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The Lost Armory is a four-hour Torg game for six players. As it's written here, the adventure will take a bit longer than four hours to play, so the GM must be vigilant about saving time wherever possible. Don't ask for unnecessary die rolls, feel free to shorten or skip encounters, and try to keep things moving.

After the players have chosen their characters and the rules have been explained, pass out the heroes' mission assignment, equipment cards, and the first Mbetti tile.

The Background: A pharaoh named Amenemhet IV ruled ancient Egypt for 13 years at the end of the XIIth dynasty. Very few written records were left behind from the time of his rule. One of the records that has been recently rediscovered is a prophecy which seems to describe the Possibility Wars. The prophecy refers to an armory that was to be of help to the pharaoh's heirs during this war.

The Mbetti tile is named after the Ethiopian tribesman who presented the artifact to Ira Schwartz 30 years ago. The Mbetti tile is a terra cotta tablet that has a partial hieroglyphic inscription on it. Clearly, the tile is a fragment of some larger work. Mr. Schwartz, a noted archeologist in his day, turned the tile over to the University of Chicago, which had sponsored his expedition. The hieroglyphs for Amenemhet and armory are on the tile, but there's not enough of an inscription to be meaningful.

The mission is to return to Ethiopia in an attempt to find the rest of the inscription, in the hope that this will lead to the forgotten armory. Meanwhile, the heroes will have to avoid Mobius's shocktroopers (who have a distressing tendency to claim any archeological discoveries for their Pharaoh) and Watumi slavers.

Our "camera" is in a dense jungle. One by one, the heroes come running (as if for their lives) toward the camera, then past it. After the last hero runs by, the camera shows a crowd of about, oh, 300 Watumi slavers in hot pursuit. They're carrying blowguns, spears, and bows and arrows.

Cut back to the heroes. Suddenly, a small Watumi war party (4 warriors) steps out of the jungle, into the path of the heroes. Go to round-to-round action. Make it clear that the heroes are prevented from moving past the war party only if the warriors use their actions to block the heroes. This being the case, it should only take a round or two for the PCs to get past the war party. But during that time, they can hear the rest of the tribe getting closer. The heroes resume their flight.

Suddenly the heroes come to a long rope bridge over a horrifically deep ravine. The river at the bottom of the ravine is way down there, visible only as a tiny silver thread. And the rope bridge -- it looks as if your grandmother could macramé something more sturdy. (Surprisingly, though, it has decent stats: TOU 6, STR 15.)

Crossing the bridge requires Dramatic Skill Resolution (DSR), steps ABC. Each step is performed with acrobatics DN 10 and gets the hero a third of the way across the bridge. The Watumi will not cross the bridge, but they will stop on their side and launch weapons at the heroes.

• People on the Watumi side (that is, people who haven't achieved Step A) are in range of darts, spears, and bows
• People at A are in range of spears and bows
• People at B are in range of bows
• People at C are all the way across and out of range of all Watumi weapons

For added drama during this scene:

• The person with equipment card A has a hole in his backpack and he’s about to lose something
• The person carrying equipment card B has his pistol in his backpack
• The pistol of the person carrying equipment card C is unloaded (or out of bullets, if C fired earlier)
• Find DN 5 is required to get something out of a backpack

When the first hero reaches Step B, the Nile shocktroopers show up at the far end (C end) of the bridge. The Watumi shoot their bows at the shocktroopers as well as at the heroes, but the shocktroopers are out of range. Still, this enrages the shocktroopers, so they cut their end of the bridge. While the heroes are still on it.

(Backstory: The shocktroopers have been gathering slaves to work the mines in the Land of the Dead. The Watumi are also slavers. So both groups have been fighting over the same resources. The Pharaoh has ordered his troops to kill no more Watumi than are necessary, since the Watumi are much more effective at softening up nosey foreigners than are the more peaceful Ghenta tribesmen. But that doesn't stop the shocktroopers from harassing the Watumi at every opportunity.)

If any PCs get across, the shocktroopers will demand to see their papers. All of the heroes except the one carrying equipment card A have their papers. (This character apparently lost his papers somewhere in the jungle.) The shocktroopers won't unnecessarily detain characters who have their papers. Once the shocktroopers are satisfied that the PCs are here legally, they'll leave.

After dealing with this situation, the heroes will notice a plume of smoke rising in the distance. In the direction that the shocktroopers headed. Which is also the direction the heroes were told Mbetti’s village lay.

When the heroes spy the village, they're greeted with a terrible sight. Most of the huts are smoldering piles of ash. All of the able-bodied villagers, men and women alike, are chained together by both ankles and anchored to a tree at the edge of the clearing. Half a dozen shocktroopers have their guns (rifles or Tommy guns) trained on the chained captives, while the other six shocktroopers are keeping guard over a cluster of unchained villagers. The latter group are the villagers who aren't able-bodied enough to work in the mines. There are three old men, four old women,  two children too young to walk, and a teen-age girl who's missing part of her right leg (obviously lost long ago) and is leaning on a crutch.

A white woman, dressed in safari clothing, is haranguing the villagers in their native language. She's waving a Mbetti tile in their faces! Despite her vehement questioning, the natives remain silent. She turns to the shocktroopers (which is when the archeologist PC recognizes her as the nefarious Nile archeologist, Dr. Celeste Etienne) and orders them in English to shoot one of the prisoners so that the rest will talk.

Now it's time to ask what the heroes do.

The heroes should easily be able to handle this situation. By the end of the scene, they should have the second Mbetti tile. Ideally, Dr. Etienne should escape, to reappear later. But if she's killed or captured, the story will not be adversely affected to any significant degree.

If the heroes freed the Ghenta tribesmen from the shocktroopers, they will still need to establish some means to communicate with the Ghenta in their native language of Amharic. One of the PCs carries an English-Amharic dictionary. When the ability to communicate is achieved, the heroes can discover that Mbetti himself is one of the old men that Dr. Etienne was questioning.

If you're running this as a four-hour game, Mbetti will present the heroes with the third and fourth tiles, which were buried in the dirt floor of his hut. (The hut is now ashes and embers; the PCs or tribesmen will have to clear these away.) In this case, skip Scene 3.

If you're running this as a six-hour game or longer, Mbetii presents the heroes with the third tile. He then explains to the heroes that when he was much younger, he hid the fourth and last tile in a sinkhole. His nephew Yetemba (one of the other tribesmen) knows where the sinkhole is and can direct the PCs to it; this will lead the heroes to Scene 3.

If Dr. Etienne has not been captured or killed, she will follow Yetemba and the PCs in an attempt to regain the tiles. If Dr. Etienne isn't capable of doing this because the PCs have "neutralized" her, then instead, Yetemba will mutter about the Ngebwe (an evil jungle spirit) that haunts the area around the sinkhole.

(If time is running short, neither Dr. Etienne nor the Ngebwe need actually show up in the next scene. But it's important to establish that they're available, should we need the drama that they can add.)

Scene 3: The Last Mbetti Tile

Yetemba leads the heroes to the sinkhole. Someone who is lowered into the sinkhole (preferably by rope) quickly sees that it's funnel-shaped and has rather large hole at the bottom that opens into the side of the cliff. Presumably, rain water rushes out through that hole during the monsoon season. This comes as news to Yetemba, who says there was no hole at the bottom of the sinkhole when he last came here as a teenager.

Unfortunately, it looks as if the rainwater has swept most of the contents of the sinkhole out through the opening. No tile is visible.

Well, not at first, anyway. A find DN 10 will reveal part of an "oddly shaped rock" sticking out of the side of the sinkhole, hidden behind a tangle of roots and spider webs. This is indeed the last Mbetti tile. The PC will have to swing over to the tile in order to grab it.

Here's where the Law of Drama again kicks in. The degree to which it exerts itself is up to the GM's discretion and the amount of time remaining in the game session. (The heroes will need two hours to get through Scene 4, so don't make this scene so difficult that it puts a timely completion of the adventure in jeopardy.) Any or all of the following can happen:

• The webs contain large, venomous spiders (played in the movie by tarantulas). The spiders have no game stats because each is automatically hit and killed on an unarmed combat total of 8. However, collectively, the spiders attack and automatically hit each round. Their venom has an effect value of 10, which is read on the test of wills column of the Interaction Table. The effect of the venom lasts for three rounds. On a hero setback, a hero will lose his grip on the rope and slide out the hole at the bottom of the sinkhole.
• The hero in the sinkhole frees the fourth tile from the soil in which it's embedded. But at some point, he loses his grip on the the tile and it slides down toward the opening at the bottom of the sinkhole, and out the hole. Luckily (?), it has become caught in the branches of a cliffside scrub tree, three meters below the lower opening of the sinkhole.
• Dr. Etienne shows up again to take the tiles. She may threaten the heroes on the surface at gunpoint in order to make them give up the tiles they already possess, or she may attempt to impede the heroes from helping their comrade in the sinkhole. Either way, she eventually tumbles into the sinkhole and slides out the opening at the bottom. She grabs onto a root at the edge of the hole, thereby preventing herself from falling to her death. But maybe she ends up with the fourth tile in the process, and her grip is beginning to slip...
• The jungle sounds suddenly stop. Completely. A distinct sense of foreboding comes over the heroes as something shambles out of the undergrowth toward them. It looks vaguely like a man, but is covered in fine roots and tendrils. This is the Ngebwe, and it immediately attacks.

At the end of this scene, the heroes should somehow have secured the fourth and final Mbetti tile. Cut to Scene 4.

Scene 4: The Armory of Amenemhet

By this point, the heroes should have the four Mbetti tiles. When they put the four tiles together, they can come up with the translation on a hieroglyphics total of 15 (or higher, if they've lost or failed to recover a tile during the adventure). The translation refers to the Place of the Two Moons. This is a point along the eastern river bank which is opposite a cliff face of very smooth granite. At this particular location, when the moon rises, its reflection in the granite cliff face is visible and very clear, so an observer sees two moons (the real one and its reflection). 

With some thought, Yetemba can tell the heroes where the Place of the Two Moons is located. In fact, it's only a few hundred feet north (upriver) of this location! The Place of the Two Moons is at the top of the river bank, about 300 m above the river. Unknown to Yetemba, the armory is right on the surface of the river, 300 m below the characters when they're at the Place of the Two Moons. 

Amenemhet had his armory built into the side of the cliff along the headwaters of the Nile. The armory is very difficult to see from the top of the cliff, which is 300 m above the structure. However, if the heroes search around the Place of the Two Moons, they can find a small path that winds down the face of the cliff and ends at the surface of the river. From here, the north edge of the armory is just visible downstream. It's much easier to see the many crocodiles in the river than it is to see any details of the armory.

Apparently, it didn't occur to Amenemhet that the river might not be as stable as the pyramids. The bed of the river has risen since the armory was constructed. Now, only the top 15 feet of the armory is visible above the surface of the water. The rest has been flooded. 

[If you're reading this on your browser, the easiest way to read the rest of this scene is to click here for a map of the armory, then click on Room 1 of the map. That will bring you back to this text at the paragraph following this one. You can then return to the map by clicking your browser's Back button, and go to the description of a room by clicking on that room of the map, ad infinitum.]

Room 1. There's 10 feet of airspace above the water. Part of an enormous stone head (from the upper lip to the tip of its crown, it’s 5 feet tall) rises above the water. This is part of a colossus of Amenemhet IV.  Crocodiles (2/storm knight) drift through this area. They may make threatening noises, but will generally not attack the heroes unless provoked or a hero sticks a limb into the water. Any guns of Tech <22 which are submerged in the water will jam on a fire combat roll of 1-4 throughout the rest of the adventure. A jammed gun will take science (gunsmith) DN 8 or fire combat DN 16 to unjam.

Room 2. More adult crocodiles (2/hero). In addition, the floor is covered with baby crocodiles, because this is their nesting area. The Big Game Hunter and Edeinos PCs realize that crocodiles will viciously defend their young, should the wee ones so much as peep. Play this up for tension, but the heroes won't actually be attacked before they've had the chance to look over the room.

The walls are covered with murals of a man in pharaonic dress, presumably Amenemhet. His face and crown look identical to those of the stone colossus in Room 1. He stands at the head of an army, next to his general. The pharaoh is passing judgment on a second general, the surrendered leader of a rival army. (The defeated army is in bondage and stands behind their general.)

The room also contains tinder which may have once been furniture, or may just be vegetation that the crocodiles dragged in to build their nests. Along the west wall are three heavy stone doors (STR DN 13 to open and close, coordination DN 5, up to 3 heroes may participate). There are hieroglyphic inscriptions on each of the doors (hieroglyphics DN 8 to translate). They read:

Apparently, Amenemhet or his architects were worried that a thief might gain entry to this building from the balconies. All three rooms are trapped. However, Room 3 is the one that leads to Amenemhet's armory.

Room 3. On the floor of this room, along the walls, is a large amount of small, clay statuary: busts of men and women; housecats; falcons; hippos; jackals; scarabs; and miniatures of buildings. On an evidence analysis of 13, it can be determined that most of the statuary has been blackened slightly, as if by soot. The ceiling is painted like the night sky: gray five-pointed stars (presumably white when they were first painted) on a dark blue background. On a find DN 18, it can be noticed that there is a small hole in the center of each star.

Carved on the opposite door is this inscription (hieroglyphics DN 8): In life, one door must be closed before the next may be opened. Attempting to open the door between Room 3 and Room 6 without first closing the door between Room 2 and Room 3 will cause flammable oil to rain down from the holes in the stars for three rounds. The heroes are probably using flashlights for illumination, so this won't affect them. However, in Amenemhet's day, an intruder would have likely been illiterate and guaranteed to be carrying a torch. If there actually is an ignition source in the room when the oil drops, all characters in the room will take damage 18 each round that the oil falls, plus three more rounds as the oil burns.

Nut is the goddess of the sky, and this trap is her "blessing" with which she thwarts intruders. This trap only has enough fuel to work twice.

If the first door is closed, opening or closing the second door is STR DN 13, the coordination DN is 5, and up to 3 characters may coordinate. If the PCs didn't close the first door, the DN to open the second door is 25, and two successful rolls -- each at that DN -- will be required (plus the oil trap will be sprung).

Room 4. Carved on the opposite door is this inscription (hieroglyphics DN 8): In life as in death, one door must be closed before the next may be opened.

The walls of this room are covered with paintings of harvest scenes. On each of the two side walls, the paintings are "interrupted" by a shelf that runs along the length of the wall. Resting in holes in each shelf are three clay jars like Greek amphorae (large jars that have a conical bottom, so they can't be set down on a flat surface). On the floor beneath the shelves are large, heavy, clay jars. The jars are flat-bottomed, but (evidence analysis DN 12) they have unusually delicate, porcelain lids that are sealed to the jars with wax. A similar skill total will reveal that the holes holding the amphorae are in joints between sections of the shelves.

This room is nothing more than a trap. The opposite door is fake; behind it is a blank wall. Either closing the first door or attempting to open the second door (STR DN 13, up to 3 characters can coordinate, at DN 5) causes the shelves to part and drop their amphorae onto the lids of the jars below. This will break the lids and the amphorae. When the contents of the amphorae mix with the contents of the jars, a poison gas will be created which fills the room. The poison gas lasts for 6 rounds and does damage 20 per round.

There are quite a few ways to defeat this trap. It can be activated only once.

Shu is the god of air, and the poison gas is his "blessing" with which he thwarts intruders. The only reminder to authorized personnel that this door is not the means to return to the armory is the phrase "as in death" in the inscription on the false door.

Room 5. Carved on the opposite door is this inscription (hieroglyphics DN 8): In life as in death, one door must be closed before the next may be opened.

The walls of this room are painted with hunting scenes. Suspended from the ceiling by leather straps is a chariot. The chariot is here purely as a decoration; there is nothing of value in it.

This room is nothing more than a trap. The opposite door is fake; behind it is a blank wall. Either closing the first door or attempting to open the second door (STR DN 13, up to 3 characters can coordinate, at DN 5) causes the floor to open to a pit trap. A character has one chance to grab the edge of the pit to avoid falling in (STR DN 15). The pit is 15 feet deep (value 3). The floor is covered with rough, fist-sized rocks (+1 to damage).

There's nothing in the pit with the PCs. But for suspense, have one of the straps holding the chariot start to creak and eventually snap while the PCs are in the pit. The chariot doesn't fall, however. On a hero setback, the first door (which is made of stone) can tumble into the pit -- have everyone make a dodge DN 10 to avoid it or take damage 18. Then a crocodile or two can wander in and fall into the pit with the heroes.

Getting out of the pit requires climbing DN 18. The trap does not reset itself.

Geb is the god of Earth, and the rocks at the bottom of the pit are his "blessing" with which he thwarts intruders. The only reminder to authorized personnel that this door is not the means to return to the armory is the phrase "as in death" in the inscription on the false door.

Room 6. The walls of this room are covered with paintings of prosperity: bountiful harvests, massive construction projects, people celebrating in the streets. A large, ornate wooden chair (not opulent enough to call a throne) is on a stone dais in the center of the west wall. Behind the chair is a painting of the palace at Memphis.

Two staircases are in the east wall. They ascend slightly to a landing, then from there descend into the darkness below.

Other than this, the room is empty.

Room 7. The only way for the characters to get here is to swim down from Room 1. This is the lower part of the vestibule. When the armory was new, this is where a visitor would have entered the main door. Now, it's flooded to a depth of 45 feet. The spaces between the columns are blocked with sediment and rocky debris. The lower part of Amenemhet's colossus is here. The huge double doors leading to Room 8 are barred from the other side (that is, the side of Room 8).

Room 8. The two stairways from Room 6 join in this room. On the landing where the stairs join is an ornate chair of wood and gilt. This throne is much decayed. Painted on the plaster-covered wall behind the throne (the east wall) is a large, yellow semicircle, like a rising sun.

The rest of the room is down a short flight of stairs from the throne. This part of the room is flooded to a depth of 3 feet. A character in the water performs all DEX-related actions involving movement at -2.

On the far end of the room are two huge, wooden doors, 14 feet tall. The doors are barred from this side with a very thick plank. Despite this, the doors (and the bar) are bowed noticeably into the room. On the other side of the doors is the river. Opening them, or even just removing the bar, is a very bad idea.

A person walking from the throne to the doors will pass between two rows of statues. Each statue is made of wood, elaborately carved, and was at one time richly painted. The statues are of Egyptian deities. All the statues in the northern row are facing southeast, and those in the southern row are facing northwest. Also in the water and on the statues are a daunting number of vipers, although never will more than one per hero attack at a time.

Painted on the north and south walls (the "side" walls, behind the statues, as you're facing the throne from the door) is a scene of what must be the Egyptian concept of Heaven. It's filled with people (lesser Egyptian nobles, by their dress) who are prostrating themselves toward the throne.

Something else is obvious from the direction of the doors: painted on the risers of the steps leading up to the throne is another huge, bright yellow semicircle, this one concave up. Seen together from this direction, the semicircle on the risers and the one behind the throne form a complete circle. This gives the illusion that the throne is floating within an immense sun-disk. In addition, an observer facing east toward the throne is struck with the impression that all of the statues, and all of the people painted on the walls behind the statues, are showing homage toward the person on the throne. The archeologists will be astounded if they're made aware of this discovery, because such optical illusions were thought to have been invented in the Middle Ages.

Clearly this throne was intended for Amenemhet, to provide his subjects with indisputable proof that, as pharaoh, he was the earthly manifestation of the Sun God. There's no record that Amenemhet actually visited here. However, that doesn't diminish the significance of this finding of such artistic sophistication.

Back to the statues: Each holds an item that is not part of the statue itself (that is, it's removable). The statues and items are:

West Wall (double doors)

East Wall (throne)

The east wall behind the throne is made of plaster and crumbling from the moisture. On an evidence analysis of 12, a hero can notice a small hole along the floor that penetrates the wall. This marks the edge of a 3 ft by 3 ft section of wall that's nothing but plaster. (All the rest of the wall is plaster on stone.) The plaster can be easily broken away to reveal a shaft that descends into the darkness below (to Room 9). An iron ladder along one side of the shaft looks very rusted, but is in reality quite sturdy and can be used to climb down the shaft.

Room 9. The floor here is dry. This room is dominated by a huge double door of bronze, flanked on either side by a seated colossus of Amenemhet. Three smaller, female figures are at the feet of each colossus. In relief on the door are stylized palm trees and bulls. The south wall has a relief carving of the pyramids at night (you can tell it's a night scene because the moon goddess is riding in her boat above the pyramids), and in the north wall is a carving of the sphinx, with the sun god looking down upon it from his boat.

Large, clay urns along the walls once held potted palms, but they now hold only soil and a few desiccated remains of vegetable matter. In places on the floor is rubble that has fallen from the ceiling.

Carved above the door is this inscription (hieroglyphics DN 10): Amenemhet greets his sister with a gentle caress before continuing on his journey.

The female figures at Amenemhet's feet are his wife and two daughters. Nothing will happen if any of the colossi or figures are examined or touched in any way.

The double doors are extremely heavy. They're also a bit tricky: The "double doors" are actually a single stone mass with a bronze facade. It opens by lifting into the ceiling. This can be done by brute force (a lifting total of 20, using the Power Push table, which isn't very likely) or by solving the riddle of the hieroglyphic inscription. Someone who carefully examines the carving on the right-hand wall (or who generates a scholar (riddles) DN 15) will notice that the figure in the boat is actually Amenemhet in his incarnation as sun god. It therefore follows that his "sister" is the moon. Caressing the carving of the moon goddess in the left-hand wall will cause the door to rise, revealing Room 10.

If a player plays an Idea card, you can have him think back to the painting of the solar disk in Room 8, and how it was designed to remind all viewers that Amenemhet is a manifestation of the Sun God.

Room 10.  From Room 9, there's a 15-foot drop to he floor of this room. Not that that's easy to tell, since Room 10 is flooded to a depth of 4 feet. Water is dripping steadily from the ceiling above. (Room 8 is above this room and is the source of the water.) The walls are supported by immense stone columns, some of which have cracks in them.

There's a pile of wooden debris directly beneath the doorway between this room and Room 9. It looks as if the rubble might once have been a wooden stairway. In addition, there is a huge amount of debris floating in the water in this room. There are pieces of wood (that upon further scrutiny are obviously spears, bows, and arrows), huge sealed clay jars, wooden boxes, a few chariots, large pieces of cloth (tapestries? tents?), the skeletal legs of a horse. There's so much of this stuff in the water that it's hard not to be reminded of soup.

At the far (west) end of the room is another double door. This one appears to be made of wood. It leads into Room 11, Sekhennet's crypt.

Because of the water, all characters' movement-based DEX skill rolls are at -2 on their bonus numbers. When characters first move across the room, ask them for swimming totals to represent moving through all the debris. Tell the first player who rolled "reasonably low" that his character loses his footing and slips under the water. When he comes back up, a mummy is clutching his throat, its eye sockets empty and mouth agape in a perpetual scream! Suddenly, the characters notice that the water around them is filled with mummies, as in the swimming pool scene in the movie Poltergeist or the Well of Souls in Raiders of the Lost Ark!

The mummies are not animate (yet), and the one entangled on the player character is immediately shattered into many pieces by the hero's struggling. They pose no threat at this point, but their presence makes the entire scene more eerie.

(As soon as the eagle headdress leaves Room 11, the mummies here will animate and attack everyone, including the person wearing the headdress.)

Room 11.  This room is also flooded to a depth of four feet. Floating in the water are the same sorts of things that were found in Room 10 (remains of wooden weapons, clay jars, tapestries, furnishings -- all ruined by the water), plus an ornate stone sarcophagus. Carved on the lid of the sarcophagus (hieroglyphics DN 8): My most trusted general, Sekhennet, awaits, to lead my army against the false pharaoh. They shall reward him with eternal loyalty. On an evidence analysis DN 10, a hero will notice that the face on the sarcophagus resembles the general standing next to the pharaoh in the mural in Room 2, the balcony room.

Opening the sarcophagus will cause the stone block between Room 9 and Room 10 (that is, the door to Room 10) to descend. The process takes two rounds, but it's unlikely that a PC will be close enough to get out during that time. The door weighs 10 tons (value 20), and that's the power push total that would be needed to raise it. Once this door is closed, anyone looking at its lower edge will see a small, rectangular recess with an inscription above it (hieroglyphics DN 8): He who enters here without the wisdom of Thoth and the authority of Ra shall never leave. This recess was not visible when the door was open, since it's in the inner (Room 10) side of the door, and the door was raised when the heroes entered.

Inside the sarcophagus is the mummy of Sekhennet. The mummy wears a headdress in the shape of an eagle. The mummy is not animated. The headdress is an eternity shard:

Sekhennet's headdress
Possibilities: 80
Tapping DN: 15
Restrictions: Possibilities from the headdress are usable only for roll-agains on totals for Spirit or Spirit skills
Powers: If the wearer has no adds in faith, he immediately gains 3 adds in faith (Egyptian religion)

The round after the headdress leaves this room, the mummies in Room 10 rise up. The following round, they attack everyone (including the wearer of the headdress). Don't tell the players this immediately, but the mummies can be called off by the wearer of Sekhennet's headdress if and when the wearer generates a Spirit total of 25. (Here's where the Possibilities in the headdress can come in really handy.) Don't make it too easy for the players to figure this out, because the attack of the mummies gives them the impetus to try to open the door and escape as quickly as possible.

Again, there are two ways to raise the door. The hardest is by brute force, which still requires a lifting total of 20, using the Power Push table. (If the wearer of Sekhennet's headdress generates a high enough Spirit total to command the mummies, he can have the mummies work together to raise the door.) The easier way to raise the door is for the PCs to put the wooden scroll from the statue of Thoth and the crook from the statue of Ra (both from Room 8) into the recess in the stone door. This will cause the door to rise.

In either case, when the door is finally raised, something obviously goes horribly awry. The massive stone slab appears to "slip off its tracks," and jams aslant in the doorway. The force of its arrested descent sends a tremendous shudder through the building that causes the entire structure to start to collapse. Fortunately, the door remains open far enough for characters to get through. Cut to Scene 5, The Escape.

Scene 5: The Escape

The heroes now have to get out of the building before it collapses. The tone of the scene has changed to Dramatic. The escape will be handled with Dramatic Skill Resolution. The required steps are ABCD and they must be completed within 8 rounds; for at the very end of the eighth round, the armory collapses into a huge pile of rubble and anyone who was still inside is lost forever.

If you haven't already done this, start Desert Chase or Raiders March from the Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack.

Even though the characters are all fleeing at the same time, each is separated from the others by a few feet. This distance is enough to ensure that each character is taking a slightly different path out of the building. The exact nature of each step (A, B, C, or D) is therefore different for each character. Because these obstacles are encountered sequentially, a character may not achieve more than one step with a single die roll (that is, consecutive steps may not be performed as a multi-action).

What are the steps? To find out, shuffle the deck of Escape! cards and deal one to each player. That card describes what the character must do to complete her step. If she fails an attempt to complete the step, she keeps the same card until the step is completed. When the character has to perform a new step, deal her player a new Escape! card.

The characters have eight rounds to escape the building before it collapses. The Escape! cards are:

* Note that some of the cards refer to the flight skill. This is just in case the gadget hero has created a device that allows him to fly. If the character with this card doesn't obviously have the capability to fly, then flight is not an option for dealing with this obstacle.

Concluding the Adventure

Any heroes who escape the armory discover that a company of shocktroopers (and Dr. Etienne, if she's still alive) are above them on the path, shooting down at them. In reality, these opponents are there only to give characters who have escaped the Armory something to do while they wait for their companions to emerge from the building, but play it up under the Law of Drama. On the eighth round of the Dramatic Skill Resolution, the Armory -- and the cliff face above it -- collapses, taking the shocktroopers with it. As the heroes watch their enemies tumble into the river and the debris settle, the closing credits for our movie begin to roll across the screen.

If the heroes have escaped with Sekhennet's headdress, they've succeeded at their mission and have gained a weapon against the High Lords. They've also deprived Mobius of an eternity shard from which he could drain Possibilities or create more reality bombs.