The Search For The Mummy's Mask Part Nine: The Mind of The Forgotten Pharaoh

The Desert Falcons have met every threat and every challenge, but somehow the Cult of The Forgotten Pharaoh has been one step ahead of them the whole time. They've destroyed a city, kidnapped a genie lord, and may be on the verge of resurrecting the essence of one of the most powerful rulers to ever hold Osirion in his iron fist.

So what do they do? They go to save their friend, of course.

Part One: The Desert Falcons, and The Littlest Pharaoh
Part Two: Undead Children, and Resurrected Puppies
Part Three: Enemies on All Sides
Part Four: Fight Night at The Necropolis
Part Five: Who is The Forgotten Pharaoh?
Part Six: No Harm Ever Came From Reading A Book...
Part Seven: Needle in a Haystack
Part Eight: Lamias and Genie Lords
Part Nine: The Mind of The Forgotten Pharaoh
Part Ten: The End of The Forgotten Pharaoh

Now It's Personal

The Desert Falcons don't have much time, but what they do have is a daemonic ally willing to do them another favor before he goes off on his own to see how the world has changed since he was stuck in a musty library basement. So they write out letters, asking their allies to meet us for a great battle to the north, near the sphinx where the cult is making their preparations. They reach out to the thriae, to the criminal muscle of the Viper, and to the various mercenaries and warriors they've met throughout their travels so far. Matt teleports off to deliver the notes, and the Falcons head north to meet whatever awfulness their nemesis has waiting for them.

Yeah... it's probably something like that.

On their way north, the Falcons meet up with another motley group; a band of bullette-riding desert guides. Through the use of an extremely high Diplomacy, and the application of a healthy amount of gold, the riders showed them a shortcut through the dunes. Not only that, but they gifted Mustafa with an ancient medallion; one which showed the eye of Ra. It granted protection to the wearer, but once per day it also banished any evil outsider back to its home plane.

It took nearly a week of travel through the inhospitable waste, until they came across the cultists. It was near sunset, and the cult was in the midst of a summoning. They appeared to be calling for something infernal, and no sooner have the Falcons realized this than Matthew appears. Bound by the cult to find and slay the Falcons, he immediately starts walking into the dunes. Mustafa had enough time to cast a circle of protection before the hulking, shaggy daemon lumbers over the dune. He apologized profusely, but he had to do what he was bound to do. After several rounds of conversation, Mustafa asked Matthew to cover his eyes. The daemon was about to laugh, until Mustafa parted his robe, revealing the amulet. Matthew covered his eyes, and then vanished in a puff of bright, golden light.

Blood on The Sand

Ra'ana went off on her own to recon the cult's setup, and in the process managed to make contact with the Falcons' allies. They formed a battle plan, and as dawn broke, they charged over the dunes, burst from beneath them, and swooped down out of the sky to stop the gold-masked cultists from completing their plan.

Ready your weapons!

The great battle covered several arenas, but the enemy facing the Falcons was a powerful necromancer, as well as one of the heads of the cult. Waves of undead shambled toward them as he unleashed dark energies and fell powers. Though the walking dead were soon returned to their former, inert state, the negative energy and life-sapping bolts couldn't be so easily dismissed. In the end, Moloch tapped into the reserves of his own undead bloodline, calling forth skeletal hands to rip and tear at the necromancer, dragging him down to face his own judgment at Pharasma's feet.

It's not long after the Falcons' small victory that a larger victory rings over the sands. The cult has been routed, and their ritual disrupted... disrupted, but not stopped. What did they do? Can it be undone? And what does Hakar have to do with any of it?

Find out next time when Table Talk continues the Search For The Mummy's Mask!

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