The Sarcophagus Legion IV

[JadedDM]

The draconian stares down at the little gnome for a few seconds in silence before his left eye begins to twitch slightly. Throwing his hands up into the air, he says emphatically, "#$%@!"

This seems to begin a somewhat long-winded rant. "I don't @#$%ing believe this! I can't believe that I have to deal with this $#!+ on top of everything else. All of godsdamned Khur is in danger of being overrun with the undead, and these little $#!+s want to stand around and argue with me, ME, the mother@#$%er who just saved their lives. @#$%!" He seems to really like that word.

"Karkat," the sole female of the group says, "remember your temper."

"Don't! Don't even start with that $#!+, Safa. I don't want to @#$%ing hear it! I'm just trying to appreciate the godsdamned irony of this whole thing. Truly, the gods have a sense of humor. I hope they are finding it hi-@#$%ing-larious that the fate of the entire nation is to be put in the hands of argumentative, whiny little fleshbag hatchlings who can't even handle a @#$%ing beetle on their own. @#$%! Fine, whatever! I don't give a @#$% anymore. Kadeem! Namir!" he says, pointing to two of his men. "Let's go. We're the godsdamned pest control now, apparently." He draws his blades, a rather nasty looking pair of daggers with jagged teeth all along the blades. He and the two men he called then head toward the pit.

"Do not mind him," Safa says, attempting to hide her grin. "He is always like that."

"I @#$%ing heard that!" he calls back.

=========

(OOC: If anyone wishes to assist, they can. Otherwise, Karkat and his men will deal with the beetle alone.)

[Jerrard]

"Strange, I simply wanted to borrow a weapon." Jerrard comments as he moves towards the pit, readying his spell. "Babuskha, may I borrow that dagger a moment please?" The mage asks as he walks.

(Seriously, thats all he wanted, if you guys would have given me the time to post!)

[Jenara]

"I'll come too!" Locky announces, staying behind Jerrard, "I'll get our stuff." She says as she bounces along happily.

[Breila]

Babushka winks at Safa, then turns and throws her normal-sized dagger at the beetle.

INIT 1, hits AC0 for 1 damage

[HorizonsDream]

"...Charming," Imani says with a shake of her head. "All you really have to do is distract the beetle while we get our stuff," she says as she moves towards the pit.

[JadedDM]

With a wink and a flick, Babushka throws the dagger at the beetle. It sinks into its thorax, causing it to squirm in pain. Karkat then slips down into the pit and with two lightning fast strikes, drives his serrated daggers into the creature's eyes, slaying it.

"There!" he says, wiping the blades off. "Can we go now?"

==========

Initiative
Babushka (1d10+2 dagger): 3
Karkat (1d10+1 daggers): 7
Namir (1d10+5 scimitar): 12
Kadeem (1d10+5 scimitar): 15
Beetle (1d10+3): 11

Round 1!

Babushka throws a dagger at the giant beetle (1d20): 16, hit for (1d4): 1 damage.
Karkat attacks the giant beetle with his serrated daggers (1d20+2): 14, hit for (1d4+2): 6 damage and (1d20+2): 18 for (1d4+2): 5 damage. Giant beetle dies.

End combat.

[HorizonsDream]

"Or you can just kill it," Imani says in surprise. She slides down into the pit to grab her weapons and armor, and then climbs back. Once her weapons and armor are settled on her person, she climbs on Artemis, obviously ready to go. "Who is riding with me?" she asks, figuring that they would have to double up for the time being.

[Breila]

Babushka grins, retrieves her dagger, cleans it and puts it back into its sheath before retrieving her gear. "Locky, do you want to ride with Imani?" she asks the kender. She herself looks around, she'll look to mount the most heavily burdened horse, because she is the lightest of the group after Locky.

[Jenara]

"I guess so." Locky beams collecting her gear and mounting the horse with help.

"Thank you." Jerrard says with a bow, he collects his gear and helps Locky on the horse.

[JadedDM]

Once the party has retrieved all of their gear and saddled up, the group takes off to the northwest, after the vizier.

They ride hard and fast, not giving anyone any time to talk or really do much other than just keep going. The heat is terrible, but as they are all riding horses instead of walking the desolate wasteland, it's not quite as bad.

Eventually, the sun goes down and brings relief to everyone. When night falls and the waning red moon rises, Karkat calls for a halt and has the group set up camp.

"Hey, Karkat!" one of the men calls, waving him over. "Look what I found!"

The kapak comes to investigate. There are about half a dozen skeletons buried partially in the sand not too far from their camp. Kneeling, he brushes away some of the sand. "Poor bastards must have got caught in a sandstorm. Lucky find. They'll come in handy later." Standing up, he dusts himself off. "Good job. Show them to Kadeem."

Once a fire is going, Karkat has his men share some food and water with the party. He joins them by the fire, sitting cross-legged on the ground, as he tears into a leg of lamb with his dagger like teeth. "Should arrive tomorrow, close to sundown," he says.

==========

It is currently 106 F degrees.

12:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Locky makes 14 CON checks (1d20+1): 14, 9, 9, 21, 21, 9, 5, 3, 6, 10, 4, 18, 11, 16. She takes (12-14): 0 damage.
Babushka makes 14 CON checks (1d20+1): 15, 4, 8, 4, 21, 12, 8, 9, 16, 5, 15, 12, 2, 21. She takes (10-13): 0 damage.
Jerrard makes 14 CON checks (1d20+2): 17, 3, 19, 18, 4, 17, 6, 17, 7, 14, 19, 18, 11, 5. He takes (16-21): 0 damage.
Ulster makes 14 CON checks (1d20+2): 15, 22, 8, 16, 22, 21, 7, 5, 18, 17, 8, 19, 8, 22. He takes (12-12): 0 damage.
Thuskar makes 14 CON checks (1d20+2): 20, 11, 19, 16, 15, 15, 17, 19, 19, 11, 3, 5, 6, 8. He takes (16-13): 3 damage.
Imani makes 14 CON checks (1d20+1): 7, 15, 17, 16, 11, 9, 18, 7, 19, 14, 18, 10, 2, 8. She takes (22-20): 2 damage.
Artemis makes 14 CON checks (1d20+2): 13, 14, 14, 19, 16, 9, 6, 16, 21, 11, 10, 22, 11, 6. She takes 10 damage.

(OOC: Hey, look at that. Having horses really helps, doesn't it?)

7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
No checks needed.

Random encounter check (1d10): 1, encounter skeletons

It is Late Watch (10:00 PM) and the party has traveled 4 miles.

[HorizonsDream]

"Now would be a good time to explain what exactly is going on," Imani says. "What is this about a Sarcophagus Legion? I assume it has something to do with Syriana's blood, so what is that so important?" she asks.

[Jenara]

"Oh yes, it sounds really interesting, I mean to me it sounds like a Legion of the dead, well obviously they couldnt be ALL dead or else they couldn't fight us, but please, go on." Locky grins, waving her legs while behind Imani.

[Jerrard]

"Indeed, you said you would explain later, now seems a good time." Jerrard comments in agreement with the others,

Looking at the Princess he adds: "Imani, we will get her back, do not worry."

[JadedDM]

Finishing off the drumstick, Karkat tosses the bone into the fire. "Okay, I'll explain..," he says before pausing for nearly in a minute in thought. "Wait, on second thought, I'll summarize..." Again, there's silence. Finally, he shakes his head and says, "Ahh, @#$% it. Safa, you tell 'em. You tell it better than me anyway."

The young woman of the group, Safa, joins them. She is young, perhaps in her early twenties and unlike the other women of Khur, she wears no veil.

"It began long ago," she starts, "even before the Drowning."

"Drowning?" asks Ulster.

"When the sea rushed in over Khur, submerging most of it in water, and forming the Bay of Balifor. What you westerners call the 'cataclysm,' I believe," she explains. "Kherish the Sand Devil is said to have had an affair with his high priestess at the time. From this union, a child was born."

"Kherish?" Thuskar interrupts.

"The god of death. The lord of bones. You call him something else in the west, yes?"

"Chemosh? Eww," Ulster comments.

Continuing, Safa says, "This child was named Sekhmet and she was Kherish's greatest pride, a woman of matchless beauty and razor-sharp intelligence, someone worthy of serving at His side. Behind this facade of wit and grace, however, was the soul of a killer. Sekhmet was a predator, a woman who relished in bloodshed and extreme violence. It was said that when She emerged from a battlefield, it would be ankle high in the blood of Her enemies. More than that, Her own blood, when spilled, would animate any corpses it touched, and put them under Her control. For a long time, Kherish harnessed the abilities of His daughter for His own benefit, loosing Her upon divine enemies and unfaithful mortals. Sekhmet's lethality earned Her the title of Scorpion Blade, and She became the patron of these desert creatures. She even developed Her own following among mortals, a group of secretive assassins known as the Hungry Shadows."

At this point, she and Karkat share a look. The draconian nods, so she continues with the story.

"Sekhmet's thirst for killing was only matched by a hunger for power, and herein lay the seed of Her downfall. She grew tired of doing Her father's bidding, of doing the menial tasks that secured His interests for little reward. Resentful, Sekhmet began to plot to overthrow Her own father. Kherish learned of the betrayal and cast His daughter into the Pit of Fangs, an infernal prison where the inmates are tormented by the biting of ravenous jackals and rats for all eternity.

"With His daughter out of favor, followers of Kherish abandoned all temples and places of worship that glorified Sekhmet. The temple we are heading to now was among them. And at the bottom of that temple rests the Sarcophagus Legion, an army of mummies that were once the followers of Sekhmet."

Silence draws onto the camp before Ulster asks, "But, uh..."

"What's that got to do with the princess?" asks Karkat, anticipating the question. "Well, long story short, Sekhmet had some kids of her own before she was banished. Those kids had the same blood as Sekhmet, so their blood had the same properties."

"But Kherish hunted down those scions, and the remaining Hungry Shadows who protected them, until none were left," Safa explains. "Or so He thought."

Karkat reaches under his shirt and pulls out an onyx scorpion necklace. "There aren't many of us left. But we do still exist. And our duty is to protect the last scion, the one that Kherish missed in his crusade. But we didn't know who it was or where she was. At least, until recently."

Safa adds, "She is not even aware of it, but it is Syriana who is the last scion. Unfortunately, the khan and his vizier discovered this before we did. By the time we learned of it, Syriana had already been lost."

"So I scouted the town, trying to find out what I could," Karkat says. "We learned the khan was sending a group to find her. We also learned he sent some men to follow that group. So we followed them, who followed you."

"We believe the khan intends to sacrifice Syriana at the temple, using her blood to awaken the Sarcophagus Legion, so that he can use them to take over all of Khur," Safa finishes.

"Just one problem," Karkat says. "None of us, as followers of Sekhmet, can go into the temple. The moment we stepped foot inside, Kherish would know and strike us down. But you guys aren't followers of Sekhmet. So we can take you there, and get you inside, but after that, you're on your own. If you fail to save her, the Sarcophagus Legion will rise, and we'll all be seriously @#$%ed."

[HorizonsDream]

Imani lets out a small sigh as she listens to this story. "Do we know what we are going to face there other than the vizier?" she asks. "And he won't be an easy person to defeat."