Stackman's Adventures (Chapter twenty-seven)

[bsftcs]

And So Unto the Shrine in the Sand

Being the twenty-seventh chapter of Stackman’s adventures

In which irrefutable evidence is brought forward that Gael Serran creatures also experience hormone anomalies and skin diseases from lack of sunshine and in which the party resists the temptation to earn a huge amount of experience points.

With the fingers still tingling from the incinerate spell that put the leprechaun to rest, the warlock led the party past a small straight of water and unto a large stretch of sand, almost a small desert. The party walked all day, and camped for the night under the stars.

They knew they were about to have an encounter with the Mystical Sphynx, the guardian of Anephas’s temple. The warlock and the zenmaster conferred with the Tome of Legends (topic summing up the forum knowledge on this subject) on how to answer the Sphynx’s questions. Next morning they started walking again, and before noon they spotted an old temple partially buried in the sand.

It was obviously a temple of great splendour, but some of that had clearly waned during the years of Anephas’s long sleep. Outside the temple stood the sphynx. Knowing there was no public demand on the Ironworks Forum that the sphynx be silenced, and having no need of the experience points the warlock answered its questions correctly, and the sphynx vanished into thin air.

Protecting the entrance to the shrine was also an aegis, a magical barrier with an oversized lock. Knowing it was possible to teleport behind the lock (as explained by Radek in a topic on the subject) the party had no need to do so, and the warlock destroyed the aegis with the Staff of Death. The party ventured inside.

From the entrance (room A on the Anephas’s Shrine map at Xignal’s Site) a ramp led down towards another room (room E). But just before that room was a pit (rooom B). The party members all had the sufficient athletics skill to bridge the gap in a jump, but there were two important objects and quite a number of experience points waiting for them below. They jumped down.

A winding corridor led the party to a small room (room C). To the north of there an inclining corridor led to yet another small room (room D) where the bard uncovered the relic of Isis in a chest. To the south-west a series of corridors led to a room (room H) guarded by the scarab of the shrine who, judging by his voice, had been strangely unable to produce enough hormones during his years of puberty. In a treasure chest by the soon dead scarab the bard found a strange baboon figurine.

From there the party continued to explore the lower levels of the shrine. They came upon two rooms where lurked gigantic stone guardians, and the so called guardians of Isis. Knowing that trap doors might later sent the party down to these rooms, the valkyrie decided that they might as well take the creatures out now. Oh yes, not to mention the experience points which were, erm, quite abundant on this occasion.

The guardians of Isis were a particularly peculiar breed. These were red dragons. We all know that the pigmentation of the dragons living in the open under the sun causes them to become green, and that lack of pigmentation makes them red. But it was very difficult to explain why these dragons living in pitch black darkness contrary to Erathsmedor had not become the slightest bit near-sighted. All their bad breathing was right on target.

But then again the stone guardians were not that normal either, their skin had been hardened from the years out of the sun. And, well…, so had their brains.

Brushing the carbon residue from several flamestrike spells from her plate mail+14 the valkyrie led the party back to the room on the other side of the pit (room E) where the party was almost impaled.

NPCs encountered:

The Mystical Sphynx is known to accept the following answers:

Death, Grave, Ice, Snow, Shadow, Kerah, Anephas.

In the way explained in a topic on the matter.

[ 11-05-2003, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: bsftcs ]

[moiraine sedai]

Another great chapter, bsftcs!

I have to admit, I really dislike the shrine in the game though... Sometimes casting Illuminate spells in there actually makes it darker... Strange...

I think my graphics are stuffed... Oh well...

Moiraine Sedai

[Wyvern]

Terrific!!!!

I've really been enjoying the progression through the game! It has been a while since I have actually played so these chapters bring back many memories!

Wyv