Let's Play Wizardry 6, Part 11

Previously on Bane of the Cosmic Forge, the party continued to explore the dwarf mine underneath the castle of the Bane King, releasing the spectre of the wizard Xorphitus (or half of him at least). From Xorphitus the party learned that the Bane King and Xorphitus had acquired the Cosmic Forge, a magical pen that could be used to rewrite reality. In trying to use it outside its proper setting within the Cosmic Circle however, they triggered its curse—in the case of Xorphitus, it had split the wizard into two individuals, one helpful yet sealed up until the moment of release by the party, and the other at large, but irrevocably insane. Even Xorphitus's apprentice could not escape the pen's bane, inadvertently transforming himself into a snake.

This is not the worst thing that has happened to a user of the pen.

Now, one hundred and twenty years later, it is the other Xorphitus that the party must now seek if they are to find the Cosmic Forge for themselves. And to do so, they must find the twin gems necessary to unlock the door to death underneath the castle of the Bane King...

"So Motoko and I were talking—"

[Both look quizzically at Shaana, then Motoko.]

"—and we were wondering about this 'door to death'."

"The door in the castle basement. What about it?"

"So, uh, isn't opening a door to death a bad thing?"

"Superstitious nonsense. I'm sure the sobriquet is metaphorical."

"Give it a sniff, it might still be good to eat."

Seeking clues, the party went up to a house on top of a mountain in a giant underground cavern, blinded and killed the homeowners and then disposed of the bodies. They now search the house for something to ex post facto justify their actions.

"Anybody find anything?"

"No. Only the large animated stone head out back."

"..."

Behind the giant's house, at the very peak of Giant Mountain...

The giant brothers' noisy lodger.

"I am the guardian of the rock! Have you come to take the rock?"

"No."

"Did you bring me an offering?"

"No."

Let's try that again.

"Did you bring me an offering?"

"Yes?"

"You do not have what I want! Begone!"

"What manner of object would such a creature desire?"

"It's a rock guarding a rock. So...another rock?"

"That's just silly."

After a brief (and cantankerous) internal debate, the party elect to descend the mountain, traverse the cavern floor and then re-ascend the mountain on the other side in order to pick up a nice fresh boulder. They then retrace their journey all the way back down the mountain again in order to re-ascend the mountain face that permits climbing all the way to the summit, all just for the opportunity to try giving the boulder to the Guardian.

It works of course.

"I see you have brought a nice boulder! I will take it from you now..."

[Flatly.] "What."

[Munches on the boulder.] "Mmmm...that is good! What do you want?"

"Who are you?"

"I am the guardian of the rock!"

"What rock?"

"Have you come to take the rock?"

"...what if we said yes?"

"Then I must slay you!"

"Never mind then."

[Aside to Wrath.] "We could, you know, just kill it and take its rock."

"We have no reason to try such a thing."

"It's probably not even an interesting rock."

[Angrily.] "Why did we even do all that?!"

The Guardian of the Rock appears to indeed be guarding some kind of rock. Without knowing what the rock actually is however, the party elects not to fight the guardian (for now), not least out of the concern that the rock would turn out to be another boulder they have to carry down the mountain. Unfortunately, there is little else that the Guardian is willing to talk about, nor is it willing to trade with the party; mind-reading seems to also be impossible, probably due to the Guardian being also a rock.

Back in the house, one wing of the building juts slightly out over the western slope downwards. In that wing is a room with a button.

Why did the giants even have this?

[To Konata.] "Don't press the button."

[Rolls eyes.] "I'm not going to press it again."

"Good." [Double take.] "Wait, what?"

The button opens a chute that deposits the party most of the way back down the mountain, albeit on the other side of another stretch of gorge separating them from where they ascended the mountain earlier—preventing them from going back the way they came.

[Staggers upright, brushing his robes off.] "I hate buttons."

[Wide-eyed.] "No! Don't say that Mister Whisker!"

The party proceed along a narrow ridge; based on the map they'd drawn up of the cavern, it seems that the ridge runs along the last unexplored part of the cavern floor, and it quickly leads to a tunnel in the west wall. Pushing onwards, they find their progress stymied by a rockfall.

The tunnel ends abruptly as apparently there was a cave-in some time ago. You might be able to dig through it, using the proper tool of course...

Motoko pulls out the party's trusty pickaxe and gets digging, trying to open a path forward. Wrath and Alva help her to move the rubble out of the way.

"Um. I was thinking..."

[Sighs.] "Yes my dear?"

"You don't think the rock that guardian was guarding was one of those gems Xorphitus hid away?"

"No, I..." [Frowns, then curses loudly in his native tongue.]

[Stop their labour to look back at the mage.]

[Looking ahead to the newly opened passage.] "Oh look, zombies."

As soon as a sizable opening is dug out through the collapsed tunnel, the party are attacked by a couple of zombies.

Every year, over two hundred archaeologists are killed by zombies.

These 'amazulu' zombies are tougher than those previously encountered, retaining past zombies' ability to vomit noxious acid and paralyse on touch while being much stronger.

[Vomits on Wrath.]

"Ugh. Disgusting."

[Looks at Wrath incredulously.]

Once the zombies are chopped into enough pieces that nothing is left moving, the party take a look around.

This appears to be some sort of burial chamber, wrapped mummies being laid in alcoves cut from the earth. The ground is dirt and clay, and broken pieces of pottery lie scattered about the room.

Exploring beyond, the passage splits in two. Taking the east fork, the party come quickly to another dead-end, but Motoko is quick to identify how thin the rock ahead really is:

This area has been chiseled out, as if someone were trying to tunnel into the rock for some reason. Investigating it further, you can feel a slight wisp of air seeping through a crack, possibly coming from the other side.

A look at the party map shows that this branch of the passage should exit onto the great cavern again, far enough to the north to reconnect with territory already explored, giving the party a route back to the castle and the dwarf mines that does not involve climbing back up Giant Mountain. Thus Motoko and her two helpers (ably directed from behind by the triumvirate of Shaana, Whisker and Konata) get to work finishing what had already been started; a few swings of the pickaxe later, and a new tunnel into the open cavern beyond is created, providing the party with a backdoor by which they can withdraw to safety should the going get too tough for them (which it will, in about five minutes).

Having secured their evacuation route, the party backtrack and take the fork west. At the end of the west passage is another old burial chamber, identical to the last except for having five times the number of zombies in it. Unable to rely on Shaana's lute, or even Konata's blinding flash, the party have to resort to brute force and copious use of damaging magics such as acid bomb and iceball. After the last zombie is left carved into twain by a sweep of Alva's fauchard, the entire party stand victorious while also being very much drenched in foul-smelling, possibly corrosive vomit.

If the graphics were more detailed, this entire room would be covered in sick.

[Far at the back.] "Actually I'm fine, if a bit tired."

[Try desperately to wipe off the acidic puke while retching uncontrollably.]

The nauseated party beat a hasty retreat through the newly-opened back-passage to regroup and heal up, taking the time to go all the way to the magical fountain deep in the dwarf mine at the other side of the cavern. Konata makes liberal use of her cure lesser condition spell, but the smell will never leave their clothes, even after being splashed in fountain water.

"We could just dunk all our clothes in the fountain basin, maybe?"

"And risk permanently befouling the healing waters? We can't take that chance."

"Weee!" [Splashes Whisker in the face with fountain water.]

[Hisses and yowls, backing off to the other side of the room.]

"So Motoko and I were just talking—"

[Both look doubtfully at Motoko, then Shaana.]

"—and it might be a good opportunity for Motoko to try her mind-reading spell on Smitty and that snake person. To see if they know anything they're not telling us."

"...Motoko can read minds?"

And so the party take the opportunity to visit Mystaphaphas and Smitty so that Motoko can try out her new talent. With her psionic powers, Motoko learns the following: Mystaphaphas is hungry.

"Darned tootin' I'm hungry!"

Meanwhile, Smitty is thinking about the mines (presumably how quiet they've gotten since those adventurers killed everything). Motoko buys some roasted corn from him and takes it to Mystaphaphas:

"Mmmm..." [Slurps.] "That's delicious! Just for that I'll tell you a secret! There's more to the wizard's lair than meets the eye!"

Having unveiled the mysterious workings of the apprentice-turned-snake's mind and acquired the valuable information that perhaps they should pay attention when rummaging through the wizard Xorphitus's things, the party make the journey back across the great cavern to the zombie-infested burial chambers beyond.

"I'm so glad we're back here."

Picking their way carefully through the foul-smelling remnants of those zombies they destroyed in the second chamber, they now decide their next move.

"These chambers cannot exist in isolation. Despite the primitive (and apparently ineffectual) mode of burial, some of the bodies are relatively recent."

"Meaning somebody else dwells beyond here. Not dwarves, giants or beasts."

"Precisely. There are three doors proceeding from this chamber. Shall we start with the north-facing door?"

[Opens the north door, then closes it again.] "Another burial chamber filled with zombies."

[Punches hole through the door beside Wrath's head.]

The third burial chamber contains more zombies, but having replenished their stamina and magic, the party are able to make short work of them. No further passages lie beyond. Meanwhile, the south door opens into a corridor that winds a short distance, until:

The tunnel is filled with sand, making further travel into it impossible...

Forced to backtrack, the final (west) door leads to another winding passage leading upwards. They ascend the steep slope, finding the walls to have been decorated:

Faded paintings depicting brown people engaged in growing crops, bathing, and dancing in costumes cover the walls, a record most likely of daily life.

"Hmm..." [Studies the paintings carefully.]

After a long ascent, the passage leads up to the floor of some kind of building, with corridors leading east and south, both opening up into daylight!

The walls are made of earth, blocks of clay engraved with fanciful designs. A quick look around reveals that all the walls are this way, suggesting a royal or sacred air about the place.

There's light at the end of the corridor. Honestly.

The party immediately elect to head east towards the light of dawn:

Emerging outside, you are standing on the ledge of a great pyramid, a temple which is arising from the mountain and completely surrounded by jungle.

"We appear to be in a jungle."

"We can see that! What I want to know is how can we be in a jungle?!"

"Is that smoke coming from the top of that mountain?"

A look around reveals that the pyramid is composed of several storeys stacked upon one another like a ziggurat. Near the tip of the pyramid, a slender bridge of stone can be seen leading out over the very top of the smouldering mountain on which the pyramid has been constructed. The party walk a short way along the outside ledge of the pyramid before halting before a gap—one of many places missing stone blocks leave gaps that cannot be safely crossed, preventing easy circumnavigation of the pyramid.

The pyramid itself has many openings in its walls however, allowing explorers to step outside, walk along a ledge for a short way, and step back in to another part of the building. A brief investigation also makes it apparent that inside, the pyramid is a warren of twisting passages with stairs leading both up and down. These two facts suggest that finding the route to the very top of the pyramid may not be so simple. And yet the only other options are to retreat back the way the party came, or to scramble down the mountainside into the featureless jungle...

"Our path is clear."

[Nods.] "Jungles are rubbish. One unit of food and no production."

The party begin mapping the inner structure of the pyramid, but are soon interrupted; it becomes quite evident that the pyramid is not uninhabited, and that those inhabitants are not happy to see interlopers.

I'm not sure this is climate-appropriate attire.

The 'amazulu' warriors, all female, are scattered throughout the pyramid and are all immediately hostile.

"We do not come with malevolent intent—" [Dodges spear thrust.]

"—rather we are explorers—" [Parries a second thrust.]

"—seeking to speak with your leaders—" [Beats aside two simultaneous thrusts with his two blades.]

"We appear to have fallen into the midst of some kind of matriarchal warrior society, or possibly a cult."

"Not that I have a problem with that, but why won't they listen to us?"

"Oh, we're probably defiling consecrated ground just being here. Risks of popping out of the ground in terra incognita, and all that."

"Should we maybe help Wrath? There're five of them trying to skewer him, after all."

The amazuli are not too dangerous in general—though strong warriors, they lack resistance to debilitating magic, allowing them to be put to sleep by Shaana's lute or blinded by Konata's alchemy. The party defeat their assailants and move on, trying to find their way up the pyramid. Favouring the left-hand passages (having learned the folly of wandering around randomly in the dwarf mines), the party get most of the way to the top before their progress is thwarted.

"There're too many gaps in the outside ledge at this height; there's no way to safely proceed, and no stairs up."

Just behind Alva, there is a loud grinding noise as one of the gaps in the ledge is filled by a block of stone sliding out from the wall.

"..."

"I found a button!"

The party proceed to walk around the outside of the penultimate level of the pyramid, looking for a way up, even passing directly under the stone bridge extending out over the caldera of the mountain to the west. Eventually they find another portal back into the pyramid on the other side, with stairs. Going down.

[Gloomily.] "This may prove difficult."

Taking the stairs down in the hope that the path may loop back up again, the party find themselves instead going all the way back down to the same level they started, albeit in a corner of the pyramid they did not have access to before, wherein they find a large internal chamber, containing a single chest in one corner.

[Eyes gleaming.] "Treasure! In the heart of a mysterious pyramid! What mysteries lie within..."

As Shaana reaches towards the lock of the chest with her picks, the chest vanishes.

"Huh." [Turns back to the party.] "Oh, there it is!" [Runs past the others to the opposite corner.]

As Shaana reaches the chest again, it vanishes.

"Wah?" [Looks around, angrily.] "There!"

Finding that the chest has somehow teleported to another corner of the room, Shaana attempts to sidle over to it while looking the other way.

[Tries to looks nonchalant; then grabs at the chest beside her.] "Hah!" [The chest is not there.] "Damn!"

[Watching Shaana.] "We should probably help."

"Yes." [Does nothing.]

[Goes over to the corner opposite to the one chest now occupies.]

"It appears that the chest is ensorcelled to evade thieves."

[Creeps towards the chest's new location; signals to Motoko.]

[Nods.]

[Leaps at the chest.]

[Leaps at the space in the opposite corner of the room.]

"We probably need to find some way to outsmart the enchantment."

[Crashes into the wall. The chest is in one of the other corners.]

Unable to capture the teleporting chest, the party withdraw back up to where they'd previously gotten closest to the summit, searching for a secret way that might lead upwards. In a small internal room:

"I found a—eep!"

[Has grabbed Konata.] "Oh no. You're not opening up another chute beneath me. Let me step back into the corridor, and then you press it." [Releases Konata and retreats a safe distance.]

[Presses button.] "Hmm. Nothing happened."

[Out in corridor.] "On the contrary, one of the inner walls just opened, revealing another room. And within—aaaahh!" [The yell descends down the pyramid.]

[Flies back out into the corridor.] "What happened?!"

"It appears that there was another button in the new room. Whisker pressed it and the floor opened up beneath him."

The party follow after Whisker, finding him sprawled in one of the internal corridors the party had passed through to get upstairs in the first place.

"Okay. Fine. I'll just learn to levitate." [Grumbles to himself.] "I could have learned to encase my foes in deadly ice, but no, we have to keep falling down holes..."

Now, however, a secret door has been opened on one side, leading to a new chamber. Collecting the mage, the party investigate the chamber, wherein they encounter yet more Amazuli.

Unfortunately, the diplomacy skill will not be introduced until Wizardry 7.

The Amazuli priestesses prove particularly dangerous, summoning a cloud of poison gas that leeches away the vitality of the entire party as they fight, adding additional urgency to the battle. An air pocket spell can protect against such cloud effects, but only if cast in advance; otherwise the purify air spell (as yet unknown to any of the spellcasters) can be used to purge the area of such atmospheric malignancies. Not expecting to be gassed, no such countermeasures are put in place, and so after the fight, the whole party stagger onto the nearest ledge outside for some fresh air. Konata expends much of her air spell pool cleansing (most of) the poison from her companions' bodies.

[Coughing.] "Such foul magic dishonours these fighters."

"Ugh. I could actually feel my lungs shrivelling up as I breathed that in. What kind of person would use such a spell?!"

[Giggles to herself as she uses an extract of the poison to develop a more concentrated formula.]

Exploring beyond the new chamber leads to two stairways, one heading up and another heading down. Wanting to go upwards, the party take the upstairs route. This leads them yet again tantalisingly close to the top; a final set of stairs to the highest level can be seen, but lie beyond another locked gate.

The head of a strange beast is hewn in the center of a circular emblem on top of the gate, although somehow the face looks oddly familiar...

One last staircase, one final barrier.

"It couldn't be, could it?"

[Grimly.] "The mark of Ramm."

Taking the downstairs passage, it leads back beneath the pyramid, wherein the party find their way to another locked gate.

"Damn. Nothing I've got will get us through this."

The party are thus forced all the way back to where they started, every attempt to progress stymied by either locked gates, escapologist chests or bloody great gaps in the ledges surrounding each level of the pyramid. Where before they started with the east passage (on their left coming up from the underworld), they now take the south passage (to the right). Much like the other route, corridors lead up and down and all around the pyramid—but somewhere near the very heart of the structure, the party come across another chamber with another locked chest within.

The true treasure of the pyramid?

[Scowls.] "If this chest tries to flee, I'm going to, um..." [Thinks for a moment.] "...oh, I don't know. Cry probably."

The chest surprisingly does not attempt to run away. Shaana disarms the vorpal blades trap on the chest, carefully pulling out and putting aside the spring-loaded razor blades that would have dismembered a more careless thief. Flipping open the chest's lid, Shaana finds...an empty burlap sack.

"W-why would anybody guard an empty sack with such a lethal trap?!"

The party backtrack and try a different passage. This one leads up, down and round to another chamber, this time with somethings large, green and slimy.

Not actually a rubber beast. But good guess.

The two 'goop-gloops' proceed to paralyse half the party with their slimy protrusions. Whisker manages to keep them from overbearing his paralysed comrades by summoning a couple of sacrificial ethereal bats to distract them, but neither his nor Konata's offensive magics seem particularly effective. Konata tries to unparalyse Wrath while dodging the paralytic ichor dripping from the goop-gloop's tentacles; it is Motoko however that leaps into their midst, past the tentacles, and strikes each of them in a critical spot, causing the creatures to shudder and collapse, dead.

[Breaks free of his paralysis with katana at the ready; looks around and relaxes.]

[Calmly scrapes a splotch of gloop from one of the dead creatures.]

Continuing the tradition of collecting seemingly useless trophies from dead monsters, Motoko acquires a sticky gloop splotch. And with that, Motoko formulates a cunning plan...

The party return to the chamber of the aggravatingly fleeting chest. Slightly hesitantly, Shaana makes another attempt to grab the chest, but it immediately teleports away—however this time there is a strange slurping sound from the other side of the room. In the far corner, Motoko leans against the wall looking smug as the chest quivers in the alcove beside her, mired in sticky gloop. Motoko smacks the chest once in the centre of its lid, and it stops moving. Shaana moves in to disarm any trap and unpick the lock.

Did you think you could match wits with me, chest?!

Within the chest is the bone key (taken by Shaana), as well as thirty-two barbed arrows and five ancient dusts (all of which go to Konata). The ancient dust weakens those that inhale it. How do the party know this?

[Drifts gently to the ground.] "I don't feel too good..."

"What kind of alchemist just sticks her nose into a strange pouch of mysterious powder?!"

Shaana has acquired a new key, and there are two gates not yet opened. It is the lower one that the key unlocks; a new area of dungeon beneath the pyramid, leading away from the burial site that the party first found their way into.

This can only lead somewhere pleasant.

The passage stretches on into the distance. The party proceed. There is a click as Wrath steps on a flagstone. Everybody freezes.

"Maybe...maybe that didn't do anything?"

"..."

"In my next life, I want to be a bear."

The party turn the corner with mounting anxiety. The corridor winds back towards the direction they came from. There is another click as Alva steps on a different flagstone. The floor ahead drops away, leaving a dark pit too wide to cross.

"The way forward is blocked."

"The way back as well."

Another pit has opened behind the party. They consider their options.

"We could try going down the pit."

"Oh hey, there's a button on the wall!"

[Panicking.] "Wait, no!" [Pause.] "...hmm."

A button hidden amongst the stones of the wall causes the pits trapping the party to close. Crisis averted, the party proceed around the next corner. The corridor winds its way around again, stretching out far ahead. The whole party start moving cautiously forward, except...

[Glances to the right, presses a button on the wall.]

Silently, a side passage opens behind the other.

[Strolls into the side passage and presses another button.]

Unbeknownst to the others, the giant stone boulder concealed behind a false wall, primed to be unleashed to roll down the corridor and smear them across the floor and walls, is disarmed, right as Wrath steps on another pressure plate.

"Did anybody hear another clicking noise?"

[Looks around.] "I do not see anything different."

[Looking back.] "Motoko! Don't fall behind!"

[Strolls over to the rest of the party.]

The corridor takes a turn right, then left (click), then right again, the left again. The way is barred by another pit.

[Sighs.] "Is there another button nearby?"

"Here we go!" [Presses a button behind the party.]

Pressing another button hidden in the corridor closes the pit ahead, but also opens a new one a little further back behind the party.

[Shrugs.] "Eh."

At the end of the corridor is a empty room. Knowing the score, the party search for another button. One is duly found—pressing it reveals another, smaller room. Which contains nothing, except for another button! Pressing that button elicits a general grinding noise somewhere down the passage the party had just been in. They investigate, finding their way unhindered (no pits, no new triggers, no other threats) all the way back to the gate.

"We made it!"

[Frowns.] "...we're back to where we started."

"Oh. Right. Hmm."

The party venture forth once more into the trap filled corridor, but this time they decide to investigate what lies down the pits opened by the pressure plates on the floor (which seemed to have mysteriously reset themselves).

Down a hole.

Whisker takes the opportunity to demonstrate the levitate spell, allowing the whole party to safely glide down the pits into the spaces below.

"Why didn't you use that spell before, when we were climbing up and down Giant Mountain?"

"I thought that careful investigation of our surroundings would suffice, and that I could devote my attention to powerful magics of summoning and destruction. But no, apparently not."

"Oh look, zombies with pet wyrms."

For the most part, at the bottom of the pits are zombies, presumably left to finish off hapless intruders already injured by the fall from the corridor above. It also seems that wyrms of the kind that had infested the dwarf mine have also broken into these chambers, or perhaps had been introduced deliberately to support the zombies—or maybe the wyrms were put there first, and the zombies are the reanimated remains of past intruders?

One of the pits however (the one opened up behind the party just prior to reaching the empty room at the end of the corridor), has a secret door that leads not back up to the corridor, but to another area hidden behind its walls. Infesting this area are not only zombies, but reanimated skeletons dressed in moldering regalia.

'Pharaohs of Phyre'...I wonder what they do?

The pharaohs are spellcasters, specialising in fire magic, specifically energy blasts and fireballs. Being undead, they are immune to sleep, and so Shaana puts aside her trusty lute and instead raises a fire shield upon which the pharaohs break their attacks, limiting (but unfortunately not negating) the fire damage inflicted upon the party. It is Alva who puts her talents to best use however, casting silence to rob the pharaohs of their ability to cast any further magic.

"Hah! Well done indeed, Valkyrie!"

[Grins.]

Having dealt with the immediate threat, the party look around this new part of the dungeon. One route is blocked by a pit, while the other leads to another locked gate.

"No key for this. Look for a button?"

[Sings.] "Button, button, button, button—"

[Points at a spot in the wall.] "Button."

The button is just a short way away from the gate. Pressing the button opens it! The party proceed towards it and—

A hail of arrows swarms the party!

All the members of the party are hit for a considerable sum of damage. Healing spells are cast. The gate starts to close, but our heroes are undaunted! They run forward and—

Poison gas explodes in your face!

—the party is left in disarray, just as—

A hail of arrows swarms the party!

—Motoko grabs Shaana and throws her out of the way. Alva interposes herself in front of Whisker as Konata flies out of the way of the incoming missiles. Only Wrath is able to (mostly) evade the arrows as he sprints for the almost closed gate, grabbing hold of it—

—but to no avail. The gate shuts.

This gate is evil.

"Is everybody okay?!"

[Picks herself off the floor; coughs.] "What happened?"

[Looks at arrows lodged in her armour.] "Ow."

More healing spells are cast, almost exhausting the party's magic pools. In fact the trap almost killed half the party, and so they are forced to withdraw from this part of the dungeon to rest and recuperate.

When they return...

"The gate is a trap."

"The only other path is blocked by a pit too wide to cross."

"There is no route down the pit itself."

"But if we open the gate...we might not survive next time."

"And the door would close in our faces again anyway, most likely."

[To Konata.] "So no pressing the button."

"What if the button does something else?"

[Looks thoughtful.]

In fact, the button that opens the gate does indeed do something else, initially unnoticed by the party—it seals the pit blocking the other path. Pressing the button and following the path leads to a new room, guarded by pharaohs, and a final button, that also opens the gate—but this time without arming the deadly traps leading up to it.

The party are now able to proceed to the darkest, deepest chamber of the catacombs beneath the pyramid of the Amazulu. Within that chamber however is the catacomb's most deadly inhabitant.

The ancient evil, Amen-Tut-(Sigh)-Butt.

The tomb king is a powerful fire elementalist, more than capable of consuming unwelcome adventurers in an inferno of fiery sorcery. This is a bad thing, as Whisker, expert on magic, is quick to recognise.

[Eyes wide.] "Kill it, kill it, kill it!"

Against such magical force, there is little room for error, or distraction. Whisker pulls upon all of his power to throw a single iceball that obliterates the tomb king's retinue of pharaohs, leaving the tomb king itself to the others. Shaana throws up a new fire shield, while Alva casts silence on the tomb king directly (instantly winning the most valuable combatant award for this battle).

Konata contributes by hurling an acid bomb into the fray, spraying the tomb king with a corrosive acid that should continuously weaken it as it is attacked by Wrath and Motoko. The tomb king tries to incinerate the party with fire bomb and incinerate spells, but Alva's silence spell robs it of the ability to invoke the necessary magic. Shaana blesses the party with her angelic trumpet, and the enemy is chopped and hammered into many, many fragments.

[Wheezes.] "Good work, everyone. It would not have been pleasant if that thing had been able to turn its power against us."

"I think that was the first time I've seen you almost panic. And that iceball you let loose..." [Gestures at the frozen chamber beyond.]

[Darkly.] "I know what a truly powerful mage can do."

From the remains of the undead, the party find another amulet of life (for resurrections, as yet not required), an ankh of phyre (granting resistance to fire when equipped, something highly desirable not ten minutes ago), an ankh of might (that can be invoked to permanently increase one's strength), and an ankh of purity (that can be invoked to permanently increase one's karma). The ankh of might is used by Wrath, to improve his already respectable physical might further, while the ankh of purity is used by Shaana, to address her miserable karma score. As first of the frontline of the party, Wrath also receives the ankh of phyre as a protective charm. The amulet of life is stashed away safely, in the hope that it will never be needed...alongside the other amulet received right at the beginning.

In the very centre of the chamber, the party find:

A clay idol figurine is resting within an alcove, enshrined with dried flower petals, bones and glass beads.

Somehow neither flash-frozen or set on fire in the previous battle.

"So...we're taking this, right?"

"Yes."

"It's trapped."

"Of course it's trapped."

[Thoughtfully.] "Probably some kind of pressure plate, triggered when the idol is lifted off it. So if we substitute something of equal weight quickly enough...ah!" [Holds out hand to Motoko.]

[Hands over the burlap sack with something in it.]

[To the others.] "Motoko went and filled the sack with sand from that collapsed corridor back in the zombie catacombs."

"...what? When?"

"When we went back to patch up after getting shot repeatedly, she went off and did it."

"...but why? How does she know to do these things?"

[Brightly.] "Oh, I don't ask that kind of thing any more." [Frowns and hesitates.] "This is, um...going to take some care..."

[Rolls his eyes.] "Give me that."

Having the highest dexterity in the party, Whisker grabs the sack of sand from Shaana and reaches for the idol...

You deftly snatch the idol and replace it with the sandbag, so smoothly that even the flowers remain undisturbed.

[Brow raised.] "Well done."

[Nods approvingly.] "He's a cat."

"Deft hands are an asset to a mage."

The party backtrack out of the tomb and re-ascend the pyramid, bringing the idol with them right up to the gate barring the way to the top.

You wave the idol before the emblem...

This opens the gate, and allows the party to proceed all the way to the top level, whereby they find...

Perched high on a throne made of woven straw, sits a watchful and stern girl. She wears a fancy headdress, and around her neck rest many necklaces made from small bones and glass beads. Directly at her side are several of the warrior women, each swaying a large fan. Also, behind her to the right, another woman wearing a giant spooky looking mask is eyeing you very carefully as the party approaches the throne...

I wonder if she's any more chatty than her followers?

"I am the queen of the Amazulu! Who dares enter our sacred grounds?"

Without awaiting a reply, the Amazulu queen continues speaking:

"Have you come to take the rock?"

"Wow. Deja vu."

"No."

"Did you bring an offering?"

"N—"

"YES!"

"Lay your offering before me!"

"Lay out the offering Shaana."

"Um. I think you have the offering Motoko."

[Looks at Shaana, then at Whisker.]

"Don't look at me. I'm not parting with any of my hard-won artefacts."

[Looks at Konata.]

[Pulls out a stink bomb.] "I—"

"Ah! I know..." [Cunning smile.] "...this should impress the savage..."

[Alarmed.] "I don't think that's—"

Alva retrieves the cheap bauble and trinkets left behind by Queequeg as a 'gift' when he looted the Captain's treasure and presents them to the queen.

"Mmm...fine, fine." [Inspects the bauble.] "Oooo, how pretty! Ahhh! And just look at this one!" [Looks at a trinket.] "Hey! Wait a minute! This stuff is nothing but cheap junk!"

[Smile freezes.]

"Who are you trying to fool?! How dare you insult us!" [Glares imperiously.] "Do you apologise?"

[Bows head.] "Please forgive our error."

"I accept your apology! And as a token of my forgiveness, I'll also accept a 3000 gold donation!"

[Glare at Alva.]

[Retrieves a heavy pouch of gold from his satchel.] "And this is exactly why the elves are so disliked by the other races..."

[To the woman in the spooky mask.] See? I told you they had soft bellies!"

Having bumbled their way through the opening of their audience with the Amazulu queen, the most personable of the party is left to make conversation.

"Um. Who exactly are you people?"

"We are the people of the Temple."

"It's very nice. Lots of...passages."

[Face palms.]

"Why have you come to the temple? The temple of Mau-Mu-Mu?"

"Who is this...Mau-Mu-Mu?"

"The guardian of the rock!"

"Yep, deja vu."

Shaana learns that Mau-Mu-Mu lives in the pool of fire in the caldera of the volcano upon the slopes of which the pyramid is built. The stone bridge emitting from the pyramid at this level overhangs the pool, but only the 'chosen' may cross. Shaana makes some humble noises and withdraws from the queen's immediate presence.

"Mau-Mu-Mu demands a sacrifice!"

Just as the party start to consider their next move however...

The girl in the spooky mask approaches you and whispers, "Psssst! Wanna deal?"

"I know how to treat you right!"

"Um...to treat us?"

"I have something for all! I am Kumali Kubona, high priestess of Mau-Mu-Mu!"

"So this Mau-Mu-Mu..."

"Ssssh! Mau-Mu-Mu might hear you!"

Kumali sells potions primarily, though also some spellbooks for basic spells that the party might not have yet learned—as well as fire shield, which Shaana knows but could be learnt by Whisker or even Wrath. One peculiar item for sale is 'foot powder'.

"Well clearly this is a needless expenditure."

The party are allowed to try to cross from the pyramid to the domain of the mysterious Mau-Mu-Mu, the Amazulu presumably happy to have sacrifices that don't need to be dragged kicking and screaming to the caldera. Before the party is a span of stone across and over to the volcano:

Straight ahead lies the smoking top of a seething volcano. A bed of hot coals forms a bridge which leads to the edge of the volcano, making it the only way to cross over from the pyramid...

[Worried.] "We aren't going to try and walk across that, are we?"

"Gods no." [Casts levitate.]

Buoyed by Whisker's magic, the party glide over towards the volcano:

The bridge of hot coals leads directly to the lip of the volcano, and extends out over the core of molten lava...

The long walk to somebody's fiery demise.

The bridge of hot coals will damage the party at every step, unless they first purchase and use the foot powder...or have a mage simply cast levitate first (on the proviso that they cast it at high enough level to actually last for the entire length of the bridge). After a short traversal, the party find themselves right over the volcano's caldera, looking down into the bubbling lava.

"So now what? Toss Whisker in as a sacrifice?"

[Strokes her chin thoughtfully.]

"..."

[Looks distraught.] "No! We can't do that!"

"Konata's right." [Grins.] "We still need him to levitate us back over the bridge."

"You're all hilarious."

"Do not fear Miss Konata. They are simply teasing."

"Oh!" [Brightens.] "Anyway, it looks like the lava's coming to us!"

As you stand above the lava, you start feeling earth tremors arising from the volcano, as if it were going to erupt.

"This is unfortunate."

Suddenly the volcano erupts!

Somebody is going to be set on fire.

From the volcano comes a creature of magma and fire, Mau-Mu-Mu itself.

"So you have come for the rock? Then I will slay you!"

[Smiles grimly.] "I misspoke." [Draws swords.] "This is most convenient."

The battle against Mau-Mu-Mu is brutal but short. Wrath, Alva and Motoko immediately try to flank and assault the creature, heedless of the heat emanating from it, while Shaana casts a fire shield against the inevitable fiery response; this proves prescient when Mau-Mu-Mu responds with a fire bomb spell. Doubting the efficacy of either acid or poison, Konata first tries to disable Mau-Mu-Mu with a blinding flash to no avail; Whisker however has no doubt how best to proceed, concentrating all the remaining water magic he has into an iceball to steal away the creature's fire. The fight continues, with Konata falling back into a healing role while Whisker and Shaana use what remaining magic they have to support the main fighters. Mau-Mu-Mu itself continues to fling fire bombs, dealing significant damage, tempered by Whisker's magic screen spell, cast earlier, and Shaana's fire shield. Eventually, Alva plunges her fauchard directly into Mau-Mu-Mu's heart, sealing its demise.

As Mau-Mu-Mu's corporeal form falls apart, a single ruby gem falls free from it to land on the edge of bridge, to be swept up by Motoko.

[Tosses the gem to Whisker.]

[Catches the smoking gem in a piece of cloth and carefully tucks it in his robe.] "One down. Now to retrieve the other."

Maps, Great Cavern and Pyramid

Party review, level 10

Fresh from their victory against the fiery Mau-Mu-Mu, the party have now all reached tenth level, nearing the apex of their abilities in their respective classes.

Sword 100, Oratory 12, Ninjutsu 86, Mythology 12, Thaumaturgy 40, Kirijutsu 24.

Wrath is now more seriously focusing on kirijutsu over thaumaturgy, which he hardly uses anyway. While that may prevent him from learning any of the more advanced spells available to his class, he still gets to pick new spells based on his current ability, so he learns to cast fireball, which Whisker and Shaana have both inexplicably neglected. It is unclear whether he will ever want to use it; after all, he has not one but two swords.

Pole & Staff 100, Scouting 3, Oratory 33, Ninjutsu 75, Mythology 18, Theology 50, Kirijutsu 18.

Alva has mastered the use of the spear! Now that she is more heavily involved in boosting the party's combat capabilities with armourplate and enchanted sword, her oratory is starting to improve more notably as well. In fact as the only priest-type spellcaster, she fulfils a magical niche not covered by any of the others. For her most recent level, she has learned the hold monsters spell, to paralyse tricky foes.

Hands & Feet 100, Scouting 2, Oratory 17, Ninjutsu 87, Mythology 12, Theosophy 45, Kirijutsu 23.

Motoko continues to roughly match Wrath in both stealth and critical striking. Fast, strong and pious, she is also easily the most evasive of the party, with the 'highest' (by which I mean lowest) armour class by a clear margin, despite still being dressed only in the same simple robe she's worn since the beginning. In response to the rising threat of enemy spellcasters, Motoko has decided to support Alva by also being able to cast silence.

Sword 64, Music 100, Oratory 39, Skulduggery 58, Ninjutsu 72, Mythology 14, Thaumaturgy 55.

Shaana is now the only member of the party to not have mastered her chosen weapon—unless you count her lute as her true weapon, in which case she's right up with her comrades. In keeping with her support role, she has learned ice shield, to complement the fire shield and missile shield spells she already knows.

Interestingly, it appears that Shaana is actually more clever than even Whisker now. She decides not to inform anybody of this fact.

"Shush. Nobody needs to know."

Bows 100, Artefacts 46, Mythology 13, Alchemy 73.

Konata has mastered archery, and has also improved her familiarity with artefacts due to her constant experimentation with random sparklers, stink bombs and other such toys. Speaking of toys, Konata can now create deadly poison, capable of outright killing, or at least severely crippling, any foe susceptible to poisoning.

Mace & Flail 100, Oratory 100, Mythology 9, Scribe 7, Thaumaturgy 92.

Whisker has mastered the whip and flail. Perhaps more importantly, his oratory is now perfect, meaning that he should never miscast spells in combat except under the most trying of conditions. He is also close to mastering thaumaturgy, giving him potential access to a number of powerful and deadly magics, such as fire storm and asphyxiation. This time however, Whisker has been pragmatic (not to mention that he is heartily sick of falling down holes and mountainsides) and so learned the utilitarian levitate spell. But next level! Oh, his enemies will face utter destruction, oh yes they will...