Chapter 10: Secret of the Sleestaks

[Inferno]

City of the Sleestaks, Deep Beneath the Barren Wasteland
The Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Ten. Night? April 5th, 912 CY






It is the Hours of Mystery in the City of the Sleestaks!

Connak unexpectedly opens a door onto a great throne room filled with eerily dormant reptilian insectoids!



The cat man quietly closes the door and the escaped "guests" confer upon their next move in voices hushed and urgent.

Draupadi miraculously heals Finver by the sacred power of Dhianha! (+5hp)

Then the adventurers enter the throne room and cautiously pad among the creepily inert Sleestaks as Ko-Nan and Ambrose keep watch. The civilized ape is filled with revulsion and dread!



Sightless, lidless, bulbous eyes seem to watch their every move.

Sheriff Yul notices a disturbance in the dust in the northeastern corner of the vast chamber. Connak and Finver scrutinize the walls there and find a nigh-imperceptible seam in the rock, in the outline of a door!

Fiefo and Maskelyn ascend the strange dais to peer behind the unusual throne, careful not to get too close after Finver's whispered warning. They discover it is made of bizarre, plant-like tendrils that hold the immense Sleestak King in an unsettling embrace.



They realize the royal seat is forged of the same weird life as the sprawling, irregularly-shaped dais from which it grows. There is no seam that joins them. They are one. Wait! Did one of the tendrils just move?!

Draupadi and Mungo examine the southern wall behind the ominous, lifeless Sleestaks. Mungo edges within close proximity to one (S28) and suddenly, it stirs! Draupadi, Ko-Nan and Mungo note with alarm its insect-pincers clawing empty air!




Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible, all else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Sleestaks are green. Altrusians are orange. Ambrose is brown.





PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 19/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 22/34, Spells: 3/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 11/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 20/31
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 25/39
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 14/14, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 20/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, Lantern
Sheriff Yul: Robot Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 31/38

PC Magic:

None currently

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[redwarrior]

Connak searches for a means to open the door, all the more urgently as he hears a sharp intake of breath back in the room. They don't look as formidable as the ..... things.... back on the Fortress Enterprise, but that doesn't mean he wants to explain what we're doing in a throne room when they wake up. We outnumber them, but it's better to avoid needless fights. Nonetheless, once he's done with the door, he makes sure that his weapons are near at hand.

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi moves towards the others back by the throne and back corner, weapons at the ready.

[jemmus]

Mungo steps back from the Sleestak and raises his smithing hammer. Easy there, fella.... You just go on back to your sweet dreams. He can't tell for sure, but it seems that the Sleestak standing there with its mouth hanging open is watching him. He gives up on searching the south wall, stays clear of any other sleeping Sleestaks, and crosses the room to where Yul, Finver and Connack have found a door.

[SilverBen]

Finver begins frantically assisting Connak with a variety of methods he knows to open concealed doors. He pushes on various points around the outline of the door to release any hinges, levers, latches, or spring driven mechanisms to open the door. He taps the floor with his foot searching for pressure plates in front of the door, to its immediate sides, and for kick plates on the vertical walls. He whispers his suggestion, "Mungo, feel around for switches to release this door."

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan clutches his axe handle tightly as he watches the closest monsters for any sign of movement.

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Yikes! Maskelyn steps back from the throne quickly... but stops, a thoughtful look on his face. He steps in close, studying the Sleestak King and where the King's body contacts the throne.

He has an idea that the throne may be a 'controlling thing', and is looking for evidence.

[jemmus]

Mungo
Right-o, Finver. We really need to open this door, the sooner the better. Have the keys been tried on it? The mole-man runs his forge gloves around the edges of the door, looking and feeling for any protrusions, depressions, or other features.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo will quickly get off the throne and its base at the suggestion that someone saw a tendril move. He'll stand behind the party gathered in the northeast corner and kibitz on how best to open the secret door, a subject about which he knows little if anything.

"Try poking it in the center... no, like this..."

[Bluetongue]

Sheriff Yul

Intrigued by the writhing tendrils. He will study the throne and King. Are the tendrils feeding or leeching off the king in any way. Like vampirically attached to him or caressing his head like some hypnotist might mesmerize a participant in a show?

He stays a few feet away in case any spores or tendrils erupt from the throne to attack him.

[Inferno]

City of the Sleestaks, Deep Beneath the Forbidden Zone
The Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Ten. Night? April 5th, 912 CY








In the subterranean throne room of the Sleestak King, one eerie, hibernating creature unexpectedly stirs to life!

Ambrose winces and Ko-Nan raises his ax as Mungo quickly backs away from the wakening Sleestak and it slowly falls quiescent once more.

Yul ascends the weird dais and joins Maskelyn in cautiously examining the throne and the golden crowned Sleestak upon it.



By sight alone, the little conjurer and the cyborg sheriff cannot tell if the plant tendrils are vampirically leeching the life essence of the king or controlling his mind, but they do touch his scaly, inhuman flesh.

Mungo, Draupadi and Fiefo join the others at the secret door in the stone wall. The searching fingers of Connak and Mungo can find neither keyhole nor catch. But Finver the dwarf discovers a release mechanism and presses it.

Suddenly, a door appears and descends inward like a drawbridge! With a low rumble of stone on stone, it settles flush into a depression carved into the floor. Beyond lies a secret passage through the living rock!




Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible, all else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Sleestaks are green. Altrusians are orange. Ambrose is brown.





PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 19/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 22/34, Spells: 3/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 11/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 20/31
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 25/39
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 14/14, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 20/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, Lantern
Sheriff Yul: Robot Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 31/38

PC Magic:

None currently

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[jemmus]

Well done Finver, we have egress! Mungo says. And it's good that that Sleestak has gone back to beddy bye. But that tendrily throne is still a mystery. What kind of king would want that kind of throne? Sure, Sleestak tastes aren't the same a mole-man tastes, but still. The king is sitting and snoozing on a living thing. He uses a big word. There seems to be some kind of symbiotic relationship.

He goes over to the throne and says, If you can hear me and understand Common, shake two tendrils.

[Rex]

Draupadi

Whispering, "I think we may have found our way to under the lake. We should take it and get this door closed before they awaken."

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Maskelyn heads for the door, his fingers twitching with an almost- unbearable urge to take the king's crown- or at least turn it upside-down on his head. He restrains himself.

Does the corridor slope up? Down? Stay level?

[redwarrior]

Connak will gratefully slide in and start exploring into the tunnel a little in advance of the main group. I hope this closes behind us!

[jemmus]

Mungo takes his position in the marching order. I hope it closes too. And if it does, that there's maybe a way to wedge it shut.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan waits for the group to quickly examine their next path before also moving to join them in advancing further and out of the lair of these strange creatures.

[Bluetongue]

Sheriff Yul

He is tempted to test out a theory regarding the tendril throne. Maybe it is sentient but doesn't think he has time enough to experiment.

So he will go through the secret door after the others.

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi follows the others down the secret passage.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo is slightly embarrassed when it turns out pressing on the center wasn't the key to unlocking the door. He was so sure about it. He sheepishly follows the others into the passage.