Chapter 2: Pyramid of the Dead

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

"I'll come with you," the barbarian says, following after the Pict thief.

[Mant72]

Garrin Locke:

Repulsed by the cannibalistic acts, Garrin seeks a place of solitude where he can find solace and refuge in prayer.

After his meditations have helped him to regain his composure, he rises and sets to ascending the pyramid in search of the mysterious figures.

Along the way, the nobleman again questions how he came to be here with the other caravan refugees. He knows that his Lord shall shepherd him and lead him to safety. Climbing the colossal stones, he silently recites the litany, "His hand is my sword, His word is my shield, His hand is my sword, His word is my shield..."

[OGRE MAGE]

Gronda decides to stash a portion of the purified meat for later instead of partaking in front of the others. She wraps a hunk in thick cloth and packs it away.

When the others start their climb, she follows right behind.

This will be a huge waste of our dwindling energy if there is nothing up there but more illusions.

[Zhym]

Arthfael stands and silently watches the others climb. If something is atop the pyramid, they will find it. If not, there is no point in climbing up and back down in the late afternoon heat.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako is utterly repulsed by by others as they loot and consume the dead. He leaves with the others to ascend the pyramid. If he is to die be it on the pyramid. For maybe the living will be to weak to climb to retrieve and consume his corpse.

[Mant72]

Garrin Locke:

Continuing to recite his litany, Garrin begins his arduous climb.

After only scaling a few of the gargantuan stones, he stops to remove his helm and wipes the sweat from his brow.

"The armor must go...," he thinks to himself regretfully. He unfastens his bracers and greeves and looks at them longingly, as they must be left behind. He pushes the pieces of armor against the base of the block on which he stands and makes a mental note as to their whereabouts with hopes that he might reclaim them at some point.

The pious knight then stands, kneads the small of his back, and momentarily relishes in the new feeling of lightness in his arms and legs. He looks out over the scalding desert, returns his helmet to his head, and continues onward with his climb.

[Inferno]

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
Late Afternoon. Scorching, arid, cloudless



In the Lost City of a long dead civilization, as the fierce sun slowly falls, cannibalism drives the starving survivors apart.

Within the shade of the shattered temple, voracious Biblo casts a magic spell that grants him mystic sight to read the sorcerous tome of Amenhotu of Stygia:

Magic Missile, Read Magic, Find Familiar, Sleep, Charm Person, Hold Portal, Push, and Erase.

How many spells? [1d5+6] = 2+6 = 8
Which spells? [1d30] = 22, [1d30] = 10, [1d30] = 25, [1d30] = 25
Which spells? Part 2: [1d30] = 12, [1d30] = 12, [1d30] = 12, [1d30] = 3
Which spells? Part 3: [1d30] = 21, [1d30] = 8,

With time running out, and few acceptable choices remaining, most of the survivors attempt the Sisyphean task of scaling the mountainous Great Pyramid after three days without food. Perhaps madness has already taken them.




As they approach the steep slope, the brutal heat quickly takes its toll.





The sun's glare half blinds them. The hot stone blocks burn their hands. Yet they scale higher.





Mouths caked with dry dust, fingers cracked and bleeding, they labor on with grim determination.





Loose sand, left by the sandstorm, ever-threatens to slide beneath their feet and send them screaming down to be broken on the rocks below. The starved climbers wonder what the Lost City must have looked like in the grip of the horrific, all-engulfing dust devil that had destroyed their lives:




That surreal image mixes with waves of dizziness and nausea that rise in their heat-fevered brains, but they set their teeth and drive upward.

Weak with hunger, limbs throbbing, they must stop. Overheated and out of breath, they rest at the one-third mark of their grueling ordeal. From their towering vantage, they stare out over the the aching desolation of the dead city and the naked desert beyond. They blink and curse at elusive mirages on the distant horizon of this infernal wasteland that mock and madden them until they vanish from sight.

Wiping sweat from their treacherous eyes, they try to forget their bitter reveries, empty bellies and past failings. Then they steel themselves to continue their agonizing crucible of blind faith... and resume climbing.


Actions for the next 1-2 hours?


Please read:

Biblo the Scholar calculates that the climb to the summit of the Great Pyramid of the Lost City is 612 feet long.



Here's what I need from any pyramid climber:

• • 1) If you have a Climb Wall skill (the thieves and barbarians), please roll against it.
    • If you succeed, you need not make any other rolls. Please go to step 3.
      If you fail your roll, or do not have a Climb Wall skill, then go to step 2.
    
    
    2) Please roll a 1d20 save vs. Con, and a 1d20 save vs. Dex. You want low.
    • (If any of you were carrying a great, bulky weight, I would have requested a third save, vs. Str, but none of you are)
    
    
    3) You may elect to go slower to wait for others. Please tell me if you: (a) go as fast as you can, or (b) keep pace with the slowest of your number, or (c) something else.
    
    Fyi, Barring a Save roll of '20', all climbers with a 9" move rate should summit after approximately 1 to 2 hours of climbing.*
    The sun will set 2 hours from when you began the climb. Then we'll make saves vs. Starvation.
    
    Thanks. That's it.

*What follows below are rules details, offered as an fyi. You can safely stop reading here if you want.

• • Failing your Dex save means you go slower to be more careful. Failing your Con save also reduces your speed because you must rest more often to catch your wind.
    
    If you fail your Dex and Con saves, then you climb at 1/16 your normal ground speed.
    If you make one save, then you climb at 1/12 speed.
    If you make both saves, or your Climbing skill roll, then you climb at 1/8 speed.
    
    No climbing is possible in "bulky" armor (as defined on DMG p. 27).
    
    If you roll a 20 in your Dex save, you fall and take damage.
    If you roll a 20 in your Con save, you are winded from the exertion and must rest even more. Double your climbing time, or push forward and take damage.
    
    Thanks.

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: 2/4 1st lvl
  Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 1: AC 3, HP 11/11, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Gronda: Zembabweian Savage Ranger/Thief 1/2: AC 7, HP 12/17
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 3: AC 5, HP 17/18
  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 8/12

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin.

Resources:

• An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)
  Men of the Hyborian Age (races of men)
  The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
  Hieroglyphs (the story so far, in images)

[Mant72]

Garrin will elect to keep pace with the slowest party member. Which will probably be him.

Dexderity Check (9): [1d20] = 13

Constitution Check (15): [1d20] = 17

Dammit!

[OGRE MAGE]

Climb Walls (91) [1d100] = 60

Gronda will climb at her own pace, ignoring the slower members below her.

She has a plan for when she gets a little closer to the top.

[Grognardsw]

Biblo Phyle, reader

Arthfael stands and silently watches the others climb. If something is atop the pyramid, they will find it. If not, there is no point in climbing up and back down in the late afternoon heat.

"If there is an entrance, I'm sure they can find it," I comment to the Cimmerian and others who stay in the shade at the bottom.

These damn Stygians with their fancy, thick spell books. It must weigh ten pounds, but has few dweomers I don't already know. Still, it will fetch a good price on the market, assuming I survive to reach civilization again.

I turn to the dead Goniza's spell book and peruse what occultic secrets the Atlantean possessed.

I assume Goniza had a spell book in the pack Biblo examined earlier? The Know spell list in the Die Roller has some that wet Biblo's appetite.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako moves at his own pace, not waiting for slower members.

[1d20] = 4 save vs. Con 8
[1d20] = 15 save vs. Dex 17

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

Climb Pyramid (85%): [1d100] = 81
Save vs. Con (13): [1d20] = 16
Savs. vs. Dex (16): [1d20] = 5

Exhausted and almost praying for death, Roan continues upward, trying to focus his eyes and mind on Gronda's ass as she climbs the rocks like a squirrel. A squirrel with a nice round ass.

[Zhym]

Arthfael stands and watches the climbers slowly ascend the pyramid. For an hour he does nothing else. Eventually, it becomes hard to see them as they grow more distant and the light beings to fade.

The party has split, in more ways than one. One the ground and in the shade are the scholar and the druid, the man who knows knowledge and the man who knows the spirits of all the things of the Oerth. The cannibals. On the pyramid climb the hasty. The rash. Those who may think they have chosen between painful death and doing the unthinkable, but have yet to truly face that decision. Not yet.

He shakes his bald head in bewilderment. Sweat beads on the patterns inked into his skin, only to evaporate quickly in the dry desert air. "I do not understand them," he says to Biblio. His words come slowly, as if each one requires great thought. "They climb in the heat of the desert afternoon, bellies empty for three days. They act like they can ignore Father Sun and Mother Oerth, who do not forgive, who will kill those who do not respect them, as sure as steel but less kind. They waste food, saying words of gods who give them rules instead of something to eat. How have they lived this long?"

Another half an hour passes. "Why does everyone climb when one scout would have been enough?" he wonders aloud. "And how will we know if they find a way in ? We should have set up a signal. But would they have given it? Or would they leave us who are man-eaters behind?"

[dmw71]

Loche, the first member of the group to begin the climb, senses most those behind him continuing to climb at their own rates, allowing those that climb more slowly to lag behind. The intense heat begins to take its toll on the Pict and, while the task itself is no challenge for him, he does become winded on occasion and is forced to take short, periodic breaks.

He presses on, with full determination, until he reaches the summit.

Climb Walls (01-87): [1d100] = 54
Constitution check (01-15): [1d20] = 18
Dexterity check (01-16): [1d20] = 6

[Grognardsw]

Biblo, magifex

Ah yes, that figures. Hmmm. I read Goniza's book to reveal Atlantean secrets but the Cimmerian keeps talking. I thought they were a less loquacious people.

"Yes yes wisdom like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or the mind, or some such," I reply distractedly to Arthfael. "A signal? It is only 600' feet far. They could yell. I think whoever we saw up there knows we are here. In which case..."

I turn the page.

[Mant72]

Garrin Locke:

Completely exhausted, Garrin is forced to rest frequently during his climb.

He watches silently as the others scale the monument, unwilling to wait for each other. It is not the first time that he wonders about the morality and lack of compassion of the current company he keeps.

His thoughts return to a proverb of Mitra, "The true mettle of a man is revealed in times of turmoil."

He continues his ascent.

[Inferno]

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
Late Afternoon. Scorching, arid, cloudless



Biblo relaxes in the shade with a good book. The Zamoran scholar's collection keeps growing as more men perish around him. He idly pages through the thick tome of the late Goniza of Nemedia, learning arcane occult secrets of lost Atlantis.

Goniza's spellbook has Charm Person, Dancing Lights, Identify, Read Magic, Shield, Spider Climb and Unseen Servant. It weighs 10 lbs.

Also, please save vs. Intelligence on 1d20.

Nearby, Arthfael of Cimmeria looks up at the massive monolith wondering aloud if the group's schism is irreparable.



High above them, on the western slope of the unforgiving stone mountain, the rest of the survivors slowly climb, exhausted and unnerved. Garrin of Argos falls behind. He stops to rest again, and turns to look down. It's a bad idea.

The ascent is a harrowing trial of strength and sanity. A gauntlet of tribulation and hardship. They fear the pyramid will break them. And it does. They've no choice but to push through the torment and emerge from the other side, reborn in a baptism of agony.

As the terminus of their journey enters their blurry vision, they see titanic, animal-headed guardians crowning the Great Pyramid of Xuthalhotep. These are the figures they had glimpsed at dawn. Unmoved and unmoving, they are soon revealed to be sculptures of the long dead gods of the lost city, exultant in glory without end.

The sun nigh to setting, humble Mako and mighty Roan summit first and collapse in exhaustion, gulping the dry, scorching air. Their immediate reward is a view that is astonishing, celestial, otherworldly. They are reminded of the primitive practice of vision quests; transcendence through grueling privation.

From here they can behold the entire dead city and beyond that, waterless wastes to the horizon in every direction.



The Great Pyramid has no capstone. Its zenith is a square, 30’ x 30’ flat surface of stone. Facing out in the four cardinal directions are gigantic stone colossi of the pagan gods from the broken temple far below. These mighty divinities stand as everlasting masters of all they survey: ruinous wasteland.

• Osorus the hawk stands guard over true North.
  Sekhmet the lioness watches East and the dawn.
  Uthoth the ibis surveys the West and day’s end.
  Sutehk the jackal scans South.

A virgin dune, left over from the monstrous sandstorm, covers most of the flat roof between the four cyclopean sentinels of eternity.

As Mako and Roan catch their breath, Gronda and Loche summit the mountain, Gronda from the northern face. They both slump to the stone floor in fatigue.

Suddenly, Gronda croaks hoarsely.

She warns them what she sees, emerging from the northeast side of the sand dune, "...a human arm."




Actions? 66 minutes til sunset.


Showing all work:

If you fail your Dex and Con saves, then you climb at 1/16 your normal ground speed.
If you make one save, then you climb at 1/12 speed.
If you make both saves, or your Climbing skill roll, then you climb at 1/8 speed.

Garrin failed both rolls. He climbs at 1/16 his new half-armored speed of 12". It will take him 82 minutes to summit.
Gronda made her Climb Walls roll and climbs at 1/8 her speed of 9". It takes her 54 minutes to summit.
Loche made his Climb Walls roll and climbs at 1/8 his speed of 9". It take him 54 minutes to summit.
Mako succeeded with both saves. He climbs at 1/8 his speed of 12". It takes him 41 minutes to summit.
Roan made his Climb Walls roll and climbs at 1/8 his speed of 12". It takes him 41 minutes to summit.

After summiting comes 10 minutes of rest as per DMG p. 38. Thanks.

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: 2/4 1st lvl
  Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 1: AC 3, HP 11/11, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Gronda: Zembabweian Savage Ranger/Thief 1/2: AC 7, HP 12/17
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 3: AC 5, HP 17/18
  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 8/12

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin.

Resources:

• An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)
  Men of the Hyborian Age (races of men)
  The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
  Hieroglyphs (the story so far, in images)

[Zhym]

Arthfael groks that the Zamoran would rather read than talk. So the Cimmerian simply stands and watches the climbers, wondering what they'll find.

A man says 117 words in an hour and a half, and Biblio accuses him of being loquacious. Hmph!

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

"Statues! Nothing but Statues! Asura what did I do? Is it for a wrong I did or for the good that will come?" Mako looks at the open landscape but see no good.

[hedgeknight]

Roan, son of Rune

Exhausted beyond anything he's ever felt before, Roan slumps down and hangs his head. When he looks up and beholds what to some might be surreal beauty, he can only smirk and lift his eyes heavenward. "Seems as good a place to die as any. Closer to the heavens. P'raps my spirit will soar from here to Valhalla unabated."

Then he hears Gronda's hoarse cry and scrambles over to see the human arm protruding from the dune. Without really thinking about it, Roan grabs the arm and pulls it...and whatever is attached to it, if anything...out of the dune.