Beneath the Sandsea

Apophis and Duat

After the losses in Skye, Zhoom comes to Termina Temple for help against the escaped Shadows poisoning the Tomb of the Blue Lotus, source of the Sandsea's healing river. Tara persuades Gravelyn that its waters might also help her wound. In the tomb, you encounter Ginx with a hooded Drakath, who is still recovering from the Mana Crisis and seeking both healing and an old reckoning with Sek-Duat.

You help Zhoom and Ginx clear the way to the inner chamber, where a Chantress is corrupting the spring. After the fight, Sek-Duat emerges from the water, having sought healing himself while the serpents pursue the memories he carries. The spreading power is Umbral Chaos from the condemned Shadows, not Drakath's work. Elsewhere, Apophis prepares to reclaim the throne beneath Duat.

You return to Duat with Sek-Duat captive and find the Lightguard and Shadowscythe close to fighting one another. Astero offers support on terms that imply Zhoom's legitimacy depends on the Light. As Sphinxes appear inside the palace, Crulon evacuates the people sheltering there. Drakath uses the throne's response to his royal blood to expose a stair beneath it: the attack is coming from the buried city below.

Zhoom’s ties to Sek-Duat still weigh on the Sandsea when Djeba returns to oversee the duel for the newborn river.

The descent brings back the forgotten name Neith as Dryden challenges you with Clarent, still answering his parents' demands until Ouroboros swallows them to silence their complaints. In the inner chambers, Neith recalls turning to Chaos when the gods ignored her struggle against invasion. Apophis recognizes the Pharaoh who had once found him as a small asp and become his Champion, and their reunion unleashes another surge of Umbral power.

Tara saves part of your group from the collapse but remains trapped with Gravelyn. The Mysterious Stranger emerges from your shadow, having escaped the fortress it claimed to have built, and offers help. As you advance through Hidden Duat, shed scales preserve memories of Neith's bond with Apophis and their defeat by Sek-Duat and the Light. When Astero again offers Zhoom effortless victory and legitimacy, the Pharaoh refuses to exchange his people's future for that dependence.

Neith intends to destroy Sek-Duat's line and the Sandsea that had replaced her. To protect his country without accepting Astero's bargain, Zhoom allows Drakath to draw power from the captive lich and temporarily empower him with Chaos. With your support, he fires the decisive arrow, but Neith sacrifices herself to let Apophis and Dryden escape. Blue lotuses gather around Zhoom afterward, a sign you and Astero recognize as the Sandsea choosing its ruler. Drakath asks that Neith's remaining spirit be allowed to rest.

During the retreat, Astero attacks Ouroboros with the jaws of a far greater form, admitting that Zhoom might have made a suitable vessel had despair broken him. Apophis recognizes the being behind the emissary as Asteroth, the Titan of Light.

The Ninth Queen’s Curse

Crulon calls you to the inner chambers of the royal palace. He thought Zhoom had gone there to think and couldn’t enter without permission. By the time he realized something was wrong, Zhoom could no longer eat or drink and could barely bleed. His body is drying out as if it were being mummified alive. Crulon fears the curse could kill him or turn him into a lich like Sek-Duat. He has potions and incense ready for an exorcism once you weaken the ghost.

Zhoom recognizes the ghost as Queen Meresankh, who ruled alongside the man who called himself Sek-Duat IX. The supposed ninth pharaoh was Sek-Duat I posing as his own descendant. Zhoom suspects Meresankh discovered the fraud and was killed to keep it hidden. He understands why she’s angry and asks you to help put her to rest. Sek-Duat married a succession of women to make people believe he had heirs. Some went along with him for the privileges, while others were deceived. Zhoom still doesn’t know if there were fourteen queens or fifteen, and Crulon fears more of their spirits might follow Meresankh’s example.

Crulon’s engraved wards lead you to Meresankh in the inner chambers, where you weaken her so he can perform the exorcism. He’s read that Meresankh was a fair and kind ruler who died suddenly of illness, though he and Zhoom suspect Sek-Duat poisoned her. Other spirits still haunt the palace, but Zhoom is eager to go back to sleeping under the library tables.

In private, Zhoom tells you that the blue lotuses in the palace fountains turned violet when Meresankh cursed him. They reminded him of Neith, and he wonders if lingering Chaos reaches out to people who suffered in similar ways. The old scrolls that might explain it are gone, so he asks you to send any experts you know.

When Duat Palace reopens, Zhoom asks Layla Surehunter to restore the memorial hall his predecessor tried to erase.

Sources

The Ninth Queen’s Curse release notes, Zhoom’s account at Meresankh Chambers, Crulon’s exorcism quests