Skeletal hands shot up from the earth in several places, splinters of rotting wood accompanying the few lucky enough to have caskets, cloth and leathery flesh adorning others. Tau watched the display with a critical eye, even now picking through the masses to find who he wanted to keep. The first corpse emerged fully from the ground, crawling in the beginning, walking after a brief struggle. All to approach a new master.. who promptly drew the strange sword from his back and split the thing neatly down the middle. A gasping sigh escaped the creature as its pieces fell to the earth, neatly crumbling into dust.
"Too eager," he mused aloud.
A second monstrosity emerged, approaching Tau with a good-sized hunk of spongy, rotten wood still hanging around its waist from where it had dug itself up from the soil. The blade again dispatched this unearthly denizen, the carved eye in its hilt offering a faint gleam. The Egyptian licked his lips, a low sound of approval deep in his throat as the knowledge the fallen corpse had carried in life became his own.
"Mm.. educated, but too clumsy."
Thus went the selection process, several more raised skeletons discarded due to flaws in both appearance and performance. Finally settling on five, a short, growled command had the ground still once more, fighting corpses having returned to the rest that only comes of death. Dark eyes now moved to the building, the gentleman grinning broadly as he motioned for his six (including the lion) companions to accompany him to the ornate, imposing structure. After all, when exploring unfamiliar territory, bodyguards were most welcome.