LXXI. Thutep's Pride

The adventurers turned back toward the hallway through which they had entered the room. To the left of the entrance, barely visible in the dim illumination, stood a hulking figure. It towered over the adventurers. Ancient, weathered funerary windings hid an ancient, desiccated countenance. Ancient symbols like those engraved on the walls of the chamber were inscribed upon the figure as well.

The party knew they were facing a hunefer, a being of terrible power: Thutep, King of Khemri, undead, roused from his tomb, intent on their destruction.

But the adventurers had little time to wonder who, or what, opposed them, for suddenly they all found themselves facing their worst enemies. Lina recognized the effect: the weird spell! Bravely, each one faced down the terror that faced him (or her). It was not enough, though. Green Arrow, Lina and Aloysius all felt a horrible despair at the thought of confronting the huge undead foe. They stood rooted in place, unable to take any effective action.

Edward, thanks to the special ability of his sword, recognized and understood the Old Oeridian language, which he recognized as the same speech used by the mummy guards. He was unaffected by the hunefer’s despair. His slam attack was another matter. The brave paladin took heavy damage from the being, which then sprang back away from his foe. Edward pursued and swung with the full power of Hieroneus, hacking at the hunefer, slicing into its undead, mummified flesh. But Thutep in turn landed an opportune blow on the paladin as it came into range of its long arm.

The paladin was dismayed to witness the wounds he had just inflicted begin to close up on their own. He was further dismayed as the hunefer launched a devastating attack, then sprung back again, out of reach.

And suddenly, Edward felt the irresistible urge to dance. He began to skip and jump in place. His sword and shield were useless.

"Not as simple as a roomful of mere mummies, is it?" gloated Thutep as he maneuvered, readying an attack. "Perhaps you should leave now and cease disturbing my rest." Green Arrow, Lina and Aloysius had no response. Edward could only keep dancing.

"Well?" demanded Thutep, as he continued to regenerate. "I await your answer!" Again, no response. But now, Green Arrow seemed to recover his courage. He drew his bow and fired five arrows–at Edward! The arrows of cure moderate wounds healed much of the damage Thutep had inflicted on the paladin. The elven archer then rushed toward Edward, stopping behind a large brazier. As he reached the brazier, he felt his life-force under attack from some unknown quarter. Fortunately, his scarab absorbed the attack.

Lina likewise regained her composure. She shapechanged into a stone golem, then defensively cast true seeing, hoping to gain a better understanding of the foe they faced. From behind her, Aloysius cast mass conviction on all the adventurers. All felt braver and more able to resist their foe.

Again, Thutep sprang forward to batter Edward, then sprung back out of reach of his sword. Again, Green Arrow’s arrows healed some of the damage to the paladin.

In stone golem form, Lina cast assay spell resistance, seeking to determine how strong Thutep was against her magic. She then pointed a finger at the hunefer, and a meteor swarm sped to a spot behind the being. Incredibly, it had no effect! Meanwhile, Aloysius hid behind her, and from that position of safety, cast freedom of movement on the sorcerer/golem, in the event that the hunefer should somehow attempt to bind his ally.

Swiftly, Edward cast find the gap, hoping to land a blow against Thutep more easily. "Hieroneous, hear my prayer! Smite the monster!" the paladin cried, then advanced and swung with full power. To his astonishment, his patron deity did not hear his prayer, for his blow missed the hunefer.

Now Thutep gestured at the elven archer. Instantly, Green Arrow was blasted by force missiles, taking serious damage. The undead king stepped toward Edward and slammed the paladin twice, severely wounding him, even as he himself continued to regenerate.

Green Arrow held up, awaiting Edward’s next move. Lina directed a polar ray at Thutep, but the icy blast failed to strike its mark. Aloysius sought to assist Green Arrow’s attacks by casting true seeing on the elven archer.

But instead of seeing more clearly, Green Arrow suddenly found that he could not see at all. He was totally blind! A word of power from somewhere–likely Thutep–had deprived him of all sight.

Edward seized his chance to launch a full attack on the hunefer, now within range. Haste and find the gap aided his attacks. Three of his blows landed on the undead king. Or so he thought! None of the blows did any actual damage, only seeming to strike a target that was not actually there! "Displacement?" thought the paladin in dismay. And even worse, he felt his strength under attack from the effects of his assault on the hunefer. He managed to shake off the attacks, but with difficulty.

The undead king gestured toward the adventurers and uttered mystic syllables. Edward’s mass conviction instantly disappeared. Lina’s stone golem form was suppressed, and she reverted to her natural form.

Green Arrow and Aloysius held, one due to blindness, the other for want of an effective action to take. Lina retreated behind Edward, and defensively cast true seeing on the paladin. Now Edward was able to land blows effectively, no longer deceived by magic. Two mighty blows from the paladin’s sword inflicted massive damage on the hunefer!

Heavily wounded, yet still regenerating, Thutep paused, watching Green Arrow. The blinded archer gestured and muttered words of power, and four mirror images appeared around him. Only to disappear as Thutep’s greater dispel magic took effect. Edward found himself deprived of find the gap, as Lina did of her freedom of movement.

And then Lina’s mass conviction was dispelled as well! The adventurers were shocked. How could Thutep possibly cast so many spells and still be able to attack in melee?

Another polar ray from Lina missed its mark. Aloysius managed to replace the dispelled mass conviction with another instance of the spell.

Emboldened, Edward swung at the hunefer again. Two devastating blows slashed Thutep. The hunefer was now evidently in serious danger.

Still blind, Green Arrow quaffed a potion of invisibility, hoping to protect himself from further targeted attacks. He also cast shield on himself. To no avail. A blast of negative energy struck the elven archer. His scarab crumbled into dust, and he felt his life force being drained from him.

Suddenly, the undead king vanished. Lina, who had been preparing a dimensional anchor spell to cast on the hunefer, was left frustrated.

Aloysius saw Green Arrow’s distress. "Negative energy," the elven archer said in a croaking voice. "Took out my scarab." The cleric quickly cast death ward on his fellow adventurer. "This should protect you from another attack," he assured Green Arrow. "I hope you’re right," answered the archer. "I can’t understand how that mummy can cast so many spells." Aloysius was baffled as well; such matters were far beyond his skill.

The cleric’s action prompted Edward to do likewise. Warded, he went to Green Arrow’s side and offered a potion. "Quaff this," he told the archer. "You need to get your sight back." Green Arrow gladly accepted the remove blindness potion and downed it. Immediately, his vision was restored.

"Now to help you regain your life-force," said Aloysius. The cleric began to cast the restoration spell, a lengthy process. While he worked on Green Arrow, Edward retrieved his wand of cure critical wounds, and healed himself of some of the damage he had taken.

The cleric continued his restorative magic. Green Arrow, in the meantime, quaffed a potion of cure critical wounds to help speed his recovery.

Lina was curious about the sarcophagus. She went to the granite block and began to search its interior, looking for anything of value, materially or for information pertinent to her quest. Edward directed his attention to the granite sculpture of the beautiful woman. Something about it seemed to resonate with him. Had he seen this woman before?

He realized with a start that the woman bore a striking resemblance to Neferata! "But that would stand to reason," he thought to himself. "She was Thutep’s queen, after all." Thutep’s queen–Thutep’s pride? "Of course!" That was what the vision had meant about "guarding Thutep’s pride"! The paladin pointed to the statue and told Lina his observation.

Green Arrow waited for Aloysius to complete the casting of the restoration spell. He felt his life-energy level return to normal. "My thanks, my good cleric," he acknowledged. Assuming a defensive stance, the archer awaited further developments. Surely the undead king had not simply abandoned his own inner sanctum?

As the elven archer was restored to full vigor, Lina focused her attention on the sculpture. Acting on a hunch, she cast true seeing. Instantly, she perceived the truth: the "sculpture" was no sculpture at all!

"That’s a woman!" exclaimed Lina. "Or actually, a woman’s mummy!" The woman–the mummy–appeared to be under some spell. "It must be Neferata herself, trapped in the form of a sculpture!" Lina concluded. "Edward! See if she’s under some evil spell!" The paladin quickly detected for evil. "There’s no evil there!" he cried, as puzzled as Lina.

The two adventurers were not given time to ponder the matter further. From the entrance hallway, Thutep burst into the chamber, many of his previous wounds now closed. Edward noticed that there was an emanation of evil coming from the undead king. Strong evil.

The mighty undead king pronounced words of tremendous power, focusing on Green Arrow. The spell’s force began to build. Lina, without hesitation, cast dimensional anchor on Thutep, intending to prevent him from escaping again as he apparently had previously.

Aloysius had been listening to Lina and Edward as they spoke of Neferata, enspelled and trapped as a statue. He thought to free her from her prison. Invoking his patron deity, he cast remove curse on the woman’s mummy.

To no effect. Neferata remained as she appeared.

Green Arrow could sense the build-up of magical forces against him. "If he gets that spell off, it’ll do me in," he realized. Instinctively, he reached for his ring of three wishes, now reduced to two wishes. He thrust his finger into the ring. "I wish to be ethereal when Thutep’s spell goes off!" he declared. Immediately he began to fade.

Not a moment too soon. Just as he vanished into the ethereal plane, Thutep completed his spell. But although the hunefer could see into the ethereal plane, his spell could not reach targets there! He bellowed in frustration as the spell fizzled for want of a target. Green Arrow’s mirror images disappeared as well.

Lina attempted to identify the spell. She was completely baffled: she had never seen a spell like it before. All she could tell was that it was immensely powerful and would do tremendous damage to anything it struck. She then turned to Neferata, determined to identify what was holding the ancient queen in place. But she was astonished at what her analyze dweomer spell revealed: Neferata was actually concealed by a veil spell, crafted to make her appear to be a stone sculpture! And she was heavily buffed with a large number of other spells.

What was going on here?

Edward was not inclined to wait for Lina’s magical analysis. He swung a tremendous blow at Thutep. The undead king shrieked as the epic weapon slashed through his mummified form. He was confident that his next blows would would put an end to his foe, even though it appeared that his attacks were doing much less damage than usual. The mighty paladin raised his weapon, poised to deliver the next slashing attack.

"STOP!" A commanding voice called out in Old Oeridian. "Slay him not! Name your price!"

The adventurers turned their attention to the source of the command. Edward halted his stroke in mid-air.

Neferata rose from her granite throne. No longer veiled, the mummy queen was resplendent in ancient, if tattered, garments over her linen wrappings. One of those garments appeared to be a shirt-like vestment of some kind. Her death mask remained in place, as beautiful as she had been in life. She rushed between Edward and Thutep and raised her hand toward Edward’s weapon in a gesture of forbiddance.

Edward was at a loss for words. He stepped back from the imposing presence of the mummy queen. Turning to Lina, he asked, "Lina, what are we here for again?"

"The vest!" the golem-sorcerer replied, urgently.

The paladin turned back to Neferata. "We have come for the vest of the archmagi," he began. "A vision led us here, through more obstacles than even I expected. The vision referred to "Thutep’s pride". Now I understand what it meant." He nodded slightly to the mummy queen. "Yield up the vest to us, and we will depart."

"Do not do it, my dear!" Thutep urged, battling to remain standing after Edward’s staggering assault. "It is far too powerful for the mortal world!"

Neferata stood in silent thought, pondering her course of action. She stepped back next to Thutep, embracing him. She looked up into his eyes. "I cannot let them destroy you, my beloved," she said. "They seem to be too powerful even for my magic. We might defeat some of them, but I am not assured that we can prevail against them all before we fall. That cannot happen."

"So it was you that cast so many of the spells we thought came from Thutep?" said Edward. "It was," confirmed Neferata.

She then addressed the stone golem in the room. "Golem, reveal yourself!" she commanded. And Lina reverted to her normal form, as if compelled by the queen’s voice without understanding the language she spoke. Neferata then addressed the sorcerer.

"If I yield up what you seek, will you leave, never return, and never reveal this place?" she asked Lina.  Edward translated for her.

"OK," agreed Lina. "But this place was so hard for us to find, nobody else will!"

Having received the adventurers’ promise, Neferata doffed her royal garments. Underneath, the vest of the archmagi was visible. She removed the vest, slowly, gently, then turned the garment over to Lina. Lina bowed to the queen as she accepted the vest, the object of her, and the party’s, long efforts.

"But before we leave," added Edward, "I for one have to hear your story. Will you tell it to us?"

To this request Neferata agreed. As Edward translated, she told the adventurers of the Kingdom of Khemri, ancient even in the days of the old Suel Empire which lay far to the northeast. "During the centuries of my beloved’s reign, Khemri rose to peaks of power and glory that were envied even by the Suel. But that was only to be expected of the rule of a godling in the form of a human," she recounted proudly. "And I grew with him, until my magic powers exceeded all others.

"Alas, towards the end of his reign, the people became defiant, even rebellious," she continued. "The king was able to maintain order while his life lasted. But at length, he ended."

"We have learned that his reign was one of brutality, and evil," Lina pointed out. "His aura is of evil," Edward added. "Evil?" retorted Neferata, displeased with the adventurers’ impudent observations. "He did what was necessary to preserve the rule of law!"

"No offense intended," said Lina, regretting her indiscrete statements. Edward kept further comments to himself.

"As I said," Neferata continued, ignoring Lina’s attempted apology, "my beloved ended. He was laid to rest in this chamber, in the pyramid he had ordered built for himself, greatest of all pyramids, greatest and most securely guarded against the impious. But so mighty was his spirit that it returned to re-animate his body." She released her king and gestured around the chamber, as if trying to embrace the entirety of the pyramid. "I soon followed him, leaving our son and heir to continue our rule. My beloved chose to remain here, slowly to regain the powers he had lost in death, until the world has changed and the time is right for his return. I found my rest in my own chamber."

"But what happened to Khemri?" inquired Lina, fascinated by Neferata’s tale. "The land has been almost entirely forgotten!"

"Sadly, within a century of our reign, the land succumbed to civil strife," Neferata explained, without mentioning how she was aware of events in her former land. "The capitol was reduced to ruins, and the kingdom soon thereafter was lost." She sighed, as if remembering the days of her life and power. "The Invoked Devastation subsequently caused the land of Khemri to sink into a deep depression, destroying many of the cities of the kingdom. Over the following centuries, sand blew into the depression, burying all the land. Except, it seems," she added, "the very tip of this pyramid. Which your vision and your research have led you to discover."

The adventurers stood, raptly attending to the queen’s discourse. She looked inquiringly at the party, awaiting further questioning. "What about your mask?" asked Lina. "It appeared in my vision. Was it special in some way?"

"No, I must disappoint you," said Neferata. "It was merely a death mask, of high quality, but nothing more."

Green Arrow suddenly returned from the ethereal plane, to which he had wished himself, and spoke up. "I felt Thutep’s power building against me. What was the spell he was preparing?"

"That," said Thutep, before Neferata could answer, "is not yours to know." And that was all the answer Green Arrow would get.

With the party standing silently, Neferata concluded, "If you have taken what you sought, and you have no more questions, then you have our leave to depart." The adventurers took the queen’s statement as a dismissal. They bowed to the ancient ones, then withdrew toward the entrance to the chamber.

"Link up!" said Edward. The party joined hands, and Edward teleported them all back to Enterprise headquarters in Greyhawk.

"Well, we’d better report on our recent activities," said Green Arrow.

"Yes, but only as much as we can," replied Edward. "Some things will have to remain, shall we say, ancient history."

LXX. Through the Wind Tunnel

"Where did Edward disappear to?" asked Lina, semi-rhetorically. She had a suspicion that the paladin had teleported himself to a safe location for removing the chaotic damage that he too had suffered from the black slaad. 

"Let’s wait a while and see if he comes back," suggested Green Arrow. "I expect he’ll be back before long. In any event, I don’t want to go any further without his sword ahead of me!"

After about half an hour, the mighty paladin suddenly re-appeared. "Well, you look none the worse for wear," observed Lina. "So how are things back in Greyhawk? That is where you ran off to, isn’t it?"

"Indeed it is," answered Edward. "I had to find some way to remove the effects of that slaad. A few more minutes and it would have done me it."

"Well, we managed to survive without you," observed Green Arrow. "And here I thought everybody had a ring of three wishes!"

Lina and Green Arrow informed Edward of the final events in their battle against the mummies. "I don’t think we can carry all these weapons and armor," he replied. The others nodded. "Just take the stuff that’s easy to carry. Leave the rest," said Green Arrow.

The adventurers searched the chamber and found nothing more of value. At the far side of the room, they noted a dark passage, twenty feet high, fifteen feet wide at the bottom and tapering upward to ten feet wide. It appeared, as they best could tell, to slope steeply upward. "This gallery is even bigger than the last one," noted Lina. "Could call it a "grand" gallery."

"Looks like it’s the way forward," said Edward. Green Arrow agreed. Seeing the darkness of the ascending gallery, the elven archer cast light on Edward’s sword. "We’ll need that," he noted. "Not everybody has darkvision," he added, chuckling.

And so the party approached the entrance to the Grand Gallery. They could see that the walls of the gallery were of polished granite, and that the gallery sloped upward at about a thirty degree angle–much steeper than the previous galleries and passages. The adventurers entered, Edward leading, Aloysius trailing.

They had advanced about twenty feet into the gallery when they were suddenly driven back by a blast of wind. "A wind tunnel," said Lina. "Must be trapped with gust of wind." In response, Edward cast enlarge on himself, assuming large size. "Won’t blow me around now," he declared. Green Arrow held on to Edward, while Aloysius held on to Lina, who was still in solar form. They again proceeded upward into the gallery, still moving into the wind.

Until at thirty feet, Edward suddenly shrunk back to normal size, and the entire party was again driven back by heavy winds. "What just happened?" demanded the paladin. Lina thought for a moment, then answered, "Something must have dispelled your enlarge. Obviously, this gallery is heavily trapped." The sorcerer again pondered her next move. "Let’s try this," she then suggested. "Link up together. I’ll cast dimension door and move us up the gallery. With any luck, we’ll get past these traps."

"Or land in another one," said Aloysius gloomily, from behind the sorcerer.

"Confidence, Aloysius, confidence!" said Edward. With that, the party joined together, and Lina cast her spell. The adventurers suddenly advanced about sixty feet up the gallery. Immediately, Lina cast detect magic to determine if any other defensive spells or other problems were in place. What she found was disturbing.

"There are walls of dispel magic every thirty feet along this gallery," she reported. "And at the far end, there’s a prismatic wall!"

"Oh, that’s great," said Edward. "How are we going to get through that?

"Let me think," said Lina. In solar form, she was immune to some of the damaging effects of a prismatic wall. The others would have to be accounted for.

Quickly, the sorcerer cast dimensional anchor on herself. She next quaffed a potion of neutralize poison. Then she turned to Aloysius. "Can you cast protection from energy on me?" she asked. "Electricity version?" The cleric was ready and able to do so. Lina was now suitably protected against the prismatic wall.

Unfortunately, that protection did not extend to the rest of the party. Another answer was needed.

Lina again thought about the problem. This time, her spellcraft provided the answer.

"We can dimension door through a prismatic wall!" she declared.

"You’re sure of that?" asked Edward, skeptically. "I’d rather not end up on another plane and dead four different ways, thank you very much!"

"I’m sure," replied Lina. After some discussion, the rest of the adventurers agreed to risk her plan. They gathered together, arms linked. Lina cast her spell . . . .

And the party was transported past the prismatic wall, and into a totally dark room, and apparently a large one.

Edward cast daylight, then touched the nearest wall. The room lit up to reveal an ominous sight.

Two gigantic statues, about thirty feet tall, guarded the room. They were in the form of jackal-headed humanoids, shiny black, with waist wraps of gold and blue and similarly-patterened nemes headdresses.

Without hesitation, Edward rushed at the second statue, swinging with full power. His mighty sword clanged against the statue, doing superficial damage. Green Arrow loosed a barrage of arrows at the same statue. Four arrows struck the statue, but bounced off and fell to the ground, doing no damage.

The statues suddenly animated. The first statue slammed Lina with a mighty blow that almost killed the sorcerer due to massive damage, even in her solar form! The second struck back at Edward. Two slams almost crippled the paladin.

Lina thought desperately, trying to identify their foes. The knowledge came to her.

"We’ve got trouble!" she called out to the party. "These are adamantium golems! They’re incredibly strong! And hard to hit!" She then cast mirror image on herself. Ten more Linas appeared. "Safety in numbers!" she cried. Behind her, Aloysius tried to hide.

Edward realized that these foes were beyond their current abilities. He returned to the group. The second golem slammed him as he fled, dealing incredible damage that, again, almost killed the paladin outright. "Let’s get out of here!" he shouted. He linked up with the rest of the group and teleported the party out of the pyramid. They re-appeared back at the Enterprise’s headquarters in Greyhawk, thwarted for the time being.

At headquarters, Edward and Lina rested and recovered from their wounds. All the adventurers realized that they needed more powerful spells, and improved weapons, to have any chance against two adamantium golems. It took a week of searching, and expenditure of almost one million gold pieces, to complete their upgrades and acquire the necessary spells.

The adventurers were ready. Lina made use of newly-acquired scrolls of the ironguard spell to protect all of the party. She also cast greater invisibility on the adventurers and herself. Edward cast daylight on a rock and pocketed it. "Are we ready?" he asked. The other party members indicated they were ready to go. Again, they linked arms, and Edward teleported the group back into the chamber at the top of the Grand Gallery.

This time, the jackal-headed statues were unprepared for the adventurers’ arrival. Immediately on arrival, Edward threw the rock into the center of the room, illuminating the chamber, then rushed toward the nearer of the two golems. He swung at the statue, then swung again, and again. Five times he swung, and five times he struck metal, doing incredible damage. The statue fell to pieces under the fury of the paladin’s attack.

The other golem moved to attack Edward, but amazingly, its attack failed to make contact as the mighty paladin avoided its slam.

As the rest of the party stood back and watched, Edward turned his attention to the remaining golem. Another storm of blows demolished the second golem as well. It crashed to ruin with a heavy clang.

"I think I made a worthwhile investment in upgrading this sword," observed Edward as he examined the scrap metal that just a moment before constituted two adamantium golems.

"But now what do we do?" asked Green Arrow. "Look around this room. Do you see any exits, other than the way we came in?" And it was true: no second exit was apparent. No secret doors could be found, even by the keen eyes of the elven archer.

"If there are no exits in these walls, then maybe one has to go through a wall," said Lina. With that, she shapechanged again, now taking the form of a greater earth elemental. The elemental’s earthglide power she put to immediate use. She chose a spot on the wall opposite that through which the adventurers had previously entered the chamber from the Grand Gallery.

As the rest of the party watched, the clever sorcerer passed through the wall at the selected spot. Briefly, she saw a small hallway that connected to a large, dark room. Then there was a sudden flash.

When her vision cleared, Lina saw herself in a snowy mountain valley in the midst of a blizzard!

"What . . . ?" the sorcerer cried out, suddenly shivering in the intense cold of the blizzard. Obviously, some trap had transported her somewhere far away from the desert of Himm. But where?

Lina took a few moments to formulate a plan of action. First, she tried to banish herself. To no effect. "So, that rules out an alternate plane. I must still be on my home plane," she said to herself. She promptly shapechanged again, back to solar form. Then she teleported back to the chamber where the rest of the party awaited her return. Only a short time had elapsed.

"There’s a hallway on the other side of this wall," said Lina, pointing to the wall at the spot where she had first passed through. "It’s clobbering time!" replied Edward. Drawing his hammer of thunderbolts, he began to pound on the wall. After about a minute, the wall had yielded sufficiently to his assault that a passageway wide enough to enter was created. "There’s a teleportation trap in that hallway," warned Lina. "At least one teleportation circle, I think." She attempted to dispose of the circles using a greater dispel magic spell, but the traps proved resistant. It was only by recourse to another dimension door spell that the party were able to pass through the hallway.

The adventurers found themselves in a huge room, about sixty feet square and thirty feet high. Edward’s stone cast sufficient light to partially illuminate the room. The party could see that the walls of the room were lined with polished marble carved with scenes from what appeared to be the history of the land of Khemri. Against the western wall of the room, opposite their point of entry, was a carved granite throne, on which was seated a granite sculpture of a beautiful woman, royally garbed.

But the party’s attention was quickly drawn to the center of the room. A huge granite sarcophagus, elaborately carved, stood alone. Its lid was open. Inside the sarcophagus was a mummy’s coffin, heavily adorned with gold, jewels, lapis, onyx and other precious materials. Its lid too was open.

The adventurers cautiously approached the open sarcophagus. Edward reached the structure first, and looked in carefully.

"It’s empty!" he cried out.

From behind the party, a voice rang out. "Welcome," the voice intoned in Old Oeridian, in a voice like a graveyard. "You have defeated my guardians. Now let us see if you can defeat me!"

LXIX. Into the Pyramid

Lina thought for a moment. "I’ve got it!" she cried. "I can change into something that can burrow into the sand! See how far down this thing goes." With that, she shapechanged into a huge brass dragon and began digging down. She spiraled downward, crawling along the sides of the pyramid, looking for some kind of opening. About two hundred feet down, she found a notch on the western side of the pyramid. There did not appear to be any easy opening, however. She kept burrowing and burrowing.

At about four hundred fifty feet below desert level, the pressure was starting to get to Lina. She didn’t know how much further down the pyramid extended. But then, on the east side, she located a second notch. This one was considerably larger than the west side notch, about ten by ten feet. More importantly, the notch was covered by a wall of force!

Ho! What have we here! Lina thought to herself. Let’s see what’s inside. With that, she cast light on one of her claws, and used it to illuminate the entrance. She could see a downward-sloping passage from a small entrance room that seemed to narrow from ten feet to about six fee wide, before disappearing into the darkness.

Fixing the location of the entrance room in her mind, Lina burrowed back up to the surface. After the exhausting exploration, she needed to catch her breath, but finally announced her discovery to the rest of the party. "We can teleport into the entrance room," she proposed, "and then see where things lead!" The rest of the party agreed.

The adventurers successfully teleported into the entrance room. They formed up single-file, then proceeded to enter the narrow passage. The passage sloped downward at a steep angle of about thirty degrees. After about one hundred feet, they reached a junction where another passage sloped upward, while the original passage continued downward. They decided to go upward. The ascending passage extended upward, with no light sources other than those borne by the party, into the darkness, again at a thirty-degree angle. Edward cast light on his sword, providing some light to the party.

As the party entered the ascending passage, suddenly they began to retch and cough. "Trap!" shouted Green Arrow. A stinking cloud permeated the ascending passage. Edward and Green Arrow seemed not to be debilitated by the foul vapors, but Lina and Aloysius gagged, nauseated by the fumes. Lina was able to shapechange into vampire form, which was unaffected by the cloud. The cleric remained nauseated.

"Let’s keep going!" Edward encouraged the group. "The sooner we get out of this cloud, the better!" The adventurers climbed the ascending passage as best they could, Aloysius retching all the way.

Finally, after about one hundred thirty feet of ascent, the party reached another landing. This was a very large hall, about sixty-five feet long, thirty feet wide and twenty feet high. The adventurers spotted a horizontal passage at the south side of the hall, which appeared to extend further to the west into the pyramid. In the center of the west wall of the hall, they could see a high, wide gallery that reached upward and to the west.

But between them and the gallery, they also found themselves confronting the guardians of the hall: two squads of mummies, one armed with guisarmes, the other with heavy flails, all led by a formidable-looking mummy lord! They seemed to be expecting the party.

Combat commenced!

A blast of mental force assailed the party–Edward had somehow triggered a symbol. Green Arrow shook off the assault. Edward himself proved immune. But the mere sight of the waiting mummies were frightening enough to stop Lina and Aloysius in their tracks, paralyzed, as well as nauseated by the symbol!

Green Arrow got off the first shots, piercing the captain of the squad of mummies with guisarmes. The captain appeared to be seriously damaged but not incapacitated.

Then the mummy lord spoke words of power, gesturing toward the party. Suddenly a shimmering wall of some unknown type appeared, blocking the party’s advance and extending almost to the ceiling of the room, stopping just short.

Edward quaffed a potion of enlarge, hoping the extra size would make it easier to defeat the undead guards. Said undead guards advanced five feet toward the wall, then assumed defensive stances.

Green Arrow’s spellcraft was sufficient to reveal the secret of the wall–it was a wall of greater dispel magic. "We have a problem," Green Arrow advised Edward, telling him what he had discovered. The elven archer then cast shield on himself, and withdrew back into the entrance corridor, taking the paralyzed Aloysius with him.

The mummy lord spoke more words of power. Instantly, a gate opened, and a large insectile creature appeared. A thorciasid! The creature rushed to the ceiling of the chamber, climbed over the top of the wall, and struck Edward with its antenna. Edward felt his vitality under attack, but the scarab of protection he wore absorbed the attack. The creature then sprang back into the chamber, landing behind the mummy lord.

Not another of these things, thought Edward to himself. He cast death ward on himself, then backed up toward Green Arrow in the corridor.

The mummy guards advanced again toward the wall.

Green Arrow held up, waiting for the thorciasid to act. Suddenly a mighty noise, like a huge lion’s roar, blasted the adventurers with its sonic might. The mummy lord spoke, in an ancient language that the party didn’t understand. It seemed like an order of some kind.

The thorciasid took this opportunity to rush forward again, and again the monstrous insect struck Edward, this time with a forelimb. Edward staggered as the creature drained him of strength, dexterity and constitution. But Green Arrow was ready, and struck the creature with a greater death arrow! The thorciasid took serious damage. Unfortunately, it proved too hardy to bring down, even with a death arrow.

Edward’s troubles weren’t over yet. The mummies swarmed to attack him, and the two leaders of the mummy fighters, armed with guisarme and flail, both attacked the mighty paladin, and were able to both trip and disarm him! But Green Arrow immediately ran up to Edward, picked up his sword, and took up a defensive position behind him.

The mummy lord again spoke, in the unknown language.

Again the thorciasid attacked Edward. This time the creature attempted to spew a viscous, adhesive substance at the paladin, attempting to cocoon him. The gluey material found its mark, but amazingly, Edward was able to escape from the cocoon before it could harden around him! He immediately teleported back into the corridor, taking Green Arrow and Lina with him. Once safely away from the monstrous insect, Edward recovered his sword from the elven archer.

Her courage suddenly returned, Lina now tried to cast greater dispel magic. To her surprise, the mummy lord dispelled her spell! Once again, the mummy lord shouted what sounded like an order in the unknown language.

Edward restored his lost strength. And from the entrance corridor, Aloysius at last found his courage and calmed his stomach enough to cast mass conviction on the adventurers, making them better able to resist the enemy’s magic.

Both forces now regarded each other, holding their positions. Lina tried to dispel the wall, but failed. Edward cast find the gap on himself. The enemy was now going to feel the bite of his sword! Aloysius, seeing that he was vastly outclassed by the rest of the combatants, hid himself in the corridor.

But now Green Arrow, with Edward and Lina, teleported into the gallery, behind the mummy lord and the thorciasid. They found themselves in a very windy environment! Lina quickly shapechanged into a dread wraith, which had the additional benefit of not being affected by the wind. She assayed the insect’s spell resistance, then landed Otto’s irresistible dance on the creature. Edward followed up by landing a flurry of sword blows on the hapless insect.

Suddenly, Lina began to cower from the sight of the mummy lord. She had been rebuked by the mummy! Green Arrow and Edward continued their assault on the dancing thorciasid. The other guards held their positions, while Aloysius continued to hide. The mummy lord attempted to dispel the dancing compulsion on the thorciasid, but failed, allowing Green Arrow to dispatch the creature with a lethal barrage of arrows.

A wall of fire suddenly appeared in the gallery, conjured by Edward. The mummy lord and his guards were now boxed in by two different walls. But then something else appeared. The mummy lord shouted in his native tongue, still not understood by the adventurers. Then an area of space seemed to open up, and a dark, hulking figure strode through. A black slaad!

Edward, recalling one of the functions of his sword, used it to cast tongues, then called out to the mummy lord, "Why do you fight?" The mummy lord did not reply. The slaad, however, had an answer for Edward: a stream of chaos spittle that seriously damaged the paladin and continued to do damage as the battle continued. Green Arrow, having held up for Edward, then teleported both of them to Aloysius’ location.

"Intruders and thieves must leave this place or die!" the mummy lord replied to Edward, who could now understand its response. The mummy lord then cast protection from good on himself as further defense against the mighty paladin. The paladin, however, found himself suffering continuing damage from the chaos spittle of the black slaad, and even his attempts to lay hands upon himself did not fully restore the damage being inflicted. Aloysius managed to restore some of Edward’s lost constitution, though.

The captain of one of the units of mummy guards suddenly fell, destroyed by an arrow of death from Green Arrow. The mummy lord called out to the black slaad, "The female is your enemy!" The slaad promptly turned its attention to Lina, now trapped between it and the wall of fire. It landed a heavy blow on the cowering caster. Meanwhile, Edward and Green Arrow both cast fly on themselves, then moved back into the entrance corridor where Aloysius still remained hiding.

"Deal with the one in the corridor!" the mummy lord cried out to the slaad, indicating Edward. The black slaad, now standing behind the mummy lord, spit again at the paladin. This time the chaotic creature missed. Edward teleported beyond the wall of force and into the presence of the black slaad. But now he was exposed to the attacks of the mummy guards. Four guisarmes landed serious blows on the paladin. "Fear not, Edward!" responded Green Arrow, who proceeded to shoot the paladin with three arrows of cure critical wounds. "Thanks, I needed that!" said Edward.

The mummy lord pointed a bony finger at Edward. The paladin felt a moment of weakness, as if something were attempting to drain his life force. But the power of the death ward spell blocked the mummy lord’s attack. Unfortunately, the black slaad’s full attack was not so easily defeated. Tongue and claw attacks devastated the valiant paladin with chaotic power. He had no power that could resist the slaad’s chaotic attacks. There was only one thing to do. Edward suddenly disappeared.

Green Arrow only briefly wondered at Edward’s unexpected withdrawal from battle, but quickly turned his attention to firing arrows of cure critical wounds at the mummy lord. The undead lord took significant damage from the elven archer’s barrage, but blasted him with a wand of lightning bolts in return. The black slaad suddenly took flight.

Suddenly, a fearsome form materialized in the chamber. Lina had shapechanged into a huge red dragon. In dragon form, the sorcerer breathed fire at the tomb guards. The skeletal creatures charred, but to Lina’s surprise, they remained standing.

Another flight of arrows flew from Green Arrow’s bow. But this barrage failed to so much as scratch the mummy lord.

The mummy guards held their places as their lord pointed his finger at Green Arrow. A bolt of black energy flew toward the elven archer, but was absorbed by his scarab! Meanwhile, the black slaad launched another spittle attack against Lina, inflicting heavy chaotic damage on the sorcerer. In return, Lina sent a meteor swarm into the massed mummy guards. All but two of the remaining guards bearing guisarmes were blasted into oblivion. The second squad were severely damaged by the explosions.

Green Arrow realized that stronger measures would be required to deal with the slaad. He lowered his bow, then pulled out a ring and placed it on his finger. "I wish this black slaad before us back to its home plane!" he pronounced. And with a clap of thunder, the slaad suddenly disappeared, banished back to the plane of Pandemonium. "Well done!" Lina cried.

The mummy guards still standing began to regroup. Only four were left to defend their lord. But the mummy lord spoke mystical syllables, and waved his arms above his head. In response a gate opened. From out of the gate emerged a torrent of smoke. The smoke quickly took shape as a huge, vaguely humanoid form. A smoke monolith! "Destroy her!" hissed the mummy lord, pointing at Lina. The smoke monster immediately flew toward the sorcerer and engulfed her. Although she resisted the creature valiantly, she was unable to resist the effects of smoke inhalation, and began to choke and cough violently.

But fresh from his banishment of the black slaad, Green Arrow now drew his bow. "Now it’s your turn!" he warned the mummy lord. Five arrows of greater undead slaying flew from his bow in rapid succession. Only one hit the target. That one arrow, however, proved sufficient. The mummy lord shrieked, then collapses into a pile of moldering linen strips and shattered bone as the arrow ended its un-life. As its summoner fell, so the smoke monolith was sent back to its plane of origin as well.

Paralyzed by the fall of their lord, the remaining mummy guards merely stood their ground. Now Lina, still suffering the lingering chaotic effects of the black slaad’s attacks, shapechanged into solar form, preparing for her next attack. Green Arrow shot at the surviving captain of the mummy guards, bringing the undead leader down. Behind him, the elven archer heard footsteps. Aloysius ran up from the ascending passage to position himself behind the elven archer, now that victory appeared to be at hand.

Lina was still wracked with pain from the after-effects of the black slaad’s chaotic attacks. Seeing this, Green Arrow expended another wish to remove the lingering chaotic damage from the sorcerer. "I owe you for that!" said the grateful Lina. Green Arrow nodded, then proceeded to dispatch the remaining mummy guards until all had collapsed into heaps of scrap cloth and clanking armor.

The adventurers proceeded to search the fallen undead for valuable booty. The mummy guards were all equipped with magic armor and shields, strong rings of protection, and powerful human bane weapons. The two captains had borne still more powerful versions of the various magic items. But it was the mummy lord who yielded the greatest trove. "Periapt of wisdom. Human bane defending khopesh. Ring of greater energy resistance. Wand of lightning bolts!" marveled Lina, as she identified the various recovered items. "Too bad this fellow never really got to use them."

"Not too bad for us!" replied Green Arrow.