Kherim makes short work of the remaining vampires, staking them all in their coffins - two of them have been disintegrated along with their coffins btw! Does Kherim also intend to open the large and somewhat sinister looking sarcophagus of the Master?
The prisoners are a miserable bunch, malnourished, dirty and weak, and all of them bear bite marks where the vampires drew their blood over and over again, keeping them barely alive. They are thankful for the food that Eilkhan hands over to them. They all have been captives here for several weeks at least. Three of them hail from the nearby village of Aartuat, the others were guards for a caravan that was on its way from Tantare to the Dakhla Amun Oasis, and that was assaulted by a band of evil desert raiders about one day east of the Gorge of Osiris. All prisoners taken were sold as slaves by the raiders to a group of humans that included at least one cleric of the evil Set. These seven here were then separated from the others and transported here by some kind of magic unknown to them. What became of the other prisoners, they do not know.
Since then, they were prisoners of the vampirettes and their master who calls himself Utat-Nebbu. Those evil ones were obviously careful not to kill them as they needed their blood and life energy for as long as possible. Still three of them died because of the cruel treatment already some time ago. The vampires threw their corpses through the archway that you came through. One of the prisoners ends with the following words:
"There was a time just a few days ago! I recall it because we had light then, dear sweet light! Three men, presumably evil allies, visited that bastard Utat. I saw that one of these dirty traitors, the chief of them, wore a silver pendant of unusual sort... Yes! It looked very similar to the ones that you wear! How well I recall its glittering in the light... When departing, this leader grasped his comrades firmly, and all then stepped through one of the side arches."
The poor fellow remembers not which one of the two arches was used to leave this little hell, and his comrades don't either. All are very ashamed about that, as they very much want to help you, their rescuers, and of course also because they too want to get out of here as fast as possible.
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