Kemet - [IC]

[3SecondCultist]

"No, perhaps not," Khai replies, trying to contain his relief. "His scroll seems to invoke Sekhmet and her priesthood. Judging by the symbols, it would appear as though whoever wanted to get in touch with the acolytes here was either an artist or a swordsman... or both."

Reaching into his pack, the charlatan-turned adventurer produces his leather waterskin, from which he carefully squeezes a few drops of water to the parched papyrus, but not before pulling out some chalk and approaching a blank stone wall. Best to copy this out as we see it.

[Sen isSaqqara]

As the scroll unrolls, more of the text becomes readable. Below the first line, it switches from heiratic script to the more easily-readable common script. Khai's careful application of water preserves most of the script, only slightly smudging a few letters here and there. It reads roughly as follows:
Jemel,
Here is your blade. It is as close a replica as I can make. The forging process went splendidly, and in seeing the result I was almost convinced that I held in my hands the original, the legendary Fool's Blade itself. Of course, despite my best efforts, this replica has no arcane potency. Nonetheless, to an untrained observer, it should appear identical to the relic.
This brings me to an unfortunate bit of news. While transporting the Fool's Blade back from the shop, I was accosted by common bandits! The streets of fair Abydos are no longer safe to walk at night, it would seem. What sorry times we find ourselves living in, when a man cannot even make his way home without being relieved of the artifact he carries. I fear that if the thieves' leader should draw the blade, the city may be in for a fearsomly lead reign of crime. Who, after all, can resist the call of whoever holds that cursed sword?
In any event, I will endeavor to regain the original Blade and ship it to you. In the meantime, here is the finished product: I hope it is all you wished for.
Your old friend and eternal servant by the lights of Sekmet and Nekbet,
Terhit isAbydos the Craftsman

[Varus]

We should insure that there are no other secret chambers. We wouldn't want to be fought off guard again

Spoiler

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(1D20+5)[19] trap finding

[Sen isSaqqara]

Searching around the rooms, Nakht quickly finds what he is looking for. The first place he looks is across from the door used by the wolves. Sure enough, now that he knows what to look for, the mural quite obviously covers another door. Within a few moments, he has it open: a panel near the bottom sets off hidden mechanisms when pushed, and the door swings wide. Behind it, a narrow passage turns left, and then descends down a set of stairs into darkness.

[nwestninja]

Awal will walk towards the hidden passageway and will say "I will go first then." . He will take out his shield and carefully/slowly walk through. If no one follows, he will continue walking through. If his eyes do not adjust to the darkness he will stop.

[3SecondCultist]

"Make sure to keep the Not-Fool's Blade close!" Khai says to Awal in a sing-song voice as the group heads for the secret passage. He's committed the better part of the message to memory, and written the most pertinent parts on the wall in chalk besides. He takes another look at it, contemplating erasing the words. Then he leaves it.

"I do love the dark, don't you? There could be anything down here... monsters, gold, golden monsters... anything at all!"

[Sen isSaqqara]

Sen moves towards doorway, then hesitates. "Perhaps one of us stay up here and watch over the girl back by the other doors?"

Nakht's summoned Ibis replies quickly: speaking without speaking, you hear it in your minds even though its mouth never moves. I shall watch over her, if you wish. Should any harm arrive, I shall notify you, priest. It steps towards Awal as it speaks, though it keeps its eyes fixed on Nakht. When it gets to the fighter, it taps his shield with its beak. The shield begins to emit a warm glow, lighting the passage ahead. Please do not hurt yourselves by tripping down darkened stairs. The process of returning myself to my master's side without a proper dismissal from you is... unpleasant.

Now that the stairs are properly illuminated. you can see that they extend some thirty feet or so horizontally. At the bottom, the passage seems to open into a chamber to the left.

[Varus]

Nakt nods in approval as the Ibis illuminates the passage. Well done, the lights will come into assitance. We shall makes sure to return in one piece. Nakt follows Awal towards the passage What an exciting turn of events, I wonder what we shall find down here.

Shall we go see what secrets have been hidden away in the temple

[Sen isSaqqara]

You descend the stairs, pushing the light down into the depths. When you reach the bottom, you see that the steps do indeed open into a room. It is tall, carved from the sandstone in a fairly simple way. Where the chambers above were lavishly engraved and painted, the walls here are bare. It is dry and sandy, the floor covered in a layer of grit.

You enter the room from the northwestern corner. Across from you, in the southwest corner, another stairwell heads back upwards. The most interesting feature of the room, however, is embedded in the eastern wall. Three huge blocks of strange gray rock form a great doorway in the wall, but through the doorway is nothing but another red-beige sandstone wall. The grey stone is carved with swirling lines and loops, seemingly abstract but precise and quite definitely purposeful in their organization. The walls to either side of the great doorway are simple and bare, chiseled sandstone.

The oddest part of the whole thing is the gray stone. You've never seen anything like it. Kemet is built mostly on sandstone in the south and sometimes on white marble in parts of the far north, and a few odd spots along the river. Gray stone is new to you, dark and harsh and cold. It sends a brief chill through Awal when he first sees it, causing him to stop for a moment and backing up the procession behind him. Something about it seems odd, unnatural, and perhaps simply wrong. It feels alien in an inexplicable way, and it causes you discomfort.

[3SecondCultist]

When they descend into the darkness, Khai is more than happy to take the back line, letting Ankh explore up ahead of him with Awal. The emergence of this chamber, with its strange stone walls, feels slightly odd to him... but then again, so does telling the truth. So he makes a conscious decision to try his best not to be bothered by it. Or at the very least, focus on other facets of the room. "Oh look, that must be a puzzle of some sort! The symbols don't look like anything I recognize, at least. Any clues as to how to get through the obvious gate, Sen?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Not sure if there's an applicable Knowledge skill to roll, but here's an Intelligence check just in case!

Intelligence: (1d20+2)[4]

Edit: at least it's not a 1!