After spectacularly failing in investigating the pyramid, the group starts heading back to Sothis. However, Airi accidentally falls through a trap door through the sand, sending the group into a series of puzzles.
Dungeon Master[]
Party Members[]
Joined in Pharaoh's Tomb
Mission Goal[]
Solve the puzzles, and avoid being drowned in sand. After solving the lever puzzles, navigate the Pharaoh's Tomb and find a way out.
Mission Summary[]
While the group was walking through the desert, Airi suddenly fell through a hole. This triggered a trap, which activated a large number of surrounding trap doors, causing several other the other party members to fall down. The remaining party members decided it would be best to save their comrades, and jumped down the holes as well.
Down the holes, each party member found themselves alone, in a room with four levers. After trying a few things out, they learned that the goal of the puzzle was to have everyone get their levers into the on position. If all their levers were off, then sand would start flowing into their room at a slow rate. The levers were connected so that if the first lever in a room was switched, all the others' first levers would switch as well, and the same rule applied for the other levers. To solve the puzzle, the group found out successfully that the levers could be held in place, preventing a lever from turning off.
After solving the first puzzle, the four levers disappeared, and five levers took their place. The goal of the puzzle was the same, turn on all the levers, but this time, they could only pull the first lever multiple times. The entire puzzle was a large binary sequence, and they could only add 1 to the binary number each time. After a large number of lever switching, they finally all had their levers switched. When Airi pulled the first switch, all levers switched to the off position, and a new lever in another room switched on, solving the puzzle.
After solving the second lever puzzle, several doors opened up, revealing slides that led further down. Airi immediatey went down the slide in her insanity. Munin sent his falcon do check if the slide was clear, but chose to stay in the room. Hekrion, whose room had a closed trap door above had no choice but to press on. Sora, deciding that this was only sidetracking his true quest of creating a Decanter of Non-Exploding Kittens, used Dimensional Door to leave the room.
Inside of the room where the slides ended, a single button was on a platform, with a stone dial slowly turning counter-clockwise. Above, the spike-covered ceiling slowly was descending upon the group. Airi, in her insanity, began mashing the button to see what would happen. She soon became bored, finding no fun in the timer constantly being reset. Hekrion took over pressing the button until they had figured out the puzzle.
Each time the button was pushed, Munin would hear a ticking noise. Eventually, the walls revealed spiked, and clapped down on him. Fortunately, he was able to leap into the slide, and avoid dying. When he got to the room, he found the others discussing how to get out of the room. As Hekrion continued pressing the button, Reven accidentally knocked the stone dial too hard, causing the ceiling to sink at half the speed.
The group, aside from Airi, after being unable to find a way out, decided to try and grip on the walls in the slide chutes to avoid being crushed. Hekrion was able to use a piton to keep himself securely within the chute he had come down. Airi, however, attempted to run up a slide, but tripped on the grease coating it, and fell on her face and back into the button room. Munin, unable to keep his grip, fell into the room, and curled up, afraid he was about to die.
However, as the timer ended, the ceiling stopped. It presented no chance of crushing the group. With a sigh of relief, the group saw a door open at the side of the room, and investigated. In the next room, a mural depicting an contemptuous-looking pharaoh on each wall, with a tarp spread out in the middle of the room. A door was on the other side of the tarp. When Hekrion investigated the gold floors, he found that the tarp was covering nothing, and almost fell into a pit, one so deep that the bottom could not be seen.
At this point, Yang, having Yin on his shoulder, and Geralt appeared out of slides on each side of the pit.
Hekrion, believing that the exit to the room was behind the door, used a grappling hook and rope to cross to the other side. However, Airi, in her insanity, wanted to get across, and needed to cling on to Hekrion to do so, since her Ring of Unfreedom of Movement made it impossible to cross herself. The pair teamed up with Yang, who held the rope firmly in place, allowing Hekrion and Airi to run across the wall to the other side.
This was a bad idea, however, as it turned out that all the gold floor tiles had nothing beneath them, and that they were beginning to fall off into the pit. Opening the door, a small room, only 5 feet in length, was found. Panicking, Hekrion shoved Airi off of him, almost knocking her into the pit, and leapt across the pit. Yang, also jumping over the pit, landed on the other set of tiles at the same time. The pair had caused enough force to knock the remaining tiles, and Hekrion, Airi, and Yang started falling into the pit.
In attempt to save them, Hekrion tried negotiating with Airi to have her cast Feather Fall so they wouldn't die upon hitting the ground. While her insanity initially made her adverse to the idea, Hekrion managed to convince her otherwise. Since she had been so steadfast in helping him remove the Coin of Cassandra's Curse on the boat, he assumed she was overly kind, and made mention of his sister, that if he were to die, she would not be able to be saved.
Airi, who remembered her own sister, Iri, immediately agreed to cast Feather Fall on Hekrion and herself. As the group was about to hit the ground, Yin transformed into his human shape, and cast Levitate on himself and Yang, preventing them from splatting on the ground.
Fortunately, Airi had cast the spell fast enough that they had both managed to live, with Yin and Yang soon joining them at the bottom of the 600-foot pit. At the end of the room, a single button sat, waiting.
After seeing their companions fall down the pit, Munin and Geralt decided to use the tarp as a parachute to check on their companions. Reven, however, was strongly against the idea of leaping into the pit and stayed in the button room. After a few feet of falling, the pair found that parachutes require fine balancing, and it quickly became tangled up. They quickly got to work untangling it.
After introducing themselves to each other, Airi said, "Do you see this button? Here's what you shouldn't do," and immediately pushed the button. After the button was pushed, a 30-foot layer of foam rose from the ground. Munin and Geralt were able to safely land without harm, even if they hadn't had their parachute. However, Munin had landed on Airi's face, and Geralt landed on Hekrion's.
Upon standing up and regaining their composure, the group saw a hallway leading into a chamber, where a Contract Demon sat, waiting. As the group approached, he immediately called Airi forth, and offered three wishes in exchange for her soul. He began persuading her with illusions of Iri, and how he could bring her back. Just as Airi was about to accept, Munin offered his soul instead, and signed the contract.
With the contract signed, Munin's soul was taken from his body, leaving him grey and completely emotionless. Iri was successfully revived, fortunately.
Before granting the second wish, the Contract Demon looked around the group, asking for another taker for a wish. Hekrion, standing in the corner, thought to himself, "I don't need a demon's power."
The Contract Demon, able to read his mind, began inquire about it, in a tone suggesting that he knew something Hekrion didn't. Hekrion at last managed to keep the Contract Demon from persuading him further, however, and the topic was immediately dropped.
The demon then moved to Yang, and asked if he would like intelligence, the knowledge of the world. However, Yin convinced Yang to refuse accepting of the wish.
When he finally regained his composure, Munin stood up once more and was offered his second wish. He chose the poorly worded wish, "I wish for the lives of my tribe." The wish was taken painfully literal, and Munin was given a glass jar, filled with the souls of the members of his tribe. The very fact that he had the souls of his family and friends, left him mortified. He collapsed to the ground.
The Contract Demon, thoroughly satisfied with his work thus far, then requested their last wish. Munin, at last able to stand, wished for a portal that would bring them safely to Sothis. The portal appeared, and the group found themselves in a warehouse. Yang immediately smashed open a nearby crate, attracting the attention of nearby guards.
As the first guard approached the group, he was almost immediately cleaved in half by Yang, who was angered about the guard's aggression towards the group. Yin, meanwhile, had managed to charm the other guard into believing they were close friends, and convinced him that the slaughtering of the first guard was not their fault, and that they found it that way.
Under the affects of the charm, the guard believed it immediately, and led the group to the exit of the warehouse.
When the group finally returned to the inn, they began their introductions. After getting to know each other's names, Airi and Iri expressed their thanks to Munin for his sacrifice, and said they would help him reclaim his soul. Yang, knowing that Munin had lost something of great importance, also offered his help in taking down the demon. Geralt, being a cleric, was against demons, and was immediately on board with the plan. Hekrion, however, was not on board with the plan as fast, but ultimately decided to assist the group, to prove that he could solve his problems without a demon's help.
After discussing the demon, Hekrion approached Iri, interested in her, as she was the younger sister of the closest thing to a friend he had. Since Airi had lost Iri, Hekrion found himself relating with the two sisters, as he still had his own sister. Iri, however, being told from Airi about Hekrion being a Dhampir, was nervous about him, and immediately backed off. Airi interrupted the conversation, and continued speaking with Hekrion. She asked about his sister, and he promptly refused to speak about the matter, saying that it was something he had to do alone. When asked why, Hekrion yelled, "It doesn't matter! Just leave me alone!" After doing so, he immediately stormed off to his room, leaving the group looking after him.
Yang asked nervously, "Is he bad man?" To which, Airi said that he wasn't.