Chapter 27: The Tower of the Ancients

[ravenn4544]

Amethu takes a minute to recover and allow what practical healing can be administered. As that finishes he lends magical aide to himself with his remaining shred of power.

Cure Light Wounds [1d8]=8

As the aftermath of battle subsides, he turns his attention to matters at hand. “Those papers still bear investigating. As does a way forward…”

[Inferno]

The Ancient Marble Tower, The Ruins of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twenty-four. Morning. 3rd day of the month of Ublex, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







Beneath the once-magnificent statuary in the ceiling, the victorious explorers fall to bickering. The acrimony passes as quickly as it came.

Cruloc and Torix tend to the injuries of Kiri and Amethu, who were each nearly crushed to death. (+1hp each) Amethu gives orisons to all-powerful Uthoth and is bestowed with blessings of miraculous healing! (+8hp)

Then the explorers of antiquity search the circular chamber atop the lone marble tower.

Torix the Pict would cook one snake and sacrifice the other to his pagan god. No firewood is found, but they recall the harpy nest above them was fashioned from large branches.

Amethu confirms what Kiri had earlier discovered: what they thought was a mound of crumpled parchment was in reality the shed skin of a giant serpent.



Beneath one of the four small windows, Cruloc finds a spyglass lying in a tangle of iron rods, but never before has the barbarian seen a spyglass this large.

It is clear to the ranger and the barbarians that the immense reptiles could not squeeze through the windows to seek food. Nor is there excrement here. Someone or something must be tending them!

They have yet to find a means to descend further into the tower when Asterion makes a startling discovery in the northeast corner of the tier!



In a dried mud nest lay transparent serpent eggs, each as large as a watermelon. And within each one, unborn snakes wriggle and writhe!


Actions?!


Map:

Tower's diameter is 35 feet.




PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 12/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl
Asterion: Argosian Atlantean Ranger 4: Move: 6", AC: 4, HP: 34/34, Torch
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 39/54
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 10/25, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 33/38

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)

[ravenn4544]

Amethu breathing easier after his recent ‘embrace’ studies the spyglass. He examines the size and position relative to the window. He looks also for a way to perhaps prop it up to scan the city - assuming it is still on one piece.

[jemmus]

Torix says, Snake eggs! Big ones. Very juicy, even better than snake meat. I get wood. He climbs the stairs back to the roof to bring firewood. He is on his guard, fully aware of the danger of venturing back alone. He wonders who has been feeding the big serpents. And why.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

The Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
13th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia

The blazing sun beat down upon the endless sands east of Akbitana as the mercenary Cruloc stalked beside the swaying camels of the caravan he had been hired to protect, his blade-hand restless on the worn hilt of his broadsword. The heat clawed at him, but he ignored it as he ignored all discomforts, his gaze prowling the horizon for signs of raiders. Bal-Tammuz of Shushan—his soft flesh jiggling with each step—halted and fumbled within his crimson robes. From their silken folds, his plump fingers withdrew a strange device, a gleaming tube of metal and glass. Lifting it to one heavy-lidded eye, he peered through it, his breath wheezing with excitement.

Cruloc stiffened. His hackles rose as they did when he sensed an ambush. The thing in his employer’s hands glinted like a serpent coiled in the desert sun, its glass eye gleaming with an unholy light. A weapon? A sorcery? He knew not which, nor did it matter. His instincts screamed danger. With a snarl, his blade rasped free, muscles coiling before the strike. He would cleave the thing in twain before it could spit its venom!

The merchant yelped, jerking back, sweat pouring down his face into his oiled beard. “Peace, barbarian!” he gasped. “It is but a glass! A tool for seeing distant things!” Cruloc hesitated, the red mist of fury receding to be replaced with confusion. Narrowing his eyes, he reached out, snatching the strange contraption from the Shemite’s quivering hands. He turned it over, sniffed it dubiously, and frowned.

“Cimmerians have no need for such trickery,” he growled, thrusting it back into the merchant’s trembling grasp. “The eyes of a man should be keen enough.”

With a scowl, he strode forward once more, leaving the pampered ox to clutch his bauble and mutter prayers of thanks to Ishtar.

____________

Present day

Cruloc eyes the huge device with wary disdain. He has no trust for objects too smooth, too perfect—such things reek of magic and deception. He lets the Verulian fumble with it. "If a thing is slicker than bare rock, I leave it be," he mutters. "Unless it has curves worth the risk."

Working with the skill of a butcher, he begins cutting up the snakeskin for binding dagger handles and waterproofing spell books and pouches. He wraps the strips of hide into tight bundles.

[hedgeknight]

Asterion

The ranger is about to call out to his companions, when Torix sees the eggs and dashes away to get wood to cook them! "Erm...we have snake meat? Is there any need to cook these eggs? I'm for just crushing them and the vile serpents within!"
To emphasize his words, Asterion skewers one of the eggs several times, hoping killing the young snake in the process.

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri shows no signs of the recent brush with death on his face, though his overall appearance is somewhat more disheveled than usual.

He ignores the dealings with the snakes and eggs and instead scans the floor looking for any suspect flagstones that may betray a hidden trapdoor to the floor below. Getting surprised again so soon would likely mean his death, and thus being stuck permanently under the judgmental gaze of Grandfather, instead of being able to summon him at will...

[Inferno]

The Ancient Marble Tower, The Ruins of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twenty-four. Morning. 3rd day of the month of Ublex, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia







In large transparent eggs, unborn serpents wriggle and writhe!

Ignoring them, learned Amethu reassembles the magnificent telescope that had been cast astrew.



The scholarly sorcerer-priest realizes it includes a sextant wheel. It had been used to observe the stars. Amethu looks into its wondrous glass and projects his far-ranging vision across the silent desolation of the Thracian ruins!



As industrious as giant ants, the barbarians set to work, efficiently using every part of the kill. Torix retrieves firewood from the harpy nest on the tower roof without incident.

While he is gone, Asterion repeatedly impales one of the huge eggs with his spear. The orb fills with crimson and all squirming within ceases.



Seven eggs remain.

Torix returns and begins to build a fire to cook one of the giant snakes and to sacrifice the other to Jhebbal Sag, Lord of Beasts.

Cruloc begins skinning the corpse of the bronze leviathan.



The valuable snakeskin will dry by Torix's fire.

Meanwhile, Kiri painstakingly scrutinizes the entire floor and discovers what he believes to be a trapdoor set into the stairwell landing! (see map)


Actions?


Map:

Tower's diameter is 35 feet.



PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 12/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl
Asterion: Argosian Atlantean Ranger 4: Move: 6", AC: 4, HP: 34/34, Torch
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 39/54
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 10/25, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 33/38

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)

[ChubbyPixie]

"Here..."

After appraising the others of his find, Kiri squats next to the suspect section of floor and examines it carefully for an opening mechanism. Was it designed to open upwards, or to drop unsuspecting fools into the space below? He'll not attempt to lift it until he and the others are ready, in case another "pet" lurks underneath it.

[jemmus]

Torix is puzzled by Asterion's attack on the snake egg. Yes, if left alone, the babies would grow into monsters. The same way the bird-hag chicks would have. But why waste good food? He thinks he'll never understand the ways of city men.

He says, Thank you, friends, gives Amethu and Asterion five gold coins each, nods his appreciation to Cruloc and Kiri, and puts his fist over his heart. Then builds a fire to immolate the jade snake as best he can. He lays the body on the blaze and adds a day's ration of boar's meat and one of his stash of homemade torches to the sacrifice. He says simply, with no gestures, no closed eyes, looking up to the sky, or other signs of invocation or veneration, Jhebbal Sag, nga nge faam ngom. Kam-magar ko ayueg rom. He then builds a separate fire, and when it has burned down to mostly coals, lays the remaining snake eggs on them. He rotates them pretty frequently using the butt of two torches lashed together, keeping even the butt of the ancient spear well away from the fire. When Cruloc has skinned the bronze serpent, he cuts filets away from the ribs and lays as many of them on the coals as their remaining heat can handle.

10 gp, 1 day's iron rations, and 1 torch deducted from the character sheet.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc observes the mysterious ritual. Crom is not a god who demands worship or sacrifices—he simply watches from his mountain, indifferent to the struggles of mankind. No nursemaid for weaklings, he is more likely to answer a prayer with a curse.

"Picts, like Aquilonians, Stygians, and all the soft-bellied races of the South, are like children," he muses silently, “pleading for mercy, for favour, for the strength they lack. Were I to offer Crom a serpent, he would cast two more at my feet and laugh!”

Suspecting that the ritual may work some foul sorcery upon him, he nicks his palm with a dagger to repel the magic which might turn him into a snake.

_______

As the party settles in, the Cimmerian’s pragmatism overcomes his suspicion, and he presses the strange tube to his eye. The ruined city, whose edges had been a distant jumble of drunkenly leaning towers and crumbling walls, lurches forward as though hurled at him by some unseen force! Instinct roars; he staggers backwards, furiously waving his hands in front of his face as if to fend off a swarm of insects, but his fingers meet naught but empty air. He blinks. The city has not moved.

A younger Cruloc would have cast the thing out the window, spitting a curse against its unnatural power. But hard years have stripped away such fears, leaving the cold practicality of a warrior. This device holds no spell, only the cunning of craftsmen. And if it can sharpen his vision, then he will use it as he uses a well-honed blade. He sneers at his own fleeting hesitation and, with a grunt, he peers through it again, his smashed lips curling into a grin.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu smiles quietly beneath his mask as Cruloc examines the eye device. Not as much finding humor in his response, but in watching the young barbarian's view of the world expand.

He takes the sextant, if possible to pack away, for future study and perhaps use in finding their way back to civilization once their quest is complete.

[hedgeknight]

Asterion

Like the barbarian, the ranger watches Torix go through the ritual of offering sacrifices to his god. After the gods abandoned his people and swallowed them in the depths of the ocean, Asterion has had little use for such musings. In fact, as he watches Torix and thinks about his past, he turns and spits on the ground, an action of disgust. He hefts the gold given him, but shudders a bit when the snake eggs are added to the fire.
"Who the hell am I traveling with?" he murmurs to himself.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

With deliberate hands, Cruloc lays the dry, molted snakeskin beneath the trap door above the spiral stair. No assassin nor skulking thief will descend unheralded!

[Inferno]

The Ancient Marble Tower, The Ruins of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twenty-four. Late Morning. 3rd day of the month of Ublex, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia






Hours pass in diligent industry within the tower's uppermost tier as the adventurers harvest wealth and food from their serpentine conquest.

Torix the savage sacrifices the emerald giant in flame. "Jhebbal Sag, nga nge faam ngom. Kam-magar ko ayueg rom."

Asterion thinks upon the fickle gods who long ago forsook his ancestors in ancient Atlantis, and spits.

Then Torix smokes the meat of the bronze leviathan, and seven huge eggs. The windows prevent them from asphyxiating. But any prying eyes in the lost city below could see smoke flowing from the lone marble tower.

When Torix's work is finally done, it produces a mouth-watering aroma and more food than they can carry! (100 iron rations, each weighing 1 lb. Please mind your Encumbrance's effect on your Movement. See PHB p.101-102)

But they will soon be in need of fresh water.

The Cimmerian wraps the treasure of the dried snake skin in bundles and stacks it to lay a trap at the top of the winding stair. (Seven bundles of 10lbs each)

Meanwhile, Kiri examines the trapdoor in the stairwell. He finds neither hinge, handle nor keyhole but they had trod across it many times without triggering it. The door's seam might be wide enough to admit a dagger or other tool.

Amethu secures the sextant on the telescope...



..and smiles behind his ibis mask as Cruloc hesitantly peers into the mysterious device, hurling his bewildered vision across the desolate ruins below. All is still beneath the warm afternoon sun. A body of water lies in a swamp to the east, beyond the remnants of fallen civilization.


Actions?


Tower Map:

Tower's diameter is 35 feet.

Ruin Map:

X = Adventurers' position. A = Cliff face trail where the Harpies attacked. B = Ruined temple lair of the giant Cyclops and the unleashed Hydra. C = The Tower of the Ancients.



PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 12/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl
Asterion: Argosian Atlantean Ranger 4: Move: 6", AC: 4, HP: 34/34
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 39/54
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 10/25, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 33/38

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]

Asterion

Much to his inner conflict, the smoked snake smells delicious and the ranger can't help but take a bite and lick the grease from his fingers. "I will carry as much food as I can," he offers, wishing he had a backpack instead of a satchel. He fills a large sack with the snake meat, pointedly avoiding the eggs. "Perhaps we should make for the water," Asterion muses as he prepares to leave.

Then he walks over to the trap door. He examines the floor around it and the walls as well. "There must be a trigger or latch to open it," he mutters to Kiri probing the wall with his fingers.

Not sure how many pounds of snake meat Asterion can carry. By my feeble calculations, I'm guessing he is carrying close to 30 lbs of equipment. He could carry another 30 lbs of foot and would be slightly encumbered; movement rate of 9 instead of 12. Is that accurate, Inferno?

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc continues to apply poultices and makeshift bandages to the party's wounds as they find temporary solace in their lofty stone haven. Not one for idleness, with his crude ministrations complete, he takes an inventory of the party's dwindling water supply. With a foray to the lake increasingly likely, he uses the telescope to the scan the ruins on both sides of the broad boulevard which leads to it.

[jemmus]

Torix can only assume that the God of the Beasts is satisfied with his offering, as are the nations of the creatures of the land, air and water. But the smell of burnt and cooked serpent and snake skin is everywhere. And he doubts that Jhebbal Sag rules over the half-man, half-beast monstrosities of this ancient city, or his presumed satisfaction means anything to them.

He packs as much meat into his shoulder bag as he can carry. Then, hoping that the serpent-keeper of this room hasn't ensorcelled the trap door, uses his hunting knife to try to pry it open.

Torix also applies barbarian first aid.
I’ll calculate and post encumbrance later. I may have missed it, but is the giant constrictor meat standard rations or iron rations?

[Inferno]

The Ancient Marble Tower, The Ruins of Thracia, Pictland, the World of Hyboria
Day Twenty-four. Late Afternoon. 3rd day of the month of Ublex, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia






By the wondrous power of the astonishing telescope, Cruloc's far-ranging sight is thrown amongst the motionless colonnade to the east, where the shadows of the day grow long.

Behind him, Asterion searches in vain for a release mechanism to the trapdoor that Kiri discovered.

Then Torix uses his Pict knife to pry it open, revealing another tight stairwell curling downward, deeper into the mysterious tower!




Actions?!


Tower Map:

Tower's diameter is 35 feet.

Ruin Map:

X = Adventurers' position. A = Cliff face trail where the Harpies attacked. B = Ruined temple lair of the giant Cyclops and the unleashed Hydra. C = The Tower of the Ancients.



PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 12/17, Spells: 3/8 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl
Asterion: Argosian Atlantean Ranger 4: Move: 6", AC: 4, HP: 34/34
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 39/54
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 4/3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 10/25, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
Torix: Pict Savage Barbarian 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 33/38

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)

[ChubbyPixie]

"I could summon Grandfather and send him down there with a torch," says Kiri, "but if it comes to fighting, I'll have to stay back and help however I can from a distance. I don't want to die again so soon..."