Asterion's Detect Magic spell unveils a strong magical aura upon the whole ledge, walls and pillars, but strongest on the granite slab. He cannot determine the type of magic.
While Eilkhan starts to examine the slab for traps and perhaps also for some kind of opening mechanism, Ahi and Kerim begin reading the hieroglyphs on it. They are old and worn but still readable, except for one part. They read:
The... [something indecipherable which probably refers to the name within the cartouche]... dwells within his eternal house, knowing full well the nature of men. He lies within, awaiting the fools who think to despoil what is his. No prayers will avail you hereafter, so mutter them now and be done with it! You are the funerary offerings for which I hunger and thirst... Join me.
The name in the cartouche is tesh tesher-ti Aasha Sethu Netherankh Rahotep which translates as:
A red fiend terrible Roarer (a name of Set) that is the Set Godlife Rahotep
At the moment that the name within the cartouche is read (quietly or aloud makes no difference), something suddenly forces Ahi, Eilkhan and Kerim to move back a few steps. Mist grows before the stone slab, thickens and becomes a figure of greater than human proportions and of hideously evil visage. Its eyes seem feral and gleam with lambent fire. Then this man-thing opens its huge mouth, and its fangs glitter as it speaks:
"I am the Set Rahotep!
No man was more potent when I was amongst those dwelling in the land of Khemit. In death I am greater still!
Do you not fear serpents? I am the Aapep Rahotep! Who does not tremble before the monsters of the Duat? I am one! Does not your flesh crawl at the sight of a terrible Wyrm? I am the Deathwyrm Rahotep! Does your blood run cold before the face of a fiend? Know, then, that I am Rahotep the Fiend! Who shuns not demons? Shun me, for I am the Demon Rahotep, the red devil. And which fool listens? That one is wise! Praise Set and the Set Rahotep, that one, and pity the rest!"
Thereafter, the mist starts to dissipate and is blown away by the warm wind.
Eilkhan's search for traps and possible mechanisms was unsuccessful.
|