Chapter 1: Shunet El Zebib

Jana knows that the myrmeleons are the larvae of great, diaphanous-winged insects, but those aren't known to be dangerous. Of course, other creatures roam these lands, and here in the deep desert, there are those that no one has ever seen - or lived to tell the tale.

It's a small oasis. A cluster of date palms, heavy with fruit. The water from the well is clean and cool.The ruins of Shunet El Zebib are a stone's throw away. A squat, nondescript structure surrounded by the crumbling remnants of a shoulder-height perimeter wall. It's remarkably unimpressive. How could this possibly hold treasures or forgotten lore from the time of the ancients?

What do you do?

Refreshed, you all trudge over to the ruins. Strangely, there's a breeze that seems confined to this immediate area (you do not see wind-blown dust anywhere farther out). And there's a droning, buzzing sound that gets louder as you draw near to the heavily-pockmarked perimeter wall. It's exactly the sound Jana heard back at camp. 

Casting your gazes skyward, you see nothing flying about -- but you do see some movement inside those strange holes in the mudbrick wall.

What do you do?

Though you keep your distance as you skirt the perimeter, the wall seems to shift and the buzzing intensifies menacingly as you step through one of the gaps to enter what would have been the courtyard of old. The churning wind, fanned by innumerable wings, smells sickly sweet, like wild honey.

Dozens of giant wasps, as large as Jana, emerge from what was once the wall, now their hive. They approach, close enough for you to see your reflections in their multifaceted eyes. Obviously, they see you as a possible threat to the colony. But they do not yet attack.

The open entrance to the ruin is just a few dozen paces away.

What do you do?

Soro has never heard of such humongous wasps. Of the ordinary variety he knows that some produce nourishing honey just like bees. He also knows that they only attack if you provoke them.

Akh, you feel in your bones that with the proper Ritual you can repel or possibly even control these giant insects. But it will require certain reagents you don't have on hand. Not to mention, a thimble-full of fresh wasp brains.

The wasps lose interest in you as you back away from their home and towards the entryway to the ruin itself. Inside is a dark hallway

Are you doing anything before entering?