# The Glory of Rome [ Open Rpg & Skype]



## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

This is the Campaign journal of my players for a fantasy campaign set on a historical Background 

“ The Glory of Rome” 

we use AD&D 2e with several changes to better fit the setting: see campaign forum link. We play every other Friday night, using Open RPG and Skype as voice over.

The campaign starts in 265 BC 1 year before the 1st Punic war with *Carthage* and about 15 years after the Romans defeated the Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus. Here is a link to the campaigns full forums

http://s9.zetaboards.com/Mayhem_Gaming/forum/3007893/

*It’s safe to consider this campaign as always Recruiting, I’m always willing to make room for a great player.* 

There are 14 playable races/cultures for Player Characters. 

IF your interested in joining us or just lurking in a game session please send me an e-mail threw ENworld titled “Glory of Rome”


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*First a little Back ground from your DM to set the tone for the First session.*


At the moment it’s spring 265 bc Hero of Syracuse has just defeated the Cartagena general in Silly and the Cartagena army has scattered To the winds. The party were mercenaries in the Cartagena army however they did not know each other. Generally these mercenaries fought in units by race and did not interact with each other much. There fleet was caught in a storm and shipwrecked on a desert shore,  they are not sure where they are. All they know is it’s hot there tired hungry and thirsty all their gear is either lost or stolen by those who awoke before them.  All they have is there Smarts, skills and the very cloths on their backs.

There were hundreds of bodies of every race imaginable on the shore all the tunics they wanted on them, allot of smashed ship wood and 3 sets of tracks.  1 leading left along the shore, a 2nd leading right down the shore and a 3rd following an old dried river bead leading deeper into the unforgiving dessert which seemed to at least have a few hoof tracks amongst them. 

After searching the shore for a few hours and only finding a few scraps of rope a dagger and a spear or two, They decided to follow the tracks leading away from the shore of the shipwreck and deeper into the dessert..


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Session 1 07/29/2011*

Akbar the Carthigian mage

I can only assume the gods are very angry with us for whatever reason or smoking too much of the black lotus, at any rate serving in the carthaginian army our battle lost general slain and in full retreat from sicily beaten by sicilians of all things ugh we retreat on ships and run right into the storm of the century which lasts what seems forever we awaken some time later on a beach many dead around us (guess the gods missed a few, sure they will make it up later) the generals slave we see screaming and yelling and drowned himself in the surf other than that apparently the survivors are mostly from various parts of the army few know each other and i know none almost all gear is lost many hours of searching comes up with very little to help shipwrecked on a beach next to a vast dessert we gathered what we could and followed tracks of people heading away from our wreck site as best we could (no tracker in the group) my two mules idi and bidi succumbed to the elements after a short while along the way we found bits of equipment here n there armor here spell tablets there and weapons to and fro

we came upon a few dead humanoids some empty skins and dead animals assumed the people we followed fought over water and this was the result then dying for a drink the gods decided to give a few of us a drink almost drowning me in the process (ha ha very funny) lost and found more spell tablets and it seems there were others victim of the same joke upstream but saw no sign of them other than some screams we heard initially onward we trudged finding an abandoned ancient city with a step pyramid we took some rest (still finding no water just waiting for another punch line) and our it seems natural leader felix took to studying the pyramid and some statues of what looked like a mix between two religious icons greek and egyptian and he found a dead humanoid with a big arrow stuck in him holding open a door after resting we all decided to explore the pyramid thinking we might find something to aid us as well as the people we were following which we assumed were inside since the body was pretty fresh quintus pulled the body from the door allowing it to close (another punch line methinks) and when reopening it he almost got skewered by a big arrow then we entered to find another body with a dagger in its back i think and felix continued to another door (oh yeah another punch line no thief in the group) and pushing on the door almost got shanked by things dropping from the ceiling and so we entered the room beyond containing 3 bronze cylinders going from ceiling to floor with doors in them felix opened one to find a ladder going up n down with some blood around and on it and upon opening another door was shot in the back with darts and the door to the room slammed shut throwing quintus out into the hall and a hissing noise came from the ceiling and began to choke us so we headed for the ladder and down we go as quintus got the door opened and followed clinging narrowly on to life so it seemed and at the bottom of the ladder nasty looking beetles(truly the gods are not with us unless it is to see what we can do with almost all our equipment and abilities gone and without the proper skills for the setting truly they must be high)


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Session 1 07/29/11*

As recalled by Dageus the Britain Druid


Sicily was a disaster. The Carthoginean General who led us underestimated the opposition and he paid for his poor judgment with his life. After that it was a rout. Some units held together and made it back to the port where they were able to commandeer ships to make their escape. But even then we weren't safe. A storm came up and the ships were tossed. Maybe some of the ships made it through, but many did not.

When we came to, we were on a beach with bodies everywhere. The only sign of life was two mules wandering on their own. A man, later identified as one of the General's slaves, comes running from the beach. He screams something about "not again" and dives into the water and begins to swim away. There is a halfhearted attempted to call him back to the shore, but no one one went into the water to try to drag him back, and soon he was lost from site.

The survivors numbered nine, counting one slave and the two mules. The searched among the bodies and the beach looking for anything that they could salvage. At best they had only a toga or tunic, although at least one survivor didn't even have that.

Dageus found a spear in the water on the beach. He gave it to Berlix, he seemed most capable and was first to identify himself as a warrior.

Everyone packed up spare tunics. Twenty were place on one of the mules. Dageus took three for himself. Two that he planned to use to build a shelter and one to drape over his head to protect him from the sun. Others found a small pouch, a dagger and 25 feet of rope. Dageus offered to carry the rope while the rest of the items were passed out.

There was no sign of plants or animals on the beach. Even the ocean was devoid of any plants, although Belrix did manage to catch a fish with his spear.

Dageus walked the edge of the beach and found an old riverbed. There were tracks of men and horses going up it. After some discussion, we decided to follow the tracks. We waited out the worst of the days heat and started following the riverbed in the evening. Hiking into the night. We eventually stopped for the remainder of the night.

The next day we had all begun to feel the threat of dehydration.

It was early in the day when we found a suit of armor along the riverbed and not far off to the right were two clay tablets. Akbar claimed the tablets as belonging to him. Unfortunately, almost immediately following this find we suffered our first casualty. One of the mules went down.

While the mule was butchered as well as it could be under the circumstances, Dageus lead the second mule away. There was no reason to disturb the beast by letting it witness what might well be its fate. The blood from the poor creature was the first thing we had to drink since coming to this desert.

Later that day we came upon bodies several hundred yards from the riverbed.. Three men and two horses lay dead in the sand. From the wounds it was clear they had not died peacefully. Quintus claimed the gladius that still protruded from one of the bodies. Also found there was a belt and knife, 2 empty water skins, 4 more of the tablets, a spear and two suits of leather armor. One was soft leather, the other hard leather.

We moved on from the corpses, back to the riverbed. By this time we had come to realize that we had been following other survivors from the shipwreck, but we saw no option but to continue on our path. There were still tracks to follow and for now, our best choice seemed to lay in the same direction. As the day drew on we continued to find discarded items. A battle axe, a short sword, two more suits of hard leather armor. We collected each item as we found it. 

Belrix took the axe and returned the spear to Dageus. Quintus took the rope and tied it to the rusted armor he was carrying so that he could drag it behind him if he needed too.

The second mule gave out toward the end of the day. Again we took what nourishment we could from drinking the beast's blood.

When we camped that night there was a long, deafening roar with a series of short lived screams intermixed. Seeing little reason to avoid a confrontation, we gathered our weapons and went in the direction of the commotion.

Moving along the edge of the riverbed, we spotted the torrential flood of water just as it rushed by us. Three of our group were close enough to the edge that the rush of water pulled them in. While only a few feet deep, the current was such that Akbar was ripped from his feet and lost from site as the current bore him away. Quintus and Marcus (?) also fell into the water but managed to keep their footing. Quintus had to cut the rope holding his armor and after stumbling lost the gladius he carried. 

It was Belrix who seemed to move to action first, actually going into the water to offer what help he could to get the others out. Dageus offered what help he could by anchoring a spear in the sand and lashing a tunic around it, keeping it tight for Belrix in case he too should fall.

Fortunately, the flood did not last long and we were able to regroup without any loses. Even Akbar, who it had appeared was lost for good was found, a little waterlogged, but alive and no worse for the ordeal. Apparently we are hard men to drown, as this was the second time we found our lives threatened by water in as many days.

Well, at least we all got a chance to get a drink and fill the waterskins we had salvaged. It wasn't much, but it would give us another day to find our way through the desert.

We rested a short while before continuing along the riverbed. It did not take long for the bed to once again start to dry and what was a raging river only a few short hours ago had quickly become a trickle of mud and even that would soon be baked away under the heat of the day.

We never did find the source of the screams during the night. Our assumption was that other were camped in the riverbed and had not been as lucky as us.

The day was hot and dry. We saw nothing for most of the trek. That is until we came to a pile of stones in the distance. As we drew closer it was clear it was the foundation of some building and that we had found the remains of an ancient stone city that has long since been dead, and from all clues abandoned.

Quintus and Belrix led the way into the city. The rest of us trailing a bit behind. In the heart of the city rose a great pyramid. Felix climbed to the top, investigating the three statues that lay there. One statue was a bearded man with set of scales in one hand and a lightning bolt in the other. The second statue was a winged child, and the last statue was of a woman wielding wheat in one hand and a sword in the other. The statues did not get as much attention as the body wedged into doorway leading into the pyramid.

As we all regrouped, we decided that our best course of action was to explore the pyramid. Some lore suggested that items which would help the dead exist in the afterlife would be buried within. Perhaps we would find something that would aid the living in this life as well, for we had found nothing in the ruins that looked promising. 

We planned to rest the night before beginning the search. In the morning when the other priests were preparing themselves, Dageus took the opportunity to explore a little on my own. He discovered a campsite that was perhaps a day or two old, possibly belong to the corpse we found at the pyramid. After searching the camp, he discovered a single flask of oil.

We needed light for the pyramid, so torches were made and soaked in the oil.

When we stood at the entrance to the pyramid, Quintus pulled the body to clear the doorway. The body tumbled over the side just as the door slammed shut. It took some work, but eventually the door was pushed open with brute strength. The trap that claimed the life of the earlier explore must have reset for a huge arrow shot through the doorway, grazing Quintus as it passed.

After tending to the wounded, Dageus offered to carry the torch as the group entered the tomb. A wall filled with a half dozen holes was opposite the entrance at a bend in the corridor. We kept to the left side of the passage and managed to avoid having any other traps go off. In front of the wall with the holes we discovered another body.

After the bend we came to a door. Pushing it in activated an old trap. Bronze tipped darts tumbled to the floor from a hole in the ceiling. We entered a room that contained three columns. Each with a door leading into it. All save one went into the room. Quintus (?) stayed at the doorway.

Opening the right most pillar revealed nothing. The center one contained a ladder going up and down. The last pillar was trapped. Several bronze tipped darts shot out of the wall and struck Felix as the outside door to the room swung shut, trapping Quintus outside. A hissing filled the room, and each of us began to fill ill.

Trapped in the room, we went to the central pillar and begin the descent into it. At the bottom was a large beetle with glowing red spots on its back. Dageus was the last one down, still holding the torch to light the way for the others. Quintus managed to get the outside door open and enter the room as Dageus was going down so that he could follow what remained of the light.


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Session 1 07/29/2011*

Felix the Roman Cleric of Minerva 


As we ran for our lives from the battle after our Carthoginean General was killed I thought to myself "we should of been lead by a Roman and we would have had victory." We boarded ships in the harbor with no regard for any order and my brother was the only one I knew.

As we headed out to sea we where welcomed by the biggest storm I have ever seen and started to Pray to Minerva for our survival. She must have thought I had more work to do for her, because I found myself waking up on a beach of wreckage. As I looked around and saw where we where I asked for guidance from my great Goddess for I knew I would need her strength to get out of this place. That is when I noticed I did not have my holy symbol. Right then a slave mad from the sum ran by yelling this can not happen again. Then I noticed it was the old generals slave and ran after him yelling his last name "Retos". I though maybe he might know something and as he ran into the water I yelled for help, because I can not swim. None came to my aid.

I saw there there where 3 of us and 3 foreigners a slave and 2 mules. Some where running around searching for items of value in the wreckage. I asked my brother to have his slave search for my holy item.. A few items of worth where found, but not my holy item, so I asked to use the dagger someone had found and grabbed a piece of wood and started making a symbol myself.

As things calmed down I went to each person and asked what skills they had and how they could aid all to survive. Dareus was a britton from the far north and brought the ways of the woods people with him. Berlix was a Macedonian and brought the strength of his people a long with skills to survive out doors. Akbar was a Carthaginian and brought the knowledge of languages with him. Hopefully we will live long enough to use his skills. Quintus was a young man with glory on his mind along with his battle skills.

After sometime I heard Minerva tell me to take charge and get off the beach. We followed a dry river bed inland following some tracks. Once the heat of the day started to affect me I asked Minerva to protect me, and that is when I noticed there was a problem connecting to my Goddess. I asked my brother and he was also having the same problem. 

We found several items along our way, but no water to speak of. After our first rest we prayed to our gods for our daily blessings. I used mine to help myself my brother and 1 of the mules bear the heat of the day, it did allow the mule to last about 12 hours longer than the other. We used what we could from the beast to prolong our survival.

Our second rest we heard a roaring sound and some screams so we all ran to see what battle we might find. We found ourselfs battling the elements as a wall of water almost took 3 of our party members away. With the grace of Minerva all survived.

We finally made it to a city and thought all was well for about 2 min. until we saw it was an old dead city with a pyramid in the middle with 3 status on top. Most we to looking trough the city and I climbed to see the statues. They seamed to be a mix between some Greek and Egyptian Gods. First was a bearded man with a balance in one hand and a lighting bold in the other (Zeus), second was a winged child with snakes about him and a wand and coins in his hands (Hermes), the last was woman with a fist of wheat in on hand a sword in the other (I an unsure who this might be). I also noticed a body holding a door ajar leading into the pyramid.

After some time we decided to rest so I could asked for blessing that might be more helpful inside a building. The next day we headed up and Quintus decided he was going to lead this group, so I followed with out saying a word. His first decision was a bad one as he moved the body keeping the door open and it closed. He was able to open it back up, but he paid for that mistake by being hit by a very large arrow that seamed to come from no where. At this point I took charge again and moved down the side of the hall til I came to a corner and saw another door. I opened the door and darts dropped from above and hit me in the shoulders. I saw a room with 3 cylinders of bronze with doors. we all moved in but Quintus who stayed at the doorway. I looking in the middle door and saw a latter going up and down. I noticed some blood on the latter. I decided to open the door to the left and must have set of another trap, for the door by Quintus slammed him out of the room as it closed and we heard hissing sounds from above. I felt my lunges tighten up and knew we had to get out fast, so I ordered all through the middle door going down. Quintus mist have made it back into the room for I could hear him on the latter above. I found myself interring a square room with 3 doors. As I went to step onto the floor I touched a very large beetle that started to glow red from it's back.

Minerva Please place you guarding hands around me so I can continue to do you good works.


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Session One 7/29/2011*

Belrix the Macedonian Warrior


Cursed? There be little doubt of it, but by who? Our enemies? I know little of the Sicilians, but could they could bring such misery on us? The battle went against us quickly. My unit had just entered the battle when the rout began. I shook with fury and nearly slew the captain who ordered the retreat. We made for the ships and everything was chaos. Then the storm hit. I remember little of what happened but I know I'll never board ship again if I have a choice. Then it was the stinking beach of dead and dying. 

No gear left, no wine, nothing worth salvaging on the dead save their tunics. Just the sun. That sun! I would slay Apollo's horses and break his chariot to make that sun drop from the sky for a time. There was nothing but sand beyond the shore, no shade, no plants, no water. The curse must come from the gods, but which one? Poseidon? Hades? 

Those of us still living came together after scouring the shore for anything that would help us survive. A Briton, no bigger than a boy, lent me the use of a spear and I was able to catch a couple fish in the shallows, it took too long for to little gain. It was fresh water that we needed most. With what little we found we quickly realized we had to walk inland or die of thirst.

We found tracks of men and beast in a old river bed. They must have been other survivors that awoke before us and scavenged the best goods from the beach. We tried to dig in the low spots of the dry bed to get water but there was none. We followed the tracks with damp tunics wrapped around our heads showing nothing but our eyes. We walked and the sun beat down on us like a hammer. We grew weak and our eyes played tricks on us. One of the two mules who belonged to a Carthaginian scholar was the first to die. The Roman priest prayed for hours but little good it did us. We kept following the tracks, trudging forward like oxen with the sun ever burning down on us. Then one of us spotted water and trees! Our hopes soared, until we reached the spot only to find the corpses of the men and horses who's tracks we followed. There we gathered more weapons and gear but the water skins were dry. It looked as if they had killed each other over them. I knew I would kill for one drink at that point and by the look in the eyes of the others, I'd wager they would as well. We were doomed if we did not find water soon.

To be continued...


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Session 1 07/29/2011*

Quintus the Roman Patrician Fighter and self proclaimed leader of the group

Well, this is what I get for being in an army led by a non-roman: Failure. My men were completely prepared for anything and everything from what I could drill into their little brains of proper tactics and strategy. Unfortunately, not much could be done with the rest of the army. When we heard our leader had died, everyone started heading for the ships. It was utter chaos. I don't remember much, just tried to get somewhere that wasn't in the face of the enemy's army. And boy, did I land somewhere.

There was a fierce storm as we left, with no choice but to face it. The ships crashed and I landed in the dessert. Probably Egypt, only place I know of with nothing but sand. When I awoke I found a few others, some of them Romans even! I tried to scavenge what I could and make a sort of tent to stay in the shade when we found tracks leading away. Someone must have been here, taken what was useful, and left. We were all just wearing tunics and most of us shoes. I at least had my ring, the last bit of proof of myself I have.

Everyone spoke Latin and we asserted each others abilities. None of our skills dealing with the dessert, luck would have it. One of the non-Romans had 2 mules with him. Figured he might be hiding something in those packs, but they were just strange tablets. One of the clerics didn't like my intrusion, but you can never be too careful with anyone.

Not likely we would be seeing any rescue attempts, we took some tunics, a spear, and then followed the tracks to a riverbed and followed that further on. We found some tablets that belonged to the one who owned the mules. More importantly, I found a gladius and some respectable armor. Lorcia Hamata, to be exact. A little rusty, but still usable. If we ever get out of this dump and need to fight it can come in handy. Since the weather was much too hot to wear anything but my tunic, I decided to drag the armor. We took what else we found, 3 empty water skins, a gladius wanna-be (short sword they call it), some spears, 2 shields, soft leather armor, some dagger, some knives, and hard leather armor. Those who preffered their armor and weapons of choice took them. Of course I took the Hamata and gladius.

The mules eventually died off and we sucked the blood to keep from dehydrating. As we followed the bed all of a sudden we heard loud screaming and water came rushing down the very dry bed we were walking by as if Poseidon himself was leading it. I almost got caught by the rushing water and lost my gladius, the carthigian didn't fair as well and lost almost all of his tablets, which were more precious than my gladius Felix seemed to think.

Luckily the gods were still with us and the clerics were able to create food with the water we found. We kept following the river up and what we saw was the remains of a lost city. I scouted ahead with Belrix to check out the city and it was completely abandoned. There was a pyramid that Felix checked out and he saw three huge statues with symbolic meanings for some of the gods.

There was also a dead body in a secret doorway to the pyramid. There was a rather large arrow sticking out of him. We rested again before we ventured forth to regain our strength. We rationed what was left of the water and headed towards the pyramid's secret entrance. I threw the body aside and started to keep going when the door slammed shut. Oh well, I just opened it again. As a deadly surprise, a huge arrow grazed me as I opened the door. I figured any trap that would be sprung wouldn't be able to spring again, I was wrong. Whoever made this structure intended the traps to be able to be sprung multiple times.

There was another dead body just ahead, with a huge hole in him. Must have been from that arrow and I just recalled it was no arrow! It was a ballista bolt! I wasn't feeling that well from that arrow and Felix was unable to heal me. I then gave him charge to be our new scout. He carefully went up to the door and opened it, upon which another trap sprung. Fortunately this place is so old that the traps were practically falling apart and did little to him.

We followed him to a big room with three doors. I stayed in the doorway to keep a look out on things when we decided to open the middle door. Another trap sprung! The door slammed in my face quite rudely and I knew they were in trouble. I opened the door just in time to see them scurry down the ladder. I heard the hissing of snakes and felt my lungs burn as I followed after. We came across some beetles.....


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Second Session 08/19/2011*

Akbar the Carthigian mage


so we climbed down the ladder until we were all in a pile at the bottom except for quintus the beetles made short work of daegus who seemed like he wasnt there just stood there and got eaten, everyone else went to work on em and i went up the ladder to get a better view fearless felix and bad@$$ belrix took to em shortly thereafter quintus came down and joined the fray and i think marcus invented big time wrestling or tried to and we were victorious after a long hard fight the glowy sacks in the beetles were removed for cheap lighting and felix said he needed rest so I went to work searching the walls n floor n marcus and his slave also and they found the pit trap first.

After getting marcus and his slave out I went down and searched the pit finding 2 bronze spear heads in decent shape and 2 bent and broken i was pulled out and continued searching the room we found nothing but some pots with some old oil which felix got the best of it together and we decided to go out the door the pit trap was in front of, moving around the 1 foot ledge with tied tunics in hand to keep from falling in the pit worked for all but the poor slave who now victim of the same trap twice was pulled up and healed and we continued another trap later took felix and belrix into a pit then searched found some strange build up on the walls of the pit we moved through and on to another door down the hall leading to stairs leading down the door was shut and we moved on down the hall.

Felix found a dart trap with his makeshift thieving skills and warned us about it and at the end of the hall was a door felix told us to wait while he scouted it out. Felix found a rotten bed,desk,writing table and chest all wasted with only a symbol found of the old man statue outside the pyramid zeus,jupiter and a corpse of a gaul with an inflamed arm rotting on the floor he then gave the go ahead and we entered quintus picked around the bed and started hacking and gagging n i giggled a little. Felix now opened the only other door in the room and we heard a buzzing noise i asked felix to throw a glowy sack into the room so we could see what was there which he did.

A large iron cage filled with loot and a huge bees nest with huge bees in the middle of the room we closed the door and formulated a plan using the wood dust from the ancient desk and what not we filled 3 tunics and soaked them with oil felix would open the door belrix would throw the tunic sacks in and i would burning hands them and lightem up then quintus or marcus would close the door back (good plan right?) So felix opens the door and theres five killer bees waiting for us stings felix felix falls stings marcus marcus falls stings quintus he stands with a stinger in him stings me and i stood the other bee missed the four fell to the floor having done their job i decided to follow through with the plan belrix tossed the tunic sacks and i lit up the sacks and the last bee we drug in the fallen comrades and shut the door.........................................................................................................


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Session THree 09/02/11*

From the recollections of Dageus the Britain Druid


I think it has only been four or five days since the storm that left us stranded in this desert. Of our original company, only Belrix, Dageus and one of the slave still remain. The dangers in the pyramid would have been a challenge for the them, but fortunately a rogue by the name of Umbra led others into the ruins and the two groups united.

There was Charzek, a mage, and his companion Grundark, an ex slave, and Caiphus, a Roman priest.

Together we stripped what we could from the fallen and abandoned the bee filled chamber. Charzek claimed the sack of coins which bore 175D and 270S in coins. It was clear by the number of bodies in the room beyond it that the risk was not worth the reward.

We traveled back to chamber were we encountered the beetles and where Dageus was nearly left for dead and continued through the northern most of the two remaining doors. Umbra more than earned his place in the party by carefully checking for traps along the way. His discovery saved us all from additional harm, even if it meant that he bore the brunt of several of the traps along the way.

With the glowing orbs we pried from the beetles lighting our way, we soon came to an abandoned, dust covered room filled with rotting linens and crates. Nothing was salvageable there, so we moved on. The next room we discovered was occupied small people with delicate wings. I suspect they were sprites. They were not hostile and seemed eager to talk. Charzek and Umbra were able to communicate to the small creatures as some spoke Greek and others spoke Egyptian.

The sprites were having what looked like a party. Dageus even hummed along to their singing while the others tried to communicate with them. The dance floor was a half dozen crates. Like most of the items found the crates were in poor shape and only two had anything of value in them. Several small bags of some sort of black powder (6 in total), 5 paper and wooden candles, an additional five candles mounted on sticks with long wicks and 16 strings of finger like candles. Charzek took the bags and hung them from his belt, then we left the sprites on what I believe to be good terms.

Unfortunately we were still no closer to finding food or water.

The next room we explored had three urns, each about four foot tall, by the door. Two of the urns were empty and the third was filled with sand. Inside the room, the floor was covered in a wet, green slimy substance. Grundark entered the room and the slime with a dagger. The slime corroded the dagger and Charzek dragged Grundark out of the room.

We had reached a dead end and decided to go back to the beetle room and try the last doorway. Before leaving Dageus created water in one of the urns. It was not much, but it served to quench our thirsts and to fill two of the waterskins.

Back to the beetle room, we pushed on through the third door. Umbra continued to clear the way ahead of us with Belrix never too far from his side. An abandoned room was discovered that contained a wooden holy symbol, and across the hall from it was another one, but as we stepped into the room a blue spotted lizard climbed out from behind a rotting bed. It had been feeding on a man when we startled it. Belrix charged in and swung his axe. The force of the blow nearly destroyed the bed, but completely missed the lizard. Caiphus and Umbra stepped forward to assist him while the others remained outside the room. A second lizard fell from the ceiling attacking Umbra while Belrix was bitten several times by the one in front of him. Instead of continuing to fight them, the group made a strategic withdraw out of the room, securing the door behind them.

Caiphus prayed to his god to heal the wounds suffered by Umbra. The combination of the attack and the traps had taken their toll on him, and he would have had a tough time of it without the healing Caiphus offered. Caiphus was also able to bandage the wounds suffered by Belrix.

Seeing the lizards as a potential food source, it was decided that the group would attack them again. This time one of the two flasks of oil would be used. It would be lit on fire and tossed into the room then the door would be sealed. When the oil burned out, the group once more rushed in. The fire claimed one of the lizards, but the other was only slightly singed. The band attacked together, but the lack of food for the last several days was showing its effect as swing after swing seemed to have little aim or effect against the creature. Finally though, they were able to bring down the last lizard with only minor wounds. Grundark with a new dagger provided by Dageus rushed in to stand with Belrix and the others and took a few minor scratches for his trouble.


Butchering one of the corpses provided meat for the party. The second corpse was left on a trap to keep it from resetting. The body that they were consuming was a pale humanoid wearing a feather outfit and a golden bird like mask. Charzek claimed the mask.

We moved on from this room to the end of the hall where it joined with another running perpendicular to the first. We took the right path and soon discovered another trap. I had lost count of the number that we had found, I was just grateful that we managed to avoid most of them. This one was a pit trap that when triggered opened two panels at the bottom. Nothing seemed to happen and we decided to climb down and then up the other side to continue down the hall.

At the end of the hall was two doors on the right and a statue of a bearded man at the end. Umbra was excited as the statue appeared to be gold, but Charzek discovered it was simply wood with a golden paint on it. Probably worthless unless one was a collector.

Growing tired, and perhaps a bit reckless, Caiphus opened one of the doors while Umbra opened the other. Room after room had been abandoned, so it was no surprise that we expected these to be as well. They weren't. In one room was five men and in the other was six. Both rooms contained bunks and the men all wore the strange bird like masks. Clearly outnumbered, we tried to be as non-threatening as possible in an effort to befriend these folks while Charzek tried to explain about the mask we had found.

Fortunately we made a good impression. It seems they are the Brotherhood of Gorm, and their leader is Grandmaster Kanadras. He was easily identified in the group by the higher quality of the mask he wore. They have rivals, the Magi of Usamigaras and the Madians of Madarura. It not an open conflict, but it does sound like it has the potential to turn deadly.

They asked us to join them and they would provide us with food, water and supplies. They seemed very eager to gain the favor of Umbra and Belrix. The two men who looked most different from them. Before making any commitment we asked to hear more about these men and the others that inhabit these ruins.



DM EDIT: the Brother of Grom wore Golden mask of a bearded Man with a Stern look, deffently not the Bird like mask you found earlier. and her by Man it looks Roman,greek or possiably illerian however it quite strange and kind og looks like all three bleanded together.


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## elfstone (Sep 4, 2011)

*Session Three Notes 09/02/2011*

From the journal of Caiphus Colletti, Ordo Panthea
 Roman Cleric of Mars 


After waiting for a scouting party to return from the pyramid for quite some time, I and seven others of our group decided to investigate, against my better judgment. It wasn't long before we found the party dead, killed by giant killer bees who were nesting above a large treasure hoard. Well, dead men can't spend treasure is the lesson of that little misadventure. The adjoining room where the bees were nesting contained two doors, however our greed was not in control of our decision making faculties, so we decided to seek another route. 

In the course of our search I got to know the other members of our party. The Mage of the group seemed rather out of his element though his heart was in the right place. His companion, a burly barbarian, proved quite capable though required my healing services later. I met a kindred spirit in a Briton priest of the Druidic cults which gave me a chance to brush up on my Gaelic. I rather like the little psychopath. The rogue of the group was quite helpful in locating and triggering all of the traps in our path. Shrugging of his wounds and driving on as a true Roman should. If we ever make it back to civilization I will recommend him for a silver laurel. I hope it's not a posthumous award.

We also met a group of small people fluttering about on tiny wings (obviously some breed or fey folk) who were kind enough to share information with us regarding other inhabitants of the pyramid. They were in a room with chests containing pouches of a strange dark powder that smelled of rotten eggs as well as several candle looking items with the same odor. I'm not sure what these things are but when the mage begins experimenting with them, as mages are prone to do, I intend to put as much distance between myself and him as possible. 

Our rogue discovered three round stone receptacles. One was filled with sand, the others were empty. We weren't able to determine their purpose but the sly little Briton cast a create water spell filling one of the empty ones with water that, after so many days, tasted sweeter than wine. We all re-hydrated and filled our water skins. 

The next room of importance that we explored contained some kind of green slimy ooze which seemed to be alive. After it apparently ate one of the 8 glow glands we had removed from some large dead insects we found and our barbarian's dagger, we collectively decided there was nothing in this room worth risking our lives for. 

In one room we were forced to battle two monstrous and vicious reptiles. At first it went poorly. We took casualties while inflicting minimal damage to the monsters. We fell back to regroup in an empty room that seemed to have once been a bedchamber. It was clear that a different tactical approach was in order. After seeing to everyone's wounds I tore some cloth from the bedding in the room and stuffed it into one of the clay jars of oil we had found to act as a wick. One of our party started a small fire that we used to light the wick. Our most agile member tossed the jar into the room with the lizards. It burst into flames and I quickly closed the door. The others readied ranged weapons and we waited sufficient time for the flames to do their work. When I finally opened the door again, a hail of spear, javelins, and sling stones rained into the room. Only one of the lizards remained alive, until a javelin found it's mark on the thing, at any rate. After dinning on roasted lizard meat which tasted surprisingly like chicken, we searched the room finding the body of a humanoid on which the lizards had been feasting. Among the items on the corpse was a gold mask of a type described to us by the fey folk we had met earlier. We secured it for later. If we met others of his type I reasoned that it might buy us some good will if we were able to return the mask to them and inform them of their friends fate. We used the second lizard's body to trigger a trap rather than have the poor rogue attempt to disarm it and trigger it himself, yet again.

Finally we found three religious statues of a religion with which none of us were familiar. I saw signs in the iconography of the statues that suggested that the religion was one that held law in high regard. Along the wall leading to these statues were two doors next to one another. The fighter of our party readied to open one while I prepared to open the other. We opened them simultaneously and we found each occupied by humanoids wearing masks not unlike the one we had recovered earlier. Playing on my earlier hunch I made no overt aggressive action and made an attempt to communicate with these people as did other members of our party. As it turned out they were quite civilized and asked us to join them in their cause, even offering myself and others membership in their organization. I have yet to decide on this offer, as much as I would love to learn more of their culture and religion I am hesitant to givr my oath to a group I know nothing about.


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## elfstone (Sep 15, 2011)

*Between session notes to players*

At the end of last session our Brave party of shipwrecked adventured hound a band of demihumans  Living within the Step Pyramid. they seemed natural and spoke Egyptian with the Nubian Rogue, they learned this Band of warriors were in need of new recruits to fight some ongoing conflict. Being a crafty and also very thirsty party they decided to Parlay and learn more of there new friends before they take any sides.  this is what they learned.  At the start of next session they must have their answer ready.

The Brotherhood of Gorm  are a band of Lawful male warriors dedicated to Law and justice.  A strict dedication to the Written law is the founding of their beliefs.  Combined with the true test of manhood is threw battle.  They are in a state of conflict with the Magi of Usamigars and the Warrior maddens of Madarua. They are indeed of new recruits and will take all male warriors, or someone who looks like a warrior arms/armor  as a full member.   Those who don’t appear to be warriors  Rogues and arcane spell casters can still be lower members

Full members can expect food /water ,equipment including arms and armor and  free training
Lower members will receive food/water  basic supplies and some free training.

the Magi of Usamigars who are followers of Pure knowledge. THE Magi strive for knowledge no matter where it leads or its cost. Knowledge is there ultimate goal.

the Warrior maddens of Madarua follow the path of mother earth and nature.  They believe in the hierarchy of nature and the mother goddess. Might makes right and the hunter rules the prey.

You learn from the Brotherhood that  There civilization and City is Down below.  They seem to refer to where they are now as Above.  They talk about the journey there are on is the Celestial stair way trying to get to the realm of the Bright good RA.  They tell you that only they are worthy or climbing the Celestial stair way to reach the Over Lord RA and learn how to free  their people.  They tell you that a great curse has befallen there people over the last few generations. This Curse has trapped them in-between the sprit realm and the realm this realm, much like a dream.  They seek a way to free their people, They feel only a True and worth warrior may gain an audience with RA.  They tell you both the Magi and the warrior maddens falsely think they can  achieve the same.  However  only a True follower of the Law could ever gain the wisdom the RA.

 After eating a hardy meal of both fresh vegetables and meats and all the water you can drink you are again asked by Kanadius the Grand Master of the Brother hoods ask you if you will join them and free his people.   He seems to believe that you’re  Macedonian warrior Belrix is a servant of Anubis and is a guardian of the Dead. He seems to show him great respect and admiration.  Likewise they see you as also as minor servants f of the gods sent by Ra to test there worthiness.


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