Khemia Occulta V: Den of the Basilisk

While Kegho ventured back down the hallway they had come in order to recall the faithful Grey Death, Ükhilflin, to his side, Brother Theophilus and Alexandru ventured into the newly revealed tunnel to see what secrets it might hold. The tunnel was low and wide, and while Alex strolled comfortably down the corridor the taller Brother Theo had to walk stooped and felt claustrophobic. Alex began running his blade along the edges of the doorway and found catches at the center-point of both the top and bottom of the slab. He surmised the slab revolved around the middle and conveyed it to his group. While they waited for Kegho to return the rest of the party filed into the low corridor and Theo recognized the outline of a story he had read in the library of Varim about the Apophians and the gods that they worshiped. He recounted the chaotic god, Akhen-At-Im, whose statue he presumed they had seen above and the human blood spilled to sate it, and Chafraw Kam, an onyx serpentine god who granted prowess in battle to those that brought him the blood of man to drink.

Kegho called to Ukhiflin, but she did not come. He went further back the way he had come and found her faithfully keeping watch over the entryway. When he called her, she remained rooted to the spot. He was eventually able to call her to him and she clung to his side after having been left alone in another house of churning chaos.

The waiting and storytelling began to wear on Asbjørn who pushed open the door. In the limited light was a large, mosaic and pillar filled room and the sounds of clanking heavy chains and groaning. Asbjørn felt a pressure squeeze him and his limbs began to feel heavy. In the dim shadows of the torchlight was an eight-legged lizard wearing a studded helmet with blinkers. Theo prayed to cover himself in the sanctuary of Maya, lit his lantern and boldly walked into the lizard's den only to feel his limbs stiffen as the lizard turned its baleful gaze upon him. Alex hoped to turn the creature’s gaze back upon itself with a hand mirror, but while he was able to hide himself, he was unable to get the beast to look upon its own visage. Teleptyon cleared the entryway and ducked behind a pillar while the lizard's attention was turned. The beast charged at Asbjørn, the chain caught it short, its gaze threatened to make Asbjørn truly statuesque, but the barbarian's internal fire held its mineralizing power at bay. Its gaze fell upon the poorly hidden Teleptyon, who became similarly rooted to the spot. Asbjørn loosed arrows at the beast, but to no effect. Theo took the opportunity to reach the lantern around the creature and momentarily blind it as he flipped shut the blinkers freeing the three from any limitations. Enraged by the use of magic on him, Asbjørn rushed the beast which had piqued Theo’s sense of pity, but his blade glanced off the creature's helmet. Theo began uttering soothing words which drained the barbarian of his drive to fight and the party moved out of the lizard’s range into a hallway with a stairwell and two doors.

While the Company paused to catch a bite to eat and sip some water, Teleptyon opened the next door. In the center of the new room sat a large desiccated Djeti with pinprick eyes of smouldering coal. The minds of the party were filled with incomprehensible hisses and flicks of the tongue before his voice resolved into each individual’s mother tongue “Greetings bipeds! I am Nekhtebu, welcome to my laboratory.” Teleptyon immediately regretted putting them face to face with a powerful Djeti lich, but Nekhtebu was unfailingly polite to the mercenary recruits of the great Djeti Empire’s attack on the troublesome Library of the Myrmex. The group agreed that the dastardly Myrmex needed to be stopped and intimated that they were keen to be of maximum use to the Djeti for glory and status.

As Nekhtebu was explaining his process of creating new foot soldiers for the Djeti, he was distracted by Alex’s small stature and Teleptyon bluffed that the Oameni was the product of an experiment similar to the Nektebu's. Nekhtebu felt that Alex was far more civilized than the mushrooms bipeds he’d created and returned to the caves below. While he was primarily interested in experimenting on those who could harness the Ar, Nekhtebu wondered if he could “distill” Alex for research purposes. The party scrambled to come up with alternatives. Kegho suggested Alex’s “generative seed” and Nekhtebu was intrigued but wondered what the group would want in return. All agreed on a map of the Library of the Myrmex so that they might be of greater use to the Empire. Nekhtebu led Alex into his lab where he drugged Alex and drained his essence into an erlenmeyer flask which was conveniently sized for Alex. The flask filled with a viscous, mottled, chiffon-colored suspension now safely on Nekhtebu’s shelf for later study. He provides them with a gold-accented, black lacquer-ware scroll tube and threw them out of his lab, shutting the door behind them.

They examined the door to the north, but it seemed to require a second twined serpent to pass and they had no such thing, so they headed down the western stairs. At the bottom was a cylinder with a divot large enough for two. Kegho and Telly offered to go first and Asbjørn turned the thing. Partly through they heard screams as blades cut the two adventurers, Asbjørn quickly turned it back and Theo rushed to the less robust of the two’s aid. Asbjørn tests the cylinder in the other direction and at ¼ of a turn they see an idol of the black asp in an alcove. He continued turning it and it locked at a half turn. He returned it and rode through to the other side where all he could see were beetles, the stink of mushrooms and a ladder.

Items received: A scroll case with the Map of the Library of the Myrmex