The Lost City GM's page

You proceed according to Horek's plan, pushing the same button at the end of the hallway that you had pushed before and once again emerge in the familiar hallway you had previously been following. From there you turn left at the intersection (the right hallway leads to the room with the ramp going down to the Jester's tomb), which run for 30' before turning south and quickly ending in another door.

After a short search by Tollo and Loges, you open the door to the room beyond that is filled with shelves. Most of these are empty, but some contain old crates. The shelves are covered in dust and a vile-looking ochre fungus that grows in large, thick clusters.

The room seems to have no other exits.

The group leaves the Gormites, heading back down the stairs until they arrive at the door with the button next to it. The door is closed and inoperable until the button is once again pushed. Following a light grinding noise, the door opens again, revealing the straight corridor beyond it with the same door on the far side.

No worries. Sorry for the delay, but the move really took it out of me. I've finally arrived at our temporary home for the summer. We'll be making the big move overseas at the end of July.

Today is the big moving day, the Day of the Truck. Wish me luck! My presence online should increase after today.

The Gormites shake their masked heads. "We know that there are more within the city, but where exactly we don't know. We sometimes trade with the Magi of Usamigaras for holy honey. They can be found on the level below us, but be careful, for they are not to be trusted."

Just to clarify, the local humans seem to consider the pyramid to be part of the "city" of Cynidicea. When referring just to the structures in the caverns below the pyramid, they refer to them as the "City Below".

I'll have you continue exploring Tier 3 then; at least that's what I gather the consensus is.

The group gathers its belongings and once again bids farewell to Abdul and Zaaid and heads back into the pyramid of Cynidicea.

In the central room of Tier 2, you find three members of the Brotherhood of Gorm camped out, their weapons at the ready. Given that all of them wear the same masks of Gorm (depicted as a long-haired, stern looking man), it is hard to tell whether you have encountered these individuals before.

One of the Brothers holds up their hands in greeting as you descend the rickety ladder from Tier 1.

"Greetings, Outlanders. We have be stationed here to find out how your quest to recover the Holy Bzzts goes? Our leader, Kanadius, is eager for news, as he is greatly saddened by their loss. Have you been able to restore your honor and come into the good graces of Gorm again?"

The group does its best to track down game in the heat of the morning sun, and comes up with a few lizards and a buzzards. Not much by their normal standards, but in the desert all is welcome.

The day passes without much else to report. You see the occasional scavengers in the distance as evening approaches, but they seem too afraid to approach within bowshot.

Finally the sun dips below the western mountains and it rapidly starts cooling. Time to reenter the pyramid.

You've rested a full day now, so the casters get their spells back and everyone gets an hp if they still need one. Where do you want to return in the pyramid? Options include the corridor with the buttons, the rest of Tier 3, or into Tier 4 (Tier 1 being the entrance chamber, and Tier 2 where you encountered the Warriors of Madarua, or down to Tier 4 where you found the jester's tomb).

Hi folks,

Thank you for bearing with my absence of late, but things have been very busy and will likely get busier.

I've already mentioned that I'll be moving very soon, so I thought I'd give you some updates.

First, I wanted to tell all of you that my family and I will be moving for work to the small island of Yap in the western Pacific this summer. Yap is part of a small atoll that is part of the Federated States of Micronesia, and is quite remote. The closest "mainland" are the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. FYI, careful Googling Yap at work, as the traditional dress there is NSFW.

To complicate things further, we're being forced to move out of our current home by the end of May (it was sold) and will be living with friends and relatives until we finally leave for Micronesia at the beginning of August.

What this means for the game is that my posting will be sparse between now (actually from a few weeks ago) and when we get ourselves established in Micronesia in August. I'm not exactly sure when in August because the work is handling the relocation and hasn't given us our tickets yet, and also because I don't know how long it will take me to get the internet up and running in Yap (although I'm glad to know there IS internet).

I'd like everyone to vote and let me know what you prefer we do with this game. The choices are:

A) "Yes, let's keep the game running with less frequent posting until August!"
B) "Nah, too frustrating, let's put the game on hold until August."
C) "Sorry, I've already lost interest as this doesn't work for me. Let's call it quits."

Feel free to chime in if you see other options or have other comments.

Thanks,

BrOp

The group spends an uneventful day and night in the desert, although its reasons are getting low, even if it never find out of water thanks to the clerics' orisins.

I am away from my computer until next Tuesday and will be posting tersely from my phone. Don't take it personally, everyone.

Horek is glad to be outside again, beneath the sky and with fresh air to breathe deep. Still curious about the urns, the half-orc continues to experiment, finding small insects to drop in them to see if they remain alive after being teleported from one urn to another, and wondering where the contents of the 'disappearing' urn might end up, speculating aloud that perhaps there is a room somewhere beneath the pyramid where they end up - though for what purpose he cannot imagine.

Horek drops the insects into the four urns and notices that they seem to be unchanged by their journey through three of the vessels; what happens to the insect dropped in the fourth urn remains a mystery.

With playtime over, Horek suggests they spend the rest of the day hunting for local game and preparing the carcasses of those already slain and those they hope to take in order to bolster their food supply. As usual, he avoids the pool with the ooze that lurks within.

Horek wanders off to do some hunting, but manages not to catch anything, although he does get a better understanding of the layout of the abandoned city.

Would you like to follow Loges' advice and stay in the tent while the sun is still high or in the sky, or do you want to head back into the pyramid. If so, where do you want to go?

After securing the urns, Loges leads the horse back up the ramp and through the corridors of the pyramid. Even though you might expect the magical animal to be unnerved by its surroundings, it does not seem bothered by the strange environment, and dutifully follows the wizard's commands. Even the stairs present little problem to the equine, although its hooves do slip a few times in the winding staircase. Its journey ends, however, in the ladder that connects the second level to the first. Unable to pass this obstacle, the horse stands calmly as you unload the urns and carefully maneuver them through the opening in the ceiling using rope, avoiding the rickety ladder completely. Once topside, you carry the large vessels the remaining way to the camp where Abdul and Zaaid are in the middle of a rest during the hot noonday sun. The two men seem intrigued if a bit scared by the urns, and are happy to leave their examination to you.

You tie the heavy urns onto the magical horse, which does not seem to be bothered by the weight.

So back to camp?

Ah yes, forgot it was bronze.

Interesting... does the stone appear in one of the other urns? How about dropping rocks into the others, same result? Can we carry with us, if each of us carries only one and we head outside? We could use the horse, but I have serious doubts about it negotiating that stairwell.. :)

After a bit of experimentation, Horek discovers that a pebble deposited in three of the urns will appear in one of the others, although always in the same vessel, while one dropped in the fourth seems to disappear entirely. Each of the urns is heavy and bulky, but can be carried by a single medium person with little difficulty, as long as he has both hands free. (He also moves up one encumbrance category when doing so, i.e. from light to medium, etc).

The grey-blue, slightly translucent horse stands in the middle of the burial chamber. It looks around and at all of you, then calmly turns to Loges and gives him an expression that closely resembles "Really?"

Oops, I was incorrect on the size of the magical jars. They're actually pretty big, about 4' in height and 2.5' in diameter. Big enough to fit a medium-sized person (if they crouch).

Horek looks down into the magical jars as he drops in the pebble: it disappears before it hits the bottom.

The ceramic magical jars are about a foot-and-a-half in diameter and two feet in height and weigh roughly 12 pounds each. They all appear to be empty, but look like they could be moved without much trouble.

So head out the door and explore this level a bit? Just a reminder that this is a OD&D adventure at heart, which means that the farther down you go in the dungeon, the deadlier the challenges become. Don't let this room fool you. This is something your PCs would understand instinctually, since it is how your world operates.

And I'm back from the fever swamp. Blech, don't recommend that to anyone. Thank you everyone for your patience.

Sorry for the delay in posting, folks. Am in bed with a high fever.

The jar seems to have the cremated ashes of someone in them, and is not trapped in any way. Other than the large magical jars in the corner there seems to be nothing else in the room. The only exits are the door to the north and the ramp up to the level above that Zuberi is guarding.

Bolgar touches one of the jars but doesn't sense or see anything out of the ordinary. Whatever the magic contained in the jars, it is not activated via touch.

As soon as Tollo begins to move the lid off the coffin, it springs up and an oversized wooden model of a dwarven jester's head painted in bright colors jumps up like a jack-in-the-box. Inside the coffin is largely empty, containing only a small jar or urn.

Loges is busy with the rubbings while Bolgar is magically observing the jars. Anyone want to do anything else?

"Hmm... these brass jars seem to be magical."

Do the jars have lids? Handles?

The jars do have handles. They seem to also have some conjuration (teleportation) magic on them.

The coffin does not appear to be magic, but the four jars sitting in the corners do. They radiate magic, but Bolgar can't tell what they are supposed to do (although a Knowledge (arcana) check could suss it out).

The coffin indeed seems to be sized for a dwarf. It is made of stone with intricate carvings.

The mural does indeed seem to be of Queen Zenobia and King Alexander and their dwarven jester who is unnamed. There is no other writing on it.

The room has one exit to the north.

The ramp is sloped easily to allow access to and from the level below. It does not require a climb check to ascend or descend. There is no falling damage.

The murals on the wall show a court scene showing a king and queen being entertained by a dwarven jester. Although Bolgar is not an expert in the archaic form of Kelish used in the pyramid, he thinks that he can make out two names associated with the nobles: Alexander and Zenobia.

As Bolgar enters the far end of the room, the ground beneath him begins to move. A 10' by 20' section begins to slowly tilt down with the dwarf on board until it finally comes to rest on the floor of the room below.

Using his darkvision, Bolgar can see that the room below is a tomb of some kind with murals on the wall, and a small coffin in a niche in the eastern wall. A large brass jar sits in each of the four corners of the chamber.

Feel free to post about the door slamming and button pushing, but I am moving the story on so we don't lose more momentum.

The party moves ahead down the eastern corridor, which ends in a doorway. After careful checking, the door is opened only to reveal a small room that looks like a ruined chapel that has been looted and deliberately wrecked. A stone altar has been smashed and no ceremonial equipment can be seen. The word "Zargon" has been scrawled on the wall in large Kelish letters.

Is Loges now cut off from the rest of us?

No, everyone had cleared into the corridor beyond the "button hallway".

Zuberi starts looking for traps and secret doors along the apparently empty western corridor, if he finds none he'll go east.

Zuberi does not notice any traps or secret doors along the western corridor.

Loges frustratingly looks at the new button. The curious wizard presses it...

Loges pushes the button once everyone is clear of the interstitial corridor. With a whoosh, the door on both ends of the hallway slam shut and there is a momentary sound of stone grinding against stone.

The eastern corridor continues for 40 feet before turning to the right, while the western one goes on for 50 feet and turns south; there are no doors, alcoves, or similar interruptions in either one, and both seem very quiet.

The group moves into the hallway and to the other other, everyone looking around desperately for signs of traps, but finding none. The far door is likewise safe, so Zuberi opens it, revealing another long corridor that ends in a t-junction approximately 70 feet farther on.

Looking on the other side of the door that was just opened, you find another single button marked with the same symbol you found on the other button.

Looks like my family and I are moving to the other side of the planet this summer. It was sprung on us and we have a lot of planning to do in the next two months before we can leave. It's good in the long run, but there will be lots going on in the next few months. House has to be packed up, magazines have to be cancelled, etc.

They don't seem to be numbers or letters, but rather symbols that are not part of a language. You are not sure what they indicate.

Apologies for being AFK this week. Big changes in my life are happening all at once and I'm a little overwhelmed. I'll post again tomorrow.

Everyone looks at the symbols, but they are unfamiliar to everyone. I have uploaded the symbols to Roll20. The button is currently depressed to the top symbol, which also matches the one on the other side of the door (where there is only one button and symbol).

Tollo can't see very far down the corridor, and without stepping into the corridor can't tell very much, but he does not detect any traps directly in front of the door. Tollo takes 20 on Perception and Loges casts DM.

Guys, I've been getting over a throat infection that slowed me down a lot more than I expected. Hopefully I will get things back to normal this weekend.

Hope you feel better soon!

Horek indeed sees similar buttons next to the door on the far end of the corridor.

The door opens for Bolgar, revealing a 50-foot-long corridor that continues northwards until it ends in another door. Just inside the corridor is a row of eight buttons, similar to the one found outside the door the group in standing in front of. One of these buttons has the same symbol as the one on the button on the other side of the door and is currently depressed.

Tollo has to push quite hard on the button to get any kind of result. It finally depresses ... but nothing happens.

No one responds to Tollo's knock, although since the doors are made of stone, it's possible he wasn't heard.

After disposing of the remaining striges and collecting the gems, the group heads to the staircase where they first encountered the woman wearing the dog mask. She is nowhere to be seen, so the group heads down the spiral stairs, which ends in a closed door. After Tollo and Loges do their usual checks and discover nothing, the group moves on to find a long corridor that at first heads south for 30 feet, then turns eastward for 60 feet, and then northwards for 60 feet, ending in another door.

There is a button with a strange symbol next to the door, approximately four inches across. The symbol looks like a "plus" sign with two diagonal branches coming off each of the four ends, and doesn't look like anything you've ever seen. According to Tollo and Loges, it is not trapped and non-magical.

I'm happy to GMPC you for a few weeks, Tamru, it's not a big deal.

The glitter you noticed earlier comes from something sparkling in a pile of dust and debris in the middle of the room.

There is also a small hole in the northeastern ceiling. A slight wailing sound, as if from wind being funneled through a small space, comes from it.

Zuberi splatters blood all over himself and the walls as he ends the life of the fourth stirge.

Combat is effectively over, as the other three stirges are stunned, blinded, etc. They are still alive, however.

Red stirge: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Blue stirge: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Green stirge: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

The three stirges in the corner wilt under the intense psychedelic light show Loges throws on them. They drop to the floor nearly lifeless.

Tollo's crossbow seems a bit off and misses the last of the stirges. Either that, or the little critters are too damn small.

Timbur and Zuberi are up!