Kalid-Ma's Chosen Will be Blessed.

09/01/2013

“It's dark,” Cyrus began, “Perfect for taking a nap.” “Agreed.” Yaotl responded, shocking the rest of the group. “We need to block the doorway.” Ren stated. Ren looked around for something to block the door, but he found nothing. Ren decided he would watch from the doorway and let the others sleep. Everyone settled down and fell asleep. Ren heard a scratching noise a couple hours later. He saw something living come around the corner and come towards them. Ren shouted to wake everyone in the room. Quickly, three horax rushed him.

"Excuse me sir, do you mind if I eat your intestines, please?"

The Horax rushed the injured Ren and knocked him unconscious. Aziza and Yaotl engaged the vermin and were holding their own, but the Horax were fighting just as hard. Cyrus was taking forever to wake up, so he missed most of the intense fighting. Rata rushed to Ren and healed him.
As soon as Ren regained consciousness, he activated his psionic flesh armor. With Ren fighting along side Aziza and Yaotl, the Horax were quickly finished off. Cyrus finally woke up and began healing his comrades.

Exhausted from using psionics and magic, the party rested for awhile and recuperated. Ren meditated, Cyrus took a nap, and Rata relaxed. Aziza and Yaotl decided to keep watch. Aziza pulled Yaotl away from the group.

“Yaotl...” Aziza whispered.

“What? What is it?” Yaotl asked, concerned.

Aziza looked toward Ren and sighed. “You know, never mind.”

Yaotl caught her arm. “You pulled me aside for a reason, what is it?”

Aziza looked at Ren again, “What does Ren say about me?”

“Nothing,” Yaotl began, “except that he cares for you, but you know that.”

Aziza smiled slightly, “Sure he does.” Before Yaotl could respond, she continued, “I'm worried about him. He always charges into battle without thinking of his own safety. We need to protect him better.”

Yaotl thought for a moment, “You're right, I will take the lead.”

“Thank you.” Aziza said, smiling.

The party gathered up their belongings and continued searching the tomb. The came to a t-junction and decided to go left. Then, given the choice to continue forward, or enter a room on the right, they chose the right. Inside the room was five sarcophagi, a staircase, and five ghouls.

Scumbag Ghoul

 Yaotl began by brandishing his holy symbol and shouting, “By the might of the holy flame, you shall flee!”

The ghouls were spread out, so his turning only affected two of the ghouls. They fled up the staircase. Ren rushed in and easily destroyed one, Cyrus shot one with an arrow and Rata used his sling. Aziza was guarding Nuru in the hall, who was frightened. The ghouls fought clumsily and were quickly destroyed.

They group decided to not go up the stairs and finish searching downstairs instead. They left the room and continued down the hall. They found another room on the right, where the hall ended, and went inside. This room was a mess. There was debris everywhere.

In the far corner was a large stone basin. It had a hole near the bottom, so the group figured it wouldn't be used to hold water. There was a hole in the ceiling and the banging of drums could faintly be heard. Totally confused, the party left it alone.
Ren had the idea to search the room and everyone agreed. Cyrus was lazily kicking some debris out of the way, when something caught his eye. He reached in and grabbed a rusted object. Clearing off the rust, he found that he was holding an iron dagger. It had no handle and was very pitted, but he believed it could be salvaged.
The group back tracked to the t-junction and went right this time. The first room they came to, was partially collapsed. Inside were two ankhegs. 

"Hey guys, welcome to my lair."

Yaotl and Ren rushed to do battle. Aziza shot a magic missile at one of them. Cyrus grabbed Aziza and teleported behind them, because they were blocking the doorway. The fighting was fierce and the group was heavily damaged, especially Ren and Yaotl. However, they managed to defeat the ankhegs.

 

Continuing down the hall, the group found another room, where the hall ended. Inside the room were two heavily armored statues that had obviously seen better days. They were worn, one missing it's face. They were positioned as to appear to be staring at a small dais. The dais was round, with runes carved into the sides. In the middle was a bright red ruby. The group all stared at each other and the ruby.

Cyrus reached out and touched the ruby.

The rest of the group vanished. Cyrus found himself standing on the dais. The room was white and new. Tapestries with a coat of arms hung on the wall. The statues looked new and were white as well. Their eyes were open, glowing, and looking right at him. Then the statues spoke in tandem.

“Do you swear to serve your King, Kalid Ma, until they end of your days?” They continued after a brief pause, “Kalid Ma's chosen will be blessed.”

Cyrus was confused, “Who is Kalid-Ma?”

“Kalid-Ma is your king!” The statues relied.

Cyrus shrugged, “Sure, why not?”

The group saw Cyrus touch the gem and collapse. As they rushed to help him, he got up. Imbedded in his forehead was a tear drop shaped ruby. Cyrus noticed he could see better in the dark.

Definitely not a big deal.

“What happened?” The group questioned, almost at the same time.

“The statues spoke to me.” Cyrus began, “They asked if I would serve my king. I said yes.”

“This is probably a bad thing.” Ren stated.

Yaotl reached out and touched the ruby in the dais.

His vision was the same, except he stated, “The only lord I serve is the Lord of the Flame!”

Yaotl was racked with pain as energy raced through his body. He collapsed, unconcious.

Cyrus healed Yaotl, which woke him up.

“This thing has to be destroyed.” Ren stated.

Rata raised his staff and brought it smashing down onto the ruby.

Rata found himself in the same room and was asked the same question.

“No, I don't think so.” Rata replied.

Rata was wracked with pain and his staff crumbled into ash. He was well enough, that he did not fall unconscious.

Ren checked the statues and the surrounding walls for anything out of the ordinary. He found nothing.

“There is nothing for us here, let's go.” Ren strongly suggested.

The group left the room and went upstairs. In the room they entered they discovered two ghouls, the two which had been turned earlier by Yaotl, and two other types of undead. The unknown types had bone scimitars and rubies embedded in their heads.
“Only the chosen may pass.” One of the undead stated.

“We shall see.” Yaotl remarked.

“Cyrus, I think you have some friends up here.” Ren said.

Cyrus pushed his way to the top of the stairs.

The two undead bowed their heads slightly, “Welcome, Chosen.”

Before anyone else could act, Yaotl presented his holy element. “By the flame, flee!”

One of the ghouls fled and the battle began. The unknown undead types attacked Yaotl and Aziza, clearly leaving Cyrus alone, even though he was in the line of fire. Cyrus shot one of them with an arrow, even though he heard a voice in his head tell him that they were not his enemies.

The undead looked down, stunned, “It is alright Chosen, you are forgiven.” He stated.
The group continued to battle. Cyrus stepped forward.

“I am Chosen, I demand your swords.” He shouted.

“Chosen, these fools defile our temple.” One of them responded and the fighting continued.

The ghoul managed to paralyze Aziza and began eating her. Rata rushed forward and got the ghouls attention. Cyrus then turned it and it fled. The group ganged up on the remaining undead and destroyed them. As they crumbled, the gems in their foreheads turned to ash.

Badly hurt, the group retreated downstairs, back into the room filled with debris. They piled debris in front of the door, blocking the passage. Aziza stayed up, Ren meditated, and everyone else went to sleep.

An hour later, when Ren woke, Aziza was laying down, her head resting in his lap. Ren tried to meditate, but was distracted.

“Ren the last man I loved died.” Aziza whispered.

Ren grunted, “It's okay, you're a distraction from my goal.”

Aziza smiled, stood up, and put her hands on her hips, “Are you saying I'm distracting?”

Ren looked up at Aziza, “Very.”

Aziza kissed him on the cheek and unrolled her bedroll. She was soon fast asleep. Ren went back to meditating, but was having problems concentrating. Nuru got up a short while later.

“Did you hear that?” Nuru whispered to Ren.

“What? What is it?” Ren replied.

“A noise, sounded like scratching coming from the hallway.” Nuru whispered, even more quietly. He looked at Ren, “I'm afraid.”

Ren nodded in reply.

“Why would the exploration team send us a false report, this is no mine?” Nuru questioned.

“Maybe they were forced to.” Ren answered.

Nuru sat against the wall and slowly passed back out.

When the group awoke, they prayed and memorized spells. They healed up and moved the barricade. They went back upstairs and found the two ghouls had returned to the room. The group charged in and quickly destroyed them.