SESSION 2 - DEATH OF A PHARAOH
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In mourning for Isis, found dead the previous night, Weret removed her shrine to the White Witch and constructed a new, more prominent one in the central area of her temple.  Meanwhile, Harmakhis went south to Memphis to meet with Osiris, and Shu flew to Isis's temple at Philae to do some investigation.  He found a number of things there, few of which were made public.

Harmakhis swore fealty to Osiris without much of a fuss, apparently - though Harmakhis is the only one who could attest to that.  Shortly after Harmakhis left Osiris's presence and headed towards his former temple at Hawara, hawks (Osiris's totem animals) were seen leaving Memphis.  Unut, Amun, and Weret were Trumped by Ptah soon after, and given a sobering task: investigating the site of Osiris's murder.  Apparently Wadjet had found the dismembered body in the harem, along with the mutilated bodies of dozens of Osiris's mistresses and guards.  Ptah was brought in to take charge, since Horus was not responding to Trumps.  In turn, Ptah brought in the younger generation to do some investigation - making his choice based on a combination of useful skills and lack of suspicion, for none of the three had anything obvious to gain from regicide.

As their investigations proceeded, several things became clear.  First, the assassin fought with an odd style - either with double-bladed knives or perhaps having four arms, each carrying a bladed weapon.  Second, he or she was very thorough about cutting out the hearts of the deceased - in fact, both Osiris's head and heart were missing.  However, one dead harem girl was found with her heart intact, and the corpse was sent to Anubis for questioning.  Third, a single long green hair was found on the scene, which cast some amount of suspicion on Tawaret (though other green-haired folk of Atlantean descent are not unknown in Amber).  Finally, it was clear that Osiris was attacked by surprise, perhaps even while enjoying the pleasures of a harem girl, or perhaps even of the assassin herself.

Meanwhile, Khonsu investigated the mountain he saw in the Land of the Dead.  Finding some items of interest there, he returned to Memphis and poured over scrolls in Thoth's library for many hours, then spoke with Wadjet and others at the capital once news of the Pharaoh's death began to spread.

Unut did some secret stuff after the investigation was concluded, then joined Harmakhis and helped with the temple work.

Harmakhis met up with Tawaret at Hawara, and along with their servants, they worked to restore Harmakhis's temple, which had partially collapsed into the encroaching swamps.  There they heard the news of the Pharaoh's death and the ongoing investigation.  Tawaret was uncomfortable with the attention of being a suspect, and left the area, telling Harmakhis she wanted to lie low for a while.

Keket was trying to contact Horus throughout this time, fearing that Isis's murder might be followed by her father's.  When Horus did not respond to Trumps, Keket went towards Fort Geb.  En route she was Trumped by a soldier there who said that Horus had left early that morning, and that Assyria's army was making some vaguely troubling moves, though aimed largely at lands within their own Shadow, not at Amber.  Keket went through and then Trumped Sobek, who came through to mind the fort while Keket set off on Horus's trail.  She soon determined that he had headed towards Memphis and Trumped through to someone there.

Unut and Harmakhis were clearing the temple site when they found a shallow grave.  Inside they found a lion, chopped into three pieces and hastily buried only a few hours before.  While they were pondering this, Horus crashed through the underbrush and demanded an explanation from Harmakhis.  Horus said that Osiris divined death coming up the Nile for him when Harmakhis was going to swear fealty, and Harmakhis seemed the most likely culprit for the murder, especially given his reputation for being a superb warrior and the mysterious death of Isis.  Unut and Harmakhis were able to talk him down, and suggested a Trump call with Anubis to get information about the dead harem girl he was questioning.  Horus wouldn't enter Harmakhis's temple without a shrine, so Harmakhis started building one.  Meanwhile, Keket showed up and was able to calm her father down.

As the shrine was completed, Harmakhis received a Trump call from Anubis, asking for the whereabouts of Tawaret.  The dead girl said she had seen Tawaret enter the harem with Osiris, and then a dark-skinned four-armed woman had emerged and began slaughtering everyone.  Unut, Harmakhis, and Keket set out in pursuit of Tawaret, while Horus was Trumped back to Memphis by Ptah.  Weret saw Horus's arrival and chose to make herself scarce, Trumping to Sobek and thence to Amun, who was headed up the Nile.  Ptah, Wadjet, and Horus discussed when Horus should take the throne.

Shu, having found the location of Anubis's old temple in Isis's study, set off to take a look at the site, deep in the Western Desert.  During an aerial survey of the surrounding land, he discovered an ancient quarry, with no apparent destination for the stone.  The temple was mostly intact, and so Shu used a Trump of Anubis there to contact the temple's former master.  Anubis was irritable, and told Shu not to mess with things beyond his ability, but reluctantly admitted that there was a tomb of some kind that was related to Sokar, which Anubis dearly hoped was sealed and empty.  Anubis then Trumped Amun (who was with Weret) and had them come through to him and then sent them to Shu to act as backup.  The three found an ancient entrance under a cliff in the stone, hidden from overhead views.  The entrance was sealed with a large slab of stone, matching that in the quarry Shu had found earlier.  When they approached the door, the sky grew dark and they felt a sense of dread.  Weret did some Sorcery (a Destruction of Appetite for whatever was behind the door) and then the three hightailed it the hell out of there, Trumping back to Anubis from his old Temple.

Weret took the opportunity to enter the Land of the Dead.  There she found Khonsu's and Osiris's temples to be in order, and then went to Set's temple.  Inside she found a young boy, perhaps six years old, who was weeping.  He had a ragged hole in his chest where his heart should have been.  He was reluctant to speak at first, but Weret eventually got him to open up a bit.  He vaguely said that he was older than he appeared (over ten years old), that Set was his father, and that Smenkharet was his sister.  He knew Isis but it was unclear how.  His name was Aten.  Getting little more from the boy, Weret returned to her Temple and crossed over, finding only a few minutes had passed.

Shu trumped Bast from Anubis's temple, and learned that Bast had seen Tawaret headed towards the Shadowpath to Assyria.  Tawaret's appearance was somehow wrong, and though Bast was being very stealthy, Tawaret was able to spot her and gave chase.  Shu called Harmakhis, Keket, and Unut, and passed along this information.  Keket was able to pick up Tawaret's trail in the vicinity, and Unut entered Bast's Temple on the way to Trump through to Sobek.  Bast at first didn't give permission but soon relented.  Harmakhis and Keket continued pursuit while Sobek increased the guard shifts at Fort Geb.  When Keket felt they were getting close, she pulled Unut back through and the three advanced on a bonfire they spotted.  Tawaret wasn't in the area, but Keket found a very fresh trail which led away from the fire, to a steaming pile of skin - Tawaret's, apparently worn as some kind of disguise by the assassin.

Soon after, Keket spotted a dark figure some distance ahead, and fired at it with her bow.  The figure knocked the arrow aside with a sword and rushed Keket.  Harmakhis, in sphinx form now, batted a large rock at the charging four-armed assailant, and though it didn't connect, it did force the figure into a roll, breaking her charge.  Unut, Harmakhis, and Keket engaged the dark-skinned four-armed woman simultaneously, but her skill surpassed their own and she was able to hold them off, spinning light, curved swords about her.  She quickly disarmed Unut, who then fell back, and the woman drove Harmakhis and Keket towards the fire.  Keket was able to press back, but rapidly took a number of small cuts for her efforts. Unut threw a large rock at the dark woman's back, which distracted her enough to allow Harmakhis to get in a solid forepaw smash, knocking his opponent to the ground.  He then pounced, crushing her two right arms, but took several deep slashes to his flank in return, causing him to roll away.  Keket went in for the kill, but her blow was diverted to one of the two remaining arms.  The assassin was left with only one sword arm to use against Harmakhis, who returned to the attack despite his dire wounds.  The blade gashed the side of his face, but his pounce broke her arm and knocked her unconscious.  Keket brought Harmakhis to the fire and cauterized his wounds, while Unut set off for Fort Geb to Trump them back.  All finally arrived in the wee hours of the morning, roughly 24 hours after Isis died.  They made sure their unconscious prisoner would not bleed to death and locked her in a cell, with Unut watching her.

In a bag the woman carried they found the head of Osiris.