Nomen Infernale XIII: And the Stones Will Cry Out

General Summary

Brother Theophilus bandaged Elissa's shoulder as Teleptyon stood watch. After stauching her wound he supplied her with an anagelsic herb to soothe her pain. The cleric then placed his hand on Elissa's bandaged shoulder and prayed to Maya and Lamus for a theurgy of healing. Teleptyon was overcome with piety as he observed the miracle of Elissa's wound being knit magically before his eyes.

As the party that had ascended the tel returned to rest for the night, Theo, Teleptyon and Elissa worked to move the bandit corpses away from the camp and give them as good a burial as they could manage before nightfall. Teleptyon and Elissa were somewhat more inclined to check their pockets than the good Brother Theophilus was and Teleptyon found a few coins and some hand axes which he felt would suit Asbjørn's aesthetic well.

When Riven, returned she joined them in this work, and Kegho began setting up a campsite in an area he had scouted earlier. It was not his best work, but the nightwatches of the Ashkuz horselord, the Palesian Scout, and the Rhenish Wulfwodman went smoothly: Kegho wondered at the cloudless desert night, dreading the knowledge that his gods could see him clearly if they deigned to look; Riven memorized the names of her newest arrows and smoothed the fletching on each; Asbjørn fantasized about how he would avenge himself against what remained of House Kerularios for having enslaved him.

In the morning, Teleptyon led them to a cliff where he had spotted the remains of a paved pathway about 20 feet below. Asbjørn considered aloud whether he could safely jump down or whether Alex would survive being tossed down. Alex pulled out a 50 foot length of silk rope and looped it around the trunk of a nearby tree a few times before free rappelling the 20 foot drop in a manner that could be described as showing off. At the bottom and under the shade of the copse of trees on the cliffside above he saw murals recounting events from the Tragedy of Adom-Shai and Oshe and the giant stone doors had reliefs of a king and a smaller king or prince. The doors were inscribed with Khemian glyphs, which Alex recognized, but had difficulty reading. He wondered how closely Ancient Khemian and Ma'abar were. The rest of the party descended to look at the murals and the doors. Alex searched for locking mechanisms but saw none. He asked Nuruhotep if he could find any joints or leverages but the Keb admired that a human civilization could have accomplished this stone work and wondered if they had the help of a Kebian mason. Teleptyon touched the jamb and the figures of Adom-shai and Oshe glowed with the faint blue corposant that the party had grown accustomed to seeing on the tip of Teleptyon’s staff after he attacked. Teleptyon became fascinated with the glow and knew that the Ma’abar had worked magic. He attempted to open the door by magical means but was pushed back gently but firmly. Alex attempted different configurations of touching the raised figures on the door but they glowed faintly and faded again.

They climbed back up the ropes and ascended Tel Jumrah and found eight standing stones in a circle with the corpse of a bandit in the middle and vultures beginning to pick at it.

Alex recognized the Khemian-adjacent glyphs on the stones and after warning Asbjørn it would be very dangerous to run right into the middle of the circle began attempting to decipher the glyphs on the southernmost stone, asking Elissa to assist with the knowledge of contemporary Khemian she had learned while with the Bani Satra. Still it was slow going.

Theophilus fretted around the edges of the circle trying to figure how to retrieve the body without stepping in the circle in order to bury him. Eventually the compulsion grew too great and he stepped into the circle while his companions shouted at him to stop, but no lightning struck him. He pulled the body out of the circle and found charring on the top of his head and the body was stiff and discolored.

Teleptyon checked to see if the text was in any way magical, but was unable to decipher them. He picked up some of the coarse glass beads on the ground and detected the faint scent of lightning.

After deciphering the first stone, Alex surmised that they would need to engage the stones in the order of the Tragedy of Adom-Shai. He hoped that the stones would be in some kind of obvious order but after deciphering a second and third he knew he would have to read each of them. After a few hours he was relatively certain he understood the gist of the stones and marked each with a meaning. La Compagnia argued over some of the specific elements of the story and then let Teleptyon do the honors as he had an affinity for the mystical energies. As he touched each stones representing mercy, an oath made, fatherhood, flight, confrontation, betrayal, bloodshed and mourning, the potential energy of the circle rose and began to hum. Before he touched the last stone he was practically sparking. The glyphs carved into the stones glowed with a pale blue light. He touched the last stone and lightning traced his pathway from stone to stone before forming a ball of lightning in the center and striking the earth. In the distance they heard the grinding of stone on stone as the doors opened.

Not knowing how long the doors would remain open, the party scrambled down the tel and back down the silken rope. They found a chamber littered with charred corpses, long dead from the cleansing fires of Edius. Theo lit the way, holding his lantern aloft and Alex moved slowly from the antechamber to the hall and checked cautiously for traps, asking Nuru his opinion of the stonework at any turn. They found no traps and began moving forward. Elissa was curious what could have left these people as human-formed ash piles and reached out to touch a particularly intact form. It dissolved into a cloud of ash causing her and nearby Teleptyon to choke and cough. She found some coins in the dusty pile and fled the room to clearer air.

Alex and Nuru continued cautiously examining the stonework and looking for traps, more comfortable than the taller humans in the increasingly low-ceiling passages. In a chamber they found murals that Theo interpreted as being the gods of the ancient Khemian pantheon. He told them that these were not the gods the cultists charred by the Paladins of Aelos had been worshiping, but were the gods of the late Khemian Medjay, Abet Sakhat.

At the end of a hall there was a wide way to the left and a narrow way to the right. Theo expressed interest in heading left and since there was no objection Alex began moving that way. As he stepped past the opening he heard an indistinct skittering and his keen Oameni hearing locked in on its source though he could not quite make out what had made the sound.