A quick debate ensues about whether to transfer the books and scrolls to the vault for safekeeping, or whether they should be left here for the archaeologists to catalog. In the end, the scrolls are moved and the secret door latch is discovered.
Upon opening the door, Goldpiece steps into the room and sees a man, floating in the lotus position, enclosed in a cage of shimmering red energy. The cage itself is floating above a rune circle that glows with red energy as well. Surveying the approaching Goldpiece is a curious creature “It is an efreet!”, yells Elulyn.
The freet is polite and well mannered. He seems eager to engage with the party, as Gutboy and the Justicar enter the room. It seems he has been here, guarding this caged person, for nigh 400 years. Goldpiece tells him of the rise of Coburn and the fall of Impiltur. Eventually, the conversation starts to wind down, at which point the efreet thanks them all politely and announces that with great regret, he will have to kill them all.
While the efreet hurls balls of fire at the protected party members, The Justicar tries to dismiss it – and fails. Grievously wounded, the cleric is forced to retreat while Gutboy and Goldpiece pummel the creature and the mages provide magic missile fire. Gutboy lands the final blow and slays the creature after a lengthy battle. Now, all eyes turn to the caged human.
The human introduces himself and asks politely to be released from the cage. Goldpiece assesses the situation and with his various staves, decides that the person is not lying and is not evil. Good enough!
After a bit of healing, resting and wrangling, the party scopes out the remainder of the pyramid’s rooms, pausing to ponder a lamp that spews some form of napalm gas. After much deliberation, they ignore the lamp and move on – encountering a few more death dogs and finding a room populated by a salamander and a couple of animated dust clouds. The salamander is disintegrated and the dust clouds are left unmolested for the moment.
After a bit of rest, they attempt – and eventually succeed – to dispel the runes on the floor. With that, the man is freed. He uses a rod to seal the rift to the elemental plane of fire atop the pyramid. He gifts his rod to the party after explaining how to use it, removes the protective shield that surrounds the structure and bids them good luck. With that, he vanishes.
The party shrugs and goes about returning to the archaeologists that hired them. The archaeologists are shocked at their rapid return, but none are as shocked as the party when the archaeologists tell them they raided the wrong temple! Well…shiiiiit.
OK…back to the desert to see what other pyramids lie out there, waiting to be discovered…
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