The Sunken Pyramid

A vast, ancient pyramid buried beneath the desert, raised three hundred years ago for King Ramkheret of the Eternal Sands and turned into a prison-trial by the hag-consort who outlived him. With her defeat in the king's chamber, the pyramid itself softened — walls bleeding into sand, halls slumping in on themselves — and returned to the desert that had buried it. Only the cavern and its newly-rushing waterfall remain.

The Cavern (still present): The oasis pool is no pool at all — it drops away into a deep vertical shaft, a well plunging into blackness beneath the desert. The shaft is patrolled by Dirtha's eels and emerges into open air through a thundering waterfall that feeds a vast underground lake. Stalagmites and stalactites of brown desert stone frame the chamber, and an ambient glow softens the darkness enough to see without other light. The waterfall, briefly stopped by Dirtha during the party's first descent, runs again — now permanently.

Dirtha's Shack (gone): On the far bank past a dune of sand once sat a small shack adorned with animal bones, with a bubbling cauldron out front producing a smell like durian, dirty socks, and burning refuse. The shack does not sit on stone — it sat on the apex of the pyramid. Both are gone now.

The Chambers (collapsed): The pyramid's interior was a warren of trial-chambers, each sealed and tested. The trials were built around the hiding of Dirtha's true name, broken into three pieces and dispersed through their puzzles:

• The Scarab Corridor: A narrow sandstone passage lined with torches that ignited as the party passed. Black scarabs clung to the ceiling and walls, their shadows moving against the flame. The air smelled sweet, like an old auntie's house.

• The Circle of Weights: A chamber dominated by a great stone disc inscribed with the words "Weigh what was given. Weigh what was taken. Weigh what was promised. Weigh what was broken." Six alcoves held offerings: a golden feather, a clay heart, a vial of dark liquid, a bronze coin, a linen scroll, and a broken obsidian mirror. The party solved it with the lessons of the rooms beyond.

• The Hourglass Room: A chamber containing a plinth with three relics: a feather quill with its tip snapped intentionally, a bowl of obsidian glass filled with impossibly smooth white sand that drained when a mirror-polished sword blade was fitted to a groove on the plinth, and runes that named the words for things. The chamber's breeze carried the voices of the desert — old voices, remembering.

• The Tomb of Records: A resting place for two undead guardians — a priest holding the marriage contract of Ramkheret and She Who Speaks to Empty Places, and a soldier with an empty gift box bearing a riddle.

• The Hall of Sphinxes: Twin golden sphinxes named Sekahnu (amber-eyed) and Vetherek (blue-eyed) guarded the descent. One always lied; one always told the truth. Vetherek was the liar.

• The Royal Sarcophagus (upper): An open tomb containing the journal of King Ramkheret, inscribed in Fey script and written partly in his own hand and partly in the hand of his immortal consort. The tomb itself had been stripped of any mortal remains.

• The Cat's Chamber: A long low chamber with six clay cat statues in eternal poses and Anu, the king's priest-companion in his cursed cat-form, at its center. The clay cats animated as guardians; Anu joined the party.

• The Embalming Chamber: Site of a sarcophagus that had been intended for Anu — never used, but containing the Scales of Ma'at meant to be buried with him. A trap of four wrapped figures, each bearing one of the words Readiness, Worthiness, Honesty, Willingness, guarded the puzzle.

• The Coffer of Equivalent Exchange: Two stone offering platforms flanking a great chest carved with the words "What is freely given weighs less than what is taken. Prove it." The party offered up the Wand of Secrets, two blink acorns, the Oil of Slipperiness, a Scroll of Misty Step, Thalen's melee weapons, a piece of the Coralia reef, and Aldric's greataxe — receiving in exchange the Bracelet of the Cobra, the Bow of the Horizon, and the Ring of Mind Shielding.

• The Obelisk Room: A perfectly circular chamber with a granite obelisk and a compass rose set into the floor. Resolved as part of the trial that yielded the first two syllables of the hag's name.

• The Hall of Four Sleepers: Four mummy-alcoves and a central sarcophagus. The sarcophagus held Karumon the Bound, the king's brother and Grand Vizier, who broke open the doors of the king's chamber for the party.

• The King's Chamber: Two anubis-headed statues flanking a dais on which sat a massive clay king-golem facing away from the entrance. Within its clay heart was sealed the hag's voice and the final syllable of her true name. Thalen's Oathbow shattered it.

The Sisters' Visit: After Dirtha's death and the king's release, two figures Helena recognized from a portrait in Dirtha's shack — Granny IceTooth and Mother Malice — stepped through a wall, walked to Dirtha's body, swallowed it whole, and vanished. They did not regard the party. They have not been seen since.

Now: The pyramid is gone. Only the cavern, the waterfall, and the lake remain. Whatever the Empty Throne was, Dirtha served it from her shack on the apex; with both gone, the route to it — if any — is buried.