DM Eric's The Prophecy of Icarus Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Eric Swanson

HP counter: 7+1=8 left

I have a listen at the new door.

Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

If I hear nothing I will proceed to open the door and peer inside.

I forgot to mention, the door leading to this room is painted, what probably was a bright red, but is now faded, and worn. Does this change your action?

Naw, are the other doors any colors? More description of the rooms I enter may be good as well, dimensions are fine but descriptions of the walls and what not add spice.

I can give you some flavored text for this complex; the walls are of sandstone material, made of superior construction. The ceilings are 20 feet high. The floors are smooth stone and are covered in tiles forming an interlocking mosaic panel, mostly reddish color, mixed with black, and white tiles. The place is completely dark..

You open the door, and inside this oddly shaped chamber sits a strange altar on the far wall. Atop the altar sits three 2 foot tall statues, one of the goddess Sarenrae, one of the god Abador, and one of the god Set. In front of each statue is an empty ceramic bowl.

All is quiet, and you see no other exits.

After looking at the room through the door for a moment I make a silent bow toward the alter and then back out thinking to myself that I may have to come back later to this room.

I will then go back to the main room to see what is behind door number 2

You return to the previous chamber and then head towards the middle doorway. Opening it, you see yet another corridor. This only proceeds 10 paces then turns to the right.

You let the door close behind you, and you see on the other side a marble plaque with lettering onit, rather faded with time. It reads, in Common, Here lies Icarus Ras'Drexel, the Once and Future Ruler of the Great Empire.

As you approach the turn, there is a bright flash of light that surrounds you and fills your vision. Will save please.

Great,the one I'm not good at...

Will Save 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Admirable, but I think, not good enough

The blinding flash fills your vision, and you feel your body being pulled in several directions at once. But then, just as you are sure you will be torn apart, the light vanishes, and you collapse to the ground. Picking yourself off the ground, you wonder, What the hell was that? Knowledge arcana check, if you want.

Knowledge(Arcana) 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

I will fall back to the room that I came from as I puzzle over what may have caused that using the small amount of arcane knowledge that I have and see what is behind door #3, hopefully nothing so exciting.

You believe it was a magical trap, triggered by the proximity of your body to a trigger. Judging by the effects, you think it may have been a teleportation spell that malfunctioned.

You continue back to the previous chamber and head to the only door you have not opened yet. On the other side, is yet another corridor, that seems to be a moirror image of the corridor opposite the one leading tot he altar. As you proceed down the corridor, it turns at a 45 degree angle and then you see a door at the far end. Unlike the other corridor, this shows signs of wear, the floor and walls are pockmarks and stained. Can you give me a Perception check please, followed by a knowledge Arcana check

Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Knowledge(Arcana) 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

If I see/know no signs of anything strange then I will continue to the end of the corridor and listen at the door.

Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

You realize the pockmarks and the scoring are caused by a strong acid. The pattern of the pockmarks suggests it could be the result of a spell, or maybe even multiple castings of the same spell. The acid marks continue all the way to the door.

Do you continue to the door?

I will inch my way forward ready to spring backwards at first sign of any danger. I wish to see what is behind a door that is so guarded.

You continue to the door, and nothing happens to you. The door appears to be unremarkable. Knowledge, Dungeoneering check please

Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 (at the door)

You see nothing unusual about the door, and you also hear nothing behind it.

Oops, I forgot to add

If I hear nothing at the door I will open it and look in

You yank the door open, and you see a blank wall, too late you hear the hissing of jets, and a fine mist comes down from the ceiling. As it hits the floor, it starts to hiss and bubble. Acid! Reflex save please.

Reflex! 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

You jump back away from the false door, and manage to avoid the effects of the acid trap. After a few seconds, the spray of acid slows, and then stops.

Hahaha, I just realized that by using Abadar(LN), Sarenrae(NG), and Set(CE) you covered the whole alignment spectrum

Useless! these fools leave me in a tomb full of traps to kill me after I am newly risen!?! I will show them all! I will show the WORLD!!!

I leave this corridor and return to the room with the statues and the bowls, I kneel in front of the alter I call upon Abadar.

"Abadar, I am of your mind! I wish to bring civilization to the frontiers, order to the wilds! I have been wronged by my brothers and somehow restored to life to bring the law upon their heads. Where are you to bring me out of this tomb? Have I been rerisen just to die again here?"

and then to Sarenrae.

"Goddess of the sun that shines down upon the face of my desert home, do you not care for one who revels in your suns glory? Is it my destiny to die in this lightless hole?"

and to Set.

"Assist me in bringing the wrath of the gods down on my brothers heads, for what they did to me. You may be indifferent to my cause but at least think of the destruction that I could bring doing this!"

Finally I stand back up and leave the room going back to door number 2 (with the faulty teleporter) and marching through with my torch and kukri at ready.

Your outburst goes unanswered.

You return to the altar room, and offer your prayers, to the gods depicted by the statue. As you finish your prayers, the altar starts glowing with a multicolored light, white beams, mixed with reddish, and violet hues. As you step away from the altar, a feeling of awe and fear fills your soul.

Then you hear voices in your mind, A clear feminine voice, accompanied by a stern male, and a deep voice, tinged with darkness. You are the one the prophecy spoke of, your Empire shall rise again. As your subjects have paid your respects to us, so we all grant you a boon. When you need to call on us, you need but utter the name of the deity and your boon shall manifest. Bear in mind these boons last for a short time, and can be called on once, from each deity

You have been granted three boons total, one corresponding to each of the gods, Saranae, Bulls Strength; Abador Freedom of Movement; Set Magic Vestment

Fortified by the knowledge you have not been abandoned, you continue back to the center door, and continue onwards. As you turn the corner where you ran into the trap, the corridor splits after 10 paces, heading to the left, and continuing straight ahead another 10 paces to a door. As you peer around the corner, the corridor goes another 20 paces, and ends at a door.

However, at the junction of the corridor, a 10' wide open pit heads down about 30' It completely covers the square, so jumping across it appears to be the only option.

200 XP for RP

HP counter 8

I have added the boons to my special ability spoiler, and have added an "exp counter" to the top of my character page, also the remaining gem I found is in my equipment page. Are we using fast, medium, or slow advancement?

I hold my torch over and look to the bottom of the pit for a second, "who puts a pit right in the middle of a perfectly good hall anyway?" then I hop diagonally over into the hall heading to the left to check out the door at the end of the hall.

Acrobatics 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

After listening at the door, if I hear nothing I will crack it open and peer in.

You are able to clear the open pit trap easily.

You proceed to the door, and hear nothing. The door opens top reveal a square chamber, 20 paces across. It appears to be empty, but you also pick up Knowledge Dungeoneering 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 signs of instability in the room. Also, while the temperature of the crypt was fairly cool, this chamber is much warmer. Directly across from you, is what looks like a doorway that is partially collapsed. You estimate it will take some time to excavate this. Examining it further, it seems to lead to a rough hewn passage or cave.

I finish glancing around the room and then turn to check out the door at the other side of the pit

Acrobatics 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

If I make it, I will then listen at the door

Perception1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

and if I hear nothing then I will open it and peer inside

You step over the pit caddy corner style, and slip somewhat, barely recovering in time. Still you are able to clear the pit. The door on the other side reveals another room about 20 paces square. This room has some shelves attached to the far wall, the shelves appear to be empty. Lying in the corner of the room lie broken pieces of ceramic. The room appears to be otherwise empty, and there appear to be no other exits.

I will search the room to try and decipher what it was once used for, or to see if there is anything salvageable in it.

Perception1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

After searching that room I will travel back to the partially collapsed room and see if there is an easy way to excavate it, hopefully without burying myself.

Acrobatics 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 (for the pit)

After searching the room briefly, you surmise maybe this was a storage room of some kind, but whatever supplies this room held must have been looted long ago. You realize if this was indeed your burial crypt, it has been abandned for a long time. This does not bode well for your future plans for your emperor-hood.

Pondering this, you continue to the chamber with the partially collapsed doorway, clearing the pit with little difficulty. After examining the doorway, you think you can excavate it safely but it will take several hours. The smells of the sdesert are strong here, and you believe, with a growing sense of excitement, you found a way out of here.

OK congrats on making it this far! Hopefully you are enjoying yourself with this. Gain 300 XP, which since we are using the fast track puts you at 2nd level. Go ahead and level up. If you are going to take a wizard level, you need to come up with a way to record your spells in a spellbook, like painting runes on your robes, for instance. You do need to rest another 8 hours, before you get the level, so I am going to assume you rest another day. Let me know if there is anything else you want to do in the crypt, and what your plans are, this is very sandbox, so I can work on this.

OK congrats on making it this far! Hopefully you are enjoying yourself with this. Gain 300 XP, which since we are using the fast track puts you at 2nd level. Go ahead and level up. If you are going to take a wizard level, you need to come up with a way to record your spells in a spellbook, like painting runes on your robes, for instance. You do need to rest another 8 hours, before you get the level, so I am going to assume you rest another day. Let me know if there is anything else you want to do in the crypt, and what your plans are, this is very sandbox, so I can work on this.

Haha, Sandbox, in the desert... Sorry. I am enjoying the game greatly

Anyway, Yea that was one of the problems that I was having taking wizard at second level was where would I get the spell book and such... Since I already explained that I was trained in Arcane theory it wasn't too big of a leap to say I could become a wizard. At first I was thinking that I would just have it with my starting gear along with a spell components pouch but I felt that to be a bit too handy, same with just finding one in the dungeon, on the other hand if I take wizard at this level but don't get the spells that could end up as a bit of a doozy... Perhaps I will find a smooshed former wizard under the rock pile? lol

As for plans, after realizing that some amount of time has passed with me down here and not knowing exactly how much I imagine that I would first want to figure out the state of the world and exactly how much time has passed. Immediate plans however will consist of me removing part of the rubble and then resting and then removing the remaining rubble the next day.

Anyway, Yea that was one of the problems that I was having taking wizard at second level was where would I get the spell book and such... Since I already explained that I was trained in Arcane theory it wasn't too big of a leap to say I could become a wizard. At first I was thinking that I would just have it with my starting gear along with a spell components pouch but I felt that to be a bit too handy, same with just finding one in the dungeon, on the other hand if I take wizard at this level but don't get the spells that could end up as a bit of a doozy...

Since this is a desert campaign, the paper for making spellbooks does exist but it is more expensive, so many wizards especially self taught wizards, use other ways to record the spellbooks, like heiroglyps. The way I see it, the spellbook is an aid for memorizing spells, and does not have to be a book at all, you could use stones, or carved sticks, runes, etc. I am not trying to keep you from becoming a wizard, in other words.

Since this is a desert campaign, the paper for making spellbooks does exist but it is more expensive, so many wizards especially self taught wizards, use other ways to record the spellbooks, like heiroglyps. The way I see it, the spellbook is an aid for memorizing spells, and does not have to be a book at all, you could use stones, or carved sticks, runes, etc. I am not trying to keep you from becoming a wizard, in other words.

Hummmm, perhaps my Necklace of Fireballs? sort of like a rosary for the catholic church except spells instead of prayers for each bead (+ my 3 fireball beads of course) that would be an interesting concept, I would have to change to somthing else after a few levels though or my necklace would get far too long lol

1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7 Hp for lvl 2

Hummmm, perhaps my Necklace of Fireballs? sort of like a rosary for the catholic church except spells instead of prayers for each bead (+ my 3 fireball beads of course) that would be an interesting concept, I would have to change to somthing else after a few levels though or my necklace would get far too long lol

I was reading in the Quintessential Wizard book and they have what are called rune stones. You could have then affixed to your necklace. Basically it is a rock inscribed with grooves, runes, and other markings. To prepare a spell, a wizard turns the stone over in his hand tracing his fingers over the markings, and uses them to focus on and study the arcane formula for the spell. Studying spells this way does add to the study time, each stone will add one hour to the study time. So if you need to memorize 2 1st level spells, then it costs 2 hours, plus the standard study time. You can store up to 3rd level spells in a rune stone. Let me know what you think.

Edit, BTW, the spells you memorize will have a +1 DC to the saves, due to the extra time and focus expended.

Egads,that adds quite a bit to the study time. I suppose for right now there is no helping it however, so yes that sound fine until I get a true spell book. I would have all the 0Lv spells and 7 1st lv spells in my "book" should have my level up done shortly, for now I am only going to be using spells from the players handbook

Done leveling, added Hit points, Saves, skills, spells known and prepared (prepared will change after times of rest) and special abilities/feats

After my exhausting work of partially excavating the exit from my tomb the day before I had an incredibly vivid dream that I was with my old Arcane tutor, pouring over books of engineering, Plane scapes, religion, and magic and running through my old mental exercises. Not knowing if the dream was brought on my stress, just remembering an old lesson that was forgotten, or somehow a gift from the gods, when I awoke the next morning my mind was churning with new possibilities... and spells.

At least that is my explanation of my level up lol, if you have a problem with it please disregard this post. also not sure what my new HP is since I leveled up,does it heal everything? just add my new points for being a wizard plus what I healed last night to my last "remaining" total?

After my exhausting work of partially excavating the exit from my tomb the day before I had an incredibly vivid dream that I was with my old Arcane tutor, pouring over books of engineering, Plane scapes, religion, and magic and running through my old mental exercises. Not knowing if the dream was brought on my stress, just remembering an old lesson that was forgotten, or somehow a gift from the gods, when I awoke the next morning my mind was churning with new possibilities... and spells.

At least that is my explanation of my level up lol, if you have a problem with it please disregard this post. also not sure what my new HP is since I leveled up,does it heal everything? just add my new points for being a wizard plus what I healed last night to my last "remaining" total?

No problem there with your explaination of how you level up. You are still wounded though, but since you did gain a level, you would gain 2 hp back instead of just one. So yes add it to the remaining HP total.

I will be busy for the rest of the day so my next post will be sometime tomorrow.

Hit point counter 10

see ya tomorrow

I am running behind on my generation of your crypt location, but I will post something later this evening, Sorry about this.

No worries, I can be patient

After several hours of digging your way out of the crypt entrance, you finally are able to clear enough room to wriggle your way out of your burial crypt.

On the other side is an unworked cavern, obviously meant to hide the entrance. After affixing the location in your memory, in case you decide to return here in the future. You emerge from the cave entrance, and see the outside for the first time in ages.

Scanning the horizon, and examining the surrounding area leads to an interesting discovery. You realize the cave where your burial shrine is located in an area, known as the Tablelands, in a very isolated area of the Kingdom, far from the known civilization. It is at least hundreds of miles from most known points of civilization, but there are oasis’s scattered around there as well.

You are not sure what day of the year it is, but according to the knowledge of the weather patterns, you realize it is the fall season, such as it is. You figure you may have to worry about rainstorms as well, but currently the dawning sky is clear.

I assume you are going to try to find tracks of some kind, leading to an oasis. Let me know what else you want to do. I will post more later.

I will cast Endure Elements on myself and spend the next few hrs checking out probably a two mile radius around the cave to see if I can find any signs of recent passage/a near by oasis.

Knowledge (nature) 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Survival 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Ok the spell will protect you from the effects of the heat, so no worries there. You quickly realize this portion of the Tablelands is even more remote than usual, and you are far away from the known oasis. However, you know there are tribe of various creatures, asherati, and the bhuku, are known to have settlements in the Tablelands. Your knowledge of the Geography of the Tablelands is incomplete, but you figure traveling to the north, or east, would take you closer to any oasis, or other signs of settlements.

Your weather sense tells you the chances of a storm are pretty good over the next several days. If you get caught here in the open, flash flood is a real danger.

Now that I have established that my tomb can be escaped and have discovered where I am in my empire I will reenter my tomb and search it for any hidden rooms that may or may not exist.

Ive been meaning to ask, does my water skin still taste brackish or has it started tasting of normal water since it has refilled itself? Also when I search the tomb for rooms I am going to take 20 and search the whole thing starting in the rooms this side of the water being. then I will sneak back down the hall and see who prevailed between it and the being that came from the stone and decide what to do from there.

Ok you return to your tomb, by this time it is close to noontime. As you try the water skin, you notice the water is still brackish tasting, though it does not taste foul or poisoned, you think maybe the item’s enchantment may be starting to fade, or possibly some went wrong when it was first enchanted, you are not sure.

When you return to the acid trapped corridor, you are able to bypass it by passing through a secret door, where, after passing through an antechamber, you discover a treasure or equipment chamber, where you find:

A masterwork Battle horn,
A composite longbow, with the string missing. It will take a Craft check to repair it. with 20 arrows in a quiver.
A silver dagger in its sheathe.
3 dried flasks of alchemists fire, useless now.
A suit of masterwork studded leather armor
A masterwork eagle’s claw
A masterwork light crossbow
Other various sundry clothing items, rotting and useless now.
Several barrels of salted meats, now spoiled.
2 barrels of fresh water, well sealed.

Let me know if any of this equipment you will take with you.

You leave the treasure room, and move back towards the crypt, when you reach the room with the water creature, there is no sign of either it or the fire creature that assisted you. Oddly the smell of humidity is stronger in this room than before. However when you return to the crypt, you see one red ruby gem affixed in the spot on the wall above your sarcophagus.

Hum, since the enchantment of the flask seems to be fading could I gain part of the price back from the GP i used to buy it? I don't imagine that I would want to walk around drinking brackish water all the time, replenishing or not. I will probably end up selling it and I don't imagine I would get full sell price for a semi broken magic item.

looking over the equipment that is in the treasure room I deem the masterwork Battle horn, composite longbow, 20 arrows, silver dagger in sheathe, suit of masterwork studded leather armor, masterwork eagle’s claw, and masterwork light crossbow to be worthy to add to my load.

I will also pry the crystal off the wall again in case I need to summon the fire creatures aid again.

Unsure of what the battle horn is, like an old trumpet made from a rams horn?

After I do all this I will venture back outside and deem whether I still have a little bit of travel time left for the day.

Hum, since the enchantment of the flask seems to be fading could I gain part of the price back from the GP i used to buy it? I don't imagine that I would want to walk around drinking brackish water all the time, replenishing or not. I will probably end up selling it and I don't imagine I would get full sell price for a semi broken magic item.

The magic item is spilling brackish water because, the way I see it, due to the time since it was enchanted, I feel the quality would degrade, it is still sufficient to keep you alive.

Unsure of what the battle horn is, like an old trumpet made from a rams horn?

See page 95 of Sandstorm.

I will venture back outside and deem whether I still have a little bit of travel time left for the day.

It is late afternoon now, so you could press on, however your body is on a diurnal cycle, which means you risk fatigue if you travel at night.