Chapter 23: The Grave of Empire

[Bluetongue]

Grigor

"Come, we shiver not at darkness. If I can survive a jelly cube, you can overcome jelly legs. Onwards!"

He says, trying to stir others.

[Inferno]

The Caverns of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twelve. Afternoon? 22nd day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia






The pitch black corridor has become a wind tunnel, and pandemonium descends with the darkness.

The gigantic gypsy priest, bearing ghastly wounds from unspeakable digestive acids, unsheathes his scimitar. The curving blade whispers from its scabbard, offering a pale light for him, Dahinna and Zahra. "Onward!" he cries from the rear.

"Back up!" barks Cruloc from the front.

"Get down!" shouts Zahra from the middle and Dahinna is eager to comply, struggling vainly to rekindle her torch in the gale force wind.

Blind, Torix the Pict deftly fits an arrow into his bowstring by feel alone.

The ominous stench of death and the fierce whipping of tempest-ravaged cloth cascades all around their remaining senses in the stygian blackness of the windstorm!


Actions?!


Map Detail:

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

Map:






PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 17/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 32/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 1: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 19/25
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 10/29, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 20/21, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28, Unsettled
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 1, HP: 24/29, Unsettled
Gnasher: Grigor's Hound: Move: 12", AC: 5, HD: 2+2, HP: 6/11, AT: 1, D: 1-4

PC Magic:

Enlarge (Amethu): Target: Grigor. Duration: 20 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)

[jemmus]

Torix heeds Cruloc's instruction and backs up. Need light! Can't fight! Go back!

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

The spear-wielding barbarians at the front move back, but are blocked by the immobile Dahinna and Zahra crouching in the middle. At the rear, Grigor exhorts his comrades forward.

Ire rises in the Cimmerian.

"One cannot bugger a constipated whore!" he roars.

[ChubbyPixie]

"Grigor! Perhaps bearing the skull wand as proof of our legitimacy here will act to dispel this wind." shouts Kiri over the gale, grasping at straws. "Otherwise we must retreat."

[Bluetongue]

Grigor

Okay, let me try that. Bone wand in one hand, light bearing scimitar in the other, the enlarged gypsy walks up the corridor.

[Urson]

Zahra
Seeing that she's the problem, Zahra stands and begins to move back. Don't waste your time, Dahinna.


that image "Go back!""Go forward!"- like Abbott and Costello in the Dungeon of Doom!

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

The rogue looks up at the Amazon and begins to back up...until she runs into the "giant" Grigor" who is brandishing his bone...err...uh...the skull wand and striding forward. She tries to hug the wall and get out of his way.

[Inferno]

The Caverns of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twelve. Afternoon? 22nd day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







Once more, Grigor advances alone into territories perilous and unknown. Meanwhile, his companions retreat.

The gypsy priest's ghoulish wand fails to vanquish the maelstrom blast. And his glowing scimitar barely keeps the blackness at bay. Undeterred, he presses forward against darkness and wind, and the obsidian channel soon widens into what might be a chamber or hall.

Here, the gale does not relent and the stench of death only grows stronger.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

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





PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 17/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 32/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 1: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 19/25
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 10/29, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 20/21, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28, Unsettled
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 1, HP: 24/29, Unsettled
Gnasher: Grigor's Hound: Move: 12", AC: 5, HD: 2+2, HP: 6/11, AT: 1, D: 1-4

PC Magic:

Enlarge (Amethu): Target: Grigor. Duration: 19 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

In battle and in Cimmerian tests of manhood, the line between bravery and foolishness is often blurred. The ones who survive know where the boundary lies.

He will get all of us killed.

Against the gale, Cruloc barks at the reckless gypsy priest. "Grigor! The meagre light from your sword is insufficient! Huddled around it, we are cattle ripe for the slaughter!"

"For the love of Mitra, someone retreat to the chapel and light a torch so that we may have a beacon if the the Zamoran's sword is lost!"


*OoC: If no one does this, Cruloc will.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu agrees with Crulocs direct assessment. He will move to follow back with the others when he can - frustrated that they are stymied by this situation.

[Bluetongue]

Grigor

I hear their shouting but having come so far and without being swallowed whole by another gelatinous ooze, I will have a look around, trusting in Gnasher to bark should any figures suddenly intrude upon me by surprise.

Still in giant form, I will reach around with my light- scimitar and see who or what is about.

I have the bone wand ready also to command any undead to 'turn or burn'.

[ChubbyPixie]

"Very wise," says Kiri to Cruloc as they squeeze past one another in the narrow passage. "I'll make sure he doesn't die alone in the meantime."

He moves up to support Grigor in his exploration.

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

Terrified, but still willing to act, the rogue heeds Cruloc's words and steps back into the chapel of the dead. She doesn't look at any of them as she strikes flint and steel to light her torch...wondering how in the seven hells she is supposed to keep it lit in the gale. Once lit, she will back into the corridor, shielding the torch with her body if possible.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra moves forward, staying low. She keeps her blade in hand.

[jemmus]

Seeing his companions turn back for the hallway, Torix joins them. He heads quickly toward the light of the glowing sword, bow ready.

[Inferno]

The adventure continues in... Chapter 24: Domain of the Dead