Following a dream calling him to The City of Wati , the cleric of Orisis, Tumani Tor, arrives at the Explorer’s Outpost, Terhk's Fine Expeditions. At the edge of the city. Suddenly, he feels as if he is reliving that dream. There he sees Kepher ibn Masud from his dream and walks up to him for an introduction. Kepher is startled, but being a man of faith accepts Tumani’s story. Kepher, himself, felt called to this very spot today, and both are seeking to enter the necropolis as a team. Seeing they need more than the two of them, especially someone good with ancient traps, they set off for the Whispering Stone gaming hall to see if they can find someone else.

While Kepher studies the job board to little avail, Tumani scans the room. He spots a young woman drinking alone in the corner who has clearly noticed the two men who are out of place in his hall. Before Tumani can note her, a well to do man strides up, ale in hand, and claps Kepher on the back. It is an old acquaintance of the paladin, a sword arm, Keva Devar. Kepher introduces the two and they start to talk about expanding the team. Tumani excuse himself and casts detect evil. While many in the bar glow faintly crimson, the woman alone does not. Tumani heads over.

After a brief hello, Tumani sits down with an offer to pay for her current drink. While she tries to cover it, it is clear to the perceptive cleric that the woman is alone and somewhat disoriented. He is not sure she even knew the city she was in. Tumani asks if she has a facility with “locks” and “machines of ill intent” and she takes his meaning. He invites her to join their party, and she agrees as long as he expenses are paid until they can sell their first loot. It is at this point that the boisterous Keva yells for the to join him. Tumani smiles and tells the young women , ”He is paying.”. It is at this point they introduce themselves to each other. She is Ina, a newly arrived person with no other current job.

The four gather, and Tumani informs Keva of the need to cover her charges. Keva spends well to cover drinks and food for the group, and invites them all to his family home for the night. The group decides on a name, The Lost Fragments and Kepher goes to register them.

Over a thousand years ago, the cult of Lamashtu unleashed a terrible disease called the Plague of Madness on the city of Wati. More than 60 percent of the city's population perished in the streets and in their homes, and Wati was virtually abandoned for over 450 years. In 2953 AR, the church of Pharasma returned to Wati and established a new temple in the city's ruins called the Grand Mausoleum. Walling off much of the original city, the Pharasmins transformed the abandoned settlement into an enormous necropolis, consecrating it in honor of the city's dead. Over the next 1,700 years, people returned to rebuild a new city adjacent to the old one, and today the living city ofWati is more than three times the size ofthe old city. Seven years ago, Pharaoh Khemet III, the Ruby Prince, formally opened Osirion's ancient tombs and burial sites to foreign explorers. Khemet III understood that adventurers who've traveled great distances in search of treasure typically do not return from whence they came to sell their discoveries. Instead, they typically sell or trade what they do not keep as quickly as possible at the closest civilized community with an economy strong enough to absorb an influx ofvaluable antiquities. The Ruby Prince's policy has attracted not only explorers to the desert nation of Osirion, but also countless scholars, private collectors, special interest groups such as the Pathfinder Society, and financial interests from all across the Inner Sea. A minor industry has sprung up just to support visiting explorers, and an even larger infrastructure has come into being to serve foreign investors and traders. Every opening of a major site has heralded an economic boom, for the local area and Osirion as a whole.

Unlike many of Osirion's tombs and graveyards, however, the Necropolis of Wati has remained largely untouched, in no small part because of local taboos and the protection of the Grand Mausoleum's priests. But Khemet III has now ordered the local authorities and church of Pharasma to open Wati's necropolis to exploration for the purpose of discovery, study, and economic stimulus.

With the necropolis opened by royal decree, the priests of the local temple of Pharasma, the Grand Mausoleum, have been tasked with assigning sites ready for exploration to adventuring companies in a lottery. The adventure assumes that the PCs have already formed an adventuring party and have registered for this lottery with the priesthood of the Grand Mausoleum. Registering is not difficult; there are no background checks or special fees or requirements. A priest simply records the name of the group and the names of its members and gives them a token that they should present when the group receives its first assignment at the lottery's opening ceremony.

The lottery's opening ceremony takes place in the Sunburst Market in the center of the living city of Wati, between the Grand Mausoleum and Abadar's Sanctum of Silver and Gold. An array of other adventuring groups have assembled, and the ceremony has attracted throngs of local people as well as street vendors. The next afternoon, the four are gathered to await their call.

The bustling desert city of Wati is near bursting with excitement. Adventurers from every corner of the Inner Sea region have assembled here beneath the hot Osirian sun to explore the tombs of the city's necropolis, waiting only to be assigned their first sites for exploration. Surrounding the participants, the public has gathered to observe the ceremony as well. There is a festival-like quality in the air, and numerous street vendors are hawking goods and refreshments to participants and spectators alike. Some merchants have even brought what can only be considered adventuring gear to sell as last minute convenience items to explorers, while others advertise that they'll buy recovered treasures and antiquities from those who visit their establishments.

In front of the imposing edifice of the Grand Mausoleum, an immense awning has been erected between decorated pillars in the market to provide shade for the priests of Pharasma overseeing the lottery. Beneath the awning, two urns sit atop a table elevated a few feet above the ground on a wooden stage constructed for the event. The high priestess of the Grand Mausoleum, Sebti the Crocodile, sits behind the table, while two acolytes confer with her at either side.

The lady speaks:

“Let the lottery begin! Although many of you have requested specific sites to explore, we must leave these matters to fate. The Lady of Graves is a far better judge of destiny than we of this mortal sphere. The gates of the necropolis will open at sunrise tomorrow. Use this evening to prepare yourselves for the task ahead. Let these rules guide you in your endeavors in this holy place: remember how this came to pass, every slave's hut is a memorial, and honor the departed. May you go with the Lady's blessing.”

The characters are given a copy of the The Rules of Tomb Exploration which outline their limits, all of which make sense to the party. When the Lost Fragments are called up, Kepher goes to receive their mission. Their first assignment is an actual tomb that predates the creation of the necropolis. The group can enter the city as soon as the gates open the next morning.

After the assignments, Tumani suggests they see if they can find other teams to visit with. They end up going to the Tooth and Hooka Inn. They run into two groups, the Dog Soldiers, who are composed entirely of halflings and their back of trained dogs. They are wild and boisterous and the party steers clear of them. Of more interest are the Daughters of the Desert, an all-female adventuring party. Both Keva and Ina head over interested in information and perhaps romance. Keva does most of the talking. The women are led by a Ulfen woman, Sigrun, and is composed of a Rahadoumi and two twin sisters wearing veils. Sigrun is keep to document the history that Keva gives her and the Daughters learn more about him than the other way around. The depart with a promise of dinner the next night after both parties have entered into and exited the city.

The next day at 6:30 the sun comes up and the Lost Fragments enters into the city with a car from Keva’s family behind them. Their target is on the far end of the Necropolis and they want as much time to be at the tomb as possible. It takes them a little less than two hours to get there. The Tomb itself is a rectangular stone mausoleum sits alone in what appears to have once been an actual cemetery. The trunks of a few dead trees poke out of the sand around the tomb, and a hot breeze whistles through their desiccated branches. A set of massive stone double doors is affixed to the northern side of the structure, beneath a facade bearing the likeness of an Osirian man. Windblown sand is heaped around the crypt, partially burying the doors that lead within.

Looking at the outside, it appears someone in the past had maybe tried entry. After taking some time to shovel the sand away, they struggle to open the doors with crowbars. Finally it is opened and they leave the doors ajar to let light enter. Inside, they find the Antechamber. There is stale air and a layer of dust and stand in the floor. Stone faces of Pharasma and Anubis. There is also a warning in ancient hieroglyphs about robbers and curses.

With great effort, the men work to roll the stone aside while Ina uses her pitons to lock it into place. As they just get it settled, a solitary ghost scorpion wanders in out of the sun. Ina sees it first and shouts as she readies her dagger. Tumani is able to turn and ready his flail just as the creature attacks Kepher. The monster stings him, but he is not poisoned. Heavenly hurt, however, Tumani heals him before moving around the monster. Everyone begins beating on the creature, with Tumani assisting Ina in flanking it. The monster goes down. Tumani further heals his companion and the group moves into the next room.

This square room is starkly devoid of any markings or adornment. In the center of the chamber's floor, a square shaft drops straight down into darkness. A faint musty odor rises from the pit. A single piton has been hammered into the stone floor by the northeast corner of the pit, and a dusty length of rope dangles from the piton into the darkness of the shaft. The rope crumbles to dust when Ina touches it. Tumani places light on a stone and tosses it down, reveling a 60’ shaft with very smooth walls. After some discussion, they take time to use pitons and their ropes to create a 150’ circle of rope going around the pitons to lower themselves. First Kepher lowers the other three, and then Keva uses the system to lower Kepher. They plan to use this to leave.

In the lowered area, mirrored images of a warrior in side profile, facing inward, are carved on an ornate pair of stone doors in the west wall of this square room. The figure is depicted wearing padded armor, with a scarab-shaped shield on the arm facing the viewer, and a raised khopesh held aloft in the other. A crumpled humanoid body lies directly in front of the doors. A hint of decay hangs in the air, and a dried stain mars the stone floor under the body. A square shaft in the ceiling leads straight up into darkness.

They move ahead slowly, with Ina checking for traps. Unfortunately, the hallway ahead of them is so well disguised she does not find one. The group, however, does not believe this long hallway could be clear. They move in, four abreast, with the heavily armed fighters holding shields against the wall. As they expect, there are darts hitting them. Even though most of the darts are stopped by the shields, Keva, Kepher, and Ina are all struck. They all step back and Tumani heals the group. Kepher uses his flail to slam the plate 15 times, with darts coming out 9 more times. Satisfied the trap is over, the group moves down into a Foyer with northern and southern doors. Tumani suggests they go north and Keva south. Ina and Kepher agree north, and they move up, with Ina ever checking for trap.

They enter the room to see a brightly painted chariot and small chest. Ina finds a trap but fails to disarm it. Fortunately, her damage is slight and the clear poison on the trap has long dried out. Inside are potions, art, and books. The group is happy for its finds. As they move deeper into the other half of the room. Ubashati warrior dolls leap from a diorama and attack! They manage to defeat the dolls, and again Tumani uses more healing energy to shore up the party. There are five more chests without traps this time. Again they find more ancient items they know they can sell. They also find out that the tomb of Akhentepi’s mistress is also attached. This may mean finding a secret door or two.

The time of day is 10:30am. There is a lot more tomb to go.

Moving ahead, the group adopts a rhythm. Ina checks for traps and unlocks doors, Keva and Kepher enter the room, and Tumani comes behind searching for secret doors. They cross into a new room with a magical mirror that Tumani warns them not to look in. Keva notices tracks in the floor between open doors on either side. Tumani tosses a coin and they go west. As soon as Keva enters the room, two giant camel spiders emerge and attack. The other three race into the room soon they are all dead. After some quick healing, they see the room is a chapel and preparation room for bodies. As devotees of the old gods, Kepher and Tumani give brief prayers and meditations. Crossing to the other doors, the passageway leads down broken stairs. It is on this difficult terrain they are attacked by a sandling.

Another hard fight ensues and the party triumphs over the strange sand elemental and head down the shaft. There are two sets of doors, once ending in a dead end and there others are locked. Tumani finds a secret door in the dead end, but it is not designed to open from this side and they are not able to open it or destroy it. Ina is unable to pick the other doors lock and they are equally durable to the secret door. Tired, hurt, and exhausted, the group decides to return to the chariot room and spend the night. They retrieve supplies from their cart and shut and look the only set of doors into the room. Nothing happens over the night and they wake refreshed and ready to take on the day. With a good night’s sleep, Ina has no trouble opening the locked doors. What they find are steps down and more doors. Then they find this again.

Finally, the group opens doors into a burial room. There is a raised dais with statues and a sarcophagus on it. The group carefully moves around the edges. Ina and Tumani find a secret door each, but Tumani manages to trigger a trap. Arcs of lightening fill the dais. The doors at the far end of the room open while the ones they came through slam shut. Water starts to pour into the room. Ina opens her door to see if it is a way out, but it just opens to a storage room. She races to the doors where the water is coming out but cannot close them. Meanwhile, the sarcophagus leaps up and attacks Keva, biting him and slamming shut around him. Tumani and Kephar race to attack the construct and beat the thing into splinters while Ina opens the other doors.

It is clear to Ina that the water was supposed to fill the room, but the two thousand year old trap was just not able to do it. After a couple of minutes the water runs away. The group follows the stairs to find a hallway moving back towards the secret door they could not open, and another to the north. They cautiously move forward, and find the chamber of grave goods meant to support Akhentepi in the afterlife. There a swarm of flesh eating cockroaches erupt, attack Ina and Tumani. She flees, throwing up at the thought of these things, and goes behind the protection of Keva. Tumani falls back and the swarm moves over Kepher. Ina throws alchemical fire to deal with the swarm and the horrible bugs scurry away. Tumani heals the group again as everyone stops throwing up.

The tired team moves through more doors and a hallway until they find the real tomb. As they cautiously explore the room, another construct, this time an iron cobra hisses and bites Tumani. Poisoned the cleric starts to attack. The whole team leaps forward, surrounding the small cobra and attempt to kill it as it keeps striking at Tumani. Fortunately, it no longer hits and the manage to kill it.

After a rest and nothing else happening, the group spends the rest of the afternoon organizing, moving, and hauling up to their wagon, the precious objects they have found in the tomb. They hustle to return to the temple to report. Their loot is stored at Keva’s home, and they head to the Tooth & Hookah where some of the other groups are gathering.

Tumani is new to adventuring. While the other three have all seen combat before, Tumani’s training has all been in a cloistered environment. Shortly after hitting the Tooth & Hookah, he is well into his drinks. Even so, it is clear to him that the Cryptfinders are lying to the group about their adventure, claiming to have fought a mummy! He calls them out on in, specifically their cleric of Sarenrae, before unsteadily walking to hang with the Dog Soldiers. They are drinking hard as well, missing several of their dogs killed fighting a gelatinous cube in a tannery, and the leaders is looking to raise money to purchase more.

Keva and Ina go to the Daughters of the Desert, and Keva tries to impress their leader, Sigrun Firehair. She is totally uninterested, and he moves her from indifferent to unfriendly. Ina, on the other hand, manages to strike up a strong relationship with their barbarian that results in their own evening together.

Eventually, the men get Tumani home, who most likely should not have been drinking the same day he was poisoned by a snake.

The next morning, Kepher goes to get their next assignment, and they are given a map to a noble house once owned by the Pentheru family. It is an easy journey, and the group reaches the gates in the morning. Keva and Tumani are both frightened by a haunt at the entrance, a powerful impression left over when the city was gripped in madness. After they calm down, the four enter into the home.

At first they explore the outside area, inside the walls of the estate but not yet inside the home. This includes the servant homes and other outdoor areas. They stumble into a giant centipede that erupts from the sand, hungry and eager for a meal. They are able to defeat it with much less difficulty than they encountered against foes in the tomb a day ago. Further searching leads to attacks by a Devil Dog which they surrounded an beat to death.

In one set of quarters, there are three skeletons on the ground. Using detect undead Tumani confirms they are risen, and he and Kepher race in. Tumani staggers one, while Kepher smashes another. The stagged one is smashed when it stands up. The third skeleton tries to attack but Kepher is able to manage it easily.

The old granary is home to a beetle swarm, but Keva’s shield keeps them at bay. While Kephar stands back, Ina and Tumani use alchemist’s fire to burn the swarm before it can leave. Inside are more skeletons, but just bones this time. They find an adamantine flail which Kepher takes. The courtyard searched; they enter the dwelling proper.

They move through into the kitchen and down the eastern half of the lower floor. They find a decapitated skeleton on the privy, missing its head. Further down in the entrance hall, three skeletons stand guard. While the fighters advance, and Ina uses her bow, Tumani attempts to run back around to flank, through the central courtyard. As he races past, a lovely woman emerges from the center and asks him to help her defend the house. He ignores her and moves to the fight, but the last of the three skeletons is already down. Kepher took the brunt of their attacks and Tumani heals him. However, it is then the two notice that Ina and Keva are under the effects of a fascinate effect. Kepher charges the being and it reveals itself to be an evil outsider sandman. A wave of sleepiness washes over them, and Keva falls to the ground, sleeping. Kepher and Tumani shrug it off and Kepher smites the monster. Tumani heals his friend, and Kepher continues his attack, killing the creature.

After getting their companions oriented, the four search the area and find magical scale mail and a magical cross bow, as well as various coins. They then move back north, only to find a table set with 6 heads on 6 goblets. Before they can do more, the 6 heads arise and fly at them. Kepher knocks one from the air and Ina uses her bow to strike one. While the other three engage in combat, Tumani calls upon his god and emits a burst of energy, not to heal, but to harm the undead attacking them. All but 1 just expires, and Keva smashes the last one that is about to attack Ina.

They move to the final corner of the downstairs area, where the stairs lead up. Tumani and Ina both feel the heat of breath on the back of their necks. It is another haunt. Searching the area, Tumani finds and picks up a magic ring. This triggers vision:

In the final days before the Plague of Madness overtook the house, Pentheru the Younger's daughter, Ariseti, met with her fiancé in this room. Her fiancé wanted to elope, but Ariseti demurred, wanting to wait until the “troubles” afflicting the city passed before announcing their engagement. Unfortunately, neither of them survived the plague and the chaos that followed it. A search of the debris in the room turns up Ariseti's lost engagement ring with a successful DC 20 Perception check. As soon as the ring is touched, a ghostly scene superimposes itself over the ruins of the room, as translucent furniture and decorations like potted palm trees and richly upholstered divans waver into existence. In the center of the room, a ghostly young man clasps the hands of ethereal young woman. They speak in Ancient Osiriani, but any listener can mysteriously understand them, regardless of language.

“I'm so sorry,” the young man says. “I can't find the ring I bought you anywhere. I just had it!”

“It's all right, my love,” the girl replies quietly. “It's not the right time to tell my family anyway.”

“Come with me, Ariseti! Come across the river where we'll be safe!”

“Not just yet, darling. My father says we'll be safe here. You go, and when all this is over, you can come back for me, and we'll announce our engagement then.”

She pauses, and reaches out to touch the man's forehead.

“Are you feeling all right? You're burning up!”

With this the vision ends, as first the figures fade from view, followed by the room and its furnishings. The ring is a ring of protection +1 but it is cursed. Tumani shakes off a magical illness induced by the vision. He somehow realizes that only by freely giving the ring to another person out of love can the haunt be permanently destroyed.

Moving up the stairs, they first enter the guest room. Inside is another headless body, but this one’s head seems to have been pulled off, not cut. They find a wedding ring of the daughter of the house. Moving to the next room, which is a master bedroom, they hear doors opening and shutting, but cannot see anything doing it. Kepher detects evil and can sense three forms upstairs but is unsure what they are.

Tumani continues to investigate the master bedroom and finds a dresser that is hiding a secret chest. It is locked and trapped. Ina cannot get it unlocked and Tumani smashes it in frustration and is struck by a poison dart for his trouble. While hurt, the poison has thankfully dried out. He then shield smashes the dried hornet’s nest in the room and a vaguely magical headband falls out.

The group moves forward and is attacked by a div of some sort. Keva lands a incredible smashing blow upon it and it is killed by the rest of the party before it has a chance to respond. With the evil extra planer monster killed, the party discovers the other evil were two flying heads, a sort who’s bite can breed you into one of them. The party is able to avoid this disease, and they deal with these undead. They search the rest of the upstairs and take notes. There is a chest with a very fragile wedding dress inside that Tumani is sure he can use mend on if they wait a day for him to prepare it. They agree they will spend the night here and then head to the crypt.

Descending into the crypt, the group immediately run into an adherer, a horrid, mummy like creature that was once human. Keva attacks it and his hammer is suddenly stuck to it! The monster reaches out and grabs him, holding him as well. Tumani races forward, reaching between the sticky bits to heal Keva. Kepher uses his Alchemical fire to alight the monster, which soon burns away its stickiness. Tumani keeps healing while Kepher and Ina strike it with mighty blows. Despite the resilience of the creature it goes down, though Keva keeps seeing his life pass before his eyes.

Moving deeper, Kepher is sure something if off about the stairs but no one can place it. They slowly explore and find many unfinished passages to other rooms. In one rough carved area, a swarm of ubashki cats stir. These stray cats killed to protect the vault charge for the group, surrounding Kepher and biting him. The group pounds on the swarm, but Tumani holy magic to burn the undead is most effective.

Finally, they move into the final room, the tomb of the Pentheru the Younger. The hieroglyphs on the walls tell the story ofPentheru the Younger in Ancient Osiriani, starting with the elevation ofhis father Pentheru the Elder to nobility, his subsequent death, and Pentheru the Younger's inheritance of his father's title and lands. The story boasts oftheir prosperity and success as land managers, the justness with which the family lived their lives, and the care with which they treated their slaves and servants. The text calls upon the gods to smile upon Pentheru the Younger and bless him with a good and just life in the Great Beyond.

Opening the sarcophagus they find the body and a small cat mummy. This guardian releases magic, making three of the members feel shiver in their spins for a moment. Keva, however, is frightened and runs away, out of the tomb. As the fastest, Ina goes after him in time to see him impaled on spike traps on the stairs. She goes to his aid and calls for Tumani, who comes to heal him with the last of his healing magic for the day. Kepher spends the rest of the day and evening to take notes and rubbings of all the carvings to take back to the temple of Pharasma.

After a full night’s rest, Tumani is up early to mend the dress and now that chest can be moved safely. They is a lot of items they have to gain from this house. Keva and Kepher happily load the wagon and the group heads back out of the Necropolis.

The group hauls their loot to the living city and are able to sell much of it. Tumani specifically buys a magical flail to help with the magical monsters they keep encountering. They seek out some of the other parties, but do not get much in the way of information. They rest and recover that evening at Keva’s home and the next day, Kepher gets the name of their next location. It is a temple of some sort, not even as far away as the Tomb of Akhentepi was.

The four move through the city ruins. Tumani is taking his turn with the cart, which has developed a wobble in a wheel. Fussing with it is why he fails to notice the ambush of the group. Several people lurking in and on the ruins attack. As Kepher moves forward, he finds himself netted from above. Keva charges another on the ground. Ina runs up the ruins and uses a tanglefoot bag to immobilize of foe threatening Kepher. Blinking in the sunlight, Tumani leaves the cart and draws his dagger. He places it between the net lines and uses his enlarge to double his size. This slices and cuts the net, freeing his friend. The four strike and fight, taking down two trappers and four thugs in total. Two of them lay dead. The other four get stabilized.

Kepher performs the interrogation, and promises to take them back to the living city to the authorities if they tell them what the group wants to know. They are hired muscle, hired by a woman meeting the description of Velriana Hypaxes, leader of the Scorched Hand. Their job was to stop anyone from moving towards the group’s target.

Tumani suggests taking their equipment and sending them back naked. Kepher insists on keeping his word. This agitates Tumani who is now sure that their exploration is going to be greatly disrupted by the Scorched Hand. Nonetheless, Kepher is insistent, as is Keva. The group takes the criminals back and drops their loot off for later sale. Ina keeps the remaining tanglefoot bag to replace the one she used. Mostly healed, the group hurries back into the dead city to get to their find, arriving at dusk.

Immediately upon entering, the encounter a pack of skeletal dog facing them. The group easily dispatches the creatures, with Tumani using his holy power to burn them. Moving forward, something emerges from the wall to attack Kephar. After its strike, if vanishes. Not attacked again, the group decides to be on guard. Tumani tries a magical pool. Drinking it deeply, he finds his magic invigorated, and knows his next healing will be a maximum possible power.

Moving on, they find other statues that befit a temple. South of the kitchen is a temple. Hearing voices inside say ”“Look what has happened here! Help us!” in ancient Osiriani. Tumani assumes it is a haunt and the group does not enter the room to avoid triggering it. They decide to explore to the West.

The west hold the old servants quarters, and unfortunately, three shambling zombies. While the group makes short work or the zombies, whatever is magically passing through the walls attacks Keva and runs. As they head north, Ina misses a trap that also hits Keva, this not being his lucky day. They can crawl under it to avoid it.

Unable to unlock the doors, Kepher uses his adamantine flail to bash open the doors and they head to the under sanctum. They immediately face a statue of Nethys come to life. Trading blows with Kepher and Keva, Tumani uses his wand to keep them healed and up. It is a desperate fight. Finally, the guardian is destroyed. The group does not pause long, feeling the urgency to move forward. They choose to head east.

Ina finds a secret door and Tumani pokes his head in, but not seeing anything, they move on. Through some iron bars they spy four members of the Scorched Hand. Their leader Velriana Hypaxes taunts the group and tells them to leave. The party falls upon the Scorched Hand and the nefarious Hypaxes falls. The rouge Idorii agrees to surrender at this. While Ina secures her, Azaa Arafe, the mage and his lover Khelru the cleric keep fighting. As Khelru falls, Azaa runs away, turning invisible, leaving his scorpion familiar to die.

The Group interrogates their captives. Idorii is not particularly loyal to the now dead Velriana Hypaxes. She comments that if “the cleric is dead, the mage will be a life long enemy”. Tumani assures her he is alive and stable. Idorrii’s story is that the Scorched Hand entered the Sanctum as it was their right as followers of Nethys. She herself was hired and not a true believer. Her story matches that of the hired thugs, and then continues with a tale of entering into the Sanctum. The jackals were alive when they entered, and she has no idea how they were reanimated. Further, she has no idea of the bloody footprints or secret room. Waking the cleric, he gives the same, if somewhat more arrogant story. It is clear there is a third party at work.

Idorrii does reveal that the guardian of the Sanctum is called an Akhet and it is controlled via a keystone in a hidden room near the star fountain in the room to the west. They leave the cleric tied up and move to investigate. The fountain is like the one upstairs, but this one has evocation energies. Tumani again drinks and finds his evocation spells are enhanced, though this only helps his light spell. With Irorrii’s guidance, Ina finds the secret room and Tumani is able to take control of the akhet and tells it to leave them alone. That taken care off, the group heads north to the secret room.

They only poked their heads into the room before. This time they take a longer view. Kepher and Tumani go in first, with Tumani looking for magic.

A stone effigy of a humanoid figure stands at the north end of this room, its arms spread in a gesture of supplication, or as if commanding an object to rise in the air. The figure's face is devoid of detail, with only vague contours where the eyes and nose should be. An extensive series of hieroglyphs covers the western wall, opposite a stone bench that stands against the eastern wallUpon entering the room. Kepher notices writing on the wall behind them which Tumani notes looks like it was a glyph of warding. He surmises this was what injured the other party. To Tumani’s detect magic the entire room has a dim magical aura, centered on the statue to the north. The nature of the aura is difficult to identify, it seems that until recently, the room held a source of necromantic power of overwhelming strength. Tumani does not think it is active in now. The two move forward and a necrophidius emerges from behind the statue. This is a snake skeleton construct with a human skill. The fight is brief as Tumani, Kepher and Keva bash it to death. Now the group turns to the contents of the room. Reading the hieroglyphs, they find the message:

Woe to you who would plunder the Reliquary of the Thrice-Divided Soul. Turn away, lest the harsh judgment of the Forgotten One fall upon you and your descendants for a thousand generations. Turn away, for his ka cannot be appeased and it shall call forth legions of the dead and the damned. Turn away, and may the All-Seeing Eye and the Lady of Graves take pity on you, for if not, the Forgotten Pharaoh shall consume you, body and soul.

Tumani knows that the “ka” as one component of the ancient Osirian concept of the soul, which was divided into five parts. The ka contains a person's “vital spark,” that which distinguishes the living from the dead. Inspection of the humanoid effigy in the room.

After a pause to heal up, the group heads to the summoning room. Again, Kepher and Tumani head in. This time, two of the columns come to life to attack. Tumani uses a shield of faith on Kepher and leaves the room, telling everyone to depart as these creatures are Caryatid Columns and in danger of destroying their weapons. As Kepher disengages, the golden glow from the shield protects him as Ina tries a tanglefoot bag to stop the others. It is caught in the entangle and the group retreats from the room. The constructs do not follow outside the room, and the party, already low on spells and resources, leaves the room closed.

Following the outside of the circle, they enter the tomb of the founder. Hieroglyphs cover the walls of this chamber. In the middle of the room, a large and majestic stone sarcophagus rests atop a raised stone platform, and several clay jars sit on the floor nearby. Two lacquered benches stand near the doors to the south. Idorrii says they came into this room but did nothing as her employer did not want to disturb the site. The hieroglyphs on the walls name the buried man as Djedihepet, and reveal that he died in -1599 AR. He is described as “a wise counselor, trusted keeper of secrets, and good friend of the Pharaoh.” Tumani is able to identify the pharaoh of Osirion in -1599 as Djederet II, the founder of the city of Wati.

Unlike the Scorched Hand, the Lost Fragments want to search. Tumani finds a button with magic upon it. It is ward that requires a password that no one knows. Kepher offers to press the button and the rest leave the room. Electricity rips through him, but Tumani rushes in to heal him. However, this opens the sarcophagus and revels some treasure within.

Next they enter a shrine in the south where they find a skeletal champion kneeling in prayer. Tumani talking to him in the old speech. He says he knows nothing of the mask and that twice already the Sanctum has been invaded and he will defend it. Clear that no reason is going to stop him, and Kepher attacks the undead monster. He proves to be a dangerous foe, absorbing several blows. Tumani causes him to be staggers with his touch of gentle rest and the guardian can only move or strike. With excellent teamwork, the group beats him down. As the guardian dies, he exclaims ”I come to you master!”. Kepher and Tumani say prayers over the fallen champion, now free of his long duty. The body has a mithril shirt they give to Ina. As she changes, Ina notes her piercing sword does little damage to these undead, and Keva lends her a hammer. Tumani asks to take the spear of the watchful guardian. The other big find is that he had keys to the rest of the Sanctum.

Through these fights, Idorrii hangs back, as the party has refused to hire her. However, she does not run or otherwise try to rescue the bound and gagged cleric behind them. She is quite clear she is not sure she can safely escape without the aid of the party.

Moving to the west, the group enters into the catacombs. Two columns carved to resemble men with their arms crossed over their chests, holding a khopesh in one hand and an ankh in the other, support the ceiling of this long chamber. Deep alcoves in the walls form burial chambers, some of which are sealed with stone doors. Other sepulchers just have sarcophagi tucked inside, while a few appear empty. To the north and south, wide passages exit the room through the east wall, each leading to stone double doors. This catacomb was reserved for the high priests of the Sanctum. In contrast to standard Osirian burial practices of the time, the temple's high priests were expected to pass on much of their belongings to their successors, making this catacomb seem relatively spartan in comparison. Tumani notes that the priests of the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye were well versed in the matters of their faith, and believed that mortal trinkets were not required for the soul to join Nethys in the afterlife. Six of the sepulchers all contain sarcophagi; three of them were sealed with stone doors that were never intended to be reopened.

Tumani suggests they search for any hidden compartments or secret doors. As they move about, they hear a stirring and a zombie rises to its feet!

The party is confronted with a coffer corpse. It attacks Keva who responds and easily knocks it down, inert. Horrifyingly, the creature stands back up. The men are shaken but not panicked. Ina however, not a native of these strange lands, runs. Kepher and Keva close and despite the thing going down and standing again, it is at last destroyed.

Healing up, the group heads upstairs to clear those areas. First stop is the library, where they are attacked by a guardian scroll. The animated construct wraps itself around Ina’s head, making attacks difficult without hurting her. Tumani uses command to order it to release his friend. Blood dripping from its nasty paper cuts, Ina retreats. Keva and Kepher stab the scroll, Ina returns to stab it. Once free of the magic controlling it, it again wraps itself around Ina’s head. Keva rips its free and the men slash and stab it until it is dead. The party rests and heals up, searching the room.

It is clear this room will take some time to organize the books for sale, tanking most of a day. The group decides to spend the night in the library to rest and recover, and send the prisoners back in the morning. That evening, Keva negotiates to pay 1,500gp to retain Idorii, and the next morning, she helps Tumani and Keva gather up the library, while Ina and Kepher take the bound cleric back to the living part of the city.

When the two return, the group decides to investigate the haunting. A small shrine occupies a raised dais in the north of this room. Two waist-high fonts stand on either side of the altar, and a small wooden cabinet is bolted against the eastern wall. Two rows of stone benches stand to the south of the dais. A fetid odor permeates the room What they find that instead of haunting, it is in fact two huvecuva, twisted undead of priests who failed to save their temple. It is easy work for the party to surround and kill them, taking no damage and avoiding their diseased touch. It takes a few moments to secure the area and search it. What is left is the main alter.

North of the Hall of Protection, the ceiling rises to a high dome 40 feet above the main floor, forming the primary cathedral of Nethys. Three flights of short, steep steps climb up to a large platform elevated 5 feet above the floor. At the rear ofthis platform, a 15-foot-tall statue of Nethys, half white and half black, stands atop a raised octagonal dais. The top ofthe main platform is tiled in black marble while the octagonal dais is a striking white, and the ring that separates them is tiled in red. hiding behind the large statue of Nethys at the far northern end of the room is Shargah-Katun an Aghash Div. This foul outsider reveals itself and opens with a cursed gaze from its single eye. Everyone but Tumani is in its effect, but only Ina is caught in its gaze. She is confused but able to act normally. Keva and Kepher attack, with Kepher using his smite power. Shargah-Katun is stunned by the ferocity and damage of the attack and uses its dimension door ability to vanish.

The group gathers itself and starts to search the area, when they notice motion into the room. Shargah-Katun has returned with allies!

However, the group does not see the giant eyed Div. Instead they are confronted with two dorus yet again. Shargah-Katun is present however, as his spectral hand moves, unseen, towards the party. The dorus immediately charm Ina, while failing on Tumani. Ina runs back to further search the library, intent on finding more treasure. Tumani shouts out he can make the weapons good, and does so for Kepher. The fighter moves in to attack, but misses the small divs. The other doru curses Idorrii to also go watch Ina, who is a thief after all, and make sure she does not steal anything. The group is down two of its members.

The spectral hand touches the most dangerous foe for the divs, the paladin Kepher, and he falls into curse of confusion. Kepher starts to hit himself in his altered state. Unable to fight back, he is then bitten by the doru. Tumani makes Keva’s weapon aligned and he joins the fight. The spectral hand tries to deliver a curse of ugliness to Tumani, but the cleric shrugs it off. And now he sharp eyes can see the mystical hand. Keva continues to try to fight on both divs, even as Shargah-Katun works to curse Kepher yet again. Tumani tries to kill the hand but fails, even as Keva manages to kill the dorus. As the summoned divs fade away, Kepher continues to strike himself. Tumani starts to heal Kepher from his own damage. Now is the point that the Aghash shows himself!

Both the fighters are stunned by his gaze, while Tumani faces it and stabs with his magical spear. The other two men remained stunned, which at least means the confused Kepher does nothing. Tumani flees to the women and managed to shake them from their stupors, as Keva shakes off the effect of the stun and attacks the agash, eyes shut, relying on his blind fighting.

As Ina passes Tumani, he aligns her weapon as well, and she and Idorrii join the fight to surround the horrible div, even as they are paused at times by its gaze. And as she passes Kepher, he mistakenly attacks her. This means Idorrii stands alone for a while, because the others are stunned, and Tumani is diverted desperately healing his friend from his own injuries and those of the div.

Shargah-Katun is arrogant. His primary foe cannot hit him at all. He concentrates his claws on Keva, the self-blinded man in front of him, and his gaze goes from stunning to deadly. The women stand behind him to attack, with Keva in front, but the creature seems to swirl and move, avoiding their damage. Idorri goes down in a vicious attack as Kepher attacks Keva.

Tumani heals his friends as the fighting continues. Shargah-Katun seems thrilled at the events. However, his luck turns. Keva provokes an attack, distracting him, so Idorrii can stand. The mercenary has been the most adapt at striking the div, and she lands a blow while he is distracted, to the cheers of the party. Startled, Shargah-Katun also is unable to avoid Ina’s damage from behind. The damage from them both drops the foul beast before it can once again escape.

It is at this point Kepher finally has a moment of lucidity. Tumani and Keva leap to him and explain he is under a curse, and Kepher demands to be bound. Until they can get him magically cured, he is a danger to himself and them. The group binds their friend and prepares to return to the living portion of Wati.

The Lost Fragments load up their cart, including their bound friend, Kepher, who goes in and out of lucidity. Keva hefts the load, hauling the cart to his home. Once there, they spend then night after Keva takes Kepher to the Temple of Anubis where they offer to heal him. Idori takes her leave of the party, seekin gnew fortunes.

The next day, Ina is kicked out by Tumani lest she have sticky fingers, while he organizes and categorizes their treasures. She heads to Tooth &. Hookah tavern to relax after their adventures, and maybe get to chase after her romantic interest, Sigrun Firehair. She runs into one Carver “Arclight” Bey, an wizard elf interested in archeology and offers to let him examine what found. Tumani is happy to have his help, and is delighted to have someone to talk with who is also learned in history, the arcane, and religion.

Burdened as the group is with these magical trinkets, art objects, and valuable information on Wati's past they are interested in exchanging their hard-won treasures for gold. However Ina informs Tumani this has become a difficult prospect when so many local vendors have been flooded with priceless relics recovered from the necropolis. In fact, the price of historical artifacts and art objects has dropped so sharply from their sudden availability that merchants in Wati are currently paying only 25% of the value of most items (instead of the normal 50%), and 75% of the value for trade goods and other valuable items (rather than the usual full value).

This is solved by an unexpected source. An invitation arrives from a priest named Ptemenib at the Grand Mausoleum inviting them to the auctions at the Canny Jackal in 3 days. They know if they want to get full value for their loot, they'd be well advised to attend the auction-and they might even find some items to purchase as well as sell.

It seems the ** Grand Mausoleum** is also suffering an embarrassment of riches, having spent the past several days accepting percentages of adventurers' proceeds as payments for healing and magical services-and occasionally confiscating items from adventurers who didn't show the proper respect to Wati's honored dead. The solutions has been for the Grand Mausoleum of Pharasmahas entered into an arrangement with the Canny Jackal, a prestigious auction house and art gallery located at the western edge of the Sunburst Market, to hold an auction where private collectors and other interested parties can bid on items recently brought out of the necropolis.

To serve the community, the Pharasmins have extended invitations to those explorers who participated in the necropolis exploration as well, in hopes of both keeping many of Wati’s treasures within the city by seeing them sold to local collectors and helping coin remain in the local economy.

The next day, Kepher returns, much improved and the party makes plans to attend the auction. Carver asks to attend and they agree, though they note their money is their money.

The Canny Jackal hosts many of Wati's richest collectors and historians, from local nobles to representatives from An, Tephu, and even Sothis. Auctions traditionally begin an hour after sunset, with a complimentary reception beforehand for the attendees to mingle with one another and enjoy refreshments. This evening, the Jackal is offering cheese-stuffed figs, hard-boiled peacock eggs, onion bread, onion-stuffed squid, fresh and dried fruit, spiced wine, and a sampling of 2,000-year-old honey recovered from one of the tombs. By the time the Lost Fragments and their guest arrive arrive, several noteworthy members of Wati society have already gathered, and more filter in as the night wears on. Two dozen attendees other eventually arrive besides the Fragments, Including some of the other groups they met previously. Only a handful of the attendees are there to make serious bids. Notable guests include the following:

Baketra (female human): One ofWati's richest and most notorious gourmands, she's keen to sample forgotten treats or liquors, or purchase ancient artwork to decorate her large dining room.

Basiflosep (male half-elf): A wealthy coffee merchant and avid document collector hoping to uncover records about his human heritage.

**The Four Lanterns: ** A cocksure band of human Andoren explorers who participated in the necropolis exploration, and now seek to sell their loot and buy masterwork equipment and practical magic items.

Khammayid Okhenti (male human): A young scion of the noble Okhenti family, newly returned from his studies in Oppara and eager to find expensive weapons to impress his family.

Manaat Heshwah (female human ): The humorless representative of a Sothis trading house, keen on acquiring furniture, housewares, and pottery.

Maru Meshhoten (female human) and Namaru Meshhoten (female human): An aging dowager and her granddaughter, looking for jewelry, clothing, and scandalous books and scrolls.

Menya the Whip (male human): Rail-thin and with an iron handshake, this ambitious young armorsmith is attending the auction to network though he's also looking for a curious centerpiece for his new armor shop.

Ptemenib (male human Cleric of Pharasma): Polite but distracted, Ptemenib is attending the auction as the Grand Mausoleum's representative. The priest has a tendency to talk to himself when no one is looking

The Lost Fragments mingle and talk with several of the guests. Tumani makes a point of complaining about their ambush to the two Priests of Neythes who are in attendance. They seem concerned about a site being raided but profess no knowledge at all about what happened. They do express interest in several of the items the group recovered. Ina talks with Baketra and learns of her history with past fake relics.:

// “Rather nice to see the Pharasmins on board with this auction. At least we'l l know these relics are real. You can't trust the veracity of just anything up for sale, no matter how old it looks. A group calling themselves the Silver Chain took me for a fortune on a 'Second Age' chest last year. It looked a ncient enough, but it turned out the damned thing had only survived a house fire in An.”//

Ina also talks some with the Meshhoten dowager and granddaughter, finding out what they are looking for. It is during this time she and Tumani notice Ptemenib leaving early, less than half an hour in. The auction proceeds after the mingling, and the Lost Fragments make out well, with over 1,000 gold apiece from their findings.

As the auction winds down and the attendees mill about, paying for their purchases and gloating over their acquisitions, Tumani and Carver both feel a massive wash of soul energy surge over them. It is ka energy, part of the soul that It takes them some moments to understand it. The two find each other in the room and huddle together to discuss. Ina notices them moving and catches Tumani’s eye with a questioning look. Tumani nods, and says, ”It’s time to go”. Ina’s hands move towards her weapons. It is at this point a frantic pounding comes from The Canny Jackal's front door. The servants move to open the doors, and they suddenly collapse, reduced to splinters, and a horde of zombies shamble forward, hungry for the blood of the living. The two servants, Ahteb and Hamapetra immediately fall, unconscious and dying.

The heroes spring into action, even as panic runs through the crowd. Even the other adventuring parties fall back, simply not up to the task. Ina warns Baketra to run back and fires her crossbow immediately. Kevan and Kepher both step up, immediately swinging their blades. Kepher shouts ”The doors of Wati are forever closed to you!” as his blade cuts deeply. It is during this moment that Carver casts burning hands scorching the clustered zombies ahead of them. Ina yells to Tumani, ”Can we keep him now!” with a huge grin on her face. Tumani runs forward as the Zombies shamble into the room, and envelopes the servants with healing light crying, ”Osirus preserve you!”. Ahteb and Hamapetra are fully restored and leap up to run away, the zombies unable to move quickly enough to respond.Seeing her bolt did not work well, Ina slashes with her rapier, while Carver uses his burning hands yet again. Kepher and Keva close on the standing zombies and finish them off.

After the attack, it is clear the zombies came from the overturned wagon in the streets. But there is little time to rest. Despite the exhortations of the Lost Fragments, the auction attendees flee the zombies, the movement destabilizes scaffolding at the front of the building, and the structure collapses. Two of the auction guests, Maru and Namaru Meshhoten are trapped beneath the wreckage. Tumani immediately casts enlarge on Keva, and the now 12’ tall man easily free the trapped woman who rush back insight.

Carver sends out his dancing lights to get a feel for what is going on in the city. He can hear screaming in the distance. Whatever is going on is affecting the whole city. This is something greater than just an attack. Indeed, just the zombies are not attacking them. Several crawling hands are moving toward the Canny Jackel.

The punishment for thieves caught in the Sunburst Market is swift and brutal: the thief's hand is severed, dried in salt, and then hung from the market's Pillar of Second Thoughts as a warning to others. The pillar is considered good luck, and shops and stalls compete for proximity to the grisly memorial. But tonight the only luck it brings is bad, as the mummified hands of thieves are animated by the ka wave and burst free of their bonds! They all attack, moving to strangle anyone they can grab. One in particular seems interested in Menya, and as he runs, it attacks him. The group goes after the hands, but they are hard to hit. Carver uses acidic spells to damage them, while Tumani uses up all his holy bursts of energy. They finally bring the foul undead to their final rest, saving Menya and themselves.

Bryan becomes GM

Breathing heavily, the group discussed going into the city to protect the citizens. The spy a Kelishite woman running towards them. She is dressed in chainmail adorned with a shining sun. She carries a spear in one hand while she is trying to take a flask from her bag. Unfortunately, it leaps from her hands, flying towards Ina. She tries to grab it, but at the last moment is changes directions as if batted away. The strange woman snatches it off the ground and says ”Thanks”. As she drinks it, the wounds on her body close and fade. It is a healing potion.

”Hello!.” the new woman says, ”I needed that. Too bad it was my last one. The city has gone crazy. Been in some scraps. You lot look like you have too.”

”You could say that,” chuckles Keva, flicking gore from his hammer.

Before their introductions could get deeper, Tumani takes on the far away look of someone receiving a sending spell. He turns to Carver with alarm,

”The temple of Osiris needs me. I think you will be able to help! Come on!” and Tumani grabs Carver’s arm.

”We will hold down the fort, then” says Ina.

As the two men run off in the direction of the small building that is the Temple of Osiris. Before the rest of the group can decide what to do next, they see a pillar of purple flame erupt from the Grand Mausoleum of Pharasma.

”Well, that seems to be where we are going,” grunts Kepher, but just then, screams of terror emanate from inside the Canny Jackel.

”Or, maybe not” Kepher mutters as he charges back into the building. Inside, the haggard staff and auction participants cower in fear at the mummy, Amadjawet. minor noble whose family crypt and its contents were cloaked in illusions to protect them from grave robbers. When the Four Lanterns discovered an apparently empty sarcophagus in the tomb, they opted to retrieve and sell it rather than leave empty-handed, never realizing that the sarcophagus held the permanently invisible mummy of Amadjawet. The ka pulse awakened Amadjawet into an undead mummy, and she has spent the past several minutes clawing at her prison.

”GRAVE ROBBERS!” The awakened undead screeches, throwing her wrappings at Kepher, but they fail to entangle him. She smashes him with her fists, and the two begin trading blows, but the enraged mummy is tough, and Kepher keeps failing to hit with a solid strike. Keva and Ina both race up, but stop at the door, the aura of despair stopping them. The new woman, is not stalled at all. She charges in, and her spear alights with sunlight, surging forward ahead of her, allowing her to strike Amadjawet’s mummy at distance.

”Name’s Zaliki, by the way,” she grins as she engages alongside Kepher, avoiding the wrappings of the undead monster.

”Kepher!” the paladin shouts then groans in frustration as his foe keeps just away from his blows. The mummy also fails to land a hit, however, and Zaliki uses forbiddance to stop the mummy from striking for a moment. This results in the wrappings entangling Zaliki. Keva and Ina shake off their despair and join the fight, but both miss the monster as they close. The monster just keeps avoiding their blows or shrugging them off.

Struggling with the wrappings, Zaliki still manages to cast flaming sphere and takes Amadjawet totally by surprise. She screams as the fire burns her desiccated corpse. She staggers forward, almost blindly to attack Zaliki, but even as her fists land on her entangled foe, Kepher and Keva strike her solidly, destroying the mummy.

”Well, I suppose we need to make sure the basement is clear,” Zaliki says as if the group had not been fighting monsters for the better part of the last half hour. There are sighs and agreement. They head into the side room and down into the basement. Kepher takes his ever-burning torch and Zaliki alights her spear with a light spell.

A straight, wide stone stair leads down from the Canny Jackal’s back hall into a cool, dim storage basement. The sounds of the Sunburst Market vanish behind you, replaced by the dry smell of dust, resin, and old linen. Low ceilings rest on cedar beams capped in bronze. Lanterns in wire cages throw soft light over shelves and stacked crates, all stamped in neat Osiriani script—lot numbers, noble seals, and warning sigils. Amphorae, wrapped bundles, and long wooden boxes crowd the aisles.

Near the far wall, a human-sized stone sarcophagus—small enough four people could carry it—has just burst open. Its lid lies cracked in several pieces on the floor, fresh dust still drifting in the lantern light. Deep gouges scoring the inside of the coffin show where something forced its way out… and no sign of whatever it was remains in sight.

Kepher and Ina find four potions of healing on shelves. Kepher is distracted by something and Ina takes the chance to nick all four.

”Does anyone hear that?’’

Kepher has heard a scraping along the wall. Suddenly, blocks push forth and a skeleton, cover in ooze bursts through the wall, followed by the ooze that spawned it. This creature appears as a large, undulating mass of green-black goo from which rotted and broken bones protrude. It flows into the room, followed by several more skeletons.

This fight goes easier for the group, despite the horrible nature of the beast. They reign damage upon the ooze and its skeleton constructions. Zepher slashes through the skeletons, cleaving them asunder. Even though she is new, Zaliki fights like part of the team. As the last set of bones fall, Kepher turns to Ina.

”I saw what you took. Hand them out.”

Ina hands out three of the potions to help the party heal. Zaliki casts cure light wounds on herself. Keper picks up his torch and peers though the hold into the darkness. As Kepher looks through the hole left by the skeletons, he sees a jagged opening torn through the far wall—stone blocks shoved inward as if something pushed from the other side. Dust still sifts from the edges, and a faint, sour stink of rot and old alchemy rolls out to meet him.

Beyond is a smaller, low-ceilinged chamber, clearly older than the Canny Jackal’s basement. The stonework is rougher, the blocks broad and time-worn, carved with half-faded hieroglyphs no one has bothered to whitewash. A narrow stone ledge runs around the walls, cluttered with toppled clay jars, cracked canopic vessels, and the remains of what might once have been neat burial tools—now scattered and fused together by dried, darkened slime from the creature raging to get out.

In the center of the room, a shallow stone basin is set into the floor, its edges carved with jackal heads and coiling snakes. Whatever liquid it once held has long since congealed into a tarry residue, streaked where the massive ooze dragged itself free. Old bones lie half-dissolved along the basin’s rim, some still twitching faintly as necromantic residue clings to them.

Here, in this forgotten preparation chamber—sealed and lost beneath the market for generations—the air feels thick and close, as if the room itself resents being opened again.

Kepher strides forth to smash the twitching bones which remain. The room is a disaster, with its objects smashed and covered in drying ooze and speared with fragments of bone. He leads the search for the room which takes about a half hour. They find scatters coins and jewelry from the distant past, most likely pre-dating the plague. Of more interest however is something else.

Near the far corner, a carved burial niche has collapsed, spilling its contents onto the floor: a lacquered chest burst open under the ooze’s weight, and a pair of stone coffers shoved half out of the wall. Amidst ruined grave goods there is a cold-iron khopesh with a jackal-headed pommel, a two handed scythe whose head bears a worn sunburst and anvil, and a dull, unknown metal rod etched with faint, shifting runes. Almost missed among the tarnished jewelry, there is fine chain of tarnished silver and blue-green copper, set with a shard of translucent blue “glass” that looks like frozen river water. Kepher holds it an looks at it, then looks to Ina and hands her this anklet.

After a search, the group emerges upstairs, wondering about the loot they found. They tell the remaining people to go home in a group or stay here as nothing is left downstairs. They decide to head towards the Grand Mausoleum, which no longer has a purple flame emitting from in. Traveling forward, they run into a wagon which lies on its side in an ally ahead. Somehow, its goods are firmly in place. A body lies beside it, covered in blood and twisted in death.

Kepher explores the wagon. He easily can tell that the goods remaining in it (half-filled sacks of moldering grain, shoddy pottery, and jugs of long-hardened paint) are a false front. A large hidden compartment beneath it all has been burst open from within. He identifies the peculiar scent of cedar oil and incense-both used in traditional Osirian mummification rituals.

”This must be an illicit corpse wagon. I bet this is where the zombies came from”

”Um, yeah,” says Ina, ”About that”. Kepher who was examining, missed the approaching 6 zombies still lingering in the area. Ina tossed a flask of alchemical fire, but it barely damaged the zombies. Zaliki teases her comrade at arms, ”Did you check the expiration date on that?” as they plunge into the fight. Kepher, his sword gleaming in the torch light, cuts them down two at a time as the zombies try to engage the others. In moments, the streets are still.

The four continue onwards to their goal. Outside the Grand Mausoleum, they spy a man in similar armor to Kepher. Another Paladin of Anubis. Kepher, of course, knows him. It is Setekh Anpu. He is in his late forties, broad-shouldered and thick through the chest, with the kind of solid build that says he once swung a sword on the front line and never quite forgot how. His skin is the warm brown of a native Osirian, sun-weathered at the cheeks and nose. Deep lines bracket his mouth and eyes—not from laughter, but from squinting into desert glare and frowning at people giving him excuses.

He is giving orders in his usual style: that of a man expecting to be obeyed, with a hint of annoyance that the task had to be assigned or has not yet been carried out. He is not a pleasant man, but he is faithful and determined. He spies Kepher and his features soften.

”By the jackel god, it is good to see you” he claps arms with his fellow member of the order.

”The Pharasmins were attacked directly. All hells are breaking lose around here. I see you have been in combat.”

Kepher tells Setekh what has been going on and seeks some understanding, in between Setekh having to bark orders ”I told you OVER THERE!”

”I see you are busy. Who else of us are in need?” Kepher asks his associate.

”Yes! It never ends. Bal Themm, can use help. We are filling in. Too many Pharasmins are dead. She is at the gate to the Necropolis. If the bodies in the living city are this much trouble, what in Anubis’s name is going on inside the Dead City? Take these holy symbols and holy water to her. ”

Kepher nods. He knows Bal Themm well. She is another paladin of the order. With a quick glance at his teammates it is clear they agree. ”That is where we are headed.”

”Wait!” comes a cry, and the four see Carver jogging up the stairs from the direction of the Temple of Osiris. They are happy to see their new friend safe. ”So she stayed on, huh? Who is she?”

”She can tell us about herself on the way,” Kepher barks, wincing as he sounds like Setekh.

The party of five now heads to the Necropolis Gates and their fate.

The group arrives at the gates. Sturdy doors of iron and bronze stand in this high sandstone wall, barring entry to and egress from the city’s necropolis. Barred windows in the gates offer brief glimpses of what lies beyond.

Bal Themm and several town guards currently watch the necropolis gates, behind which a mob of undead creatures can be heard groaning and pounding on the metal. A glance through the doors’ windows reveals nearly a hundred skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and more gathered behind the gates, but for the time being at least, they are clearly unable to break through. Kepher knows the young paladin in command is relatively inexperienced. She is delighted to see him show up and can brief him on the situation.

”Sir! the undead gathered behind the gates seem mindless and undirected and none have yet broken through, but nearly half of the gate guards have deserted their posts.” The group can see those who are left are already wavering.

”We have holy symbols and holy water,” Zaliki says, holding up her bag, which is almost snatched by an invisible force.

”I’ll distribute these,” Kepher says and starts to hand them out to the guards. As they talk, it becomes clear that necropolis’s gates hold physical undead at bay, incorporeal undead are not so hindered: An undead shadow passes through the gate to attack, hungry for life energy. Ball is first to notice and shouts a warning even as she fires her crossbow. She its but it does little damage to the insubstantial creature. Kepher charges, a holy water in hand and throws it at the shadow. The splash misses, but it falls in front of it.

”Stand and fight!” the paladin of Anubis shouts, keeping the wavering guards from running.

The Shadow is confused. It was expecting a tasty paladin it could overwhelm as the lessor guards ran. It struggles to hit Kepher even as Keva runs up with holy water as well. Seeing her bolt had little effect, Ina casts flare dazzling the darkness based creature. The creature is hard to hit, as its form shifts and twists. The guards engage with Bal, but all of them miss. Carver strikes with fire spells, the magical energy at least having some effect.

Zaliki casts bless for the party, Bal and the guards, and enchants Ina’s bow. The rouge suli still misses the monster. Keva finally weakens it with holy water, and Bal uses her smite to smash it.

Bal thanks the group, ”We will hold the gate, Sir, until morning!” she says formally. ”Can you take my report back the temple?”

They agree and return to the Grand Mausoleum. This time they are met by Tumani who takes the letter and tells them to head to Keva’s home. He is staying at the temple and requests Keva return with his belongings there tomorrow afternoon. There will be an assignment.

The Devar home is typical for a well off family. The Devar home presents a modest face to the street, as many comfortable Wati houses do. From the outside, it is not a palace and does not try to be. The entrance is a thick wooden door set into a pale plaster wall, shaded by a small awning and marked only by a carved lintel bearing the Devar family name and a subtle pattern of woven reeds, a quiet nod to the family’s textile trade. A visitor standing in the street hears little from within except the muffled sound of water, voices, and the occasional clatter of household work. The house keeps its life turned inward.

The five approach as the sun is rising and see scorched earth and bodies. Clearly, the house has been under siege. From the roof appears the head of Menkaure “Old Menk” Tef-Nekhet. Menkaure Tef-Nekhet is a hard-built Osirian man in his early fifties, close in age to Namon Devar, with a sun-browned face, old scars across one forearm, and the patient posture of a man who has survived more fights than he cares to describe. Most people call him Menk. Keva and his siblings grew up calling him Old Menk, though he was not especially old when the name started. It stuck.

Menk was once a professional caravan guard and contract soldier who protected trade moving along the River Sphinx and through the harsher roads outside Wati. Namon first hired him to protect textile shipments, then kept hiring him because Menk had the rare combination of courage, discipline, and Keva Devar Household Expansion Mummy's Mask - Player Approval Handout good judgment. When Namon’s business grew, Menk became head of household security and overseer of guards attached to Devar caravans, warehouses, and counting-house interests.

”KEVA! I see you have returned! It has been a night. Keep the street secure and we will let you in.”

The group hears how secured the door was by what all is being moved from behind it. Once inside they are met by Keva’s mother. She is overjoyed that Keva is not dead, as the city has gone insane. The fighter pulls back from her attempt at embrace.

”No, mother, I am not fit for that at the moment,” he says firmly.

”I agree. They all need bathing. I will have the servants prepare the water.” This was Hathset Meret. Hathset Meret is a woman in her late fifties or early sixties, broad-hipped, sharp-eyed, and immaculately composed in the way only a person who has run a large household for decades can be. Everyone outside the family calls her Mistress Hathset. The children, even now that most of them are grown, call her Auntie Hath when no guests are listening.

”No, Mistress, you must rest. I will attend to the home.” Keva’s mother wiped away tears nodding.

”Look, I have magic to make us clean,” starts Carver using prestidigitation to draw away dirt from their bodies. And blood. And flesh.

”You will bathe.” the true Mistress of the House said in a voice that brooked no argument. Ina laughed.

”I am never passing up a bath!” the Suli said.

”Keva, you have brought home more strays, and you have lost the Priest.”

”This is Zaliki and Carver. They helped us in the streets. Tunami stayed at the Grand Masouluem.” He sighed slightly and lowered his voice. ”It’s really bad.”

”Well, young man, you can have Tumani’s cot. And Ina, you will share your room with our latest lady. We will add a bed to your room while the two of you bath. Nadira will attend to you.”

No one in the group knew that name. A young woman, not yet 20, comes to lead the women away to help them prepare for their baths.

”Your mother purchased her and freed her this morning. Picking up strays is a family trait young man. Now the three of you go strip and we will have your baths ready after the women. All three of you.” she says the last bit eying Carver.

Ina and Zaliki both get ready and sink into their tubs. Ina cannot help but admire Zaliki’s body, since women are where her interests lay, and Zaliki radiates beauty like the sun.

Nadria had been trying not to stare.

She was supposed to be helping Ina settle in, bringing water, linens, and whatever else the household required. Mistress Serethine had been clear that Nadria was no longer a slave, but freedom did not yet sit comfortably on her shoulders. She still moved carefully, still spoke softly, still looked for permission even when no one had asked her to. Yet her eyes kept returning to the anklet at Ina’s ankle.

At last, as Ina shifted and the little chain caught the light, Nadria could not stop herself.

“You are Suli, my lady?”

Ina looked surprised by the question. For a moment, her expression closed from old habit, the way people close around places that have been bruised before. Then she nodded.

Nadria lowered her eyes, but there was a fragile relief in her voice.

“I am too.”

She said it shyly, and then more sadly.

“It is why my family sold me. They were afraid. Mistress Serethine is not.”

Ina’s eyes softened. She knew that pain: the ache of being loved incompletely, accepted only in pieces, or treated as something dangerous because blood carried a story other people did not understand. Whatever differences lay between them, that much needed no explanation.

Nadria glanced down again at the anklet.

“My grandmother, Tazirra, might have been one too. I do not know for certain. She could pass for human, as I can, but she knew things. She had stories. She told me about geniekin, old magic, desert spirits, and gifts that wake in the blood. She told me about things like that anklet, my lady.”

Ina followed her gaze.

The anklet looked delicate at first: chain, glass, small stones, a piece of beauty fit for a noblewoman’s ankle. But Nadria’s attention was not on its prettiness. She studied the pattern of the stones, the angle of the glass drops, the way the chain seemed to curve as if pulled by an invisible tide.

“That is not only an anklet, my lady.”

Her voice grew steadier as knowledge gave her courage.

“It is old work. Very old. A Tideglass Current. The stones are not merely pretty. They are placed like a current, as if the chain is teaching water where to flow. My grandmother used to say some magic is made for the hand, and some is made for the blood. This one knows your blood.”

As she spoke, the glass along the anklet caught a faint inner shimmer. Not bright. Not showy. Just a soft flicker like light moving beneath shallow water.

Nadria saw it and went very still.

“It will help you move,” she whispered. “Not only quickly, but rightly. As water finds the path stone cannot hold. It will help you endure thirst and heat, because water remembers itself even when the world is dry. Perhaps, one day, it will teach you to pass through water as naturally as walking through shade.”

Ina touched the anklet lightly. The glass warmed against her skin, then cooled, like a hidden spring breathing beneath desert stone.

Nadria gave a small, uncertain smile.

“It feels small now, my lady, but not weak. My grandmother said the best old magic is often like that. A seed. A spring. A door not yet opened. If you carry it through hardship, I think it will grow with you.”

For a moment, neither Suli woman spoke. The anklet’s light faded back into ordinary glass, though not entirely. Not to Ina. Not anymore.

Across the room, Zaliki appeared to be looking elsewhere with great concentration.

She noticed none of it, of course.

Or at least, she was kind enough to pretend she did not.

Stripping off armor takes far longer for the fighting men than Carver’s simple robes. As they put things aside, Menk looks at the new scythe Keva carries.

“By the gods, Keva … where did you find it?” Menk’s voice is sharp enough that Keva looks up from the weapon in surprise. The old servant is staring at the scythe, not with simple curiosity, but with recognition. His face has gone pale beneath the desert-worn brown of his skin.

Keva glances down at the dark metal, the crescent blade, the hammer set behind it, and the spear point jutting forward above the haft.

“This scythe? A forgotten room at the Canny Jackal.” He shrugs, still not understanding. “It was sitting with the rest of the old things.”

Menk gives him a look that is almost offended.

“Old things?” he says. “Come, Keva. Come now.”

Before Keva can ask what he means, Menk turns and leads him out into the hallway where the portraits of the Devar family hang in careful order. Keva has walked this passage every day of his life: as a child running barefoot after his siblings, as a young man summoned to lessons, as a son passing under the silent gaze of ancestors whose names he knew but whose lives had become household stories.

Menk stops before one portrait in particular.

Khafret Devar.

The old explorer stands in painted dignity, one hand resting on a map case, his clothing marked by dust-colored travel cloth and the wealth of a man who survived the tombs and profited from them. Keva has seen the portrait a thousand times. He knows the stern mouth, the dark eyes, the ring on Khafret’s hand, the family seal worked into the corner of the frame.

But he has never truly looked at the weapon painted beside him. It is right there.

The same long haft. The same heavy crescent blade. The same hammer head behind it, dark and blunt as a judgment stone. The same spear point rising from the top, made for the thrust as much as the sweep. Even in paint, the weapon has the same severe shape, the same old funerary lines, the same sense of purpose without ornament. Keva’s grip tightens around the real weapon in his hands.

“No,” he says softly.

Menk reaches out, not touching the scythe, but pointing to the metal near the base of the blade.

“Look there, Keva. There is the family seal upon the metal itself.”

Keva turns the weapon slightly. At first he sees only scratches, age, and dust settled into old work. Then the angle changes. The light catches the mark. It is small, half-hidden among the funerary lines, but unmistakable. The Devar seal. Keva blinks, and once he has seen it, he cannot unsee it.

Among the Devars, the weapon is remembered as Khafret’s scythe, though family stories disagree on whether Khafret Devar carried it into the tombs or took it from one. What is certain is that the old explorer returned from the dead places of Wati with more than wealth. A shadow followed him into the family line, thinning over the generations but never wholly gone. The curse became a whisper, then a family unease, then a thing half-dismissed because no one wished to name it too clearly. But the weapon was real. And now it is in Keva’s hands.

Menk’s voice is quieter when he speaks again.

“This is no accident, young sir.”

Keva looks from the portrait to the scythe, and then back again. For the first time, the old painting seems less like a piece of family history and more like a warning that has been hanging in the hallway all along. In Keva’s hands, the scythe feels less like an inheritance than a reckoning: the old debt given weight, edge, and purpose at last.

“This is fate,” Menk says, with the grim certainty of one who has served the family long enough to know when a thing has come due. “I must tell your father.”

Then, because he is still Menk, and because no revelation is grand enough to save a young man from the order of the household, he straightens and gestures down the hall.

“Now go get ready for your bath. I don’t intend to be the one to face Hathset’s wrath because you tracked tomb dust through her clean floors.”

Back in the room, Kepher pulls out the runed rod they found.

”This was one of the items we found in a hidden room in the Canny Jackel. Seems more your deal than ours.”

At first, the rod seems almost disappointingly simple.

It is not jeweled. It is not crowned with a dragon’s head or wrapped in gold wire. It does not hum ominously or whisper in a dead language. It is only a slender rod of pale metal, cool beneath Carver’s fingers, its surface marked with fine geometric runes that appear elven at first glance. Fine work. Elegant work. But not quite elven. The proportions are wrong. The repetitions are too exact. The spacing between the marks is not calligraphy, but calculation.

Carver turns the rod slowly in the light, and the runes begin to resolve into patterns. Not words. Not prayers. Not even commands, exactly. They are diagrams folded into script. Angles of release. Limits of expansion. Interruptions. Safe lines. Pressure points. The kind of markings a lesser mage might mistake for ornament, because the alternative is admitting that someone once understood destructive magic well enough to write its behavior into metal.

Then he brings a spell to mind.

Not casting. Not yet. Just the shape of one. Heat, force, direction, target, radius. The familiar architecture of evocation rises in his thoughts, and Arclight answers.

Thin blue-white light wakes in the runes.

It does not flare. It traces. A line here. A boundary there. A curve across the rod’s surface that should be decorative but suddenly makes perfect mathematical sense. Carver feels a faint static prickle through his fingers and up into his wrist, followed by a sharpened stillness behind his eyes. The rod is not adding power. It is clarifying power. It is showing him the edges of the spell, the places where force would spill, where heat would bloom too broadly, where lightning would leap to what it was never meant to touch.

For one startled breath, Carver understands what he is holding.

This is not a wand. It is not merely a rod of metamagic. It is not a convenience for a battlefield evoker who wants to avoid burning his companions. Those are crude descriptions for a precise thing. Arclight is a surviving instrument of ancient Osiriani arcane engineering, made by minds that treated evocation as geometry, pressure, light, and boundary. To them, a spell was not a burst of power. It was an equation in motion. Destruction was not chaos. It was a force that could be measured, directed, narrowed, spared, and made exact.

“This is an Arclight Rod.” He says under this breath.

The rod’s promise is more severe than that. It offers precision without apology. Fire where fire belongs. Lightning where lightning is deserved. Force shaped so cleanly that allies may stand beneath the arc of the storm untouched while enemies learn, too late, that mercy and accuracy are not the same thing.

The light in the runes fades when Carver lets the spell-shape go, but the understanding remains. In his hands, Arclight is not a restraint on danger.

It is the means to decide exactly who is in danger.

Exhaustion sets in. Carver must sleep to recharge his magic. He collapses into his bed, Keva and Kepher already sound asleep. He gets just enough sleep to spend time preparing his spells for the day.

Everyone awakens rested. Hathset has a meal prepared for them as they take this time to reintroduce themselves to each other. Then they depart for the Grand Mausoleum.

When they arrive, they find the area buzzing with more work. With the death of so many of the Pharasmites, there is a new order in Wati after the Ka Pulse. The group meets with Meret-Heru Seseneb, High Priest of Osirus and Setekh Anpu, had of the Aubian Paladins . They spell out the situation:

The city governor was killed in the night. Sebti the Crocodile, High Priestess of Pharasma also died in the attack. The Pharasmites are devastated. Meret-Heru is administering in civil matters and Setekh is leading the city to quell the panic.

”We are using our order, Kepher. Groups of warriors led by one of us. You already have a group with you. Spend nights patrolling the city and helping to quell the panic. The undead rise up at night. We are all praying that there is not another Ka pulse.

As he is talking with Kepher, a young priest in the garments of Ra approaches Zaliki. He is Akhet, the current High Priest of Ra after his father’s passing. The temple of Ra is small, just him and two acolytes.

As they wrap up, Setekh notices the cold iron khopesh at Kepher’s Side.

”By the Jackel’s ears! Can it be? Kepher, allow me to look at that sword”

Puzzled he complies with the order and his leader takes the sword into his hands with reverence.

”Where did you find this?”

”It was in a long forgotten room at the Canny Jackel with some other odd items.”

Setekh Anpu studies the weapon. His eyes move first over the khopesh blade, then the silver lines, then the jackal marks. When he speaks, his voice has the flat certainty of a man giving an order that has already been weighed.

“This is not a trophy, and it is not a charm against fear. The Jackal’s Measure is a guardian’s weapon. Verdict cuts because some things must be named and ended cleanly. Chastisement breaks because some things refuse the sentence and must be driven back by force. The dead who rest in honor have nothing to fear from it. The dead who claw their way out of the grave to feed, command, or profane the living should fear it very much.”

He looks from the weapon to Kepher, his expression hard but not unkind.

//“Anubis does not hate the dead. Remember that. We guard them. We guide them. We keep the scales honest and the gates watched. But the restless dead are a breach of order, and those who raise them are worse. This weapon knows that difference. Hold it between the innocent and the hungry dead, and it will approve of you. Use it for vanity, cruelty, or pride, and it will become only iron in your hand. The Measure does not make a man just. It reveals whether he is willing to be measured.” //

Akhet studies the spear for a long moment before he speaks. His expression changes almost at once, not to fear, but to recognition. Reverence follows close behind it.

”Where did you find this?”

Zaliki is taken aback but says, ”I found this buried in the sand. It…called to me.”

Ahket nods sagely.

//“This is not a spear made merely for war. Bronze and gold, sunburst beneath the blade, pale binding on the haft … these are signs of Ra’s service, and old ones. Older than my temple. Perhaps older than many temples still standing in Wati. Weapons like this were not carried by ordinary soldiers. They were borne by champions, guardians, and oath-sworn servants of the sun, those sent into places where darkness had become more than the absence of light.” //

He gestures toward the blade.

“The sunburst is not decoration. It is a seal. It marks the weapon as a thing consecrated to dawn, not noon. That matters. Noon is dominion, judgment, the full blaze of Ra enthroned in the sky. Dawn is different. Dawn is the promise that the long night has failed. It is rescue. It is revelation. It is the first light reaching into tombs, crypts, and hidden chambers where foul things believe themselves safe.”

Akhet’s eyes lift from the spear to Zaliki.

“You said it called to you from beneath the sand. I believe you. Relics of this kind are not found in the way coins or blades are found. They sleep. They wait. Sometimes they are hidden by faithful hands. Sometimes they are buried by enemies who cannot destroy them. Sometimes the desert itself keeps them until the proper moment. But when such a thing calls, it does not call idly.”

He breathes in slowly, as if choosing his words with care.

“This is the //Talon of the Dawn. Not the sun’s hand. Not the sun’s crown. Its talon. A striking point. A piercing ray. The first edge of morning driven into the heart of night. In your hand it is still waking, but even now it knows what it is. It will answer courage, mercy, and righteous wrath. It will hate the undead. It will hate things that hide from judgment. It will hate those who profane the dead and those who make prisoners of the living soul.”//

Akhet gives a small, solemn bow.

“I cannot tell you all that it will become. No priest could, not truthfully. Relics reveal themselves through deed, not lecture. But I can tell you this: the Talon did not call to me. It did not call to my clerics. It called to you. Whether Ra placed it in your path, or whether the dawn itself recognized the need of this hour, I would not dismiss that lightly.”

He looks again at the spear, and his voice softens.

“Carry it as more than a weapon. Carry it as a promise. Where there is fear, bring morning. Where there is corruption, bring light. Where the dead rise in mockery of life, remind them that even the deepest tomb has a door, and through that door the dawn may enter.”

Zaliki bows back, looking at her spear in a new way.

”Thank you” she says quietly.

Akhet joins the group for this evening.

”I want to see how bad it is out there for myself”

The group is formidable. Stray undead awakening are easily dispatched. A zombie or two is no real threat.

However, as they move through a trashed local market, they see a bizarre site indee.

Ahead, the street is a wreck of overturned baskets, broken shutters, and footprints stamped through dust and grave-ash. A crocodile, dry-skinned and wrapped in age-darkened linen, drags itself through the chaos with a grinning man perched on its back. Behind him, bones clatter in obedient formation: four armed skeletons and the towering frame of an owlbear stripped down to ivory and talon. The rider sweeps a jeweled hand toward an abandoned storefront and says,

“No witnesses, lads. The city is having a very bad day.”

This is a significant fight, made all the worse by the rider casting charm on Carver. As an elf, this was most likely going to fail. The man sung his spell, clearly a bard of some sort. And he tells Carver this was not the place he was needed and to go find the real looters.

Against all odds, Carver complies and wanders back the way they came.

Kepher and Keva closed to attack while Zaliki blessed the party. Akhet’s holy energy lashed the undead. At first. Things went well. The Owlbear struggles to do any real damage. The bard is taking hits from everyone, be it strikes with a sword or Ina’s bolts. His attempt at hideous laughter on Aket fails. And the armed skeletons start to fall with single blows.

Then the mummy crocodile bites Kepher, grabbing him in its jaws. Kepher breaks free but it allows the bard to cast invisibility upon himself and leap off his mount even as Kepher kills it.

The Owlbear dances around hits, even as the last two skeletons close in. While the group is not hitting it, it starts to connect with the priest who is causing it holy pain. The priest of Ra staggers. The owlbear bites Ina who has closed.

Zaliki heals Kepher of his bite and the Paladin then runs after the foot steps he hears.

Then Zaliki turns to see the undead beast nearly sever Akhet’s head.

He drops. His life force drained out in an instant.

Zaliki drops, heedless of the owlbear hovering over her and prays to Ra, using her healing magic.

her. He is dead…but only just. The last warmth has not yet left him, and the terrible stillness has held him for only a handful of heartbeats.

She presses her hands against him and calls upon Ra.

For one impossible instant, night breaks.

Golden light pours down upon the street as though the noonday sun has found a narrow opening in the darkness. Every shadow draws sharp and black away from Zaliki. Dust glitters in the air like flecks of gold. The owlbear’s feathers blaze at their edges, and the blood upon the stones shines bright as rubies beneath the sudden radiance.

The light gathers beneath Zaliki’s hands and sinks into Akhet’s body.

His back arches. Breath tears into his lungs in a ragged gasp. His heart strikes once…then again.

The false sunlight vanishes as swiftly as it came, leaving only the night, the battle, and Akhet alive beneath Zaliki’s hands.

Keva fells the owlbear before it can strike again. He charges after Kepher, but their real foe managed to escape. Even Zaliki’s attempt at a wild cast of fariee fire does not help.

Aket heals them all with his holy energy, and gets everyone up to speed.

Akhet looks to Zaliki once the street has gone quiet. For a moment, he simply looks at her.

“I remember the darkness,” he says softly. “Then warmth…and your voice calling me back.” He bows his head. “Thank you, Zaliki. For not letting my sun set.”

He restores the party to full, and they go through what loot was on the mummy crocodile.

And they retrieve Carver.

”Bard’s do not normally control undead. They do, however, often use other magical items. A wand of //control undead I wager. Have to see if we ever catch him.”//

Heading back home the encounter a strange sight.

Sehhosep Naahn, a half-elven instructor at the Hall of Blessed Rebirth, had just finished preparing for her husband’s funeral when the ka pulse washed over the city, animating her husband Bentu’s corpse as a zombie. Already overcome with grief, the sight fractured what remained of Sehhosep’s resolve. She’s convinced that Bentu’s rising is a gift from the gods, and that her magic can restore her departed lover’s mind to his now-animated body. To that end, she tied up her zombie husband and was guiding him through the streets to her workshop when a frightened mob of angry locals surrounded them.

A tense standoff now exists. The angry locals believe that Sehhosep is somehow involved in the undead surge, but are terrified of her spells. Meanwhile, the sorcerer defends her bound, undead husband with all the magic she can muster. Sehhosep has just cast ghost sound to create a thunderclap in a failed attempt to disperse the crowd, and is ready to unleash more powerful spells if the crowd interferes further. Neither party is eager for violence, but without outside mediation, the standoff will erupt into tragedy.

Kepher and Zaliki intervene to talk down Sehhosep and the crowd. Akhet takes her to the temple to recover after Kepher destroys her undead husband’s body.

They report in and tell them what happened. Dawn is soon to come, so Zaliki asks to ascend to the roof to greet the dawn. This has become her spiritual practice since she found her calling.

”I’d like to observe, if that is OK.” Ina requests.

”Of course”

The two ascend to the roof. The sun is starting its ascent. Ra. Horus.

Zaliki she washes her face and hands with cool water from the temple. If she was in the desert she uses only a few careful drops, treating the act as purification rather than comfort.

She unwraps her spear and plants its butt onto the stone roof beside her.

Then she waits. Not impatiently. Just listening.

The Haunted curse is always quieter before dawn. The spirits murmur less in those final moments of darkness, as if even the dead pause when night begins to surrender.

As the first edge of sunlight appears, Zaliki places one hand over the golden sun symbol on her armor and breathes in slowly.

She speaks the same words every morning:

“I see the dawn, let the dawn be me.”

Only then does she allow herself to close her eyes.

The sunlight warms her face first, then her hands, then the spear. The metal glows faintly gold. Old whispers recoil into silence.

This is one of the rare mornings when the spirits are restless and loud, she opens her eyes and sees them clearly in the edge-light of dawn:

Silent figures standing far away among ruins, watching her as though waiting for the sun to rise fully before retreating beneath the sands once more.

Zaliki closes her eyes again and focuses back on the now.

She stands.

Ina was not used to reverence.

Not like this.

She knew prayers shouted over storms, bargains muttered into clenched hands, sailors touching charms before taking a dangerous current. She knew the hurried promises people made when they wanted the sea, the wind, or whatever might be listening to spare them.

This was different.

Zaliki had asked for nothing. Ina watches her for a moment longer than she means to, then glances toward the brightening horizon. The simplicity of it catches her off guard. Water. Spear. Sunlight. A few words spoken as though they had been spoken a thousand mornings before and would be spoken a thousand mornings after.

And the dead had listened.

That part Ina cannot dismiss.

She had seen them at the edge of the light. Shapes among the ruins, distant and silent, lingering until the dawn drove them back. For all Ina's instinct to make light of things she does not quite understand, there is no easy joke for that.

She folds her arms.

“That was … something.”

It sounds inadequate the moment she says it.

Ina was not used to reverence. Certainly not reverence without fear attached to it. Gods were powerful things. Spirits were dangerous things. The stories she had grown up with were full of people who attracted the attention of greater beings and regretted it.

Her own existence was proof enough of that.

Yet Zaliki had stood beneath the rising sun without pleading, without bargaining, without shrinking.

Almost as if the sun were not something above her at all.

Almost as if, for those few moments, she belonged to it.

Ina looks sideways at her.

“Do you do that every morning?”

There is less teasing in the question than Ina

Zaliki smiled the smile of someone who understood a hidden knowledge far deeper than someone her age had any right to understand.

”If I can. I missed it the past several mornings. It was good to greet the Sun today.”

Ina was quiet after that as they walked down the stairs.

//Zaliki asks for nothing and is given so much. //

I asked for everything and lost the woman I loved.

She said nothing.

The three men head back to the Devar household. As they approach a street intersection, a trio of zombies threatens a lone woman. Before they can intervene, a soul-shaking howl fills the air and a pair of hideous creatures—horrible masked amalgams of bear and crocodile—burst from an alley.

Carver immediately recognizes these as esobok psychopomps. Esoboks are brute hunters and pugnacious sentinels who serve as the guard dogs of the Boneyard. They tear into the zombies, felling them but injuring the human woman in the process. Ignoring her, the esoboks begin feeding on the decayed flesh of the slain undead while the woman lies dying in the street.

The group approaches to aid the women and the the esoboks growl and snap at them. They do more when they approach within 20 feet, screaming and moving to attack.

While Kepher moves to get between them and the woman, Carver strikes with burning hands and Keva closes to engage. As Keva engages and Carver burns them with yet more fire, Kepher heals the poor woman who manages to avoid a bite as she scurries away. Then Kepher joins the fight and they deal with the psychopomps in short order.

”These were summoned” Carver notes. Kepher looks around and sees a man dressed as an Inquisitor of Pharasma.

Kepher confronts the man who admits to the summoning.

Apparently, The Voices of the Spire, a militant armof the Pharasmin priesthood, have reacted to the undead incursion with extreme force. Voices’ commander in Wati, Nakht Shepses, is considering summoning esobok psychopomps—near-mindless hunters who feed on negative energy—to counter the undead horde. On Shepses’ orders, this subordinate has tested the strategy.

Kepher is not amused. He dresses the man down, and the Inquisitor leaves cowed.

At the Devar’s house, the ladies were surprised the men arrived as they did. After a quick breakfast they turn in.

The next evening, they return to the Masouluem and report in. To put it mildly, Meret-Heru Seseneb and Setekh Anpu are displeased with the actions of Nakht Shepses. Incandescent rage would be a more accurate description.

But the two leaders have worse news for the Lost Fragments: Tumani Tor is missing.

He was following a lead on the Silver Chain gang and was last in the Harbor District. There is no hesitation in the minds of Keva, Kepher, and Ina.

Tumani is one of their own. They are going to find him.

The sun is still up when they reach the Harbor District, but it is already waning, throwing long shadows across the streets and turning the river gold.

They split up and begin asking questions.

It does not take long before people recognize them. The Lost Fragments have become known in Wati as heroes … the ones who helped put down the dangers threatening the city. Doors open a little more easily. People are willing to talk. A few even offer thanks.

Zaliki and Ina both find the attention particularly uncomfortable.

But Ina has the most luck.

She moves through the Harbor District quickly, slipping from conversation to conversation and following scraps of information before they have time to grow cold.

Tumani was here.

He had been asking questions about the Silver Chain, and eventually the trail begins pointing toward the old Bright River Brickworks.

Once, the brickworks produced a steady supply of mud bricks for Wati’s less glorious homes and businesses. But one setback after another eventually ended in disaster: a cracked kiln, followed by a fire that tore through the building and the surrounding shanties of the Veins.

That was two years ago.

The hovels around it have long since grown back. The brickworks has not.

It remains strangely silent and empty in the middle of Wati’s crowded Harbor District.

People get suspicious of things like that in a part of town where everything gets used.

Ina moves like the wind.

The thought comes unexpectedly to her:

Sairen moved like the wind, too.

Then Ina sees the brickworks. Two fire-scarred mud-brick walls and half a dozen crumbling clay kilns are all that remain of the building that once stood in the weed-choked lot. A boarded-up, scorched door stands in the southeast corner where the surviving walls meet.

And someone is watching it.

A single guard stands near the ruined building.

Killing the man is of no issue. The second guard she had not spotted was a bit more trouble – until the crossbow bolt went through his neck.

The rest run up and they enter into the building or what is left of it. A secret stair leads down.

Ina missed the trap and falls in the pit.

After her rescue and healing they move on. Almost a flip of the coin on direction. Left. They find a dormitory. Two members of the Silver Chain.

Kepher somehow manages to be sneaky, even his is full armor. Careful use of ghost sound by Zaliki and both guards are lured, and killed. As part of this room, four stone wells fill much of this otherwise unremarkable room. Disassembled mechanical remains lie scattered around plumbing connections in the southeast corner. They are dry now.

Tumani is at the bottom of one.

Bound, but thanks to his birthmark, he can use his magic. He has been healing himself with his positive energy aura. But he is thirsty and hungry. Most of the members of the Silver Chain think killing a priest will doom them to a lifetime of bad luck. But he has been beaten.

They get him out and help him. Tumani hugs his old friends. Tumani is exhausted, battered, and clearly in no condition to continue fighting, but the relief on his face when he sees his old friends is unmistakable.

Once he has a chance to catch his breath, he tells them what he learned.

//“The Silver Chain isn’t working for itself anymore. Someone else is giving the orders now … a man wearing a golden mask. He’s close. Next room, unless they’ve moved him. He seemed more amused with the gang keeping me alive than sharing their superstitions. //

Tumani has used almost everything he had trying to survive his captivity and cannot offer much help in a fight. At least until Zaliki heals him. His equipment was taken from him and he does not know where, but Keva offers him his hammer. Tumani feel naked without armor.

Four men in funerary masks plot. The leader, in gold is Ekram Iffek. The party just charges in. Zaliki stops on of the men in brass masks with forbiddance while Kephers strides forward towards Ekram to smite him. Ekram tries parlay, but the group will have nothing to do with the man who trapped and beat their friend.

The cultists of the Forgotten Pharaoh do not stand a chance. Burning hands flick forward from Carver while blows land. Ekram falls to the righteous vengeance of Kepher standing side by side with Tumani. Keva, Ina and Zaliki cut down the other two.

It is over in seconds.

One cultist is just alive enough to interrogate. Tumani offers to take him back to the Grand Mausoleum to be questioned.

Before they part, Tumani looks over Keva, Kepher, Ina, and the others.

“You came looking for me. I won’t forget that. You are dear friends. I fear our paths will cross be we are on different paths now.”

Searching the room they find evidence of a deeper plot. A letter.

//Your sect’s efforts have been exemplary so far, but there is much yet to be done. The necropolis of Wati will soon be opened, and we might find clues that have lain hidden for too long. Transportation and means of communication will be provided. A gang of grave robbers called the Silver Chain should provide you with the cover and resources you need to continue the search. Once you arrive in the city, infiltrate this Silver Chain and bend them to His divine will. //

//Move quickly. Once the Pharasmins open the necropolis to explorers, we run the risk of outsiders finding the mask first. Succeed, and Hakotep’s moment of resurrection will soon be at hand. I do not need to tell you how much I would loathe expressing the Sky Pharaoh’s displeasure should you fail. //

—Meret-Hetef

And a holder of bird feather tokens that has one removed. And there is a secret passage leading down and towards the Necropolis. They have been going back and forth.

Clearing the rest of the Silver Chains hideout seemed easy after that. Some more Silver Chain members. An encounter with alchemical gas.

The only real issue was a strange encounter with a Tekenu. The ka pulse cased organs in canopic jars to become a threat. Separated from the sacred organs placed in canopic jars, tekenus attempt to reconnect with their counterparts among the living by killing creatures so that they can absorb intestines, livers, lungs, and stomachs into their squirming forms—a process that grants the undead creature additional powers.

That fight was harder. But they still walked away.

The Lost Fragments have done their part to make the living half of Wati as safe as possible, but the danger has not passed. Thousands of shambling undead still wander the ruined streets of the necropolis. Its sturdy walls are holding for now, but the gates cannot withstand the throngs forever. Undead also continue to trickle into the living city through forgotten canals and smuggling tunnels beneath the Veins district.

Until the cause of the uprising is found, Wati remains in grave danger.

After the Lost Fragments have had a week to recover, shop and rest, their old and recently rescued friend Tumani arranges a meeting with Meret-Heru Sesneb and Nakht Shepses. Together, they provide what guidance they can before the Lost Fragments enter the necropolis in search of the source of the undead plague.

Tumani is waiting when the Lost Fragments arrive. Though still recovering from his ordeal, he greets them warmly. Meret-Heru Sesneb stands beside an old map spread across a broad table, while Nakht Shepses studies several notes and reports gathered from across the city.

Tumani looks from one member of the Lost Fragments to the next.

“It is good to stand before you as a free man. I owe that freedom to you, and I wish I could repay the debt by offering you rest rather than another burden.”

//“But Wati is not yet safe. The walls still stand, and the gates still hold, but the dead continue to gather on the other side. Worse, some are finding their way into the living city through tunnels beneath the Veins.”

“You have already done more than anyone had the right to ask of you. Yet there is no one in Wati I would trust more with what must come next.”

Tumani gestures toward the two men beside him.

“Meret-Heru Sesneb and Nakht Shepses have gathered what they know. Listen carefully. Once you enter the necropolis, you may have little opportunity to seek further guidance.”

Meret-Heru rests both hands upon the table.

“The dead of Wati have endured grave robbers, smugglers, careless explorers, and the simple erosion of centuries. Now something has awakened them in numbers that threaten the entire city.”

“The Lost Fragments have proven their courage and their respect for Wati. Therefore, I grant you permission to enter the necropolis and investigate its streets, tombs, and monuments.”

“You may retain whatever unclaimed wealth you recover, but remember that the necropolis is not merely a ruin. It is a city of the dead. Show reverence where reverence is due, and do not allow necessity to become an excuse for desecration.”

In return for their agreement to aid the city, Meret-Heru entrusts the Lost Fragments with one of Wati’s oldest funerary secrets.

When the necropolis was first sealed behind its walls nearly eighteen centuries ago, more than a dozen devices known as elegiac compasses were hidden throughout its streets and tombs. These necromantic detectors can sense powerful concentrations of negative and necromantic energy. For generations, the city’s religious guardians used them to locate and suppress dangerous supernatural influences within the necropolis. Meret-Heru unrolls an older map and places it over the newer charts of the city.

“When the necropolis was sealed nearly eighteen centuries ago, its guardians concealed more than a dozen devices within it. They are called elegiac compasses.”

/“Each compass can detect powerful concentrations of necromantic energy. By comparing the direction and strength of several readings, those who understand their use can locate the source of such corruption.”//

The compasses were last inspected approximately thirty years ago. At that time, five remained functional. Meret-Heru believes that, should enough of them still operate, their readings could be compared to triangulate the source of the undead uprising.

He points to five places marked on the map.

“Thirty years ago, five of the compasses still functioned. Whether they remain intact today, I cannot say.”

/“You will find them at the Observatory of Truth and Wisdom, the Ghoul Market, the Great Cistern, the Monument Vault, and the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss.”//

“Reach as many as you can. Examine them and record their readings. If enough remain functional, they may lead you directly to whatever power has stirred Wati’s dead.”

”I cannot guarantee that all five devices remain intact or operational. The Lost Fragments will have to reach each location and examine the compass yourselves.”. Nakht leans over the map and places one finger upon the Cenotaph of the Cynic.

“There is another matter you must investigate.”

“A group of lamias known as the Amushet has claimed the Cenotaph of the Cynic. They reject the gods, mock the customs of the dead, and practice forms of magic that even our most learned priests do not fully understand.”

“They have taken men and women from the living city as paramours. Some of those captives eventually returned…, raving, and unable to give any clear account of what had been done to them.”

Nakht’s expression hardens.

“I cannot prove that the Amushet caused the uprising. They may be victims of it, opportunists profiting from it, or the hand behind it. Whatever the truth, they know more about recent events inside the necropolis than they have shared.”/

“Do not underestimate them. A lamia may speak softly, flatter you, or offer precisely what you most desire. None of that makes her less dangerous.”

”The lamias inhabit the Cenotaph of the Cynic. It is, or was, a place for atheists, you can believe such a thing. “

Tumani places a second, rougher map beside Meret-Heru’s chart.

//“Brother Qedren Voss left us another lead before recent events overtook him.” //

// “During his investigations of Wati’s grave robbers, he made contact with a clan of dark folk called the Xotl. They live beneath Vizier’s Hill and are led by someone called Unwrapped Harmony.” //

// “The name is strange, but Qedren believed the Xotl were among the less hostile inhabitants of the necropolis. They know its hidden paths, hear what moves beneath its streets, and may have witnessed the beginning of the uprising.” //

Tumani indicates the estate on the map.

//“Unwrapped Harmony can be found near the old Asetiti estate. Approach cautiously, but not with drawn weapons. Qedren believed the Xotl might speak with those who treated them as neighbors rather than monsters.” //

“They may know where the dead first began to stir. They may also know what has been moving through the tunnels beneath the city.”

Meret-Heru opens a padded case and removes a dark metal rod traced with faint silver markings. “You will face spirits and other creatures whose bodies are no longer wholly part of this world.”

“This is a //lesser ectoplasmic metamagic rod from the temple treasury. In the hands of a spellcaster, it allows magic to take firmer hold upon incorporeal beings.”// “Our resources are strained, and such objects cannot easily be replaced. Nevertheless, a relic locked safely in a vault is of little value while Wati dies around it.”

He offers the rod to the Lost Fragments.

“Take it. Use it well. Return it when the dead are quiet once more.”

Tumani looks from one member of the Lost Fragments to the next.

“You have seven known destinations and many questions.”

“Find the elegiac compasses. Investigate the Amushet. Speak with Unwrapped Harmony. Learn how the undead are passing through the Veins.”

“Somewhere within the necropolis is the cause of this plague.”

“Find it before the walls fail.”

The Lost Fragments must now enter the necropolis, examine the remaining elegiac compasses, investigate the Amushet, seek information from Unwrapped Harmony and the Xotl, and uncover the power responsible for awakening Wati’s dead.

The group looks at the maps and makes a plan. They will use the tunnel they found at the Silver Chain’s hideout and enter the city that way. It comes out near the location of one of the Compasses.

The narrow passage climbs through damp, close-set stone before opening abruptly into a broad subterranean chamber. Part of the ancient canal roof has collapsed, allowing harsh daylight to fall through a jagged opening nearly twenty feet overhead.

Shallow alcoves line the chamber walls, each stacked with carefully arranged skulls and human bones. At the center of the chamber stands the wreckage of an elaborate mechanism built from bronze wheels, copper plates, stone housings, and slender metal arms. Its outer frame has collapsed, but several of its internal gears remain locked together beneath the rubble.

Near the ruined machine lies the body of a man dressed in the faded linen and leather of a necropolis official. One hand remains wrapped around the strap of a battered document case.

From somewhere among the sun-warmed stones comes the dry whisper of scales, followed by a rising chorus of hisses

Snakes swarm the party, and Keva is badly poisoned. Carver’s use of his go to, burning hands easily deals with the snakes.

There is a ruined Elegiac Compass where this tunnel came out.

The mechanism at the center of the chamber is one of the elegiac compasses once maintained by the priests of Pharasma. These devices were placed throughout the necropolis to detect and measure dangerous concentrations of necromantic energy.

Next to this one is a body.

The compass was largely destroyed when the canal roof collapsed approximately 20 years ago. Its frame is twisted, its stone housing has cracked, and several important mechanisms are missing or corroded beyond use. The compass cannot be restored in its present location.

However, part of it can be removed.

The Sepulchral Escapement is a fist-sized assembly of blackened bronze gears, silver teeth, and narrow copper springs. It regulated the compass's response to fluctuations in necromantic energy, preventing the indicator needle from spinning wildly whenever undead creatures passed nearby.

Getting it out takes an hour.

While that is being done, Kepher investigates the fallen body. It is only a few days old. From his journal they are able to determine the body belongs to Hapuseneb, a junior surveyor employed by Wati's necropolis administration. He entered the Dry Veins shortly before the ka pulse to inspect the damaged compass and update the district's structural records. The snake swarms killed him before he could escape.

His body carries ordinary surveying tools, a ring of keys, 12 gp in mixed coins, and a weatherproof document case bearing the faded seal of the necropolis administration. The case is locked but fragile.

Inside are mold-stained maintenance reports, charcoal sticks, measurements of damaged tunnels, and a folded partial survey of the southern necropolis. Most entries concern collapsed drains, unstable walls, and abandoned structures. Two prominent landmarks are clearly marked:

Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss: Former funerary school devoted to mathematics, celestial measurement, and sacred calculation.

Observatory of Truth and Wisdom: Former observatory and archive devoted to the study of the heavens under the patronage of Maat and Thoth.

They are able to place these on their map and mark them as other locations. The head for the closest spot, The Shiny Bauble. This former glassblower’s shop was repurposed to serve as a humble family mausoleum, as well as the location of one of the elegiac compasses.

The group finds that the Shiny Bauble has been looted of its choicest bits of glasswork and jewelry, but the elegiac compass on the shop’s roof is in surprisingly good condition despite its age. However, a significant component of the device—its copper-wrapped quartz core—has recently been removed. It is otherwise intact.

Even 10 days after the theft, tracking the culprit is easy in the loose, dry sand covering the rooftop. Tracks of a single creature lead off of the room towards a large sinkhole behind the shop.

Draconic Tracks.

The hole itself is deep and when Zaliki drops a light down, it looks to be 50 feet and much of the light is lost in the gloom.

The decide to move on for now.

Next stop is the Observatory of Truth and Wisdom. This house of learning and record keeping was dedicated to the Ancient Osirian deities Maat and Thoth, the goddess of celestial order and truth and god of the moon and wisdom, respectively. Here, astronomers once studied the heavens, tracking the movements of celestial bodies and supplying Wati’s various mapmakers and travelers with accurate measurements and predictions. Abandoned after the Plague of Madness, the observatory lay undisturbed for centuries.

The Observatory of Truth and Wisdom is a simple affair, consisting of a single floor with a three-story tower in the center. The tower’s top level is exposed to the skies above, with various markings on the walls to indicate the position of the sun and stars on important dates. The interior of the observatory’s main floor is decorated in blue tiles and murals of major constellations and celestial events. The remains of several dozen scribes, teachers, and bureaucrats were once interred here, but they were all animated by the ka pulse and are now undead creatures assailing the necropolis’s gates. When the observatory was transformed into a tomb, artisans worked subtle death motifs into the decorations, and anyone fluent in Ancient Osiriani discovers many prayers to worked into the decorative trim.

In addition, an enormous spiral mosaic, partially obscured by a tattered tarpaulin, is built into the floor of the tower. It is the holy symbol of Pharasma, which Carver finds odd as the observatory was clearly dedicated to Maat and Thoth, two deities with little, if any, relation to Pharasma.

They do not find any compass or anything of note. However, the height of the Observatory allows them to plan their next moves. They decide to next move north, towards what is labeled as the Ghoul Market. Now the sun is past its zenith and starting is crawl down in the sky.

Market stalls and small shops in various states of decay rise from the worn cobbles of this plaza. Rubble and bits of gnawed bone lie heaped in corners. One door stands out.

Unlike most of the storefronts along the street, the door to this shop shows signs of recent use.

And it has four ghouls in front of it.

Carver unleashes his new favorite spell fireball upon the ghouls and the die.

Deciding stealth is no longer an option they burst into the front room of what used to be Windward Wends Oils Company. he air in this shop smells of food heavily seasoned with coriander seed, garlic, and other spices, mingled with the earthy aroma of decay. Bright stains mar the gray wooden shelves on the walls. In the rear of the shop, a beaded curtain hangs over an opening that leads deeper into the building.

They are startled to see familiar faces. Back when the Necropolis was opened, the Sunrise Fellows were assigned to the Ghoul Market. They never came back and everyone thought they were dead. Yet, hear stand three of them: Date Palm, Oshwyt, and Worm. Only Bheg is missing.

The bluffing starts immediately, but they are easily intimidated. The Sunrise Fellows” are secretly agents of the Fading, Wati’s premiere drug smuggling gang, who used the lottery as an opportunity to establish a mumia lab in the necropolis. cover.

Apparently they have. Bheg is their alchemist and is in back. The gang members are marched in front of them as they group goes to confront Bheg. He is no longer human.

Bheg used his own drug and is now a ghoul. The moment the group enters, his hunger overwhelms his and the attacks and kills Oshwyt even as his horrible stench fills the room. Kepher staggers in the stench but presses on. Bheg comes to his senses and fights with his magic. He was an alchemist. His fire breath is dangerous. The party rains blows and spells upon the ghoul, who fights far more capably than his kind normally do.

But he cannot win. The Ghoul drops.

Date Palm and Worm know nothing about the undead uprising, though they do note there are less ghouls in the area. However, they have noticed some mysterious happenings in the necropolis. Well aware of the activities of their rivals in the Silver Chain, the Fading have noticed figures in strange golden masks using the Silver Chain’s smuggler’s tunnels in the Dry Veins to enter and exit the necropolis. More recently, they also witnessed another person wearing the same type of mask entering a location called the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss.

Zaliki notes they should rest. It is getting dark. This is a safe place to stay. They bar the door and hunker down for the night.