Sakatha DEAD! (For real this time)

Bewildered by the undead lizardwoman’s powers and concerned about what it had to tell them about Sakatha’s continued existence, Beatriss and Tetsukichi sought out a quiet place to discuss what they’d experienced, rest, and call on advice from a higher power. On their way back to the upper level of the pyramid, a swarm of bats swooped down on them screeching and scratching. The party followed the bats back to Sakatha’s throne room. Sakatha’s queen was there, but before Ju-Mei could raise his holy symbol, the bats descended on him a special vengeance. The lizardwoman charged at Naron, grabbed him with her claws and sunk her fangs deep into his neck. As Naron started to slip out of consciousness, his companions crowded around with their best weapons. They drove the blood-sucking fiend away from Naron, knocked her down and cut her to pieces. Again, she turned to a gas and the bats dispersed.

With the lizard queen(?) dead, the throne room itself became a seemingly quiet and safe enough place to rest. Ju-Mei and Erlo tended to the wounded. Naron had suffered a strange wound. She had taken something from him that he wouldn’t get back easily. Nevertheless, he was resolved to help Beatriss and the others to destroy Sakatha and his consort.

As Ju-Mei prepared to meditate, Beatriss and Tetsukich discussed what exactly they wanted to know. Was Sakatha gone? Would Sakatha return? Would the Sansar clan now have peace? The answer came from a lower power. A section of the wall slid open and Sakatha himself stepped out. Beatriss ordered the weaker member of the party to the back of the room, but Sakatha summoned a huge billowing cloud of noxious green smoke, cutting off the exits, and forcing the entire party to within striking distance. “Where is my crown?” he demanded, looking them over. Beatriss stepped in front of him, drawing her sword. He seized her and bit her, just as the queen had done to Naron. But even as he began to suck out her blood, Beatriss, drove her sword into his gut, holding him fast. Tetsukichi, Al-Fitar, and Naron surrounded him, stabbing and slashing him on all sides. Raking his claws down Beatriss’s arm, he forced her to drop her sword and turned to face a new opponent. He leapt on Al-Fitar, knocking the powerful warrior to the ground, but didn’t manage to find his way past his sword. Al-Fitar held the blade in front of his neck and forced it lengthwise across the lizard king’s mouth. Betriss and Tetsukichi attacked from the other sides and with a rain of blows, forced the monster back into gaseous form. They entered the secret room and found another coffin. Opening it, they watched Saktha’s wounded body reforming on the fetid mud inside

.

Suddenly, Ju-Mei knew exactly what to do, and Beatriss followed his instructions. On an ordinary sword, Ju-Mei wrote Sakatha’s name using ink made from dragon’s blood. With this sword, Beatriss cut off the lizard king’s head. Into his mouth she poured holy water and specially-blessed cake. The flesh rotted and shrunk from Sakatha’s skull and then the skull split in two. Likewise, his body disintegrated.




Using a similar procedure, the party went to the queen’s burial chamber and permanently destroyed her. They returned to the throne room once more and discussed whether there was anything else left to do. Bangqiu and Kafka returned to report that, upstairs, water was seeping in under the door. Beatriss wanted to leave, but Bangqiu remember something in a song about Sakatha’s ring and wanted to find it. He asked Naron and Beatriss and some others to take any rings belonging to party members and guard them in another room. With a series of spells, he determined that there was another closer ring behind the throne. Summoning once again the party’s strongest warrirors, Bangqiu asked for the throne to be moved. Still his magic told him that the ring was very close and not in the the throne but in the wall behind. Erlo used his own powers to locate and open the magically-hidden door, and behind it the party found Saktha’s secret treasury: a pile of ancient coins, each much larger and heavier than an imperial tael, and made of gold instead of silver. There was a box filled silk packets containing silvery dust. There was a book of spells. And there was a ring. Bangqiu claimed the book and the ring, while the others filled their backpacks with gold coins.




By the time the party was ready to leave the pyramid, water was flowing down the stairs. Upstairs, the food in the feasting room was rotten and the magical servants were nowhere to be seen. Erlo opened the bronze doors and a small wave of swamp water rushed in , splashing them up to the waist. Outside the pyramid, it was muddy, and the water was ankle-deep. There was a crack in the roof of the cavern; lizardmen were happily cavorting in the water and sunshine. The undead mob were nowhere to be seen. The dry streambed was filling with real water. The acid pools were still there. Ow! The party made their way up the stairs, avoiding the fifth step from the top.






On their way through the former lair of the brigands, there was a surprising and surprisingly cordial reunion between Won Ton and his old friends Shu and Ta-Mi! Visibly relieved about the death of Feng-Bi and sobered by the death of Sick Boy, Won Ton started to apologize about “you know, the silver chi’en” until he noticed the gold bulging from the others’ backpacks. And there is no need to tell anything else about this adventure except that the heroes returned to the main camp of the Sansar clan for feasting and celebration!