Chapter 26: Dominion of Ruin

[ravenn4544]

Amethus eyes open wide beneath his mask at the unexpected monstrosity! His eyes then dart immediately to Cruloc and the idea of using his, seemingly, most useful spell in his repertoire. He knows now that Cruloc won't react well to the idea - but necessity being the mother of invention and all that - he casts it anyway. It seems appropriate to increase the odds, literally, in their favor.

Cast enlarge on cruloc

[jemmus]

Torix sees Cruloc's eye sign about getting to the monster's side or rear. He runs in a curve to the right to flank the creature, hoping to end the run with a charge with his spear to the thing's flank or rear.

No dice roller on my phone. Will roll later, or DM Inferno can roll for me if necessary.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

The Verulian sorceror intones his vile incantations, and once more the unwelcome Enlarge dweomer overtakes the near-indomitable Cruloc! His bronzed skin tightens, stretching over swelling muscles and groaning bones as reality itself is twisted. Sinews crack with the force of their eldritch growth. His breath comes ragged, and he grows, limbs thickening, until he towers over Amethu's pale form!

"Aaaaaaa-me-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA-HA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-uh?"

The laugh dies in his throat as he sees that yonder towering beast is still twice his height!

"A demon, to be sure. You'd stand out even in Zamboula, where races mingle together to produce hybrids of all unholy hues and breeds!" he growls.

He notes that its vacant eye and slack jaw speak of a creature driven by instinct, not intellect.
"Aye, a blind badger can see you’ve the height of a tree, but the wits of a stump!"

While the Zamoran and the Pict circle to strike, Cruloc improvises a crude parley, hurling a boulder to the left side of the broad, dusty avenue, bellowing "Thanatos!"

[Inferno]

The Ruins of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twenty-two. Mid-morning. 1st day of the month of Ublex, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







Suddenly the desolate, dead city bursts to life with deadly peril!

"What in the name of all that's holy is that thing?" gasps Dahinna as she peers upward in disbelief!

Towering over a distant crumbling wall looms a monster of the ancient world; born of an epoch of strange magic, creatures and wonders the likes of which are not to be found in the world today!

Scholarly Amethu remembers he had studied time-ravaged murals in their first foray into antiquity. They spoke of an older world than recorded history knows. One scarred remnant depicted the ancient gods cursing the hubris of the Thracians with plagues of bestial monsters that befell the city-state! All were defeated and enslaved.

Amethu is suddenly jarred from his reveries when Dahinna, Kiri and Torix rush past him to take cover and flank the one eyed leviathan, but the thickly strewn rubble of a shattered ancient temple slows their advance!

Wielding arcane eldritch enchantments beyond the ken of mortal men, Amethu once more violently distends Cruloc's frame with an abhorrent gigantism!

The titanic barbarian attempts to communicate with the monstrous cyclops, throwing a boulder and shouting, "Thanatos!"

The horrific behemoth seemingly recognizes the battle cry of its enemies and roars with rage! It then seizes a massive stone column...



...and uproots it! It lifts the pillar overhead and hurls it at Cruloc with a fearsome, unearthly strength! Cruloc narrowly evades imminent, certain death and tons of ancient stone shatter against the ground!


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Top of map is North. Rubble slows movement.

Area Map:

X marks the adventurers' position.

Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=3, Monsters: [1d6]=3 Tied!

Cyclops attacks Cruloc: [1d20]=2 Misses!

PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 17/17, Spells: 7/8 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 54/54
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 5: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 25/25
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 21/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 38/38

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

Scared nearly witless, the rogue stifles a scream when the cyclopean behemoth hurls a stone pillar at the now-gigantic Cruloc! As the dust settles, she dashes across an opening to the side of Amethu, her short sword in hand. "Tell me you have a plan," she hisses.

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri quickly develops a strategy for (hopefully) not dying a third time so soon.

Crouching low, he'll attend the creature's reaction. If it rushes Cruloc, he'll advance behind it to a distance of 25 feet, in preparation for a dweomer at next opportunity. If the creature instead turn its fury in his direction, he'll flee northwards through the gap in the rubble, or, if the creature manages to close with him, unsheath his two-handed sword and swing for the ankles...

Only if absolutely necessary : Attack with Two-Handed Sword (THAC0:18): To Hit: [1d20+3]=7+3=10 Damage vs. s/m: [1d10+6]=6+6=12, vs. Lg: [3d6+6]=15+6=21

[jemmus]

Torix continues his curving run, leaping over fallen masonry and stone rubble, getting to the monster's rear. He ends his run with a charge on the thing with his ancient razor-sharp spear.

Atlantean Spear [1d20+3]=18+3=21 S-M [1d6+3]=5+3=8 L [1d8+3]=2+3=5

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc charges, his giant form streaking across the rubble-strewn flagstones faster than an arrow loosed by a Hyrkanian horse archer!

+2 Sword of Xuthalhotep (+2 to hit, +1 Cimmerian w/sword, +1 STR adj, +2 charge) [1d20+6]=2+6=8

Before he reaches the cyclops, its stench mounts his nostrils like a frantic ape, causing his sword to carve an ineffective arc through the dusty air!

[ravenn4544]

Dahinna
"Tell me you have a plan," she hisses.

Amethu responds, "Yes - I just executed it..." He stands back to see the effect Cruloc and the others have on this new devilry.

[Inferno]

The Ruins of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twenty-two. Mid-morning. 1st day of the month of Ublex, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia





Amongst the devastation and ruin of the greatest civilization in the history of the world, Dahinna darts across a gap in the wall to join Amethu! The rogue and the wizard peer out from behind the sundered masonry, astonished at what their eyes behold!...

The three warriors advance upon an incredible creature out of distant mythology... that is twenty feet tall!



The monstrous gargantua reaches down into the rubble of stones and lifts up a gigantic club, the length of a tree! With a snarl, it turns to square off against the charging barbarians!

Twice the size of the giant Cimmerian, the cyclops roars and beats down the Sword of Xuthalhotep! Then the enormous abomination raises his club in an overhead strike and hammers it down upon bold Cruloc in a bone-crunching blow that staggers the mighty warrior! (11hp damage) Cruloc feels ribs crack and tastes blood in his mouth.



Behind the massive colossus, Kiri edges closer, readying an arcane incantation born of the distant East!

Torix circles the towering monstrosity as best he can* through the wreck of the collapsed temple! Unwavering in the sight of the unbelievable, the Pict savage strikes true with his ancient Atlantean spear, gashing the one-eyed behemoth in the leg!


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Top of map is North. *Grey rubble slows movement, white rubble is impassable to human-sized creatures.

Area Map:

X marks the adventurers' position.

Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=2, Monsters: [1d6]=4 Monster wins and lets them come to him.
Cyclops attacks Cruloc? (1) or Torix? (2): [1d2]=1. To hit: [1d20]=19 Hits Cruloc.
Damage to Cruloc: [3d6]=11

PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 17/17, Spells: 7/8 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 43/54
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 5: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 25/25
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 21/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 38/38

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

"He's not going to be able to take much more of that!" the rogue says, wincing as giant-sized Cruloc staggers from the club of the cyclops. Gritting her teeth and stamping down her fear, Dahinna dashes (as best she can) toward the first northern pillar closest to Kiri. She waits for the right moment to strike at the monster's back legs.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu agrees. He weaves a magical hammer to aide cruloc.

Spiritual Hammer - To Hit[1d20]=13 Damage(Sm/M) [1d6]=1 Large [1d4]=3

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

One drunken night in Belverus, a broad and brutish Nemedian cutpurse, shoulders hunched like a bull's, neck thick as a tree trunk, had caught the Cimmerian unawares and struck his jaw with fists like gnarled hammers. A kick from a warhorse would have been no worse, Cruloc reckoned at the time, and a thousand blows from sundry foes in the years since had failed to eclipse that wallop which had sent him crashing through a sturdy tavern table and into near unconsciousness.

Until now.

The cyclops' club descends like a thunderbolt, a battering ram of raw fury. Flesh tears, bone buckles under the force, and the fire of agony blossoms in Cruloc's chest. Blood pounds in his ears, the world swims, leaving the Northman teetering on the edge of nothingness. From the whirling darkness grows form and shape, and dimly, he seems to see himself standing alone in a deserted city of glittering marble columns unspoilt by the ravages of centuries. Then, the scene distorts and flickers, like a mirage cast upon a storm-tossed sea, but not before he beholds giant fissures begin to split the city as convulsions heave and topple the pillars which fringe it under a lurid red sun wheeling above at dizzying speed to mark the passage of millenia.

The roar of the tumbling stones jolt Cruloc to his senses, and their booming collapse becomes the bellow of the cyclops, dragging him from dream into savage reality!

"Crom's guts! Either you've cracked my skull and I'm seeing double, or you now have two eyes!"

+2 Sword of Xuthalhotep (+2 to hit, +1 Cimmerian w/sword, +1 STR adj) [1d20+4]=11+4=15
+2 Sword of Xuthalhotep vs S/M [1d8+5]=5+5=10 vs L [1d12+5]=7+5=12

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri grimaces as Cruloc takes a blow from the giant’s tree-club, and then hastens to do what he can to deny the creature its tremendous advantage in strength.

His eyes go white as he chants a series of arcane syllables in a low sing song that seems to follow no known musical pattern. As he does so he gestures towards the beast in a grasping motion in the air between them as if pulling on a rope of black flame.

Kiri casts Ray of Enfeeblement.

[jemmus]

Torix sees the gigantic thing throw an entire stone column at Cruloc and miss, and Amethu's sorcery again grow the Cimmerian to twice his natural size. Still, he's only half the size of the titanic thing like a monster heard of and only before seen in bad childhood dreams. And then the nightmare monster's spiked club and smashes down on Cruloc's mortal flesh and bone. And his own slicing slice with spear from the thing's own age was just an unnoticed gash in a thigh.

He yells, Cimmerian! Move! Don't fight it you, just one! We're many! Just one eye! He targets a thrust of the fine ancient and mystical spear's blade through the gargantuan's wiry hair and thick scaly hide and hit muscle. Or at least get the abomination's attention and everyone some more seconds of chance and choice. Shamans! It only has one eye! It can't see even as well as a fish! Or even a bug with two eyes!

Atlantean Spear [1d20+3]=3+3=6 S-M [1d6+3]=5+3=8 L [1d8+3]=7+3=10

[Inferno]

The Ruins of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twenty-two. Mid-morning. 1st day of the month of Ublex, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







In a clash of the titans, savage barbarians wield enchanted weapons forged by great civilizations of yore - lost Atlantis and Verulia! - against a fabled abomination also born of that legendary epoch!

Like a mortal bearing witness to a war between the gods, Dahinna breathlessly lunges behind a stone pillar, hoping she won't be seen by that great terrible eye as she edges ever closer to it!

With an utterance of sacred, venerable syllables, Kiri Khutan conjures a rope of black flame to pull strength from the colossal cyclops but the mythical monstrosity defies the spell and the cord of ebon fire snaps!

Amethu also brings to bear arcane sorcery from his distant homeland and summons a mystical hammer that batters against the towering creature's thick, elephantine hide! The monstrous leviathan is unharmed but cannot help but be distracted by the strange, inexplicable magic!

Meanwhile, ancient unknowable steel glitters in Cruloc's hand. Shaking off a staggering blow, the huge Cimmerian lunges forward at that instant and the Sword of Xuthalhotep sings in great shimmering arcs, wreaking devastation upon the gigantic cyclops!



Blood spurts between fingers that grip its wound, and the enormous behemoth unleashes another deafening roar as its massive spiked bludgeon ravages Cruloc again with the unbridled fury of a runaway bull! (13hp damage)

The thunderous hammer-jolt runs straight down through Cruloc and sets the ground to tremble, fouling Torix's aim!

With mounting alarm, the Pict savage cries out that Cruloc should withdraw and the sorcerers should target the fearsome goliath's great single eye, even as he holds within his fist the dazzling magic spear forged in ancient Atlantis.


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Top of map is North. *Grey rubble slows movement, white rubble is impassable to human-sized creatures.

Area Map:

X marks the adventurers' position.

Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=4, Monsters: [1d6]=4 Tied!
Cyclops: Save vs Spells: [1d20]=18 Saves.
Cyclops attacks Cruloc: [1d20]=10, damage: [3d6]=13

PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 17/17, Spells: 7/8 1st lvl, 4/5 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 30/54
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 5: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 25/25
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 21/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 38/38

PC Magic:

Spiritual Hammer (Amethu): Duration: 3 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)

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

Seeing an opening, the rogue dashes forward and attempts to hamstring the giant with her short sword.
Short Sword: [1d20+2]=11+2=13 Damage [1d6+2]=1+2=3

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Shorn of its bark and wielded by a fearsome giant out of legend, the tree trunk finds its target in another terrific thunderclap of wood against flesh and steel which sends Cruloc skittering headlong into a marble pillar like a broken doll. Only his great helm, decorated with the curving horns of a bull, prevents his skull from being split apart and his brains dashed upon the timeworn flagstones. Stars burst in his dim vision, pain floods his veins like molten iron, and the contents of his burning lungs are expelled in a sharp gasp.

“HNNNNNNNNNNUH!”

For the second time, consciousness threatens to elude him. Grasping black hands pull him towards an inky abyss darker than the Well of Skelos. The struggling Cimmerian finds a handhold in the cracked stone and rises drunkenly, the ancient column behind him painted with a haphazard smear of crimson, as if applied with a careless brush.

Uncomprehending, high above him, he sees an evil, imbecilic face with the second eye that his tenuous grip on reality has granted it. Cruloc knows not where he is, for all sense has been battered out of him. His right shoulder hangs low, perhaps dislocated, but the hilt of his sword remains in his iron grip. Face bruised and lips pulped, he can but stare at what unfolds. Time runs at half speed. Two identical Picts, spears raised, lurk behind the monstrosity. Two pale Verulian faces peek out from behind a ruined pillar. Two Zamorans race past, flinging themselves into battle with reckless haste. And to his left, a mismatched pair of Kambujans, one young and hale; the other old, withered, clad in naught but a dirty loincloth, regards him with a cabalistic grin.

“Torrrch-bearrerrrr.”

The elder’s lips move, but no sound escapes them. Instead, the word forms in his mind, a half-whisper like the wind passing through the open door of a crypt, though he is unable to decipher its meaning or purpose. Whether it is an introduction, an accusation, or an exhortation, he does not know.

Nor does he care. Cruloc wastes no time on conjecture. Rage rises in his breast, and he lunges to his left, thrusting at the cyclops with all his waning power.

+2 Sword of Xuthalhotep (+2 to hit, +1 Cimmerian w/sword, +1 STR adj) [1d20+4]=12+4=16
+2 Sword of Xuthalhotep vs S/M [1d8+5]=7+5=12 vs L [1d12+5]=2+5=7

[ravenn4544]

Amethu concentrates on pummeling the beast with sorcerous intent. It seems quite formidable however.

Spiritual Hammer - To Hit[1d20]=8 Damage(Sm/M) [1d6]=1 Large [1d4]=1

He keeps an eye on Cruloc to gauge his condition before abandoning his attack in lieu of healing the warrior.

[jemmus]

Torix sees the terrible blow of the club like a log crash on Cruloc. The man reels, but somehow still stands. The Cimmerian is made of amazing strong stuff. "We must somehow finish this soon," he thinks, though in his heart he thinks that that is only remotely possible. He grimly decides to risk the perils of calling on the gods of the forest and bringing oneself to their attention. "God Jhebbal Sag, make me fight not like a man, but like the great ape of the forest, the berserker who does not think, but only fights with rage to kill. And I will offer you a great sacrifice, according to the customs. 'If I remain alive to do be able to so. And if not, my own life be the sacrifice." He drives at the stomping and driving giant with the ancient steel-headed spear.

Atlantean Spear [1d20+3]=14+3=17 S-M [1d6+3]=5+3=8 L [1d8+3]=5+3=8

Jhebbal Sag. A god of all beasts, and men who act as beasts. Fang and claw are the law of this Beast-Lord. For millions of years he has loped through his wild lands in the form of one great beast or another; for such is his pleasure. When man came he added them to his stable. Jhebbal Sag is brother in spirit and blood to the animal kingdom.