hedgeknight wrote:
Roan grits his teeth and shoves Arthfael away from him. "Spit on me again and I'll bloody my spear some more by making you a new asshole! You're just as crazy as this addled bastard!"
Once he hears the screams coming from up ahead, he runs forward, giving Arthfael and anyone else the finger as he approaches Attila. "What do you see? Where are the screams from?" he asks.
"Up there, around the corner, I imagine," says Attila, waving a hand casually down the eastern corridor. "I cannot see anything. They must be overreacting, though. I have a good feeling about this place."
He walks forward and looks around the corner to see what all the fuss is about.
North of the Secret Shrine of the Oracle of Osorus (3) The Great Pyramid of the Lost City, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day One. Evening. 13th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Gronda the savage bolts through the darkening hallway and joins up with the others just in time to see them forge deeper into the mysterious, winding channels of the great pyramid.
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Following the echoing shrieks, the explorers turn another corner onto a shocking scene.
Also white of hair and red of eye, the powerful, brutish creatures invade the ornate corridor from an open door, ambushing the bizarre, animal-masked strangers with primitive clubs, spears and stone axes (N1-6).
Roan's torchlight reveals the mangled bodies of Toad and Fox. Bloody and unmoving, they lie face up on the ancient stones at the beastmen's feet. Fox's mask has been shattered, exposing her true visage, chillingly serene and dreamlike in unconsciousness... or death.
Hare and Wolf (H and W) ineffectively try to mount a defense against the ferocious onslaught of the proto-men.
But Stag (S) merely stands impassive among the slaughter, like grain waiting for the scythe.
Just beyond the massacre come two more figures (O1, O2). Also animal-masked, and pale of flesh, but a far cry from the others.
Forged of iron, their twin hawk masks are more like golden great helms, as intricately etched as their half plate. They wield arming swords with certainty. Their voices and movements are further stark departures from Monkey and his kin; clear, determined, purposeful. "Defend thyself, antler'd one!"
"Fight, man! In the name of Osorus, what possesses thee?" they shout at Stag as they close with the savage simians from beyond the history of Man.
Actions?
Map:
Pyramid Tier 2.23.jpg (474.82 KiB) Viewed 4045 times
One square = 10 feet. Monsters not currently in sight of a PC are depicted in their last known location.
Factions: PCs: brown. Stag, Hare, etc.: black. Neanderthal Morlocks: blue. Hawk-helmed Warriors: gold
PC Status:
Arthfael Griogarach: Cimmerian Northman Druid 2: AC 6, HP 7/12, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl and 2/3 2nd lvl Attila: Hyrkanean Nomad Barbarian 1: AC 1, HP 11/12 Biblo Phyle: Zamoran Southman Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User 1/1/1: AC 3, HP 7/7, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 2: AC 5, HP 15/18, Laying Hands: 0/1 Gronda: Zembabweian Savage Ranger/Thief 1/2: AC 7, HP 14/17 Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 1/1: AC 4, HP 3/7, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl Loche: Pict Savage Thief 3: AC 5, HP 15/18, Torch Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 2: AC: 7, HP: 5/6, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl Roan, Son of Rune: Vanir Northman Barbarian 2: AC 4, HP 22/23, Torch
PC Magic:
Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin. Invisibility (Biblo): Ingested one dose of potion. Duration: unknown. Hypnosis (Mako): Arthfael, Attila, Roan, Stag and Toad. Duration: 1 round.
Mako backs up to the corner of the hallway to make room for anyone fleeing or advancing into battle. He screams at the senseless slaughter. "No stop! They are harmless! Animal people flee! Flee this way. We will not hurt you anymore. Curse you barbarian! Their blood is on your hands, savage!"
Gronda rushes forward 70 feet to where the noises of battle can be heard. Standing tightly in the northeast corner of the hall, she draws her bow back again and awaits the movement of the others before firing, not wanting to hit an ally.
She ponders the words of Mako, not sure what to make of them yet.
DadsAngry wrote:Mako backs up to the corner of the hallway to make room for anyone fleeing or advancing into battle. He screams at the senseless slaughter. "No stop! They are harmless! Animal people flee! Flee this way. We will not hurt you anymore. Curse you barbarian! Their blood is on your hands, savage!"
"Savage? Hell, you ain't seen nothing yet! Keep yer ass out of the way while you play with yerself and let the rest of us do the fighting."
Unable to get up to the front, and, at any rate, not feeling particularly up to the task, Kiri stows his hand axe and draws his trident, readying himself in case one of the warriors in front of him should fall. "You hear the metal warrior? They're with Osorus - like us, I suppose, like it or not," he says calmly over the din of close quarters combat.
The Second Tier of the Great Pyramid of the Lost City
The Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day One. Evening. 13th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
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Within the towering achievement of Man's greatest civilization, subhuman progenitors from the darkest depths of Man's primitive ancestry wreak havoc with bloodthirsty abandon.
A vicious battle erupts in the tight quarters of the pyramid corridor, with Roan's torch as its only light source. The other adventurers come running as Mako of Khitai screams at the slaughter, "No! Stop! They are harmless! Animal people, flee! Flee this way. We will not hurt you anymore. Curse you barbarian! Their blood is on your hands, savage!"
Stag, Hare and Wolf (S,H,W) comply, flying back the way they came, pushing past the lost explorers and barreling down upon unseen Biblo and Loche. The surprised Pict draws his bone dagger at the sight of the bizarre advance!
Roan the barbarian growls, "Savage? Hell, you ain't seen nothing yet!"
The big, northern warrior rears back with his spear, readying to mercilessly impale his enemies. And suddenly...
...freezes!
Something is wrong. Roan cannot control his actions! A powerful compulsion in his mind forbids the Vanir barbarian from throwing his spear!
Inferno wrote:
Mako of Khitai... hastily weaves an enchantment to beguile and enthrall the minds of men.
"Please friends, do no more harm. No violence! No violence!"
Arthfael, Atilla and Roan fall under his spell... All three cannot bring themselves to commit further violence.
Atilla the barbarian also hesitates in his fierce onslaught!
Unfortunately, their bestial enemies share no such compunction. They spring like wild panthers.
With a guttural roar, a squat, brutish monstrosity (N3) bludgeons Atilla with primitive ferocity! (-8hp!) The Hyrkanean nomad hears ribs crack as his mouth fills with hot blood and bile.
Roan's subhuman foe swings reckless and wide, apparently fooled by the barbarian's "feint." Garrin's sword clashes overhead against a massive club, sparing the paladin's life but spoiling his own attack.
Twin warriors in golden armor and hawk masks join the fray, forming a second front against the nearly human creatures.
Bare arms and thighs (unlike the picture) revealing more bone-white flesh, the glimmering swordsmen attack! One (O1) drives his sword to the hilt in a man-ape's belly (N4), disemboweling him in one thrust. The beastman howls in sudden agony as steaming entrails and blood gush out in a crimson deluge.
Before the hawk-masked fighter (O1) can pull his sword free from his dead enemy, another powerful, pale brute attacks him! (N5) The fell swing of a savage club smashes his golden mask clean off...
...with his head still in it.
His hawk-masked twin, already wounded, doesn't seem to react as his kin's decapitated body (O1) collapses to the ancient, blood drenched stones.
Meanwhile, to the west, Stag, Hare and Wolf suddenly start shrieking.
Loche the Pict mutters, "Whit the bloody hell now?" as he turns to see what they're pointing at.
A large shadow looms around the corner. The fearsome, creeping shadow of the gigantic mother tarantula!
Actions? Mako's hypnosis spell is ended. Arthfael, Atilla and Roan (and Stag) have free will again.
Map:
Pyramid Tier 2.24.jpg (477.77 KiB) Viewed 3999 times
One square = 10 feet. Monsters not currently in sight of a PC are depicted in their last known location.
Factions: PCs: brown. Stag, Hare, Wolf: black. Neanderthal Morlocks: blue. Hawk-helmed Warriors: gold.
Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin. Invisibility (Biblo): Ingested one dose of potion. Duration: unknown.
Attila looks upon his assailant, unable to determine why he had not noticed previously just how vile and odorous the thing was. He spits in its face and drives forward with his javelin.
Gronda winces when she sees the massive spider appear from around the corner, sure that she would have been eaten by the thing had she not run away from its hole just a few moments before.
She tries to plug the monster with more of her arrows, deliberately shooting them over the heads of the masked lunatic lotus eaters.