Chapter 11: The Parallax Reality

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo, a bit freaked out at being submerged in water (why would you ever do this?) turns and follows the party members who are headed for the other branch of the tunnel.

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi follows the others.

[SilverBen]

Ko-nan scans the enemies for any sign they have been detected. He too moves smoothly and quietly in the still water. He is reminded of a time seemingly long past. A retributive raid on a rival mining tribe found him moving through still water on a dark night in a similarly dim chamber. That mission ended in the spilled blood of the enemy. He smiles. Something likely to happen yet again, here, soon....

Finver pulls himself up as quietly as possible, allows the streams of water to drain from his beard and follows Ko-nan with a dagger illuminated by the blessing of Lady Draupadi. He gives a wink of confidence and encouragement to Connack for his forebearance of discomfort.

[Bluetongue]

Sheriff Yul

I would like to study this cave area where I am though I know others are backing out to take the left hand tunnel. My gut feeling is that we should be swimming under the bridge at 9.

Anyway with the shadow in the water identified, I will swim submerged about 30'ft east and 10'ft north, to the rounded section of the east portion of land. Putting my 'magic spectacles' on, I hope to get a wide view of all the Altrusian and Sleestaks in the area and those who manifest as the bug-eyed beings.

[Inferno]

The 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








The waterborne adventurers have surfaced in the City of the Sleestaks! The vast cavern, including the system of cave-homes on its western wall, is as busy as a hive of killer bees. With ruthless industriousness, the Sleestaks search for them!

Everyone except Yul quietly submerges and retreats back the way they came!



They notice the tunnel mouth (18) on this side is surrounded with harsh, ugly hieroglyphs that have been carved into the stone! None can decipher them. Then they swim into the tunnel and paddle rightward, into the remaining, western shaft of the submerged tunnel.

The floor of the underwater tunnel begins to slope sharply upward, and enters into an air-filled cavern, twenty feet high!



The adventurers surface and find no witchlights here, nor banners. There is a musty smell. Finver's glowing dagger pierces the darkness and they can see the subterranean river ends at the bottom of a ten-foot tall ledge of rock, steep but scalable. What lies beyond the jagged cliff cannot be seen.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas were visible this post. All else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Ambrose is brown.





PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 10/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 17/34, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 26/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 15/31
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 12/39
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 9/14, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 16/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

Light (Draupadi): Target: Finver's dagger. Duration: 89 rounds.

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)

[Inferno]

The 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







Meanwhile, separated and alone, Yul lingers in the danger of a city that hunts him. The cyborg cowboy dives. Underwater, the lake floor lies somewhere beyond Yul's visibility of thirty feet. He surfaces again near a rock shelf to the east (10). It is scattered with many bones. They do not appear human.

He dons his spectacle-lenses and scans the swarming cold-blooded enemies that search for him.




Yul discovers two of the Sleestaks are not what they seem to be! (S2, S10)




The closer of the two fleshless doppelgangers (S2) is moving toward the lake, scanning its surface; scouring, hunting, searching!


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas were visible this post. All else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Sleestaks are green. Doppelgangers are blue. Ambrose is brown.

Map:






PC Status:

Sheriff Yul: Cyborg Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 27/38

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)

[Rex]

Draupadi

Looking around, "Where is Yul?"

[redwarrior]

Connack will draw his magical saber to add to the light. Yul?! I thought he was here with us? Do we need to go back? Connack will start to examine their surroundings, looking for any obvious or hidden passageways.

[SilverBen]

Finver scans the surface of the river with concern, looking and listening for any signs of distress from their missing cyborg companion. He waves the glowing dagger to guide the party towards the cliff face. He whispers "We can get a better look around fer Yul up there," he points up towards the ledge above. "Careful, don't climb up right beneath me or each other. If we need ta make a quick retreat, we wouldn't wanna fall on someone below. Got it?"

Before raising himself out of the water, he asks, "Mungo, what's that smell?"

OOC: Inferno, would an ability check be able to identify the musty odor for Finver or Mungo, or another underground denizen?

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo slinks out of the water as quietly as a rat man slinking out of water and scales the small rock face, poking his head just over the edge to see what may be seen. At the last second, just before looking over, he has the presence of mind to close his one cybernetic eye to prevent the glow being seen by any entities which may be lurking on top.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan stands in wait while they scale the cliff to see where to advance to next. He applies further first aid to himself if it helps.

[Urson]

Maskelyn
The Gnome scrambles out onto the rocks, and begins climbing. At the top, he stops and waits for the others, letting himself drip dry.

(IN 16) [1d20]=11

He breathes deep, taking in the musty odor. Smells like my sister's cooking...

[Rex]

Draupadi

As the others climb, she will climb out as well.

Int check (11) [1d20]=4

[SilverBen]

Finver pulls himself up and sniffs again cluelessly with a puzzled look on his face. (OOC: Failed the Attribute Check)

[1d20]=16 > = INT 9 for Attribute Check, trying to identify the odor

[redwarrior]

Connak sniffs the air as he sakes his fur somewhat dry. It triggers a memory in him, just on the tip of his whiskers.




Int check target = 12 [1d20]=3

[jemmus]

Mungo also scales the ledge. "What is that smell?" he thinks. Not the wet cat-man, rat-man and mole-man smells. The other one. He raises his snout and does rapid inhales and exhales through his nose.

Intelligence 9 [1d20]=8

[Bluetongue]

Sheriff Yul

Tries to study the Altrusians to determine if he can make out which one is Enath.

I had an idea to try and give him my glasses as away to invoke some kind of civil rebellion against the 'alien bug eyes'.

Taking a chance, I will swim closer to the west shore, hoping he can distinguish between the green skins.

If and only if he is discovered swimming, he will fire a crossbow bolt from his hand weapon, at the figure noted S2.

Sheriff Yul. Handheld crossbow [1d20+3]=11+3=14 damage [1d6+2]=6+2=8

[Inferno]

The 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 air-filled cavern, Connak, Draupadi, Maskelyn and Mungo can smell the lake, an infestation of mold, and something fishy.

Ko-Nan stands guard. Connak searches for another way out to no avail. Miraculously, any who imbibed of the glimmering sea potion before swimming are completely dry!

Draupadi, Fiefo, Finver, Maskelyn and Mungo scale the rock ledge and peer out onto a sandy floor.



By Mungo's lantern-helm, they see it ranges west and south, out of view. (area 19)

Suddenly, the sand begins to writhe! Some dozen rippling serpents burst out and wriggle toward the adventurers' astonished faces! (E's)




Horrifically, their ravenous, round mouths are lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth!





Actions?!





Meanwhile far behind them, in the City of the Sleestaks, Yul scans the shore, searching in vain for Enath.

To get a better view, the cyborg sheriff swims closer to those that hunt him.

Suddenly an immense shape rises from the depths and erupts from the surface!



A gigantic toad, with multiple hideous heads! (TH)

Yul hears a commotion from the shore and the monstrous leviathan is upon him!


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas were visible this post. All else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Sleestaks are green. Doppelgangers are blue. Ambrose is brown.

Behind the DM Screen:

Mystery roll: [1d6]=6 A wandering monster is encountered in the lake.
Yul: INT check to identify Enath: [1d20]=12 Fails.
Party surprised? (1-2): [1d6]=6 No.

PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 10/19, Saber
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 17/34, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 26/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 15/31, Dagger
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 12/39
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 9/14, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 16/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, Lantern
Sheriff Yul: Cyborg Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 27/38

PC Magic:

Light (Draupadi): Target: Finver's dagger. Duration: 88 rounds.

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)

[ChubbyPixie]

Wide-eyed, Fiefo reflexively scrabbles for his scimitar and swats heroically (not like a frightened child) at the disgusting, terrifying sand worms which make his skin crawl:

Attack with Scimitar (THAC0 18): To Hit: [1d20+1]=13+1=14 Damage, s/M/L: [1d8]=7

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi attacks with her mace.

Mace [1d20]=17 to hit [1d6+1]=5+1=6 damage