The Mask of Ra

Rhe Mask of Ra first appeared about 2500 BC in the Pharaonic court during a time when there was an outbreak of an unknown rotting disease that spread down the Nile, causing the victims to start rotting while alive and raising them up from the grave again. A Pharaoh Anu, and a priest named Ahmose both sought a cure for the disease. Trawling through the Book of the Dead, they found spells that could prevent sickness, prevent the dead from rising and controlling those that were infected.   Combining these into a single treatise that would eventually be added to the Book of the Dead, they wove the spell into a specific Pharaonic Death Mask. This mask was based on the head of Ra, one of the most powerful deities, and hoped to draw upon his power to enhance the spell. Ahmose was to use it to cast the spell along with the help of 100 priests of the Egyptian Pantheon.   It proved successful, very successful. Prety much all undead, sicknes and disease were wiped out the whole length of the Nile stretching 25 miles in every other direction. By doing so, they also attracted unwanted attention. Enemies of the Dynasty didn't want them having such a useful & powerful item, by now brimming with exceptional power and able to be used by Anu & Ahmose when needed.   A network of Yuan-Ti had infiltrated below the city of luxor, and stole the mask asfter killing Ahmose when he refused to give it over to them. Escaping out a secret entrance to the desert, they quickly made it north to the city of Alexandria where they travelled north to the south coast of Europe. There they made it into the deep forests of central Europe before setting up camp in an ancient city in what is now the Bohemian Massif.   There they found it totheir liking being an ancient outpost of their people in centuries past. Burying the mask deep in a vault below the city tyheir descendants were taught to never speak of such things, though stories have issued forth here and there over the course of centuries.   Now the mask is being hunted for. Treasure seekers of all kinds venture into the forest looking the city, while others are more specific venturing into the city itself. In every case so far the Yuan-Ti has avoided them or driven them off. Unfortunately a few are persisyany, and lately mercenaries in the employ of a Khan of a Slavic tribe in the Carpathian Mountains, and others in the employ of a person only known as The Merchant, have become more emboldened. They are sending more people & resources to the region to make a bid in finding the mask. Why, the Yuan-Ti just can't seem to work out.

Highly significant to the people of Egypt who believe it to be destroyed or truly lost to time, and especially t othe people who follow the Old Ways. The only other group is the Islamic peoples i nthe area who would happily see it destroyed as it is a 'pagan' symbol, and magical to boot.