The Pact Stone Pyramid
Game Master Pact Stone GM

Has Donkor learned all that there is to learn from the room, or is there still more to read? If he's done here, it may be time to sprint around places we've already been and been unable to translate before the spell wears off.

"I wouldn't think so," the halfing responds after consideration. "Maybe we could force it in."

"If that hole is for a key, I would think we're looking for something with a sharper point to it."

"What if we are supposed to pour that liquid into the hole, or that hole is a passage of some sort, requiring the application of transformative energies to make the journey. Didn't our read of the arcane aura from that pool indicate transmutability? Perhaps we can summon a, um, volunteer to sample the liquid and thus observe its potential effects."

Has Donkor learned all that there is to learn from the room, or is there still more to read? If he's done here, it may be time to sprint around places we've already been and been unable to translate before the spell wears off.

-

Likely though it is more variations of the same: a description of a human experiment with lethal consequences, followed by some amazingly advanced numeric data. But to be truly certain of that, you would need to read every panel.

As for heading to past-visited locales for translation I would ask you to let me know specifically where you want to go. While I might be aware of some unread hieroglyphs, I don't know that the Dune Squad is aware of them. . .

GM PC: Gandel Trapspringer wrote:

"I wouldn't think so," the halfing responds after consideration. "Maybe we could force it in."

"If that hole is for a key, I would think we're looking for something with a sharper point to it."

"What if we are supposed to pour that liquid into the hole, or that hole is a passage of some sort, requiring the application of transformative energies to make the journey. Didn't our read of the arcane aura from that pool indicate transmutability? Perhaps we can summon a, um, volunteer to sample the liquid and thus observe its potential effects."

"Yeah, it was transmutation. But I didn't think it was a potion."

We could either go back to the pool room where we found nothin and see if we can do better or we go to the next room, further down the curvy hall on the map. I assume the pattern holds and there's another room?

And the pool better not be a potion. Cause if it is this non-identifying alchemist has something to say there MK!

Does this mean the Dune Squad is headed back to the room with the purple pool?

Anything anyone else want to do before--

--before I need further Fort saves from Karek, Hal, Gandel and Donkor.

Karek and Hal get +3 for their time spent away from the room. Gandel and Donkor +1.

Oh and Mr. Exciting:

And the pool better not be a potion. Cause if it is this non-identifying alchemist has something to say there MK!

-

Fortitude Save:(: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14 Add two if it's a spell, spell-like ability, or poison.

Karek sags against the wall, fighting to pay attention to whatever the group is planning to do next. He hardly registers Hurgah's dig at him, or Sooron poking at him.

Not sure where we're at now. I guess we definitely don't want to go back to the heart room, so the potion room is as good as any. Maybe the "potion" is a cure for the heart room!

Also I cannot remember what rooms might have had things I wanted to translate but didn't, but if we are travelling back to the pool room, Sooron will go slowly and scan the walls for interesting things to read.

Save:1d20 + 1 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 1 + 10 = 28

"The beat," says the halfling suddenly. "It's come to a complete stop! What does that mean for us? What does that--"

The halfling looks over at Karek. The dwarf is clutching his chest. A moment later Kogan wordlessly topples over right in front of him and goes completely silent, the light fading from his eyes.

Gandel's own eyes widen with fear as he realizes the same fate now awaits him. His heart has stopped. He looks to Donkor, who seems oddly at ease, as though the priest is communing with the death goddess who awaits him. Sooron is nonetheless slumping against the wall and as he crashes to the ground it becomes clear that the end is nigh for him as well.

Where is Hal? Where is. . .?

Gandel attempts DC 15 Fortitude save versus death with +4 class bonus vs. magical traps with +1 bonus for exit time from pyramid:1d20 + 7 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 7 + 4 + 1 = 25

Gandel collapses to the ground. He can draw a breath but the oxygen won't circulate to his brain. His vision fuzzes over. He's losing consciousness. He's losing his life.

[-----Insert flat line sound effect here-----]

With a sudden gasp the halfling's eyes pop back open! His hand clutches his heart. It's moving again! Slowly, but powerfully. He can feel it gaining momentum.

Amazing! How long had his heart stopped? It could not have been more than several seconds. He wiggles his fingers and toes looking for signs of stroke or loss of motor function from brain damage but none are immediately apparent. Miraculously, he appears to have been clinically dead for the briefest of moments.

[No level loss, no adverse effects. He never actually picked up the ‘dead’ condition to the extent there is one. He made his save.]

Although it has become quite faint, Gandel can still hear the drum beat. It seems to be picking up speed.

[dice=Fortitude Save:(]d20 (2) +12 = 14 Add two if it's a spell, spell-like ability, or poison.

Karek sags against the wall, fighting to pay attention to whatever the group is planning to do next. He hardly registers Hurgah's dig at him, or Sooron poking at him.

-

No, he does not get +2. It is not a spell. However, he did leave the room early enough and got +3 to his save, as per the above. His decision to leave saved his life. That roll of 2 would have done him in. Save or die is alive and well in old 3.5 adventures it would seem.

Donkor has likewise survived the brief stopping of his heart. As interested in the crossroads of life and death as he is, he should probably get experience points for this. He feels like he has been in the temple of his unknowable goddess, be it ever so briefly.

That leaves us with Halstadt Morgrym – no pressure!

Fortitude save 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14

Amazing....

At least the DC was crazy-low. Not that it helps you if you roll a one...

Tragedy befalls the Dune Squad - Hal's heart stops and the terrible trauma is too much. Hal lies dead on the cold stone floor of the coridore.

However, being dead does not let you out of this quite so easily. Halstadt-the-corpse now needs to make a further Fort save - again DC 15.

Fortitude save 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

I roll much better when I am already dead...

Karek, having recovered from whatever momentary weakness befell him, springs into action. He springs at Hal's fallen body and grasps for the scrolls handed to him by a mysterious old man, trying to get them into Donkor's hands as quickly as possible.

Karek, having recovered from whatever momentary weakness befell him, springs into action. He springs at Hal's fallen body and grasps for the scrolls handed to him by a mysterious old man, trying to get them into Donkor's hands as quickly as possible.

-

Let's see: move action to rise, plus whatever it takes to get to Hal, plus whatever it takes to fish the scroll out of Hal's handy haversack. Unfortunately the haversack's magical auto-locating property only functions for the wearer. Karek is forced to consider whether it is faster to dump the sack and dig through it, or put on the dead man's backpack and try to summon the scroll forth.

Why is it that it's always the guy carrying the life-bearing magic item that bites it?

He moves as quickly as he can, but he needs more time!

As his life fades to black, Hal reflects on a dark irony. It was less than an hour after he chose to reveal the truth to his comrades, namely that he knew he would not live to exit the pyramid, that he suddenly died. He knew this moment would come, but by the gods, not like this!

Perhaps Morgrym also expresses a final regret that his oath to Lydia would now be left unfulfilled - at least by him. That task would now fall to Breach, the elder dwarf.

Perhaps the others would pick up his gauntlet and still delve forward to confront the dark horror that lurks inside Ahn'Sehlota. By defeating it, as he pledged to the High Priest of Angraad, his spirit might yet one day be free. He had only known them a short time, this Dune Squad, but they had proven themselves to have an indomitable spirit as a collective. Perhaps they would succeed where his mortal flesh had failed.

But these - these are all thoughts of the living. Hal's path would now take him elsewhere.

"Halstadt!"

(Who is calling him?)

"Hal! Listen to me Hal!"

"Halstadt!!"

(No, this isn't right.)

“You need to wake up!”

(Is that. . .?)

“This isn’t the place for you.”

(That voice, he recognizes it.)

“You’re not finished yet, Hal”

(It wants something of him.)

“We still need you. I need you. Now wake up! Please!”

(He knows her face. It's from another time, another life. It seems so long ago.)

Seeing Hal hit the ground, "What the...!" Breach quickly moves to see if he's alright. Noticing him to be eerily still, "He's not breathing! Somethin's wrong! What the blast is wrong with him! Sooron! Get over here NOW! We gotta find out why he's not movin' or breathin'!" He pounds on his dwarven brother's chest in hopes to get him moving.

Fortitude save 12+10 = 22

I roll much better when I am already dead...

-

Blood pumps and then rushes into the dwarf's brain, bringing life. With a horrid gasp, Halstadt's lungs scream for air and begin to fill once more. His eyes flare open. He is very much alive.

But why is breach lying over him? Is he punching him? Is that Karek with his pack? Is his fellow dwarf looting him?
-----
OK! Unfortunately, with that successful save on his next roll, Halstadt awaits a fate well documented to be worse than PC death - PC inconvenience. Halstadt died, failing a save versus something similar to finger of death. He has then received (by successful save if you can wrap your head around it) the equivalent of a raise dead spell. He's been flat-lined and re-started. It's a very stressful thing to put your body through.

Then end result is that Halstadt is very much alive. But as a consequence, he has two permanent negative levels (as per the spell). Normally this totally sucks, but since Halstadt is a cleric capable of casting 4th level spells, i.e. restoration it's probably not the end of the world.

I'd say though the worst part is that the pyramid is not entirely done with Halstadt yet. He can still hear the drum beat. It's getting faint, but it's still there, resounding in his ear. It's getting faster too. Hopefully that's a good thing.

OK! I need to clarify, or perhaps add to the confusion:

In case it matters, when I called for Hal to make that second save (the heart re-start roll, let's call it), I should have asked Donkor, Karek and Gandel to all make a Fort save as well.

They are all still potentially affected by whatever strange thing started in the drumbeat room. Though it is not nearly as loud as it once was.

But since they all made their first save, and none of those three were killed, the results of the second roll did not matter - raise dead has no effect on a living person. So I didn't bother - I was kinda more interested in what would happen to Hal. And man! He did not disappoint.

But I don't want to mislead the three of you. . . you can still hear a faintly accelerating heart beat.

At least the DC was crazy-low. Not that it helps you if you roll a one...

-

Breathing a sigh of relief, "Whew. That was a close one. It looks like whatever I did worked. Never count out a good rap ta the heart. That'll get it goin' ever time." He winks. "Good ta see ya breathin' again, Morgrym. Now get up and let's move. We're wastin' time."

Fortitude save 1d20+10

I roll much better when I am already dead...

Not all dead..."mostly dead".

"Wait, I thought I was dead! How am I not dead? The drum beat, I can still hear it..."

Hal teeters onto his feet and reaches down for the haversack in Karek's hand, he reaches in and produces one of the scrolls handed to him by Suekhain then turns and hands it to Sooron, "You better hold one of these!"

Hal the stumbles against the wall and tries to control his breathing.

Hal will have to wait till tomorrow for that restoration. Scared me there for a while Beetle, I thought poor Hal was dead! Damn botches.