Chapter 11: The Parallax Reality

[Inferno]

The City of the Sleestaks, Deep Beneath the Forbidden Zone
The Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Ten. Night? April 5th, 912 CY







In the air-filled cavern, the appalling, loathsome attack is ended.

Fiefo hacks at eel corpses for good measure.

Everyone ascends the rock shelf, and carefully brings the fallen.

The Altrusian elder tends to Connak's injuries (+1hp) but the cat-man does not awaken.

Her healing magic spent, Draupadi bandages the wounded. Mungo carefully pries loose from his snout the dead jaws of a heinous parasite.



Both priests concur on the urgent need for rest.

Finver gets a torch alight and joins Ko-Nan in securing the unknown territories of the cave. No more writhing horrors burst from the sand. At the southwest corner of the cavern, they find a second, empty cave (20) whose sand floor is roiled and irregular.


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Sleestaks and Eels are green. Doppelgangers are blue. Ambrose is brown.





PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: -1/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 17/34, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 8/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 10/31, Torch
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/39
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: -1/14, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 6/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

Light (Draupadi): Target: Finver's dagger. Duration: 79 rounds.

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[jemmus]

Mungo, drained of energy, sits atop the rock and slumps. He takes his headlamp off and lays on rocks floor. A deep sigh and a puff of intestinal gas escape him from two directions. So sorry, one day you'll be 70 years old too. I hope. He digs through his pack and finds his bundle of marinated, cured in salt and brown sugar, smoked on a cherry and apple wood chips, and sundried earthworms. In the dark cavern, he lays the open bundle on the floor in the light of the headlamp's beam. Help yourselves, friends. Take as much you wish. But save some for Connak and Maskelyn. They'll be needing and wanting some when they revive. The small mole-man took a frugal handful and thoughtfully chewed it, ruminating about the day's events.

Small, old, exhausted Mungo goes back and forth from sleep to terror, and back again.
Maskelyn! Maskelyn! You're in the water! The cold and very wet water! I got you, I think. (Leeches, they're all over us....) ::Grumbles in his sleep::
Bolts upright, asleep. Connak! Connak! I have to get you out of the water! Out of the water! The water... No! Fades off, twitching and mumbling.

:Grumbles in a fitful sleep:: Ko-Nan... Finver... Come back! Nap at nap time and stop running around, you kids.... Lay out your pallets....

Mungo succumbed to deep but troubled sleep, with quite a bit of snoring and snorting. Toward the "morning," which may have been 1 hour or 12 hours later in cave Sleestak Land, he had a vision. Sheriff Yul was floating across the sky, hanging above the party, and smiling at them. It seemed to Mungo that he was planning to rejoin the party, but in a different guise.

[Rex]

Draupadi

"Don't get yourselves in too much trouble we are not in shape to rescue you."

[ravenn4544]

Ko-nan stops suddenly and motions for Finver to do the same. He doesn’t like the look of that sand.

“Something could lie in wait there…”.

He’ll back away slowly and check that the others are on the cliff before throwing a large rock into the center of the thing.

[Urson]

Maskelyn I hope this is the right call...

Elswhere...
Maskelyn jumps to his feet, wipes the smudges of black away, and growls. Why, you... He picks up a strangely flat stick and charges Bugs, looking furious.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo sinks down against a wall to rest minute. His eyes flicker to the worms offered by Mungo, but move away after a slight, considering pause, his curiosity not quite getting the better of him.

[SilverBen]

Finver interposes himself between the pile of disturbed sand and Ko-Nan with a shield drawn low to protect his legs. He approaches cautiously to exmine it.

[Inferno]

The City of the Sleestaks, Deep Beneath the Forbidden Zone
The Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Ten. Night? April 5th, 912 CY








Dangerously near the City of the Sleestaks, the wounded adventurers believe they have found a safe place to hide and rest; a dank, moldy, sand-floored cavern.

Ambrose turns up his nose at their musty surroundings. Fiefo slumps against a wall. Mungo dreams fitfully and noisily of reincarnation.

Connak and Maskelyn lie insensate. The gnome dreams of frolicking in merry torment with his mercurial god in fields far beyond those we know. The Altrusian elder checks on the unconscious pair and asks Fiefo, "You said you had some form of restorative elixir?"

As Draupadi warns them to be careful, Finver and Ko-Nan secure the area with weapons drawn. “Something could lie in wait there," Ko-Nan grunts of the other, dark cave (20) as he withdraws with the torch. Finver cautiously approaches the roiled sand and sees no warmth within its low, irregular dunes.

Ko-Nan returns and throws a large rock into the shape of the disturbance. Its dull thud is joined by another brief sound, like the cracking of eggshells. Nothing stirs.


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Sleestaks and Eels are green. Doppelgangers are blue. Ambrose is brown.





PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: -1/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 17/34, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 8/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 10/31
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/39, Torch
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: -1/14, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 6/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

Light (Draupadi): Target: Finver's dagger. Duration: 78 rounds.

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[SilverBen]

Finver turns back to Ko-Nan with a look of disquiet on his face. He whispers, "I didn't like that last sound a' crackin' eggs. I'm goin' in fer a closer look. Ya comin' ta make sure it's not a nest? Maybe we'll find somethin' tasty, eh?" He chuckles with some anxiety at his own remark. He'll advance on the stone's landing spot cautiously holding the shield low in one hand and the illuminated dagger with the other hand.

[jemmus]

Mungo
zzzz. zzzz. ZZZZ. hrmf, HRMMF. ::drool:: zzzz.

[SilverBen]

Besides his pounding heart, Finver only hears the snores of the aged Mole-Man

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi rests.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo's lids open halfway at the mention of the potion.

"Mungo has it. I gave it to him," he says, lifting a finger and pointing to the snoozing Mole Man.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-Nan stomach growls at the mention of eggs.... He does follow Finver with axe raised ready to strike if there are more surprises to come...

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi will find the potion and split it between Maskelyn and Connak. If it isn't enough to split she gives it to just Connak and she will plan on Healing Maskelyn once rested and she has a healing spell available.

[Inferno]

The City of the Sleestaks, Deep Beneath the Forbidden Zone
The Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Ten. Night? April 5th, 912 CY








In the hidden cavern, Draupadi unearths the last of Fiefo's healing elixir, found in a mad alchemist's laboratory in the shattered skyscraper of Xygax the wizard. The priestess of Dhianha divides it equally between Connak and Maskelyn. (+1hp, +2hp respectively)

Only Maskelyn awakens, returning from a half-glimpsed afterlife.

Meanwhile, as Fiefo and Mungo doze contentedly, Finver and Ko-Nan slowly creep into the second cave with steel bared. Within the roiled sand, they discover a nest of hatched, empty eggshells.



There are about as many eggs as there were four-foot long sand eels.

Of their mother there is no sign.


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.
PCs are purple. Altrusians are orange. Sleestaks and Eels are green. Doppelgangers are blue. Ambrose is brown.

Behind the DM Screen:

Healing Potion for Connak and Maskelyn: [1d4]=1, [1d4]=2

PC Status:

Connak: Cat-Man Fighter/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 0/19
Draupadi: Human Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 17/34, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl
Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 8/26
Finver Karstlander: Dwarven Fighter 3: Move 6", AC: 2(1), HP: 10/31
Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/39, Torch
Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 1/14, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
Mungo: Mole-Man Cleric 4: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 6/34, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, Lantern

PC Magic:

Light (Draupadi): Target: Finver's dagger. Duration: 76 rounds.

Player Resources:

End of the World (game description)
Strange New World (maps and realms)
Memory Tapes (the story so far)
Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[Rex]

Draupadi

Draupadi will try and get comfy and get some rest.

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Maskelyn is weak, barely able to move- but he's all smiles. I got the chance to meet The Trickster with a Thousand Faces. I see now what my life should be like....
He struggles to remain concious while meditating to renew his spells.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo snoozes, unaware of the implications of the empty eggshells in the next room. He lies there curled up into a ball roughly the size of a gargantuan sand eel snack.

[ravenn4544]

Ko-nan scans the cavern and ceiling for any sign of other creatures. Seeing none he will return to the party to keep watch and rest as best as possisble.

He’ll use his first aide ability as needed.