"Dominating this chamber is a marvelous shrine, covered in gold. Along the top of each side are lined up multiple figures of cobra heads, each surmounted by the aton - or sun disc. Four golden goddesses stand as if guarding the shrine, one on each side, each with a different ornament upon her head. On the walls are more murals, and at the far end is a double doorway - different from the door plugs encountered up to this point. In the northwest and southeast corners of the room are the only items of treasure to be seen other than the canopic shrine itself: two gilded rods, each having a representation of a feather - the Ma'at - at its base."

The canopic shrine holds four jars that hold the organs of Aye - and which store revitalizing energies. Their purpose is that, if arranged properly around Aye's sarcophagus, they will awaken him, revitalize him ... and open up the sarcophagus while he is being rejuvenated. If anyone thinks to carefully observe the positions of the canopic jars in the shrine before taking them, they might think to put them in the same positions around the sarcophagus. Otherwise, there are clues on the murals.

To get to the canopic jars, any one of the goddess statues must be removed, and then a panel that the statue was "guarding". All four sides may be opened in this way, and all four statues removed. (The statues, incidentally, make great treasure items for greedy PCs.)

If it is observed which goddess is standing in which direction, the murals can provide a clue that each of the goddesses is associated with a different one of the Sons of Horus, and thus providing a link to which side of the sarcophagus each jar (bearing an image of one of the sons of Horus on each) should be placed.

Events may not necessarily progress this way. While Aye is still "regenerating", someone could opt to swipe the sceptre from his bony hands, making an opposed Strength test against whatever Aye's current Strength is (1d6 at turn 1; 6d6 at turn 6).

Another thing PCs can do to throw a monkey wrench into the works is to kick over one of the canopic jars - or all four of them. This will prompt Aye to start howling in anguish, and the rejuvenation process will halt. He'll be stuck at his current statistics (which may already be formidable). If someone should grab the sceptre while he's howling, Aye should be considered distracted, and the Marshal should let the PC yank it away without having to make a Strength test.

Another possibility is that the PCs could just break into the sarcophagus without setting up the canopic jars. In this case, Aye will be awakened, and he won't be very happy ... but he won't be terribly strong, either. The mummies will still be awakened, however, and they will do their best to swat aside intervening members of the Posse, and to find the canopic jars and put them in their proper places so that Aye can be properly refreshed. If the Posse takes out all the mummies, however, then Aye is just stuck in a bind.

There remains another doorway to open, and the Posse might well try tackling it before they bother with Aye. It does not present any easy means of opening, since it is locked. However, anyone who examines the door will discover a hole in the floor right in front of the doorway. Either of the "holy motes" will almost fit into the hole, and a pole or stick might be able to fit there, too. Anyone who makes a TN of 3 or better on tinkerin' or lockpickin' can figure out, upon examining the hole, that this is actually a fairly simple locking mechanism ... no doubt meant for the sceptre to be inserted here, but the sceptre wasn't originally made to be a key. The lock can be easily "picked" with another tinkerin' or lockpickin' roll against a TN of 3. Failure means that the PC can try again - Given enough time, it's easy enough to open, after all.

If the PCs have the sceptre, it can be fit into the hole, then turned to open the lock, without any rolls required.

Sample Required Times:

Sample Awards:

"With a grandeur dwarfing that of the burial chamber of Aye, stands a grand sarcophagus topped with a statue of a reclining jackal. Before the shrine is a balance, with a stylized image of a heart on one side, and a feather - the Ma'at - on the other. There are images of Anubis and Thoth on either side. Before this balance, there is a slightly recessed floor tile that obviously looks like some sort of trap, bearing the image of Ammit - the Devourer."

If anyone inspects the murals, they depict various images of Egyptian mythology, focused on Anubis ... For instance, according to myth, Anubis' mother was Nephthys, wife of Set, but she was enamored with Osiris, and had a son - Anubis - by him. (Set wasn't too pleased about this, and murdered Osiris, cut him into many pieces, and scattered them. Isis traveled the world in the form of a falcon, gathering the parts, then, with the aid of the grown Anubis, reassembled them and brought Osiris back to "life", after a fashion, whereupon the mummified Osiris took over the role of rulership of the underworld.)

Anubis' primary task is to judge pharaohs who wish to enter the afterlife, by weighing their hearts on a balance, with a feather at the other side. If the heart is lighter than the feather, the pharaoh may pass. If the heart is heavier, however, it is tossed to Ammit, the devourer (a giant crocodile), and the pharaoh is doomed. In either case, Thoth, the crane-headed god, dutifully records the results.

The Mask of Anubis is deep within the shrine, which is sturdy enough that only truly destructive means would be able to access it ... and those means would probably bring down the tomb around the Posse's ears anyway. The shrine is opened by solving the "puzzle" of the balance.

The symbols of the feather and heart are on slides, so that they can be moved further in toward the center of the balance, or further out away from it. The heart is on the left side, and the feather on the right. Right now, the heart is all the way to the left, and the feather is in to the center - moved to the left as well.

If someone steps on the floor tile depicting Ammit, the balance will be released from its stable position, and tilt whichever way is heavier. Presently, that would be toward the left, indicating that the heart is heavier. If that happens, the floor tile drops out, and the victim falls into a spiked pit trap, 18 feet deep.

If the heart and feather are moved on the slides to the right, however, the feather will be "heavier", and the floor tile will not drop out. Instead, the shrine will open up, revealing the mask. It is possible for the person on the floor tile to read forward and take the mask, or else someone else can reach over and do it. As soon as the person steps off the floor tile, the shrine will close again - though it is not that difficult to jam open if the Posse should desire to do that.

If the heart and feather should balance (i.e., feather is moved right, heart is moved left), then nothing will happen.

This trap is fairly easy to thwart. For one thing, weight sufficient to simulate that of a person could be put on the tile to depress it, rather than actually stepping there. Furthermore, someone could just reach forward and tip the balance in the desired direction.

For the convention game, I used a wholly different purpose for the scale, and you may find it interesting to use it this way, too - though it's more on the mystical side of things, and requires a bit more work on the Posse's part. (If the Posse manages to slay Aye, if you use this route, then perhaps his body should waste away, leaving only the still-beating heart, thus giving the Posse the tool they need.)

The Posse had succeeded in pulling Aye's heart out of his ribcage, at which point his body disintegrated, and they stuck the still-beating heart in a jar ... lamely trying to justify that this was some sort of amazing case of rigor mortis, and not the supernatural at work. They then stuck the heart on one side of the scale, and a feather on the other, expecting to enact Anubis' judgement ... though the archaeologist in the group, casting aside any rational explanation for this anymore, rightly determined that Aye was a nasty fellow, and might need a helping hand, so he physically forced the scale to tip in the desired direction.

Since the heart proved to be "lighter", the shrine opened up, revealing the mask. If it had been "heavier", then the pit would open up, and the heart would be supernaturally hurled into the pit, where by some sort of mystical means, it would be presumed that Aye would at last get his due, with his heart being devoured by Ammit.