Temple of the Felines

[WarKitty]

Somewhere out on the edges of the nexus, an ancient temple appears out of the sand.

Two 300 foot tall feline statues mark the entrance to the complex, which can only be entered by passing between them. Approaching from any other direction simply leads to barren desert. The statues themselves are sitting, tails wrapped around their bodies and eyes closed. Passing between them will generate a little shiver of magic for anyone who can sense it.

Heading between them, the visitor will see two long rows of broken sandstone columns, brown and red patterns swirling together leading on. The entrance of the complex is about 2 miles away, marked by a large and mysteriously clear and full reflecting pool. Occasional glimpses of tiles are visible through the shifting and swirling sand around it. The entrance is quite windy and the wind kicks sand up in visitor's faces. Past the pool is the entrance to a gigantic mausoleum, a few very small feline mummies visible in niches in the wall before the further parts fade to black. Jewels can be seen marking the eyes and claws of these figures.

The landscape around past the pillars is also dotted with various buildings of varying sizes. These range from large buildings with elaborately carved arched entrances to small huts made of adobe and roofed - where the roofs remain - with rushes.

Spoiler: Locations so far

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Outside
Cat statues
The two large statues that mark the entrance
Cluster of small huts
A group of small, simple huts visible in the distance.
Arch building
A square building, the size of a large house, with an elaborately carved grecian-style arch at the front. Various slit windows around the sides.
Mound
A low mound made of bricks with a small but passable entryway. The passage appears to slope downward.
Wooden ruins
A pile of what appears to have once been buildings, but now is pretty much all knocked down. Too ruined to determine what they were at a glance.

Inside
Reflecting pool
A large pool of perfectly clear water, surrounded by some sort of tiles.
Entryway
A cavernous passage into the main building, lined with cat mummies.

[Deathkeeper]

[Twin Statues]

Sam Bacon arrives on the scene! Mostly he’s there to look for exotic cacti to use for food and cute animals to look at. But then he found cat statues. So obviously he goes in to investigate. He’s dressed in extremely light clothing, with a broad hat for the sun and cloth around his feet to protect them. But still, he looks suspiciously ill-equipped for the trip, carrying that big ingredient bag.
Sam heads towards the statues and passes through them, surprised at their size out here and the sudden not-barren-desert of it all. Slowly he makes his way towards the pool, trying to keep sand out of his eyes.

[WarKitty]

[Twin Statues -> Reflecting Pool]

The wind is hot - even hotter than it was outside - and whips sand everywhere, but there's no serious resistance as Sam heads towards the pool. As he gets close he can feel his hooves clack on a hard floor under the layer of sand. The pool is very long and completely clear of sand. He's likely sweating in the heat.

[Deathkeeper]

[Reflecting Pool]

Sam is glad that no one is around to see him sweat. He’s normally very resistant to the temperature but this goes beyond even what Jinn prepared his body for. His shirt already feels like he’s wearing a sweat rag. And this hat is ridiculous. But they keep him from getting his face and chest sunburnt. Still, water helps. And there is a ton of water right here. Sam reaches down and dips a hand in the pool, hoping it’s cold.

[WarKitty]

[Reflecting Pool]

As Sam touches the water, an almost imperceptible tingle runs up his arm. The water itself feels neither warm nor cold. However on pulling his arm out he will notice that arm no longer feels hot and isn't sweating. It feels a little bit numb, too, although not enough to seriously impair feeling anything he grabs or touches.

[Deathkeeper]

Reflecting Pool

Sam pulls his hand out as he goes a little numb. He really has to watch that. Well, it worked this time. Sam keeps going past the pool and into the entryway. He doubts that he will find a coat rack waiting for him. The little mummies gets his sympathy.
”Poor little kitties.” he mumbles. He doesn’t touch any of the gems on the mummies. Unless any have fallen off, in which case he’ll happily scoop them off the floor.
And put them back on the mummy that lost them.

[Recaiden]

Everyone's favorite demon pirate cyborg catperson strolls up to the tremendous entry statues. Someone up above spotted them and thought of her, wasn't this the sort of thing she used to do, in stories, go investigate old ruins? She's dressed in loose-wrapped white clothes that cover most everything except ears and eyes (though it can't hide that she's 14 months pregnant^{* pay no attention to the weirdness of this number}), a far cry from her usual pirate clothes. After all, she isn't a desert lynx, and it could get very uncomfortable out here.

Omiko spends a while looking at them, photographing them with her robot eye, wandering around to see them from different angles. Impressive size, given their apparent age and location. What are they made from? The tail is understandable, it would be so difficult to shape it extended from the cat, but does it mean something that their eyes are closed?

It takes a little while before she passes through the cat gate in the correct direction, feels the magic, and sees the pillars. Her eye widens.
There's something hidden here, not just lost and forgotten.
She starts hiking down the way, turning, eventually, towards a cluster of small huts.

[WarKitty]

[Entryway - Sam]

The searing wind drops off once passing by the entryway. The light as well drops off quite rapidly. Assuming Sam brought some form of illumination, he'll see four roughly identical passages branching off of the back of the large hall he's walked through. They're marked with some sort of glyphs in the wall.

[Huts - Omiko]

The huts themselves appear to be simple affairs. Adobe brick with rush roofs, some remains of blankets hanging on the doors. As Omiko approaches she'll see past the dunes what appears to be a small natural oasis. Date palms, fig trees, and millet plants line the edge, appearing to have once long ago been cultivated. She can hear a wren calling somewhere in the trees.

[Recaiden]

[Huts]

Omiko walks slowly, stopping to rest in the shadow of one or another of the pillars several times.

But then she arrives at this cluster of huts, peering through the hanging blankets.

And what's this?
That wouldn't be a weirdly complicated heat mirage, would it?
She looks closely at the oasis to confirm its existence, and then heads that way.

[WarKitty]

[Huts]

The huts look very...hutish. Rough mats on the floor, small fire pits in the center, pots and straw woven chests. They look long abandoned but show no particular signs of struggle or hasty abandonment. Omika may get a definite sense of being watched, though. Things rustling without a wind to disturb them, slight movement out of the corner of her eye, vague sounds that could almost be footsteps.

As she starts towards the oasis she'll be stopped by a loud "Meow!" The meow belongs to a rough-looking reddish cat, of the Abyssinian type, standing about 2 feet off to the side.

[Deathkeeper]

Passages- Sam

Sam, finally freed from the wind, takes the time to put some of his outdoor gear into his bag. As expected, no coat hook. Cats must not need them. He takes out a gilded short-sword that lets off a glow for him to see by. He decides on the path second from the right.

[WarKitty]

[2nd Passage - Sam]

The passage Sam chooses has a carving of what appears to be a sun high in the sky at the entrance. After a few steps though, the floor bottoms out onto a sort of slick stone slide down. Unless Sam dodges, he's likely to find himself on his rump on the ground with no way back up.

[Deathkeeper]

2nd Passage

Oof. Sam tries to slide down on his feet but fails rather spectacularly, landing hard on his bottom. His sword snickers at him but refrains from saying anything to him directly.
Grumbling, Sam finds himself forced to advance forward. Well, he could just climb back up, but that would take way too long. If something chases him he'll come back.

[WarKitty]

[Noon Passage - Sam]

As Sam looks around he'll see that he appears to have landed in a treasure room. Snarling black stone statues of panthers in various poses are scattered around the room between piles of coins of various markings, gems, jewelry, and sundry other valuables. Sam himself seems to be on a path of smooth deep red marble leading forward.

[Deathkeeper]

Noon Passage

Sam's eyes go wide. Wow, who would have thought cats were so rich? Still, he's not about to steal anything while those guardian statues are staring at him like that. How does he know they're not gargoyles? Besides, everyone knows you don't steal treasure from ancient temples unless you have an escape plan.
Sam does not have an escape plan, he just wanted to visit the place.
So for now he advances, ignoring the treasure despite how much he really wants to fill his pockets.

[Recaiden]

Before moving on to the oasis, Omiko will look through the huts for a more-or-less intact pot, and carefully pick it up with her robot arm.

"Oh, hello there."
Omiko says in that 'talking-to-cats' voice everyone has, and see if it minds her getting closer.

A cat in a hidden place behind a giant cat statue gate is more than just a coincidence, though.

[WarKitty]

[Noon Passage]

The treasure passage seems to go on for a long ways. The path of red marble winds along the matte black floor, curving like a river. Eventually the red turns into purple and then into deep blue, as the piles of treasure fade away. The air grows cooler too, and sam will be able to hear rushing water. Instead of treasure, there are bunches of tall urns with figureheads along the sides. One of them is broken along the path, and some bones are on the floor spilling out of the pot.

[Huts]

Okimo can fairly quickly find an intact woven basket, with a few bits of what appear to be dates still scattered on the bottom. The cat does not at all mind her getting closer - in fact it starts winding around her legs and purring.

[Recaiden]

No sign of a struggle, but things forgotten, at least.

Now, with the cat acting in such a manner, Omiko pretty much has to stop and reach down to pet it.

[Deathkeeper]

[Noon Passage]

Sam stops to get a handkerchief from a pocket and gather some of the bones back into the pieces of the urn. He can't do much more for the poor soul besides that since he can't magically repair urns. Once that's done he'll continue down the path, careful to avoid stepping on anyone's remains.

[Earl of Purple]

Approaching from the Desert

Is a motorcycle! It's old, battered and has seen far better days. The tyres are old, worn and more patch than rubber. It looks like it's been built out of scrap; the saddle has been taken from an un-motorised bike, the wheels don't match, the engine doesn't entirely fit together properly, and there's a solar-powered garden light mounted on the fork, old rear view mirrors behind to direct a beam. A large saddlebag made from a rucksack with broken straps is behind the saddle. The rider isn't much better, wearing a faded blue plastic raincoat, dusty black cargo trousers with extra pockets sewn on, a pair of mismatched boots, and a yellow construction helmet. Their face is hidden behind a red bandanna and a pair of swimming goggles, to protect from dust and sun. Slung over their back is a battered brown satchel. Strapped to one leg is a machete, and a battered sawn-off shotgun with an axe blade mounted beneath the double barrels is holstered on the other. All that's visible is black skin on the forehead and hands and black dreadlocks sticking from under the helmet and falling halfway down their back.

They drive up and over the mound before turning and switching the light on, riding into the tunnel. It's loud, and not very subtle, especially with any echo.

[WarKitty]

[Huts]

The cat is happily petted. In fact, he seems rather disinclined to leave Omiko alone.

[Noon Passage]

Sam feels like something changes in the air as he scoops the bones back, but not sure what. As he proceeds along the path, he eventually comes to an underground river. There's a stone bridge over it, but also a small reed boat tethered to the shore and a pole next to it. Somewhere in the distance - perhaps downstream - Sam can smell a light, fresh mint smell.

[Mound Tunnel]

The tunnel goes a long, long ways down into the dark. The rider will have to drive carefully to avoid rats scurrying about, fallen bricks, drifted sand, and other debris. The tunnel slopes down far and curves and winds and branches as it does. The rider will hopefully realize at some point that they've driven into an underground maze.

[Deathkeeper]

[Noon Passage]

Well. Sam is big, isn't a great swimmer, and doesn't like stealing people's boats. So he decides against trying to use the small boat.
That means he continues on across the bridge, feeling that maybe he's gotten into a bit more than he bargained for on this one.

[WarKitty]

[Noon Passage]

As Sam crosses the bridge he notices the path beyond is now accompanied by a large channel of water next to it. After a while of walking he comes to a cavern that's open to the sky in a way that cannot possibly be natural. Inside is green and ringed with catnip, but filled with all sorts of varying herbs and spices - likely more than he can even recognize. The path itself ends at this large green space, although he can't see what's along all the edges.

[Earl of Purple]

Mound Tunnel

The rider does realise they've found an underground maze after about the third branch. They'll slow down a lot more, turning off the engine, and dismount to start pushing the bike. They were hoping for a simple underground chamber where they could camp for a while, but this tunnel is too long and complex. And they suspect they may be lost, since they might have missed a turning in the dark tunnel. They will keep going, trying to always take the right most fork and hoping. The solar garden light isn't actually connected to the bike's engine, so it remains on even with the engine off. It does make their travel slower and hopefully stealthier.

Good news is, there should be supplies down here. Rats have to eat something- and if they get really desperate, they could hunt the rats.

[Deathkeeper]

[Noon Passage]

Okay. Well.
They can't possibly expect him to just ignore that, can they?
Sam gets his tiny plant scissors and starts sampling the garden. He is careful to avoid taking too big a cut from anything that would damage the plant.
While doing so, he walks around the garden and its perimeter. If there's no other path here he'll have to find another path. Of which there are few, unless he wants to spider-climb back up the slide.

[Recaiden]

"Ya probably don't get a lot of visitors out here, huh? How 'bout you come along to the oasis?"
Omiko asks the cat, just showering it with affection for now.

If all you find at the mysterious cat ruins is a cat, well, that's pretty good.

[WarKitty]

[Mound Tunnel]

The rider will eventually stumble on a wide open space. There's a single large stone slab in the center, surrounded by runes.

[Huts]

The cat chirps a little and runs off towards the oasis. After a few minutes it pops back up and drops a small desert mouse on Omiko's feet.

[Noon Passage]

The garden is quite big, actually, but Sam eventually finds a large wooden shed in the middle of it.

[Deathkeeper]

[Noon Passage]

Well, maybe Sam can talk to someone who isn’t entombed in a small vessel. He knocks on the door of the oddly preserved wooden structure. Supplies or gardener’s hut?

[Recaiden]

Omiko trudges along in the same direction as the cat, headed for the oasis.
I think she won't quite have made it there by the time the cat gets back.

"Aww, how sweet."
She does the grateful thing and leans down to get the mouse and gobble it up.
Not the worst food, really.

[Earl of Purple]

Mound Tunnel

The rider stops in the chamber and looks around. The runes don't mean anything to the rider, but the slab... That's handy. The rider pulls the bandanna down their face, revealing a feminine face with large lips and a crooked nose. She kicks down the bike's stand and props it up, before opening the saddle bag and removing a tin. The label's fallen off, so she doesn't know what's inside as she puts it on the slab and grabs a can-opener and starts to open it.

The can turns out to be filled with pineapple rings, and she'll sit on the slab with her shotgun-axe next to her as she fishes the pineapple out of the tin with a fancy silver spoon.