The Pit of Set 05JUN21 and a little in 10JUN21
20
JUN/21
Mar’iya went down into the dark. A long-broken ladder led down into the darkness. He Abruptly changed. His fingers became claws as he started to descend. He moved from ladder to the wall as he went down. Walls and ladder were the same to him as the ground itself. It took him a minute to get down. Herman whispered in Oni’s ear, “It would be faster to just fall.” They both laughed a little on the inside. This was too serious to laugh out loud. Oni waved his hand. Mar’iya was gone for a long time. When he showed up again, he whisper yelled up the ladder, “there is a room and a hallway down here.”
David leaped into the hole landing on the safer part of the ladder. Ixen changed and went down the hole as well. Oni looked over to Arnia. The desert wind moved her hair as it blew by. Music filled him for a second. Herman interrupted, “Quit it. That ship sailed in Raam. … The big dark hole, remember.” Oni snapped back to their current location, “should we tie off a rope.” Arnia pulled out a fortune in rope and tied it off. She shook her head, “We should not do this.” Oni waved his hand down the hole, “this is why we are here. This is what we do.”
Oni was the last into the room at the bottom of the ladder. David and Mar’iya were messing with a book. Oni cast detect magic and could feel the slight energy coming from it, “I think it is a spellbook.” Mar’iya looked it over with agreement. They handed it to Oni to carry and maybe examine later. Oni and the others started to search through the shelves, only finding dust. David found some glyphs. He struggled but was able to read them.
here did I, Martek archmage of the land, seal up a prince of the djinn, that in the days ahead that I do forsee. when the evil one is loosed, the powers of good might be put to the test against the evil.
The path and the way have I entrusted to the pharaohs and their wives, that each might hold a part of the key and together know when to unlock the power of this goodly djinni.
The time is yet unknown, but the place is this place of Set under the protecting phoenix.
The group stayed behind as Mar’iya moved down the stairs. He was very cautious as he searched for traps. David could not wait and headed down the stairs. He was never as cautious as he should be, and the floor dropped out beneath him. He was able to jump onto the steps and did not fall in the pit. Ixen went down to be at his side and climbed to be on the far side with Mar’iya. Oni warded himself from evil. Arnia moved closer to David.
The floor of the pit was filled with the bones of its past victims. The looked brittle as they came to life. At that same moment, a mist started to rise up out of the pit. It was verdant in color with whisps of vermilion. It drifted up from the pit and spread out as it moved up the stairs. The undead came climbing out of the pit and started to attack. David pulled back. Arnia feeling immune to the gas stayed to fight. She destroyed an undead but started to cough and choke. She pulled back out of the poisonous gas. Oni attacked the undead from a distance. The party split again slowly backed up as the killed the undead, staying just out of the smoke.
With the dead, dead again, David went up to remove the rope and close the trap door behind them. Ixen was a giant spider and carried each person across the pit. Mar’iya had moved on to investigate the hall ahead of them. As the group formed up again, Mar’iya had found and examined a hidden door, “There is a door here. I am going to open it.” The hallway continued.
Mar’iya opened a door just on the other side of the secret door. It had many threadbare tapestries. Two of them still had scenes that were possible to visually understand. One of them, had a woman being burned at the stack. She looked familiar. No one wanted to say who she was, but it might be this Corga. Oni thought it looked somewhat like his sister but no one else saw that. He knew he might just be seeing what he wanted to see. They were likely right in seeing Corga in those threads. The last one was of Tiamat. It was facing off with a great army. That army was being slaughtered by Tiamat. She was not harmed in any way.
As they moved further down the hall there was a door to the left and an arch to the right. The room to the right was filled with webs. They had all seen giant spiders before and prepared for the eight-legged beasts as they went in. It did not take long before they all seemed dead, but the room was still filled with webs, creating hidden spaces for more creatures. Oni set the webs on fire. Smoke filled the room, but they were gone within in minutes. It revealed more writings. David read these as well.
Beware ye the wraith of Set, and his minions for before you lies the gate to his kingdom of evil and those who make that journey never return.
Mar’iya wanted to go through the door, “we can’t leave enemies behind us.” Oni said the message over and over slightly out loud., “no. this is the way to go.” They all looked at him. He looked at Mar’iya and David in a slightly annoyed manner, “remember in the pyramid, massages from Martek led to the higher levels. His warnings are our best guide. This is the way to go.” Frustrated Mar’iya jammed something in the door hoping to block it.
Following Oni’s lead, they moved through the archways. They moved through another room and came to yet another door. Mar’iya moved up to investigate it. He and David looked it over. Oni moved back to watch the hallway behind them. With the greatest caution Mar’iya opened the door. Oni could not see it clearly from where he was standing. It had a statue of what they presumed was Set. Just in front of him was a pit. The pit pulsed with a bright vermillion glow. Oni tried to stare at it to feel a pattern. It reminded him of the god plain. He could not place it, but it made him feel the like he felt on the god plain.
No one wanted to go into the room. Fear percolated through the group. Oni spoke up from the back of the group, “I will go in if you all want.” Mar’iya looked back with his little half smile, “I got this.” He stepped into the room. Everyone let out some held breath as nothing happened, good or bad. Mar’iya looked back with a slightly bigger smile. He stepped forward to look into the pit. The door magically closed and sealed. David tried to open it, but it was now sealed by a magic beyond their power. Oni stepped up with his staff in hand, “Move out of the way.” He knew it had the ability to open magical doors. He pumped every bit of power into it. He knew this might ruin the staff forever. He cast the knocking power with all of its magical energy. He wanted his friend free. He felt all of the power leave the staff as it drilled an opening in the door. He smiled as his saw his friend beyond. His smile faded as a creature crawled out of the pit…