Chapter 14: The Doomed Undying

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Amethu "This could be our spot to fight - if we cover these two sections of roadway - those creatures would funneled into us! We would have the advantage!"

"Until they come from other streets and avenues and trap us. Don't stop! Move! Tjoruy which way?"

[Scott308]

Loche

We hae tae keep movin`! They'll juist keep comin'.

He calls back to those still fighting. Follow us!

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra glances up at the buildings to either side. Can she see any signs that pieces of the roofs might be able to be knocked loose? She's thinking of trying to block streets.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Amid a whirlwind of raining blows and scarlet tatters, in spite of blood which streams from a score of wounds, barbarian and paladin battle side-by-side in a macabre, moving tableau unmatched in the time-lost annals of heroic fantasy!

"It would please Crom that I remain to properly murder these bastards, but the cretins have taken to the rooftops! They threaten our flank! We must withdraw, Garrin!" spits Cruloc in trenchant disappointment.

The hill-born barbarian lurches away from the raking horde like a bolting stallion from a lurking scorpion!

[SocraticLawyer]

Garrin nods in agreement, retreating with his barbarian companion.

[Inferno]

The Underground City
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Eight. After Midnight?, 19th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia





The fight becomes a chase.

Kiri races south across the hovel's rooftop and finds a rickety ladder down to the street to rejoin his companions as they make a mad fighting retreat into the hell city of unending night!




Beneath looming stone towers that blot out the lichen constellations of the subterranean sky, they run, quickly losing all sense of direction.




The adventurers follow Tjoruy through the dizzying phantasmagorical swirl of darkness and the timeless ruins of civilization lost, pursued unceasingly by the howling, mask-adorned madmen whose swords cry out for their deaths!

In the furious vertiginous rush, Zahra hasn't the chance to properly appraise the towering rooftops for obstacles that might be cast down.

But soon it comes clear they will be overtaken by the pallid denizens of perdition.

"This way! Hie thee!" Tjoruy croaks, leading them around a corner into a dead end!



Their murderous hunters would soon be upon them! All seems lost!

Then Tjoruy heaves his wizened scarecrow frame against a stone wall that gives way on creaking hinges. The ramshackle hermit rushes them inside the bowels of an ancient building, closing the secret door behind them before the masked lunatics arrive! They are plunged into a darkness absolute.

Tjoruy gets a candle alight, revealing what once might have been a temple to Osorus, now vandalized and defiled. "Sanctuary! We shall be safe here a while," the mad prophet whispers hoarsely. "But we dare not rest! No! All-seeing Zargoth canst see us within our slumber! And sendeth the swarming thralls of a city to slit our throats!"


Actions?! Plans?!


Non-required Reading (rolls and rulings):

Initiative: Party: [1d6] = 2, Monsters: [1d6] = 3 Monsters win.
Masked madmen attack Garrin and Cruloc: [1d20] = 5, [1d20] = 2, damage: [1d6] = 4, [1d6] = 3 Both miss.
Masked madmen opportunity attack on Garrin and Cruloc: [1d20] = 5, [1d20] = 2, damage: [1d6] = 2, [1d6] = 1 Both miss again!

PC Status:

• Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 3/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 2/3 2nd lvl
  Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 21/35
  Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 11/26, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 2/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 4/14, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 4/18
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: 8(1)/10, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
  Tjoruy: Verulian Osoran Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 9/31, Candle
  Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl
  Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 8/16
  Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 6/21

PC Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin.
  Healing Mists of Osorus (Garrin, Kiri, Loche and Xorzen have breathed of the mists): All lost HP recovered with 8 hours of sleep. Wakeful rest, or sleeping less than 8 hours, enables recovery of 1 HP per hour. Duration: "months."

Player Resources:

• The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
  Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)
  Hieroglyphs (the story so far, in images)
  An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)

[Scott308]

Loche

Whit? Cannae kip? Howfur dae we heal? Howfur dae we git spells back? We hae tae kip eventually, whither we wantae or nae! Mibbie ah shuid hae listened tae maw 'n' become a baker.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc stalks warily into the temple, sword in hand, cold blue eyes darting from shadow to yawning shadow. At length, sensing no further danger, he sits his muscled frame on the cold stone floor. Having been relentlessly pursued through corridors which know not night or day, the barbarian is glad for the respite.

Chest heaving and breath still ragged, he begins treating his wounds and those of his injured companions.

"Come, my bleeding friends. It is rare to be able to say that an encounter with a Cimmerian has left a man's health improved!"

[ravenn4544]

Amethu will rest quietly and attend his wounds while he can. He will hold off on using his precious scroll of rejuvenation until he can learn if indeed resting will cause more trouble than anticipated.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra is exhausted, like the rest. She rests a few moments, hands on knees. Then she straightens and makes a quick search of the room they find themselves in.
I am a warrior, not a priest- but could this temple be re-sanctified? And if it is, would that make us invisible to the Demon-King Zargoth?

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako looks around in wonder. "What good is it to have sanctuary if we can't sleep."

Mako still has light cast on his quarterstaff?
viewtopic.php?p=433291#p433291

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri will have his wounds attended to by Cruloc, happy for whatever healing he can come by.

“Perhaps we may rest if we find an escape from the city. Or perhaps we will never get the rest we require - unless we can find a way to prevent ourselves from dreaming,” he says.

Btw, Kiri had a sweet running leap from the roof planned, with the aid of Feather Fall. These conveniently placed ladders down here are a nuisance!

[OGRE MAGE]

Xorxen also happily accepts healing from the barbarian, never one to turn down a good thing.

He looks around inside the temple for any mice, rats, or anything else he can find alive.

[Scott308]

Loche

The Pict waits for the others to finish so he can have his wounds tended by the Cimmerian. A'm happy tae git ony healing ah kin. Ta.

[SocraticLawyer]

Garrin takes a moment to catch his breath, barely able to believe he is still alive.

He has much to atone for. He has committed an evil act, although not willingly. First, he must acknowledge his misdeed to the one he has wronged, and then he must pray for Mitra's forgiveness, and make atonement.

Cruloc, my friend, I beg your forgiveness, though I deserve it not. I struck you, an ally and friend, a force of Good in this foul place. I hope someday to cleanse my soul of the stain I have placed upon it.

After their dialogue, Garrin prays to Mitra from his knees, begging for Mitra's forgiveness.

He offers his healing potion to Cruloc, and then any others who need healing.

Garrin loses his special paladin abilities, right?

[Inferno]

The Desecrated Temple of Osorus, The Underground City
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Eight. After Midnight?, 19th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia





Away from the cerulean stars, within the desecrated temple of Osorus, Mako unveils the glowing end of his quarterstaff and fills the once-magnificent hall with light.

The explorers stand in the haunting silence of aeons without number. Mako's sorcerous illumination reveals wonders and tragedy lurking beyond Tjoruy's flickering candlelight: Towering stone colossi decapitated by the blasphemous heretics of Zargoth.



Wondrous etchings and murals stained with long-dried feces and blood.

Breathtaking bas reliefs vandalized by chisel, hammer and wanton barbarism.



"No! Prithee. Maketh it stop! I beg thee!" croaks Tjoruy, holding his head in his hands. "Let the darkness taketh it from mine accursed sight!"

Xorzen looks among the violated ruins of the temple hall for any signs of life. He finds none. How many centuries had passed since men last trod here, he wonders. Then he uncovers a cache of several hawk masks.

Cruloc the barbarian administers healing to all who need it. (+1hp each)

Pious Garrin begs for Cruloc's forgiveness and prays in atonement for his sins. He offers an elixir of healing to his companions.

Zahra the amazon asks, "I am a warrior, not a priest- but could this temple be re-sanctified? And if it is, would that make us invisible to the Demon-King Zargoth?"

The mad prophet Tjoruy looks out between gnarled crooked fingers. "Forsooth, it might be done. But alas! I hast not the holy spells prepared. I need rest to recover their mystic power. P'raps I alone couldst dare to sleep?"
Then: "To re-consecrate a church of the old gods in the underground city wouldst earn the wrath of Zargoth. But what doest that matter now? We art dead men already."


Actions? Plans?


Underground City Map:






PC Status:

• Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 4/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 2/3 2nd lvl
  Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 22/35
  Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 12/26, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 2/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 5/14, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 5/18
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: (3)9/10, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl Light spell
  Tjoruy: Verulian Osoran Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 10/31, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, Candle
  Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 9/16
  Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 7/21

PC Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin.
  Healing Mists of Osorus (Garrin, Kiri, Loche and Xorzen have breathed of the mists): All lost HP recovered with 8 hours of sleep. Wakeful rest, or sleeping less than 8 hours, enables recovery of 1 HP per hour. Duration: "months."
  Light (Mako): Duration: 30 rounds.

Player Resources:

• The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
  Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)
  Hieroglyphs (the story so far, in images)
  An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

"Against these ancient columns I would smash both that vile concoction and your penitent face, protector! The former because it stinks of magic, and the latter because you supplicate for trespasses not of your own. It is Zargoth - not the valiant knight before me - who has signed his death warrant in league-high letters of blood! Save your puling for your god if he listens. I will avenge myself against your purse at the next tavern we stumble into. A Northman's thirst will teach you what true regret is. Doubt it not!"

Cruloc, having rejected the potion outright, slides away to probe the deeper recesses of the temple. What treasures or secrets doth lie within?

[Urson]

Zahra

Zahra lifts one snow-white eyebrow as Cruloc rants.

I suppose the proper question, Tjoruy, is whether it would be worth the power spent to re-consecrate this temple- if it won't be enough to keep Zargoth at bay so that we may rest and recover, why should we bother?

When the hawk masks turn up, Zahra studies one of them. I was too busy fighting for my life to see- did anyone see hawk-face masks among the lunatics? If so, we might at least have a disguise at hand.

[OGRE MAGE]

Unaccustomed to such unbridled barbarism, Xorxen nods his thanks and listens intently to the words of Cruloc. The wiry monk smirks at his bravado from under the cover of his own golden hawk mask.

He goes through the pile of masks, to see if any information may be gleaned from them.

"If we don't have a safe place to rest, we might as well turn back and leave these cold depths right now. Perhaps there is more to this place than meets the eye?"

Xorxen joins Cruloc in searching the remainder of the temple, looking for hidden doors or compartments of any kind.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Exhausted, Mako sits down. "If I can't sleep, I can at least rest my eyes," he says as he closes them.