Chapter 2: Pyramid of the Dead

[Mant72]

Garrin Locke:

Garrin assists Gronda with collecting the scorpion meat, and warily eyes the possibly trapped portals. "I posses no skill for finding nefarious trickery, but perhaps these doors should be checked for traps before we proceed?"

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

"Alright. I can show how I opened it but I don't know how to make it not kill us." Mako says as he move over to the door Roan is inspecting.

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

The big barbarian glances at Garrin as Mako approaches the door.
"Do you have such skills, Argosian? I know the Pict thief does, but he may not be fully healed yet."

[Mant72]

Garrin Locke:

Responding to Roan, "Nay, friend. That is a skill that eludes me. Does anyone else posses such talents?" He looks around at the motley band for an answer.

[Zhym]

"When outside, I can ask the spirits to show me snares, pits, and other traps," says Arthfael. "But the spirits of stone are harder to hear. Away from sun and moon, branch and root, I can only sense simple pits."

[Inferno]

Day One
The Great Pyramid of the Lost City, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
13th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Sunset. Scorching, arid, cloudless






The moon emerges. It had been there all along, invisible, lurking, just behind the color of the sunlit sky.

Erudite Biblo examines the colossal scorpion carapace with thoughts enterprising and poisonous.

• • Biblo is no ranger or druid. Harvesting venom will take him two rolls:

    • -An Intelligence save on 1d20 to figure out how to do it.
      -A Dexterity save on a 1d20 to safely extract the poison.

    
    A 20 on either roll means he's managed to poison himself.

Civilized Garrin and savage Gronda start butchering and harvesting scorpion meat. Deftly working her stone knife, the Zembabwean hunter knows that without smoke or salt to preserve it, the meat will turn before long.

Attila the nomad is excited to see new masonry behind the bronze portal. Restless, Roan moves to his left, to the Northern door, and probes its edges for a way in. Mako of Khitai approaches him with urgent warnings. Garrin echoes them and the big Northern barbarian responds, "Do you have such skills, Argosian? I know the Pict thief does, but he may not be fully healed yet."

Arthfael of Cimmeria mentions that, entombed by stone, his magic can only reveal pits.

The prideful Pict barks, "A'm braw, damn it! Cannae a poor jimmy finish th' foremaist meal he's hud in days!? Git back, afore ye murdurr yersel'! Ah well handle thess!" as he bustles over.



Loche expertly examines the Northern bronze portal. "Ah cannae fin' anythin', bit ah dinnae trust it. Thir's dried blood oan th' flair 'ere," he proclaims, pointing to a reddish brown stain on the floor before the door.

Leaving the Northern door shut, he moves left again, ducking under the towering scorpion tail, to the Western door, grumbling.
"Tis a dowie state o' affairs whin a starving jimmy cannae finish his supper!" are the last words the thief utters before he suddenly disappears without a trace!

A hinged paving stone in front of the Western door drops open and Loche plummets through it before a cry can escape his lips! In the horrifying split second that the floor swallows him up alive, a steady rushing noise, like a brook, or dry leaves in the wind, or roasting flames, can be heard. Then the weighted trapdoor smoothly slides shut and the sound is silenced and Loche is gone.


Actions?!

Pyramid Tier 1.jpg (748.64 KiB) Viewed 1181 times

One square=10 feet.


Rolls and Rulings (non-required reading):

Dmw71 asked me to NPC awhile, while he's ensnared by RL.
Translations:
"I'm fine, damn it! Can't a poor man finish the first meal he's had in days?!
"Get back, before you hurt yourself! I'll handle this!"

"I can't find anything, but I don't trust it. There's dried blood on the floor here."

"It's a sad state of affairs when a starving man can't finish his supper!

Loche: Find traps: Northern door: (30%): [1d100] = 31
Loche: Find traps: Western door: (30%): [1d100] = 46

Status:

• Arthfael Griogarach: Cimmerian Northman Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/12, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl and 2/3 2nd lvl
  Attila: Hyrkanean Nomad Barbarian 1: AC 1, HP 12/12
  Biblo Phyle: Zamoran Southman Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User 1/1/1: AC 3, HP 7/7, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl
  Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 1: AC 5, HP 11/11, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Gronda: Zembabweian Savage Ranger/Thief 1/2: AC 7, HP 12/17
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 3: AC 5, HP 16/18
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 2: AC: 7, HP: 6/6, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl
  Roan, Son of Rune: Vanir Northman Barbarian 1: AC 4, HP 8/12

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin.

Resources:

• An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)
  Men of the Hyborian Age (races of men)
  The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
  Hieroglyphs (the story so far, in images)

[Zhym]

Arthfael scowls and glances around the room for accusing looks. "I guess detecting pits would have been good," he admits.

Biblo is no ranger or druid. Harvesting venom will take him two rolls:

-An Intelligence save on 1d20 to figure out how to do it.
-A Dexterity save on a 1d20 to safely extract the poison.

A 20 on either roll means he's managed to poison himself.

What would the rules be for a druid to harvest the venom?

[OGRE MAGE]

Gronda rushes over to where the Pict disappeared. She tries to find any mechanisms that would indicate how the trap door can be opened again, hoping the man can still be saved.

Please let me know if there are any rolls I would need to make for that. Thanks!

If the Ranger has an easier time than the druid, she will try to harvest the poison as well once the thief is rescued.

[Mant72]

Garrin Loche:

With the sudden disappearance of Loche, Garrin hastily rises to assist Gronda in finding a solution to opening the trap door. He particularly looks for any seams or crevices in which to wedge a dagger or blade.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako stops in his tracks and doesn't move an inch in fear of the floor dropping from beneath him. He takes his quarterstaff and probes the floor around him.

[Starbeard]

Attila

Attila leaps onto the back of the scorpion with surprising dexterity, unexpected his paunchy frame. He looks at the floor with great suspicion.

Seeing some of the others more preoccupied with Biblo's investigation of the monster's seeping venom sacs, he forgets the trap and prods at the gland with the tip of his javelin. "Tricky, very tricky. Lucky for you I am here to help. I have the longest and most pliant fingers in all of Hyrkanea. I once knew a man who sipped poison to make himself immune. It did not work. Ha! Do you get the joke? I do."

[Grognardsw]

Biblo Phyle, libriomancer

Gronda

Do the pretty pictures tell you what door we should use to find all of this food and treasure?

"Unfortunately not, Gronda," I answer the Zembabwein. She is a difficult woman to look at, all those scars and tattoos. "Just the broad sweeps of history and myth behind the mighty pharaoh Xenohotep."

I ponder the scorpian. I can trace the canal for the poison back along the tail and I think that is the venom sack. I should have read more on alchemy of the body. I draw my knife, ready to cut, when Atilla the Hyrkanean offers to help.

"Yes, you are more learned than I on such matters. If you get some, I would dip my arrow tips in."

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

"Crom's beard!" Roan shouts when Locke disappears. The barbarian hurries toward the place where the Pict dropped out of sight, removing his spear and trying to jam it underneath the stone block in an effort to pry it open.
"Pict! Pict...Locke! Can ya hear me? We're coming to git ya!"

[Inferno]

Day One
The Great Pyramid of the Lost City, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
13th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Sunset. Scorching, arid, cloudless




Learned Biblo readies a thin blade to perform an autopsy on the gargantuan arachnid cadaver.



Attila the nomad leaps to 'safety' atop the tremendous scorpion corpse and offers to help dissect its massive, venomous stinger.



But the complex consultation between book learning and practical know-how is disrupted by shouts to the suddenly vanished Pict!

In desperation, Garrin, Gronda and Roan race over to where they last saw Loche alive! Careful not to rush headlong into the same trap, they fall to the floor and scour its stones with fingers and blades for any seams or edges that betray the location of the mechanical mouth that just neatly devoured the thief.



Mako of Khitai prods the stone floor around him with his staff. Nothing suddenly gives way. The Eastern conjurer feels that the ground is stable for at least 10 feet in every direction around him.

By the light of the Vanir's torch, Garrin, Gronda and Roan cautiously test the area before the Western bronze door, finding a sandless tile that gives way under the pressure of their hands. A weighted stone trapdoor of cunning craftsmanship, they can't lift it up but when they press it completely down, it unveils a deep shaft filled with shadows and a roaring rush; the sound of water, or dead leaves, or hungry flames; and the echoing curses of an angry Pict.

"Damn it! Bugger! Hell! AAAAAAUGH!"




Actions?!


Map:

Pyramid Tier 1e.jpg (748.31 KiB) Viewed 1140 times

One square = 10 feet. That circle shape marks the trapdoor, even though the door and shaft are rectangular.






Status:

• Arthfael Griogarach: Cimmerian Northman Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/12, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl and 2/3 2nd lvl
  Attila: Hyrkanean Nomad Barbarian 1: AC 1, HP 12/12
  Biblo Phyle: Zamoran Southman Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User 1/1/1: AC 3, HP 7/7, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl, Candle
  Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 1: AC 5, HP 11/11, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Gronda: Zembabweian Savage Ranger/Thief 1/2: AC 7, HP 12/17
  Loche: Pict Savage Thief 3: AC 5, HP 16/18, Lantern
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 2: AC: 7, HP: 6/6, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl
  Roan, Son of Rune: Vanir Northman Barbarian 1: AC 4, HP 8/12, Torch

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Garrin): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Garrin.

Resources:

• An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)
  Men of the Hyborian Age (races of men)
  The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
  Hieroglyphs (the story so far, in images)

[Mant72]

Inferno, how long is the rope and grapple Garrin got from Skuth? How wide is the pit? Thanks!

[Inferno]

The rope is 40 feet long.
The pit is 6 feet by 8 feet.

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

Hearing the cries of the Pict, Roan does not wait for the rope. He lowers himself over the side and tries to climb down.

I have 85% to climb cliffs and trees; this may be different. Here's my roll: Climbing down to help Locke: [1d100] = 20

[Mant72]

Garrin Locke:

Garrin calls down to the Pict, "We're coming! Grab this rope if you are able." He secures the grapple, making sure it is as dug deeply as possible into the tiles. He watches the barbarian, Roan, begin to descend, "Hold! Don't be rash. Let us see if he can climb his way back up."

[hedgeknight]

Garrin Locke:
Garrin...watches the barbarian, Roan, begin to descend, "Hold! Don't be rash. Let us see if he can climb his way back up."

"He's hurt! Something's down there eating him! Like another godsdamned scorpion!"

If Garrin is able to anchor the rope, Roan grabs it and shimmies down as quick as he can.

[OGRE MAGE]

Gronda helps in any way that seems like it is working. She will help pull the ropes or aid in any other way she sees fit.

We should assume that the other two doors are also trapped in some fashion.