Actual play adapted from module B4: The Lost City. Will contain spoilers.
Lost in the desert, four foreigners (Luke, Kostas, Romulus and Xavi) found refuge in the mysterious city of Cynidicea, joined the Brotherhood of Gorm and secured an alliance with the Sisterhood of Madarua. Now in their third day, the party continue to explore in the hope of uncovering a way to get back to civilisation. In the large base of the pyramid, the party - accompanied by Brother Theodosius - happened upon a suspiciously charming pair of red-haired siblings praying before a statue of Madarua... read part six here.
DAY 3, END OF TURN 4 (just after dawn)::
The party rolls for initiative as the red-haired woman is evidently preparing some kind of spell!
Round 1: Xavi has the edge, shoving the woman to the ground and attempting to grapple her. She crawls along the ground, making an arcane gesture with her hands that causes Kostas to be smashed by an invisible force.To everyone's astonishment, her brother transforms into a giant fox, which ravages Xavi. Kostas runs the woman through with his lance, while the rest of the party flail wildly at the giant fox (all missing).
Round 2: In spite of his wounds, Xavi is determined to finish off the woman, bludgeoning her with his warhammer, breaking her arm in the process. She too transforms into a fox! Kostas scores another direct hit, but incredibly the creature is not harmed. Her brother viciously claws and bites at Theodosius, who falls to the ground in a pool of blood and gore. Romulus spear does it no harm, and seeing the futility, Luke merely attempts to parry any incoming attacks.
Round 3: Xavi makes a defensive withdrawal, pursued by the limping vixen, who cannot penetrate the young acolyte's defences. Likewise, her brother is unable to penetrate the thick plate of Romulus, who scores a surprise hit against the creature with his magic dagger, drawing blood.
Round 4: The vixen flees, followed by her brother. The party elect not to pursue.
Round 5: Theodosius is dead. Luke heals Xavi with his divine powers. The wound leaves a bite mark on his upper arm.
EXPLORATION TURN 5:
After patching themselves up (and debate what to do with Theodosius' body. They realise that they are unable to open the door within the statue of Gorm without Theodosius' password.
They elect to leave Theo's body the in situ before checking the piles of clothing left behind by the shapeshifters. They recover a magical sword, a vial of potion and a helmet. Luke gingerly sips the potion, discovering that it is in fact a potion of levitation. Xavi dons the helmet, and becomes obsessed with taking revenge against the shapeshifters. The men wrestle him to the ground and remove the helm, whereupon he returns to normal.
Kostas takes stows the helm in his backpack and they continue.
TURN 6:
The party make their way through the southeasterly door behind the statues of the gods. There is casual mention of wooden poles. Xavi's light cantrap fades, Luke casts another.
TURN 7:
After deciding to march two abreast, Kostas and Luke are both caught in a devastating crushing block trap, triggered by a pressure plate in the centre of the corridor. Both are seriously injured, but Kostas is worse: his leg is crushed beyond the restorative powers of Luke's magic. Reluctantly, the party retreat to the store and clamber the ladder to the higher tier.
TURNS 8-11:
The party carry assist the injured Kostas up the rope ladder, through the deserted shrine in tier three, through the rotating corridor and back to the staircase.
TURN 12:
Romulus hears voices around the next corner, coming down the stairs, and signals for the party to fall silent, at which point Luke's light cantrap burns out. Luke edges around in the darkness but hears nothing, eventually casting one of his cantraps and revealing masked members of the Magi of Usamigaras.
Before him stands his mark, Usamigaras. The two men discuss the situation for some time, before parting in peace. Luke is confused by the contrast between Auriga's superficial reasonableness, his evident ambition, and his blitheness toward Zargon and his acolytes.
Luke left the encounter with much to ponder. His men were oblivious.
TURNS 13-14:
It took the party another twenty minutes to return to the cloisters, which were bereft of brothers. Kostas doffed his armour and took to bed. The damage to his leg was beyond the healing magic of
TURNS 15-26:
The party rested and restored their vitality as best they could. A Brother of Gorm brought them a hot meal.
TURN 27 (about 10 am)
After explaining to Kanadius about Theo, he agrees to join them (accompanied by a guard) on their mission to retrieve his body.
TURN 28-31:
Moving cautiously through tiers 3 & 4, the party finally arrive back in the church area of tier five. There is no sign of Theodosius' body. Luke speculates that it may have been taken as an offering for Zargon. Kanadius and his accomplice decide to return to the cloisters on tier 2, and implore Luke's men to join them. He nonetheless provides Luke with the passwords to deactivate the traps protecting the door down to their headquarters in the city.
TURN 32:
Luke, Xavi and Romulus decide to examine the southwestern door, anticipating that it will lead back to the gargoyle room. They find a crossroads, taking the western route (the southern one almost certainly leading back to the room with the gargoyles.
TURN 33:
Just as the light cantrap fades, the party spy two large lizard-like shapes in the distance. Xavi casts a new cantrap, and they see the two giant tuatara slowly backing away. They follow them, at a distance.
Seeing the party will not give up their pursuit, the two lizards turn and fight! The conflict is bloody, and after its mate is slain, the second one flees, only to find itself cornered against a heavy wooden door. The party unceremoniously slaughter it, receiving no wounds.
Cleaning their weapons - and pondering whether tuatara meat tastes good - the party become aware of the sound of heavy breathing on the other side of the heavy wooden door...
To be continued... here
They elect to leave Theo's body the in situ before checking the piles of clothing left behind by the shapeshifters. They recover a magical sword, a vial of potion and a helmet. Luke gingerly sips the potion, discovering that it is in fact a potion of levitation. Xavi dons the helmet, and becomes obsessed with taking revenge against the shapeshifters. The men wrestle him to the ground and remove the helm, whereupon he returns to normal.
Kostas takes stows the helm in his backpack and they continue.
TURN 6:
The party make their way through the southeasterly door behind the statues of the gods. There is casual mention of wooden poles. Xavi's light cantrap fades, Luke casts another.
TURN 7:
After deciding to march two abreast, Kostas and Luke are both caught in a devastating crushing block trap, triggered by a pressure plate in the centre of the corridor. Both are seriously injured, but Kostas is worse: his leg is crushed beyond the restorative powers of Luke's magic. Reluctantly, the party retreat to the store and clamber the ladder to the higher tier.
TURNS 8-11:
The party carry assist the injured Kostas up the rope ladder, through the deserted shrine in tier three, through the rotating corridor and back to the staircase.
TURN 12:
Romulus hears voices around the next corner, coming down the stairs, and signals for the party to fall silent, at which point Luke's light cantrap burns out. Luke edges around in the darkness but hears nothing, eventually casting one of his cantraps and revealing masked members of the Magi of Usamigaras.
Before him stands his mark, Usamigaras. The two men discuss the situation for some time, before parting in peace. Luke is confused by the contrast between Auriga's superficial reasonableness, his evident ambition, and his blitheness toward Zargon and his acolytes.
Luke left the encounter with much to ponder. His men were oblivious.
TURNS 13-14:
It took the party another twenty minutes to return to the cloisters, which were bereft of brothers. Kostas doffed his armour and took to bed. The damage to his leg was beyond the healing magic of
TURNS 15-26:
The party rested and restored their vitality as best they could. A Brother of Gorm brought them a hot meal.
TURN 27 (about 10 am)
After explaining to Kanadius about Theo, he agrees to join them (accompanied by a guard) on their mission to retrieve his body.
TURN 28-31:
Moving cautiously through tiers 3 & 4, the party finally arrive back in the church area of tier five. There is no sign of Theodosius' body. Luke speculates that it may have been taken as an offering for Zargon. Kanadius and his accomplice decide to return to the cloisters on tier 2, and implore Luke's men to join them. He nonetheless provides Luke with the passwords to deactivate the traps protecting the door down to their headquarters in the city.
TURN 32:
Luke, Xavi and Romulus decide to examine the southwestern door, anticipating that it will lead back to the gargoyle room. They find a crossroads, taking the western route (the southern one almost certainly leading back to the room with the gargoyles.
TURN 33:
Just as the light cantrap fades, the party spy two large lizard-like shapes in the distance. Xavi casts a new cantrap, and they see the two giant tuatara slowly backing away. They follow them, at a distance.
Seeing the party will not give up their pursuit, the two lizards turn and fight! The conflict is bloody, and after its mate is slain, the second one flees, only to find itself cornered against a heavy wooden door. The party unceremoniously slaughter it, receiving no wounds.
Cleaning their weapons - and pondering whether tuatara meat tastes good - the party become aware of the sound of heavy breathing on the other side of the heavy wooden door...
To be continued... here
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