“Are we there yet?” Quinny asked for the fifth time as Heather struggled not to take the bait. They had walked all night, following Endril’s pointing finger to guide them across an otherwise barren landscape. When the hour grew late, Heather, Umtha, and Legeis slept inside the room, and Frank took over carrying the odd doorway. Quinny kept him company while Breanne stood guard inside, none of them fully trusting Endril. He, in turn, didn't trust them and insisted on being inside the room whenever somebody else was. The letters had long since been removed and locked in a chest, but Heather suspected he had more to hide.
She took more time to study the odd clock, then widened her search to the surrounding room. Under closer inspection, the room seemed to be focused on the doorway that was the sole feature of one wall. The rest of the room was one large space divided in a cross shape. The left arm featured the strange clock, while the right arm appeared to be featureless stone. It was difficult to get close because Endril stacked crates and barrels on this side of the room, but she had Frank clear a path.
The wall was unusually smooth compared to the rest of the space, with odd notches along both sides. On the floor was a curving line with a hole at the center. Endril claimed not to know anything about it, but Heather didn't trust what he said. She ran her hand across the surface of the wall and wished they could be alone so Breanne could pass through. More than likely, this was a magical door, and there was more to be found on the other side. Until Endril was someplace else, it was going to have to remain a mystery.
Now the sun had just moved to its noon position, and the air in the desert began to shimmer with oppressive heat. They had been walking outside all morning, and Heather was already tired of climbing dunes. It was amazing how hard and tiring walking across loose sand was, especially when you were trying to go uphill. She suggested they go around the dunes, but Endril pointed out that some of them were miles wide. It would take them weeks to find their way out if they circled around even half of them.
“You should go inside,” Breanne said with a concerned look. “The sun will burn your skin.”
“I wish I could use that excuse,” Heather said. “But flower singers don’t sunburn. In fact, I gain a buff to cast my spells when in strong sunlight. What I wish I had was a resistance to the heat, or maybe levitation so I could float over the sand instead of stumbling through it.”
Breanne nodded with sympathy and pretended to be bothered by the heat as well. Heather knew full well that none of her undead friends were bothered by it. She could avoid it provided she took her guise of undeath, but Endril would see. So much was complicated by the need to keep their secrets, and this was one of them. Until they could part ways, she would have to endure the temperature and all the discomfort that came with it.
Her backpack shifted, causing the sore spot on her shoulder to remind her it was there. Webster rode safely inside, peeking his head out the back to watch as they slowly meandered. Out of all of them, he was the most able to cross the sand, his lightweight and many legs allowing him to scurry along easily. However, his low profile meant he was dangerously close to the burning heat. When it got too hot, he began to complain, and she quickly swept him up to safety.
He was comfortable inside the pack, standing on some of the junk she packed, one of which she hoped to keep secret. She brought the crown despite letting the others think she left it at home hidden in the vault. She didn't want them to worry and wasn't sure why she brought it anyway. All she knew was something told her they would need it, so she hid it in her backpack and tucked it away in the trunk.
“Are we there yet?” Quinny asked again as Heather rolled her eyes.
“Are you going to do that all day?” she asked, her tolerance failing. Quinny shrugged, the mask concealing any expression, but Heather knew she was smiling.
“Do we have any idea where that thing deposited us?” Breanne asked.
“My guess is someplace miles to the west,” Endril said as he looked around at the featureless sands.
“So the road could be just over the next dune?” Heather asked, eager for some good news.
“Or the next hundred,” Endril replied as he adjusted his hat. “Until we see a landmark, there is no way to be sure.”
“Great,” Heather sighed and trudged on, the shifting sand making every step a challenge.
“At least we are doubling our travel time,” Frank said. “Walking day and night should help us reach something far sooner than we would otherwise.”
“But are we going in the right direction?” Heather asked as she looked around. “We could be walking in circles.”
“I might have lost the road, but you can still navigate by the sun,” Endril replied. “We are heading back roughly in the direction of the road.”
“Even if we find it soon, how far from a water station will we be?” Legeis asked as his armor thumped along. “We're already halfway through what was left inside the room.”
“Impossible to say,” Endriil replied. “Until we get to the road, I have no idea how to figure that out. Thankfully most of you aren’t drinking anything,” he added and looked over the group. “Why is that?”
Heather went to reply and cover for her friends but stumbled on the sand. The others seemed to have the same problem as the dune wall shifted and began to tumble down.
“Oh no,” Endril said as he looked around.
“Oh no, what?” Heather snapped now, alert for danger.
“Something is moving under the sand, something big,” he replied and motioned for everybody to stand still. A few tense seconds later, the sand stopped moving, and Endril waved them to move on. They crested the dune and started down the other side when it began to shift again.
“It knows we're here,” he said as they froze once more.
“What knows?” Frank asked.
“A worm, a shark, a veergor, or maybe one of the big crabs,” Endril replied. “They bury themselves in the sand and respond to vibration.”
“So if we keep moving, it will attack?” Heather asked only to have Endril nod. “Then how are we supposed to get away?”
“You fly or run very fast,” Endril replied. “The monks I had with me travel the desert a lot because they can step so lightly they don't leave a trail or trigger a vibration. But you guys are stomping along like a herd of cattle. Your friend in the armor is so heavy he is probably telling every creature for miles where we are,” he added, looking at Legeis.
“I can’t help how heavy I am,” Legeis said. “I wasn’t making the armor to traverse deserts.”
Heather looked around anxiously as the sand settled once more. She thought of several ways to solve the situation, but all of them involved revealing who they were to Endril. Quinny could summon a pack of zombies and have them run off, luring the hidden foe away, or She could summon skeletons to do the same. Breanne could go spectral and carry them one at a time to a safe distance, floating them over the sand.
“What if we put Legeis inside the room?” Heather suggested. “At least for a little bit to see if we can sneak away.”
“That thing is already aware something is here,” Endril replied. “It will detect even my steps at this point.”
“Then all of you go inside the room,” Heather ordered. “Quinny and I are two of the lightest. We will stay out here and carry the door.”
“I doubt that will work,” Endril began, but Heather lost her temper.
“Just get inside the room!” she shouted as Legeis set the door down, bracing the frame in the sand to stand it up. He ducked down to squeeze through and vanished into the air as Heather urged the others inside. Even as the group stepped through, the sands began to shift again, coming to a halt only when she and Quinny were alone.
“What now?” Quinny asked as she looked around. “I assume you have a plan.”
“You summon a pack of zombies and tell them to run back the way we came. Hopefully, the monster will chase them and give us a chance to get away.”
“But they claw themselves out of the ground,” Quinny pointed out. “What if the thing attacks before I have a chance to send them running?”
Heather hadn't considered that until Quinny said it, but what other choice was there? Even if she summoned her skeletons, they too clawed out of the ground. The beast would feel the vibration and come to investigate potentially attacking before they moved even a few paces.
“If only I had a skull,” Heather groaned. “I could use the staff to power it up and shoot it at a distant dune. That should be a big enough impact to draw whatever that is away.”
“We could always kill Endril and use his,” Quinny offered with too much sincerity in her voice.
Heather smiled at the notion, but they needed him to navigate this wasteland. She thought of one final plan and, with a sigh, took off her backpack.
“Hold on to Webster for me,” she said and handed the pack over.
“What are you doing?” Quinny asked as Webster poked out of the pack.
Heather explained that she would use the bird statue to fly a safe distance away, then land and change back to summon her skeletons. If she had time, she would send them running and then fly back. If the beast attacked too soon, she would fly away and try again someplace further. Either way, it would lure the beast away from the door and give them some breathing room.
Quinny reminded that they had no idea how close it was in the first place. For all they knew, it was just beneath their feet, or dozens of meters away. Heather understood but using undead as bait was the best idea either of them could think of, so she dug out the figurine and changed.
There was a strange sense of panic to be a raven again, but she bit that down to focus on the task. Black wings flew into the sky, soaring over featureless dunes before landing in the shallow area between them. Using the word of calling, she brought the statue back and changed to herself, then steadied her nerves for what came next. If the monster was close, it might attack as the skeletons appeared, tearing her limb from limb before she could change.
“You don’t have a choice,” she said to herself. “You flew far enough away that you should have a few seconds at least.” With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and realized the truth. Whatever was moving under the sand was going to attack something. Her only choice was to give it something meaningless, like a pack of fleeing skeletons.
Heather settled into her spell that would bring a small pack of skeletons to any location, even if she didn't have a graveyard. Instantly the sand began to froth as bony hands clawed to be free. A second later, the sand all around her started to move as the skeletons drew the beast's attention.
“Hurry!” Heather urged as seven skeletons rose from the sand and glared at her. She wasted no time in pointing and telling them to run that way as the dunes around began to slid. The skeletons took off, stumbling on the shifting sand as she clutched the statue and became a raven. She was scarcely five meters above the ground when gigantic spikes came out of the sand. She struggled to gain altitude while looking down as a worm with dark purple flesh and almost fish-like frills scattered down its body erupted beneath her. Its maw was segmented and split open to reveal a dark tunnel lined with tusk-like teeth. She estimated the head to be as wide across as a bus was long, the mouth easily capable of swallowing her and all her friends whole. She raced in terrible fear for Quinny as the beast turned on the skeletons who were gaining almost no ground in the shifting sand.
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Over the dunes, she went, but this time something caught her eye. Out in the distance in the other direction was a dark object of some kind. It was too far away to make out, but it was the first landmark they had seen since yesterday. Landing at Quinny's feet, she called the statue back and quickly took her form.
“Let’s run,” Heather said as she grabbed one side of the doorway. Quinny nodded and went to run over the dune, but Heather pointed to the side. “No, go that way. I saw something while I was flying.”
Together they turned and ran along the dune, heading for the mysterious object even as the ground shook from the worm's impact as it began to crush the skeletons.
“That thing is going to kill my skeletons quickly,” Heather groaned as she looked back. “
They could barely walk in this terrible sand. Their feet sink right into it.”
“Put the door down,” Quinny said, and as soon as she was free of it began her zombie summon. As they crawled out of the ground, Quinny sent them in three pairs in three different directions. Heather noted that they had much better traction as many of them had booted feet. Still, they stumbled and flailed to scale the sand that shifted under their steps.
“There, now it has to chase multiple groups,” she said and returned to the door only to have a gigantic pincer burst out of the sand near a pack of zombies. It crushed one of the poor things instantly before two enormous black orbs poked of the sand on the long white stalk. A moment later, a crab the size of a large building rose up, curtains of sand falling from the shell. It stuffed a zombie into a terrible maw as it began to scuttle after the other one.
“Great! Your zombies made it worse. Now we have two monsters,” Heather groaned as they started to run again.
“How was I supposed to know that thing was there?” Quinny asked as they stumbled in panic. “Anything could be under the sand.”
“This whole place is a nightmare,” Heather groaned as the ground shook again. She turned just in time to see the crab stumble as the giant worm bore into it, the two locking in a deadly battle that shook the ground.
“Well, that’s a plus,” Quinny said as the worm drove the crab back.
“Yeah, but not for us,” Heather said as the crab stumbled back, coming closer to them.
“We should have run over the dune,” Quinny cried as sand began to fall around them.
“I saw something this way,” Heather said. “If we can find a landmark, maybe Endril can get us out of this insane place.”
“We're going to be crushed before we get there,” Quinny replied as a blast of sand hit them from behind. They stumbled and floundered on the shifting surface, dragging the door as they tried to get free. The monster battle was happening just meters behind them, and the bellows the two were making were deafening. As they rounded a bend in the dune, they both saw the dark top of something sticking out of the sands in the distance. It was still too far away, but it was something to steer by, and sheer panic drove them on.
The ground shook in a mighty spasm as the worm bit down on the crab, its jaws clamping tight on a shell thicker than a tree trunk. The crab was driven into the sand with a great crash followed by a sickening cracking noise as that shell finally broke.
Heather didn't want to see the aftermath, her focus squarely on the object ahead. It was hidden behind another dune, but every time they caught a glimpse of it, it was closer. Minutes dragged on, and her legs felt like lead as she struggled to run on the near fluid surface. They both stumbled to their knees, Heather panting as the and around them began to slide.
“That worm decided to ignore the dead crab and come for us,” Quinny cried.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Heather shouted and looked over her shoulder to see it was coming for them.
“We need to get up and run,” Quinny said and tried to drag Heather back to her feet.
“Wasn’t the crab enough food?” Heather moaned and began to stumble forward again.
“We have a head start on it,” Quinny urged and looked back to see the beast rapidly gaining on them. “On second thought, we are going to die.”
“Get inside the door!” Heather shouted and plunged the end into the sand. They dove into the doorway, stumbling down the steps in a hail of sand.
It felt good to be on stable ground, safely hidden from the terrible things that lurked outside. Still, Heather lay on the floor in a pool of sand, wishing she had found a way out of this world weeks ago.
“What happened?” Frank asked as he came to her side to help them up.
Heather couldn't tell him the whole story, so she left out the skeletons and made up a story about trying to sneak away when the worm attacked. They ran, and just before the worm got to them, the crab appeared, and the two monsters fought each other. She and Quinny used the distraction to keep running and spotted something in the distance, but before they could reach it, the worm won the battle and decided to chase them instead of eating the crab. They couldn't outrun it, so they dived into the door to escape.
“Will it go away after a little while?” Frank asked as she began to brush sand out of her hair.
“I have no idea. I hate this horrible place and all the terrible things that live in it,” she replied and then remembered poor Webster. He was hiding in a tight ball as deep in the backpack as he could muster. It was now partially filled with sand, and she had to scoop him out and brush him off.
“You’re safe now,” Heather said and set him down. “The question is for how long.”
“What did you see?” Endril asked from where he stood by the tables.
“I don’t know, some kind of dark outcropping of rock. It’s still too far away to tell what it is,” she replied and looked back to the door. She began to wonder what would happen if the worm swallowed the opening. Would they exit it into the worm's stomach?
“How long should we wait?” Breanne asked, drawing Heather out of her thoughts.
Heather had no idea how long they needed to wait. All they seemed to be doing was wait, or drag their feet, never getting closer to their target. She suggested they wait one movement of the sun and then investigate to see if it's safe. When the time was passed, Frank was the first one to venture out. He immediately stumbled back in and looked confused as the others wondered what happened.
“You just dropped the door?” he asked.
“We stood it in the sand and ran in, Heather replied.
“Well, it's laying flat on the sand now, so when you walk out, you fall right back in,”
Frank said and scratched at his head.
“Then how do we get out?” Quinny asked.
“Maybe I can climb out,” Frank suggested and leaned over to reach out the doorway. For a brief moment, he thrashed only his legs and waist visible as sand began to pour in the door. He kicked awkwardly as Heather tried not to laugh, eventually pulling his legs through and vanishing. A moment later, he stepped back in to inform them he stood the doorway up and it was safe to go out.
One by one, they crept into the dunes to see the broken body of the crab in the distance. There was no sign of the worm, but dunes all around were flattened by something gigantic. Heather quickly turned their attention in the other direction, pointing to a dark object poking above distant dunes.
Endril was skeptical, not recalling any objects in the deep sand he knew to navigate by, but Heather insisted they at least see what it was. Legeis took the doorway, and they made their way using the distant object as a guide. An hour later, they climbed up a dune and came to a stop to finally see what it was.
“It’s a pyramid,” Frank said as he shielded his eyes from the light.
“It must be the ruins of a player city,” Endril added. “Look in the sand around it. You can see partially buried stone.”
“Magic strong here,” Umtha said as she held out a hand and caused a slight blue glow at her fingertips. “Warded by many schools.”
Heather had no idea what that meant but glanced about to see Endril was right. There were objects all around, buried but poking out here and there just enough to be noticed. At the center of it was a pyramid of polished black stone towering above the landscape. Against one side was what looked like a square temple made of the same stone. There was an opening of sorts here, flanked by a pair of obelisks of the same dark stone.
“If this was a player city, then there must be a source of water,” Heather suggested as she took a step closer. “Maybe even some food.”
“I wouldn’t risk it,” Endril said as he took a step back. ”It hasn't despawned, which means it's haunted by something. This place is probably crawling with undead.”
“Undead, you say?” Heather replied with a smirk at Frank. “I am sure we can handle a few skeletons and zombies.”
“Can you handle mummies or sand wights?” Endril asked as if the answer was obviously no.
Heather paid him no attention and pointed to the distant building as Frank continued to stare at it. “We should investigate and see if we can find food or water. At the very least, if we can find some actual soil, I can use my flower singer powers to grow some minor food.”
Quinny and Breanne agreed and stepped forward, but Frank never moved, staring as if confused. Heather stepped up to him and shook his arm, causing him to turn on her suddenly.
“Frank? Are you alright?”
He took another look at the pyramid and then scratched at the helm. “I swear I have seen this before. Remember when you first got here, and I told you how I wanted to build a massive lair.”
“Yes?” Heather replied as he looked back, his eyes twitching.
“I told you I wanted to build a pyramid. I had an image of exactly what I wanted, and it looked just like that. I swear that’s the pyramid from my thoughts.”
Heather turned back to the towering monument rising out of the sands and felt a chill go down her spine.
“Players all pick from the same aesthetic styles. It's probably a common style,” she offered and took his hand. “Common, let's go see it up close before you get all spooked out.”
He nodded, and she pulled him along, following the others as the dark edifice grew larger. Eventually, they reached the first of the strange stones to discover it was a wall, buried in the sand so deep they could walk over the top. They explored the next object, digging to reveal a large roof cut at odd angles and marked by a cross.
“Is this a mausoleum?” Heather asked as Quinny tried to shove more sand aside.
Frank looked all around as Breanne stood motionless, casting a minor spell. A moment later, the ground all around her glowed with a green light causing her to gasp.
“What does that mean?” Legeis asked.
“It’s a detect graves spell,” Breanne said. “We are standing in a massive graveyard, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the necromancer kings.”
“You know necromancy?” Endril asked as Breanne looked up.
“I am a shadow weaver,” Breanne mocked. “I have access to minor necromancy spells, as do a dozen other classes.”
“So this is one big graveyard?” Quinny asked as she gave up digging. “I thought this was a city?”
“I only said it could be a city,” Endril snapped. “I assumed it had to be. Who would build a graveyard of this size in the middle of the desert?”
Heather glanced at Frank, who was being strangely silent. She tried to remember the conversation where he described his massive graveyard and pyramid. Little of the details came to mind, but she remembered the enthusiasm when he described it. He had a clear vision of what he wanted, and something about this place was too close to that image.
“We’re not going to find anything but undead in this place,” Endril insisted.
“I don't see a thing,” Heather argued as she looked about. “And we need to find food and water. We should look for a well or go into the pyramid and see if it has a fountain or something.”
“All we're going to find in that pyramid are powerful undead,” he retorted and tipped his hat back. “If you want to go in there, be my guest. I will wait out here.”
“Fine,” Heather said with a smile. “But we’re bringing the door with us.”
Endril looked as if he would argue, but Frank stepped up behind Heather, his massive frame nearly engulfing her.
“We go inside,” Frank said. “I need to see it, and you are not going to cause any more delays.” His voice was more of a command than a suggestion, and Endril didn't want to test Frank's ability to fight. He relented and agreed to go inside but only so long as it remained safe. Frank led the way as Heather ran to catch up and took his arm to remind him she was there.
“What’s bothering you?” Heather asked as they approached the door.
“I swear this place is familiar to me,” Frank replied. “It’s almost like I dreamed it.”
“Frank, it’s like I just said. Everybody picks from the same pool of aesthetics.” Heather assured with a tug at his arm. “Couldn’t somebody have made a pyramid with the same style you wanted?”
“I guess so, but I want to see the inside,” he replied as they approached the massive doors.
They stood outside an ornate archway capped by three stone skulls that looked out in different directions. The doors were made of wood, banded by iron straps designed to look like bones. One was pulled wide open, allowing the sand to flow into the interior. They used this to work their way inside to marvel at what they found.
“Magic stronger here,” Umtha said as she spun around, weaving a spell that trailed blue light. The whole space was illuminated in a dim blue glow, filling a gymnasium-sized space with faint light.
“This is a lair,” Endril said. “A monster player's home. He probably hid out here to avoid being reset.”
Heather heard him, but she was lost to the marvel of the interior room. The floor was polished stone tiles in a mosaic of blacks, grays, and whites. A dozen thing columns ran down each side, flanking a broad causeway that went to a back door every bit as large as the front one. The walls were made of yellowish marble, but significant sections of it were carved to show scenes.
“Wow, these are neat,” Quinny said as she looked over the carvings.
Heather and Frank stepped closer, looking at the images that seemed to show a cohesive story. It started with a tall figure with long arms and claws. Dozens of smaller versions of itself surrounded this figure as they stood on a hill. The next image showed what looked like a circle with a stone block floating beside it. More blocks were set to the left piled up to begin the foundation of the pyramid.
“They built all this by hand?” Frank said in surprise.
“Assisted by magic,” Breanne said and pointed to the circle. “That’s a portal spell. The stone is being quarried someplace else and transported here.”
“Who would go to this much trouble when they could just spend points to build this?” Heather asked as they moved along the scene. This one showed a complete pyramid with a surrounding graveyard. The tall figure stood near the center while crowds of smaller versions stood in rows as if the tall figure was addressing them.
“This is a mummies lair,” Endril said as they moved on to the next image showing what looked like five beings. They stood in a semi-circle as the tall figure presented somebody to the five beings.
“What is this supposed to mean?” Heather asked.
“None of the people in the image are detailed enough to identify,” Breanne said. “Even the main figure isn’t well defined.”
“It looks like the big figure is introducing the smaller ones to those five people,” Quinny suggested as they moved on.
This last scene was the most interesting; it showed a throne room-like scene where the large being sat on a seat of skulls, surrounded by skeletons holding trays or jugs. In the foreground was more undead as if bowing to the seated figure.
“I was wrong. This is a necromancer's lair,” Endril said as they stared at the last picture.
“No, it isn't,” Frank said as he leaned in closer. “Legeis, can you put your lights on this image?”
“Sure thing,” he replied and lit the scene up with bright light.
“Do you see something we don’t?” Heather asked, not sure what they were looking for.
“The figure has pointed ears and a sharp face,” Frank replied.
“So?” Quinny asked.
“It isn’t a necromancer,” Frank said as he stepped back. “It’s a ghoul. We are inside a powerful ghoul's grand mausoleum.”
Endril let out a small laugh as he stepped back to glance at the exit. “Then we should leave now, before it and that army of undead find us. Ghouls are disgusting, and they eat players.”
“Not always,” Frank replied as Heather turned on Endril.
“They don’t eat players,” she shouted. “They bury them in special pits to be absorbed into points.”
“How would you know?” Endril barked. “Have you ever met a ghoul player?”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” Heather retorted. “And he was kind, courteous, and helpful.”
Endril laughed and straightened his hat. “I suggest you search this room for water and then get out before the sun sets. I bet once it gets dark, its army of undead claws their way out of the sand. Then you will see how vile monster players really are as they eat your arms while you scream.”
“Somebody is making a fool of himself,” Quinny whispered to Breanne.
“Be quiet,” Breanne whispered back before stepping forward. “There is obviously no water in this chamber. Perhaps we should look in a deeper room.”
“That means risking an encounter with those undead,” Endril pointed out. “Even with all of you, fighting a ghoul lord in his lair with an army of the undead around him will be neigh impossible.”
Heather wanted to laugh but held the impulse in, instead turned to face Endril with a broad smile.
“I am sure whoever this person is, he can be reasoned with,” she said. “I bet he isn’t half as bad as you make him out to be.”
“No,” came a woman's voice. “She is much worse.”