Chapter 22: Underworld

[Inferno]

The Caverns of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Eleven. Late Morning. 21st day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







The explorers of the Underworld stand at a precipice overlooking a cavern, dwarfed by its vast immensity.

Smelling treasure, Cruloc tethers himself to Dahinna and Torix and the three step off the edge. Against every impulse of self preservation, they follow a precarious goatpath in the western cliff toward a silent black portal cut into the naked rock!

Having need of both hands, they leave torches behind as they inch their way across the great, colossal wall.



Pebbles loosened by unsure footfalls plunge into the bottomless abyss below.
(Cruloc, Dahinna and Torix: please roll vs Climbing on 1d100. Good luck!)

Suddenly, enormous black shapes descend in silence from the cavern's shadowed vaults! (B15-B17)




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: 15/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl, Lantern
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 30/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 5: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 16/25
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 19/29, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 18/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 1, HP: 10/29, Torch
Gnasher: Grigor's Hound: Move: 12", AC: 5, HD: 2+2, HP: 10/11, AT: 1, D: 1-4

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)

[Bluetongue]

Grigor

Bow in hand he can try to target the swooping bats as they flit about the chasm.

Grigor shortbow attacks [1d20+3]=15+3=18 [1d6]=3 [1d20+3]=11+3=14 [1d6]=5

[jemmus]

Torix needs both hands for climbing. He snuffs out his torch and tucks it in his belt. He puts his arm through his short bow and lies it across his back, the string across his chest. He begins climbing.

Climb Walls 87% [1d100]=10

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra holds her place, keeping her torch raised. She watches for any threat. IF she sees anything larger than an ordinary bat, she calls out to the treasure seekers.

[ChubbyPixie]

Not wishing to see his friends dashed to the cave floor below, or, incidentally, to lose his rope and grapnel, Kiri removes his two remaining Arrows of Chisis, takes aim and looses them at the seemingly ubiquitous bats:

Attack with Short Bow and +2 Arrows (THAC0:18): To Hit: [1d20+2]=14+2=16 Damage vs. s/m: [1d6+2]=2+2=4, vs. Lg: [1d6+2]=3+2=5

Attack with Short Bow and +2 Arrows (THAC0:18): To Hit: [1d20+2]=7+2=9 Damage vs. s/m: [1d6+2]=1+2=3, vs. Lg: [1d6+2]=5+2=7

He imagines he perceives a faint whistle as they sail through the darkness.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Fingers like steel pitons secure the barbarian's bulk to the vertical cliff face. He grimaces, continues inching along the wall, and awaits an opportunity to seize a bat's appendage in his teeth.

Climb walls 87% [1d100]=22

[Urson]

Zahra EDIT
Zahra moves forward on the bridge, holding her torch high. She shouts, trying to draw the attention of the creatures. Hoy! Over here! Nice, juicy meat for you!!

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

The rogue brings up the rear of the trio of climbers, trying to be brave while trying not to fall to her death...and take her companions with her. She considers removing her boots to allow her bare toes to grip better, but then changes her mind. When the giant bats appear she just shakes her head and hopes for the best.
Climbing: [1d100]=48

[jemmus]

Somehow I hadn't seen Inferno's last post when I posted last time....

Torix draws his hunting, trusting his life to one hand's ability to grip the rock's face.

[Inferno]

The Caverns of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Eleven. Late Morning. 21st day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







As Cruloc, Dahinna and Torix cling precariously to the cliff face, chiropteran monsters swoop down upon them!

The rope bridge creaking beneath her feet, Zahra valiantly draws them off and they veer sharply toward her flickering torch!

Suddenly, the unerring archery of the gypsy priest and the eastern giant feather the winged beasts with arrows!



Trailing arcs of crimson, they plunge flailing into the fathomless depths below!

The tethered scouts gather themselves and continue their painstaking, perilous ascent.

At the farthest edge of Zahra's torchlight, they reach the distant doorway alive. From its stone threshold, a short, broken ledge juts out into the chasm. Perhaps it had once been a platform or a bridge.

Within the black portal is found only darkness, cold and silence, like unto a grave.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

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

Map:


Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=2, Monsters: [1d6]=5 Monsters win, and take movement as their actions, to close with the PCs.

PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 15/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl, Lantern
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 30/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 5: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 16/25
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 19/29, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 18/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 1, HP: 10/29, Torch
Gnasher: Grigor's Hound: Move: 12", AC: 5, HD: 2+2, HP: 10/11, AT: 1, D: 1-4

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)

[jemmus]

Torix takes the unlit torch from his belt and strikes flint on iron to reignite the tar. He sweeps it around to illuminate the broken ledge and inside the portal.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra keeps her torch held high, watching to the South.

[Bluetongue]

Grigor

Shoulders his bow once more, counting his remaining shafts. Better to preserve them now.

He pats Gnasher, passing him a few rations to nibble as we wait upon the rope bridge. When any 'all clear' is called from those ahead and we follow along the thin ledge, here are some rolls.

Grigor & Gnasher climb the ledge [1d100]=72[1d100]=44

[ChubbyPixie]

Glad the last of his enchanted arrows proved to be of use, Kiri replaces his bow in the case on his hip. He wishes Grandfather could have seen the shot. He wonders what the old man is up to.

“I hope they don’t fall now. They’re too far away for my magic to be of assistance,” he says in a tone that betrays no actual worry. After a moment he adds: “Well, let’s not stand on a bridge all day.”

He moves to begin the trek along the ledge.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc peers over the precipice, down into the incomprehensible blackness. He is reminded of the gaping Pit of Zargoth and its churning phosphorescence.

"Ha! Let us hope that the dark here offers up nothing more than chittering bats. However, I doubt they carried off the corpses with their flapping wings. Something more sinister dwells below, or I'm a Turanian strumpet!"

[ravenn4544]

Amethu tries to remain patient while the group, now somewhat separated, finishes off the bats and explores the dark tunnel.

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

Holding on for dear life, the rogue from Zamora tries to laugh at Cruloc's statement, but she can't help but think about plunging to her doom. Maybe if she concentrates on opening the door...
"Will the door open? Let me get a look at its edges."
Check for traps and open mechanisms.

[Inferno]

The Caverns of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Eleven. Midday. 21st day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







Clinging to the path in the cliff, Torix gets a torch alight and the pitch blackness within the doorway melts away. It is only shadow, as dark and patient as that which lie beneath them in the yawning abyss.

The flickering light exposes the boundaries of the cavern, and that a second doorway in the rock lies further east! The cliff trail does not extend to this second door, perhaps a landside claimed it long ago.

As the other explorers begin to follow, walking the path between rope and cliff, Dahinna dares slip past Cruloc and confirms that no deathtraps await them at the first threshold.

She, Cruloc and Torix peer into the black portal and see a stone corridor reaching into a darkened chamber. The floor is thick with a dust undisturbed. The walls are jet black obsidian, drinking in the light. The stagnant air emanating from the maw is icy cold and, ten feet in, they discern a strange asymmetrical texture on the floor.

Eerily, the torchlight only extends half as far as it should inside the tunnel.


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: 15/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl, Lantern
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 30/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 5: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 16/25
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 19/29, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 18/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 28/28, Torch
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 1, HP: 10/29, Torch
Gnasher: Grigor's Hound: Move: 12", AC: 5, HD: 2+2, HP: 10/11, AT: 1, D: 1-4

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)

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

Grateful for no traps, Dahinna peers into the darkness and the dusty tunnel. She looks back and sees the others making their way along the ledge. "Should we wait for our companions or move in and explore a bit?" she asks, looking up at Cruloc and Torix.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra will be the last one on the rope-and-ledge path. Unless there's an easy way to carry her torch, she'll leave it at the end of the bridge and light a new one when she's back on firm footing.