Kitsune quietly laughs to herself, and whispers “An obvious trap. A pretty one at that, though.”

"But it's so pretty." Zyn admitted. "How could this be a trap?" she wondered.

Asha: A moss-covered stone disk lies half-buried in the mud underneath the wagon. Concentric rings of inscriptions cover its surface — some written in Common and others etched in jagged cuneiform. You catch a small creature peeking from behind a while, then darts away, hidden, as you notice it.

"It might be a trap. Some little thing just scurried away from behind the wheel, after it noticed that I saw it." She then holds up the wheel. "And I found this. Don't know what it means though. Could one of you decipher it?" She says, extending it towards the rest of the party.

"Sage guy!" Kira points at their Thayan friend. "Can you read this?"

Orvex takes the tablet. "This tablet is a proclamation from an Omuan queen to her rivals in Mezro. The Mezroans couldn’t read the Omuans’ native script, so the tablet contains the same message written both in Common and Old Omuan. It reads, “Queen Napaka proclaims that the free people of Omu fear nothing. Brave new gods protect us, as Ubtao did before but does no longer. Omu will rise again, and Napaka shall reclaim all that is hers by right of conquest.” He looks back to Asha. "Using this tablet, you can translate any message written in Old Omuan. This is quite a find!"

AREA 12 - WONGO'S SHRINE

Carvings of monkeys hanging by their tails decorate two cracked obelisks that stand before a shrine enclosed by broken walls. Past the obelisks is a courtyard filled with horsetails and arum lilies. Five archways open into darkness at the base of the ruin. Mounted above the central arch is a stone plaque bearing a cuneiform inscription. The inscription above the central arch is written in Old Omuan and reads as follows: “Better to be Wongo’s friend than his enemy.”

In the center of the shrine:

A ten-foot-tall stone statue of an evil-looking monkey balances on its tail atop a stone dais in the middle of this twenty-foot-high chamber. The statue’s limbs are splayed, with hands and feet cupped. “Wongo’s friend knows where to pour the water.” is inscribed in old Omuan on the base. On the wall behind, a sculpted relief shows a monkey-like creature tearing into a giant serpent. Cuneiform inscriptions are carved above and below the relief. Four masks of painted stone protrude from the walls; they depict the heads of a lion, a zebra, a boar, and a vulture. The stone masks on the walls have their eyes as open holes, allowing one, possibly, to peer into the adjoining long corridors from either side. The masks are extensions of the walls and can’t be removed.

The wall relief shows the trickster god Wongo (a su-monster) fighting his hated enemy, Moa (a jaculi). Inscriptions in Old Omuan explain how Moa betrayed Wongo to the god Ubtao.

Kitsune will walk up to the lion mask and pear through the eye-holes...

As you peer through the eye holes, you can see a passageway behind the mask, like on the map.

"Huh.  Booooorrrriiiiiiiing."  Kitsune will hop down and amble over to the zebra mask, and peer through its eye-holes.

As you peer through the eye holes, you can see a passageway behind the mask, like on the map.

“Oi.  More booorrrrring.”  Next, Kitsune will make her way to look through the boar mask, and then the vulture mask. Still the same boring passageways?

Yes. You can see that each mask has a passageway behind it.

"Oi Kitsune, maybe look at it from the other side."

"I got it!" Kira makes her way over and around to the passage, then stands on her tiptoes and peeks through the zebra mask.

As you peep down the zebra hallway and get to the mask, you see an inscription above it. The inscription above this mask reads, “My only friend starved to death.” Through this mask, you see a ray of blue light falling onto the right foot of the statue in the main area.

Kira moves on to each of the other three masks to see if they also have inscriptions/rays of light.

Each mask has an inscription. You read them all, then look through each mask in turn. 

Lion Mask: The inscription above this mask reads, “I ate one of the boar’s friends.” When you peer through the mask, you see a ray of blue light falling from the ceiling onto the right hand of the statue.

Boar Mask: The inscription above this mask reads, “The vulture is lucky to be alive.” Through this mask, you see a ray of blue light falling onto the left foot of the statue.

Vulture Mask: The inscription above this mask reads, “One of the others has no friends.” Through this mask, you see a ray of blue light falling onto the left hand of the statue.

Asha will take the jug and pour water on the left hand of the statue.

When you pour the water into the statue’s cupped left hand, a puzzle cube pops into existence by magic on the statue’s head. Asha, in your mind, you hear a snarling, disembodied voice that says, “Take the prize and curse your friend, or fight my children to claim it. What is your choice?”

Well, I'm not gonna curse my friends, so I guess that we'll just have to fight yer kids.