Another Underworld

We'd all been suspecting it and it turned out to be true. I seem to recall asking someone if we were going to be expected to go to Duat, and I was assured that wasn't the case. Yeah, bullshit.

I'm getting ahead of myself again. We'd made camp near the lake and did some planning as we waited for sunset so we could "enter the tomb" at the appropriate time. As the sun set I split the water of the lake so we didn't have to swim (and I got some surreal mental imagery having to do with opening a wound). The red sunset on the water must have reminded me of Hel's pool of blood in Helheim.

My "parting of the red sea" trick revealed a sunken funeral barge. That's when it all clicked. Everyone boarded the vessel (I overheard some sprites or something shouting at Claire in ancient Egyptian when she tried to command the helm) and our tag-alongs revealed why they were there. Basically, to enter the underworld the Egyptian burial rites had to be performed and our new friends sacrificed for the purpose of guiding us through Duat and, so long as everything went perfectly, they could be let out again.

Kennedy did a great job of commending their sacrifice, which pretty much covered anything I wanted to say. It felt kind of hollow to essentially say "What she said" but there was no way I was going to do better.

We took our places and Hal led the ritual. I think it would have been more appropriate for Andrew to lead, but Hal had the right connection to Death and had his perfect memory to make sure he got everything right. And so, we dropped into Duat.

We entered the great river in the Egyptian underworld. Before us was Ra's solar barge with its godly guardians. I moved to a spot on the deck of our barge so I could defend in any needed direction, though, I suspect the creatures in the river would be more interested in attacking Ra's barge. Though we still had to coax Lexi away from the rails.

You know, that's two trips to the underworld in very recent memory, but at least we're alive. Part of me doubts we'll have the same kind of time dilation down here as, if memory serves, this is the trip the solar barge takes every night, so I figure, if the barge ever overtakes us, that's a good sign for how many "real" days have passed.