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The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep d20
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<blockquote data-quote="Nebulous" data-source="post: 4063301" data-attributes="member: 31465"><p><span style="font-size: 15px">Adventure #16: Arrival of the Black Sphinx</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: red">[GM Note: My brother joined us this session as Ali Najirfaz, a reporter from the Cairo Bulletin kidnapped by the cult. He is chained to a pillar and watches the scene unfold]. </span></p><p></p><p>The ceremony room is chaotic. Hundreds of robed cultists throw victims to the leech pit in an orgy of pain and screams. The atrocities are horrible, and the party finds itself separated amid snarling madmen and terrified, naked victims. </p><p></p><p>Hundreds of faces turn toward the end of the room. The Clive party has ascended the steep steps toward the sarcophagus. Morty and Chang cannot see the details, but Chad Slambody and the necromancer Lucifer Lardlover are much closer. The old woman and another man are bound by ropes and led to the top.</p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/zig.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Omar Shakti, leader of the Black Brotherhood in Egypt, stands with his hands spread, while others lurk near the prisoners, and the old woman begins to rhythmically sway back and forth. Using his arcane knowledge, Lucifer surmises that they are using the woman, a known medium, to guide Nitcrosis's soul across the abyss and reunite it with her mummified corpse.</p><p></p><p>Success here will be disastrous. </p><p></p><p>Chad and Lucifer quietly confer, and in a moment of clarity (or madness!) they attempt to light two sticks of dynamite under their robes. The old woman must die! </p><p><span style="color: red"></span></p><p><span style="color: red">[GM Note: They came to this conclusion completely on their own, but it is a suggested tactic in the campaign book.] </span></p><p></p><p>But the sparks are seen sprinkling between their legs, although to their advantage most people are looking elsewhere. But a curious cultist beside Lucifer asks him: “What are you doing?” Chad, knowing not a smidgen of Arabic just stares dumbly, while Lucifer offers the cool-headed bluff: </p><p></p><p>"Ceremonial candles, my friend."</p><p></p><p>The gullible cultist accepts the answer, and in the mere seconds they have left, Chad and Lucifer advance, trying to get closer to the ritual and hope they don't miss. Or kill themselves.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Chang and Morty are loitering near the leech pit where Morty tries to innocuously bump a cultist to his doom with a “Bluff vs. Why are you Killing Me? check.” Morty succeeds, and the cultist splashes into the pit. But Morty and Chang are clueless as to what is about to happen across the room.</p><p></p><p>Chad and Lucifer hurl their sticks of dynamite to the top of the sacrificial stone. Their aim is true, and although they are seen by some, the impending explosion is shocking enough to send the entire throne room into confusion. Flames demolish the top of the altar. Omar Shakti is launched away. Dr. Clive and Johan Sprech are killed, their mangled corpses ejected into the air. And Agatha Broadmoor, the old medium, who sits innocently on her knees, is blown to pieces, foiling the resurrection of Nitcrosis in one fell swoop. Chad doesn’t even care, although both men lose some Sanity for their callousness. </p><p></p><p>Neither Chad nor Lucifer really expects to live, but they’re confident that they helped bring an end to this ritual. Still, they aren’t ready to give up.</p><p></p><p>“Chad!” hisses Lardlover. “Go now! Retrieve that vile mummy! We must destroy it if possible!”</p><p></p><p>In the brief chaos offered by their plan, Lucifer raises a wall of fog to obscure their actions, while Chad mounts the steps to steal the corpse and the three items of power needed to revive her. Chad struggles with the mummy, which doesn't weigh much and is surprisingly resilient…until Chad hears the roar. Something huge is just on the other side of the fog wall, something larger than a house. Chad sees a dim shadow surge toward him, but he is saved from madness by virtue of the wall of fog obscuring his sight. He drops all pretense of stealth and leaps down the stairs with the mummy in his arms, streaking for the exit.</p><p></p><p>Chang and Morty and Lucifer begin running toward the exit too, and that is when things get bad... </p><p></p><p>...as the floor rumbles...</p><p></p><p>...it tilts...</p><p></p><p>...and an unholy moan reverberates from the gargantuan hole in the far wall.</p><p></p><p>The ground shakes so much that everyone is thrown to their knees. A mad dash ensues for the heroes, while the cultists have fallen prostrate, honoring the God Who Walks Among Them. Only the four investigators are running away, staggering, falling, picking themselves up and struggling desperately for the exit. But Morty trips continuously, he can't stay on his feet, and the others pass him by with nary a glance. You’re on your own, buddy! Pillars crack and fall and a gargantuan presence presses onward, crawling over the altar, and the sound of cultists being smashed, crunched and devoured spills across the room. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: red">[GM Note: A discussion arises as to whether or not this big “something” would step on Omar Shakti, who had fallen behind the ziggurat. Ultimately, I said that perhaps he got squished by accident, thus ending their fear of Omar’s revenge].</span></p><p></p><p>Kidnapped Cairo Bulletin reporter Ali Najirfaz squeals and averts his face, but peeks out as the thing stomps by. It is so hideous…and so beautiful! Finally, his break-out story!</p><p></p><p>No one else has seen the abomination yet, no one has dared turn around and look, they just run for their lives.</p><p></p><p>Everyone but Morty reaches the exit and flees down the stairs into the tunnels, but Morty falls yet again at a crucial junction. The massive creature has been gaining on him every time he slips. Morty's fractured mind snaps at the last instant. He is filled with blissful euphoria! The end is near! AT LAST! He is laughing as a five-mawed hand grabs his extremities and Morty sees the thing in hideous detail. </p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/blsphinx_big.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Surprisingly, he rolls very low Sanity damage, and just shrugs his shoulders. </p><p></p><p>“Eh. Could be worse.”</p><p></p><p>He is lifted three stories high and dropped into the mouth of the Black Sphinx.</p><p><span style="color: red"></span></p><p><span style="color: red">[GM Note: Our group considers this the Best Death of the campaign; not only did Morty not mind that he was about to die, he was unimpressed by the Black Sphinx].</span></p><p></p><p>The surviving heroes dash through the maze, dodging or killing the hybrid animal-men that pop up, and they eventually find the rope at the exit tunnel and enter the cool Egyptian night, exhausted and terrified, but confident that they have at least postponed the diabolical plans of Nyarlathotep. However, Morty Jones is not with them, and in the confusion, they never saw his final fate.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, still chained to a column in the throne room, insane news journalist Ali Najirfaz shouts to himself: "Wow! What a scoop!"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nebulous, post: 4063301, member: 31465"] [size=4]Adventure #16: Arrival of the Black Sphinx[/size] [color=red][GM Note: My brother joined us this session as Ali Najirfaz, a reporter from the Cairo Bulletin kidnapped by the cult. He is chained to a pillar and watches the scene unfold]. [/color] The ceremony room is chaotic. Hundreds of robed cultists throw victims to the leech pit in an orgy of pain and screams. The atrocities are horrible, and the party finds itself separated amid snarling madmen and terrified, naked victims. Hundreds of faces turn toward the end of the room. The Clive party has ascended the steep steps toward the sarcophagus. Morty and Chang cannot see the details, but Chad Slambody and the necromancer Lucifer Lardlover are much closer. The old woman and another man are bound by ropes and led to the top. [center][img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/zig.jpg[/img][/center] Omar Shakti, leader of the Black Brotherhood in Egypt, stands with his hands spread, while others lurk near the prisoners, and the old woman begins to rhythmically sway back and forth. Using his arcane knowledge, Lucifer surmises that they are using the woman, a known medium, to guide Nitcrosis's soul across the abyss and reunite it with her mummified corpse. Success here will be disastrous. Chad and Lucifer quietly confer, and in a moment of clarity (or madness!) they attempt to light two sticks of dynamite under their robes. The old woman must die! [color=red] [GM Note: They came to this conclusion completely on their own, but it is a suggested tactic in the campaign book.] [/color] But the sparks are seen sprinkling between their legs, although to their advantage most people are looking elsewhere. But a curious cultist beside Lucifer asks him: “What are you doing?” Chad, knowing not a smidgen of Arabic just stares dumbly, while Lucifer offers the cool-headed bluff: "Ceremonial candles, my friend." The gullible cultist accepts the answer, and in the mere seconds they have left, Chad and Lucifer advance, trying to get closer to the ritual and hope they don't miss. Or kill themselves. Meanwhile, Chang and Morty are loitering near the leech pit where Morty tries to innocuously bump a cultist to his doom with a “Bluff vs. Why are you Killing Me? check.” Morty succeeds, and the cultist splashes into the pit. But Morty and Chang are clueless as to what is about to happen across the room. Chad and Lucifer hurl their sticks of dynamite to the top of the sacrificial stone. Their aim is true, and although they are seen by some, the impending explosion is shocking enough to send the entire throne room into confusion. Flames demolish the top of the altar. Omar Shakti is launched away. Dr. Clive and Johan Sprech are killed, their mangled corpses ejected into the air. And Agatha Broadmoor, the old medium, who sits innocently on her knees, is blown to pieces, foiling the resurrection of Nitcrosis in one fell swoop. Chad doesn’t even care, although both men lose some Sanity for their callousness. Neither Chad nor Lucifer really expects to live, but they’re confident that they helped bring an end to this ritual. Still, they aren’t ready to give up. “Chad!” hisses Lardlover. “Go now! Retrieve that vile mummy! We must destroy it if possible!” In the brief chaos offered by their plan, Lucifer raises a wall of fog to obscure their actions, while Chad mounts the steps to steal the corpse and the three items of power needed to revive her. Chad struggles with the mummy, which doesn't weigh much and is surprisingly resilient…until Chad hears the roar. Something huge is just on the other side of the fog wall, something larger than a house. Chad sees a dim shadow surge toward him, but he is saved from madness by virtue of the wall of fog obscuring his sight. He drops all pretense of stealth and leaps down the stairs with the mummy in his arms, streaking for the exit. Chang and Morty and Lucifer begin running toward the exit too, and that is when things get bad... ...as the floor rumbles... ...it tilts... ...and an unholy moan reverberates from the gargantuan hole in the far wall. The ground shakes so much that everyone is thrown to their knees. A mad dash ensues for the heroes, while the cultists have fallen prostrate, honoring the God Who Walks Among Them. Only the four investigators are running away, staggering, falling, picking themselves up and struggling desperately for the exit. But Morty trips continuously, he can't stay on his feet, and the others pass him by with nary a glance. You’re on your own, buddy! Pillars crack and fall and a gargantuan presence presses onward, crawling over the altar, and the sound of cultists being smashed, crunched and devoured spills across the room. [color=red][GM Note: A discussion arises as to whether or not this big “something” would step on Omar Shakti, who had fallen behind the ziggurat. Ultimately, I said that perhaps he got squished by accident, thus ending their fear of Omar’s revenge].[/color] Kidnapped Cairo Bulletin reporter Ali Najirfaz squeals and averts his face, but peeks out as the thing stomps by. It is so hideous…and so beautiful! Finally, his break-out story! No one else has seen the abomination yet, no one has dared turn around and look, they just run for their lives. Everyone but Morty reaches the exit and flees down the stairs into the tunnels, but Morty falls yet again at a crucial junction. The massive creature has been gaining on him every time he slips. Morty's fractured mind snaps at the last instant. He is filled with blissful euphoria! The end is near! AT LAST! He is laughing as a five-mawed hand grabs his extremities and Morty sees the thing in hideous detail. [center][img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/blsphinx_big.jpg[/img][/center] Surprisingly, he rolls very low Sanity damage, and just shrugs his shoulders. “Eh. Could be worse.” He is lifted three stories high and dropped into the mouth of the Black Sphinx. [color=red] [GM Note: Our group considers this the Best Death of the campaign; not only did Morty not mind that he was about to die, he was unimpressed by the Black Sphinx].[/color] The surviving heroes dash through the maze, dodging or killing the hybrid animal-men that pop up, and they eventually find the rope at the exit tunnel and enter the cool Egyptian night, exhausted and terrified, but confident that they have at least postponed the diabolical plans of Nyarlathotep. However, Morty Jones is not with them, and in the confusion, they never saw his final fate. Meanwhile, still chained to a column in the throne room, insane news journalist Ali Najirfaz shouts to himself: "Wow! What a scoop!" [/QUOTE]
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