Mini Mafia: Sacrifice of the Archaeologist

Deep in the jungle, a foolish archaeologist team set out to find the fabled lost ancient cities of the Hitay. Little was known about this culture, or if it ever existed at all, but what was certain was that the expedition was lost. Tough times fell upon the party when their radio equipment was lost, when their maps of the rivers and best-available charters seemed to be completely wrong, when their compass needles spun around as if by magic, and when they ran out of the best tasting snacks. They could not seem to find their way back to their various potential checkpoint camps, and it did not help that the intern, Billy, misused their flairs and ate much of their emergency rations on his own. Whatever anger the party had towards Billy soon resolved itself, as Billy died of dengue fever. No one really liked Billy.

Things changed when the team stumbled upon exactly what they hoped to find: the Hitay city. The ruins of this city were more impressive than anyone could have ever dreamed, holding up well for the thousands of years it had been abandoned. The party split explored all of the ruins – completely devoid of the living. Strangely, Billy was there. At least, the skeleton of Billy was there. Even more strange was that Billy’s skeleton walked upright, and spoke to the party: “ZERIXTHAL’s REALM IS NOT FOR THE LIVING. LEAVE NOW, LEST YOU WAKE HIS WRATH. THE SEALS MUST NOT BE BROKEN”

The team made two key mistakes right off the bat. First off, they were living beings in Zerixthal’s realm. They couldn’t help that. Secondly, immediately upon entering the city they broke into 4 buildings sealed off by wondrous golden gates, adorned with depictions of high priest and priestesses pushing a deathly beast into what seemed to be a prison. It seemed like a good idea at the time, each team member thought.

The first building seemed to be a Temple, something culturally significant. It had statues, carvings, and murals of what is assumed to be Gods and Men.

The second building seemed to be a Palace, a throne room adorned with jewels and artifacts, and beautiful artwork depicting the death of many thousands and thousands of humans.

The third building seemed to be the Tombs, wherein there were thousands and thousands of arranged bones, some mummified bodies, some apparent burn chambers, and vats and pots with artwork that shows dead bodies being drained of blood right after death.

The fourth building seemed to be what the team called the Astral Room, a wonderful chamber filled with carvings of astral maps and stone wheel calendars much like the Maya.

The team were immediately worried, but all hope was not lost. They found some stone carvings in an ancient language they actually could read – some other civilization must have found these ruins. It explained that the Hitay performed sacrifices daily to feed the God Zerixthal’s hunger, subsisting on the blood of Man and who would otherwise destroy all of humanity if not appeased. But one day the magicmen performed incantations in the Four Holy Rooms, placing powerful magic that blocked Zerixthal from coming into the Human World from the World of the Gods. It explained that if the seal ever were to be broken, the incantations can be redone, but in the meantime a sacrifice must be made on the altar before nightfall to provide blood to Zerixthal. The incantations are intense, and only 1 can be completed at a time in a single day.

Interestingly, there also was a note: said that one who successfully wields the Scepter and the Amulet shall be the "God King", and will actually have control over the portal between the God and Human Worlds. The items were in the possessions of the magicmen, but it is said that only those with the mark of the Curse would be able to use their magic, and only would use it for evil.