Brathas |
What do you mean, Walia?
It wasn't remotely in the open. We had to bypass numerous traps and obstacles to get there. And the total value is still in the hundreds of GP.
Zynazyr |
Zynazyr smiles at Augiga when he opens the door. "Yes, a wonderful day indeed," he replies, pulling the book out of a sack.
"I hope it is helpful. Please let us know if you discover anything. It may help us if we delve further into the pyramid."
He nods at the statement regarding the amount of silver they brought and waits patiently. His excitement about learning a spell fades to concern as Augiga continues to study the coin. "Is there a problem?" he says after Augiga asks for the dagger.
Zynazyr waves his hands. "Hold on, there must be mistake," he starts to say as Brathas speaks to diffuse the situation.
"I consider you an ally and would never knowingly try to steal from or deceive you. We believed these coins to be real. Thank you for showing us otherwise. We will need to be more careful going forward. Will these items do to satisfy the cost today?" he says pointing to the gem and ring Brathas handed him, hoping to still be able to finish what they came here for this morning.
Wallia of Winterbourne Stoke |
Brathas, Wallia thought it might not be real and that since we needed to dig our way in which means someone tried to get it and then the real tomb of Zenobia was not in that chamber made Wallia question it. I mentioned it a few times.
Wallia says, "Lead lined with silver... hmmmm.... Mayhap, I should melt down twenty to forty of those coins to make bullets for my sling. It could help us expunge this place of undead creatures."ot
And then turns to Auriga, "I do have to say it is embarrassing for us for this to have happen. If you would like I could heal a member of your order if that would be a sort of recompense."
Lost City DM |
i asked ferrous to look at them repeatedly
FYI Ferrous did look at them twice, but failed his rolls. So did everyone else.
Auriga Sirkinos NPC |
One of the gems and the ruby ring from the tomb of Hezkanos-Thalos would add up to 500 gp. Brathas will offer those in trade.
"I believe these to be genuine."
Auriga eyes Brathas warily. He takes the ring and the gemstone and examines them. He shows them to a couple of the acolytes, and they confer.
Brathas Charisma: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31
Auriga nods.
"Very well. I suppose it could simply be an honest mistake. Though you might want to have words with whoever passed these to you."
"...If you would like I could heal a member of your order if that would be a sort of recompense."
"You are a healer? Interesting. None of my acolytes have any injuries at the moment, but I'll keep your offer in mind."
Auriga turns to Zynazyr.
"So... shall we?" he says as he gestures for Zynazyr to join him behind the curtain. "This will be easier if we go somewhere that has chairs."
Lost City DM |
Unless anyone else wants to talk with the Magi, we can move on.
11:00 AM, Day 8
Zynazyr rejoins the group and they prepare to head out.
Ferrous wonders whether the coins he stashed upstairs are fake also.
So where do you want to go next?
* Back up to the secret room on Tier 2 so Ferrous can have another look at his hoard?
* Visit an unexplored area on tier 4:
* * The other secret door in the royal tomb at S?
* * The fire beetle nest at B?
* * The unfinished passageway at E?
* * The tomb with the eternal flames at F?
* Go down to the next tier:
* * By way of the stairs at D?
* * By way of the trapdoor at T?
Something else?
Lost City DM |
Hi guys, getting ready to get back on track.
Any other votes?
Lost City DM |
11:10 AM, Day 8
1d6 ⇒ 4
The trip back up to the second tier is uneventful. The group arrives at the secret chamber and opens the door.
The hoard appears untouched. Ferrous jumps over to the coins and breaks one in half. Sure enough, the coins are all made of lead coated with a thin veneer of precious metal. They are worth roughly 1/100th of their face value. The jewelry taken from the sarcophagi, upon inspection, is also costume jewelry and only worth 1/100th of its actual value. In total that makes a value of 450 gp.
<Insert Ferrous' temper tantrum here.>
No XP for this treasure since you didn't discover this yourselves. Ferrous and Brathas had a 3 in 6 chance to notice; everyone else had a 1 in 6 chance. But nobody made their rolls, even with a second try.
6d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 4, 6, 4, 2) = 23
While the party discusses what to do next, Ana hears something... it sounds like barking, and some guttural speech. It is coming from the hole the group was using as a chimney for their cookfire. It is coming from outside!
So now what?
* Investigate the sound? (How?)
* Ignore it and head back to the king's tomb?
* Something else?
Lost City DM |
Brathas: FYI the chimney is just the small hole that the flock of stirges that originally lived here used to get outside. It is far too small for anything to come in unless that creature is about as big as a rat. It also goes upwards on an angle, son nothing but a small bit of sky is ever visible through the hole.
do they hear you?: 1d6 ⇒ 1
The barking sounds from outside continue, but in the distance, you can hear a voice...
"Dakatar! Shin kun ji haka?"
Ana recognizes the language as Gnoll.
Anastoria |
"Sorry, Wallia. In any case, they heard you and know that we are here, though they may not know exactly where we are."
Lost City DM |
The group moves out of the secret room, to prevent themselves from being overheard.
So now what?
* Investigate the gnolls? (How?)
* Ignore them and head back to the king's tomb? (Wallia already voted for this)
* Something else?
Brathas |
"Or they could pose a danger to our fellow survivors and the other inhabitants of this place. I don't mind at least going to the entrance to guard against their intrusion. But if they are dangerous, venturing out of here into the desert is sacrificing a defensive position.
I say we wait inside by the entrance a few minutes, then go back down to the king's tomb."
Ferrous Grimgond |
Been busy and without access. Ferrous's immediate reaction is extreme grief. He will be processing this loss for days.
Ferrous visibly distraught at the discovery of the hoard being counterfeit. Sits solemnly among the piles of bags of fake treasure and struggles to remove the platinum coins from his beard. The sharp eye may notice that the dwarf's eyes appear moist. When the barking is heard Ferrous gets to his feet. I feel like hitting something hard. And I hate Gnolls. Filthy beasts
Wallia of Winterbourne Stoke |
Wallia shrugs and says, "I would put 10 gold on more valuable treasure being in the king's tomb. Sure, let's go after some gnolls, meh, we can make jerky out of them, so why not?"
Lost City DM |
11:20 AM, Day 8
"I say we wait inside by the entrance a few minutes, then go back down to the king's tomb."
This is the only specific suggestion, so I assume we are going with that.
1d6 ⇒ 4
The party returns to the central room, with the three brass cylinders containing the ladders going up. The pit trap on the level above that the party discovered when they first arrived still hangs open.
But otherwise the room has changed. The tools and materials that were here have been ransacked, and most of them lie scattered on the floor. Two knotted ropes hang down from the hole in the ceiling above (you know that you did not leave them here), and in the room there is the stink of urine and a few small piles of feces on the floor.
The ladders seem intact so the group is able to make their way upward to the first tier. The room there is more or less as you remember, though the stink of urine is present here too (particularly around the cylinders). The door is wedged open as you remember it. The hallway out is also more or less the same though a few crude pictograms have been added to the walls. Ana thinks they are gnoll tribal symbols. The outer door is also wedged open as you remember it.
Peeking out of the doorway, you can see a large camp in the area around the pyramid. There seems to be a tribe of at least 50 gnolls here, along with a few emaciated human slaves and a large number of camels.
So far it does not seem that they have spotted you, though several gnolls can be heard below, searching around the exterior of the second tier.
Now what?
* Emerge and attack?
* Emerge and approach with stealth?
* Ignore them and head back in to the king's tomb (or somewhere else)?
* Try to seal the entrance somehow (with yourselves inside)?
* Something else?
Ferrous Grimgond |
Gods that be mighty pack of the dogs. Ferrous says quietly.
He peeks again trying to discern if he can recognize any of the emaciated humans from their caravan.
Do you think these Gnolls got the rest of our caravan? If we got a few of those camels we could actually have a chance at getting out of this place and returning to a more sane place.
Brathas |
What sort of missile weapons do the gnolls have, and how far away are most of them? If we opened fire on an apparent leader or shaman,
how many could strike back at us?
Brathas is likewise quiet as he speaks.
"If those are our comrades from the caravan, we should try to rescue them. Food is scarce around here and I'm sure the gnolls would eat them before giving up here and breaking camp.
I have three ideas:
1) Kill the leader with a surprise strike.
2) Lure a dozen or so into the pyramid, block the door, and kill them. That whittles down their number by a quarter, then we re-evaluate.
3) Lure the whole group inside, and draw them into conflict with the Priests of Zargon and the goblins. Or use some of the traps here against them, like the boulder trap.
We could try to get another faction to help us out, but I don't think the Magi would really care. The Warrior Maidens might like a chance to demonstrate their prowess, but might regard this as needlessly risky. And the Brotherhood of Gorm regards us as enemies. Well the rest of you, that is, not Walia and me. So we might have an option there."
Lost City DM |
What sort of missile weapons do the gnolls have, and how far away are most of them? If we opened fire on an apparent leader or shaman,
how many could strike back at us?
It's a little hard to tell at this distance. It looks like a few of them have shortbows. Most of them seem to be armed with spears, which can be thrown, but don't have a particularly good range.
Wallia of Winterbourne Stoke |
Wallia says, "We can just lure them inside and the occupants of the pyramid will have to get involved when wild gnolls start kicking their doors down. But that be a bit callous. 50 is way too much for us handle on our own. I do not think we have that much juice with the other factions to get that much help. I think we could wait till nightfall and try to rescue them and then block the door."
Lost City DM |
Ana knows that gnolls have infravision, much like elves. They also have a very keen sense of smell.
Fistep |
50 is way too many... and no, I don't think any sort of surprise attack or attack at night is wise. he says with a head shake. Brathas, your idea of luring some of them in.. might be something but honestly think we should barricade and go seek some reinforcements
Ferrous Grimgond |
How many more of us are at the campsite? It is not just us six.
Still even at 4 to 1 they would be a bit much for us maybe we could lure some into here and pick them off or maybe we could free some of the camels and cause a diversion as some will give chase. Ferrous strokes his beard as he talks over the options.
If I recall correctly wasn't there three statues that towered at the top of the pyramid. And these statues were accessible from inside the pyrammid.
Wallia of Winterbourne Stoke |
Wallia says, "There is also the possibility that the whole damned legion of gnolls give pursuit. Sure we could hole up in our camp area and see how the inhabitants of the pyramid fight back the gnolls, that is a bad idea. Say if we ask for help and they turn us down and we try anyway and those groups get attacked, we would have made even more enemies here."
Are they from our caravan or from another?
Brathas |
"No, it isn't. It might be if we left it to chance but we can be smarter than that.
We can leave a trail for them to follow and head to the lower levels. Get the gnolls angry at us and they will follow, not take their time exploring side passages.
What do you advocate doing? Leaving those slaves and camels to the gnolls' mercy?
Ferrous, do you have an idea about the statues? Is there a way we can use these old gods to frighten away the gnolls?"
Wallia of Winterbourne Stoke |
Wallia says, "Maybe we can funnel a good deal of them where we want but with so many and gnolls not necessarily the most disciplined sorts, it is not unrealistic to think they could go off and attack the other groups as well. Well, I advocated sneaking in and setting them free but that was deemed untenable, fair enough. I just do not see this going well for us. We do not know where the Zargonese are exactly or the goblins, if we had the information, maybe we could better formulate a trap."
Maybe I am Mr. Pragmatism, I do not know. Taking on 50 gnolls is suicidal.
Anastoria |
"I've no love for gnolls," Ana suppresses a shiver, "They enjoy elf flesh. But I agree that facing 50 or more of them is tantamount to suicide. I don't want to leave the slaves to their mercy, but how to face that many..."
She ponders for a long moment.
"If we could only separate them into small, manageable groups..."
Zynazyr |
Zynazyr looks concerned by the amount of gnolls and even more so that some of the group want to attack them. "It is unfortunate that those humans were captured. I would consider reaching out to the groups on the 3rd floor to warn them in case the gnolls make their way down. It may improve our standing with the Maidens and even possibly the Brotherhood. Only if all 3 groups worked together with us might we be able to defeat such a large group, but I doubt they would be willing to do so. The only outcome I see if we attack is us being killed or captured ourselves," Zynazyr says, eager to get back down to the lower levels before they are spotted.
Brathas |
"I wasn't planning to charge in and fight the whole horde at once.
But there are narrow tunnels, where their great numbers are useless.
There are traps, which we know about and they don't.
There are the statues, which perhaps we could use to trick them in some way.
There are the various items and elixirs we have found.
A few can stand against many with the right tactics. A straight-up fight in an open field would indeed be suicide, which is why I've never had any intention of fighting that way.
Keep in mind that we only need to kill enough to make it clear to the rest that this is not a fight worth having. Ten would be more than enough, I would think, and I believe we could handle that many.
If you all agree to hide inside and bar the door, we could do that, but they know we are in here. They could quite well block the door from the other side so that we could never get out."
I'm envisioning a little more Die Hard or Battle of the Mounds, and a little less Thermopylae, but in any event I think this is a manageable situation if we are clever.
Lost City DM |
Wow! Lots of discussion! Always happy to see that.
If I recall correctly wasn't there three statues that towered at the top of the pyramid. And these statues were accessible from inside the pyramid.
The ladders in cylinders go upwards and their layout indicates that they must lead up to the statues, but you never actually investigated up there.
Are they from our caravan or from another?
You don't recognize any of the slaves, but it is hard to tell at this distance. Most of them look really emaciated, and seem like they may have been slaves much longer than the eight days since you lost track of your caravan.