Carthago !

The Red Dune Depths

This covers some explorations in the the second month of the nineteenth year of the reign of Pharaoh Ptolomy, son of Ptolomy.

From Sammus’s Boast:

144: E33 – The Red Dune – A Good Beginning

Later that morning the King’s Speaker arrived at our kraal. He talked to Baal-Shaq in heavily accented Numidian. His name was Deobey, and he told us that he would provide any supplies we needed as well as boats to ferry us across the river to the dune. We could see the large dune in the distance on the other side of the river.

Si'aspiqo asked for some alchemical supplies. Deobey did not know what sulphur was and there was no vegetable oil or mineral oil, but he would be able to supply plenty of charcoal, fish oil or animal fats, and the small amounts of finely ground iron and copper that the magician requested. The archers asked for arrow heads but thought their own flights would be better than local ones. Amphius also asked for three silver javelin heads. Mago requested some ceramic pots for holding holy water.

Later in the morning, while our orders were being supplied, we headed off to view the Red Dune more closely. Deobey organised two boats and we made our way through a wide margin of mud and small streams for 100 yards or more to where we could board them. Si'aspiqo slipped and fell into the mud, emerging completely besmirched. He claimed it was a Kushite trick to keep cool, but no-one believed him.

The boats ferried us across the river, and we were landed on a beach close to the red dune around midday on a hot sunny day. There was very little vegetation on the dune. We began by circumnavigating the huge berm of sand. On the far side at the northwestern corner Agripinus spotted some markings most of the way to the top. He thought they might be game trails. There was a ridge running north south along the ridge, which was steepest in the centre, which seemed the natural way to climb to the top, so we set off up the slope following the ridge.

Looking around at the top, we noticed a dip in the ground and a dark hole, which led into darkness. I secured a rope around Amphius’s waist and braced myself while he entered the opening. The hole was roughly square and comfortably large enough for a man to enter. It was a deep shaft, lined by salvaged timber, well put together quite recently.

Amphius began to descend a ramshackle assault ladder – a pole with alternating pegs down its length. He descended a couple of metres until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He then went down the pole for 20 to 25 feet, where he caught sight of the bottom. There were multiple identical poles for descending, each connected to the one above. After about 40 feet the shaft opened into a wider chamber or cavern and then there was a further ten feet to the floor where there was a small pile of sand. This would be about halfway down the dune from the top, he thought. Amphius climbed back up and out of the shaft and reported what he had seen.

Mago and Amphius then investigated the multiple game trails. There were holes about the size of a badger hole. Maybe Mago could squeeze in, and it would be possible for a darkling, we thought, but far too small for me. It had been wet recently but the tracks were hard to make out in the soft sand, all that we could tell was that whatever had made them was bigger than a rabbit – darklings could not be ruled out. Si'aspiqo took out his darkling finger fetish and felt for them but did not feel anything nearby.

We descended the southern end of the ridge, boarded the boats and returned to Kuku. As we crossed the muddy margin, like Si'aspiqo, I slipped off the trail and went into the mud up to my waist. I claimed I was trying Si'aspiqo’s suggestion, but no-one believed me either.

By the end of the day our supplies had been delivered – Si'aspiqo’s alchemicals, the arrow heads, javelin heads and the pots. We discussed our options for further investigation and decided that we would cross the river again and set up camp in a defensive position near the dune and spend the night and see if anything attacked us. It was around 4 or 5 days to the full moon, so there would be moonlight for the first part of the night.

The next morning Deobey returned to the kraal. Baal-Shaq told him what we had found and related our plan. When he was asked about the shaft, the speaker explained that foolish people had gone to the dune a few years ago and made the shaft – they had never been seen again. There were some foreigners from the desert and some locals following stories. It was after this he told us that the hauntings had started and complained that it was the fault of these foolish people. We asked about the stories that had attracted them, but Deobey just said there were many stories from the desert. Deobey was happy with our plan to face up to evil at night and agreed to arrange boats to ferry us again to the dunes. The boats would return to Kuku before dusk.

That afternoon we were again ferried across the river and dropped off at the foot of the red dune. We had two days’ supply of water, and plenty of firewood. Baal-Shaq picked a spot between the river and the dune. Si'aspiqo scribbled marks on stones and in the sand and marked out an area 10 feet in diameter and cast a protection against evil. Agripinus then set up his own protection with a religious rite, around the outside of Si'aspiqo’s ward. Si'aspiqo made sure it was well marked out. The boats returned to Kuku, dusk arrived, and darkness descended quickly.

Si'aspiqo went into meditation and watched from dreams, but soon he was snoring. Baal-Shaq marked a square within the wards into four quadrants, with himself and Amphius in one of the quadrants in the other closest to the pyramid, with Agripinus and Toxoanassa in the other two. Mago was allowed to join whoever he liked and move between the quadrants, but while the rest of us could look in other directions our primary task was to watch in the direction the quadrant faced.

All was quiet until midnight, when Amphius caught sight of some movement round the side of dune, and maybe heard a quiet scuffling in the sand. Agripinus saw the movement of something that looked like a big dog. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of something rushing out of the desert towards me. It barged right up the ward and then stopped hissing. It was humanoid and ran on all fours but then stood on two. It pressed up against the ward but would not cross it. Toxoanassa loosed an arrow, and it hissed horribly and retreated. Other similar shapes were moving in from various parts of the dune and we soon realised they were ghouls. Amphius quickly woke Si'aspiqo.

Agripinus summoned his arcane weapon and Amphius, Mago and Toxoanassa all struck the ghouls with their missiles. Agripinus cut into one with his arcane weapon. One of the ghouls crossed the first of the wards and was hit by Baal-Shaq. One of the ghouls went down, but there were still five up, four circling the perimeter of the ward and one partly within. Si'aspiqo awoke but was frozen by fear of the ghouls. Mago, Toxoanassa and Amphius all struck again with missiles and Agripinus did likewise with his arcane weapon and a second ghoul went down. Another ghoul made it past the first ward and came within my reach and I hit it with my sword. It recoiled back past the barrier.

One of the ghouls gave a warble ululating shriek and they backed off towards the dune. Mago and Amphius loosed missiles which struck home, and it went down but still crawled on. Toxoanassa hit a different one and knocked it over, but it also still crawled on. Mago dropped his stone, and Amphius’s next arrow went astray but Toxoanassa struck home. Now there were three prone ghouls lying still and one crawling and staying low, but an arrow from Amphius stopped it. Two ghouls got away but four bodies were left behind and all was quiet.

Si'aspiqo regained his composure and then then we all went out from the wards with Agripinus, and he removed the heads of the ghouls and ensured they were permanently at rest with a short rite. Si'aspiqo took a sample from one of them. The two men then reinforced their wards. The rest of the night was uneventful.

By dawn under the bright light of the sun we saw that the corpses had aged, desiccated and withered. The boats returned to collect us an hour after dawn, and we returned to Kuku with the ghoul heads in a sack. We reported to Deobey who was delighted with our progress so far.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• Deobey, king's speaker

Places

• Kuku
• Isa, River of Rivers
• Red Dune

Party Loot

• —

From Sammus’s Boast:

145: E34 – The Red Dune – Down the Shaft

We discussed our next steps and decided we would return the following night and depending on what happened then, decide when to descend the shaft. We also discussed what further supplies we would need and agreed on rope, replacements for the old ladders and more torches. Si'aspiqo had preparations to make, but decided these could wait until after that night’s visit. Deobey visited us and was pleased with our report and plans and agreed to provide more food and provisions and arranged for boats again, including an extra one to be left with us. We rested as best we could despite the warmth and the sound of metal working.

Late in the afternoon we boarded the boats again and a smaller vessel was paddled across with us and was dragged up and tied to an anchor in the sand and left for us to use. The other boats returned to Kuku.

We set ourselves up at the same site and the priest and magician renewed their wards. The sun went down with a red glow. The night passed uneventfully, although on a few occasions someone thought they had seen something moving and we had the feeling of being haunted and watched.

Just after dawn the boats returned and ferried us back to Kuku. We had a visit from Deobey and informed him that we had not been attacked. It was the full moon in two days, and we asked him if that made a difference to activity on the Red Dune. He wasn’t sure but there were stories, but then the town celebrated the night of the full moon, so there were more people watching. He didn’t think it was particularly inauspicious.

We went back to the Red Dune again the following night. This time there was a pile of stuff in the smaller boat – a couple of assault ladders, several coils of thick rope and bundles of torches. Once we had landed, Si'aspiqo and I took a few torches and Toxoanassa took one of the coils of rope and we climbed up to the top of the dune. Si'aspiqo slipped on the way up, but fortunately did not fall far and the sand was soft.

We camped near the southern edge of the area at the top of the dune, closest to the landing beach and about 100 metres from the shaft. Agripinus and Si'aspiqo set up their wards. Towards midnight the moon had risen and Amphius saw some humanoid movement not far from where the shaft was. Toxoanassa had a strong sense of being watched and she saw a creeping figure down closer to the river. Amphius saw three or four humanoid figures surrounding us and keeping watch. All were at a long bow range, so he did not try to hit them. Baal-Shaq made a sign against evil, and we all kept watch.

Around midnight just before the almost full moon reached its zenith, a voice called out in the night. It was far off and difficult to hear. Amphius noticed me walk determinedly across the barriers, towards the shaft and hurried after me. When he pulled me back, I came to my senses, and we returned behind the wards. Baal-Shaq said that was one of the Asuf. Agripinus and Si'aspiqo checked their wards.

Soon after Mago and Baal-Shaq reported that many scorpions were just outside the ward, scuttling around. Mago could see shadows still circling around. Amphius fired a few arrows at the larger scorpions, and we waited until a faint blue light off to the east heralded the arrival of dawn. Si'aspiqo felt that the two or three humanoid figures were back where they had started, to our north, and close to the shaft and then they disappeared from view and the sun rose. The scorpions had gone. We decided to return to Kuku, rest for the day and night and return at dawn the following day.

Soon after we had returned Deobey came to the kraal and talked to Baal-Shaq, who reported that we were all invited to the party that night. We decided it would be difficult to get any extra sleep, so we delayed our return to the Red Dune for a day and rested, while Si'aspiqo worked on preparations. The town had been quiet during the day but came to life around dusk. Amphius and I joined wholeheartedly in the celebrations, while Toxoanassa kept to the kraal and the others observed more quietly. I danced the night away with some of the locals and drank some of the slightly fermented milk, which didn’t seem very strong. Amphius returned the next morning with a new, local girlfriend. The town was quiet the next day.

The following day we set off as dawn broke. Si'aspiqo had prepared 6 torches, all sealed with wax. It was another hot clear day, and we were ferried across to the Red Dune. Baal-Shaq talked to the boat crew and with some nervousness, they carried the assault ladders and bundles of rope to the top of the dune with the rest of us carrying all the spare torches. The crew returned hurriedly to the boats.

We reached the shaft, and I lowered a rope to be used by anyone who had difficulty descending. Amphius and then Mago descended using the existing assault ladders and were soon followed by Agripinus. Amphius called up that they were in a stone chamber about 20 feet wide and 50 feet long, which was illuminated by the circle of light from the shaft. There was darkness at one end, which looked like it led to a further chamber and then some damage in the corner of the wall opposite that. It was obvious that the chamber was much better made and older than the rudimentary shaft and ladders.

The rest of the party descended without incident. I improvised an anchor from one of the ladders we had brought and secured the rope to it. However, when I set off down the ladders the first section started to give way. Fortunately, I managed to grab the rope and then after descending the rope to the next section of ladder, I managed to transfer back to it and descend to the floor.

The long axis of the chamber was east-west, and the short axis was north-south. The door was at the eastern end and the damaged wall was in the southwest corner. Baal-Shaq guarded the eastern doorway, and I guarded the southwest corner, while Mago and Amphius climbed back up and repaired and resecured the top ladder.

Si'aspiqo looked past Baal-Shaq through the doorway and saw that the walls were painted with strange images and that something was carved into the floor and lit a torch to try to see better. After checking that there seemed to be no active spells, he stepped into this second room, which was 20 feet wide 30 feet long. The images were of humans and what looked like demons, but he did not understand what was being portrayed. The paintings were not Greek said Amphius and not Punic said Baal-Shaq, but Si'aspiqo wasn’t sure what they were. He did report that there was a summoning circle in the middle of the room; he warned people not to step into it. There was a stone flagged floor and no other obvious exits. Agripinus entered and looked at the paintings. He agreed they were not Carthaginian and speculated that it showed people being eaten by demons.

Amphius investigated the other corner, which seemed to have been damaged when the shaft was made. There seemed to be a corridor beyond, going left and right. He thought that the looters who had made the shaft had gone that way.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• Deobey, king's speaker

Places

• Kuku
• Isa, River of Rivers
• Red Dune

Party Loot

• —

From Sammus’s Boast:

146: E35 – The Red Dune – In the Footsteps of the Tomb-Robbers

Amphius looked at the damaged area in the southwest corner. There were the remains of a door and a doorway, and he looked through at a corridor running east-west. To the right there was an enforced right hand turn after about fifteen feet. Agripinus summoned the light of Tanit and shielding it from Amphius, he followed the Greek as he led the way along the corridor to the right and then round the right-hand turn. By the improved light we could see that there was a slightly arched, solid roof of bricks or stone above us. I followed the priest and then came Mago and Si'aspiqo with Toxoanassa and Baal-Shaq at the rear.

After a short distance there was a confusing junction. There were two options next to each other with a narrow wall between them and a door on the right. The passage continued ahead but at double the width. It reminded Amphius of Kaskator. He checked for traps but spotted nothing. The wooden door was in remarkably good condition, there was no keyhole, just a bronze latch and he opened it onto a small landing at the top of some stairs with a set of vertical iron bars across the stairs ahead – it looked like a trap that had already been sprung. Maybe the robbers had gone this way? We closed the door and left it until later.

We carried straight on to the north and then took an enforced right turn, heading eastwards. We left an option on our right which looked to be encircling the rooms we had already discovered and headed on for around 90 feet to an enforced right turn where there were a couple of burrows. Here Amphius was attacked by a large centipede over a foot long. He dodged back and then cut it in half with his dagger. It was brightly striped, and he gathered the two halves in a leather bag for Si'aspiqo to investigate later. Amphius looked around the corner, to the south, but saw nothing down the passage.

We retraced our steps and took the option now on the left and as expected this completed the circuit around the rooms, but before turning the corner back to the rubble the passage did continue and next we headed in this direction southwards. After about 30 or 40 feet there was an option on the left or the passage narrowed and kinked around a knob of rock. We took the option on the left which ended in a small natural rock cave after about 40 feet. Amphius checked the cave and found nothing, so we returned to the passage and turned left past the knob of rock.

After we passed the rock it the passage circled round 180 degrees and passed a narrow passage on the right which also turned right 180 degrees. Amphius looked at the narrow turning passage which turned backwards and forwards very sharply with narrow separating walls. He passed another opening in the wall, which also turned sharply. He found an end that was at rock. It was difficult to keep track of the direction here, and deeming this a maze we left it for now and retraced our steps past the rooms and then to the right back to where we had spotted the burrows.

This time we continued past the burrows turning to the right and headed south. After 50 feet there was a no option right turn and then after ten feet there was an option on the right and shortly after it an option to the left which immediately turned to the right. This looked like another maze and had narrow walls, so we returned to the western side of the rooms where there were two options heading west, close to the door to the steps going down. We took the northern of the two options and after 60 feet there was a no option right turn and then a T-junction, but again this had the feel of a maze, so we returned, and explored the southern of the two options.

After about 30 feet the passage ended with a rock wall on the right and a five-foot opening on the left which emerged into a crossroads. There were options east, south and west and we entered from the northeast. The crossroads was about 20 feet square. We headed west which turned immediately to head southwest. After 60 feet there was a 90 degree no option turn to the left to head southeast and after another 80 feet, we reached a triangular junction with a door on the left and passages south and east.

Amphius looked at the door, which again was very well preserved with a bronze latch and opened towards him. The door creaked and felt he needed to pull it up towards him. There was darkness and silence beyond. The chamber was about 20 feet off to the left and right and 30 feet deep with a dark passageway directly ahead. Amphius wedged the door open. He edged into the room and worked his way along the right-hand wall, where there was an opening which turned left, to the east, and looked like it might be another maze. The passage on the far side headed north back to the crossroad.

As we walked north, Mago noticed something odd about the brickwork, about two thirds of the way along the wall on the right. Amphius found and opened a secret door into a room maybe 40 feet square with lots of junk on the floor. The room was plastered and painted white with ochre borders and brickwork showing through in places underneath the plaster and a high ceiling. There were the remains of storage cupboards and splintered furniture. There was a sturdy door in the North wall. There were the ragged remnants of dyed robes and ancient leather sandals. Baal-Shaq was amazed to find something like this complex under the sand as it must have been a huge amount of work.

Amphius opened the door, which creaked loudly. Beyond was another large room 50 feet wide and 30 feet deep with no obvious exit. This room had white painted plaster walls with ochre and black borders. There were the remains of several Egyptian style beds with neck-rests and piles of desiccated cloth and the remains of a chest which still had a good inlaid lid. There were broken ceramics in the remains of the chest and Agripinus pointed out a tablet with markings that Si'aspiqo thought were Assyrian or Babylonian cuneiform but which he couldn’t read, but thought was records or tallies.

Amphius spotted a secret door in the north wall. It was easier to spot as this was the inside. The door opened onto a passage heading east-west and we turned right to head east. There was an option on the right, or the passage continued. We turned right and then there was an option on the left or the passage continued. We turned left which came to an end at a junction with options to left and right which immediately turned back on themselves and looked like more mazes. We left these and returned to the previous junction and turned left to head south.

After about 30 feet there were stairs ahead going up and we passed a pair of alcoves as we ascended. The passage flattened again and after a further 30 feet we reached a crossroads but headed straight on. After about 30 feet Amphius spotted a pile of bones ahead, filling the corridor. Looking ahead Amphius thought there was another pair of alcoves and stairs going up.

The bones seemed to be the disarticulated skeletons of dozens of humans, some of which still had desiccated fragments of flesh and tendons. The bones looked to have been gnawed and we guessed these were relatively recent victims of the ghouls.

Si'aspiqo investigated and said he found no traces of magic or the arcane. He thought the corpses were human and of different ages, but none were ancient. There might be some iron, maybe a dagger somewhere amongst the bones he told us. Agripinus noticed that were no signs of people killed in battle.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• —

Places

• Red Dune

Party Loot

• —

From Sammus’s Boast:

147: E36 – The Red Dune – Amphius Finds a Trap

We pushed the bones aside and Amphius led us past them and up some stairs. Soon after, he called back that the way ahead was blocked by rubble and ancient pieces of burnt wood. Si'aspiqo thought these pieces were substantive roof supports and that the roof had come down and Mago added that burning the props would be a good way of bringing the roof down, so this may have been blocked deliberately.

We returned to the crossroads and marking it with a 1, we turned right and headed east for around 20 feet where there was another T-junction which we labelled 2. We turned right and then after 25 feet there was a no-option left turn. After 120 feet there was a door on the left or the passage continued. Amphius checked for traps and then opened the door, which revealed a passage continuing ahead to the north. He shut the door, and we continued east along the original passage. After 20 feet there was a dead end with a door on the left. Amphius checked the door and opened it to reveal a chamber. He reported something in there, but it was not moving – he looked very pale and did not enter the room.

Agripinus entered and reported that there seemed to be a demon or a gargoyle; it was made of stone or frozen. The room was 20 feet wide and 30 feet long with black painted walls. The priest walked in and said it felt like walking on someone’s grave. I went to follow but saw something sucked into a shapeless void and subsumed into the statue, and I recoiled in horror. Si'aspiqo cast protection from evil and stepped in. He thought the figure was either a demon frozen in shape or a strangely wrought and twisted anthropomorphic statue reminiscent of Baal. There was a slender new moon on one wall and a red lunar eclipse on another and the walls seemed freshly painted. I still felt the same horror and Si'aspiqo cast protection from evil on me and Agripinus removed fear from me and Amphius with a short ceremony. Baal-Shaq looked in and thought it was a demon from the hell desert, which had been worshipped here, but it was nothing to do with Baal.

Amphius spiked the door closed and we retraced our steps to the door, which Amphius opened. We followed the passage north. After around 20 feet there was a door on the left and beyond that the passage turned left.

Amphius opened the door, which creaked loudly. It opened into a room 20 feet square, with a polished stone floor room. There was a bed with a neck rest and a small table and chair. One of the walls had a rectangular grid of angled slats which made fist-sized pockets. Amphius fished out a square ceramic tablet from one. It had angled characters or scratches and Si'aspiqo confirmed that this was cuneiform again, but this had more writing and was higher quality. Amphius took 36 of them out of the grid. There was a small, wooden table which looked good quality and an elegant stool of carved hard black wood. We decided to leave these here for now. Amphius put the tablets back into the grid and then closed and spiked the door behind us.

He led us round the enforced left turn and headed west for 30 feet and then took an enforced right turn, then after 20 feet a no option left turn and then after another 20 feet there was a narrow exit to the north with a T-junction on the other side with options west and east. We labelled this with a 3 and turned right. After 70 feet there was a no option right turn. Amphius noticed that there was solid rock on the left here but felt the wall ahead was thinner. We took the right turn and after 20 feet there was another no-option right and we felt this was another maze and so we retraced our steps to the T-junction marked 3.

We continued past it to the west and after 20 feet it ended and turned to the right, back on itself. There was something marked on the wall here, and just after the turn there was a narrow opening in the northern wall. Amphius thought the marks were a stylized door or window. It was decorated and quite low and narrow. He noticed a small hole and thought it might be a recessed door. He took out the magical key and inserted it in the hole and as he did so, something flew out and hit him. He stepped beyond the door close to where there was a narrow opening. Agripinus revealed more of the light of Tanit and Amphius came back and tried inserting the key again. This time Agripinus saw something fly past Amphius and he found a small bronze dart in his cloak smeared with resin or something, which we suspected was a poison. Agripinus washed Amphius’s wound with holy water and removed a small bronze dart and cast cure wounds.

Amphius was starting to feel weakened, so we returned to the crossroads marked 1. We turned right here and headed north. It was about 30 feet to an alcove and then we descended 30 feet of stairs which descended about 10 feet, there was then another 30 or 40 feet to an option on the right, which we marked as 4, and then a further 40 feet to a T-junction, which we marked as 5. We turned left and after 50 feet came to an odd junction which we marked as 6.

Here there was an option to the left, a narrow passage going back to the east, parallel to the passage we had entered from, or a passage going off southwest. The passage to the left widened into a room to the south. We took the narrower passage to the east, which after 40 feet reached another complex junction. There was a no option left turn, a door on the left, or it continued into options to the north and south. I could see some natural light to the south, so we headed that way and after turning to the left we saw the opening into the shaft room. Amphius condition was deteriorating.

Mago climbed up the ladders first and took up the slack on the rope I had left in place. I climbed up next and took hold of the rope, making sure I had it tight enough to hold Amphius, if he fell. About halfway, he slipped, and I held on tight. He tried to continue but then slumped into semi-consciousness and I had to drag him up with the rope. I then lowered the rope for the others and everyone else climbed up safely. It was very hot at the top under the baking sun as it was now just after midday. Baal-Shaq carried Amphius down the dune on his back and, guided by Mago, we took the remaining boat down river back to Kuku. Here we were greeted by natives fishing or washing in the river. We carried Amphius back to the camp.

After an hour or so Deobey arrived and on seeing Amphius, told Baal-Shaq he would bring local physicians. Si'aspiqo looked at the dart that Agripinus had retrieved and examined the residue. He made a soothing draft for Amphius and then the local physicians arrived. They poked at the Greek with feathered sticks and then danced and chanted. Via Deobey and Baal-Shaq they reported that it did not look positive. Si'aspiqo showed them the dart and Deobey said that the physicians would stay there and continue their singing. They would know in the morning whether Amphius would live or die. The Kel-Ayr suggested drinking as much water as possible.

Around midnight Amphius started to feel a little better, and very thirsty. He drank a lot of water and in the morning had improved. There was much singing and dancing from the witch doctors, who claimed a successful cure.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• Deobey
• Witchdoctors

Places

• Kuku
• Isa, River of Rivers
• Red Dune

Party Loot

• Dart, small, bronze

From Sammus’s Boast:

149: E37 — The Red Dune — The Pool Room

Amphius needed to rest for another day, so Agripinus and I took the opportunity to try learning to swim in the river. This drew a happy, cheering crowd, who followed us back to our kraal. They seemed very happy about something, but we had no idea what that might be and no-one explained.

The following day we were ferried back to the Red Dune with more supplies and a boat was left for us to use for our return. We climbed up to the top of the dune and then took it in turn to descend the shaft. Si'aspiqo broke a rung which fell to the pile of sand at the bottom, but he kept his footing, and we all reached the bottom safely.

We marked the complex junction to the west of the shaft room as 7 and then followed the southern of the two parallel passages heading west. At crossroads 6 we headed east to junction 5 and continued past it to the east. After 20 feet there was an option on the right, which we ignored and then after 50 more feet there was an enforced right turn. We headed south for 80 feet, where there was a no option right turn and then 50 feet to a no option left turn, immediately followed by another turn to the left. However, before we could carry on, Mago noticed something unusual about the brickwork on the left wall before the first of those turns. Amphius couldn’t see anything hidden there, but Mago spotted a tiny hole. He poked a cloak-pin in the hole and after a 'click' a large piece of wall slowly opened like a jagged door. There was a faint phosphorescent glow, and Amphius found himself in the northwestern corner of a very large room, at least 50 feet by 50 feet but maybe larger.

Amphius entered, checking the floor as he went. There was a stone floor, and four massive stone columns running north to south. There was a stone basin in the floor off to the southeast. It was round and set into the floor. He wondered if this might be a temple — the columns were as stout as those in a Greek temple, although they were not fluted. The basin was five feet across and a few feet deep and seemed to have liquid in it. There were columns to the east and then another pool to the south and another to the east, reminiscent of Kaskator. The rest of us followed Amphius into the room. He said the room was 80 feet long off to the south and further to the east. Toxoanassa knocked an arrow and Agripinus uncovered the orb of Tanit and shone it into the room.

We saw that there were more columns off to the southeast 80 feet away, and the furthest two had more columns heading off to the east, 100 feet or more and there were many pools like Kaskator. Mago and Si'aspiqo went back out and Amphius closed the door and looked at the mechanism and reopened it and Mago and Si'aspiqo came back in. Mago looked at the mechanism too and they both knew how to open it. Amphius wedged it open.

We headed along the east wall, 50 feet to a corner and turned right and south, after 30 feet we turned turn left and came to a second pool, it was symmetrical in relation to the first pool and the two columns in a diamond shape. There were eight columns in a pattern and at least 4 more pools heading east along the wall. After 25 feet the wall turned right and south and then after 10 feet it turned east again, and there were two more columns and two more pools. As he passed the first pool, Amphius reacted as a strange oozing limb or tentacle groped at him from the pool. It was yellow and translucent. He avoided it, but then a blob rolled out of the basin towards him. He crossed in front of Agripinus and behind a column, and I dropped my map and drew my sword. Agripinus summoned his arcane weapon and struck at the blob. It seemed to slash through it with ease, but then it just reformed together again. It waved a tentacle at Amphius, narrowly missing and we started to retreat. Fortunately, it was slow moving. We backed away and Si'aspiqo threw a burning torch. It recoiled from the flame and retreated and then oozed around it and resumed following us. Si'aspiqo put my map in his pouch and got out an alchemical torch of his own devising. Agripinus missed with his arcane weapon. Si'aspiqo lit his torch and tossed it at the blob. It landed in front of it and burned brightly. The blob recoiled and held back as we retreated westwards. Agripinus hit the blob once more but again it split and reformed either side of his arcane weapon.

Si'aspiqo prepared two more alchemical torches, and gave them to Amphius, who threw the first. It landed on the blob as it slowly oozed towards us. Si'aspiqo ignited it with a cantrip, and it burned slowly at first and then flared strongly. The blob oozed in different directions and parts of it smoked. Amphius went to throw the second torch but dropped it at his feet. He picked it up and threw it again, and it landed close to the blob. Again, the magician ignited it, and the blob seemed to burst into flame and there was a lot of reeking smoke, and we left the room.

Most of us had streaming eyes and started coughing; Si'aspiqo was the worst affected. There were just a few whisps of smoke in the corridor and as soon as Amphius removed his wedge, the door closed behind us. We soon recovered and even Si'aspiqo stopped coughing.

We decided to leave this room for a while before returning. We headed on to the west and turned left and left again, then after 30 feet there was a no option right turn which came to a dead end after 50 feet, but with a small aperture in the southwest corner after which a tunnel ran south to junction 2. We turned right and then straight across at the crossroads, marked 1, heading west. After 30 feet there was an option on the left or the passage continued. After a further 20 feet we were forced to turn left and then after 30 feet we had to turn right. We continued north for 70 feet to a junction which we marked as 8 and turned right. After 60 feet there was an option in the right-hand wall, which we marked as 9, but carried on to the east.

Ten feet further on we turned left and left again. After 50 feet there was a no option right, which then opened out and then led into a room with a door and number 8. We walked north and as we passed the secret door in the east wall, Mago noticed something about the wall on the west side opposite it. Amphius looked, but couldn’t spot the trigger, but Mago spotted a small hole. He inserted a tool, and a door opened into a chamber with at least one stone column. There was a natural rock ceiling. Amphius spotted some small ceramic jars and a very large stack of candles.

This chamber looked like it had a natural finish and seemed to have been hollowed out leaving the supporting columns behind. Maybe there had been mining for minerals here and then the other passages had been built around it. There were alcoves in the pillars with burnt out candles.

Si'aspiqo investigated ceramic jars. He saw some cuneiform markings but didn’t know what they denoted. All seemed mundane. He selected one without a lid, which looked empty, then he pried the lid off another. This had traces of oil and then others had traces of cereal and honey. It looked like all had been left behind when the supplies had been finished, hundreds of years ago. The only usable items were the candles which seemed to have been made of tallow or similar.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• —

Places

• Kuku
• Isa, River of Rivers
• Red Dune

Party Loot

• —

From Sammus’s Boast:

151: E38 — The Red Dune — Skeletons in Closets

Looking at my papyrus sheets, I realised I had two junctions marked 8, and some confusion about what was what. So we left the room with the candles and stone pillars and headed south from the rock chamber with all the candles to the junction beyond the door and changed the charcoal mark from 8 to 10. We then turned left eastwards, after 50 feet we saw a passage on the right which was marked 9 or the passage continued and turned to the left and then returned after some turns back to just south of the secret doors. I made some corrections to my map and then we headed south from junction 10. After 70 feet there was a passage on the left, 11, or the passage continued. Immediately beyond that was another left turn 12, then a dead end and an enforced left turn. After 40 feet we came to another enforced left turn back to the north, 40 feet more to an enforced right turn and then 20 feet further there was an option on the right, 13. We continued 30 feet to a crossroads, the junction marked as 1.

We retraced our steps to 13 and took the option now on our left. We headed south for 30 feet to a no-option right turn, then 50 feet to another no option right turn, and then 55 feet to an enforced left. There was a strange junction here, which we marked as 14. We could go left again parallel to the way we had come, from the south, or just a few feet further on the passage turned to the right northwards. We turned right to the north and after 30 feet we came to a dead end. Amphius was suspicious of the wall to the right, as it seemed very thin, but I suspected this was just another brick wall in this strange maze. Mago was also suspicious but could find no mechanism or secret there, so I marked it for further investigation, and we passed on.

We returned to the junction marked 11, and this time turned to the right, eastwards. There was an immediate no option left turn and after 50 feet there was a no option right turn. After another 50 feet there was another no option right turn and the passage narrowed. After 10 feet there was an option on the right with an alcove or the passage continued. We marked this as 15, and we turned right. The alcove had a door, or the passage continued onwards. Amphius thought the door was false and spotted a pressure pad in front of it, which we marked in chalk. The passage then widened and turned to the right and ended in a blank wall. Amphius thought he could see a secret door on the right and Mago agreed but neither could find the mechanism despite much searching and prying at cracks. Si'aspiqo muttered a rhyme and gathered smoke from the torches, and it then writhed like a smoky snake towards the secret door. Some seemed to disappear into the cracks, confirming our suspicion.

Agripinus wondered if the door was opened by the pressure pad nearby, so he returned to there and stood on it. There was a click and the door in front of Amphius opened inwards swiftly and silently. Out of the hidden closet came a skeleton with a long bronze slashing sword, which struck at Amphius. As Agripinus emerged from the alcove a similar skeleton attacked him from the darkness east of the party. Agripinus tried to use his priestly powers to ward it with no effect, but the skeleton hit him before he could utter his prayer.

Amphius ducked under the long sword and closed with the first skeleton, while Mago called for luck from Baal and drew his dagger. Meanwhile Si'aspiqo cast protection from evil on himself and I put away my scribbles and drew my sword. Agripinus revealed more of the light of Tanit but again failed to utter a prayer to Tanit and the undead guardian hit him again. The first skeleton thrust Amphius back, so the Greek tried to grab its sword arm, but didn’t get a good hold. Mago took courage and closed and stabbed it with his dagger.

At last, Agripinus shone the light of Tanit at the skeleton and uttered his prayer clearly. Baal-Shaq also called on Baal and hit that skeleton in the right arm. Si'aspiqo cast a protection from evil on Mago, while Amphius tried to push past the skeleton but was blocked. Mago missed with his next dagger thrust and the skeleton threw back Amphius. It hestitated, perhaps deterred from being close to Mago because of his protection and stepped back into its alcove.

Mago pressed on into the hidden closet, no bigger than a cupboard, and stabbed the skeleton. Amphius drew a sword, and the skeleton forced Mago out of the cupboard with the pommel of its sword. Its shield was hanging limply now after a blow to the left arm. Acting swiftly, Amphius forced the door closed on the skeleton, and it latched shut once more. Si'aspiqo cast protection against evil on me and we swapped places in the passageway. The second skeleton retreated from the light of Tanit and went through a narrow aperture in the wall. It backed away at a steady pace into the maze of dark passages with Agripinus in pursuit followed by Baal and finally Toxoanassa.

Agripinus flourished his cold steel and hit the skeleton on the head, and it looked quite damaged, but rallied. When he missed his next blow, the guardian struck him again. It continued to retreat, quailing from the holy light and Agripinus kept following. Agripinus hacked through the left arm and the shield fell to the floor. The passage widened here, and Baal-Shaq joined him in fighting the skeleton. It hit Baal-Shaq and then backed into a narrower corridor where Agripinus followed and hit it again and it went down on one knee, but then got up to stand unsteadily on one foot. Agripinus then caved in its skull and the rest of the skeleton crumbled, having taken several blows which would have killed a guard made of flesh and blood. After a brief search of its remains, the priest took the well-made long bronze slashing sword, and they retraced their steps to rejoin the rest of the party, picking up an old shield on their way.

Si'aspiqo recast protection against evil on me and Agripinus re-triggered the pressure pad and this time I was ready when the closet opened. I struck off it’s right arm with my first blow and its left arm was already limp. I then cut through its right leg and quickly crushed its skull. The skeleton crumbled to dust, no match for Spanish steel and Gallic muscle. We took its sword and shield and noticed the two swords were similar in pattern to those we had found in the ancient basement in Sardinia.

After a few moments rest we headed south from junction 15, to where we were forced to turn right to the west, but in the south-east corner was a narrow aperture to another passage. We turned west and then went 30 feet to a T-junction, which we labelled 16 then turned right where the passage ended in a dead end after 20 feet. We retraced our steps to 16 and headed south. There was an opening on the left, which was labelled 17 but we headed south. After 30 feet there was an enforced right turn which led to junction 12. We returned to 17 and headed east and after 30 feet we came to a dead end.

We returned to the small opening in the wall south of 15. This headed east with natural rock on the right-hand wall and then after 20 feet turned left to the north. This then led to junction 9. We turned left and headed to junction 10 and then went north to junction 6. We turned east past junction 6 and then on another 20 feet to a narrow opening in the right-hand wall, which we labelled 18. Through this there was a T-junction, and we turned right and headed west. It immediately turned left and then after a further 30 feet turned left again to head east. After a further 40 feet there was an enforced right turn with a turn immediately on the right and then another enforced right turn immediately after. We labelled this 19. We took the second of the passages heading west. After 40 feet there was an enforced left turn, after 10 feet option on left or continue south, after 40 feet, there was a no option left turn and then with a stone wall ahead, after 20 feet no option right south, 20 feet passage ends with a small passage on the right which led to a 10 by 15 feet chamber with rock walls.

By now my head was spinning from all the twists and turns in this accursed maze, so we returned to the tomb-robbers entrance where there was a fine shaft of sunlight by which we could compare notes and improve my map.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• —

Places

• Red Dune

Party Loot

• 2x Well-made, long, bronze, slashing sword (similar to some found in Sardinia)
• Old shield

From Sammus’s Boast:

153: E39 – The Red Dune – A Ghostly Guardian

Amphius, led Toxoanassa, me, Si'aspiqo, Agripinus, Mago and Baal-Shaq out of the shaft room 30 minutes later, shortly before midday. We headed west and north to the junction marked 21 and then along to the enforced right turn where we had seen signs of burrows. We passed this cautiously with Baal-Shaq and Agripinus waiting at the burrows while we passed by, but nothing disturbed us.

We headed south for 50 feet to an enforced right turn and then came to an option on the right, which we labelled 22 and then after 15 feet an opening on the left which we labelled 23, or the passage continued. We went through the aperture and immediately had to turn right to continue west. The left-hand wall seemed to be stone but the rest of the walls here were brick. After 45 feet there was an enforced right turn and then after 50 feet another no option right turn then after 60 feet an enforced right turn and we seemed to be heading south. After about 30 feet we reached a T-junction already labelled 22. We turned right and ignore the opening and continued 40 feet to the west and then reached an enforced right turn, we followed a series of enforced right tuns each getting closer until we came to a dead end in a small chamber within which Amphius found what looked like a broken stone coffin.

Amphius approached holding his silver javelin. As he did so he called out that he could see something white like a cloth inside, but then he suddenly turned and fled gibbering down the corridor past Toxoanassa and I. Hurriedly I put away my map and notes and pulled out my sword. Amphius ran into Si'aspiqo and grabbed hold of him, still gibbering incoherently. A Ghostly form, looking like a tattered white cloth drifted around the corner and Toxoanassa loosed an arrow which went straight through it and struck the wall behind. After a moment she too took fright and ran past me gibbering. The white cloth hung limply in front of me, and I stepped forward and struck at it with my sword. I hacked through it, but it was like swishing through nothing. I discerned a face within the apparition but then I too was overcome by fear and ran back down the passage towards my companions.

Si'aspiqo cast protection from evil, but I buffeted him into the wall as I hurried past him. Agripinus stopped me and invoked his miracle to remove fear, and suddenly I recovered my wits. Toxoanassa passed Agripinus and Mago and ran into Baal-Shaq who body-checked her into the wall. Agripinus held up the full bright light of Tanit and he pushed past Amphius, and I followed. His example inspired courage. Behind us, Baal-Shaq tripped Toxoanassa and held her still and then managed to bring her to her senses.

When we reached Si'aspiqo, he was alone, and reported the following:

The various retreats in the face of overwhelming odds passed me by and subsequent scuffling occurred behind me, so I ignored it all and cast the ward as the floating presence approached.

Fear did not touch me, but the guardian spirit broke my concentration on further workings as their voice thundered in my head. After a moment I recognised formal, old, priest-language of the northern Nile, giving us fair warning:

“Hear the words of Mar-tak:
“Anubis punishes tomb robbers!
“Your heart will be consumed!
“Begone!
“Leave here and do not return or your puny life and soul will be forfeit.
“You understand the words, I know. You are a worm, adept.”

This was quite enough from an insubstantial fright mask in luminous rags, so I set the filmy phosphorescent figment right:
“We HUNT those who disturb tombs.
We return the dead to their resting place.
We have carried the Archon Saar to his eternal rest.”

I was quite indignant, and my formal grammar might have been a bit loose, but my Truth was plain to one whose vision was unclouded by the living world.
“Guardians? Hunters of tomb-robbers? Aha! Hear me then. Eliminate the ghouls and seal the entrance. Forthwith, by my command!”

“I hear you. We shall hunt them. Now release us.”
(It is best to keep things simple with these apparitions.)

The presence withdrew from my mind and in the world its light disappeared from the corridor. I found instead Agripinus standing by me, glowing orb in hand and Tanit’s name on his lips.

We retraced our steps out of the maze and went towards the burrow. Amphius saw a flicker of movement, but when he reached it there was nothing there. Si'aspiqo used a fetish from a ghoul bone and, after some muttering, said he thought there were two down there. We continued to junction 21 and then turned left and went on past an option on the right towards the shaft room and then on past an option on the left which I knew led to a rocky chamber. Immediately after this was an enforced left turn, with the wall of natural rock on the left but maze brickwork on the right. After 20 feet there was a narrow opening on the right, which we labelled 24, but we continue for another 20 feet to a dead end. It seems like solid rock, but Amphius was uncertain of the brick wall to the south. Mago also checked it but could find nothing, although he too was suspicious of some cracks.

We returned to 24 and went through the opening. The passage turned to the right and then after 20 feet there was an enforced left turn and then another, so we were heading east now. After 30 feet there was a narrow opening on the right, which was labelled 25 or the passage continued. Through the opening Amphius could see a passage east and west, but we continued straight on to another dead end, with nothing suspicious about it.

We returned to the opening. Amphius found a familiar recessed door and a passage off to the west. This time Amphius did not set off the trap and darts. We headed 30 feet to the west and after two no option left turns, we reached the junction already marked 3. We continued past 3 and after 60 feet there were two no option right turns and then after a further right turn, we found ourselves in another small rocky chamber. The turns leading into this reminded Amphius of the earlier turns into a small chamber and he was relieved to find this empty with no signs of a spectral guardian.

We continued towards the crossroads marked 1, but on the way, we checked the door into the gargoyle room was still spiked, which it was. We carried straight on at the crossroads and turned left at junction 13 and followed the passage round to 14. We ignored the option on the left here but went straight on, round an enforced right turn to a dead end, which Amphius wanted to investigate further. After checking carefully he found a hole, inserted a tool and a secret door opened in the eastern wall into a room 20 feet by 30 feet with the wall to the north at an oblique angle.

Inside were the remains of another Egyptian style bed with the desiccated remains of its covers. There were shelves with jars and a small table with an oil dish lantern and the means to light it. There was a wooden rack on one wall filled with shelves with numerous small jars. The door closed behind us and there was scribbling on the back. They were hieroglyphs which Si'aspiqo could not understand but he did make a copy. The small jars were competently sealed and there were five larger jars. Baal-Shaq pointed out that this was the most secure location we had found in the complex, with only one entrance — a secret door.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• Mar-Tak, undead priest-guardian of the Red Dune.

Places

• Red Dune

Party Loot

• Hieroglyph inscription from the jar store door (copy)

From Sammus’s Boast:

155: E39 – The Red Dune – Back to Kuku

Amphius led the way out of the room through the secret door, which closed behind us and Agripinus, me, Si'aspiqo, Mago, Toxoanassa and Baal-Shaq followed him south, round to junction 14 and there was soon an option on the right or the passage continued. We turned right and then after 20 feet there was an enforced right turn and then 60 feet to an enforced left turn, and then 30 feet to a no-option right turn and we started heading north. After 80 feet there was an enforced right turn and then after 20 feet, we reached a small chamber 20 feet by 15 feet with a passage on the left heading north and another going straight on to the east. There was nothing else here and nothing unusual about the walls. We marked 26 on the wall.

We headed north and after 20 feet there was an enforced right turn and after 30 or 40 feet an option on the right, which immediately turned to the left, parallel to the current passage. We marked this 27. Back down the passage behind us, Mago noticed something on the wall on the left soon after leaving the previous chamber before the enforced turn to the right.

He found a small hole which he poked with a tool. His tool got stuck but he wiggled it and there was a click and part of the wall opened into a room 20 feet by 20 feet with no other exits. Like the earlier secret chamber that we had found, there was the remains of desiccated linen and an Egyptian style bed. There were large storage jars on one wall and a rack with shelves and small jars on another.

We left the chamber and returned to junction 27. The option on the right turned immediately left and this led to the complex junction already labelled 7. We retuned to junction 27 and turned right, eastwards and after 60 feet Amphius reached the end of the passage where there was a door ahead. The door looked similar to the recessed door with a trap. Behind us, Mago noticed something about the floor 30 or 40 feet back. We tried to retrace our steps and avoid stepping on the area Mago had pointed out. Si'aspiqo tripped and sprawled, dropping a torch and I stumbled over him, but we regained our feet and managed to get past without triggering anything.

Amphius looked carefully at the trap. He could see a crack in the floor and Mago joined him to investigate further. There were three cracks here altogether one 10 feet on from the first and another 10 feet further. They thought that when something happened this would create a 20 feet long slide into something below. They speculated that maybe instead of triggering darts, the door would trigger the slide. Mago thought there was a 10 feet safe area in front of the door.

We return to the small chamber marked 26 and turn left which led to the east. After 40 feet the passage came to a dead end. The passage was a little narrower, but the end wall felt solid. Amphius noticed nothing unusual in the area and Mago agreed.

We returned via junctions 27 and 7 to the shaft room, where the sun was shining brightly with a reddish tinge. We all climbed safely up the ladders and emerged into the sun which was well towards the horizon. We returned safely to Kuku. Once we were back at the kraal Si'aspiqo summarized that we had agreed to deal with the ghouls but not to close the complex, although he had not wanted to say while we were under the Red Dune in case the guardian could hear.

It was not long before we had a visit from Deobey, wanting to know what progress we had made. Baal-Shaq reported on our explorations, explaining that we had dealt with some skeletons and mapped out the layout. He added that more explorations would be needed, but tomorrow we would need to make further preparations before returning to the Red Dune. Deobey pressed him on whether any treasures had been found, and Baal-Shaq told him we had found nothing valuable.

The party discussed how we might trap and deal with the ghouls, who seemed reluctant to attack us when we were all together and prepared. We explored the idea of someone trailing past the burrows in the maze on their own to lead them to the rest of the party but decided that as the ghouls knew the maze much better than we did, that we would probably be better on the surface. Maybe we could try to entice them by having one or two people wandering off from the rest. One suggestion was to camp above the shaft room and have some of the party in the shaft room and some on the surface, although this would mean that it would be very difficult for one group to come to the aid of the other. Another suggestion was to camp close to the site we had used previously and have one or two foolish wanderers leave the camp. Baal-Shaq pointed out that the early part of the night would be dark and just lit by the stars with the moon rising closer to midnight.

Si'aspiqo made six incendiary torches with the assistance of Mago, and we requested from Deobey that other ordinary torches be supplied.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• Deobey

Places

• Kuku
• Isa, River of Rivers
• Red Dune

Party Loot

• —

From Sammus’s Boast:

157: E40 – The Red Dune – The Pool Room

We left Kuku early the next morning under clear blue skies promising another hot day. We were ferried to the landing near the Red Dune and again left with a boat to enable us to return when we wanted. We climbed up to the top of the dune and then began descending the shaft via the ladders. Si'aspiqo fell and I failed to get a proper grip of the rope, but did slow his descent somewhat. My hands were a bit burnt and the magician was bruised by his fall. I then slipped when it was my turn, but Baal-Shaq grasped the rope, and I descended safely.

We rested for 10 minutes before Mago led us out of the room and followed the passages round to a hole I had labelled 18. Mago went through to a passage, and we turned left, eastwards, which we had not explored yet. After 40 feet there was an enforced right turn followed by an option on the right which I labelled 28, but we continued straight on southwards for 40 feet to an enforced right turn. Just around the corner, a very large centipede reared up like a cobra but missed as Mago backed off and threw a knife. The knife struck the millipede, which dropped down dead. It was as big as Mago’s forearm, and I saw Si'aspiqo thrust the body in his sack for further investigation. After 50 feet we reached a junction, already labelled 20.

We return to 28, which was now an option on the left or passage continued. We turned left and after 20 feet Mago noticed something in the shadows above him. He held up his torch and could make out a thin groove running across the ceiling of the passage. Further forward was an alcove. I boosted Mago up to the groove and he could feel metal and some spikes and thought it was an iron grille or portcullis, so we left this and went around the passages past the hole out to 18 to get to where the end of that passage with the trap would line up but found nothing unusual there.

We went out through the hole at 18 and turned left to junction 5 where we turned left again. We headed south to junction 4, where we turned left again. After 30 feet this came out at junction 19.

We retraced our steps to junction 5 and turned left to head to junction 6. Here we headed south to where the passage widened into a chamber after 40 feet with a secret door on either side. We took the passage to the east in the southeast corner and followed this around to the right where it turned back on itself and then came to junction 9 and then on to junction 10.

From here we headed south following the passage past a couple of junctions and round a few turns to junction 13. We turned right here, to the south and then followed the passage to junction 14, where we turned left to the south. We passed an option on the right which we had explored but had not labelled. We labelled it 29 but continued south. After 50 feet there was a no option left turn and then after 60 feet the passage ended in a door ahead. Mago checked for grooves and pressure pads but found nothing. He checked the door and was suspicious of a brick in front of it and then of the door itself. Tapping around the door it sounded like solid rock and seemed to have been chiseled to give the impression of bricks.

We left it and returned to 14 and turned right and then were forced to turn left. Just before the next enforced left turn which would lead north to junction 13, Mago noticed something in the left hand wall. He thought there might be a door just prior to the turn. He investigated further and Amphius came up to help him. The Greek slipped a dagger into cracks in the wall and found a jagged set of bricks outlining a door. There was no obvious way of triggering it and both Amphius and Mago were mystified. They went up and down the corridor looking for possible triggers but still found nothing. Si'aspiqo joined looked at the door and casting a cantrip could feel there was something magic here. He could feel no iron there, neither could he determine how the door opened. We marked it for subsequent further investigation.

We continued up to 13 turn and turned right and then went straight across at the crossroads. At junction 2 we turned left and after 20 feet as the passage ended, we went through a narrow opening in the right-hand wall and turned left onto a passage heading north. We followed the passage round three turns to reach the secret door into the room with the pools. It took a while but eventually Amphius managed to find and open the door, and we labelled the wall opposite 30.

We entered the very large room and wedged the door open behind us. Off to the east and south of the first corner, we could see the burnt remains of the blob that had attacked Amphius last time. Amphius watched out into the darkness of the corridor and Agripinus shone the light of Tanit brightly through the whole room. The bright light enabled us all to make out three rows of stone pillars, each running north south parallel to each other, with four in the westernmost aisle and two each in the other two aisles. The aisle of two were matched with the southernmost columns of the aisle of four.

Around the columns were 13 stone pools. Two in the first row, west to east, making a diamond pattern with the two northernmost pillars in the aisle of four. Then three in the next row and then four in the last two rows, so that each pool was equidistant between the pillars around it. Going west to east for each row and then each row in turn as we headed south Si'aspiqo explored the pools labelling them A to M as he went:

As he looked at each pool with liquid or something in it Si'aspiqo felt a tingle of magic. It seemed similar in set up to the pools in Kaskator.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

Places

• Kuku
• Isa, River of Rivers
• Red Dune

Party Loot

• Centi/Milli -pede parts

From Sammus’s Boast:

159: E41 – The Red Dune – Ghouls

It was now an hour or so after midday and we headed out of the pool room and returned to the shaft room. Si'aspiqo inspected the paintings on the wall in the adjacent chamber in the light cast by Agripinus’s orb. The scenes did not look Egyptian or Kushite to him. They were Underworld scenes reminiscent of Persian, Syrian work or maybe older work from earlier peoples in this area.

As the sun started to sink towards the horizon we climbed out and walked down the slope. We set up camp off the dune, in sight of the burrows. Baal-Shaq suggested two of us go out from the camp, once the moon had risen, and pretend to investigate something in the sand — he and I volunteered. Agripinus blessed the area around the camp and Si'aspiqo set out markers outside of that but cast no magic yet.

Once the moon had risen, Baal-Shaq and I took a spade and walked about 50 yards from the camp. Baal-Shaq had lit a lantern and turned it down low, and he now placed it on the ground, and we started to dig, whilst keeping watch around us. Si'aspiqo lay down to watch in dreamland and had uneasy dreams — something was out there he felt although nothing manifested. Toxoanassa had the feeling she was being watched and thought she had seen motion at the top of the dune, but no-one else saw anything.

Soon Amphius saw motion off to where the sun had set, away from the dune. Maybe a shadow or two moved out there. Baal-Shaq nudged me, whispering: “something is out there”. Amphius loosed an arrow at long range and Mago joined in after calling on Baal for luck. Amphius hit something crawling close to the ground and shouted: “from the West!”. Toxoanassa struck the same shadow. Si'aspiqo was startled awake by the shout and Agripinus jumped to his feet and started chanting.

Baal-Shaq and I drew our swords; he placed his lantern on the ground and headed to the West and I followed. Amphius struck home again. and the shadow went to ground. Toxoanassa, Amphius and Mago all hit the other shadow, and it went to ground too. Baal-Shaq and I dispatched them both as they writhed on the ground.

Si'aspiqo used his fetish to feel for ghouls and felt nothing more than a residue from where Baal-Shaq and I were searching the remains. Baal-Shaq removed the two heads; each was slightly distorted from the original human form, with long sharp teeth. We found a bracelet gold and a leather thong holding a semi-precious stone. We returned to camp.

The rest of the night was uneventful. By daylight we could see the semi-precious stone was pink and mottled, maybe granite or a mineral, and shaped into a cube and the bracelet was of hammered gold and a fair weight. We took the boat back to Kuku, after ditching the heads in the river and arrived in the early morning. Deobey soon joined us, eager for a progress report.

Baal-Shaq told him that we thought we had destroyed the ghouls, but we needed to verify this and investigate the attractive force in the dune. We wondered if the ghouls were what remained of the party that had sunk the shaft into the dune and first explored it. Baal-Shaq asked what information Deobey had about that party and they discussed this for a while. Baal-Shaq showed him the pendant and the bracelet, Baal-Shaq then told us that Deobey had explained that foreigners had visited the mound and were similar in number to our own party. He had not recognised what we had found but could not say that this had not been theirs. Deobey was pleased and would report to the King that we had dealt with the wandering dead and would investigate further. He seemed interested in the gold. We requested more torches and a net from Deobey. Baal-Shaq thought the bracelet might have been Numidian.

We tried to rest during the day, but the town was very noisy and many of us found it difficult to sleep. We discussed whether to investigate the pools further or the grate and the steps down. When we decided on starting with the grate, Baal-Shaq managed to get two chunky lumps of wood to use to prop up the grate if we managed to raise it. They looked like two pieces of a large beam and were each rigged up as a backpack. The following morning, we set off with these, the net and extra torches, back to the Red Dune.

Once we had ascended the dune we lowered the packs containing the wood, extra torches and net down the shaft and descended the makeshift ladder. Mago and Amphius then led the way to look at the grate. Amphius opened the door near junction 7 and then he and Mago investigated the grate. It was flush to the ground at the bottom, making it difficult to grasp, but Baal-Shaq, Toxoanassa and I took hold of the grate and tried to raise it. We strained for a while but could not shift it. We took a rest and then made another attempt and only shifted it very slightly before we tired. We took a longer rest and Mago and Amphius took another look at the grate and beyond.

Amphius thought he could see something, maybe a pile of rubbish, or maybe a body about 25 feet beyond the grate, on the steps down. Once we had rested, Toxoanassa, Baal-Shaq and I tried once more and this time, we moved the grate an inch or two and Mago quickly hammered in a wedge. Now Mago could get ropes under it and rig harnesses, and we could get a better grip. We managed to get it up a little further and Mago got a full block underneath. After another 15 minutes’ rest we managed to haul it up far enough and Mago managed to slide both blocks under. There was now enough room for all of us to crawl under.

While the three of us recuperated from our exertions, Amphius, Mago and Si'aspiqo crawled through and Agripinus watched. There was a six-foot square landing immediately beyond the grate and then at least 30 feet of stone steps leading down. There was a desiccated body on the stairs. It didn’t look very old and was dressed in contemporary Egyptian clothing. Beyond the body was graffiti on the wall in Egyptian script: “Osiris save me! Your servant Menes begs for mercy”. There was a cloth cap, and a golden headband, with the head of a cobra, poking through. The body had Greek-style leather armguards and a broken shortsword. There might have been fragments of that under the grate. There was a sturdy leather pouch with an ingeniously made set of iron tools for opening locks, the stubs of three torches, an empty, dry and cracked water bottle, and a purse with 30 gold pieces and 50 silver coins — a mixture of Carthaginian and Ptolemaic. The latter had been recently minted in Alexandra. The feet were shod in high, sturdy leather sandals. Si'aspiqo told us that the cobra headband was socially significant, and he had seen pictures of these in the temple of Karnak. Either the body was that of a priest or maybe he had looted it from one.

Beyond the body the steps led to a dead end. Amphius found a step that moved slightly and seemed to be the trigger for the grate. It didn’t seem to be resettable. There were no signs of secret doors. After some study, Si'aspiqo thought the headband had some magical power or virtue within it, although he would need more time to decipher its secrets.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• Menes, servant of Ausir (Osiris), (their mortal remains)

Places

• Red Dune

Party Loot

• bracelet, gold, weighty, maybe Numidian work
• Cube, pink, mottled semi-precious stone on a leather thong
• Headband, serpent-headed, gold, magical virtue
• Lockpicks, iron, ‘ingenious’, in leather pouch
• 30 gold pieces and 50 silver
• Greek-style arm guards
• sandals, sturdy, high

From Sammus’s Boast:

160: E42 – The Red Dune – A Funeral

I crammed the dried-out corpse of the thief in an extra pack and carried that on my back. We crawled back under the grate and returned to the shaft room where I left the pack and body. Amphius led us past junction 21 to a right turn and nearby burrows. Si'aspiqo took out his ghoul finger and concentrated. He felt no ghouls in range and even when he concentrated for longer and pushed out as far as his fetish could reach; he felt nothing in range, just a lingering odour. We headed back past the shaft room and on past junction 5 to the crossroads. We went straight on to the pile of bones and again Si'aspiqo took out the ghoul finger to search for traces of ghouls and felt nothing.

We returned to the crossroads and turned to the west to investigate the possible magic door to the south of junction 13. First, we stepped out the distance from the enforced left turn after junction 13 down to where it turned to the right and compared it to the distance from junction 13 south to the right turn. There was a difference of 10 feet, so there would be enough room for them to a small space or even a passage and steps down behind it.

Amphius could see the irregular outline of a hidden door, but nothing to trigger it. Mago found a loose tile, and pulled it out, but it wasn’t any mechanism, and the ground was solid beneath, so he replaced the tile. Si'aspiqo tried a cantrip to focus his luck. Agripinus gave a blessing and sang a hymn, both of which sought to help Si'aspiqo in his endeavors. The magician then cast a cantrip to establish the most fortunate way to proceed. He undertook a physical examination of the area but found nothing. Agripinus felt a certain disconnection as he sang as though something was opposing him. He didn’t feel as holy as he expected. Si'aspiqo thought it was best to give up for now and try again later.

We headed west from junction 13 and followed the passage, round corners up past junction 10 and through the door here and Mago and Amphius looked for the secret door on the left. Mago opened it and Si'aspiqo looked for suitable jars. He found 8 small ceramic jars with dried wooden lids, which still fitted. There were many more. He also collected some candles in a bag. He left and closed the door behind him.

Amphius then opened the secret door in the opposite room and looked through the two rooms there. There were a couple of black clay tablets in the northern of the two rooms with cuneiform markings on. Amphius thought the rooms had been looted, but Agripinus thought they had just been abandoned. The remains of robes in one of the rooms looked like they might have been ceremonial. We left the northern chamber via the secret door and turned left and headed to the shaft room. The pack with the body was still there. Toxoanassa and I rested in the shaft room while Amphius, Si'aspiqo, Mago and Agripinus climbed the ladder and the pack with the body was hoisted up on the rope.

They descended the slope of the dune under the heat of the noon sun and looked for some brushwood. They made a fire and Si'aspiqo tried to enhance it. It took him two attempts but then it flared up. The magician then said a few words he knew from the book of the dead and they burnt the body and then climbed back up the dune hill. Then climbed back down the ladder to join us.

While they were outside, I saw a large scorpion scuttle in from the corridor and stamped on it. Baal-Shaq said it was a poisonous desert scorpion.

When we were all back together, we discussed our options and decided to stay overnight in the shaft room, so that Si'aspiqo could tell if anything visited him in his dreams, and we could all see if anything disturbed us. A small party fetched the remaining torches from the boat and noticed there was more traffic on the river than we had seen previously. We also collected another bag of candles from the chamber with the rock pillars as dusk approached.

Si'aspiqo set up a ward against evil around the base of the shaft, and we set up half a dozen candles. We set up three watches for the night: Mago and I on first watch, Amphius and Baal-Shaq on second and Toxoanassa and Agripinus on third. Meanwhile Si'aspiqo went to sleep and tried to enter the land of dreams, where the dead walk and Powers speak to the Wise.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• Menes, servant of Ausir (Osiris), (their mortal remains)

Places

• Red Dune

Party Loot

• —

From Si'aspiqo’s Wheeze:

161: The Red Dune’s Overseer

Though in general it often best to dream while open to the subtle hints of the the Gods and Powers which hold sway in the land of sleep, in preparing to sleep in the entrance chamber of the ancient construction beneth the Red Dune I held it likely I would be facing some malevolent force, perhaps the demonic form which so twisted the perceptions of my comrades in an early stage of the explorations here, and so protections might be advisable even despite the risk of not receiving subtler intimations.

So I donned the cloak made from the pelt of the Black Lion as symbolic of the strength and fearlessness of one who has won the epithet of ‘Lion Hunter’. To this I added the green crystal spiral ring from the lair of the Shedim of Kaskator with its virtue of good fortune, and the protection of the gold-set, carved gem scarab from the encounter with the Kamalton. Other tokens and tricky trinkets were laid aside as likely a distraction, and of more use on the material plane than whichever of the spirit places I would visit.

I wandered in the dark and shifting mist mazes of sleep a while, until I came to a way light by candles — of tallow, from their pungent, smoky yellow flames — which led me through the confused mutterings and wailing of the last words of the newly dead to a more purposeful chanting of passages of the Book of the Dead as the line of candles before me turned to my right hand, time and time again, extinguishing as I passed them; there was no way back.

I came with silent footfalls to a well-lit chamber where stood a priest of the classic Egyptian style, with shaved head and plain white robe. At their sandalled feet I could count seven candles (I speculate that there may have been two more behind the priest to complete the traditional nine gods of the Pesedjet, but perhaps Set and Nepthys were excluded to minimise the effects of the chaos they represent so to favour Ma'at, or unchanging order, as part of the preservation of this place…)

As I approached the priest was chanting a passage I am not familiar with from any edition of the Book which I have studied, a bidding of the Guardian of Anubis to “await the Call to Faith, lest tomb-robbers return…” at which point the priest noticed my arrival and broke off.

A keen gaze from the priest focussed on the tokens I bore even in dream and they greeted me:

“Aha ! I see you clearly now. You are no Egyptian – with Lion cloak, a ring of power and your soul protected by a royal scarab – surely you are a Kushite from the Southern Kingdom, not some ragged adept from the desert waste !

“You stand straight and undaunted, I see, as one who has walked under the silent stars before, and talked to the Powers, perhaps.

“So… have you done as I bid ?”

I could truthfully answer the priest that we had, that the ghouls were lured outside of their domain, destroyed in the wider world and disposed by fire or flood to prevent their return. Further we had also removed the remains of an adherent of the Osiris of our contemporaneous world lest they too turned ghoul.

But before we set to sealing the ways in, as best as we might though mortal effort, I wished to confirm some aspects of the Overseer’s domain:

• The dark shadow over this area will inevitably act as a lure to the likes of ghouls and graverobbers.
• The existance of secret and magically controlled door we had found in a maze passage, but not yet penetrated to be able to check for unwelcome visitors.
• The pool array of the Sumer people — which I have seen the like of in another shadowed place — displayed some signs of decay and corruption that might give rise to further problems.
• And finally the gargoyle itself in its peculiar room.

I asked for guidance as to how or whether we should extend our cleansing to these matters.

Venerable Martak was pleased to give guidance as they hold the role of Overseer of this installation:

• The magic door contains the Guardian of Anubis. Should they give the Call of Faith, it will emerge to roam the passageways and destroy all it finds. However the ghouls hid in tunnels too small for the Guardian to enter.
• The pools are the purpose of the facility; which is closed and no longer maintained except in their eternal guardianship as Overseer.
• The gargoyle guards the way below whence the Darkness seeps, guarding the way to other worlds against mortal intrusion.

(As an aside, we have of course met similar arrangements at Kaskator, but the guardianship of the way beyond was perhaps aged and broken down, or interfered with and removed.)

I put it to Overseer Martak that while we could not destroy the intricacies of the ghoul burrows completely — as mortal people are bulkier than bone-thin ghouls — we could essay the covering of the external exits and entrances.

The overseer agreed we need only take mortal, practical measures. “Yes, that is what I would have you do. Seal up this place again. Close all the exits and hide them from view. It is inevitable that some may sense the darkness and seek to meddle. My purpose is to maintain this place sealed and secret.”

Gratifyingly, they went on: “You deserve some reward or recompense. You may take a dozen containers from any of the pools that still function when you seal this place. They produce components for healing, elementally pure substances… and weapons should they be needed. Take care, some of them have their own perils.”

“I pay you for your service… and your silence. There will always be dabblers and tomb robbers. I will have to deal with them if they return. But if you can unmake the paths they have made and warn others against entry, you have fulfilled your bargain.”

I explained how the facility they oversee appeared at our moment in time. The huge dune, with the ghoul burrows emerging near the top ridge and an entrance, the one made by mortal men, dug straight down from the top of the dune into an antechamber of a summoning place. This latter the Overseer had recognised from the feel of the sun peeping in. It too must be closed, breaking and burning the supports and hide everything in there. We should confuse all that we can on the surface and give warning against further disturbance; name it a forbidden place and abode of evil.

Further on the matter of our reward the Overseer noted “One pool for healing, a pool of tempting wine to make the drinker happy and thirsty… A medical substance to give those in pain over to sleep; potent. Then alchemically potent cold and hot water. The dangerous ones are animated green and oozing yellow. Beware.”

“There is Cold Fire; Ever hot; Compulsion of telling the Truth; and Forget Them All. Something like that.”

“You may take 12 containers with you and then seal the complex.”

Then we exchanged parting compliments and customary wishes and I made may way back to the world of the living.

From Sammus’s Boast:

162: E43 – The Red Dune – The Guardian Again

The first two watches passed quietly, although a couple of large scorpions tried to get in from the corridor. They were quickly stomped on. As Toxoanassa and Agripinus were awoken to begin the third watch, Si'aspiqo stirred and let us know he had been dream-walking and spoken with the guardian again.

I will allow Si'aspiqo to report on what he had learnt in full, but I will give a short summary of what he reported to us. In the spirit world the magician found himself walking through ill-defined passages, following a line of candles, following distant chanting, which sounded like spells from the book of the dead repeating. Behind him he heard what he suspected were the cries, gabbling and pleading of the dead. He followed multiple corners all turning to the right and becoming closer together to where he had previously seen the guardian. This time it appeared as a priest in a better-appointed chamber, clean-shaven and bald, so it was hard to discern age or gender. The priest was chanting as Si'aspiqo entered, wearing his green ring, scarab and lionskin cloak. This time his entrance made an impression, and the priest recognised that he was not some ragged adept out of desert.

The magician explained that we had destroyed the ghouls outside the complex and buried any remains outside or thrown them in the river, along with the body of the adherent of Osiris we found in the trap. He asked the priest, Martak, if this was all acceptable and if there was anything else required before we sealed the place. Si'aspiqo mentioned his concern about the dark shadow over this place and three locations in particular – a magic door, the pool array and the gargoyle in the strange room.

The spirit-priest told him that behind the magic door was a Guardian of Anubis, which roamed the corridor destroying intruders, but which had been unable to pursue the ghouls into their burrows. The priest confirmed that the pools were what we thought and like those in Kaskator. He warned that the red wine was addictive and sapped the will, but Si'aspiqo speculated that an abstemious priest might view these things differently. Also, he learned that some of the pools contained elemental things valuable to alchemy, and some were poisons. We were given permission to remove 12 vessels filled with the contents of the pools as a fee for a job well done. The priest warned that the gargoyle in the demon room guarded access to the underworld. Perhaps the magic of the pools was driven by leakage from the underworld, which had been blocked as far as possible. The spirit warned against any trespass into the Underworld — our task was to destroy the burrows and conceal any entrances to this place. Although the guardian seemed unaware of the details of digging down here, we were commanded to destroy the tomb-robbers’ shaft as well.

The rest of the night passed without incident and in the morning, we made our way to the room in the north-west corner, where Mago opened the secret door. Here there were five large jars, 3 empty and two full of a liquid. We opened the first full jar, which was three quarters full of what, after investigation, Si'aspiqo determined to be stale water. The second was heavier, and he determined it to be very old vegetable oil, enough to burn a lamp for a long time. We returned with all the jars to the shaft room and left them there, then headed via junction 6 to the wider corridor heading south with secret doors on either side.

Amphius opened the secret door into the room with many rock pillars, there were only small jars. Amphius filled a pack with candles and then led us south past junctions 11 and 12 and then turned right at junction 13. We passed the potential magic door, and he walked by, Agripinus had a more acute feeling that all was not quite holy here. We went straight past junction 14, and then turned right to a dead end where Amphius opened the secret door on his right. Here there was a small table, and five empty large storage jars all stoppered. We took all five jars and returned to the shaft room via junctions 14, 29 and the small chamber room labeled 26. We now had a stock of 10 large jars.

After a brief discussion we decided that Si'aspiqo should investigate the pools for the rest of the day and then all return to Kuku before dusk to spend the night, before returning with spades and any other supplies we needed. We took the first five jars with us to the pool room, including the two containing water and oil. We made our way past junctions 7, 6, 5 and 18 following the passage to where 30 was marked on the opposite wall to help locate the secret door. Amphius opened the secret door and leaving Si'aspiqo to investigate carefully the rest of us amused ourselves as best we could while keeping a watch. We returned to the shaft room, ascended the ladder and returned safely to Kuku before dusk.

Deobey arrived soon after our return and Baal-Shaq spoke to him. Baal-Shaq explained to us that we needed shovels and more water and would return to the Red Dune the next day.

Si'aspiqo’s Footnotes

Party & company:

• Agripinus
• Amphius
• Baal-Shaq
• Mago
• Toxoanassa
• Sammus
• Si'aspiqo

Met:

• MarTak

Places

• Kuku
• Isa, River of Rivers
• Red Dune

Party Loot

• Candles, ancient, a pack full
  (Si': I omitted noting some small-change handfuls earlier…)

Si'aspiqo wheezes:

163: Pools’ Properties Partially Perused

Following from the Overseer’s, Mar-Tak’s, words:

They produce components for healing, elementally pure substances… and weapons should they be needed. Take care, some of them have their own perils.
…
One pool for healing (1), a pool of tempting wine (2) to make the drinker happy and thirsty… A medical substance to give those in pain over to sleep (3); potent. Then alchemically potent cold (4) and hot water (5). The dangerous ones are animated green (6) and oozing yellow (7). Beware. There is Cold Fire (8); Ever hot (9); Compulsion of telling the Truth (10); and Forget Them All (11). Something like that.

I have conducted further investigation and assigned these descriptions as seems appropriate:

Late note: The large jars we have found here under the Red Dune are about 15L capacity, the small about 1L.

From Sammus’s Boast:

164: E44 – The Red Dune – Collecting Our Reward

We discussed which pools would best supply us with contents we could transport safely and would give us the best value. We were worried about transporting the corrosive liquid and when Mago told us that he thought it was like a concentrated form of the mild acids used in metalworking, we decided the risks would outweigh any potential rewards. We decided we would take the cold crystal and then four containers of the healing pool and four of the one that helped those in pain to sleep along with three of the wine.

We needed something with a wider neck to fit the crystal and only had ten large amphorae, so Baal-Shaq, Mago, Amphius and Si'aspiqo went to the market to buy supplies. They bought a couple of large gourds with stoppers and Si'aspiqo picked out some beeswax and some resinous compounds for seals. They found tongs and a cup on a bronze rod for pouring liquid from the pool into larger containers. Amphius also bought two very large, ceramic, tear-shaped containers with a net of fibres and a pole to carry them. They also found some wooden shovels, twine and hide, along with some oil lamps to burn the oil we had found. Si'aspiqo spent time preparing his seals and Mago made sure the stoppers closely fitted the gourds.

The following morning, we loaded up a boat and were rowed to the Red Dune, where a boat was left for our return. We made our way to the top of the dune. Amphius descended the shaft and then guided our supplies as they were lowered. Then the rest of us followed. We made our way, with our supplies, to the secret door to the pool room. Amphius soon opened it and once we were within, Si'aspiqo started purifying all the containers.

Amphius used the tongs to pick up the steaming white crystal and carefully put it in the gourd. Mago secured the stopper and Si'aspiqo magically sealed it. Each of the containers was filled carefully, the stopper secured and then magically sealed by the magician. This was the work of a few hours as Si'aspiqo had to pause to meditate periodically. By the time all was finished it was early afternoon. Baal-Shaq stayed in the pool room with Si'aspiqo as he rested from his work, while the rest of us carried the full containers, in harnesses, to the chamber with the shaft. When all the containers had been transferred everyone returned to that room and rested, while Si'aspiqo meditated.

After a short rest, I climbed up to the top of the shaft. Amphius and Mago secured the rope to each container in turn, and I hoisted each one up. Each time Amphius followed closely as I hoisted the container, to ensure there were no problems. On one occasion Amphius slipped when descending but quickly recovered and on another trip one of the containers clattered against the side of the shaft but didn’t break. By the time this was complete there were 3 or 4 hours of daylight remaining.

Mago had spent some time working out where to set a fire to bring down the shaft. He decided to set up firewood and lamp oil at the base of the shaft, where it broke through into the ceiling of the chamber far below, and pile it up high before soaking it, and the ladder, with lamp-oil. He was confident this would burn well and should consume all the supports of the shaft, causing it to collapse. Si'aspiqo thought he could use his arts to help. He gave Mago a quickly burning torch to jam with the wood behind the ladder.

Everyone else climbed to the top and Mago set up his fire, securing some of the wood between the ladder and the shaft, including the torch Si'aspiqo had given him. At the same time Agripinus, Baal-Shaq, Toxoanassa and I carried containers down to the shore and stowed them safely in the centre of the boat. On the third and final trip both Toxoanassa and I slipped and fell, but fortunately the containers came to no harm. Baal-Shaq stayed to guard the boat, while the rest of us returned to the top of the dune.

Mago finished the awkward task of setting up his bonfire while on the ladder, and although some of the sticks fell through to the bottom of the shaft, he was confident the bonfire would do the job. He placed Si'aspiqo’s torch at the top and climbed up to the top of the shaft. We waited for dusk.

As soon as the sun had set, Si'aspiqo secured the rope around himself, and I grasped hold of it, then the magician carefully descended ten feet. He ignited his torch with a cantrip. The fire quickly took hold but was very smoky. As he tried to climb up, he was overcome by a bout of coughing and slipped. Fortunately, he managed to grab the ladder and resumed climbing. He emerged from the shaft followed by a large amount of oily, black smoke. We waited a while until he stopped coughing and then gave him some water. Once the fire had taken a good hold, he glanced down and could see flames. He cast affect normal fires, but his first attempt failed as he was overcome by another bout of coughing, but a second attempt was more successful and then the fire seemed to take a good hold, as if fed by a bellows far below.

In the darkening evening twilight, we all made our way down to the shore and camped by the boat for the night. The night passed quietly, and we could hardly see any smoke against the stars above.

At dawn we returned to the top of the dune. The ladder had been completely consumed, but there were still some whisps of smoke coming from the shaft, which had not collapsed. The structural supports had all been consumed by the fire too. We could still feel a lot of heat surrounding the shaft. Mago thought it would be very dangerous to try to disturb the shaft from within. Maybe a pick or spear could be used by someone dangling on a rope in the shaft, but there would be a high risk of total collapse, which might engulf anyone working in the shaft. He thought the whole thing would collapse at some point, but he was not sure when.

We filled in the ghoul burrows and then retraced our steps to the boat. We returned safely with our cargo to Kuku and carried our containers to our base camp, where we ate a late breakfast and pondered our next move.

We have our reward, if it can survive crossing the desert, but we have not yet fulfilled our bargain with the dead.

From Sammus’s Boast:

165: E45 – The Red Dune – Sealing the Shaft

We discussed how we might bring down and collapse the shaft. We decided grappling hooks would be the best option. Mid-morning Deobey arrived looking very happy. He babbled in Berber to Baal-Shaq. He enquired how things were progressing and what we had brought back. Baal-Shaq explained we had bought back what we could but were still investigating it. We had eliminated the problems we could but had a little more work to do. He said he would tell the King we had a little more to do but were nearing completion.

Mago and Baal-Shaq went to the blacksmith to have a grapple made. Mago described what he wanted, and the smith fixed together three small anchors and added a loop on top and forged it. It was ready by early afternoon. We left Baal-Shaq and his men to look after the camp and made our way up river to start work about an hour before dusk.

We climbed to the top of the dune, where it looked as though there was debris from the fire, which had scattered around the shaft. We tried to tidy it up, by raking sand over it. Mago secured a heavy rope through the loop on the grapple, and I dropped it on one side of the shaft and then with help from Toxoanassa and Agripinus, I dragged it back to the shaft from the far side.

It dropped straight down the shaft and caught fast about 20 feet down. We pulled hard, but it did not move, so we circled round the hole to the other side and tried again. It still was held fast and Amphius joined us and eventually we pulled it clear.

We lowered it again and jiggled it around to try to score the surface of the shaft and after a short time it caught fast again. We hauled away and it came free. There had been no rumbling or crashing sounds so far, so we continued dragging it round, but nearer the top of the shaft. This time there was a big puff of dust. Next time there were more puffs of dust, and it felt like something was starting to crumble. The grapple stuck again and as we pulled it free once more, there were more collapsing sounds. I pulled it a bit higher and tried again and we continued to drag it around the shaft scoring the surface and then pulling it free when it got stuck. There were more sounds of collapsing sand and then a few rocks tumbling. When we tried again there was a loud crumpfff and the shaft collapsed. Toxoanassa, Agripinus and I immediately let go of the rope as it was pulled down into the collapsing shaft, but Amphius had a loop of rope around his wrist and was dragged down a bit before he could let go. He ended up in a collapsed hole up to his waist in sand. With help from Mago and Toxoanassa he managed to clamber free.

A small tuft of rope sticking out of a small depression was all that was left of the shaft. We brushed and dug away at the sand in relays by lantern light and the stars and cut off the tuft of rope. After an hour the depression was wider but shallower and more sand was scattered down the slope to make it look like a natural slip.

We carried our gear back down to the boat, camped for the night nearby and Mago, Agripinus, Toxoanassa and I split into two watches, while Amphius and Si'aspiqo slept. Si'aspiqo had a very disturbed night, fitfully waking throughout the night.

We went up to check the site in the morning light. We found a few strands of rope and a little detritus, which Si'aspiqo picked up. We used brushes to remove any smudges related to the fire. There was only one thing on the ridge that could be a collapsed shaft, but it would only be evident if someone knew there had been a shaft. We brushed our steps back down to the boat and returned safely to Kuku, arriving in time for breakfast and told Baal-Shaq what we had done.

Deobey soon arrived and Baal-Shaq let him know that the place was now sealed, but it was a cursed place, that was best avoided, where there were still things that would destroy men. We had removed some things that were not cursed and might be valuable. Deobey looked delighted and ran off clapping his hands and babbling. He returned to tell us that the King was also delighted and there would be a celebratory feast where we could tell our stories and show what we had found. We agreed to offer the King three of the containers, one of each liquid, and we would try to carry the rest back across the desert. We would share what made it safely to the other side, so that the risk was shared collectively. We washed and dressed up. Toxoanassa, Baal-Shaq and I wore Numidian robes and other wore their own traditional garb. I made sure I wore all my gold and jewelry.

We arrived at the feast and displayed the containers we had filled from the pools along with all the lot we had taken, including the hammered gold bracelet, semi-precious stone on a thong and the gold cobra headband. Everyone seemed happy and there was quite a celebration, and we were invited to Askey-Za’s palace, which while less impressive than other palaces I had seen was still the largest building in Kuku. Food was being cooked over a large pit with comestibles being rotated on spits and there were lots of dancing girls. Deobey made a long speech, and the King greeted us all and was glad to hear our report. Baal-Shaq summarized that under the leadership of our priest we had carried out the King’s mission in this accursed place, slayed the ghouls and undead and investigated the pools, bringing out what we could and then had sealed the place. However, there were still dangerous things within, and he suggested it might be good to forbid any tinkering with the dune which might unleash further evil. He explained that some of the jars contained wine and others healing draughts. The King took an interest as this was translated and asked questions about the contents of the jars. Si'aspiqo pointed out what was in each and Baal-Shaq and Deobey translated. When he mentioned the wine, the King asked if it were Greek or Carthaginian, and was told yes but it was stronger. The King’s eyes light up and said he had never tasted Greek wine. Baal-Shaq gave a long explanation of how strong it was and the possible impact of drinking too much, but it seemed that Deobey just told the King it was good stuff, and the King beamed and wanted to try some. Deobey sampled a small amount first and then the King had a large bowl filled, which he quickly drained, and food and water was passed around his guests. Amphius suggested watering the wine in the Greek fashion, and this was translated by Baal-Shaq. The feast with lots of food, singing and dancing and telling of tales and the King drank more wine and even gave small amounts to favoured guests including ourselves. As he drank the King began to lose interest in the tales.

The King made a speech with lots of expansive gestures, and he hugged us all, even Toxoanassa. The two other jars of wine were lined up with the already opened one and Deobey gave a short translation. The King had said that this was all good news, we were all his friends and would be welcome in Kuku forever, and we should carry on eating and drinking. As soon as it was politic we left the feast with the remaining nine jars and the rest of our loot, and the King waved happily from his throne as we left.

We had nine containers to transport across the desert, which would not leave much room for ivory, so Baal-Shaq told us he did not plan on buying any tusks this time. He suggested we purchase any supplies we need and anything we wished to buy from the market in the morning, then get some rest. Then, if the Kel Ayr were ready, we would set off in the evening on our return journey.