Chapter 21: The Caverns of Thracia

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc somberly views the battered body of Iago, his slain comrade. It would be easy to lay the blame for his death at the feet of the Thracians or the imbecile Grigor, but the barbarian knows his own ineptitude with his new sword cost Iago his life. The debt of blood I promised you cannot be repaid. For that, Crom will surely cast my soul into the furnaces under his mountain.

He rises and brusquely eulogises Iago.

"The Zingaran fought well. In love and in battle, he was a creature of passion. With him, we carved a gore-spattered path to the gates of ancient Thracia!"

Cruloc falls into silence.

He attempts to detect magic on the Thracians scattered belongings.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu scans the darkness. "Our comrades fought bravely and we live because of their deeds. The time to honor them must wait. Let us fall back over the chasm and find a place to rest and defend."

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra looks a bit surprised at Torix's offer. I- er, only if you cannot help these people. She gestures to the unconcious people around them.

[Inferno]

Beneath the Forbidden City of the Dead, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Nine. Morning. 19th day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







If anything yet lives in the Caverns of Thracia, the clamor of the slaughter would soon attract them. And the explorers of the Underworld are in no condition to survive another encounter.

Cruloc and Torix quickly tend to the wounded. (+1hp to each)

The Cimmerian barbarian examines the possessions of their dead enemies. The death charms around every corpse's throat cause the hair on the nape of his neck to rise with superstitious dread!



Amethu counsels, "Let us retreat back over the chasm and find a place to rest and defend."

Beyond the black gulfs of the bottomless pit lies a stone stair to the surface (area 18), and a secret door to a hidden chamber with a rope ladder up to the forsaken temple of dead Atlantean gods.


Actions?! (Please post ten minutes' worth of activity. Thanks!)


Map:

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

Behind the DM Screen:

Cruloc: Detect Magic (35%): [1d100]=33 Succeeds.

PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 10/15, Spells: 1/7 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 17/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -1/19
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: -8/29, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: -6/21, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 6/29

PC Magic:

None currently.

Player Resources:

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

[ChubbyPixie]

Good luck dragging Kiri out of here - he's a big boy. 250 lbs. w/out the armor.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra takes a torch and moves into the room/area to the north, where the Thracians came from. Maybe this will be safe enough?

[jemmus]

Torix

Continues giving barbarian first aid to everyone, in order of lowest HP to highest. If there's time enough after that, he'll follow Zahra into the room.

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

IF she wakes up, Dahinna will spend a few minutes sobbing over Iago, and then she will gather herself, check the bodies for valuables or usable weapons, and retreat with her companions.

If she remains unconscious, Dahinna will drool and twitch, having dreams of screaming Thracians and flesh-rending hounds.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc recoils from the unclean charms hanging from the necks of the Thracians before hastily gathering them up and tossing them off the bridge and into the chasm! Doubtless they had been the source of the soldiers' manic embrace of death.

Returning, he hisses at Zahra, "Venture not beyond the fingers of our torchlight! Let us heed Amethu's counsel."

Rubbing his square unshaven chin, he ruminates on how to move the transcendental Kiri south across the bridge. Might one of his uncanny power be able to reconstitute himself after being quartered?

[ravenn4544]

Amethu will wait with the bulk of the group while the north room is first explored. It makes him nervous in the state they are in. "We need to be ready to move and move those that are in need of our help. We cannot linger long.."

[Inferno]

Beneath the Forbidden City of the Dead, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Nine. Late Morning. 19th day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







Through some miracle, the explorers have survived the onslaught of the Thracians by the skin of their teeth. They are wounded, vulnerable, exposed, and in mortal risk of their lives.

Amethu and Cruloc urge that they retreat in search of safety. Torix and Zahra press their luck, delving further into the mysterious depths of the deadly Underworld.

As Amethu stands vigil over the lifeless forms of their friends, Cruloc casts death charms into the abyss, and Torix and Zahra advance through the splintered northern doors.

Beyond lies a magnificent rotunda in the unparalleled style of the ancients that have long ago gone with all dead eons to the timeless void.




By Zahra's flickering torchlight, they see in the center of the room a great basin set atop a low pillar of skulls.





Behind it is a column of black drapery hung from the towering ceiling to the floor.




Nothing stirs here. All is silent.


Actions?! (Please post ten minutes' worth of activity. Thanks.)


Map:

One square = 10 feet.





PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 10/15, Spells: 1/7 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 17/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -1/19
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: -8/29, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: -6/21, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl, Torch on ground
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 6/29, Torch

PC Magic:

None currently.

Player Resources:

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

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra circles counter-clockwise, slowly. She keeps a cautious eye on the drapery as she goes. When she reaches the drapes, she waits until Torix joins her.
Should we investigate this now, or wait until the others are here for reinforcements? I'd prefer the latter.

[jemmus]

Torix
You are right. More wise to go back to the others. The tattooed Pict returns to the group.

He'll go wherever the group decides to go, taking point position. He has full HP.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu waits impatiently. He looks at the bodies that have to be carried to safety and uses what little magic he has remaining to lend some aid. He will cast enlarge on Cruloc, if he is willing, to help with carrying them to the entranceway just south.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

"The door to yonder chamber lies in pieces." Cruloc's eyes widen as he beholds the pedestal of skulls. "That tomb offers no more protection than do the stairs we came down." Pointing southward, he adds, "At least we know we've slain everything in that direction."

The Cimmerian glowers at Amethu. "Cast a spell on me, and you'll be picking up your teeth with broken fingers."

[ravenn4544]

Amethu sighs quietly behind his mask at the stubbornness of others. He casts enlarge upon himself to help with securing the wounded.

[jemmus]

Torix decides that any resting place is as good as another. He picks up unconscious Grigor under the shoulders and backs toward Cruloc on the bridge.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra returns to the others, and reports what's in the room. Seeing which way the wind blows, she lends a hand with moving the wounded.

[Inferno]

Beneath the Forbidden City of the Dead, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Nine. Late Morning. 19th day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







Zahra cautiously circles the ominous black column of drapery. Finding nothing, and not daring to peer within, she retreats with Torix to help the others bear away the injured.

With no other choice, the invaders of the Underworld yield hard-fought territory won with sweat and blood.

Not trusting the creaking rope bridge to support his otherworldly mass, Amethu crosses and then casts magicks wondrous and inexplicable, growing to nine feet tall! The sudden giant effortlessly helps carry the wounded on the far side.

The explorers regroup at the bottom of the stone steps. They are exposed on two sides, and Zahra's torchlight is visible for some hundred feet in both directions. Then they remember a secret chamber off the stairwell, almost ten by ten.


Actions? (and do you bring Iago's body or leave it?)


Map:

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





PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 10/15, Spells: 0/7 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 17/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -1/19
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: -8/29, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: -6/21, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 6/29, Torch

PC Magic:

Enlarge (Amethu): Duration 22 rounds

Player Resources:

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

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

The entire range of hair on Cruloc's hirsute form stand on end in unison as Amethu swells and begins to tower over him. What vile trickery is this?! His brain screams at him that his senses lied. A scraggy Verulian, barely a match for a whelp from his tribe armed with a broken dagger, now half again the size of a Nemedian warhorse? If Cruloc had not already delved the depths of ancient Verulia in the Southern Desert, he would foreswear ever visiting there.

Avoiding eye contact with the newborn giant, he shoulders open the door to the secret chamber in search of sanctuary.

"Iago will stay where he fell in his armour. He needs but two coins to cross the River of Death - one for each eye. The rest we shall use to toast his memory!"