The Eyes of Harushipal
Today was the day.
It had been a long journey into the Marubian Desert from the easternmost front, but it had been necessary. In order to get to the center of the desert without inviting the wrath of the Marub-worshipping Allesian tribes, Helgi Mournehammer and Ra-Dorahn had to use the least populated trade routes, which were also the ones with the fewest oases. This problem had been taken care of handily, Ra-Dorahn having packed a Cup of Plenty in order to deal with this. It took them fifteen days and fourteen nights, but by the start of the last night, they had arrived.
The Tomb of Harushipal, Last Lord of Maru.
Maru had been a thriving city, back when the desert had smaller, and carried a much older name. However, in its last days, Marub rose from the ashes of the city he took his name from, killing all inside. The dread Marub, scourer of cities, God and Lord of the Raid. This much had been gleaned by Helgi, as she’d been studying the remnants of the carvings on the tomb. It hadn’t been lost, per se, but it had been relegated to non-importance either way, the sand-shorn eyes of the statues of Harushipal staring in anguish towards the ruins to the far north. Even when the Devourer of Souls himself had set his sights on the city, Harushipal had been able to ward him off, but rendered impotent by Marub, he was now cursed to watch as his beloved city crumbled into nothing.
“So we’re here, Ra” the dwarf said, dusting off the entrance of the tomb. She turned to the Sepek warrior, the man’s eyes staring into the same space as the statues’.
“So we are. Appropriate, this view, don’t you think?” the Jackal-headed man spoke, his eyes scanning the horizon, “Although that matters little. There isn’t much to see from this distance. Were I about eye-height to the statue, I believe I would see what he could. What he used to be able to see.”
“There you go getting artsy on me, Ra, I know you’ve been alone for a while, but you don’t need to act like you are keeping yourself sane by acting like a goddamned carving-spouter.”
“I suppose you might be right. Then again, I would not know what one of those might be, I was of the Hunter Caste” he said, his gaze unmoving.
The dwarf mumbled to herself, getting out her pickaxe, “Didn’t ask you for more societal structure nonsense, dog-man”. Methodically, she began to cut into the edges of the entrance, the night beckoning. If they waited too long out there, they’d likely meet the same unfriendly sort of faces that appeared around these parts. At least inside they’d be able to funnel them easier should they pop out of the sand and follow them in. “You going to help me?” she asked loudly, turning her head to him. Her brows smashed together, a groan exiting her mouth. “I said, are you. going to. Help me?”
“In a moment. It has been very long since I’ve last been here. I happen to be enjoying the view” he said, his tone jumping from sentence to sentence. He stood there for a few minutes more, an obvious pair of holes being bored into the back of his skull. “Do you really need my help? You are much stronger than I am, Hel, and I was never taught to use any sorts of axes, pick or otherwise”
Helgi’s jaw hitched as she huffed out again, clenching her teeth as she turned back around. Shaking her head and muttering a little more to herself, she continued her work as her traveling companion watched the horizon slowly change colors. By the time that the last of the pink had left the sky, replaced by a dark and fluid blue, the dwarf had made next to no progress. The door, simply, did not seem to budge in the slightest, the pickaxe hardly making itself more than a sharp dust removal device.
Turning finally to the door, the Sepek approached, his eyes closed as he did so. Walking slowly, he reached the door a moment or two later, with his dwarf companion watching on, her opalesque eyes watching as the tall man opened his own eyes, ablaze with the sun’s power.
“Oh.” Helgi said, blinking slowly as she stepped back.
“Oh?” Ra-Dorahn asked, looking up to the statue. The statue matched the man’s gaze, eyes ablaze as two glowing spheres seemed to emerge from the avatar of the dead lord. With a loud, shaking groan, the door opened, allowing the pair to enter the main foyer of the tomb. As if understanding the very reason that they entered, however, the door shut behind them, Helgi turning back towards the door.
“There goes our way out.” She said, puffing up for a moment before deflating, looking towards the unlit entrance to the catacombs below. “Care to tell me why you didn’t tell me about the whole ‘eyes glow, share glow with statue, we get in’ thing? I spent two hours trying to get the darned door open for nothing!”
“It wasn’t for nothing. It kept you occupied, Hel” the Sepek responded dryly, his eyes still alight as he walked forward, slightly in front of the dwarf.
“What do you mean it kept me occupied? You could’ve just opened the door whenever you wanted, right? Instead, you spent hours just reminiscing about the ruined city over yonder, when you could’ve just opened the door for me. Us, I mean.” She said, her face slightly red as the pair continued forward.
“I used a spell that takes two hours to charge. Had you distracted me at all, which you would’ve if you had nothing better to do, we would’ve been stuck outside, with no sunlight, to be torn apart by sand wolves. I believe I made the right choice, Hel” he said, his eyes set on the staircase in front of them.
Silence filled the room once more as the two of them quietly walked down the stairs, doing their best to not make too much sound. The smell of rot and dust filled their nostrils as they got further in, the amount of corpses littering the lower halls impeding the ability for the duo to walk normally. Still walking ahead of the shorter and stouter woman behind them, the Sepek began to kick the corpses aside, be they human, elven, dwarven, orcish, or otherwise. Kicking aside the torso of what seemed to be either a human child or perhaps a Halfling, he found himself staring face to face with another large door. “Oh” He said, turning to face the dwarf, “This wasn’t here last time.”
“Last time?” she said, the top row of her teeth grinding against the bottom, “I know you’ve been here before, but how could’ve you missed a fucking door? What in Xjell’s sweaty palms do you mean it wasn’t here last time?”
“I do not believe I stuttered. It was not here last time. I do not know how to open it” he said, turning around, “And now that I see this problem in front of us, I believe there weren’t this many corpses last time. As I am very sure there has been no living being in this tomb for ages, I would conjecture that, perhaps, someone put them here from the inside, somehow.”
“…What does that have to do with the block of stone in front of us, doggy?” she said, her voice sounding like it could corrode through the door.
“Simple. We seem to have stumbled on a hostile take-over, of sorts. You do remember that the desert borders the Gravelands, right? Well, I would suppose that somehow a creature emerged from there, got through the wards that surround the northern desert, for the express purpose of finding the same artifact we came here to get” he said, the flatness of his voice echoing poorly in the complex.
“…who else could’ve known about this place aside from your people?” Helgi asked, her voice suddenly stony as all venom seemed to evaporate from it.
“Let us see…thinking back, there were a few survivors of the destruction of the city who were the same race as I. Some fled north, accidentally. A priestess of Haipaista could’ve found a body and forced them to tell them. Or, more likely, one of the more independent necromancers of the Gravelands were driven out of their holdings and have come here searching for the artifact. After all, if they were to corrupt it, it would give them enough power to take half the Gravelands, at least the half east of Cassadega” he explained, loud enough for the rustling of the wind to be unheard.
“Okay, let me get this straight. We’re surrounded by unmoving corpses and it only occurred to you now that there could be a necromancer here?” she stated, staring up at the taller figure as the wind brushed by them again.
“Yes. I’m afraid I do not have much experience with the darker arts. As I said before, I was of the Hunter Ca-“
“Shut it with your hunter nonsense, you can use magic. Magic isn’t exactly something that normal hunters use and…is it getting drafty in here, or is that just me?” she said, ending her rant as she turned back around.
The corpses were gone.
“There were doors leading to other chambers. Perhaps there is a hole in a wall that was created if the intruder accidentally triggered a trap that closed the door on them” Ra-Dorahn said, turning his head slowly as he watched the rest of the room, staying still otherwise.
“…So are we going to check the other rooms or are you going to stand there like you just farted in a crowded room of priests during a moment of silence?” the dwarf said, starting to move towards the closest door. Having already put the pick-axe by the entrance, leaving it there, she drew out her actual weapon, a glowing hammer covered in white runes.
The Sepek shook his head, breathing slightly irregularly as he grabbed something out of his pocket, dropping it for a moment before it seemingly popped to life, the wooden object almost immediately expanding into a long “spear” of sorts, with a glowing crystal head. As the yellow glow filled the room, Ra-Dorahn tapped her shoulder with a free hand, “Use your hammer’s ability to detect the dead”
Giving him a stare that caused the Sepek to flinch for a moment, she was interrupted by him before she could even ask.
“I recognize the runes, do not fret” he said, his voice shaky as the two of them continued forward, turning the corner into the first room to the right.
The room ahead of the pair was mostly empty, save for the very hole in the wall that the Sepek man had posited might be there. The wind that had blown through the complex before seemed much stronger now, carrying a stronger smell of rot and dust that had been prevalent throughout the area. Peeking his head into the hole, he pulled his head back out a few moments later, shivering a little. “It’s rather cold in there. I knew I should’ve packed a shirt” he said, turning to face his dwarven companion once more.
“Why do you choose to complain now of all times? Can’t be helped, none of my clothes would fit you anyhow. Anyways, care to tell me why you didn’t notice the whole, filled to the top with corpse’s thing?” she asked, causing Ra-Dorahn to turn his head back to the corridor.
Blinking, causing the light hitting the corpses to strobe slightly, the Sepek turned his head back to her, “I believe the answer is the same before. I do not remember corpses there. In fact, when I peered in, it seemed to be empty.”
“Ra…” she said, blinking, “I don’t mean to alarm you, but the corridor is gone” she said, causing Ra-Dorahn to smack his face against the stone wall as he turned to look. Shaking it off, he looked up to the wall, the fire in his eyes dying out somewhat, replaced by a much more muted burning, an almost blueish gold color.
“I did not see that coming” he said, shaking his head and sighing as he brushed himself up and got up, “I believe that I may have been wrong with my assessment. There might be a necromancer here, but they do not serve Haipaista. Far more likely that they are one of the rare raisers of the dead who rely on disease and trickery. We are either dealing with a worshipper of the god of disease, Suorame, or the god of eldritch trickery, Imho-Kamho. I do not like our options”
“If you are done expositing to me, which one do you think would, you know, actually be interested in fucking with us like this?”
“Imho-Kamho, I would say” he said, blinking a few times before he sniffed the air, “Is it me, or is that breeze back?” he said, the wind picking up once more, just as the floor beneath them both dropped out.
A pitfall or two later, the pair arrived at a different portion of the tomb, brushing themselves off. “Great” he said, cracking his neck as he realized where they were, “This is where the elders were buried. When Marub rose from Maru, he first killed all threats to his potential rise, and his first targets lie here. The Great Elders of the Sepek. Luckily for us, Sepek bodies do not decay, they simply corrode” he said, just as one of the four stone coffins opened up.
“…I might be wrong this time” he added after a moment of contemplation.
The figure that emerged from the sarcophagus was, perhaps, as bestial in looks as the Sepek was, but their fur was much softer looking, although obvious gaps in it were missing. The gaps seemed to be a gathering place for dust and the assorted used burial cloth, as if she had recently been digging through a mummy’s tomb. Rising from the grave, the statuesque figure towered above even Ra-Dorahn, looking down at them both, “Good evening. I hope I haven’t put you through too much trouble. After all, the night has only begun” the feline voice spoke, their features hardening as they approached. Lithe, yet towering, the stranger’s eyes seemed to glow an ebony hue, flooding the room with the black light that covered the pair in its gaze, “I am the Priestess, Ji’naura. As you can tell, this is my tomb to toy with now and you are not welcome here”
“Then perhaps we’ll just leave” the dwarf spoke, backing up a little as she did so.
“Leave? I never said you have to leave. In fact, I would wager that you would enjoy it here…once I made a few modifications to you” she said, smiling with what could only be described as the result of launching a cat’s jawbones into the air and shooting it with a crossbow. As she spoke, the same smell of rot and dust emanated from her mouth, the sensation flowing through the bodies of the two adventurers.
“Could you maybe not breathe on us so much?” the dwarf spoke, lowering her hammer a bit as her body scrunched down. As she did so, she shot a look to her Sepek friend and the two of them nodded, both moving rather quickly as they lunged forward.
Leaning forward, Ra-Dorahn shot several bolts of fire out of his spear, partially kneeling as it struck the ground between blows. Helgi rushed towards the catfolk priestess, grasping her weapon tightly as she spun for the first blow of her own.
However, that did little good, as once Helgi arrived at where Ji’naura had been, she was no longer there, a different, smaller creature getting smashed by the blow while several creatures around it lay burnt and scattered, all of whom were already quite dried up.
“Did you see where she went?” Helgi asked, looking around. The room, save for the five sarcophagi, was empty…with the addition of the corpses of course.
“No, I did not. The light from the small fireballs illuminated the room too brightly in that area, she must’ve found a new place in the room to hide” he responded, looking around slowly as he scrutinized the room, “Perhaps she went into the…wait a moment”
“What?”
“When we got down here, there were only four coffins”
“Oh.”
With rumbling laughter that cascaded through the room, the undead catfolk appeared where the odd sarcophagus had been, clapping her hands, “Very good, very good, I was wondering how long it would take and it took nearly no time at all! Much better than my last guest, who accidentally killed themselves searching the pit down there. Now, tell me, why are you here? I am EVER so curious” she said, a slight chattering erupting from her teeth as she waited.
“Like we would tell you” the dwarf huffed, gripping her hammer a little more tightly than before.
“Come on…” the monolithic figure asked, approaching them slowly, “Tell me or I’ll just make you tell me by killing you”
The dwarf thought about it for a moment, barely noticing the sudden absence of her Sepek friend, deciding to tell the priestess exactly why they were here, “Well, it’s a long fucking story, you see. Firstly, we’re here for an artifact. That artifact lies the key to freeing part of these wastes from the influence of Marub, hopefully weakening him drastically. We’re here for the Eyes of Harushipal, they’re big white magical opals. You know, the precious stone.”
Reaching into her seemingly non-existent pockets, with the sounds of squelching and a slight amount of blood running down her leg, the priestess held out two stones, “You mean these? I was wondering what they were called, it wasn’t mentioned in the tomb. Took them out of some dead human’s head, thought they were worth something.”
“So you had no idea what they were when you get here. Why the hell are you here then?”
“Old tombs always have treasure, be it from failed adventurers or dead guys, who I can, usually, raise from the dead and force to tell me where they hid their loot. Couldn’t raise the dead guy for some reason, so obviously I couldn’t ask him what these were. Any idea what they do? My god seems to have decided that I used up all my ability to channel him today for some reason.”
“Oh, what a coincidence, my god’s sp-NOW!” Helgi shouted, just as her Sepek companion got into position.
With a thrust of his spear, Ra-Dorahn impaled the priestess, slowly lifting her up as Ji’naura simply looked back, a look of surprise and malice in her eyes.
“Ow” she breathed out, the word coming out in a dusty crawl, as if she was using her lungs to speak for the first time in an age or two. After a few more moments, she went limp, her body slowly turning to dust as she hung onto the spear.
Ra-Dorahn, glaring at the still dissipating body, shook his spear a little, the opals clanging to the ground as the rest of the body became naught but dust, “Well, I certainly hope that doesn’t come back to bite us. Pick up the Opals, we’re getting out of here” he said, kicking them over to the dwarf who promptly picked them up.
“Was the spear-shaking really that necessary, Ra?” she asked, sighing as she pocketed the Eyes of Harushipal.
“Yes. I do not like cats.”
“…Remind me not to take you to Thespis Magna for a vacation after we’re done with this”
“Noted, Hel.”
