The group has found the golden pyramid, but three large guardian spirits protect it. Can Barston find the way inside in time?
Ikbar the goblin mage (still no stats for him outside of standard issue, but he might show up in later stuff more developed) doesn't speak either Phillian or Yeulse. In that light, we will have an additional encounter.
- 251 - 1d3 Extraplanar Terrors (Hostile). With a note about the last one turns into a portal...
- 232 - 1d3 Giant Hell Snakes (Hostile). Spitting arcane fire.
I like the idea of banking the dimensional portal idea because it fits in with a general notion about how this whole campaign — meaning the whole Barston Bakersfield campaign — has been stacking up. That'll be saved for...later.
As for the giant hell snakes, I'm not against them as an encounter but there isn't any real stat block that is pre-built that I can use. What I am going to do is use the Giant Snake from Out of the Pit (page 106), roll 1d3 to see how many (3), and then roll 1d6 per snake to see how big. I'll explain that in a second. 1: 1. 2: 4. 3: 2.
Ok, this means that the GHS #1 is around 15m long (7/11). GHS#2 is 35m long (10/20). GHS#3 is around 20m long (8/14). Perhaps ridiculously, they are only listed as having "medium bite". I guess they are mostly body. I'll say besides that they have a firebreath attack. 1-6 stamina lost. Ignoring armor but NOT shields [for thematic purposes], dodge, or natural armor. It will set burnable stuff on fire...so incoming naked PCs, I guess.
Just to speed the whole thing up since I need to essentially wrap this up very, very soon...we'll have them as the guardians outside of the pyramid...In fact, destroying them will only temporarily inconvenience them.
On the morning of the fourth day, they finally spot the pyramid.
"It's...a pyramid. I guess," Derron says.
"It look like...," Chongly says in his booming voice.
"Kindertekening?," finishes Faruin, in Yeulse.
Barston understands their confusion, because the Golden Pyramid is not some literal temple of golden ore. Not even a glitzy relic of some ancient days. It is a...well, it looks more like a child's painting. At odds with the very real plains in the background, it looks like something a kid might paint with their fingers.
At this distance, it is hard to tell if it is a flat surface or not. The hint of shadow he can see on the right looks like more paint for shading. Where there is a door is just more paint.
"What do we?," Nadya asks.
"We go forward. Someone is playing a game and we need to know if it is a cruel one."
As they approach, they realize that a side-effect of the strange flat illustration is that it was impossible to judge its distance. What has to be over an hour later, the drawing-of-a-pyramid is now massive and the reality behind it starts to blend in...the sky and hills turning into illustrations themselves. Strange moons or spheres start to float in the sky as a child's depiction of night descends. Even the grass seems to be more like a drawing now. It frankly hurts to look at it.
It is when they are near that they realize there is at least one more obstacle to overcome, for three very large serpent-like creatures wind about the now massive pyramid's base. Each the length of several people laying in a row, and each drawn in a different style...
...but with motifs of flowers, birds, seashells, and colorful stripes. As the group approaches, these strangely illustrated serpents begin to slither down and guard that child's painting of a door.
"Is this a fight?," Derron asks.
"I honestly don't know."
The elderly goblin chitters something in his native tongue in his high pitched voice, shaking a staff in the general direction of the illustrated serpents.
"You find a way?," Nadya asks. "Inside?"
Barston goes to lift his mace and then puts it back. Instead he pulls out his paintbrush. This whole farce has been a game played by gods.
"Draw them away from the door."
With that the team starts running. The largest of the serpents is in the center. Chongly and Nadya run for it. Faruin runs to the left where the smaller serpent is. Derron runs to the right to take on the middle-sized one.
The goblin looks at Barston and will follow him.
They run right for the painting of a door.
This one is going to be weird. I'll say snakes will {1-4: Bite, 5-6: Fire}. Barston will need to accumulate 7 over-points to actually get through the door.
- ROUND ONE
- Barston: (Skill) 7 + Art (1) + 2d6 = 8+3. No success whatsoever.
- N+C vs BIG SNAKE: 10+4+1 [15] + 8+9+1 [18] vs 8+10 [18]. Snake is using [Bite] vs {N/C} → C. That's a tie. But Nadya doesn't get through.
- D vs MEDIUM SNAKE: 11+12 [23] vs 6+8 [14]. Powerful blow. 5+1 [4 stamina] - Light Armor 3 [0]. 8 damage hits the snake.
- F vs Small Snake: 7+9 [16] vs 6+7 [13]. She slices it for 1 [2 stamina] vs 3 [0 armor]. 1 point gets through.
- ROUND TWO
- Barston: 9+8 = 17. He actually begins painting the door. 5 remain.
- N+C vs Big: 9+10+1 [20] and CRITICAL [21] vs 9+10 [19] vs...doesn't really matter. Nadya does 6-1 [3 stamina] damage with her first hit and 1-1 [0] with her second. versus's Big's 1 [0 armor]. 3 damage get through. Chongly, though, gets 4 on his Crit which does max weapon damage and disarms the snake...we'll it gets based on the mouth and attack drops to Small bite. Max Axe damage is 5. That's 8 of its 20 gone.
- D vs Medium: 6+12 [18] vs 7+8 [15] and Derron does another 2 stamina - 2 armor. No damage.
- F vs Small: 9+9 [18] vs 8+7 [15]. She does 3 stamina against 0 armor. A total of 4. 10 remain.
- ROUND THREE
- Barston: 5+9 = 14. Dang. Next round he's going to invoke the dang gift...
- N+C vs Toothless Big: 7+10+1 [18] and 5+9+1 [15] vs 9+10 [19]. Using fire vs Nadya. It does 2 damage and she dodges 6+1 all of it.
- D: 11+12 [23] vs 10+8 [18]. He does 5 stamina vs 2 armor. 3 more damage. That's 11 out of 14. 3 remain.
- F: 9+9 [18] vs 5+7 [12]. Powerful blow. She slices for 1 vs 5 and uses her Holy Battle to flip that... 5 [3 stamina] versus 0 block. 7 remain.
- ROUND FOUR
- Barston uses Sennas's Gift. Normally this allows him to alter reality. Since reality is already altered, I'll just say he gets +4. 9+4+9 = 22. That's enough to complete the ritual.
- N+C vs Big: 7+10+1 [18] and 8+9+1 [18] vs 10+9 [19]. Again it (small) bites vs Nadya. It does 3 stam vs her 3+1 dodge (1). She takes 2 stamina.
- D: 8+12 [20] vs 7+8 [15]. D does 5 stamina vs 0 armor. This finishes that snake.
- F: 4+9 [13] vs 3+7 [10] haha. She does 3 stamina vs 0 armor. 4 remain.
As his friends and companions run around fighting the three massive serpents, Barston struggles to paint his reality upon the door. He tries traditional paint and it refuses to show any marks. He tries pushing on the door and it is as solid as diamond.
He knocks. He tries to talk to the door. The goblin pokes it with his stick and even sends a force bolt into the door. Nothing changes.
Finally, drowning out the battle, Barston reaches into his spirit and finds that spark that connects him to Sennas. Around him, colorful lights and shapes begin to swirl. With a single stroke of the brush, the door has a knob, so out of place on this massive illustration of a door. Barston turns it, and walks inside.
Nadya cries out as one of the creatures manages to bite her in the side.
Derron kicks at a large sheet of paper that his snake has turned into once the lifespark was gone, then gasps as another snake of similar size and a similar mix of colorful images is being drawn against the sky. Soon it will be complete, and join in the fray...
Inside, Barston is standing not in some great ancient pyramid of stone but a small, cozy room. An artist studio, but one filled with implements he does not understand. Tiny little figurines the size of thumbs are on a series of shelves. Many have been painted or are partially so.
In front of him, on a small table, is a strange crate made out of material that he does not understand. White, with an odd texture. Barston would not understand cardboard if you tried.
Yet, on the box he understands the language. It simply says, "The Box."
Walking towards it, he does not note the strange metallic spider watching him from the ceiling of the room.
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