber.” One walked slowly that way and up to the statue of Ra, “I think we should go beyond the next secret door. If being beyond one secret door is safe, being beyond two will be even more safe.” The group moved a little deeper into the false tomb.
Oni started to sleep. He was haunted by the vision earlier. He was haunted and a saddened by one statement, “you will never feel the glory of the sun.” He started to drift away. His mind moved to different rooms within the pyramid. With each room he would be awakened again. He longed to sleep, but it was broken. Each room played out the same. It became a blur of black lines. Each line was him taking a different path within the room. Each line was a path taken or not taken. In some of them he lived and in some he died.
In the water chamber the lines seemed to only have three paths. The other rooms have hundreds maybe thousands of lines. This room had three. Oni could see this was not true either. This room had hundreds of lines as well, but all of them followed the three black lines. They were layered over and over the three lines, making them dark and thick. One was his line. The other two went down into the water below. Those two lines became very think as they jumbled at the bottom of the water. Oni knew his death was within the water, or at least most paths into the water led to death for him. He was awakened.
He continued to struggle to sleep more. The night or day pasted but the rest was restless.
Enter the Maze:
Naga was afraid to explore the empty water chamber with his spider ability. Oni rubbed his side as the spider like elf moved about the room. He did not like how watching Naga made him feel. All of his inner Ki moved to the surface as he wanted to strike out at the spider. He had to quell the feeling knowing it was Naga not the eight-legged poisonous horrors. Oni moved his attention over to Mar’iya, “there is still the fire statue room to inspect.” The group moved out into the entrance rooms.
Oni quietly moved into the first room in the pyramid. He grabbed a quick view outside to find two new horned beasts beyond. He turned back to the group and slowly brought his finger up to his mouth, pointed outside with the same finger, and made a sign for two. Naga speaking almost silently, “I can make an illusion of this chamber across the entrance to mask it.” Oni could hear the chanting beyond. He moved across the entrance trusting in Naga’s magics.
Herman walked out on to Oni’s arm once again. Oni pet his little friend. He placed his hand on the wall once again. Herman ran out down the wall. Oni looked at him, hoping he would be okay. Oni pulled a little soot out of his pouch and started to trance into the magics of understanding. He could see the world in a new way. Herman turned the corner and Oni started to look through his eyes. He started to view the text but could not make any sense of it. Oni reached out and gave Herman the image of walking across the text. Herman sent back an image of thick blackness. Oni knew this was fear coming from his friend. He sent an image of him hugging Herman, hoping he felt confront. He then sent an image of himself ready to charge down the room. Oni wanted him to know he would not let him die today.
Herman moved into the room along the upper reaches of the room and started to walk along the text, giving Oni the ability to read or know the text. Oni started to say them out loud for the group.
“Though there had been much bad talk about amun re, it was generally recognized by the people and priests alike that he was the greatest of the gods in heaven westward. For he alone manifested his power in his temple.”
“Sacrifices of food and gold were brought daily to lay on the altars before the statues in the small worship temples left and right from the stair entrance to the tomb”
“It is our priesthood rite that whatever Osiris accepts he will take from the altar and that which he wishes the priests to have, he leaves on the altar. This profited the priests greatly except that all offering left in the east temple would disappear and never be found again. “
The last two messages were on the other side of the fiery statue. Herman used the upper reaches of the wall again to move around to the other side of the room. Several worshippers looked up, but no one seemed to notice the little beetle moving about in the room. He made it across to the other side and started to walk through the text again. Oni again read it out loud as he understood it.
“Several priests, upset to see their assets disappearing searched the east temple and they, too, disappeared. The temple became a most hallowed spot so that all who wished to give offerings came to that temple only. The priesthood then became unprofitable and doctrine had to be changed – traded turned to trick.”
“Offerings were often made, for a passage was always provided between the tomb of the king and his likeness. Whereby here. Sucha passage was always provided for the kings that they may live among us once more.”
Herman came running back down the hall when he was complete. Mar’iya had already started to dress in the cult garb. Oni took his little friend to the back on the main chamber. Sora was looking at Mar’iya in a strange manner. He stopped for a second, “what? We need to go in there and investigate.” He handed David some clothes and through some back to Oni. Oni picked them up, but shuck his head no, “I think you too should go without me. I will not be able to control myself the way I should.” Mar’iya understood but David clearly did not. He kind of smirked, “whatever.” David and Mar’iya moved down the hall. Oni, Sora and Naga moved up to the hall to listen and prepare to charge in.
Oni pulled out another little piece of dung. He loved the sound it made as Herman ate it, “munch munch munch.” David and Mar’iya started to talk to the priest. They were searching the room looking for the secret entrance. Mar’iya examined the fire to discover that the fire had no heat. David with his keen eye started to think that these were not cultists of Ra. He managed to shift up to the fire pit to scan it. He now knew the brazier was the portal. It might kill, but it does send those that stand in it off.
David started to speak to Mar’iya with their mind speak, “I do not think these guys are cultists of Ra. We need to get them out of here to explore the fire as a portal.” Mar’iya now in a far more friendly voice told the priest about the water, “have you seen the waterfall beyond the secret door?” He looked pissed at one of his men, “no, we did not find the secret door. We thought we search well… too.” Mar’iya smiled thinking he had them out of the room now, “let me show you.” The priest looked dismissive, “sure let’s go see your water.”
Mariya moved them out of the room and through the far secret door. The priest went with but left half of his men behind. As they passed Sora and the others the priest spoke in his, not so shocked voice, “I see you are not alone. Mar’iya nodded, “of course we have a group to travel through the sand.” He moved them into the secret hall and right to the water. The priest stood in shock. David took this as the moment to test the cult-ness of the priest and group, “we are not followers of Ra.” David waited in a pause to read the priest, then continued, “you are not followers of Ra either.” The priest smiled. He would tell David that they were only pretending to be cultists to get into the temple and that they were following the adventures of Tiamat to get access. First his excitement was to high. He yelled at the man next to him, “gather the rest, this water is a gift from Tiamat, and we must indulge.” He started to drink and gluttoned in the water. His man more loyal than he wanted to be ran to gather the rest of the group. Mar’iya and David subtly followed them back to the main rooms.
Oni had moved into the far room to watch their back. As Mar’iya moved by, he connected to Oni, “jam the door once the move through it. Oni stood strong. Mar’iya and David gathered Sora and Naga and moved into the fire room. Oni waited for the last to move back into the secret hall. He grabbed on one of the last two pitons and slid it into the lock. He watched it, knowing the pyramid would not let it stay in place long. They would have a little private time, but not long. Oni rushed to join the group.
He stepped in just as Mar’iya bravely stepped into the fire. In the next second Mar’iya was gone and the fire was out. Oni could read the messages clearly now and he read, “Sacrifices of food and gold were brought daily to lay on the altars before the statues in the small worship temples left and right from the stair entrance to the tomb,” to himself. He moved his pack quickly looking for his most value objects. He grabbed a bag of water and placed it into the brazier. Nothing happened. Naga rushed up next to Oni, “I thought it said sacrifices of food?” Oni felt a little dum and through a ration into the bowl. Nothing Happened. Oni searched his back and remembered the dust he found. This was truly magical dust and must be the most valuable thing he had. He through a little dust into the bowl. The fire starked to life.
Oni feeling that time was not on their or specifically Mar’iya’s side yelled, “quickly, who’s next.” Sora knew if Mar’iya needed help, it was her job. She jumped into the fire and it went out again. Feeling bold Oni tossed more dust into the bowl. It sparked up, but it was not enough. He through in another waterskin and a ration and it sparked up. Oni, turned to David, “give me the coin, I might need it.” David handed him the coin and yelled,”I am next. I want to make sure Sora.. oh … and Mar’iya are okay.” He stepped up and stepped into the fire. Oni feeling he understood tossed dust, water and food into the bowl again. He knew he could not do this forever. Naga looked at him. Oni shaking his head looked back, “are you going.” Naga looked confused, “should you go.” Oni bit back a little, “I need to be last as I am starting it back up.” Naga stepped into the fire and it went out.
Oni was alone again. Like the breif time in the desert he felt utterly alone. He looked through his stuff. He through the last of his dust, with a waterskin and ration into the bowl again. The fire came back. He looked around. He wanted to strart the fire up again before stepping in, but he could not figure out how. He closed his eye, wanting to connect again. Herman in true bug fashion tapped his leggs on his arm. Oni stepped up into the fire, knowing his fire would not move to the next place. He opened his eyes to find his friends.
Maze Entrance with a Pointer (room 1 on AJ’s map):
Oni blinked and saw that he was with his friends again. If they were dead, they were dead together. He rejoiced inside but tried not to display his feelings. It would have been seen as weakness and he wanted to be strong for them. He looked around. They were in an octagonal room with four smoke filled exits. Each other wall had a lever that could be swung upward. In the middle of the room was a skeleton on the floor. In its boney hand was a sword, pointing towards one of the exits. For some unknown reason, they called that west.
David moved over to one of the levers. Mar’iya with great concerned yelled, “don’t.” David gave his all-knowing smirk back to Mar’iya, “I was not going to pull it. Just sense it.” Oni noticed that those two were starting to build a nice friendly rivalry. Oni smiled as he liked watching people become friends and companions. They both liked to figure things out and they both were good at it. One finds the secret door here, the other figures out the trap there. They were a good team. Oni hardly saw such things, even when pointed out to him. He was more of an internalist and not an externalist.
David placed his hand on lever. He told a tail of a man and woman within the room. The woman was in the center. He man moved the lever. She then fell to the ceiling. Oni spoke in a surprised tone, “gravity changed.” David looked back to Oni is shock, “yes that is what it looked like.” David moved to another Lever, and almost jumped back away from it as he touched it, “some undead creature came through the wall and reset it.” Oni has always wondered what exactly undead were. Maybe to his fear, he might find out.
The group decided the levers were too dangerous and wanted to move on. Mar’iya was afraid that the sword pointed to a trap, “I think the sword is too convenient a direction.” Oni had no idea, “well let’s go this direction.” The group pulled the rope out. They would move into the mist single file. Oni would go first, then Mar’iya, then Naga, then David, with Sora coming up the rear. This placed their best warrior in the back. She would protect them from that direction. Oni would lead. They headed east.
Oni reached his left hand back to the end of the rope. He reached his right hand out to the wall to the right, “I will keep my hand on the right wall.” Oni had gone through some of the ancient journals in his head and staying consistent was an important aspect of the going into a maze. Oni stepped into the mist. It was thick. He could not see. He knew he would need to test the air. He took in a deep breath. If it was going to kill him, let it just kill him. It stunk of eggs, but it did not seem to hurt him. His head felt a little dizzy. He did not think it was poisoning him. He thought it was just the staleness of the air itself.
He moved into the fog. He walked slowly. He had closed his eye trying to use his mind’s eye to see the hallway. He moved the group down the hall. After a several paces, he could no longer feel the fog. He opened his eyes, but still could not see. Naga had the light and this room was still dark. He moved in to let the entire party into it. Light beamed in as Naga walked in.
The room was empty. It was ten paces long and three pace wide. It had a total of four exists, including the one they came in. The group gathered to decide which way to move next. Oni pointed south, “this would be the right direction with my hand on the right wall. They gathered to head south again. Oni was about to move when Naga spoke up, ”Hey… maybe you should have the light.”
Oni took the light and headed south.
Sled Room (room 3 on AJ’s map):
Oni moved into another room without fog. This one had a skeleton of someone pulling a crude sled with three chests on it. He looked like he was trying to pull some great treasure he had found. Two of the chests formed the foundation for the third chest resting on top. Oni moved to the edge of the room. He rarely found joy in treasures. His treasure was here in the maze. It was just not coin.
Mar’iya started to work the chests. He smirked as the entire group could hear an audible click. He managed to find some trap within the chests. He opened them to find some ceramic pieces. Oni watched as the group scooped them up and added them to their pile. Oni’s interest grew as he looked through the group. He hoped they could find enough that he could buy their freedom. A grim feeling came over him. He hoped they could buy their freedom because he might kill the Gardiward family to make it happen. He wanted to do it peacefully but would work to do it without peace.
They looped south and finally headed north….
Sword in the stone (room 4 on AJ’s map):
Oni moved into a “T” shaped room. Fog filled archways were to the north and east. The floor was covered with dead and decaying bodies. A sword glimmered in his light as it was stuck into the floor, right through one of the bodies. Oni moved in and to the east to let the group enter the room. Oni stared at the metal sword as they filled the room. Mar’iya moved up to it with great caution. He like Oni wanted it, “We could buy hundred feet of rope with this sword.” He was moving his eyes along the blade once again, “I think it has writing on it.”
The bodies on the floor jerked and started to stand. These undead creatures came to life and attacked the group. Oni’s fear had come true. He did not want to be anywhere near them, but he was right next to two of them. David and Mar’iya used their mind powers to kill most of them. Oni and Sora mopped up the rest. Naga yelled, “remove the heads. It will stop them from coming back.” Oni searched his mind for past readings but was not sure. He had no reason to no believe Naga, so he removed the head from the one next to him. He was surprised at how easy the head popped off. It was hardly attached at all.
Mar’iya in a voice that did not contain any confidence at all, “Enduval.” Seeing that nothing terrible happened and with a little more confidence, “that is what the sword says.” Sora moved up, pulling the lion pelt out of her pack. She gently wrapped the sword in it and pulled it out of the ground. She was afraid to touch it. Oni thought this made him the most worried he had ever been. He did not feel this much doom in his mind when Pakku opened that door to rescue Rain. Seeing fear in her eyes made Oni feel scared to his core. She gently placed it into her pack. She was being very careful to never actually touch it. They would take the sword with them, but not touch it, at least not yet.
They lined up again and moved east….
Head Chopping Blade room (room 6 on AJ’s map):
Oni walked into a chamber with a door. He moved to let the group into the room. He knew Mar’iya and David needed to examine it. He went into guard duty on one end of the room. Mar’iya and David moved up to the door to search it. It was made of stone. Oni could not even imagine how you make a stone door. How do you cut it; how do you set it? Finally, Mar’iya opened the door. To Oni’s surprise if swung open easily.
Beyond the stone door a larger room was revealed. It looked to be ten paces on a side. In the middle of the room was a large structure with a big blade on one end. The blade was tied off to the wall on the far side. Naga peered in, “looks like a trap.” He had a great insight and started to launch magics at it. Oni joined in. With the hinge destroyed, the group moved in.
They started to examine the room. Looking up they could see a railing or ledge that went around the entire room about seven paces up. Sora moved in to retrieve the big metal blade. She was looking at, hoping to convert into a new weapon. Oni could see joy move across her face as she gathered it. Oni grabbed the short piece of rope. Mar’iya and David looked around. Mar’iya looked over to Naga, “can you climb up there?” Naga did not want to be alone up there, “I do not think I should go… by myself.” Mar’iya looked over to Sora, “can you cast it on her?” Naga was not sure but started to search through his magical knowledge, “Maybe Oni can send his little friend up there.” Oni looked up. He pulled Herman out and Herman ran up the wall. Oni looked out through his eyes and scanned the ledge around the room, “nothing up here.” Herman came back down to join Oni.
With the blade stored the group moved on….
X marks do not enter (room 7 on AJ’s map):
Mar’iya opened another stone door. He and David seemed to have a regular method for checking and opening the doors now. They slid it open just as they stepped back to let Oni and Sora be the first to encounter folks or things within. Nothing blasted them. Within was a 10 pace by 10 pace room. In the center built right into the stonework was a giant “X”. Naga with his trap sense yelled, “do not go in, it is a trap.” Mar’iya and David wanted to explore the room. They moved into the right and left of the door. They moved slowly around the furthest reaches of the room. Both were mindful of the giant “X” and only explored the walls. This room like the Axe Room had a ledge just above the room. David found some rubble, but the room revealed no other secrets.
With the room searched the group moved north again….
Treasure and wall piercings (room 8 on AJ’s map):
Beyond this stone door another square room with a ledge was revealed. This room smelled like an even more deadly trap than the last. There was an open chest on the far end of the room. Within the chest ceramic pieces were piled. On the south wall a lattice of holes filled the entire wall. On the north wall three skeletons had been impaled into it with large spears. The spears had these amazing looking steel tips. Oni nearly dreuled as words shot from his mouth, “I want those spears.” Naga the trap sage, “we should not go into that room.” David heeding Naga’s warning grabbed a handful of coins and tried to teleport them out of the room. They never arrived. Fear washed over the group. They started to prepare to move on. Oni thought to himself, “but I really want those spears.”
The north archway loops back into the same room. Oni leads them off to the west.
Dervishes within the mist (room 9 on AJ’s map):
Oni moves them into another, what he started to think of as connector room. As the group gathers up to change directions, voices could be heard from the west. Before they could prepare two dervishes burst into the room with weapons drawn. Mar’iya to the edge of the room and tried to cower. They moved to split the party and wrapped around Oni, leaving gaps from two more to enter the room. At every step in the fight Mar’iya worked to get them to surrender, but they preferred their own deaths to peace. Oni tried to move up to block Mar’iya from danger. He wished he could taunt his enemies to come for him.
One of the Dervishes hit David. The attack moved through to the other side and smashed into the wall. The light from the rock started to blink. It made everyone look like they were moving in slow motion. As the moment in time moved forward people started to shift. It was as if Tiamat placed favor upon the dervishes. He worked to help them win. With each blink, people moved, or popped into a new location. The nice split of the party was now spread out, leaving them exposed to flanking. The dervishes took advantage as they could. When everyone was moved into Tiamat’s preferred locations the blinking stopped and the light was on again.
One of the Dervishes dropped. Sora moved to swing her scythe. She cut straight through another Dervish but smashed into the same spot in the wall where the dervish hit earlier. Most of the hallway disappears for a moment. The walls around the wound and on the far side from it change from rock and stone into the deepest black with bright lines of yellow running in a grid across it. The Dervishes stopped moving. Sora noticed everyone stopped moving.
A door slid open with a pissst sound on the far end of the room. Sora moved her weapon down to her side. Three men walked in wearing bright red shirts. One looked at Sora, “Sorry, we will have this fixed in a minute. One of them pressed a spot in the wall and a drawer filled with lit tubes sprang out of the wall. The third one held a small object in his hand. It whirled and made a whistle sound. Two of them worked on the tubes within the drawer. The third looked around the room.
The Red Shirt: “scary adventure”
Sora: “I know, right”
The Red Shirt: “Do you think I can join you, on one of your games?”
She smirked,
Sora: “I do not think you could handle it. And it would destroy my fighting skills to let you join.”
They both laughed. Him far more uncomfortably than her.
The drawer slid shut.
The Red Shirt: “Okay, looks like it should be working again. Try to be careful with the sensitive equipment.”
Sora nodded to encourage them to leave, “cawl.”
The three men left. A moment later the walls were back, made of stone and rock. Everyone started to move once again. Oni moved up and dropped the last of the four dervishes. He stood there for a long pause. None of them spoke. They all looked at each other. Naga broke the silence, “okay let’s take one of the bodies to the “X” room and see what happens.” Oni scanned everyone again, “Okay…. I guess we are not going to talk about that.”