Chapter 2: Pyramid of the Dead

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

Roan hears the druid's explanation but doesn't understand it really, nor does he like it. As the others explain the strange carvings in the stone, Roan really wonders if there is indeed food below. "If there is food...would it not have spoiled by now? How long ago were these carvings made? Perhaps we should consider leaving this hellhole of sand and sun and return to more prosperous lands..."

Mostly speaking to himself, he finds a place to take his watch, trying hard to ignore the gnawing hunger.

[Zhym]

"What kind of food gets left for the dead?" wonders Arthfael aloud. "Can it also feed the living?"

He scowls toward the door outside which the Cimmerian barbarian's corpse lies. "It is worth finding out. Do the pictures tell us how to get in?"

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako partakes in the fresh water and fills his waterskin for later. "The only treasure I seek is the kind that will fill my empty belly."

[OGRE MAGE]

Gronda does not concern herself with the pictures and the writings. She tries not to think about food as she goes around the entire place, looking for something edible.

She talks very little, trying to save her energy. She rests and then slowly searches around the area for tracks or other hidden secrets.

[Inferno]

Day One
The Lost City of the Ancients, Great Eastern Desert, the World of Hyboria
13th day of the month of Yuluk, 1279th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Morning. Hot, clear, dry



The brooding, nameless city of the dead shimmers with the merciless heat of the ascendant sun. Sheltered from its hellish wrath, the exhausted, starving survivors rest and recover in the shade of an ancient temple ruin.




They sleep fitfully beneath the eternal, impassive gaze of dead pharaohs and dead gods.




Hours pass, as quiet as the grave. No tracks are found, nor secrets uncovered. By late afternoon, the lost souls are rested... but more hungry than ever.

Loche oversleeps. Then, in a few words, the Pict restates his intention to walk the base of the Great Pyramid to find a way inside. The defaced hieroglyphs of the desolate temple don't depict a path to the eternal resting place of great Xuthalhotep. Loche's hunger makes him impatient to set out now, rather than wait for sundown.

As the last watch ends, a horrific discovery is made. Goniza died in his sleep, succumbing to the wounds inflicted upon him by Thogg of Cimmeria, and to the dire effects of starvation.* An ominous foreshadowing of a fate that might yet claim them all, the Nemedian sorcerer-priest is the first to perish at the hands of famine. But, they all ask themselves, will he be the last?


Actions?


* Please read:

Spell casters, please update memorized spells.

Everyone, please roll for Hit Point Recovery. Since you've reversed your sleep cycle, we'll do it now instead of at dawn. Hedge, remember that Barbarian First Aid doubles your healing rate.

Everyone, fyi: in a few hours, at sundown, you'll need to Save vs. Hunger, as per the House Rules:

• • Starvation:
    A character can go without food for 3 days, in growing discomfort. After this time, the character must make a Constitution Save on 1d20 each day (with a +1 penalty for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of subdual damage and lose 1 point of Strength, 1 point of Dexterity, and 1" of movement. This movement loss will prohibit charging.
    
    ...Subdual damage from thirst or starvation can result in death. It cannot be recovered until the character gets food or water, as needed. Not even magic that restores hit points heals this damage.
    Once the character gets food or water, subdual damage heals per hour, not per day.
    6 hours of sleep per day prevents or cures these effects.

Fyi, Ken is leaving the game due to RL time pressures. So we'll say that Goniza failed his Con save against Starvation, and then rolled higher than a 2 on 1d6 of subdual damage, thereby killing him. RIP Goniza Devin.

Lost City Map:

The Lost City 5.jpg (604.42 KiB) Viewed 2720 times

The PCs are at 7. The top of the map is South. The dotted line is your path. Movement rate on sand is halved.





Status:

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

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)

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

Roan staggers over to Goniza's dead body...kneels beside it...murmurs what sounds like a prayer to Mitra...and nearly collapses onto the sand himself. "We're all going to follow Goniza to the realm of the dead if we don't find food...and find it fast.

Chance to heal: [1d100] = 65

[Zhym]

Arthfael looks at Goniza's dead body. The druid closes his eyes—which, like the rest of him, are tattooed, with images of open eyes—and slowly exhales. "If do not eat soon, we will not have strength to feed ourselves," he says. He silently considers the starving party's reaction to the idea of eating a dead enemy. Even he will not suggest butchering the body of a friend. Not now.

He looks at the Pict thief and nods. "Let's find the entrance to the pyramid," he says.

It isn't quite time for the starvation rolls, is it? We still have a few hours before sundown, which is when the rolls will need to be made.

[dmw71]

Loche, true to his stubborn nature, wearily rises to his feet. "Dinnae ken aboot ye, bit a'm gonnae fin' a wey ben this thing," the Pict says to no no one in particular. With that, whether anyone follows him or not, he begins to slowly make his way south, towards the southwestern corner of the large pyramid, looking for any obvious entrances while paying particular attention to the ground level where a potential entrance may have become buried over time.

"This wey, pal," he says to Arthfael as he hears some support for his mission.

I swear I posted this, or something like it last night, but it must not have fully been submitted. I have modified it somewhat to fit the latest updates.

Recover second hit point? (15 con = 01-50%): [1d100] = 79


Translation:
"Don't know about you, but I'm gonna find a way inside this thing."
"This way, mate."

[OGRE MAGE]

Gronda does not rest well.

Chance to regain an extra hit point (1-60) [1d100] = 98

Her hunger beginning to get the best of her, she gladly follows the others to look for a way into the structure. She pays close attention to the ground, hoping to spot tracks made by an edible snake or lizard. Or, anything else for that matter.

We must find a way inside!

[Grognardsw]

Biblo Phyle, libriomancer

I dream of a feast, only to realize the food is human flesh. Advice from Ibis? I awake late that afternoon feeling mentally clearer but physically worse. My stomach aches from lack of food. It is difficult to gain the spirit to move. This can't go on.

Those men atop the pyramid - if they be men - mean food must be within. If they are spirit guardians of the ancient pharaoh, then there will be only sepulchral remains.

"You owe me," I tell the recovered Goniza with a friendly smile.

The memory is still fresh as I stare down at the dead Goniza. An ill omen portending our fate? It's hard to feel anything as I barely knew the man. No one seems much bothered by his death. My eyes fix on his pack where I hope his occult grimoire may be.

"Let Goniza's sacrafice help us. The man's arcane knowledge may yet serve our explorations," I say as I open his pack.

Before my morning prayer and study, I approach Arthfael. "You are blessed with ability to bring forth the waters of the earth. I will seek instead Ibis' blessing to purify food and drink.

To the others I say: "The hieroglyphs made no mention of entrance, but if what we saw atop the pyramid is real - and I believe it is - then an entrance may be up there."

I turn to prayer and seek Ibis' divine blessings. I open my arcane journal to apply today's mystic equations to mind. I remember the Stygian's book. Wisdom dictates selecting a spell to help in the night's exploration, where danger may strike. Biblomania, my gentle madness, drowns such consideration and instead I study the Read Magic dweomer.

My body is cramping and I feel a headache building. I must stop this or else...

My dream must be true. The path is clear. I walk around the rubble to the dead Cimmerian and hack his thighs off at hip and knee. I tear off his clothes, take them and the thighs around a corner. I apply a bit of oil to the clothes, ignite with flint and steel, and cook the thighs to a well-done condition. Then I pray to Ibis to purify this food. In surviving, I will live to serve you.

The Cimmerian was a big man; his thighs are hefty pieces of meat. It taste like chicken. I eat quickly. There is plenty left over. I leave it for the others.

"We do what must be done," I say as the others regard me with that look.

If there is time before the party departs to explore the pyramid...

I light a torch from the fire and by its light open the Stygian's tome. I draw forth a small mineral prism and speak the words to unlock the secret writing. I devour the book With my eyes more hungrily than I did the food.

[Zhym]

Arthfael helps the Zamoran do what must be done. While the barbarian's body roasts, the druid again asks the stones to give up their water. Then he eats. He keeps a wary eye on Roan.

When all have replenished their water and those who will have eaten, he looks to the Pict to lead the way around the Pyramid.

[DadsAngry]

Mako:

Mako gazes upon the body of Goniza and morns for the loss of life even though he never knew the man. He then watches the others as they surely strip his body like the others. Was this our fate to die of hunger or exposure? Would the great triangular structure bring them salvation? One could only hope.

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

Watching first Biblio and then Arthfael eat the cooked flesh of the dead Cimmerian makes Roan's already aching stomach churn even worse. "It is forbidden to eat the flesh of men," he intones, almost to himself. He gives the two men (and any others) a hard look and then turns away, preferring to fill his stomach with water...even though it comes from the divine magics of the cannibal druid.

He looks to the top of the pyramid, where the figures can be seen...if there are such figures...and studies that area for several minutes.
"Could those things we see be just an illusion? A figment of our hunger and thirst?" He murmurs aloud.

detect illusion (5%): [1d100] = 71

Roan also tries to find animal tracks in the sand. Mice or rats, snakes or scorpions; anything is better than cannibalism.

[Inferno]

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



Goniza Devin, distant scion of sunken Atlantis, starves to death in a desert, beneath graven images of pagan necromantic gods worshiped before Atlantis fell.



Roan the barbarian nearly collapses as well. "We're all going to follow Goniza to the realm of the dead if we don't find food...and find it fast," he grunts.

Mako of Khitai warily watches Biblo loot another corpse; this time, a "friend." The Zamoran libriomaniac takes only a book, a thick dogeared tome worthy of a Nemedian scholar.

Rested, they all step from the shade of the broken temple and feel a wave of scorching, furnace-like heat overwhelm and subsume them, sapping their strength and their will. The parched, searing air burns their lungs.



The desperate survivors divide their number.

Loche the Pict leaves to circumnavigate the stone citadel of silence in search of an entrance. Gronda the savage and Garrin of Argos join him. They exert themselves crossing soft sand in the afternoon heat for over an hour, journeying around the impossible Great Pyramid.



Each face of the amazing, 40-story mountain is 750 feet long. Each block is 5 feet in every dimension.
The angle of its ascent is about 50 degrees. Incredibly, each side perfectly aligns with true north, south, east, west.



The Zembabweian huntress looks for tracks and finds no sign of man or beast, save the skittering traces of tiny insects, too small a meal for man or woman. The trifling trails lead into tiny cracks between the pyramid's blocks.

After turning the first corner, they see another vast region of desolate ruins of the unnamed city rising from the sands to the southeast.



After the next corner, they enter the embrace of deep shadows of the gigantic monolith's eastern slope and feel their strength returning.


Meanwhile, while the expedition is away, Biblo unsheathes his sword and butchers the body of Thogg the Cimmerian.

He strips the corpse of cloth, and drags two mutilated thighs by their exposed femurs behind the temple, where his next acts may go unobserved. Arthfael helps him accomplish the unimaginable. He and Biblo roast a gruesome, macabre meal of human flesh. They pray to purify the horrific fare and summon more water.

Then, without pleasure, they partake of the ghastly banquet. Crispy brown skin crunches between their teeth. Succulent meat falls from the bone. They eat their fill as Biblo remembers the human feast of his prophetic dream:



To their horror, it's the most delicious food they've ever ingested. They hope it's because of their acute starvation. Their bottomless hunger is sated.

Roan of Vanaheim glares in anger and disgust at the two 'cannibal ghouls.' Stomach grumbling at the aroma of cooking meat, he hunts to no avail, finding only the tracks of ants too tiny to sustain anyone.


Garrin, Gronda and Loche return from their expedition. No entrance to the Great Pyramid was visible. Its entirety does not completely emerge above the level of the restless sands; perhaps there are doors buried deep below the desert floor.

Before they see the shattered temple, they smell sweet, smokey meat on the air! Pork, perhaps? Disbelieving their own senses, they approach and make a grisly discovery: some of the others have chosen cannibalism to survive.

There yet remains more of the abominable, forbidden nourishment.

In two hours the merciless sun will set.


Actions?


Lost City Map:

The Lost City 6.jpg (603.31 KiB) Viewed 2641 times

The PCs are at 7. The top of the map is South. The dotted line is your path. Movement rate on sand is halved.





Status:

• Arthfael Griogarach: Cimmerian Northman Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/12, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl and 2/3 2nd lvl
  Biblo Phyle: Zamoran Southman Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User 1/1/1: AC 1, HP 7/7, Spells: 3/4 1st lvl
  Garrin Locke: Argosian Atlantean Paladin 1: AC 3, 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 17/18
  Mako: Khitan Easterner Illusionist 2: AC: 7, HP: 6/6, Spells: 2/2 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, sated, stares at the pyramid that grows redder with the setting sun. He contemplates what he just did. It's not that he is revolted by the idea of cannibalism—to the contrary, the druid knows that it is common in the wild. Lions may eat their own young. The female black widow spider and praying mantis eat their males after mating. Cannibalism can even help keep overpopulated species in check.

And as he said: the barbarian was gone. His spirit departed. What remained was meat. Meat that they could not afford to waste.

No, what occupies his mind is that the dead barbarian was...delicious. He scowls at the realization. Is that why some gods forbid eating man flesh? To prevent men from developing a taste for men? To avoid having yet another reason for man to kill man? He must think on this, he decides, and bring his questions to the elder druids. If he survives.

He turns back toward those huddled inside the temple. They look in vain for tracks or sign of life, hoping that their choice is not between eating man flesh and death. Will they choose to starve? Or will they go mad first, eating sand to fill their aching bellies, before doing what they must to survive?

"If I die before you," he declares, looking each them in the eyes, "I want you to use my body for food. I will have no more use for it when I am gone."

Then something occurs to him. "Unless one of you kills me," he adds, looking at Roan. "Then kill my murderer and eat him first."

With that out of the way, he looks back at the pyramid. "It is too big to search," he declares. "We need more knowing. Biblio, Mako, Gronda—you are smart. Help us. How can we find the way in?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Gronda shows an expression of great confusion after hearing Arthfael refer to her as smart. For she has never been called anything like that by a man that wasn't saying it condescendingly or worse. At first, she believes this to be the case. But when the comment is not followed by laughter or spitting, she believes the druid is being serious.

She thinks about his words for a long time before finally responding quietly.

I am not well versed in your magical abilities, but I have heard some things about certain magic that can make a person very small, even turn them into a misty apparition or a tiny insect. Do we have any magic that could transform us into something like that? We could do as the bugs here are doing and crawl into the place through the cracks in the blocks.

If we held the power of flight or the ability to rise up into the air magically, we could get a closer look at the opening at the very top of the structure.

Otherwise, I would say we are up against a very long climb in our near future.

Trusting the heavily decorated man even a little more now, Gronda takes a little of the cooked meat and smells it, looking closely at the others reactions before she even thinks about putting it into her mouth.

[hedgeknight]

Roan, Son of Rune

"You have a way with words, druid. You attempt to persuade us to do what it takes to survive. To give up what makes us human. And it matters not what you say...you are still an eater of men. Your soul is damned."

Roan watches Gronda raise the meat to her mouth. "Not so smart anymore, eh Gronda?"

With that, the barbarian gets up and walks away.

[Mant72]

Garrin Locke:

"Praise be to Mitra! They must have slain a boar!" Garrin's pace picks up as he breathes deeply of the succulent scent of meat that floats upon the air.

When he reaches the ruined temple and realizes what has occurred, he is rendered speechless. The paladin's jaw works uncontrollably, mouthing inaudible words. He stares in utter disbelief and revulsion at the travesty that has just been commited.

Unable to fathom these horrendous deeds, Garrin hastily makes the sign of Mitra and follows in the steps of the Vanir, Roan.

[Grognardsw]

Biblo Phyle, sated

"We saw someone or something at the top, that is where an entrance may be," I answer Arthfael.

Ignoring the outraged looks and comments from the others, I turn to examining the Stygian's book.

[dmw71]

"Na need fur th' power o' flight," Loche says in response to an item on Gronda's wish list. Without pause, the Pict reaches to the top of the nearest foundational block and pulls himself up. "Shuid be an easy climb," he says. "Ah ken a clocked something up thare," he says, pointing to the pinnacle of the large structure, agreeing with Biblo. "Thare haes tae be a wey in... 'n' a'm gonnae fin' it."

Intentions stated, the thief begins to climb -- one brick at a time.

Translations:
"No need for the power of flight."
"Should be an easy climb."
"I know I saw something up there,"
"There has to be a way in... and I'm gonna find it."