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| The great Tomb of Kangsta Wrapper, (aka KV5) |
Timekeeping
Player Characters Present
Introduction
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| I used this graphic he provided and dungeonscrawl.com to produce my map |
Downtime
Session Report
The Amber Light faded and the party searched around the "16 Pillar Room" in the middle of the tomb. Though most of the decorations in the room itself had been obliterated in some sort of titanic battle that had preceded their arrival; they were able so see that exits to the east and west lead down short corridors with doors at their extremities, and these did have recognisable carvings featuring wings and feathers on them. They also found that two of the 16 pillars contained niches about the size of a man's head (a cause of concern to some). The interior of these niches held paintings that had escaped the destruction in the rest of the room; one of these depicted a Jackal's head, the other depicted a Baboon's head.
The party decided to explore the ascending stair at the south end of the room, rather than the two descending stairs in the south east and south west. It was a short stair that ended in a door, beyond this was a 20' square room with two unusual sarcophagi; each was split in two, making four pieces; but it was clear they had been constructed this way and not that they had been broken. The only exit was another short flight of stairs to the south which ascended to another door. Beyond this was an almost exact replica of the first room. Much searching and detecting traps and secret doors along with Giuseppe detecting evil accompanied their every step as they continued up another stair.
When they had killed it, the creature dissolved into a fluid, and then even this remnant faded out of existence, leaving behind a strange jug, or jar, about a foot tall and bearing the head of a baboon at the top. The party felt they knew exactly what to do with this, but first they examined the rest of the room; which they found to be quite different to the previous two. The 20' by 30' room had two oval shaped windows on the opposite wall which, amazingly, allowed them to see outside of the pyramid. Giuseppe stared out through one of them, getting the impression that they may have been magicked to enhance normal vision.
Outside was a vast expanse of desert; the Dry Domains, with hardly a break in the endless formation of dunes stretching to the horizon. However, there, at the horizon, Giuseppe thought he could see something moving; though it was yet too far away to make out the details of the object. He resolved to return and check on its progress after exploring further. Another unusual feature in the centre of the room was a small rectangular outline with a partially clear section on the surface of a stone console; when pressed it popped opened and revealed two small spindles side by side about an inch or so apart. The players felt they had an idea what this was.
They now returned to the main 16 pillar room and informed the Elves and Irish and Dervish what was happening. They placed the jar in the niche and were rewarded with an audible hum as it locked in place. Before continuing on they persuaded the Elves to accompany them as back up, and then proceeded to explore down the front "arms" of the tomb. Each arm lead to many smaller tombs on either side, each of these had been desecrated and the contents were gone; possibly consumed by the Githro drones? However, four jars were present in each tomb; though less ornate, they were much like the one they had already found, and were topped with Baboon, Jackal, Human, and Falcon heads.
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| Canopic jars contain organs removed from the body in the process of mummification: the lungs, liver, intestines, and stomach |
At the end of the western arm was a 30' by 50' room with four doors leading back north, through one of these they found a 10' by 30' room with huge metal "blades" that ran the length of the room and appeared to be embedded in the stone floor. Inside was another red mummy, this time with a Jackal's head. They beat it down with the help of the elves, but not before it had nearly killed Deltracon. To no one's surprise this enemy yielded a jar with a Jackal's head.
They repeated the process of exploration down the eastern arm, finding it much they same except for one room in which they scored 500 platinum pieces; then they hit the jackpot: Kangsta Wrapper's empty tomb. The room featured a huge, ornate and empty sarcophagus; the walls were lined with frames holding discs fashioned from platinum, and on the far wall were small rectangular objects filled with weird tape on reels. There were also four pillars, each of which held a familiar empty niche with spaces for canopic jars. This was a conundrum; there were two places you could put Kangsta's canopic jars?
In an adjacent room was another series of 30' long metal blades, much thought went into what they could be for; while through a door with the hieroglyph for 'silence' was a strange room with odd sound dampening acoustics, the purpose of which was a mystery. They grabbed anything that was loose, including the platinum discs and rectangular 'tape' boxes and headed back to the room with the 16 Pillars.
From there they explored the adjacent rooms: finding in one pillars made up of smaller cylinders and a human canopic jar niche; another held strange vats with liquids associated with digestion; the last held pillars like large tapering cylinders, a falcon canopic jar niche, and the fourth Githro Mummy. With the four jars in their possession, they added them to the niches in the "wing" rooms.
I don't know what they were expecting to happen; but, when the last jar was secure in its niche, the whole place started vibrating. From where they were standing in the 16 pillar room they saw all of the doors leading up to the "window" room had opened. They decided to see what was going on up there, as well as checking if there was any change in the situation outside. The shaking continued as they moved up. Outside the formerly unidentifiable object on the horizon had grown to a huge creature, similar in some ways to the T-Rex they had fought a few sessions back; but way bigger.
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| "It's the [REDACTED] Dakersaurus," -- Sever |
What to do? They placed the rectangular tape holder thing into the console and closed the lid. In response the half sarcophagi started lighting up with glowing hieroglyphics; and a formerly blank section of wall activated, it was a "communication frame" like those they had seen in other parts of the pyramid. The typically stoic Robopriest could be seen there, with a frantic Weird al-hotep along side him.
Their infodump covered these facts: in consuming Kangsta's canopic jars, the Githro had activated a fail safe that prevented anyone teleporting out of the tomb. To re-enable this (and, incidentally, allow them to return to Machodor), they needed to replace the jars into the slots in the room with his sarcophagus; however, there was now the threat of the Dakersaurus, to handle that threat the canopic jars needed to be in the alternative slots that the PCs had put them in. As for how this would help, it would be easier to show them than tell them.
The PC's sat down in the half sarcophagi, Sever held his sword Were'sbane before him and let it read out the meaning of the writing. Sever, in the middle seat, had the glyphs for Command, Outside+Audio, and many others besides; Giuseppe had Flight+Control, Large+Missiles, & Multi+Missiles; Deltacron had Talons and Close+Combat. What could it all mean?
Suddenly, the world outside seemed to rush at them and they felt a powerful force pushing them into their seats; and then they were dropping downwards. They realised that the whole place was moving forward, out of the pyramid, and onto the sandy desert plains. The Hieracosphinx had come to life! The windows were its eyes, and they now flashed on with purpose.
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| Mecha-Hieracosphinx GO! |
Ahead loomed the bulk of the Dakersaurus; it noticed them and, deciding they were a threat, bellowed a challenge then charged. Giueseppe activated the flight controls and the Sphinx leapt into the air, from the resultant change in the displayed glyphs - rapidly translated by Were'sbane - he saw that they could maintain flight for up to 6 turns.
I had thought from here they might get into a traditional Kaiju fight, but cooler heads prevailed. Sever immediately sized up the situation and declared they had to lead the monster back to its lake to the north west of the Dry Domains. But first, they had to make sure they really had the monster's attention.
To use the capabilities of the Mecha-Sphinx, the appropriate command sequence phrases had to be precisely enunciated,
Sever used Command sequence 1:
"The [TARGET] doesn't know it but he's a dead man walking.
Making wishes, like he was Macaulay Culkin?
All that magic, but there's nothing you can do
When we erase you like Trump from Home Alone 2"
I cannot convey just how funny this was at the time. The words echoed out of the mouth of the Sphinx, and the mix tape took over from there.
Giuseppe then used Command sequence 2 twice:
"The people come from miles around
To hear my rhymes and tremble at my sounds
The only people who are coming to you
Are there for your head, and your [TARGET LOCATION] too."
A series of small missiles, then a volley of giant rockets, smashed into the Dakersaurus, doing ridiculous amounts of damage; but the creature was un-phased and soon its regeneration ability began to repair its wounds.
So he did it anyway and the giant metal blades slashed through empty air."The rat king's assassin fell on my blades
The count's vampire girls failed in their raids
I'm just sad that [TARGET] won't die by my hands
I'm too busy spreading my rhymes all over the lands"
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| Cue Indiana Jones music |
After seven days of taking it in turns with the Irish and Elves to crew the Sphinx, they finally reached the Lake. Nothing encountered along the way was interested in messing with them. Seeing its home and knowing deep down that it was way past its bed time, the Dakersaurus sank beneath the surface; perhaps to return next year. Here the Elves also bid their farewells and left, their territory being nearby.
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