Anger, a universal constant, has two directions: inward or outward. The infidels choose the latter and vent their collective spleen on the lady manbull, drowning her in animus. Transanimal* specimen that she might be, she doesn't survive.

As for her manbull companion, he cannot even swing his axe in revenge. A ready swarm of scarab beetles blanket his magnificent torso, all but paralyzing him.

I would rule that he's stunned for four rounds with all attacks against him at +4. That would effectively end the combat. So I'll end it.
*As in transhuman, transhumanist, more than human.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:56, Tue 14 May.

Orum nudged the she minotaur with his foot. "More human than you, man," he muttered. "Maybe we will rob some zombies next."

Tomba investigates the carcasses closely looking for anything of value upon them.  Looking for any rings on their fingers, belts, nose rings, gold teeth etc...  Do the axes appear sharp with their heads nick free, or are they blunted in places where metal on stone or armour would show they were not of above average quality?  Once he is satisfied nothing is overlooked, be will go the straw that was possibly their bedding, and move it around with his foot, just searching for anything of value.

"Let the bodies hit the floor," Tarrahn says as both of the beasts are taken down.

Even with the deaths of the two minotaurs, and an end to their putrid exhalations, their lair retains the stench of a thousand nights of manbull and lady manbull sweat and copulation, the stank of which easily overpowers the piquant, barnyard scent of the hay, beneath which, Tomba's probing foot discovers, lies a fortune in electrum, some 4.5k pieces of it.

"Jackpot! I see a Temple to Ptah in my future! l'Atreq announces.

Tarrahn looks at the electrum that Tomba just uncovered.  "How are we going to carry all of that?  We should get rid of the lesser value coins for this?"

If they could carry it, wonderful. If not, V was fine dropping the least expensive coinage (silver for sure).

Tomba had already checked the minotaurs, so V searched the room for secret doors and passages.

Prior to the discovery of the electrum Tomba was obviously put out by the stench of the den, holding his nose and breathing through his mouth as he moved the straw about with his foot.  Once the shinies were discovered however, he stopped holding his nose so he could better balance as he stood on one foot and used the other to move the straw aside until every last coin was uncovered.


"Tarrahn don't say that."  He looks to the mages/priests.  "Can't one of you magic people just cast a spell and make it small so it fits into a pocket." he questions waving an arm about in an attempt to copy  someone casting a spell.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:11, Fri 17 May.

The only oddity, aside from one or more of the infidels, in the room would be the circular shaft in the ceiling (10' feet up).

Well, sticking two large minotaurs in a room with only a 10' ceiling...that's an oddity.

Tomba will check to see if the doors are locked but just turning/depressing the handle  and in the process he'll peer up the shaft to see if he can see anything above.

I take it after climbing a wall, there'd be about 10 foot of flat overhead ceiling that would need to be traversed to get to the shaft before that could be climbed, if an attempt was to be made, is that about right?

Tomba has iron spikes that might aid in the task, but are there any cracks or anything that would make climbing such a surface plausible, or would climbing be definitely out of the question, unless someone else has magic to use?

An option if we want to investigate the shaft would be to removed the door from its hinges and several people hold the door upright under the hole as Tomba climbs to the top of the door to then gain access to the bottom edge of the shaft in order to climb up.  DM discretion but potentially possibly.

OOC:  Two large minotaurs with 4,500ep and no shops close by.  What do minotaurs/monsters need ep for anyway, they never seem to buy anything. 

"Perhaps two of the taller tallies could lift Tomba and myself up to start climbing the shaft if that is our choice," Orum says as he trap checks and listens at each of the doors.

"Is going up going to be good, or bad? Just asking. It's been tough here."

"I would be inclined to ignore the shaft and opt for choosing one of the doors here at ground level," Eonwe says.

Tomba knows he's not the brightest lamp, so would defer to the smarts of Eonwe.  As Orum listens at the doors he slaps his forehead as it dawns on him he got the basic door check opening ettique out of sync.

Following the left-hand rule, the outfit soon reaches a 10-foot square antechamber with an archway at one end and a heavy plank door at the other. The door opens to reveal a 30-foot square room with 30-foot walls rising to a domed ceiling. Figures are lying about the room.

Upon the opening of the door, five of the figures spring to their feet and brandish their scimitars and raise their spiked bucklers. Thunes! They are Thune Dervishes!

V definitely agreed with not going up the shaft. They had just been upstairs, and decided it was not the place they had wanted to be, so it would be counterproductive to go back up again.

Moving on...
Seeing the dervishes, V takes a quick scan of the room. While the initial dervishes they had encountered had been insistent on fighting, later ones had been less fanatical. So if they could avoid an unnecessary fight here, all the better. "Have you passed through the flames to guard here?" she asks weapon in hand, but not in an attack position.

Relief replaces alarm when the five learn that the outfit not only doesn't mean to murder them where they stand but asks a question to which they know the answer.

One of the five steps forward and introduces himself as Abraham. Like all members of his sect, he's heavily bearded, dark-skinned, and swathed in loose-fitting clothing. He makes it known to Vixl and her crew that they passed through the flames, only to have arrived in a "cursed labyrinth cloaked in even more accursed mists." They had blundered about in search of an exit from "this pernicious purgatory," having originally thought the flame would grant entrance to the rest of the tomb until they had met a pack of ghouls.

"Those abominations slew Jared, Khalid, and Omar, but we defeated them, for we are THUNE!"

"THUNE!" the other four thunder as if there were some question about it.

"We search for an exit as well. Would it be profitable for us to work together to find an exit?" He asks the leader of the Thune.

Eonwe stays behind the others keeping a watchful eye on both the dervishes and the rest of the bodies.

Not being the best at expressing himself, Tomba keeps quite as he watches the men for any sudden moves that might be aggressive.  He is happy to have Vixl direct the conversation, she seemed to have it under control.

V was thinking something similar to l'Atreq. Although they were not exactly looking for an exit right now, and she had concerns that their mission might run counter to the THUNE sensibilities, banding together for a short while made sense. So, she waited to hear how they responded to the offer.

"Glory to Amun-re!" exults the leader of the five THUNE, Abraham, who then thumps the pommel of his scimitar against the side of his buckler with his four followers aping him, thankfully, in rhythm. They occupy themselves in this manner for a brief period of time until Abraham ceases his thumping with the others ceasing as well.

"We shall JOIN you in your most noble and honorable quest to find an exit from these pernicious passageways. We shall SMITE the unclean and the unholy. Just WATCH us!"

Five THUNE have joined the party. They will do as directed subject to the restrictions of their lawful neutral alignment.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:23, Today.

Tarrahn looks around at the THUNE and his group.  "Huh!  Allies?  Who would've guessed that one?"

"We're all trying to escape the pyramid now, why not? After we escape, we shouldn't hold our collective breaths though."