True Matt

There was magic in this world once, but they stole it all away.
 
The brothers had prepared their plan for descent. Tage inspected the sarcophagus, aiming for traps and secret doors. The empty sarcophagus had no body, no loot, no secret door. Thylek took a nap in the sarcophagus. There were no secret doors in this chamber. Invoking Amon-Re, the brothers decided to use the brazier. Tage went first, followed immediately by John. Thylek went next, then Yuttosk was cut in line by Q, then Sst, then Koric, and finally Yuttosk.
 
The girlish screams of Tage echoed throughout the pyramid. The brothers found themselves in a perfect octagonal room with an arched exit at each cardinal direction. A vaguely sulphurous smell befouled the air, and a skeleton awaited in the rooms center. Just above a lever in each wall in many languages is written “Pull me.”
 
The brothers managed to resist the incredible temptation to pull all four levers. They followed the way the sword pointed: West. A long hallway led down to a series of chambers. In the first, a mysterious bubble awaited. Sst suggested the group wait a moment, indicating it was a wizard spell: “Tiny Hut”, though had no idea what it was doing here. Korrics efforts to pierce it were unsuccessful, and it was opaque. The gith attempted to dispel it. An old man was inside.
 
It became clear that this fellow was from a different time, thus his magics were not affected by the theft of all the worlds mana. He indicated that his group had been sent to stop Amon-Re, and had failed. The last thing he remembered was looking into a mirror and having his life stolen away. The other five members of his party were definitely dead. He indicated Minotaurs lurked the halls.
 
His name was once Tarfus, and he was a middling wizard. His shock at the time warp was slowly whittled away. He warned against pulling the levers in the octagon room, as they appeared to have an effect on gravity. He joined the group, his fear of the minotaurs a primary motivator to overcome his confusion.
 
The next room over contained spears penetrating from floor to ceiling. A skeletal dwarf stuck by the ceiling, pinioned on the spears. The trap was a one-shot deal, and definitely one-shotted the dwarf within. Cutting through the forest of spears, the group made its way to the corpse. This was a loud action, and a pair of minotaurs were coming to investigate.
 
Thylek beaned one of the minotaurs in the eye with a dart. He’d been keeping it somewhere. . . special. Enraged, the minotaurs charged into the waiting defensive line of John and Yuttosk. Meanwhile, Q attempted to cut down the wizard deeming him useless. Sst’ was ready for him however, and it seemed the moment was upon the group.
 
John lobbed a sticky bomb at the pair, immobilizing one and setting the other ablaze. Yuttosks waiting spear impaled him, as he was unable to charge properly due to the filthy, filthy dart embedded in his eye socket. He was so baffled, he couldn’t escape the stickiness.
 
The tension between the two Gith was intense, and Tage moved into position for a strike if the opportunity arose. Thylek attempted to extract the wizard, leading him towards the minotaur: proclaiming he would “save him”. Yuttosk rushed in, extracting his spear from the fallen minotaur and viciously stabbing his companion. John charged in with the strength of generations, bracing against the foe passing and attacking his less burly comrades. Then he died from a fatal piercing attack as he attempted to run from Yuttosk.
 
The Githian standoff was almost at an end. Then Tage diplomatically whispered: “We’re with you.” to Sst. Q was annoyed, but let the wizard lived for now, with a rather churlish “This transgression, is noted.” The black pearls on the floor of the room were retrieved, the dwarves bones laid more respectfully on the ground.
 
The next room was very similar to the forest of spears, and as Tage walked in a lurker above fell down upon him. The brothers pummeled the beast into submission, and Tage made his un-glorious escape. The room was empty, besides the foul creature.
 
They checked the hallway opposite the one they had gone down, Tage did not find any traps. He did notice a giant “X” carved into the floor. John intentionally triggered the falling ceiling trap, then threw Tage up to the ledge. He found the next level of the dungeon above them through a tunnel with a concealed door.
 
They explored the next room, Tage located a chest gleaming with platinum pieces, and what looked like a series of traps. He thought he disabled them, so John grabbed the chest of platinum, nothing terrible happened and they moved on to the next room, where a Pendulum trap was waiting: broken..
 
They pressed on to the southern corridor, finding a minotaur lair. A series of explosions made the five charging minotaurs quite angry. Yuttosk put the leader of the minotaurs down with a final, piercing attack. They looted the large pile of electrum coins, and went to the southern three rooms.
 
Tage inspected the trap on the first room, turning off the compacting walls trap. Nothing else of note was within. In the next room however, was a half dozen Dervishes! “Hail Amon-Re” yelled Tage and Koric, and they indicated they had been hiding in the safe room. Could they be conditioned to brothers? Or would they put down like the other dogs in their cult? Time would tell. (Secured six potential recruits for later)
 
The northmost center room contained a large pile of bones, and a squad of six elves. They claimed they came from a land far away, to mourn the loss of their brothers. Suffering from flashbacks to his campaigns against the Shattered Collective Tired of their elitist, racist banter, John hurled a bomb at their leader. He curled up and died, and horrified at the turn of events the rest of the Trollochian Elves set to fight the brothers in a heated combat.
 
Q waded in swinging, silver sword severing the limbs from one of the elves. Tage leapt into the fray: severing the tendons of another: whispering to the Gith: “That’s how it’s done.” John leapt into the room, hurling the fallen elf at one of his friends: they both crumbled into a heap, never to rise again. Thylek strode into the room, casually hurling practice shots with his darts. Koric spent his time talking to his sword: murmuring about how there were no Earth attuned creatures to cut up.
 
When the elves were all cut down, they reverted to their true doppelganger forms. Did John know they were Doppelgangers all along? It’s hard to tell.
 
The next series of rooms awaited. A chest awaited in the center of the room, and Tage walked into the Lurker Below! He was so focused on the ceiling above he did not notice what was under his feet. Could they save him from certain doom again?! The combined efforts of the group led to a daring escape from the (non-bony) jaws of defeat, and John administered an emergency healing draught to the ninja. The others laid into the creature before it finally fell: much to the disappointment of Q.
 
The next room contained nine resting bandits. The group secured them for the way out. (Secured nine potential recruits for later).
 
The final room they explored before pressing on upwards was the home of a Sphinx, as well as a circular well which probably leads to the healing fountain. A riddle was offered, and the answer would result in all the information the Sphinx had to offer. Tage made the mistake of revealing how evil he really was. The others ignored him for now, but were secretly gravely worried.
 
Rather than sacrifice potential recruits, the riddle was proffered. Koric and Thylek talked among themselves, discussing a possible solution. John was lost in memories, remembering distant times where a fiery end was delivered to squad after squad. Tage was pouting, following his third brush with death that evening. The Sphinx was not satisfied with their answer, and a fearsome roar sent half of the brothers (Tage, Thylek, Yuttosk) running.
 
A vicious melee followed, with sticky bombs, vicious sword wounds, and she eventually was cut to bits. The injured healed up from the mystical well, and headed up to the next level from the Pendulum room.