Chapter 15: Empire Under the Earth

[Scott308]

Loche

His dagger slippery with blood, Loche is unable to grip it properly. As a result, his blade does not pierce his undead opponent as he had desired.

Jeweled Dagger +1/ +2 vs. Undead (20): [1d20+1] = 7+1 = 8; Damage: [1d4+1] = 4+1 = 5; Damage, Large: [1d3+1] = 2+1 = 3

[Inferno]

Giant Ant Colony, Beneath 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. Morning?, 21st day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia






Eerily and inexplicably dispossessed of their own intelligence, the last three relentless attackers press forward unflinchingly to their deaths.

Garrin, Cruloc, Kiri and Amethu complete the slaughter.



The feasting of swords is ended. Broken, hacked and shattered, the dead litter the ground in pools of curdling crimson.

Near the massacre of beastmen and masked Verulians, Mako hovers unseen over Zahra like a guardian angel.

Away from the carnage, Tjoruy lays motionless still.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. T = Hovering torch. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.


Map:






PC Status:

• Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 1/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl, Lantern
  Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 5/35, Torch
  Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 5/26, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 2/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 5/14, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 10/25
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: 10/10, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl, Torch planted
  Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 6/16
  Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: -5/21

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, Mako 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."
  Unseen Servant (Kiri): Duration: 40 rounds
  Invisibility (Mako): Target: self

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)

[ChubbyPixie]

Glancing in Tjoruy's direction, Kiri considers for a moment, then moves to Zahra's side instead. "More chance to save her," he says, simply as he retrieves and uncorks one of his remaining two potions. He will pour a sip of it into her mouth and look for any visible positive result. If it seems to be working to bring her back, he'll give her the rest.

Administers ceramic vial with inscription to Osorus, bringer of light and warmth.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu lingers over the fallen. Resting. He will take a moment to examine the twisted verulian figures.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc attempts to revive Tjoruy by binding his wounds. Zahra next, his own, then Amethu, Kiri, and Garrin.

[Scott308]

Loche

The Pict will go examine the body of Tjoruy.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako stands just off to the side of Zahra as the others treat her wounds.

[OGRE MAGE]

Xorxen retrieves and relights his candle, looking around at the dead and the rest of the room while the others tend to the fallen. If he finds nothing on their dead enemies, he goes back to studying the walls for any secrets he might find in here.

[Inferno]

Giant Ant Colony, Beneath 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. Morning?, 21st day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia




Loche the Pict and Cruloc the barbarian advance through the field of gigantic ant eggs in the hatching chamber...



...and reach Tjoruy's bloodied form. The ramshackle priest still draws breath!

As Mako looks on, Kiri Khutan readies to administer unto Zahra the contents of the canopic jar of Osorus, bringer of light and warmth. But when he unseals that ancient vessel, stoppered for centuries uncounted, it releases a powerful smell of flammable oil. Kiri knows the explorers possess other unidentified treasures gained during their quest to the subterranean city.

Xorzen searches the dead by candlelight and finds on the bodies of the masked albinos, blood stained silver coins minted millennia ago in ancient Verulia.

Amethu ruefully examines his dead kin. The thralls of the hive are not undead. He considers the riddle of their eerie, unnatural behavior and then, with a shudder, remembers something.

The scholarly sorcerer-priest has read of horrific insect parasites in nature that control the minds of their victims, causing them to act against their own interests, even to the extent of suicide, in order to protect the parasite's young! A chill crawls up Amethu's spine as he recalls it is done by laying eggs inside their captured prey! The unwilling host then defends the parasite's eggs with its life until they hatch and literally eat the victim alive!



Such ghastly horrors are perpetrated by some species of wasps, a close relative of ants!

Amethu turns and sees Cruloc administering first aid to Tjoruy.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. T = Hovering torch. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.


Map:






PC Status:

• Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 1/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl, Lantern
  Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 5/35, Torch on ground
  Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 5/26, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 2/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 5/14, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl Torch, hovering
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 10/25
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: 10/10, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl, Torch planted
  Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 6/16, Candle
  Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: -5/21

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, Mako 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."
  Unseen Servant (Kiri): Duration: 39 rounds
  Invisibility (Mako): Target: self

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

Tjoruy lives! the Pict shouts to the others.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu shares what he learned from his inspection of the dead - that there is likely something more dangerous than ant's in these catacombs...

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Ice-blue northern eyes meet the crimson-hued ones of the albino sorcerer-priest.

"You mean to say the poor devil carries a foul parasite like a mother with child?! Crom!"

Cruloc withdraws in revulsion.

"Bloody rags bound tight will do nothing for such an affliction! It would be a mercy to slit his throat while he slumbers."

His concerned gaze lingers on the unconscious form of Tjoruy before he returns to the business of binding his own wounds and those of the others.

[OGRE MAGE]

Xorxen winces at the words about infestations, keeping his distance from the possible thrall that once was Tjoruy.

He heads to the west wall and begins searching there, moving in a northerly direction.

[Scott308]

Loche

Bit he didnae attack us! We shuid aye hulp him! Mibbie he's nae infected.

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri replaces the stopper on the vial. "It is oil," he says, "not good for healing at all."

He runs through his mind, unaided, a detailed inventory of all the items they have found on the journey sos far, remembering each one flawlessly. He calls to Mako: "Friend, bring the mysterious flask, let us examine it. If it smells like the concoction that revived me, I propose we give it to our friend Zahra. Does it have writing or symbols upon it?" he says.

[SocraticLawyer]

Garrin keeps watch over the fallen while the others tend to the injured in the party. If any of the dead move, he stands ready with his new blade.

[Inferno]

Giant Ant Colony, Beneath 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. Morning?, 21st day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia



The explorers shudder at Amethu's gruesome dire words and what they might portend for them and for their unconscious friend, the ramshackle subterranean priest.



Under Garrin's watchful gaze, Cruloc binds his own wounds and those of Zahra, Amethu, Kiri, and Garrin. (+1hp each) The fallen amazon does not awaken.

Xorzen examines the walls and the son of the ancient architects of the Great Pyramid of Xuthalhotep finds these amazing ant-forged warrens to be sturdy and highly complex, but primitive. No devious mechanical traps will be found here, nor cunning secret passageways.

Kiri stoppers his jar of oil and asks Mako for the mysterious flask recovered six days ago from the ages-old massacre of the sect of Sutehk in a demon summoning gone wrong.




Suddenly, the stone vessel appears out of thin air!




Its timeworn hieroglyphs give orisons to the jackal-headed god of chaos and death, and its contents are odorless.

Kiri cautiously tests a third of the flask's contents upon Zahra's pale lips and the amazon's crimson eyes open! (+5hp)


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. T = Hovering torch. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.


Map:



Non-required Reading (rolls and rulings):

Healing Zahra: One dose: [1d8] = 5

PC Status:

• Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 2/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl, Lantern
  Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 6/35, Torch on ground
  Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 6/26, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 2/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 6/14, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl Torch, hovering
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 10/25
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: 10/10, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl, Torch planted
  Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 6/16, Candle
  Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 1/21

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, Mako 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."
  Unseen Servant (Kiri): Duration: 38 rounds
  Invisibility (Mako): Target: self

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)

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra sits up, coughing. I *cough* see we are not dead. Are we still free?

Thank you, Kiri.

She struggles to her feet, waving away helping hands.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu looks around the room they are in cautiously. "We will need to rest and recover very soon. We are weakened."

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

"Kiri we must burn Tjoruy's body with the oil you have discovered. It is the only way to give him peace."