“Well,” said Conan harshly, “is it not better to die honorably than to live in infamy? Is death worse than oppression, slavery and ultimate destruction?”
— The Hour of the Dragon


There are many tales of Hyborian Age.  Tales of the injustice of mad kings.  Tales of great deeds.  Tales of woe.  Our tale begins on the western marches of Koth, in the bleak hills near the border with Argos and Ophir, where lies an ugly scar in the earth that men call the Red Pit. From its depths, slaves hack blocks of fine rose-hued limestone from the ground — stone ultimately bound for the palaces and villas of Khorshemish.  The slaves who are sent here rarely last a season. They live at the whim of the elements, toiling beneath the blazing sun by day and huddling together in their rags for warmth by night. Despite all this, some still have dreams — dreams of freedom — though most dream only of the rich red froth of vengeance...

Vengeance against the Master of the Pit, a brutal man called Abdibaal, a eunuch deep in the confidence of the Kothian king. A cadre of his countrymen, Pelishtim mercenaries from western Shem, prowls the edges of the Red Pit, ever watchful. But inside the quarry, Abidaal employs a gang of slave drivers to keep the other slaves in line. Nazarus the Whip is their overseer. The last member of Abdibaal’s retinue is a nameless Stygian, tall and gaunt, whose sole task is to care for the eunuch’s prized pet: an a’ghama, a 300-pound carnivorous lizard he keeps caged near the edge of the Pit.

What brought you to this miserable existence?  Do such things matter now?

For now, now is your time!  Whether to gain your freedom or fall in the struggle, you will visit sweet retribution on those who have held you in bondage!


This message was last edited by the GM at 23:28, Wed 27 Mar 2019.

Character icons:


The Situation
You stand on the 2nd lowest level of the infamous Red Pit of Koth in the Slave Flats.  As the last of you were freed from your shackles one of the party (probably Amalric or Chang Jun) struck down one of the slavers with you, shocking everyone around you, both slave drivers and slaves.   There are nearly 120 slaves nearby, shuffling and clanking in their manacled leg-irons (slaves move at half rate).

The Feeding Area sits above you, where Nazarus the Whip and more slave drivers oversee the meager sustenance offered to the starving wretches.

Blocks of stone are being carved from the walls of the level, which are 10 meters in height.  2 ladders allow access from the Slave Flats (area 1 on Game Map) to the Feeding Area (area 2 on Game Map); otherwise there is always scaling the rough hewn wall themselves.

Hexes are 2m in length.  Hexes occupied by slaves may be moved through but cost an addition 1m of movement.

If anyone wishes to make a similar speech as described in the intro to rouse the slaves it will take a Persuasion roll to motivate them into action against their taskmasters.  You have been here long enough to know that the hatred runs deep but so does fear.

Slaves: All but the 7 others seated near you who were also rewarded have their legs shackled together, cutting movement in half.  They are also malnourished and suffer from exhaustion (lowered stats).

Slave Drives (yellow circled): Former slaves, brutish and cruel, who impressed Abdibaal and Nazarus enough to be elevated to the position.  They are well fed and rested and wear thick leather on their chest/back, a girdle and skirt (protects locations 9-14).
Surprised: 1/2 DCV, Normal Stun

Nazarus the Whip (blue circled): commands near the huge feeding table.  Also wears same leathers as Slave Drivers.

Feeding Table: Stacked high with bread and kettles of gruel.  Eager slaves await their turn or move quickly to down their sustenance before other wretches can try to wrest their meal from them.

Characters: Players begin at -2 STR, -2 CON, -5 END, -3 STUN, -1 Physical Skill Rolls due to the hardships of the Pit.  Your legs are free, however you are currently unarmed.

Slave Drivers in Slave Flats: 1 holds a basket with your recently removed manacles.  The other stands by with truncheon in hand, meant to quell any thought of uprising (and failing in his task).  The victim of your wrath lies broken, his hammer and awl which foolishly removed your manacles in the red dirt beside his corpse.

Speed Chart thanks Tiberio

Segment 12
All characters except Chang Jun make DEX rolls to determine your order vs others with your same DEX.  Please declare your moves.  All slavers are considered Surprised (1/2 DCV, Normal Stun) and do not get to act this Segment.

Let the struggle begin!
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Wed 03 Apr 2019.

Ludvik straitens and looks about at his fellow prisoners.  Fellow slaves.  "Will you stay here for fear of death, licking their boots even as they grind you under heel?  Will you stay, for fear of what might be your fate today, only to suffer a few short months more and then die in this place anyway?  Fear will not keep me a slave!  Come!  Come and fight!  If you die today you will be none the worse off than what these devils called men would have given you anyway!  Come, fight!  Fight and for those who will seize the day, win free of this hell!" he exclaims.  Ludvik his newly free hands and shakes his fists at the sky in anger, a spectacle of the moment of his own fury.  "Freedom will not come to you!  Rise up and take it!"

Then, turning back towards the slavers he looks about quickly trying to get his bearings and a sense of the real challenges that will face what he hopes will be a full on revolt soon enough.  Archers or towers?  What of the Stygian and his beast?  Ludvik attempts to discern what the most significant threats to their escape are going to be, and where they are.



Once he has his bearings Ludvik will charge the nearest guard in a blind rage, attempting to bowl him over in a rush, and onto his back amidst the crowd of slaves.




From GM: Presence Attacks are 0 Phase Actions, you still have your full phase
NOTE: Everyone's chains/manacles are in the basket held by the 2nd slave driver (one on the right).  If you wish to use them you'll have to defeat the man 1st.

Edit 2: Went with Trip as you had discussed in OOC thread, it honestly worked well in this setting.

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:54, Wed 03 Apr 2019.

 Amalric was as filthy as he had ever been in his life. Even when he had plunged into the marsh land to evade the vengeful cavalry of the Nemdedian king, he had not been so flea bitten and by the gods, how he stank. The only saving grace was he did not even notice it anymore, since everyone else was just as bad.

 The day where the shackles where struck was something to look forward too, in this pit from Hades. As soon as he felt his iron removed, his companion from the Free Company decided to give a speech. Part of Amalric wanted to roll his eyes, just like Ludvik, but he could tease him latter, if there was a latter.

 Amalric attacked the nearest overseer holding the chains with a a move, that his old Arms Master would have could dishonorable. The Merc slammed a fist into the others kidney." Better to die, standing, then live on your knees! Take back your lives. Now fight! “


19:53, Today: Amalric rolled -1,-15,-2 using 14-3d6,3d6,1d6+1 with rolls of 5,4,6,5,4,6,3
Edit: Attack missed, hit -1 DCV, Location would have been 15 - Leg for x2 STUN x1/2 BODY on killing attack, damage roll was 4 so if had hit would have been 2 BODY, 8 Stun.
Just trying to illustrate how to read the results.

20:06, Today: Amalric rolled 15 using 3d6 with rolls of 5,6,4.  Dex roll.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:45, Mon 01 Apr 2019.

Sarajen laughs under his breath, a maniacal grin opening his parched lips like a crack on water-starved soil, as he hears Ludvik's words.

... oh yes... a chance... just one chance..., he thought to himself.

Looking up to Ludvik, he waved quickly and mouthed, "keep them distracted".

He immediately lunged underfoot, hoping to remain out of sight during the impending conflict, reaching out to steal the hammer and awl from the fallen slave driver.

OOC: Sarajen will sneak about, to hex 0015, and, hoping the drivers will be distracted, take the hammer and awl first, then search the fallen driver for anything else that might be of use (knifes, keys, documents, money, anything).

16:59, Today: Sarajen rolled 8 using 3d6 with rolls of 6,1,1.  Stealth Roll 12-.

Okay, my mistake.  When attempting to roll multiple rolls with the manual die roller having the X-3d6 entry is throwing off all rolls that follow it; hence the 2nd and 3rd result having negative values.

After a little testing it looks like everything works as expected if you just put that entry last.

So this gets odd results: Crom rolled 2,-9,-4 using 14-3d6,3d6,1d6+1 with rolls of 4,2,6,1,4,4,5.  Test.
- 14-(4,2,6)=2 okay
- (1,4,4) = 9, why is it negative?
- 6 + 1 should be 7 not 5   WTF?

But this looks right: Crom rolled 9,3,3 using 3d6,1d6+1,14-3d6 with rolls of 5,3,1,2,4,6,1.  with record each die checked

Just put the attack roll last.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:02, Mon 01 Apr 2019.