Session 2: "Grubs and Ghoul"

Session was played on 02/22/2022 with PCs adventuring for 1 days. Needing 1 day of rest as per ACKS rules the PCs can make downtime requests and participate in sessions on and after 02/24/2022.

Session Report:

The second (online) session of my Aegyptus campaign began in Ra Hafir, a village (class VI) at the very edge of the borderlands in the lower (northern) kingdom of Aegyptus.

The party comprised of returning characters Fren (fighter 1), Victor (fighter 1), along with the newly added characters of Leroux (thief 1) and Balthazar (hench 0)

Because we had a new player, I reminded the party of the terrain around town, and on the way to the dungeon.

To the east of Ra Hafir stands a small lake on the Nilus River ("not-Nile" according to one of the players).  Just south is the ridge of Radokh and the cataracts of Karnak, where both the land and river leap down nearly 200 feet from the Upper Kingdom beyond.  To the north and west, Ra Hafir is hemmed in by swamp.  The dungeon is a few hours march north-west.  The players noticed signs the swamp may have been formed by irrigation channels and equipment that is no longer maintained.

There were no random encounters on the way, and once the party arrived at the old temple, they quickly got right back to delving.

At this point, I asked the players to tell me their encumbrance (I had forgotten this in the first session), and explained how encumbrance and exploration movement works in ACKS.  One of the players has only previously played 5e--which has rules for encumbrance, but they are cumbersome and frequently ignored.

The party explored a hallway leading east with no random encounters.  This hallway had three passages leading south.  The party took the passage at the end of the hall.  They found several shrines along this passage.  The second shrine had a vase set on an altar.  Leroux the thief checked for traps, and then dumped out the vase at his feet.  Inside, there were some mummified viscera and 12 grubs.  Fortunately, the thief was quick to act, and jumped back before any of the grubs were able to latch on to him.  

The party burned up the rot grubs.  And then found a scrap of papyrus stuck to the bottom of the vase with directions indicating they should push several hieroglyphs in the room.  A bit dubiously--using a ten foot pole--Leroux followed these directions.  A stone panel slid open containing a chest with 200 silver.

The party checked the other shrine to see if they could use these directions again, but were unable to find similar hieroglyphs.

They then continued south--into a large room shaped like a backwards L.  Along the walls directed towards the juncture there were pews.  At the center stood a large jackleheaded statue with crossed arms, holding a flail and crooked scepter.  

The statue was massive, and it did not seem like something the party could easily carry out of the dungeon.  Once again Leroux stepped forward and checked for traps, before pulling out one of the implements from the statue's hands.  Immediately the statue made a strange, eerie groaning sound.  At this, the party leapt back in terror, ready to flee from an potentially vengeful animated statue.  They waited for several minutes, and nothing happened.  They then took the other implement from the statue.

At this point, having recovered treasures without losing any PCs, the party discussed whether they should leave or press their luck.  They decided to press their luck.  They constructed a half circular barricade from the pews around the stone door in the north west of the room.  This door appeared similar to the stone doors where they had found wall graves with many skeletons, but the hieroglyphs were more ornate.  Fren, Victor and Balthazar rolled back the heavy door.  Immediately a rancid stench poured out, and they saw a sarcophagus which appeared like it was being opened from within.  The party decided "Nope."  And they all attempted to scramble over their own barricade.  Initially they were having some trouble, but they managed to get over just as the lid broke open.  Forth from the tomb came a grey skinned figure with linen wrappings and sharp cruel looking teeth and claws.  The party ran as the ghoul also struggled with the barricade.  I checked the dice to see whether it would pursue the fleeing party, and found that it would.  And so, with the ghoul at their heels, the party ran like mad back to the entrance.  Fortunately, there were no encounters on their way out.  So they came to the door and started running up the stairs.  But Victor--the last in the marching order--unfortunately triggered a bear trap that was spiked down to the floor at the foot of the stairs, and had been covered and concealed beneath some loose rubble.  The trap broke his leg--but fortunately Victor took the hit and was still standing (with 2 hp on his left leg apparently).

Realizing that he would probably not be able to get himself loose before the ghoul caught up, Victor turned back to the ghoul and set his spear to receive a charge.  The ghoul leapt at him, but Victor's spear caught it square in the chest for the kill.  And the ghoul's simultaneous attack on Victor missed.  Victor then loosed himself from the trap.  Then, after the thief "checked the ghoul's pockets for treasure" (nothing, lol), the party left the dungeon and headed back to town.

In town, before wrapping up for the night, the party decided to make contact with the other party in town ("Team V"), after hearing a rumor they might have a canoe to sell.  Team V is my IRL players in Aegyptus (who started play in December, and have played 8 sessions thus far).  I also currently have two patrons in Aegyptus at undisclosed locations and distances from each other and Ra Hafir (both the online party and the patrons seem very interested in figuring out their relative locations).

Surviving PCs Present:

- Fren, played by normie (10% xp bonus) level 1 fighter. current xp : 263 + 144 = 407 XP

- Victor, played by brigandine (5% xp bonus) level 1 fighter. current xp 114 + 137 = 251  XP 

- Laroux, played by belloc (0% xp bonus) level 1 thief.  current xp: 0 + 131 = 131 XP

Deceased PCs:

- Gren, level 1 cleric, played by normie. Current XP total 0.  Killed by skeletons in session 1.

- Alchus, level 1 fighter, played by brigandine.  Current XP total 0.  Killed by skeletons in session 1.

- Typhus, level 1 cleric, played by brigandine.  Current XP total 0.  Killed by skeletons in session 1.