Day One
The Lost City of the Ancients, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
13th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Early morning. Hot, clear, dry
In the dead city, surrounded by dead lands, the survivors of the dead caravan fill their pockets with the possessions of dead men.
Biblo the scribe recovers a foul tome of witchcraft from the red, wet corpse of the Stygian sorcerer. The Zamoran knows Stygia is an ancient dreaming empire of necromancy and other unnatural horrors.
He glimpses within and finds blasphemous arcane equations, recorded in blood.
The red dawn yellows as the starving, desperate heroes make their way through the eerie silence of the ageless necropolis toward the shade of the Great Pyramid. The tattooed druid drags the body of Thogg the barbarian behind him, should they be left with no other choice to survive. Thogg is large and heavy, but Arthfael is a Cimmerian and no stranger to hard work.
The triangular stone monolith is mirage-like; elusive, unreachable.
Approaching it, they repeatedly misjudge its proximity due to its impossible scale, until they finally reach its base at last (at 6). Only then can they begin to comprehend its awe inspiring magnitude. Greater than the royal palaces of Aquilonia, the vast libraries of Nemedia, and the holy temples of Vendhya, it is undoubtedly the largest man-made object on earth. A miraculous wonder of the Pre-Cataclysmic Age.
Astonishingly, its immense surface is comprised entirely of five foot tall stone blocks.
Millions and millions of them.
The unimaginable, breathtaking creation is over 400 feet tall, the height of a 40 story castle if such a prospect was even possible. And that is only what rises above the shifting sands of eternity. No entrance is visible. Perhaps it is buried deep below the desert floor.
Here, on its gigantic western face, there will be shade for hours. But once the midday sun is in the sky, there will be no escape.
Wait! Ambiguous, vague figures can be barely seen high atop the man-made mountain! A trick of the eye, no doubt; illusory phantoms conjured from exhausted, malnourished minds.
Actions?
Lost City Map: The PCs are at 6.
The top of the map is South. The dotted line is your path coming from the NW. Movement rate on sand is halved.
Status:
- Arthfael Griogarach: Cimmerian Northman Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/12, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl and 2/3 2nd lvl
Biblo Phyle: Zamoran Southman Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User 1/1/1: AC 1, HP 7/7, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl
Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 1: AC 3, HP 11/11, Laying Hands: 0/1
Goniza Devin: Nemedian Atlantean Cleric/Magic-User 1/1: AC 2, HP 2/6, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl
Gronda: Zembabweian Savage Ranger/Thief 1/2: AC 7, HP 11/17
Loche: Pict Savage Thief 3: AC 5, HP 16/18
Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 2: AC: 7, HP: 6/6, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
Roan, Son of Rune: Vanir Northman Barbarian 1: AC 4, HP 6/12
- Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin.