Struggle for Paruhapta V: Iron Is Taken from the Dust

The undead creature lunged at Kegho, it's movements were too quick and its eyes glowed more fiercely than the zombies they had encountered previously. Elissa moved into position and missed her attack. Khufu shut the door, but the creature began clawing at it fiercely. Teleptyon's eyes rolled back as he muttered words and the staff glowed faintly purple. The door glowed in resonance with the staff and briefly a faint afterimage of chains wrapped the door, at the nexus of which a wild goat with set in determination appeared. Kegho, Khufu and Elissa gave Teleptyon a look. He shrugged "I'be been working on suhb things."

They prepare to enter the third and final room along that hall but find another empty bedroom. Khufu found a long narrow hall offset from the main course and Kegho followed him. They opened the door to find three ghouls whose attention turned to them as they entered, as they moved closer they were sickened by the smell of decay and saw the flicker of malevolent intelligence in their eyes. In their frenzy Kegho was scratched and Khufu bitten. Teleptyon moved into the hallway and blasted the first with a bolt of pure Ar, sending the closest one careening into a wall with a sickening crunch; the malevolent light left its eyes as it slumped to the floor.

Theo held aloft his holy symbol and rebuked the foul undead and they skittered away from the him as he called down Ator's justice and Aeolos' light. They closed and sealed another door.

They returned to the mold room, setting one of the lantern's blessed by Theo to shine bright as daylight for many years, and Teleptyon opened the door. Before the mold could be rendered entirely dormant a puff of spores rose up and Teleptyon was engulfed by them, but the flaps of loose skin where his nose had once been protected him from their incursion. After arguing about the best way to sweep the floor with either drystone or fire, Teleptyon threw a lit torch into the room and the mold burned from where it landed to the very edge. Kegho quipped "That amticlimatical!" and Teleptyon patted his shoulder and said "albost buddy!"

As they continued downstairs Khufu remarked on the fine craftkebship of the cellar and mentioned that this sort of villa often had a smaller cellar dedicated as granary and root cellar to keep food fresh. It was indeed cooler when they entered the space and Kegho wondered if it would be a good place for a camel-milk cheese cave. They decided to move through the door to the west first, listening at the door, they found yet again the uncanny silence of the daytime Paruhapta. They passed through into a large empty vault, and found another passage to the west heading north. Another silent door. Khufu prayed to Xam that he might see hidden works that might indicate traps, and his eyes glowed with the uncanny blue of the divine. When they opened it they saw armored creatures both insect-like and armadillo-like with whip-like feelers on their heads. Elissa pointed to a collapsed wall and rubble on the floor and cautioned everyone to be careful as she and Theo pushed into the room to get a better look.

As Theo brought a mace down onto the first creature it struck but the silver coating of the mace turned slate with tarnish before turning into a fine dust, leaving him with only a wooden haft. Elissa had heard stories of creatures that eat metal, but had never seen one before. Khufu shuddered in revulsion as Teleptyon loosed a blast of flame into one of them and Kegho sank an arrow into it, but the arrow dissolved as it slid under one of its scales. Elissa and Theo turned to flee but the room but the creature in the far corner of the room skittered toward Elissa and its feelers brushed against the chainmail granted her by the Ayadim and it turned red and brittle and fell away. The one facing Theo whipped its feelers against the Panoply of Knu. Theo felt a flare of psychic anguish from the armor and when it was gone he noticed that like the valley the Panoply lacked the gentle thrum of life he had previously taken for granted.

Teleptyon launched another blast of fire into the room while Theo counseled Elissa to run and himself fled the room. She punched at the creature on her way out but its outer layers were too tough for her to damage. Fearing for the points of her spear she fled the room as well. When Theo closed the door behind her they heard the creatures skitter away in the dark room.

"I think we can just go in there without any metal, they don't seem interested in anything else and they didn't do anything to injure us." Elissa pointed out, but the group had begun moving to the next door. "There were more jars in there, we'll need to deal with them eventually." But Kegho was pounding on the door to the north to see if he could hear a response from within. Unfortunately his meaty fist forced the door open and the all too familiar groan of another creature of undeath rang out in the silent hallway.

Hnnnnnh!