The Unseen Servant forums

The Island of Death, The Underground City, Beneath the Great Pyramid of Xuthalhotep
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Ten. Afternoon?, 23rd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia






The pilgrims to Hell are struck by the preternatural massiveness and alien otherness of their monstrous surroundings.

As Zahra and Tjoruy stand guard, Amethu shines his lantern into the shadowed portal that crowns the towering stair. His piercing ray drives back the darkness and reveals a looming corridor that holds only ruin, decay and desolation.

Below, Loche unsheathes his jeweled dagger as Xorzen sniffs and listens at the curving hole beneath the rock. Silence is the only answer he hears, and the unnatural, sickening stench of the entire area is all he can smell.

Meanwhile, Mako watches unseen and perplexed as Kiri employs the wondrous Helm of Uthoth to decipher the ancient pictoglyphs of the strangely-angled stones.



The mind of the spell-sword of the mysterious East attempts to comprehend things that cannot be described; eldritch contradictions of all matter, force and cosmic order. (Please Save vs Spells on 1d20)


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet.





PC Status:
PC Magic:
Player Resources:

Cruloc

The mouth to the obscene temple stands like a darksome, yawning pit before the grim barbarian. The fetor of the place flooding and abusing his keen nostrils convinces him that these monstrous, brooding walls have witnessed a thousand grisly acts.

Cruloc's eyes are ineluctably drawn to the perverse pictoglyphs, but they make his eyes ache, and his mind rebels just to look upon them. The barbarian wrenches his gaze away from their bewitching, otherworldly power.

"Bah!" he spits. "The elders of my tribe have whispered of this magic thing called writing!" Letters contain lies, and are used by evil men for dark purposes. He silently vows to never learn to read.

Teeth clenched, his iron grip tightening on his sword, he steps through the gaping doorway before him. “Come, ready your blades. If we are to walk into hell, we shall bring some hell of our own!”

Loche

Since it appears there is no imminent threat from the hole, Loche gets bored and makes his way to the entrance.

Zahra
Zahra holds her peace on the question of literacy, but nods and lifts her sword overhead at Cruloc's plan to 'bring hell'. When the group is ready to proceed, she'll fall in near the front, behind the scout.

Garrin enters the cave with Cruloc.

Mako:

Mako waits for Kiri as the others begin to move on.

Kiri studies the glyphs. There... they begin to...

Suddenly his hands fly to his head and clutch the sides of his helm, his face a rictus of desperate resistance. His eyes go wide. Drool escapes his lips as he struggles to retain his mind...

Save vs. Spells (12): [1d20] = 11

He wishes in that moment that he had never learned to read...

Tjoruy wanders over to the dead vine-thingy near the cliff's edge east? either way, near the x on the upper right of the map. He searches the area. Given the illusions of this place, and his penchant for hallucinations, he picks up a rock and tosses it off the cliff's edge to see what happens.

The Island of Death, The Underground City, Beneath the Great Pyramid of Xuthalhotep
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Ten. Afternoon?, 23rd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia





Ignoring the barbarian's warnings against the evils of literacy, Kiri Khutan reads the ancient pictoglyphs of the strangely angled stones as Mako looks on from behind him.

The wondrous helm from the Treasure of Xuthalhotep translates the forbidden glyphs without mercy. Kiri's mind struggles to weather blasphemous secrets man was not meant to know! The mystical warrior's face contorts into a visage of agony as his sanity is besieged! He drops his torch and desperately clutches at his head, trying to pull the helmet off, trying to make it stop! (Please roll 1d100)

Unaware of the psychic horror transpiring within Kiri's beleaguered mind, Tjoruy the dreamer confirms the reality of a steep cavern wall.

Meanwhile, Cruloc, Garrin and Zahra lead the way up the towering stair into the ages-mad catacombs of unknown horrors.



As they boldly enter the grim and forbidding arch, a stone shifts underfoot.

There is a sudden shriek of iron!

A great portcullis plummets from the looming shadows above, hurtling down upon them!





Actions?! (Cruloc, Garrin and Zahra, please roll an Attribute Check vs Dex on 1d20+3 to avoid being hit! If you succeed, please post whether you leap forward or back)


Map:

One square = 10 feet.





PC Status:
PC Magic:
Player Resources:

Zahra
Dex 15

[1d20] = 14+3

Zahra hears the cry of rusted steel and dives forward, rolling to her feet inside the corridor.

Sorry man! I swear I posted this already.

Xorxen wraps his tunic around his hand and forearm and reaches into the hole as far as he can.

Cruloc

DEX 13

[1d20+3] = 14+3 = 17

The lingering effect of the pictoglyphs' assault on the Cimmerian's sanity slows his reflexes. He hears the click of the gate mechanism, but is slow to identify its source.

"Crom."

Garrin leaps into the cave, hoping he is quick enough to avoid being impaled by the portcullis.

Dex check (9) [1d20+3] = 6+3 = 9

By the skin of his teeth, he barely makes it. He immediately checks on Cruloc and Zahra.

Amethu stands with staff out in the chaos of the actions around him! As the gate crashes to a close he will begin to search the outside area for a way to open the portal.

Kiri struggles with reality.

Sanity Check: [1d100] = 62

Loche

Seeing the portcullis crash down with Garrin on the other side, the Pict fixes him with a withering glare, asking, Weel. Howfur ur th' rest o' us suppose tae git in thare noo?

The Island of Death, The Underground City, Beneath the Great Pyramid of Xuthalhotep
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Ten. Afternoon?, 23rd day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia







Amethu and Loche watch in horror as the immense iron gate comes screaming down upon Cruloc and Zahra!




Garrin lunges forward, narrowly escaping by the skin of his teeth! He wheels to find his friends crashed to the ground, pinned, impaled, trapped, the great portcullis atop them! (1hp and 3hp damage respectively, so far)

Loche shouts as Amethu frantically scans the fearsome portal but finds no way to raise the gate except to lift it!

Elsewhere, Xorzen wraps his tunic around his hand and forearm and reaches it deep into the dark hole! He soon feels a hard object at his fingertips! Suddenly, jaws close tight around his hand! Sharp fangs bite hard but cannot penetrate his tunic cloth!

Elsewhere still, through the sorcerous wonders of his Helm of Comprehension, all is ruthlessly laid bare to Kiri.



The secrets of the universe and all its black horrors. Stars burn in the fathomless gulfs of infinity and eternity as Kiri ascends shrieking into terrible enlightenment. He cries out in agony and rips the helm from his head!

Mercifully, to avoid madness his mind shuns forever the memory of this dark revelation, and also strikes him blind that its sanity can no longer be besieged by the blasphemous pictoglyphs of the strangely angled stones!


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet.


Behind the DM Screen:




PC Status:
PC Magic:
Player Resources:

Loche

Thare haes tae be a wey tae raise it! Soucht a lever or a winch nearby! The Pict begins trying to lift the gate on his own.

Cruloc

Cruloc is a wild animal trapped. The oppressive weight of the sickly green portcullis crashes down upon him and begins to push the air out of his lungs. He strains mightily against its mass, hoping his and Loche's strength combined is sufficient, yet knowing it is not.

"Kiri!" he howls, hoping that his cry can penetrate the madness which has abruptly gripped the unfathomable Easterner. "Kiiiriiiiii-!!"

Amethu suggests that several people's combined strength may life the iron portal.