AFF solo - Part XXIII: The Skull of Ukhuttaz

Room 27
Challenge: Awareness (+1)

The next chamber is decorated with low reliefs; a welcome change from the sequence of bare walls they've traversed. The reliefs depict fairly standard scenes of city life: markets, processions of soldiers, livestock, etc. Ksandajja and Ilog insist on a thorough examination. Grebdal Themp is frankly bored by it, and would rather just take the corridor to the next room, but [Awareness roll succeeds] then he notices a single bit of inlaid metal glinting in the eye of a sacrificial bull. He presses it, and a section of wall slides open to reveal another passageway.


Room 23
Challenge: Encounter (-2)

Standing in the centre of the next chamber is the four-armed skeleton of an ogre or small giant, standing unaccountably between the three companions and an altar of pure white marble on the far wall. The creature holds a terrible, rusty scythe in each set of arms, and raises them high to strike down the hapless mortals who have disturbed its millennium of slumber. The THASSALOS advances upon them, eye sockets glowing green with unholy malice.

THASSALOS    SKILL 10    STAMINA 15

"Keep it busy," mutters Ksandajja. "I'll use my magic."

[Round 1]
Ilog and Grebdal Themp go forth to meet the monstrosity as Ksandajja lingers at the threshold. She produces the energy crystal from her pouch, and slowly lets the magic build within her.

Grebdal Themp opts for a defensive stance, and adroitly dodges every pass of the whirling blades [nat. 12]. Ilog opts to assault the fiend head-on, and takes a long jagged wound across the torso for his impetuosity [4-0 damage]. As he recoils from the blow, the thassalos emits radiant green rays from its eye sockets, enveloping the the warrior in their freezing effulgence [1 more damage leave him at 6 Stamina].

[Round 2]

Ksandajja focusses her will through the crystal, which is consumed as she unleashes a blast of crackling energy. The thassalos is caught full in the chest; shards of burnt and shattered bone rain over the battlefield. But though the cracked and limping thing be near to collapse, still it fights on with redoubled malignancy.

[She took an extra round to cast ZAP (for +2 to her casting check for 9-); the one-use energy crystal provided the 4 stamina for the spell. 3d6=13 damage leaves it with 2 Stamina.]

Grebdal Themp again opts solely for defence, but the furious skeletal colossus has learnt to anticipate his feints. A rusty blade cuts across Grebdal Themp's side, hampered somewhat by his stiff leather hauberk [4-1=3 damage, to 7 Stamina]. Ilog cannot find an opening for attack, and the thing's superior reach means he comes away with a gory gash across his shoulder [4-0=4 damage]. Another gout of green energy freezes the hapless warrior, nearly overcoming him [1 more damage drops him to 1 Stamina].

[Round 3]
Ksandajja moves in to join the fray, but cannot find an opening in the Thassalos' defence. Grebdal Themp tries to fight back, and receives a cut across the thigh [3-0 damage to 4 Stamina] for his effort. Ilog tries desperately to defend himself, but the scythe blade smashes past his shield and slices into his abdomen; the warrior falls senseless at its clacking feet into an ever-spreading puddle of his own blood [4-1=3 damage, to -2 Stamina]. The green ray shoots past where Ilog had stood, making a patch of frost on the stone floor [miss!].

[Rounds 4-5]
At last Grebdal Themp's blade strikes true -- but only a few chips of bone fly off from the thing's spine; the counterstrike nearly saws him in half [both down to 1 Stamina]. Ksandajja is frozen by the thing's baleful glare, and nearly has her arm taken off [3+1 damage, down t 2 Stamina] before finally felling the thassalos with a well-placed strike.

The bones are still skittering over the floor as they rush to the side of their fallen comrade. There is still life in him -- but swiftly ebbing! Grebdal Themp flips him over and Ksandajja hurriedly pours a healing elixir down his throat. All his wounds close up, and he opens his eyes. "I take it victory was ours?" he says.

Grebdal Themp drinks his own potion, whilst the sorceress must content herself with a tightly-wound bandage or two [G&I back to full Stamina; K gains +2 for first aid, up to 4.]. In contrast to her companions, Ksandajja still feels the pain of her wounds, but it is soon forgotten as she turns her attention to the marble altar, for upon it rests a gleaming human skull.

She leaps to her feet and rushes toward it.

"Be careful!" calls Grebdal Themp.

"I am!"

She is inwardly certain that no further trap would profane the holy altar with its eerie relic, so reaches out to claim her prize...

[Q: Is there a final trap? 50/50 (4+): O3 C1 - no, and...]

She lifts it from the altar, turns it over a few times in her hands, feeling it unexpectedly cold and dead. Then, realising it's incomplete, she roots round in her pack for the jawbone. She hold it in place, and feels it bond with the rest, held on by the centuries-old enchantment. The completed skull throbs almost imperceptibly beneath her fingers, and she knows instantly she holds a potent weapon against the undead.

[The Skull of Ukhuttaz - Banish Undead 1/day (as the wizard spell, but affects 100' radius; counts as the Disrupt battle magic spell in mass combat); the possessor may use any weapon to fight undead, even incorporeal ones.]

"Come," says the sorceress, "let's go destroy the phantom that killed Fhenteskeer."

[Q: Can they get out from here without incident? Likely (3+): O6 C8 - yes
Q: The hamakei wasn't trying to trick them, was it? Doubtful (6): O1 C7 - no.]

The little gremlin is flitting about impatiently as they at last emerge from the temple. "Come," it chitters, "back to my master's dwelling to rest!" As much as they burn with the desire to avenge their friend, the fire-priest, weariness and the promise of a proper meal propel them to follow the tiny creature to partake of the Hamakei's hospitality.

But the next morning sees them up with the dawn, trudging solemnly back to the ruined manse.

[Q: Any surprises? Likely (3+): O2 C6 - no]

The air inside is even less salubrious than before, the bitter incense being entirely overshadowed by the reek of decay. As they come into the circular atrium, they find Fhenteskeer's corpse lying next to the dead wizard's, already bloated and swarming with flies.

"Show yourself, coward!" calls Grebdal Themp with only half-feigned bravura. The SPECTRE meets his challenge with an inarticulate screech as its glowing form fades into view.

SPECTRE    SKILL 10    STAMINA 14

Ksandajja steps forth defiantly, brandishing the Skull above her head. The relic's potent enchantment roils round the chamber in an unseen tempest, felt even by the sorceress' magic-blind comrades.

[Banish: the target may roll SKILL to avoid, minus the MAGIC of the caster.
Skill 10 - Magic 5 = 5; 2d6=6]

The spectre is drawn howling into the Skull's gaping mouth and is no more.

Their foe annihilated, the companions' thoughts turn immediately to their fallen friend. Grebdal Themp is wracked by grief, so Ksandajja and Ilog bid him sit apart whilst they attend to the grim task. Chasing away the swarm of flies by beating their cloaks in the air proves futile, so in the end Ksandajja summons a sorcerous gout of fire to blast them all away. Then they divest poor Fhenteskeer of his pack and wrap him in a cloak.

Meanwhile Grebdal Themp has plucked up his courage to rifle the necromancer's laboratory. Ilog moves to stop him. "Something here killed the necromancer. Mayhap we should let our sorceress do the searching."

[Q: Are there dangers in the treasure? certain (2+): O2 C3 - yes, but... only the book
Ksandajja rolls against Second Sight (2d6=2!) and Magic Lore (6, succeeds)]

Ksandajja uses her witch's sight to examine the wizardly accoutrements. The tome is radiant with unsettling power, and she shivers each time she looks at it. She uses a wooden chair leg to close the tome, and wraps it in a blanket without letting it touch her skin. She volunteers to carry it so no one else has to.

But there is nothing else possessing even a slight dweomer, save for a beaded necklace worn by the necromancer's rotten corpse. Ksandajja beheads him with a stroke of her sword, and plucks the necklace off, wrapping it in a bit of linen until it can be washed. She pronounces the rest of the lot mundane, and her companions eagerly begin searching for valuables, though fruitlessly. The implements of the Art are serviceable rather than costly, the incense is too foul and cloying to be worth much, and everything else is made of cheap bronze, too bulky to be worth taking. But at least there are ample materials to construct a litter for Fhenteskeer's body, to spare him the final indignity of being dragged through the dust.

[Treasure was rolled on the AFF charts (p.A-142)--
coins +0: 2d6=4sp
treasure +4: 4d6=8gp worth of sundries
magic item +5: yes, necklace of survival 5 beads]

"We should send him off with his axe," says Ilog. "But his pack is too... befouled where it lay against him."

"But his elixirs," says Grebdal Themp. "here, let me... three potions, one for each of us. Let us take them, and swear a solemn oath to our own gods, and of course to mighty Filash, that we will use them to combat evil. It's what he would have wanted."

[Q: Anything happen for the rest of the day? 50/50 (4+): O3 C2 - no, and...]

Their several oaths sworn, the companions spend the rest of the day collecting wood from the ruined manor and surrounding buildings, and that night burn their comrade on a great pyre. Grebdal Themp stumbles through a half-remembered prayer to Filash that he's heard the priest often recite that it may speed his soul into the empyrean to stand beside the blazing throne of his lord.

next post: as one Quest ends...

AFF solo - Part XXII: 'We keep looking'

Room 20
Challenge: Evaluate separate from ENCOUNTER

The next chamber is darkness, so complete the lamplight can scarcely penetrate it. The companions are briefly excited to come to a chamber whose far side be further away than their lantern can reveal, but as they proceed into the space the darkness begins to abate. It reveals a chamber of similar dimensions to all the rest, with a dark figure in the centre. The figure is clad in heavy plate armour of blackened iron, bristling with hatefully pointed spikes. The CHAOS WARRIOR hefts his fearsome greatsword and hisses out a challenge in some unknown tongue.

CHAOS WARRIOR    SKILL 10    STAMINA 10

No quarter will be asked, nor given. The warrior leaps into the centre of his adversaries, swinging his sword in long arcs under which they must duck to keep their heads upon their shoulders. His overhand swings send up sparks and crack the floor where they strike. Swords bounce off the spiky armour, and Ilog's mace and chain can barely dent the surface. They strike in concert, ever more fiercely to match the rage of their foe, and the blows begin to tell. The Chaos Warrior slows and the hits against him become more frequent, eliciting more shrieks of inchoate rage and pain. At last he collapses in a heap. Ilog raises his morningstar above his head, and crashes it down on the awful helm of the prone warrior with both hands. Again and again he strikes, until the pool of blood on the black stone floor shews the foul knight to be truly, permanently vanquished.

[The fight took 7 rounds, and the Chaos Warrior didn't hit once. The PCs didn't roll super well either, and most of their hits were negated by armour.]

Grebdal Themp does not wish to watch Ilog making certain that their foe is definitively vanquished, so sets about examining his sword. The pommel is in the shape of a skull, with two small emeralds in the eye sockets. These he prises out and adds to his treasure pouch. [His Evaluate roll succeeded; the gems are worth worth 10gp each.]

Room 16
Challenge: Ancient Lore (-2) reveals Awareness if failed, then... Secret Signs

Another series of friezes greet the companions in the adjoining chamber. At first glance they all appear to be historical scenes from the city's past.

"Wait," says Ksandajja. "This part is all wrong." [her Ancient lore and Awareness rolls succeeded]

"It's a group of soldiers," says Ilog, "pointing at the enemy. Is that not to indicate a challenge."

"It is... but look at their armour. Look at those swords. They're all wrong for the period. And the crested helmets are the wrong shape. They look neo-Zarite, not ancient Anhassuulite. And these, if I'm not mistaken, are Thralxan cavalry. They'd not long since arrived from Johor when Anhassuul's might was at its apex. Now, these ones are proper Anhassuulite soldiers. And they're pointing back toward the entrance, not at the enemy."

"It's the same on both sides," says Grebdal Themp.

"We should turn back..." says Ilog.


Room 24
Challenge: ENCOUNTER obstructs Healing (-2)

They retrace their steps through the Chaos Warrior's chamber where another passage leads to a room occupied by a SKELETON WARRIOR clad in a corroded mail hauberk and wielding a rust-pitted yet still formidable battle axe.

SKELETON WARRIOR    SKILL 8    STAMINA 6

Battle is joined without a word from the grim companions or the grinning, silent skull. The skeleton warrior fights with the swiftness of its kind, but it proves no match for the living, and though its rusty armour is still the equal of many a blow, in less than half a minute it has been reduced to a pile of shattered bones.

Its only treasure is a healer's kit, nearly useless after so many years. Some unguent still remains, but no one is willing to risk using it.


Room 25
Challenge: Trap Knowledge (+2)

As they proceed to the next chamber, Grebdal Themp stops them short. "Look!" he says, "The walls are full of holes. And see round the edges of the door? I think it's just carved into the wall and painted." [He made his Trap Knowledge & subsequent Awareness rolls.]

They retreat to the skeleton warrior's chamber and take the other exit.


Room 28
Challenge: Acrobatics interlinked with Engineering

As they approach the next chamber, their lantern light glints off many lengths of chain suspended from the ceiling. When they reach the threshold, they find the room to have no floor -- or rather, it does have a floor, just three stories down. And set with iron spikes. The far wall is bare stone, but passages are visible in the centre of both side walls at the same height as the way in.

The chains are of thick links, forged from the same unknown metal used elsewhere in the temple, and each terminating in a larger ring. They seem at first to be distributed haphazardly about the room, but closer inspection shews them to be suspended in the tracks of some sort of mechanism on the ceiling. Ilog reaches out to grab the nearest one, and as he pulls it closer, all the other chains move as well, rattling along the looping track the same distance.

"This is how we're to get across, then," says the warrior pensively.

"Which way are we going?" asks Grebdal Themp.

"That one?" says Ilog, pointing at random.

"Let me go first," says Ksandajja. "And give me the lantern. If I fall, I should be able to use my magic to land safely."

[No one has either skill, so this is just tests of SKILL. They will only fall if they miss their roll by 2 or more; they keep rolling until they succeed or fall.]

Grebdal Themp starts to hands her the lamp, but she stops him. "Let me get underway first." She takes the ring from Ilog in both hands, then drops into the void. Her momentum sends her a little way along the track, and all the other chains clack along the same distance in various directions. Ksandajja hangs in space for a few moments, then must awkwardly swing herself back and forth, trying to shift her weight more in the direction she wishes to go. After a few tries, and a lo of lost ground, she get close enough to the doorway to accept the lantern from Grebdal Themp's outstretched hand. She hooks the lantern's handle under her thumb against the ring, and then begins the slow and laborious process of swinging jerkily along her track, until she can get close enough to reach the next ring with her free hand. She changes to the next ring with great care, but always swings out of control for a few seconds as her weight propels the new ring in an unexpected direction.

It takes fully ten minutes of swishing and clacking -- punctuated by some most unladylike turns of phrase -- before she has safely come to the other side. [SKILL 6; 2d6=4, success]

As they had hoped, Ksandajja's movement to an exit has moved another chain close to the entrance. Ilog whispers a prayer to the gods of his ancestors, and bravely tries to swing across. It's much harder than he'd expected -- not that the sorceress made it look easy! He seems to be moving sideways more than across. Did he reach for the wrong ring? Now he's going in circles. Maybe it's best if he go back to--

And then he is falling. Somehow he lands between two spikes, and rolls with the fall. He's going to have a bruise all up his left arm and across his ribs, but he feels remarkably whole. Perhaps the gods of his ancestors like to have their little japes from time to time. He calls up to his companions to let them know he's unhurt. [His SKILL is currently 5, so he elected to Test his LUCK (10), but rolled an 11... reducing his Luck to 9. He tries again, rolls a 12; to avoid damage in the fall, he must test Luck again at -2; he succeeds, but his current Luck is now 7.]

Grebdal Themp catches the nearest ring with some difficulty. His passage is no less ungainly than Ksandajja's, but at least he doesn't fall. Once he is safely in the passage, Ilog throws his rope up to his companions to pull him up.

Having all caught their breath, they proceed to the next chamber.


Room 29
Challenge: Challenge: Second Sight (+1) reveals Swim

The stone floor of the next room is but a small semicircular platform by the entrance, a few paces in diameter. The rest of the room is a deep pool filled with still, limpid water.

"Trial by air, now a trial by water?" says Grebdal Themp.

"Shhhh," scolds the sorceress, "I'm concentrating."

The water is clear, but in the flickering lantern light the bottom of the pool isn't visible. Ksandajja gazes upon it with her second sight. As her vision slides from this world to the next, the glare coming from something at the bottom of the pool momentarily blinds her. She steps back, hands over her eyes whilst her vision clears. [2nd sight +1=8: 2d6=3]

"What?! What is it?!" shriek her frightened companions.

Ksandajja looks up up at them with a broad smile. "There's powerful magic in there!" she beams as her loosened sword-belt slides to the floor with a thud.

"At least test the water first," admonishes Ilog, "if water it even be."

"I'm hoping it is," says Ksandajja, kicking off her sandal. "The air is so dry and stuffy in here. A bathe sounds heavenly right about now."

Having divested herself of all her equipment, the sorceress dips a toe into the water. She shivers at the cold, but as nothing untoward happens, she pronounces it safe. Taking only the gold backed mirror as protection, she leaps into the water near the edge, drenching her companions with an almighty splash. When she surfaces, she can barely suppress a giggle at the stern and not-at-all-amused countenances staring down at her. "Oh, it's really rather divine," she says, "honestly, you'd ought to try it! No? Fine. You've only yourselves to blame."

So saying, she takes the mirror in her teeth, and dives down into the chill depths. [Swim roll succeeds] The bottom is just an indistinct wall of blackness, but a small item still glows with an invisible radiance in her mind's eye.

Her companions can make out very little, now that the surface of the pool is awash with ripples and a great deal of murky sediment has been stirred up. After a breathless age, a hand breaks the surface of the water, clutching a human jawbone. Ksandajja's head and shoulders follow. The shine of the gold backed mirror in her teeth illuminates her triumph. But she only reluctantly climbs out of the pool.

"Where's the rest?" asks Grebdal Themp.

"We keep looking!"

Grebdal Themp and Ilog pause to partake of some provisions [+2 Stamina each] whilst the sorceress does her best to wring out her clothes and squeeze the water from her hair.

They go back to the chain room [Room 28]. Instead of swinging their way back to the other side, they instead use Ilog's rope and grappling iron to climb down to the bottom and walk across. Grebdal Themp slips and falls halfway down when trying to climb back out, but other than that they get through without incident. [His climb roll (at +2) was a critical failure. He had to Test his LUCK to avoid damage from the fall.]


next post: The Skull!