As Soruk rounds the corner he recognizes the sounds and smells of the undead. He quickly reaches for his holy symbol and asks for guidance in banishing these creatures.
Tombs of the Ancients, Fourth Tier of the Great Pyramid
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Four. Mid-Morning, 16th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Within a crypt sealed aeons before Hyborian history began, the explorers of the Great Pyramid battle its living dead.
Mako's quarterstaff strikes one of the three skeletons emerging from the mass grave and it comes apart before hitting the floor. (S8)
Then ancient swords held by dead hands murderously rip and cut! Most of the sabers are beaten back but Loche and Zahra feel rusted blades sink deep! (-6hp, -5hp respectively) The unrelenting tide of undeath does not abate. Four more corpses of slaves enter the hallway from their mass grave! (S10-13)
Mako reaches in and pulls its door shut!
On the eastern front, hawk-masked Xorzen falls back, parrying with his javelin as his sect-brother takes his place on the line. Soruk strides forward, holy symbol aloft, and drives back the living dead to their eternal rest! The undead slaves within sight of him (S1, S3, S4, S5) fall back before the power of Osorus, the ancient Verulian god of the sun, the moon and the stars!
The corpses flee headlong into the blades of Garrin and Loche! The Atlantean knight decapitates one (S1) and the little Pict wounds another (S4)! The three survivors retreat back into the mass grave of slaves, bursting open the door Mako had just shut.
Arthfael's barbaric spear is parried as Zahra the amazon wheels and shatters a skeleton with her iron bludgeon! (S7)
And on the western front, as Amethu watches the shadowed corridor to the south, Kiri Khutan smashes apart another unliving cadaver with a flash of his trident! (S9)
Actions?!(Mako, if you wish, you have free opportunity attacks against S10 and S13 in addition to next round's action.)
Map Detail: One square = 10 feet. x = Dead.
Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.
Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin. Healing Mists of Osorus (All except Amethu and Zahra): All lost HP recovered with 8 hours of sleep. Wakeful rest, or sleeping less than 8 hours, enables recovery of 1 HP per hour. Duration: "months." Enlarge (Amethu): Target: floor. Duration: 6 rounds.
Kiri risks being attacked by the nearest skeleton in an effort to come to the aid of his fellow easterner, Maako, who looks as if he may be overwhelmed by the seemingly endless supply of undead exiting the room. He charges S11 to bash it down:
Tombs of the Ancients, Fourth Tier of the Great Pyramid
Lost City of Khemsa, Forgotten Kingdom of Verulia, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
Day Four. Mid-Morning, 16th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
The eternal silence of the ageless crypt is shattered by a cacophony of clashing steel and splintering bones!
Lying in wait near the door to the mass grave, Mako shatters another walking skeleton (S10) that instantly plunges to the floor in 206 pieces. The little Easterner's quarterstaff then fractures the left shoulder of a second undead cadaver that does not fall (S13).
The bones of the slaves of the great pharaoh Xuthlahotep still labor in his service thousands of years after his passing. Their rusted swords hunger for the explorers' deaths but Mako ducks beneath two whistling cuts; hacking blades nicking chips from the ancient walls around his ears. And Arthfael the tattooed, barbaric shaman parries a third cut with implacable Cimmerian steel!
Two more living corpses emerge from the chamber of the mass grave (S14, S15) and Mako pulls the door shut again!
Behind him, Amethu the pale sorcerer-priest of Uthoth tries to drive back the living dead, but finds he has no power here! While on the opposite end, hawk-masked Soruk wields magic of his own to heal his fellow brother of Osorus, Xorzen. (+7hp)
On the front line, Garrin and Xorzen cannot reach the battle, while other adventurers find no mortal flesh to cleave or smash! Instinctively, Loche the thief sheathes his dagger between two ribs to impale a beating heart, but the blade finds only an empty cavity. Zahra's mace ferociously seeks her enemy's vitals but bludgeons only empty air, finding no bowels to crush.
But Arthfael's razor-sharp scimitar slants off a skull that keeps leering (S13), and Kiri charges in and shears apart a bare spine with his terrible trident, causing another skeleton to suddenly disassemble and clatter to the tiles! (S11)
Actions?!(Mako, if you wish, you have free opportunity attacks against S14 and S15 in addition to next round's action.)
Map Detail: One square = 10 feet. x = Dead.
Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.
Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin. Healing Mists of Osorus (All except Amethu and Zahra): All lost HP recovered with 8 hours of sleep. Wakeful rest, or sleeping less than 8 hours, enables recovery of 1 HP per hour. Duration: "months." Enlarge (Amethu): Target: floor. Duration: 5 rounds.
Mako continues to swing his quarter staff wildly in the corridor. So far this tactic has produced promising results. Perhaps he should do it more often.
"Look at you, Mako, melee warrior! Leave some for the rest of us!" laughs Kiri, bounding forward to attack before the illusionist can send them all back to their graves single-handedly: