Development:
After defeating the doru and dismantling the constructs, you
see the Taldan with the foppish hat in the distance. Could
she have used the div as a delaying tactic? Fortunately, whatever
spell granted her such speed on land isn’t helping her swim, so
you’re able to start slowly closing the distance to her.
As she reaches the far edge of the Aspis dig site, you feel a knot
in the pit of your stomach. When Norden Balentiir told you not
to head past the boundaries of the dig site, you somehow knew
that you were going to wind up going past them anyway. But this
seems crucial, so you sigh inwardly and press on.
As you follow the Taldan infiltrator deeper into the ruins
of Shotep-Kara, you don’t allow yourself the luxury of
examining the archaeological marvels around you. You must
stay focused lest she try another trick to shake you off her tail. She
enters a strange domed edifice of opaque glass, relatively intact
compared to its neighbors. You open the door to follow her inside,
shocked to find that the building’s entrance repels the water around
it. Why would that…
In a flash, you remember Norden Balentiir’s briefing: Shotep-
Kara had strange extradimensional portals, altered spaces, and
connections to the Elemental Planes themselves. The inside of
this building might not even be in the same dimension as the city
around it! It might have been ensorcelled to prevent the elements
from reaching the inside—inadvertently handy if the city were to,
say, be swallowed by the ocean after a series of earthquakes and
tsunamis. The inside of the building is full of Ancient Osirian
hieroglyphics. Fortunately, you learned to read them during
training, part of the reason the venture-captain chose you for
this mission. The text dates this building to the early Age of the
Black Sphinx, over 6,000 years ago, coinciding with the reign of
the Four Pharaohs. Skimming the hieroglyphics as you glance
around for the woman in the foppish hat, you note that this place
was a repository for reports by scholars and archaeologists loyal to
the Four Pharaohs. The walls honor the sacrifices of their fallen
on behalf of the gods Nethys and Thoth. You follow the woman’s
trail to a strange altar, though she is nowhere in sight.
“Impressive, following me here,” she calls out from somewhere
nearby, in Ancient Osiriani of all languages, “but it ends here.
Guardians, destroy the intruders!”
)
