Chapter 4: Dungeon of the Daleks

[Starbeard]

Jeojand

"Nonsense. That's the spirit, L.L.," Jeojand purrs with quiet enthusiasm. He takes two disconnected veins and experimentally tries rejoining them end to end.

[ChubbyPixie]

”Help yourself,” says Fiefo displaying the potions. ”I bet the blue one is harmless. And I can still hear the Daleks south of here, so don’t go that way unless you want to die. It’s just a matter of time, though, before they get us, so I guess do whatever you want...”

[Inferno]

The Dead Wizard's Skyscraper
Forbidden Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Three. Late Morning, March 27th, 912 CY







At the intersection near the wall wound of dangling tower veins, Chaka gets a torch alight. The young apeboy and Tullia the ranger pad down the more southerly of the twin corridors. They discover a dead end and a corridor branching northward into darkness.

Behind them, Fiefo the rat-man offers his new-gotten treasure to the others; strange elixirs of purple, blue and green.

Adrock pulls at the bright skyscraper arteries as Jeojand tries to join two severed ones.

Suddenly...



...there is a spark of lightning that shocks the cat-mancer (-1hp) and, with a groan of iron, a door opens in the wall next to them!

Adrock and Jeojand cautiously peer into the secret door and discover a strange chamber beyond. The ceilings glow softly, illuminating an empty room whose walls, floors and ceilings are made of a hard, glossy, white substance.

On the wall to the west of the door is a large lever in the "down" position. A small sign is mounted above it, unreadable from the doorway. And there is a ten foot square steel plate on the floor of the room's eastern side (at '9').


Actions?


Map detail:

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


Map:






PC Status:

• Chaka: Ape-Boy Thief 3: Move: 12"(6"), AC: 6, HP: 7/17, Torch
  Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 2: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 20/20
  Jeojand: Cat-Man Magic-User 2: Move: 6", AC: 7, HP: 2/10, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 5/32
  L.L. Adrock: Half-Elf Cleric/Magic-User 2/1: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 7/8, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl
  Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 9", AC: 8, HP: 7/10, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl
  Tullia Galena: Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 16/24

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)

[Urson]

Maskelyn

Nicely done, Doc! he says, as he looks into the room from outside. He's definitely not bold enough to be the first one in.

[Starbeard]

"Well that's interesting," purrs Jeojand. He pussyfoots into the chamber, hugging the west wall, to observe the lever and its signage.

[wolfpack]

Excitedly Ll enters the room avoiding the steel plate but heading towards the sign trying to read it.

[1d20] = 6

[OGRE MAGE]

Chaka checks the dead-end passage for any more secret doors, since they seem to be ubiquitous in this strange place. Once that task is finished, he takes a listen down the dark corridor before joining the others in the newly found room.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-nan's head is on a swivel as he looks every which way for impending wizardly cowardice in the shape of metal machines with death rays. He follows into the room.

[Urson]

Maskelyn

Seeing the others enter the room, Maskelyn joins them. He walks around the room, taking in all the details. He often looks back to make sure nothing has followed them through the door.

[SpinwardMarch]

Tullia

Alright..., well, the box room hasn't tried to kill us yet. A down lever, huh? Does it also have an "up" direction? We are in the bottom of the tower, after all. She wants to look at the sign near the lever; maybe she can read it and will be able to learn more about this place.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo will enter cautiously with the others, but hug the northern wall.

[Inferno]

The Dead Wizard's Skyscraper
Forbidden Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Three. Late Morning, March 27th, 912 CY







Chaka confirms that the dead end is just what it appears to be. The ape-boy hears nothing from the shadowy northern tunnel. Then he pads back to the strange white chamber that was just discovered.

There, the other adventurers have entered the bright, glossy, alien room. Maskelyn walks its luminous perimeter, finding nothing save the large steel plate on the eastern part of the floor (at 9).

Adrock, Jeojand and Tullia converge at the lever. Currently in the "down" position, a bar beneath the lever prevents it from rotating any lower. But nothing blocks it from rotating upward.

Above the lever is mounted a sign inscribed with the ancient pictoglyphs of pre-cataclysmic Earth That Was. All three adventurers can decipher its timeless letters:

'TOWER ACCESS'



Actions?



Map detail:

Lighter areas were visible this round. All else is from memory. One square = 10 feet.


Map:



Non-required Reading (rolls and rulings):

Intelligence ability checks for Jeojand and Tullia: [1d20] = 12, [1d20] = 10 Both succeed.

PC Status:

• Chaka: Ape-Boy Thief 3: Move: 12"(6"), AC: 6, HP: 7/17, Torch
  Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 2: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 20/20
  Jeojand: Cat-Man Magic-User 2: Move: 6", AC: 7, HP: 2/10, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 5/32
  L.L. Adrock: Half-Elf Cleric/Magic-User 2/1: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 7/8, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl
  Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 9", AC: 8, HP: 7/10, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl
  Tullia Galena: Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 16/24

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)

[SpinwardMarch]

Tullia

"Tower Access," huh! Is this some kind of magical transport? And shall we move the lever?

This may get us away from the metal monsters....

[Starbeard]

Jeojand

"My instincts tell me this lever will send that metal plate up thrrrrough the ceiling: let us observe one way or the other." Jeojand throws the lever upward for just a moment, then returns it to the low position once they have determined the effect.

[wolfpack]

I agree I believe this is some kind of pulley system that will take the plate upward

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan cringes at "magical transport? are you crazy fool? trust your life to more cowardly magic???"

[SpinwardMarch]

Tullia

Easy, Ko-nan it was meant in humor. This is supposedly a wizard's place. But this looks rather more mechanical than magical.

[OGRE MAGE]

Chaka enters the room and hears the talk about a magical lifting device. He walks over to investigate it and then gets onto the steel plate, smiling at those still near the lever.

"Chaka love high places. Pull lever. See what happen."

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo clutches his scimitar and watches with mounting interest. He half expects the ape-boy to be instantly vaporized.

[Inferno]

The Dead Wizard's Skyscraper
Forbidden Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Three. Late Morning, March 27th, 912 CY







In the strange white room, Chaka merrily leaps upon the steel plate. "Chaka love high places. Pull lever. See what happen."

Curiosity killed the cat, they say. Intrigued, Jeojand the feline sorcerer is happy to oblige. His furred hand throws the lever up!

Instantly, the iron plate hurtles upward, revealing it to be the top, flat surface of an inverted pyramid of steel! The pyramid smashes into the glossy white ceiling, with Chaka atop it!

CRASH!



(Chaka takes 13 hp damage! Save vs Dex on 1d20-2 to take half damage.)

In the floor, where the inverted pyramid had been resting, stands revealed a hole angling inwards at the edges to support the steel plug. In the hole are glossy white stairs descending downward into darkness.

Chaka is pinned to the 15' high ceiling by the inverted pyramid! And Maskelyn feels his dagger and lantern wanting to float upward as well!



Actions?!



Map detail:

Lighter areas were visible this round. All else is from memory. One square = 10 feet.


Map:



Non-required Reading (rolls and rules):

pyramid damage: [3d6] = 13

PC Status:

• Chaka: Ape-Boy Thief 3: Move: 12"(6"), AC: 6, HP: 7/17, Torch
  Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 2: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 20/20
  Jeojand: Cat-Man Magic-User 2: Move: 6", AC: 7, HP: 2/10, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 5/32
  L.L. Adrock: Half-Elf Cleric/Magic-User 2/1: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 7/8, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl
  Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 9", AC: 8, HP: 7/10, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl
  Tullia Galena: Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 16/24

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)