Chapter 16: Beneath the Starless Sky

[Scott308]

Loche

The Pict lies on his back, staring up at the cavern ceiling. As he does so, he starts making snow angels in the dirt, though he has no name for this activity.

[OGRE MAGE]

After hearing the “piss into their own mouths” comment, for the first time ever, Xorxen let’s escape from behind his mask, a noise that might be mistaken for laughter.

He agrees with the idea to wait for a while before attempting to return below the surface to escape the mental clutches of the one who shant be named.

He does what he can to prevent the others from falling asleep while they wait.

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri is distressed, but not wholly surprised, to realize that everyone and everything, including himself, is just a thin veneer stretched over empty void.

[Inferno]

The Underground City, Beneath the Great Pyramid of Xuthalhotep
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Nine. Near dawn?, 22nd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia






The adventurers hide in the overgrown forest of towering mushrooms, made blazing and shimmering with expanded sight.

Those with their wits about them strive to keep their mad dreaming companions awake, lest their location be betrayed to the all-seeing eye of the demon god. Unseen Mako is kept ahold of, that he is not lost forever.

Hours pass and in that time, many masked dwellers of this nightmare realm wander here for sustenance and escape from the horror of their wretched lives.

Once, the explorers spy three gigantic bat shapes soar silent overhead, black shadows eclipsing the subterranean constellations of the cavern roof. They plunge eastward and are gone.

In time, the colors fade.



Perception, awareness and understanding recede. The dreaming adventurers return to this coarse world.


Actions?!



Underground City Map:






PC Status:

• Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 6/14, Spells: 4/7 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl
  Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 39/45
  Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 26/26, Laying Hands: 1/1
  Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 19/19, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 25/25
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: 12/12, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
  Tjoruy: Verulian Osoran Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 7/31, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl
  Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 16/16
  Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 16/29

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."
  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]

Judging from the sense of lost time and returning reality, Kiri deduces that he was not himself for a while. He's not upset with Tjoruy for setting the example of eating the psychedelic fungus, assuming the cleric has probably built up a sort of tolerance for the stuff.

He looks to the others."I am sorry if I caused you inconvenience. ...I did see Grandfather. I think that part was real. So it wasn't for nothing... What now?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Xorxen sticks to his reasoning that they need to sleep this off underground.

"Let us climb back into the ant warren where we can get some uninterrupted rest."

[SocraticLawyer]

Garrin nods in agreement. We need rest before continuing to the boat, and we dare not rest up here. Let us retreat to the ant warren, get what rest we can, and then return here at full strength.

If the others agree, Garrin begins making preparations for the trip below. When everyone is ready, he helps the others down before following himself.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Out of Mako bag falls the extra mushrooms pieces he picked.
"Other than a slight headache and a dry mouth I'm fully rested. If we rest now I can bestow the power not to be seen onto two individuals. Not to worry, these powers will return to me once we've rested a full day as suggested."

[Scott308]

Loche

How come am Ah hoaching with dirt? Whit's gaun oan? Ah mind eating, then sittin` aroond fur a while, then...now. Wis Ah asleep? Ah vaguely mind everything keekin 'n' sounding muckle brighter, bit that's it.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

The barbarian nods at the suggestion made by Garrin and Xorxen.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu can take a watch if they are indeed going to rest.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra starts to droop a bit, not realizing how tense and exhausted she was watching the dreamers. When the discussion turns to returning to the relative safety of the ant nest, she nods. Known dangers are always easier to defend against.

[Inferno]

The Underground City, Beneath the Great Pyramid of Xuthalhotep
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Nine. Afternoon?, 22nd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia






Seeking sanctuary from the tireless thralls of the Great Devourer, the explorers scale the looming anthill of the doomed insect colony.

After the arduous climb, they descend on ropes back down the towering shaft...




...into a vast high chamber within the labyrinthine ant warren.




It is deserted. Of the forlorn survivors of the ravaged civilization there is no trace.

Tjoruy heals Zahra (+7hp) and himself (+4hp) by the holy blessings of the unseen sun. (Casters may cast before retiring. Garrin may lay hands.)

The adventurers set a watch and rest. No harm befalls them except in their bloodcurdling nightmares.



There, they are haunted by a thing with eyes within eyes. An entity beyond reckoning. Zargoth, the god that they would kill.

His omniscient malevolence sees them, knows them and waits for them. They awaken in a sweat.

The watch cycles through. There is nothing left to delay them. No more else to do. All that awaits them now is their fate.


Actions?! (PCs heal in the night. Cruloc's first aid is included.
PCs may roll for an extra hit point of healing as per the house rules. Casters may choose new spells.)


Map:



Underground City Map:



Non-required Reading (rolls and rulings):

Tjoruy heals Zahra: [1d8] = 7, and himself: [1d8] = 4

PC Status:

• Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 8/14, Spells: 7/7 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl
  Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 41/45
  Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 26/26, Laying Hands: 1/1
  Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 19/19, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 25/25
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: 12/12, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
  Tjoruy: Verulian Osoran Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 13/31, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl
  Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 16/16
  Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 25/29

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."
  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)

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

The barbarian awakens from his nightmare and, for an instant, he is frozen with fear – as man shall ever be, in the presence of things unknown.

Hills. Snow. Ice.

Cruloc closes his eyes once more and allows the frigid wind of Cimmeria to disperse the black tendrils of terror which grip his soul.

Sword. Bone. Blood.

He remembers who he is. He knows the crimson path his sandaled feet must tread.

Setting his sturdy legs under him, he rises - no longer a trembling victim of dread, but a fearsome agent of inescapable doom. With a feral baring of his teeth that is not a smile, he rumbles, his voice mounting in fury until the last fiery words explode from his throat like incandescent boulders ejected from a boiling volcano! "There’ll be no rest for me, in heaven or on earth, till the Beast and every one of his foul minions writhe bleeding in the loathsome pits of hell!"

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri stands and makes ready to go. After the echoes of Cruloc's rousing soliloquy recede into distant caverns, he summons Grandfather again, wondering if he'll ever see his ancestor with his own eyes again.

Casts Unseen Servant.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu will use his final curative prayers on himself before resting and recovering his powers.

Cure Light Wounds [1d8] = 2

Recover HP (con 8) [1d100] = 66

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra wakes, feeling almost as tired as the night before. She vaguely remembers her nightmares: vast, open spaces with a huge Eye blazing above her like a Sun. She eats, drinks, and prays, trying to gird herself for the horrors ahead.
She adds a mewling, squalling ululation to Cruloc's oath.

pecentile [1d100] = 16 so add 2 hp, I guess?

[SocraticLawyer]

Before resting, Garrin lays hands upon Tjoruy. He says a prayer of thanks to Mitra.

After awakening from the foul nightmare, the paladin tries to shake the weird images from his mind. He does some light exercises with his blade before refreshing himself with water and food.

When everyone is up and ready, he helps the group climb back up and out of the ant warren. After everyone else is up, he climbs up himself.

Once on the "surface," he suggests that the group head to the boat that he and Cruloc found last night.

[Scott308]

Loche

As the Pict reaches into his pack for a quick breakfast, he pulls out a chunk of mushroom. Looking at it for a few seconds, he then tosses it to the other side of the cavern before doing the same with the rest of his mushrooms.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako lines up and readies himself to continue his journey with the others.