4. The First Expedition

You spend the night in the bunkroom of the Broken Head, some of you sleeping more peacefully than others.

Waking to the sound of rain falling on the inn’s roof, you eat breakfast in the common room and prepare to depart.

Spell casters - what spells have your memorised?

All - what’s the plan for the day?

---
8:00 am, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’
—
Billie, Mule, 120’

"Thrudmarr, my big friend," Jacky remarks over the breakfast porridge. "I had a thought when I woke up this morning. It's well and good for Billie to carry mine and Ella's" -he nods at the elf- "things to and from the Halls, but a mule might have trouble making his way down there! Do you have space in your bags to help us out?"

Ella observed Zacharias’ difficult sleep for a few hours, as he rolled in his bunk bed and occasionally grunted in a semblance of distress. The whole episode with the phantom made her realise the fundamental difference in perspective between elves such as her, and the more short-lived folk. She did eventually sleep, lightly as she always did.

As the others began to stir, they found her seated cross-legged on her bed, deep in concentration as she pored over a rather large tome, a single candle nearby giving a soft, warm light. She once again committed powerful mystic runes to memory, in hopes of fixing them in her mind until the critical moment where she would call upon those words of power to elicit some uncanny, and certainly most unnatural, effect upon the world. Common folk feared the users of magic, and they were right to do so.

Once she had finished her mystical preparations, Ella came to the common room and took breakfast along those still seated. She ate heartily for one as small as she, though the coarser food predominant in archontean lands was not always the easiest to digest.

"So, up the pyramid, and try to find the pathway down? Meet these wand-waving periannath, I mean, halflings? Or try to climb onto the tower on the square with the large awakened trees?"

Zacharias blinked his eyes as his consciousness slowly arose from the evil nightmares. Looking down at his body, he was once again overwhelmed by a feeling of melancholy and dread. Half of my life, gone in an instant; is it even worth getting up?. Groaning, he slowly twisted up from the bed, and performed his morning ablutions. Packing his meager belongings in their various containers, he made his way down the stairs to the inn's breakfast offering. With a bowl of porridge, a mug of tea, and a fresh roll with butter, Zach made his way over to his companions.

Taking a seat at the table, Zach greeted the group. Good morning, Masters Thrushbeard and Jasper, and Lady Envelope. I hope you all slept better than I did. Is it true that Master Vixen decided to return home? Are we to proceed below strength? Exhausting his immediate questions, Zach began to eat.

Thrudmarr wakens early. After a big breakfast, he carefully sharpens and wipes down his axe while talking to it softly, telling it they might find more adventure today.

When Jacky asks about carrying extra weight, he frowns while surveying the amount of gear the mule was carrying.

"Hmmm Thurdmarr already carry much stuff. Make Thrudmarr move slow if carry more. Slow bad if need to run from more trees! But if friends need help, Thrudmarr can carry."

"Visiting the pyramid gets my vote," Jacky says. "After all, that's what each of us are here for, isn't it?"

Grim rolls ol’ dwarven bones out of bed. He prays for daily spellcasting, that our dwarven fellow may bolster his party’s adventuresome prowess!
Well now, climbin’ de pyramid seems a good option ta me!

"Do you think we’ll be spending a night underground? If so, I will carry the bedroll. I can get rid of it, if it is slowing me down."

Eh. I’ll carry yer beddin’, Ella, if ya want. We might end up overnight down ‘ere, ya never know. Don’ worry ‘bout yer burden though, jus’ toss it onta yer ol’ dwarf!

"Pyramid sound good." Thrudmarr says between mouthfulls of breakfast. "Maybe find statues to bring fancy men. Need more money for food and beds."

"That’s kind of you, master Grimidek. I accept your offer, but I will take back the weight of it bothers you. Your dwarven shoulders should be free to move…"

Leaving the warm and dry of the Broken Head behind, you set out into the grey, damp morning. Retracing your steps from the previous evening, you re-enter Arden Vul through the North Gate, the guards in the gate towers wishing you a cheery "good luck!". Once inside the city walls, you follow the cobbled boulevard south.

The pyramid of Thoth is 90’ square and rises 45’ above the floor of the city. At the summit is a 30’-square platform, on top of which is a stone canopy supported by marble pillars.

Marble steps, worn at their centres from traffic, rise on each side of the pyramid to the central platform. An image has been carved into the exact centre of each riser. Four images alternate, such that there are multiple examples of each. These images are as follows:



---
8:30 am, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’
—
Billie, Mule, 120’

Jacky squats to take a closer look at the carvings on the steps. These were the gods that tallfolk worshipped in the past, weren't they? "Look, those must be pictures of Thoth," he comments to the others. "At least the first three pictures. I've never seen a baboon."The second picture is the most interesting. Was Thoth receiving something valuable from the tallfolk, or was he giving it to them?

Ellagel seemed quite happy to leave the Broken Head and to cross back into the ruins. The ascension up the pyramid was slow and deliberate: by then she had stringed her bow and readied an arrow, and she kept vigilant as she continued up the steps. She was so focused that she barely registered the patterns in the engravings, and only Jacky’s observations made her stop to consider these pictographs for a few moments.

"Nice find Jacky. Looks like if the followers of Thoth were devout, they were rewarded. Also looks like there will be plenty of statues to take back to those merchants, if luck is on our side."

The halfling considers the elf's words. Based on the pictures, these things stood taller than anyone Jacky had ever met. "They'd be a bit hard to move, don't you think? Although, being enchanted, maybe we can get them to follow us back up. Now wouldn't that be a sight!"

"Thrudmarr no want to meet big statue that can walk. Tired of running from big things, need enemy he can chop!" He scratches his head. "Maybe find smaller treasure to take? Anyway, how we get in?" Thrudmarr looks around the platform, his eyes scanning for any obvious entrances.

The newly melancholic Zacharias follows the group. Does it really matter, Master Jellyroll, what the images represent? We are here to descend, find some treasure, ascend, sell it, and repeat until we are satisfied or dead. Right Lady Evergreen? Zach checks his sword and shield. Im with Thrustmark. Let’s get moving.

Ella nods. She looks up at the marble pillars and the stone canopy above.

"That way, she pointed.