Chapter 17: The Island of Death

[OGRE MAGE]

Wincing when he hears the words of Zahra behind him, Xorxen quickly moves 20 feet to the northwest where he readies his spare javelin to throw at whatever has been discovered by the fighters.

[Inferno]

The Island of Death, 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 Ten. Afternoon?, 23rd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia





The explorers cautiously venture deeper into the alien domain of madness and horror. Suddenly, more loathsome, unnatural life roils forth!

Zahra quickly withdraws, readying sword and shield as Xorzen circles around, raising his javelin high!

Cruloc sets his weapon against the gigantic scuttling horrors and one dies wriggling upon his spear in a gruesome spray of viridian gore! (C3)



The rest of the writhing leviathan insects descend upon Cruloc and Zahra, but their venomous stingers bite only armor and shield!


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet.


Behind the DM screen:

Party Surprised? (1-2): [1d6] = 5 No.
Initiative: Party: [1d6] = 6, Monsters: [1d6] = 1 Party wins.
Cruloc attacks C3 with set spear: [1d20+2] = 13+2 = 15, damage: [1d6+3] = 6+3 = 9 Hits for 15 damage because weapon is set.
Monsters charge Zahra: [1d20+2] = 5+2 = 7, [1d20+2] = 2+2 = 4 and Cruloc: [1d20+2] = 2+2 = 4 All miss!

PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 14/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 1/3 2nd lvl, Lantern
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 31/45, Torch at feet
Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 14/26, Laying Hands: 1/1, Torch
Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 24/25
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: 20/31, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 2/4 2nd lvl
Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 10/16
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 19/29

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.
Slow Poison (Amethu): Target: none yet. Duration: 145 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

Silently they slither from the walls of the cave, like babes being born, drenched in wretched afterbirth.

Cruloc crouches, allowing one of the crawling horrors to impale itself upon his jagged spear, then comes to the balls of his feet in readiness for battle.

Attack w/ spear [1d20+2] = 15+2 = 17
Spear damage: vs S/M [1d6+3] = 5+3 = 8, vs L [1d8+3] = 2+3 = 5

Not for the first time in this time-forgotten underground tomb of a city, the Cimmerian heaps mangled corpses at his feet.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra snarls as she attacks (C2).
att [1d20+4] = 14+4 = 18 Sword vs sm, med [1d8+5] = 6+5 = 11

She laughs with bloody joy at the carnage.

[SocraticLawyer]

Garrin charges at the nearest of the creatures with a great war cry, sword poised to strike.

To hit with +2 Longsword [1d20+2] = 17+2 = 19; damage sm [1d8+2] = 2+2 = 4; damage l [1d12+2] = 6+2 = 8
Charging bonus not included, if that matters.

[OGRE MAGE]

Watching the carnage play out in front of him, Xorxen charges into battle alongside Zahra.

Attack w/ +2 Javelin of Men-khetu [1d20+2] = 12+2 = 14 Dam [1d6+3] = 5+3 = 8 (no charge bonus added)

If there is anything left for him to skewer, he does so with glee.

[Inferno]

The Island of Death, 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 Ten. Afternoon?, 23rd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia





The three bloated, virulent horrors feverishly writhe and stab, trying to poison their prey to death!

Then Garrin and Xorzen swiftly join Cruloc and Zahra in hammering, shattering and smashing the revolting vermin into oblivion!



The primordial necropolis falls deathly silent once more.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet.

Map:



Behind the DM screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6] = 2, Monsters: [1d6] = 3 Monsters win.
Monsters attack Zahra: [1d20] = 5, [1d20] = 2 and Cruloc: [1d20] = 2 All miss again!

PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 14/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 1/3 2nd lvl, Lantern
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 31/45, Torch at feet
Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 14/26, Laying Hands: 1/1, Torch
Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 24/25
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: 20/31, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 2/4 2nd lvl
Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 10/16
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 19/29

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.
Slow Poison (Amethu): Target: none yet. Duration: 144 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)

[ravenn4544]

Amethu's mask cloaks his approval of the quick battle. "Decisive. May they all go so well. Let us continue the search of these side caverns before advancing further?"

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra nods. We need some light here.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako walks up to Zahra and says "as you wish."

Cast light on Zahra's Javelin

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

"Aye," responds the barbarian to the masked Verulian. "We've paid the price of blood - their blood," he asserts, kicking at the limp corpses of the slain centipedes, "to explore the chambers beyond."

"Crom's teeth!" Cruloc mutters, advancing through the gap. "These tumbled walls have more serviceable openings than a Zamoran courtesan!"

[SocraticLawyer]

Garrin continues searching the area with the group.

[OGRE MAGE]

Xorxen cautiously searches the walls and floor of the open chamber with the others, looking over the dead monsters for anything out of the ordinary as well. He speaks in a hushed voice from behind his golden hawk mask.

"I still think it is a bad idea to leave that closed door behind us, unless one of you knows a direct route through this otherworldly labyrinth."

[Inferno]

The Island of Death, 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 Ten. Afternoon?, 23rd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia





Against every instinct of self-preservation, the explorers descend deeper into the blasphemous ruins of the Island of Death.

"We need some light here," says Zahra.

"As you wish," replies the disembodied voice of unseen Mako.



The amazon's javelin head suddenly blossoms with sorcerous light!

The adventurers cautiously inch past the venomous remains of the gigantic insects, warped by the corrupting presence of the dread demon-god, and into the northern chamber beyond the sundered wall.



Fear speaks from the ageless stones.

Rampant infestations of alien phosphorescent fungi remake the world in a sickly green.

Standing pools of stagnant water fill their nostrils with the festering stench of rot and decay and, from the western wall, a stairway descends to a stone door carved with the same prehuman cuneiforms that had stricken Kiri blind.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet.

Map:






PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 14/14, Spells: 2/7 1st lvl, 1/3 2nd lvl, Lantern
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 31/45, Torch
Garrin: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 3(1), HP: 14/26, Laying Hands: 1/1, Torch
Loche: Pict Savage Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 24/25
Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 7(5), HP: 12/12, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Tjoruy: Verulian Osoran Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 20/31, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 2/4 2nd lvl
Xorzen: Verulian Osoran Monk 3: Move: 17", AC: 6(4), HP: 10/16
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 19/29, Light spell on javelin

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.
Slow Poison (Amethu): Target: none yet. Duration: 143 rounds.
Light (Mako): Target: Zahra's javelin. Duration: 39 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)

[Bluetongue]

Loche

The savage scratches under stubble and points at each of the doors in turn.


"Weel we kin gang 'eeny meeny minee mair' wi' th' doors ba guessin isna weil. Mah ma' used tae scold me 'double doors open tae double trauchle' tho we shuid seek th' main temple nae trawl thae minions vaults." he concludes.

He is happy to take a lead and at least check out the double doors at the top of the twin stairs. Checking for traps and listening beyond.

"Well we can go ' Eeny meeny minee mo' with the doors but just guessing isn't well. Mother used to scold me that double doors opened to double trouble though we should seek the main temple not trawl the minions vaults."

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra looks around, assessing the doors and openings. I do not know a direction, but we must make sure we don't expose our backs to more danger.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

The burst of macabre energy from Zahra's javelin startles the barbarian, and he recoils, a calloused palm raised in self-defence.

"Wizards! Pfah! Your power waxes and wanes with the moon – while steel is always steel!"

Squinting, Cruloc regards the Amazon.

"Whichever way we turn, our backs will be exposed to danger - whether it be slithering hellspawn or loathsome scratchings which steal our eyesight!"

His apprehension regarding the door and its weird markings evident, he sniffs before putting out his torch.

"State your plan."

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra squints at the door in the western wall. I don't think there is a good plan. I will stand guard here while the rest of you search. If danger comes through this door, I have the high ground to fight it until the rest of you return.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu agrees. There is no better path - one that may be less dangerous? No. One that can be prudent to protect should we come back this way in a hurry? Who is to say. "Indeed, if there are symbols carved in the floor below that could cause more blindness we should steer clear. It is warning though about our preparedness to ward off magical blindness - we are ill equiped to do so."

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc nods pensively at Amethu's counsel.

"The cleric speaks wisely. Portals branded with infernal writings such as those must be left untouched and unexamined, for the curious they lay low. Since the day Crom shat us out onto the frigid hills of Cimmeria, my folk have trod the path of the illiterate. I will do the same, and honour their willful ignorance."

Turning his back to the baleful doorway, he brute slashes at empty air twice before brandishing his gleaming blade.

"Let us find a path which can be torn open with steel and sinew!"