With every victory we gained, we seemed to be revealing more sorrow. You would think we'd learn to stop picking up rocks after the scorpions underneath stung us a few times...
3 HetHert, Inundation, Year 4 of the Reign of Rameses II (September 19th, 1275 BCE), evening
Heliopolis
In the wake of Raam capping off our adventure in the Egyptian justice system with an execution, we decided to go to the estate of the man we had just killed, since officially it belonged to Raam now. When we arrived, the servants and the extended family had all left, taking most of the valuables with them. However, there were still a hundred and fifty Unas left, and in the slave area there was, caged, that Unas who had shaken off the Animate Dead to come back to true life.
We talked to that Unas, who was named Bahnet. There was a glowing object behind his breastbone. He said that a number of years ago, he belonged to Seti I, who gave him to Khafre. Khafre later sold him to Arterus. The Unas had a weak heart, and Khafre had installed the item to keep his heart going. When I examined him, I saw that indeed it was, every so often, giving a pulse out as his heart skipped a beat. The really odd thing about it was that it was also giving off an anti-magic shell. So the Animate Dead had slid off from him, and the pulse had restarted his heart, very likely.
Bahnet opted to travel with us. Raam deeded the estate to Rameses, and after checking the Anubis temple we'd found (nothing interesting, other than Pepy unconsecrating (desecrating?) it) we were on our way.
We spent the next day traveling, sailing down the river, watching the villages on the banks go by. The Nile is beginning to rise, finally; it's been very late this year, and I've been wondering if it was going to flood at all. Fortunately for us all, even a late flood can do us much good.
Mayet spent some time flirting with some of the more handsome of the Pharaoh Guards; the First Prime himself is not a half-bad looking man, and Mayet seemed to be concentrating some of her attentions on him. I decided not to comment, but took it as a sign that Mayet may finally be thinking about marriage. Anything I might say or do at the moment to encourage it would probably backfire, given our recent quarrels about it.
We arrived in Pi-Rameses as the last light faded from the sky, and elected to sleep aboard the barge and begin our investigations in the morning. The First Prime, after spending the day attempting to ignore Raam, took his people to the royal palace to sleep.
5 HetHert, Inundation, Year 4 of the Reign of Rameses II (September 21st, 1275 BCE)
Pi-Rameses
In the morning, the First Prime (I sometimes wonder if he has a name, other than his title--perhaps Mayet knows at this point?) arrived back at the barge with his men coming after. He told Raam that, since today was the equinox, there was a ceremony being held at the palace. Raam, being the ranking member of the royal family who was present in Pi-Rameses, was to lead it.
Raam grumbled but assented, and the rest of us followed him to the palace, curious about what we might find.
Up close, the members of the royal family look a lot like normal people, only better-fed and much better dressed. The ceremony itself was short and somewhat unremarkable, except for the appearance of Nefertari, Rameses' first wife. She was, indeed, one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. I can see why Rameses is so legendarily enamored of her--she seems to shine with a light from within, though it seems like that light is shining through a veil of something dark. Perhaps she misses our pharaoh? Or perhaps she wasn't happy to see Raam? Who knows. She kept her thoughts to herself.
Amunet took the opportunity to ask around among the servants about Raam. They told us that he had been adopted by Seti I after Rameses was born--so he is, in fact, Rameses' brother, just not by blood. Just as I suspected. Of course, the servants were close-mouthed on the subject of why Raam was adopted into the family. They told Amunet that they couldn't talk about it, and became nervous and agitated every time the subject came up.
Raam is still a deep mystery, and we only learn bits and pieces as we go along. I have this odd feeling that we aren't asking the right questions about him. There must be another angle to go at that mystery from.
After the ceremony, we split up--Raam went off, presumably to speak with members of his family, Terik and Pepy went to the docks to see if they remembered Khafre's barge from the first time it docked there, Amunet went off on a mission of his own, and the rest of us went to the artifact hall, to see what we could find out.
Terik reported that the dockmasters had indeed seen Khafre's barge. He had only been there for a day or so, and in that time there had been three large boxes taken off the boat. They were six or seven feet long and three wide or so, and the dockmasters had no idea what was in them.
We spoke to the clerks and discovered that the artifacts that were stored out in the open were replicas of the real ones; the real artifact were stored in a sanctorum nearby, which only Rameses and Gadiel, the head curator, were able to get into.
As we looked at replicas of artifacts, we chatted to the clerks. Gadiel had survived the purge of the government Rameses had done when he came to power, and he was a man completely obsessed with details--it sounded like he was difficult to work for. And only Gadiel would know if anything was missing from the vault, since he was one of two people who had access and he was the only one who kept records.
A perfect setup if you're going to steal the pharaoh blind. I thought of the Osirean longsword that was supposed to be in that vault, and wondered how many other artifacts had gone missing.
Terik and Pepy had rejoined us at this point, and Terik asked them if they'd received anything unusual lately. Evidently, three weeks ago, three large boxes that matched the description of the ones that had been taken off of Khafre's barge arrived at their doorstep, and were immediately taken into the sanctorum. The ever-cautious Gadiel took them in without the usual security checks, which was extraordinary unusual.
One of the boxes had been sent away a week after it arrived, and another had been sent out a week later. The third box was still in the sanctorum, as far as they knew.
We reconvened at the barge, and Amunet set down something before us--a bracelet that looked like mine, only with blades rather than spikes. We had seen its twin in the artifact hall, only this one was real, not a replica. Evidently, it has a protective effect, and the blades fuse with the wearer's flesh and purify the blood. It was made by Imhotep for a pharaoh who had a blood disease. We dithered about it and then decided that Terik should wear it. Like my bracelet, it now will only come off of him if he dies or his arm is cut off.
"It appears we have a leak," said Amunet. "And now we have proof."
We discussed what to do about it. It was my thought that Gadiel was actually Sesostris, the undead pharaoh we were looking for, and my theory about the boxes was that Sesostris was bringing people back to life and then shipping them out so they could do mischief.
(Unfortunately, the truth turned out to be much worse. But I'll get there.)
We decided to ask Gadiel to come out to the barge, and were most surprised when he actually showed up. Unfortunately, after talking to him for a little while, it was revealed that what had actually come to visit was something called a runic guardian.
By "revealed" I mean "attacked us with a large sword after Mayet chirped, 'Sir, you've been lying for the last five minutes'".
We fought it and eventually won, and before Mayet pitched it over the side she took off the amulet that it had been wearing that made it look like Gadiel. We figured that Gadiel/Sesostris was probably holed up in the sanctorum, which we couldn't really get into, as we were neither Rameses or Gadiel.
Raam shrugged and fiddled with the amulet he wears. Suddenly, he shrank, his features taking on an oddly familiar cast.
Raam--as Rameses--stood before us, looking at us all with calm eyes. "I think I can get in, at least," he said.
We all stared silently, mouths hanging open. Raam then touched his amulet again and changed back to the more familiar half-giant form. I suppose we know what that amulet does, now. When we asked him why he had an artifact that made him look like Rameses, he just shrugged.
Typical. Though this brings up all sorts of interesting possibilities, that I just now thought of...
Anyway. We went to the sanctorum, and looked at the entrance. The corridor leading to it was extensively trapped, and the first trap was one that would reduce one's mind to have the thoughts of no more than an infant. This explained why the only person to ever get into the vault was found, later on, without the ability to tell what he had done.
Raam grabbed one of the clerks and tossed him the amulet that makes the wearer look like Gadiel. He instructed the man to put it on and walk down the hall. The clerk objected, but Raam gave him one of those Looks, and he evidently decided that doing what Raam said was easier, and possibly less fatal, than arguing with him.
He turned on the amulet and nervously stepped into the corridor. The traps didn't fire. The disguise worked.
Quickly enough, we shared the amulet among ourselves, and Raam in the form of Rameses walked up and down the trapped hall, carrying the amulet back to us when whoever had been using it was through. We opened the door or the sanctorum...
...and it was empty, except for a wooden box on the floor.
Every artifact was gone.
And Gadiel was conspicuously absent.
Suspicious, I cast Glitterdust, which revealed Gadiel. His cover gone, he attacked, casting lightning bolt after lightning bolt at us. (I have to say, I've gotten good at dodging them.) I was low on spells from the previous battle and ended up casting the rest of my Magic Missiles and getting the hell out of the way.
I thus had some time to study Gadiel, also known as the pharaoh Sesostris. He was wearing a strongly magical collar that looked like my bracelet, and was wearing the flowing robes of a mage or a priest. I also kept a close eye on the box; not knowing what was inside, I wanted to make very certain it wasn't going to surprise us.
Eventually, with massive damage done to both sides, we took him down. Terik took his head, and when he did that collar popped off and began crawling towards Terik. It was...pretty creepy, really. Terik wanted nothing to do with it, so I picked it up. It lay quiet in my hands, thankfully.
We opened the box, bracing ourselves for the evil we supposed must be inside.
Instead, what was in the box, submerged in a blue fluid, was what appeared to be Rameses, eyes closed, not breathing.
Raam checked the body quickly and determined that this Rameses didn't have some of the scars that Raam had given him in childhood. It was a clone, a copy. What foul devilment was this?
For answers, Terik turned to the head of Sesostris. The box in the sanctorum was to stay here until Menes was sure that Rameses was dead. The second box had been sent to Thebes, and the third had been sent to Gebelein, the village that I and Mayet are from.
At this point, I thought in despair, We're going to have to go back. Dear gods. Usi just looked up at me, his eyes unreadable.
The second box contained a clone of the high priestess of Hathor.
The third box contained a clone of Rememberer, also known as Usi.
I think the bottom fell out of my heart at that point, and I'm not certain if it's back yet.
Terik asked how Menes plans to make sure of Rameses; the answer was that Rameses is about to run into more Hittites than he thinks there are. And if they don't take him down, then the undead army based out of Heliopolis certainly will. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that we've already taken care of that threat to the pharaoh.
There are fifteen hundred artifacts out wandering the world now. It appeared that Sesostris was almost done with his task of emptying the vault.
And so we found out what Khafre was up to. Now it looks as though we must travel south once again, to Thebes and to the village I'd thought I'd left behind forever.
I find that I very much fear what we will discover when we get there...
Quotes:
"He's in the odd slave containment unit."
"Also known as...a cage."
--Amunet, Raam
"We are not selling Raam!"
"Sell him as a sex slave! He's a half-giant, with a big...sword."
"That he sharpens all the time."
"I have to keep it in keen!"
--Bryan, Laura, Kris
"Well, I profane their temple and stuff like that."
--Pepy
"She's wearing a turkey on their head!"
"It's a vulture."
"It's a turkey!"
--Bryan, Kris, discussing Nefertari's funerary portrait
"I'm going to have you all put to death when this is over."
"Way to motivate us. Good job."
--Raam, Amunet
"We just have to hope he doesn't recognize the barge."
"He'll never recognize it. It's flying a different flag."
--Raam, Tetikare.
"I find a socially acceptable way to poke him."
--Terik
"These Osirean rangers, you can't take them anywhere."
"You have to take them there twice, the second time to apologize."
--Raam, Amunet
"I've decided that there's a new crime. It's called Contempt of Raam."
--Raam
"I was confused because I wasn't confused."
"It's so disorienting to know what's going on."
--Graham, Ray
