As Gaderon and Sol move closer to the row of mighty pillars that separate this part of the hall from the next, bubbles of sick green and red light up in the darkness, similar to those you have seen before. It is evident that the columns along the gray T-shaped floor area separate ethe palatial hall into greater and lesser portions, referring, that is, to status rather than size. The floor along the side of the T is checkered in red and black, and the columns are of serpentine, just as you noted previously. The pillars separate the central area from two side aisles. The sloping walls descend from the ceiling dome overhead, and the end of the place is finally (though barely) in sight - a rounded alcove about 20 feet in diameter were its flanks not angling walls, and if its end portion were not open.
In the center of this portion of the hall stands a huge statue of a monster, a nightmare work carved from serpentine in a most detailed fashion. It has five pairs of arachnoid legs spaced 5 feet apart along a coiled, snake-like body. That form is thick-bodied, much as a python's. Atop an 8-foot neck, the crocodilian head sports gaping jaws, from which protrude many teeth. The 10-foot-long tail terminates in a huge scorpion-type stinger. Were it real and stretched out, this horror might measure 50 or more feet long, overall.
Beyond that statue and about 5 feet from the rear alcove, hedged round by four pillars and flanked by light bubbles at eye level, looms a huge stone figure of Rahotep. You see it in profile, for it faces left. A headdress that resembles a vulture, adding 3 feet to the total height, crowns the 15-foot tall figure.
The side aisles are lined with other statues. To the left are depictions of all the undead creatures you have encountered: ghoulish things, vampires, mummified zombies, and skeletal creatures. To the right are statues of fiendish and demonic mien.
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