The Architect's Pyramid

Author's note: This story is best read/played in game mode (press 'Start Game' under the Score tab). In the story game, you will have a limited 'time' to complete the challenges/puzzles/riddles in each room in order to escape; picking too many wrong choices may make you lose! See Score on the left-hand panel for a real-time update of how you're going, as well as your current inventory.

You are Marcus Fairburn, an archaeologist with the British Archaeological Society, out on your first expedition after your graduation. You've made your way to Egypt and sailed down the Nile River until you reached your destination — an oasis thought to be an important royal pilgrimage site in Lower Egypt. Despite this, no one has managed to find anything more spectacular than broken pottery. You know, however, that you will find something that will put your name in the history books.

After three months of hard work, you've finally managed to uncover what you've been looking for — a pyramid for an unknown Pharaoh or one of his inner circle. Rather than looking like the straight-sided pyramids at Giza, this pyramid is older and is made up of a number of steps. You've managed to uncover five steps, but you're sure that there is more to be found.

Luckily, you've also managed to find a door into the pyramid. While it was probably hidden with a facade before the pyramid was buried by sand, it's now clear to see. On the door are etched some Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Taking out your trusty notebook, you slowly translate the message. As you do, your excitement grows. The glyphs read:

The Pyramid of Imhotep, Vizier and Architect to Pharaoh Djoser.
If you enter without the proper rites, you will be cursed.

You smile widely and begin to laugh. You've discovered the lost tomb of the legendary Imhotep, one of the greatest Ancient Egyptian architects. You press your hand to the door and it immediately slides open with a rumble. A cold wind rushes out of the dark hole. For a moment, you hesitate at the threshold, but you remind yourself that curses are superstitions and aren't real. Anyway, Imhotep has been dead for over 4500 years, so any curse he laid is probably long gone.

By this time, night has fallen. You know you shouldn't go inside while it's dark, but you just want to see the entrance. You light a torch and step inside. The flame flickers in the breeze flowing from the inside of the pyramid. You take a couple of steps and then find that the floor beneath you has vanished. You grasp at the air, but you're already falling.

You land on solid rock so hard that it winds you. Sitting up, you feel your body, but you're not hurt. However, your torch has been extinguished and you're in the dark. Before you can move, light begins to shine, illuminating your surroundings. You look around, but can't see the source of the light; it seems to be coming from the four stone walls that surround you. Looking up, you can't see anything; the hole you must have fallen into is shrouded with darkness. It seems that there is no way out there.

You stand and look at the wall in front of you. Like the door, the wall is also marked with hieroglyphs, but as you watch, the signs twist until they form Latin letters and English words. This message is no less ominous than the one on the door, that you wish you didn't ignore.

Foolish mortal! You have been cursed by Imhotep.
Your time will start when you walk through the door.
But Imhotep is kind and gives you a chance to free yourself. If you can escape from this pyramid before the time runs out, you will be freed. If you do not, you will suffer a thousands torment.
Find the architect's sign in the rooms that follow and you will begin your journey.

Below the message is a carved flower with five petals, the architect's sign, you presume. You look around, but there's no other carved flowers and no door in any wall. Remembering the entrance to the pyramid, you press your hand against the flower and the wall melts to reveal a doorway. You can't see anything through it but for an ominous deep red glow. However, since you don't have any other option, you step through it.