Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

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Inferno
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Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#1 Post by Inferno »

Last edited by Inferno on Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:14 pm, edited 27 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#2 Post by Inferno »

Secrets of the Lost City:
One prominent, towering idol had fallen against the ruinous devastation of infinity. Its two severed feet remained intact upon a pedestal whose exposed top Biblo could decipher. It read:

'My name is Xuthalhotep, pharaoh of pharaohs!
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'

Holding a candle near the carved walls, learned Biblo scrutinizes the proto-Stygian hieroglyphs of the ancients. In time, he can decipher a small fraction of the dead language of the carven cuneiforms, and of the epic pageant of history depicted. Biblo reads that this city was built by what appears to be Men. It was the heart of a mighty, inland empire, far older and greater than the lost Empire of Acheron. This enigmatic realm once encompassed what is now Stygia, the Great Eastern Desert, Shem, Darfar, Kush and beyond. Its glory and grandeur reigned supreme for thousands of years in an Age when the bricks of Atlantis were yet unbaked, and this desert was a lush paradise.

The builders of this eternal city, the ancient ancestors of Stygia, seemingly share with that mysterious dreaming kingdom an unwholesome alliance with death, tombs and temples for the dead. Their extinct culture was steeped in complex, arcane rituals, magick and necromancy.

Enough carvings and hieroglyphs to fill the grand library of Nemedia remain unread.
Last edited by Inferno on Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#3 Post by Inferno »

Mysteries of the Ruined Temple:
Within the temple are carved hieroglyphics that have been violently defaced, perhaps thousands of years ago...
The destruction wrought upon this engraved saga is focused primarily on these four great gods.

Another epic carving depicts Sutekh and Osorus bestowing adoration and blessings upon the mighty pharaoh of pharaohs, Xuthalhotep. This sacred veneration culminates in Xuthalhotep's preparation to join the gods in the afterlife and become one with them. Paintings depict his majesty preserved and prepared for the supernatural journey far beyond the veil of this mortal world.

More undamaged carvings within the defiled temple indicate that Xuthalhotep's eternal tomb is secreted somewhere deep within the Great Pyramid that was constructed by thousands of his slaves over decades of their brutal lives. Entombed with him is everything he will need to dwell in glory forever in the Land of the Dead: slaves, wives, pets, weapons, jewelry, furniture, clothing, wine...
and food.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#4 Post by Inferno »

Legends of the Great Pyramid:
Learned Biblo studies the ancient proto-Stygian hieroglyphs of this, the uppermost territory of the pyramid. Translating for the benefit of his less learned companions, the Zamoran scholar discovers the lost city once resided within the long dead civilization of Verulia! Biblo knows something of Ancient Verulia. The avid antiquarian can't help but share his passion for history:

Robert E. Howard-ish wrote:Of that epoch known by the Nemedian Chronicles as the Pre-Cataclysmic Age, little is known except the latter part, and that is veiled in the mists of legend.

Known history begins with the waning of the civilization of the main, or Thurian continent... a civilization dominated by the kingdoms of Ramelia, Valusia, Verulia, Grondar, Thule, Atlantis, Lemuria, Pictland and Commoria.
The Pre-Cataclysmic Age.jpg
The Pre-Cataclysmic Age.jpg (280.71 KiB) Viewed 7427 times
10,000 years ago, these people spoke a similar language, suggesting a common origin. Of their wars and conquests there are more legends than accurate history.

Then, 6,000 years ago, the cataclysm rocked the world. Atlantis and Lemuria sank, the Pictish islands were heaved up to form the mountain peaks of a new continent, while sections of the Thurian continent vanished under the waves or sinking, forming great inland lakes and seas. Volcanoes broke forth and terrific earthquakes shook down the shining cities of the empires. Whole nations were blotted out and the face of the world was forever changed.

Image


Biblo reports that the ageless carvings make no mention of the cataclysm. They confirm what the shattered Temple of the Pyramid chronicled: Xuthalhotep, pharaoh of pharaohs and chosen of the gods, is entombed for eternity within this Great Pyramid. Preserved with him, for his life everlasting in the world beyond this one, is everything he will need to dwell in glory forever in the Land of the Dead... including vast treasures beyond imagining.
Last edited by Inferno on Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#5 Post by Inferno »

Prophecies of the Oracle:
Inferno wrote: ...a mirage of two all seeing eyes appear in the luminous waters of a holy font, and the sacred oracle of Osorus pronounces in speech like indelible flames:

"SPEAK PETITIONER AND HAVE THY SAY,
THAT I MAY ANSWER YEA OR NAY."


Image


The omniscient intelligence illuminates the lost explorers of the Great Pyramid with transcendent prophecies of vision and divination.


Image


Garrin the Atlantean-blooded paladin speaks first: "Other than human flesh, is there food within this pyramid capable of sustaining human life?"

"AYE."

Roan, son of Rune, barbarian of northern Vanaheim asks: "Is the water in this font poisonous?"

"NAY."

Gronda the Zembabwean savage asks: "Are there other entrances or exits to this massive structure other than the hatch in the roof that we just entered?"
Before she can ask her second question, the prophecy is given:

"AYE."

Attila the Hyrkanean barbarian nomad asks: "Do any sentient people live in this pyramid..."
Before he can ask a second question, the oracle speaks:

"AYE."

Loche the Pict thief picks up Roan's spare torch and asks from a distance: "Are oor friends trying tae find us?"

"AYE."

"THINE ANSWERS HATH BEEN SHOWN,
NOW YE ARE OSORUS' OWN."


Suddenly, a small, white, strangely shaped blemish appears on the back of the right hand of every living soul in the hidden shrine. The explorers have seen this symbol before, among the hieroglyphs of the ancients:

Image

Inferno wrote: "SPEAK PETITIONER AND HAVE THY SAY,
THAT I MAY ANSWER YEA OR NAY."


Image

Biblo the Zamoran scholar sage asks: "Has this voice spoken before?"
Before he can ask his second question, the oracle speaks:

"AYE."

Kiri Khutan, spellsword of the far East, asks: "Are you a force of evil?"

"NAY."

Mako the conjurer of distant Khitai asks: ""Is there an entrance/exit to this pyramid structure other than the entrance/exit we entered in?"

"AYE."

Arthfael of Cimmeria holds his tongue.

The oracle says:
"THINE ANSWERS HATH BEEN SHOWN,
NOW YE ARE OSORUS' OWN."
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#6 Post by Inferno »

Ancient Lore Of Khemsa and of Zargoth the Destroyer:
Inferno wrote:Loche suddenly stops at the sight of a trio of golden-mailed swordsmen equally stunned to see the adventurers.

"Strangers... in Khemsa!?!" they gasp. "...Who... who art ye?"

The Vanir barbarian replies, "I am Roan, Son of Rune. These are my companions. You're welcome for saving yer asses from these ape-men. What's with them?"

The hawk warrior with the bloody sword slowly replies in an archaic dialect, "They... art the creatures of Zargoth. From the undercity. I know not how they came to prowl these chambers."

Roan says, "Khemsa you say? What realm is that? Never heard of it."

The hawk warrior answers distantly, "Khemsa is the greatest city of the realm of Verulia."

The adventurers remember that name. Biblo the Zamoran scholar had mentioned the Pre-Cataclysmic kingdom of Verulia while translating the hieroglyphics from the ancient stones. Verulia was said to have been destroyed 6,000 years ago, when Atlantis was swallowed by waves...


"I am Horuk, a son of Osorus." Biblo had said Osorus was the Falcon-headed Pharaoh of the Gods, ruler of the sun, the moon and the stars, of war, water, and life everlasting. The secret shrine of the oracle was sacred to Osorus.
Inferno wrote: "Zargoth is a demon who fancies himself a god. 'Tis he did shatter the kingdom of Khemsa long ago, curse his name. Those beasts thou did slay art among his wicked servants, hunting for human sacrifices... for Zargoth the Undying."
Inferno wrote:Roan says, “We have fought monstrous creatures, shedding our blood, all in a struggle to survive.”

“And bravely, I am told. For that, we thank thee," Ghorom says with sincerity and humility.
“All manner of monstrous creature prowl the corridors of the Pyramid beyond our barricade. 'Tis is the presence of foul Zargoth that seems to spawn them and to violate nature itself, creating fantastic, gigantic, unnatural forms of life. And fell, unwholesome ones as well. But here, behind the barricade, remains a sanctuary of safety, and of sanity.”

Kiri asks, “Have the good gods here forsaken you? Do they not protect you? This Osorus seems like a friendly one."

Ghorom does not return Kiri’s well-meaning smile. “Perhaps Osorus doth test us. And finds Khemsa wanting. In truth, other gods art worshiped in Khemsa now. None more so than Zargoth. Thou hast born witness to some of his subjects. Not the savage beasts, but the others, mad and lost.”

...Ghorom continues, “They worship Zargoth. And hath for generations."

"Whit? Worship a monster? How can thes be?" grunts Loche between spoonfuls.

Ghorum replies in sorrow, “Millennia ago, Khemsa wast the capital of the rich and fertile kingdom of Verulia. Upon the death of our greatest pharaoh, Xuthalhotep, this pyramid wast raised in his honor. The centuries-long fall of Khemsa doth began that day. Workers, delving deep to excavate the site of the future pyramid, unleashed a strange elder demon called Zargoth, the gigantic, horned, tentacled cyclopean horror from the darkest depths of Hell.

Image

“Zargoth kill'd most of the workers, then began hunting prey at night through the streets of Khemsa. The city guard wast unable to kill the monster. At last, the rulers began sending criminals from the jails for Zargoth to feed on. With tribute of incalculable riches. In time, a strange cult arose that worshiped the monster as a god. The cult did view the offerings of wealth and of victims as religious sacrifices. 'Tis said Zargoth now doth sit atop a horde of all the riches of Khemsa.

"The worship of the ancient gods of Verulia - Osorus, Sehkmet, Uthoth, Sutekh - wast forsaken in favor of worship of the monster Zargoth. Until finally, most of Khemsa worshiped it.

"Unable to come to grips with the horror of their new life, the worshipers of Zargoth withdrew, began to look for strange pleasures. They sought oblivion in rare wines and strange drugs. Workers no longer repaired irrigation ditches. Rich land turned to desert. The army lost its discipline. Barbarian raiders stormed over the walls and destroyed the city. The only survivors were those who hadst fled underground to the vast catacombs and caverns under the city. There they built a new city, led by the evil Priests of Zargoth."


Ghorum describes it.

Image

“Today, much of the time, the people lie in sleep. Their dream-life is as important, and as real to them, as their waking life. Their drugs doth induce dreams both gorgeous and fantastic. In these dreams, they doth spend most of their time. Their lives art vague, erratic, and without plan. They doth dream, wake, drink, love, eat and dream again.

"They know nothing else. For untold generations, Zargoth hath preyed on them. He hath reduced their number from thousands to hundreds. A few more generations and they shall be extinct, we shall be extinct, and then Zargoth must either fare forth into the World Beyond for new prey, or retire to the underworld whence he came so long ago.

“Alas, poor Khemsa. The untold promise of a civilization, squandered.”


Horuk still eyes the small white blemishes on the strangers hands, and looks up to Kiri. He says softly, “Perhaps we art not forsaken by the gods. Perhaps it is Osorus that hath sent thee to us?”
Inferno wrote: "Zargoth the Destroyer is no god," replies Horuk hotly.

Ghorom says, "Forsooth, he did trigger the fall of our kingdom, but t'wast not entirely of his own hand.

"In terms of what can be done... far below us, ancient weapons and artifacts of the golden age of Verulia and Atlantis art sealed, preserved for the ages in the burial chambers of Xuthalhotep. They couldst aid us in our noble cause.

"But between us and those artifacts lie other factions... other cults of the old gods of Khemsa. They art not in thrall to Zargoth, but ancient feuds between our people and theirs prevent us from descending past them.

"But... they would have no enmity against thee."
Inferno wrote: Gronda lists the many otherworldly creatures encountered within the Great Pyramid.

"Yes," replies Dendara. "Zargoth's very presence seems to warp beast and Verulian alike..."

"I would welcome the destruction of accursed Zargoth, I will not lie. But it is too much to hope for... At least, for now..."

"Do you realize the possibility exists that he cannot die? Have you not slept since entering this doom haunted pyramid? Have you not sensed his mind within your very dreams? Have a care, Gronda, trying to understand a thing spawned from the abyss itself."
Last edited by Inferno on Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:26 am, edited 3 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#7 Post by Inferno »

Word of Other Cults of Fallen Khemsa:
Inferno wrote: Ghorom replies, "The other cults of the old gods hast withdrawn into their own strongholds, as hast we.

"The Warrior Maidens of Sekhmet ('SEK-met') worship the ancient goddess of war, fertility, healing, women and the sun.

Image

"They art a female sect and doth harbor great mistrust for all men," Ghorom says as he glances without accusation at Gronda the fierce savage.

"The Grand Magi of Uthoth ('OOH-thoth') worship the ancient god of scholars, magic, language, knowledge, science, commerce and thieves.

Image

"They art arrogant, selfish, undisciplined, honourless, and lost in pointless, abstract pursuits.

"The Cult of Sutekh ('SOOH-tek') worship the ancient god of desert, storms, disorder, suffering and violence.

Image

"They art evil."


The explorers remember these ancient gods from the towering, stone colossi that crown the Great Pyramid.
Last edited by Inferno on Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#8 Post by Inferno »

Myths of the Fabled Treasure of Xuthalhotep
Inferno wrote: Ghorom continues, "The Treasure of Xuthalhotep ('zoo-THAL-ho-tep'), the fabled weapons, relics and artifacts entombed with the Pharaoh of Pharaohs, is legendary.

"Forged when the world wast young, they art born of the age of Ancient Khemsa at the height of her glory, in an unrivaled era of magic and myth.
"The sacred lore cites the Eye of Verulia, a magic emerald of properties unknown and perhaps unknowable. Xuthalhotep wast also said to be interred with his magical spear, sword, arrows, shield, dagger, armour, helm, ruling staff, ancient tomes and scrolls of magicks.
"With them, didst mighty Xuthalhotep smite his enemies, and rule an empire."
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#9 Post by Inferno »

Tales of the Realms of The Great Pyramid
Inferno wrote:Ghorom says, “We doth rarely venture beyond the barricade, defending our own realm foremost. And our knowledge of the lower tiers is further suspect, as the infrequent messenger we doth receive cannot tell where drug-fueled delirium leaves off and true memory begins. But we doth believe:

"Below us art the other, misguided, sects of the old gods.
"Beneath them art the catacombs wherein lie the tombs of Xuthalhotep and his court. For thousands of years these bodies hath rested encased, undisturbed.
"Below that, doth begin the hinterlands of the realm of Zargoth; his vile priests, mad dreaming worshipers, and pale, subhuman beast-creatures: Verulians degenerated over the millennia in a black perversion of evolution until they no longer doth resemble us.
"Beneath that is Zargoth’s domain: the undercity and the heinous, profane life spawned by his foul presence, from the pits of blasphemous creation.
"And, throughout all abandoned regions of the great pyramid lurk nameless entities that hath risen up from the black abysses below.”
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#10 Post by Inferno »

Of Doomed Khemsa
Inferno wrote:Semira answers Gronda. Her sad words unknowingly echo those of Ghorom of Osorus: "Khemsa is the city in whose ruins we stand. This wasteland was once the glorious capital of mighty Verulia, the glimmering jewel of civilization's highest achievements. All gone. Our culture is destroyed... by a demon who fancies himself a god. We shall soon be extinct. We and all our accomplishments shall vanish from history. We are as walking ghosts... a people consigned to oblivion.

"That... is why I say we are doomed."
Inferno wrote: "We know everything about the people of the dreaming city," answers Usemhotep with sardonic serenity, "...those many survivors in Verulia's rotting husk. Our civilization is lost forever. But we, the doomed undying, go on. In the forgotten remains of our culture, we remain, forgotten. The gods have shown no mercy upon us. Nor pity. Of course, they are right to do so; we are truly deserving of neither. Have another drink!"
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

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Inferno
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Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#11 Post by Inferno »

Riddles of the Grand Magi
Inferno wrote: "We know everything about the people of the dreaming city," answers Usemhotep with sardonic serenity, "...those many survivors in Verulia's rotting husk. Our civilization is lost forever. But we, the doomed undying, go on. In the forgotten remains of our culture, we remain, forgotten. The gods have shown no mercy upon us. Nor pity. Of course, they are right to do so; we are truly deserving of neither. Have another drink!"

Arthfael inspects the repast with skepticism. "Is magic food and wine any good?"

A wandering mask replies, "Peerless! The vintage was two millennia ago."
Inferno wrote: Kiri asks, "Do you have any more info where we could find the mystical stuff? The guy in the hawk mask said it was down below somewhere, but he was vague about the location... "

"Yes. He would be. You speak of those tedious dullards of Osorus," Usemhotep sighs with supreme contempt and weariness. "The Great Pyramid holds many secret corridors, almost all lost to antiquity. But we illuminated bearers of occult knowledge still remember some covert pathways to the sarcophagi below:

"You must walk the floors of Hell, the serpentine path of the righteous,"
he quotes lazily around his wine glass. "Anyway, I believe that's how it goes."
Last edited by Inferno on Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#12 Post by Inferno »

Unnatural Changes to the Natural Order
Inferno wrote: Arthfael the barbaric druid can't help but notice yet another altered natural animal; another gigantic insect or arachnid spawned within the otherworldly ecology of the Great Pyramid.

They had encountered an immense scorpion.




Huge scarab beetles.





A gargantuan tarantula with her hideous young.





And now this scuttling horror.



Last edited by Inferno on Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#13 Post by Inferno »

A Fragment of a Map
Inferno wrote: Arthfael of Cimmeria recovers the tattered remains of a papyrus scroll from the ruptured sarcophagus and unfurls it. Eaten away by insects, all that remains is a portion of a schematic of some sort. The druid does not recognize its exact corridors and chambers.



Perhaps this entombed ancient of lost Verulia was an architect.
Last edited by Inferno on Sat Apr 11, 2020 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#14 Post by Inferno »

The Hidden Hieroglyph
Inferno wrote: Amethu the sorcerer-priest notes the repeating pattern engraved into the ageless stones here...



...the slaves of mighty Xuthalhotep, in rows without number.
Inferno wrote: Kiri Khutan kneels in imitation of the carved slaves that adorn the walls, seeking secret knowledge.



The mountainous easterner finds a hidden hieroglyph not visible at eye level. His Verulian companions can translate it as the symbol for "balance" or "equilibrium."
Last edited by Inferno on Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#15 Post by Inferno »

Secret Passage to the Underground City
DM wrote:
In the face of danger and death, the raiders of the Great Pyramid crypts continue their search for the sarcophagus of Xuthalhotep and the fabled treasures entombed therein; potent weapons, foretold in ancient myth, that they would wield in an audacious war against a demon god's tyrannical reign over the shattered remains of the once-great civilization he eradicated.

...they open the trapdoor, revealing a rough hewn cavern hiding just below the floor, with a rope ladder descending down into the ageless darkness.




Verulian Amethu, Xorzen and Zahra believe this could be the winding subterranean tunnel down to the underground city where dwells the horrific Zargoth the Destroyer and all those poor souls doomed to suffer beneath his merciless yoke forever.




None of them, nor their kin, had ever dared venture there, for fear of madness and death.
Last edited by Inferno on Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#16 Post by Inferno »

Rantings from a Denizen of Pandemonium
Pulpatoon wrote:Tjoruy: "Oh ye doorkeepers, behold the darkness and the forgotten city! A tomb paved in shadow and hallucination, ruled over by He who is death to the Eye that gazest upon Him, death to the Soul, to the Body, and the Name. His servants feast like locusts in its streets, carrying the choicest prey unto the very Island of Death. Come to the city, ye who wish to live in horror, in forgetfulness, in darkness, and in death."
Pulpatoon wrote:Tjoruy: "A vessel might dwell for long years in the sunless city, given to dreams, wreathed in dreams, trailing dreams and wakefulness. A vessel might endure by drinking of the black lake, and eating of the mushroom forest. But attend ye unto those distant figures—they can be but lost and dreaming Verulians, or the wicked priests of Zargoth who would prey upon them. Leper-skinned apes attendeth the priests of the Name-Eater, and any they doth seize upon shall be transported across the starless sea, unto the Island of Death, and thus pass from memory."
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#17 Post by Inferno »

Quest for Lost Atlantis

Inferno wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 2:52 pm Amethu, Cruloc, Kiri and Zahra are bidden to meet with the triumvirate of once-feuding sects that now lead the newly reborn civilization of Verulia. They humbly request that they go forth into the world, a world strange and mysterious to Amethu and Zahra, on an undertaking of crucial importance.

The wicked priests of Zargoth had destroyed all records of the Old Kingdom. To recover their lost history, the four heroes are asked to seek the ancient ruins of a mainland colony of Atlantis: Thracia, which lies near the Western Ocean.



In vaults deep beneath the city of Thracia was once the greatest library on Earth. Verulia's lost past would be found there. Maps of the old kingdom might locate sister cities and more Verulian survivors. Recovery of the royal lineage of Pharaohs would ensure that the rightful heir sits upon the golden throne of the Great Pyramid once more.

Atlantis was destroyed six millennia ago, swallowed by the ocean in a global cataclysm.



A contemporary of Ancient Verulia, it was of the ancient world; an epoch of strange magic, creatures and wonders the likes of which are not to be found in the world today.

In preparation, the Grand Magi of Uthoth teach Amethu the dead language, Atlantean. (please add to sheet)

On the vernal equinox, with Xorzen staying behind to help his people, the heroes say their farewells and set out to cross the Great Eastern Desert, laden with maps, treasure, and sustenance enough to survive the wastes. By charts and by stars, scholarly Amethu can navigate to the last known location of Thracia of lost Atlantis.

Inferno wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 5:30 pm
Through adventures across the Hyborian continent, the band now shares a close bond they've not yet bothered to sunder. The three newcomers have heard their friends' wild tales of lost Atlantis and only half believe them. But half a promise of such riches has so far proven enough.

Midsummer draws near. Having slowly emptied their fat purses in the great cities of the world, their search for lost Atlantis has brought them to the very end of civilization.

Image


At the western border of Aquilonia, in a newly settled province forged of land recently wrested from the savage, indigenous Picts and tenuously held by an Aquilonian fort that was still some miles before them, the adventurers follow a fresh cut trail through forests thick, quiet and primeval.


Image

The shadows deepen and lengthen in this untamed wilderness past the Westernmarck and across the Thunder River. They hope to make the Black River fort tonight, and strike out west from there into the wilds of Pictland for the fabled ruins of an Atlantean colony called Thracia.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#18 Post by Inferno »

Rumors of Empire Past:
Inferno wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:24 pm


"Found on a savage. But no Pict made this," counsels a fat merchant.

Inferno wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 1:38 pm
"Atlantis?" says Andronicus. "You speak of the old world, my troubled son. Before the cataclysm. That lost age of Atlantis and Verulia. And Valusia which once stood where we stand now. Valusia, rotted through with decadence. Infested by insidious, unholy serpentine men who ruled the Earth long before Man."

Image

"Atlantis fell beneath the weight of its own sin and hubris. You would be wise not seek out such a realm, damned and accursed by the gods."

Inferno wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 1:38 pm
Over a battered tin mug, the grim Tauran scout quietly answers the questions of Amethu, Kiri and Zahra: "We had a guide once, a Pict turncoat. The savage worked with us when we first took Conajohara. His people killed him in the end. But before they got him, he told tales of a City of the Dead. A place where the ghosts of the Picts' defeated enemies live. To go there would result in the loss of a man's soul. Crazy talk like that. But he believed it. Even knew where it was... west-northwest of here, he said. We've never gone deep enough to find it, if it even exists."

That direction aligns with Amethu's arcane calculations of charts and stars; of the last known location of Thracia, the lost inland colony of Atlantis.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#19 Post by Inferno »

A Tragedy for the Ages:
Inferno wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:47 pm
Learned Amethu carefully studies the ravaged murals that speak of an older world than recorded history knows.

Image

The scholarly sorcerer-priest of Uthoth traces aloud a tragedy for the ages.

One fragment portrays a legendary war between Atlantis and Valusia, the prehuman civilization of serpent men out of Earth's distant past. Triumphant Atlantis built the colony of Thracia upon the ashes of the serpent man capital. A memory stirs within Grigor of the words of Andronicus of Aquilonia.

Another remnant depicts the gods cursing the hubris of the Thracians. Plagues of bestial monsters befall the city-state but are defeated and enslaved.

A passage reveals the fabled Library at Thracia lies in vaults beneath the temple, in whose ruin they now stand!

The final expanse is of a different style; cruder, more brutal. It shows the destruction of proud Atlantis, swallowed by the seas and the wrath of jealous gods. Inland, Thracia survived though tremors brought low her mighty towers. Atlantis no more, the spirit of Thracia was broken and they descended into nihilism, death worship and chaos.

Image

DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
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Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)

#20 Post by Inferno »

Speaking With The Dead:

Inferno wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 12:10 am
Image

He speaks in a foreign tongue, a dead language that was old before the Hyborian Age began.

Amethu knows it be Ancient Atlantean!

Inferno wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:50 pm
The spearman out of lost antiquity (T1) snarls with black joy, "We have no memory. Thracia is a graveyard and we are her Dead. There is nothing for you in the Underworld except Death! Come forward that we may impart Its blessings upon you!"

Inferno wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 3:00 am
"Blood and souls for my lord Thanatos!" roars a fanatical warrior in a long-dead tongue! Wise Amethu has heard of the Atlantean god of death. In ancient times, he had no temples and his name was spoken only to pray that he never came.

It is as the murals foretold. After the fall of Atlantis, Thracia had descended into death worship and madness.

Inferno wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:30 pm
The bound and gagged worshipper of Death meets the gaze of Amethu and Zahra with an eerie dead calm.

Image

Inferno wrote: Fri Oct 29, 2021 10:17 pm
"My name is Death and I hail from Hell," the captive answers Amethu's interrogation in a lost language of an ancient age.

Inferno wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 11:59 pm
"All that awaits you beyond these bridges is Death."

Inferno wrote: Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:59 pm
The Thracian's cold voice emanates from the dark, "My brothers are the dead, and they are without number."

Inferno wrote: Thu Nov 11, 2021 3:19 am
"I am telling you, but you have not the wisdom to listen. Thanatos will avenge me, and here in His Underworld, you shall suffer torments beyond imagining."

Inferno wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 3:03 pm
Image

In a voice darker than their surroundings, he says in the language of lost Atlantis: "A curse is now upon you. None can escape the vengeance of the God of Death. Remember me in your agony. "
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

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