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Post by Aileen on Jan 18, 2021 11:50:15 GMT -5
A death curse has swept through all of Faerun, trapping spirits and causing those recently revivified to waste away. It’s horrible, terrifying, and apparently coming from the island of Chult.
I’m nearly 270 years old, I’ve lived a good long life, but I’ve got two grown children out in the world adventuring. If they die, I don’t want them to stay that way. This curse needs to end, and I’ve got nothing holding me back from going to try to help. Being a low time bounty hunter is enough to pay the bills, but it doesn’t help anyone but the people with enough gold in their pocket to pay everyone’s bail anyway. I leave my job, set out from Baldur’s Gate, and catch a boat in Waterdeep. Destination, Port Nyanzaru!
I meet some young adventurers on the boat, all going to help with the curse. An anthropologist Satyr, something I’ve never seen before, even me being of fae ancestry. A tiefling girl whose uncle is dying of the curse, come from my city. Of course, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a library or bookstore which is where she worked. An angelic cleric, sunny and bright as the god she follows. And a massive Goliath paladin, whom everyone seemed surprised is not a barbarian.
A friend in the city, one of the Zhentarim, gave me a contact in Port Nyanzaru, and I’m keen on meeting with them but I also don’t want to handle this place alone. The youngins let me join them, and we set out with a guide to tour the city.
At first I’m struck by the smells, and the heat. The air is spicy and alive with culture and exotic food. And then I’m struck with an itch in my eyes and throat, and I realize this place is full of cats. Not normal cats, tabaxi. Their hair and dander has me squirming in my own skin, eyes watering uncontrollably.
“Are you crying?” The paladin asks me.
“No, I’m allergic to f***ing cats!”
This is going to be a fun place, I reckon. As we go along the streets I see a wide variety of strange lizard creatures that I’m notified are in fact dinosaurs. Ugly things, for the most part, but functional. They’re surprisingly docile considering I’ve only ever heard of dinosaurs ripping adventurers apart.
We meet up with some representative of the Lords’ Alliance in the merchant ward. He’s a young man with dark hair and green eyes and speaks like a local, although he definitely is not. He tells us a rumor of an illegal shipment with an artifact being brought in that could help against the death curse. He wants us to find the artifact and bust the smuggling operation. Easy enough!
The five of us head out to the illegal docks and find three individuals guarding an alleyway. They look like thieves or smugglers would, and I motion for the others to wait as I go speak to them. I call out in thieves Cant, telling them I’m here to relieve them. They immediately tense up.
“There is no passage here for you.” Says one in broken common.
“The ducks are in the dandelions,” I say, hoping they know my cant. “Bring the sheep to the barn?”
“What are you speaking? It sounds made up.” Another guy growls.
“Hey! Big guy, I see you!” The third guy calls.
I run back and hide behind the wall as Lazakon comes out with a javelin. The guys fire on him, and it’s on! I join Laz with my bow, and watch as the cleric blows up a guy with a bolt of holy light. The poor girl looks horrified. Lazakon finishes off the guy I shot, and I draw my rapier and move to the last one. He steps forward to strike me, but I’m quicker. My blade goes into his throat, and out the other side. I feel a little bad as his eyes glaze over and his breath rattles, but what’s done is done. I kick his corpse back, and it slides off my blade with a sickening sucking sound before thudding next to the smoldering remains of his friend. I wipe my blade on his clothes, and proceed forward to the grate they were apparently guarding.
It’s an unassuming grate, but I notice it has a keyhole. A quick frisk of the bodies finds us a key, and I open it up. Lazakon is first down the ladder, and the rest of us follow. Looks like a series of dimly lit tunnels, perfect for a smuggling operation.
“I’ll scout ahead,” I volunteer. “Place like this is bound to be trapped.”
“Are you a thief?” Asks the tiefling.
“No, I was a bounty hunter. A perfectly legal trade.”
“Well, you did just stab a guy through the throat.” Adds Victorine.
“I said legal, not pacifist!”
I scout up ahead, looking all the way for traps. I find a room with boxes and a desk, and motion everyone in. I work on the desk as the others search the crates. In the desk I find documents and a letter.
Sanuya,
It has come to my attention that our operation may have been discovered. If the princes or the Ytepka learn of our existence, destroy everything.
Leave no trace!
Nahu
We better move quickly, we determine, lest everything in here get destroyed and we don’t get the artifact. So, we move on, and it’s not long before I find the first trap. A series of strings with bells, meant to alert people of anyone in the hallway. I motion for the others to wait, and pull out my trap kit. I clip strings and slowly pull bells off, and soon the work is done. I motion the others to continue, and go on. I notice a lever, and realize this hallway is the second part of the bell trap- the bells notify, and this one probably allows them to open up a pit trap. I press a switch by the door, and we all get through.
Going around the turn in the corridor, we find the inhabitants of this place. Four humans, a woman and three guys. She’s got a staff and robes, the others look like smugglers. They’re all a bit surprised that we are here, and not in their trap. The battle begins. Thatch goes down, hit by two magic missiles, and then the lady hits me with her last one. Lazikon runs in the room, engaging the smugglers.
“By Torm’s Balls!” He bellows as they cut him down.
One of the smugglers runs toward me in the doorway, and Mel sacred flames him. I finish him off with my rapier, and step into the room. Laz gets back up, a bit battered and bloody but raring to go. Victorine steps in front of me and shoots the wizard lady.
“You shot me!” She snaps. “I want to make a deal! I’ll have my guys stand down if you accept!”
I’m sure these people are just as afraid of death as we are. I’m sure she is serious about wanting to make the deal.
“What will you give us?” I ask.
“I have information!”
“Fine. I accept. Lazikon?”
“Yes.”
The others all agree to stand down. Luckily, she does as well. She offers us a trinket, which is the artifact we are looking for. A small trinket with a snake head, broken at one end. Her employer Nahu Rali sent them here, but it seems she’s not too loyal to die for him. We let them go and they leave immediately, allowing us to rest here.
I catch the satyr trying to steal the small key from me as I’m searching the desk, and I very nearly slice her horn off, but I have better restraint than that.
“Really? Buzz off, I’m doing my job here!”
“It’s just a key!”
“Ask, don’t take!”
I find a pouch in the desk, and open it to find a tiger eye gem and a potion. A healing potion, which I give to the paladin. Victorine and Thatch find an egg, which is some kind of dinosaur egg. The satyr wants to keep it and hatch it and be it’s mother.
“This isn’t the place to have a pet.” Says the paladin.
“I don’t care, I’m going to be it’s mother!”
“Believe me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” I say. “They’re cute until they can talk and then you spend the next twenty plus years spending money on them until they run off and become adventurers and call you old, and make you worry, and still ask for money for booze and... sorry.”
“Are you okay?” Thatch asks.
“I’m great. Let’s go.”
We head back to the merchant, and hand over the artifact. He is going to inform the harbor master and the Citizen’s Brigade of the place we found, so we don’t have to go to the authorities ourselves. We treat ourselves to some Ferd Ferdley’s, which is just a Yard Yardley’s, and then retire to the inn.
The next day we go meet up with the Zhentarim contact I was told to meet, in the old city. We come to the place, a disheveled hovel that is much nicer on the inside. There’s an old man being helped by several beautiful young women, who bring him forward to speak with us. He catches my eye and is startled.
“Girl with green eyes! It’s you!”
“What?”
“You’re the elf!”
“Yes?”
The guy is only in his thirties but a right mess, with a blind eye and a lack of motor skills. He tells us that he has a task for us, which turns out to be competing in some game events. The first one, a dinosaur race, the second a gladiatorial fight in the coliseum. The paladin is stoked, being a gladiator himself. We are competing as the Blade Fangs, working for Taran Viril, Hideous Prince in elvish. The old young man shoos us out, and we head to the coliseum.
Looks like we are going to be all competing together, racing dinos and then fighting together. This should be fun, and hopefully not deadly.
🍃Elora Lindengrove
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jan 18, 2021 12:55:24 GMT -5
I lean over the side of the boat, my face turning greener than the leaves of the Feywild, as the ocean rocks the ship back and forth, back and forth. I have to swallow down my lunch more than once as the days have gone by, and I feel no end of the churning swirling hell that is a life at sea.
"I hate boat travel..." I say as we finally dock at the port city's... port. Hehe. As the regular crew begins to disembark and move whatever cargo they piled into the ship onto shore, taking stock of the local bars and restaurants. Bleary eyed and bleating tired, all I can think about is finding a place to rest for a little while. Alas, it is not to be, and I have to take a quiet moment to gulp down some water and slap myself awake, as I am thrust into the political and socioeconomic envirnoment of Port Nyanzaru.
The factions are, naturally, all worried in some manner by the Death Curse that has struck the world. This isn't so surpising, seeing as there are so many different ways that it can change people's lives. It seems like everyone knows someone who has been affected by the curse. My own cousin was resurrected, twice, and now is wasting away unable to stop the destruction of her body. My uncle's friend's brother's former roommate also died, having given up the ghost only three weeks back. If I can find and end this horrible condition, whatever manner of spell, ritual, or artifact that has brought about the end of these people's lives, I will.
My companions all seem like people genuinely interested in helping to end this curse as well. Each of them brings their own lives, their own experiences to bear in this horrible time, all to help others. Already I have gotten to know the others a small amount. Hopfully in time we will learn to trust one another better.
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Post by Stephen on Jan 18, 2021 13:42:51 GMT -5
Chult. A tropical jungle place. Much hotter and way more humid than what I am used too.
The Death Curse has plagued the world. The worlds smartest and wisest are trying to unravel it. I am part of a small party of skilled people doing what we can to help. Hopefully it will be heroic.
I did not hesitate to answer the call of Torm. I am excited by the prospect of carving my name into the history by lending my strength to aid in the research and fight against who or whatever cursed the curse.
Within a day of making port, we found work with one of the ruling factions of Faerun. The job is to find an evil artifact. We follow the directions given to us and find three thugs guarding a dead ended alley. Although we tried to talk our way out of it, we were forced to kill them. My morning star crushed the skull of one of the thugs. I felt no remorse. I gave him a chance to stand down.
The elf finds a storm drain and we head down. With a light spell on my shield we make our way through a tunnel. It’s cooler down here a nice change from the heat.
The elf scouts ahead and disabled two traps before we catch up to her. Very helpful!
We soon come to three thugs, a decent warrior and a magic user. The blood list kicks in and in my mind I see myself charging prisoners that were sent to death in the gladiatorial arena. Something I did only a few months ago. Alas these men were not untrained criminals but actually knew something about fighting. I am caught off guard and am knocked out less than a minute into the fight.
I tried to call for Torms aid but a curse of “Torms Balls!!” is all I manage to shout.
I awake to the tingling cool feeling of magic closing my wounds and restoring my stamina. I thank the the cleric who looks a little out of place here. She has a kind soul and I fear some of her innocence may be swallowed by the jungle.
The mage stands down. I threaten the remaining thugs and we find the artifact we are looking for. The others find a raptor egg and lose their minds. Well only the teifling and satrye do. An adventure is no place for a pet.
Turning the the trinket in we get a second job the next day. We must come in first place in a Dino race and....a gladiatorial competition! That last bit of news has me nearly foaming at the mouth. Have to make sure my armor is polished and to get the crowd riled up before the signal for honorable combat to begin
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jan 24, 2021 16:22:31 GMT -5
Holding the massive creature steady was a hard enough job as it was... to do that, for the first time, and add in the fact that we were attempting to race seasoned riders seems like an almost impossible task. Though, it seems that it was a task that our bounty hunter and cleric both relished in. They controlled the dinosaurs with ease, manipulating them to move this way and that with ease. Still, it was a close match, with one of their own almost outpacing Melvakri and Elora.
The prize money gives us a nice little nest egg to hold us over the next few days, but as we investigate the ins and outs of the city, it seems that jobs are all just falling into our laps. Now we are sent on to discover the whereabouts of several villagers, and even more, find out what is driving the Pterafolk to take the villagers.
Which, as it turns out, is a bunch of munching mulch. Plants that are predatory, consuming flesh and blood as easily as any apex predator. The Pterafolk seem to be sacrificing people to them. Or maybe they simply desire to kill people in interesting ways. It's not hard to destroy the rabid foliage, and with it, save a soul from a horrible fate. Unfortunately for several others we were not quick enough.
Chult is a land of great beauty and terror, where strange worlds collide to create a menagerie. But this place is alive with life that wishes to thrive, and has no issue in striking down others in pursuit of that life. Now, along with wildlife ready to tear out our throats, a curse that prevents the resurrection of all things, and the machinations of the cities various powers and politicians, we also have to deal with a little zombie problem. No, I have absolute confidence in our success.
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Post by Aileen on Jan 25, 2021 11:18:25 GMT -5
Dinosaur racing is not for the faint of heart. Melvakri and I got in the lead, neck and neck with a member of the other team. A right dick he was, trying to whack me off my mount and failing.
“Go! I’ll take care of this guy!” I order our cleric.
She grins and spurs her mount on as I fail to taunt the competitor. She crosses the finish line, securing our victory!
I jump down off the dinosaur, happy to be back on solid ground and my thighs a bit sore. We’re told we can come back and race again if we want, but I think I’m good for a lifetime. I’m too old for this s***.
We are praised in the winners circle, and approached by a pretty young woman as we walk away. Her name is Narissa and she wants us to give her the silver part of the final prize, allowing us to keep the gem. It seems we are the projected winners for the second final event, the gladiatorial combat. Of course, we do have a massive paladin who has been doing the gladiator thing for some time, and I don’t anticipate the opponent team having anyone quite like him.
We go to the fighting pit, and see our enemy. A Kenku named Slicer with some velociraptors. I almost feel bad that he is so unevenly matched against us, but maybe he has some tricks up his sleeves.... wings? The velociraptors, we are told, are trained not to kill, but they do seem a bit vicious. Also, the enclosed cage we are in is covered in moving, poisonous vines, just in case we don’t put on enough of a show.
The fight begins, and we start moving in only for our young wizard to cast fog cloud, blocking our view of the enemy and forcing us into a tiny little area to fight lest we want to be struck by vines. I’m sure she meant well, but it’s an inconvenience if anything. The raptors and the kenku effortlessly break out of the fog cloud and attack. I knock out the kenku after Lazakon softens him up, and start working on the raptors. Lazakon drops, but the cleric and sorcerer are on healing duty. I go unconscious at one point, but they get me back in the fight, a little bloody and chewed up but having a lot of fun. At last, we are victorious!
After the fight we recuperate in the coliseum before heading up to meet the merchant prince. I’m first a bit confused that the prince is a woman, and then I hear someone snickering as I bow deeply to her.
“What are you doing?” The Paladin whispers.
“She’s a prince!”
“Not royalty!” He laughs.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say to the merchant prince. “I guess I should stop bowing?”
“You may continue!” She says with a smile.
We are presented with a gem surrounded by a silver setting, and immediately are met by Narissa as we take our leave. She’s very happy when we give her the silver part, and I wonder if we are making a mistake in giving it up. She seems nice and trustworthy enough, and I’ve known plenty of untrustworthy people in my line of work.
After bringing the gem back to the old/young guy we grab some dinner and then retire to the inn. The nights are hot here, but not having to sleep I manage to rest just fine in deep meditation. In the morning we set out to the poor part of town to meet with someone called Screaming Wind. Apparently there’s issues with undead and people going missing.
We find Screaming Wind fighting off some winged creatures, and I’m surprised and annoyed to find out she’s a Tabaxi. She tells us the winged things were pterafolk and they’ve been responsible for people going missing. We are taken to her hovel and given a quest to find a rescue party that went out and maybe what’s happening to people. She leads us out into the beginning of the jungle, and I’m more than relieved when she doesn’t go any further. My poor eyes take a few minutes to adjust once she’s gone, having been itchy and watering. Damn cats.
I lead us into the jungle, sweating my arse off and shooing insects away from my face. We don’t get very far before we have to stop from the heat, and Mel and I take our sweaty leather armor off. It’s a bit cooler not wearing it, but now we need to be extra careful. Poor Thatch gets bitten up by a cloud of insects, and starts not looking so great. I’m lucky I scout so far ahead I don’t have to deal with her vomiting. I raised two half-elves, my nurturing days are over.
As I’m going along I spot some strange, moving brown brush, and recognize it as the poisonous Okiligbo weed- causes mild hallucinations if you so much as touch it. I signal to the party to come up behind me and stop, point out the hazard, and once they’re all past it spring ahead to continue scouting. I’m no ranger but I come from a long line of them, raised as a proper wood elf should be. City life was more lucrative, but I will always remember my roots.
I find a makeshift path, and eventually come across a humanoid corpse in the road. Looks somewhat fresh. As the others come up behind me, we see some brambles and a Tabaxi man and an elf woman caught up in them. I rush forward to help my kinswoman as she struggles and calls out in pain.
“Help me! The Pterafolk are using us as offerings! Hel-ahhhhhh!”
The brambles snatch her back, engulfing her. Four plantlike creatures attack us in the road, two bushy ones and two twiggy ones. Blights! The little bastards! We all get into the thicket of it, attacking the plants at all corners. Victorine is sliced up, and falls to the ground bleeding profusely, as Lazakon utterly destroys one of the twig guys. I get a bush slash across the face before killing the damn thing. Mel sacred flames one to death, and Laz gets Victorine back up offering her his helmet. I don’t think he realizes it would probably make her neck break with its weight. Such a sweet, sweet Goliath, bless his Torm loving heart!
At last the blights lie destroyed in the road, and we go to the assistance of the trapped people. I open up the brambles the elf disappeared into, but we are too late. She’s dead and we can’t bring her back. I say a quick prayer to whomever will listen for my kinswoman, and then join the others with the Tabaxi.
Ashe rock the Tabaxi tells us that the pterafolk have been stealing people as sacrifices to be plant monsters as they have also been afflicted with the death curse. He thanks us for helping him and offers us a potion of poison resistance.
“Don’t you need it?” I ask.
“No, you need it more. Take it, please!”
“Okay, I’m sure I’ll lose my lucky streak at some point,” I say, grabbing it. “Thank you.”
He runs off into the jungle just as I start sneezing. We take a quick break, and Mel and Laz heal our wounds, then we proceed onward. I find some strange vines with barbed thorns and make sure none of us get sliced up in them. The path ahead slopes upward, and I see a clearing up ahead. Four small, green skinned humanoids are in a small pool, surrounding a stone. They see me, and wave excitedly. I wave back, and tell the party I’m going ahead and to come up behind. Hopefully they’re friendly.
As I get closer I realize they’re some kind of frogmen. They beckon me forward to the stone, and I look down at it. There’s strange ridges in the stone, and I recognize it as being similar if not the same as the trinket we had gotten. I really hope we didn’t need that for something! I feel a strange buzzing feeling in my head, shake it off, and look up to find the frogmen drawing daggers.
I kill one of them with my rapier as the party comes to life behind me. I move up to the next frogman, only to get stabbed in the gut. Oh, dammit, of course I’m not wearing armor! Oh well, I’ve had worse. Victorine kills one, I kill the one that stabbed me, and there’s only one left. I turn to go after it, but find a shadow come over me as a massive figure blocks my path.
“Protect the stone!” Bellows the Goliath as he swings his weapon at me.
It hits hard, and as I black out I feel a horrible shocking sensation run through my entire body, lighting my nerves on fire. It feels as if Torm himself has lit me up from the inside, and then...
I wake up in the water, coughing and my entire body buzzing. The paladin takes his hands off me, and pulls me to my feet.
“Sorry, I was overcome by a need to protect the stone!” He says.
“Did you... just smite me?!” I gasp, ringing out my hair.
“Yes!”
“That was... amazing!”
I clap him on his huge back, and stumble over to the stone, splashing the bloodied water. I grab the amulet and put it in my bag, and watch Vic and Thatch squabbling over a ring. I shake my head- kids these days.
We trek back to Screaming Wind’s abode, and tell her all that happened. She takes a look at the scroll that was found, that none of us could read. It’s a letter in Grug, detailing about giving something to a prince. I kind of spaced out, still reeling from being smote by a paladin of Torm. Not many live to tell that tale. I hand her the amulet, and she goes to destroy it before realizing it was described to her as being important in the death curse investigation. We leave her home and head back to the city, a little bit richer.
Next on our list is the Order of the Guantlet. Our contact is Allistair Bol, who lives in the Market Ward. We get to his villa and are escorted by a servant out onto a balcony where a fat, sweaty bald guy sits being fanned by more servants. He welcomes us and we are given cool water. It’s beyond refreshing in this heat, especially after being out trekking in the jungle and getting our asses kicked.
Our next tasking, from Allistair, is to try and find his man Daario, a clergyman who went out to investigate vanishing people. Not only are they vanishing, they’re coming back undead. So, we take our leave and head to the Old City. Lazakon talks to some guy when we get closer who tells him that a guy in a tavern got up and walked off claiming to heed the Call of the Dead.
Daario was last seen behind some huts, so we beeline there. We walk up to the smaller of two huts, and the door slams open. A horrible stench precedes a group of zombies with brutally sharp claws! Thatch steps into the doorway and casts burning hands, which is pretty effective but... the hut is now on fire. I step in and hit one of the zombies extremely hard, but it’s still up. I spring away and watch Lazakon destroy it. I move back in and destroy the next one. Lazakon takes out number three, and we investigate the crime scene. There’s dead bodies and chains in here, but not much else. The place catches even more on fire, the dry materials going up like paper, so we evacuate.
We head over to the big hut, and I’m jostled from behind as Victorine bustles past me to the door before I can even do my job. I’m a little pleased when she hisses that a needle jabbed into her finger, and luckily she didn’t get the dose of poison on it.
“That’s okay, we will let the expert deal with the door.” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Continue, let’s get that door unlocked!”
These darned kids and their lack of patience. I just hope they don’t get themselves killed. I might actually be starting to care about all of them.
🍃 Elora
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Post by Stephen on Jan 25, 2021 13:42:47 GMT -5
Dinosaur racing! Right from the start I knew that handling the raptor is not my forte. But that’s ok, I try to slow up our opponents by tripping they mounts, throwing insults and literally hitting a rider with a stick. The cleric and elf take the lead quick with only one of the other team able to keep up. We win!
Soon after we are lead to the fighting cage. It is a large cage covered in vines. We are told the vines will lash out and attack any that get to close. I like it as it forces a fight in the center. Once again we receive instructions not to kill, no offensive magic and then ushered into the cage. We are introduced and I put on a show for the crowd. I roar my name and most of the crowd returns my introduction. I rhythmically bang my morning star against my shield, soon the crowd begins to clap in time to the clanging of steel on steel. I speed up the clanging and the crowd responds in kind. Whipping the crowd and myself into a frenzy I stand ready to fight! Almost immediately the mage casts a fog spell covering my opponent’s side of the arena. I growl in disappointment. I run to the edge of the cloud and bang star of morning against shield to draw out the Kenku and his raptors. It works! Almost too good I quickly get swarmed, not before I land a few blows. I get tail lashed by a raptor into unconsciousness. But I awake to that cool feeling of magical healing, jump to my feet find my star and get back into the fight. We win again!
Our next mission is to head to the poor side of the city and assist one called Screaming Wind. We head out and soon come to a ravine with several rope bridges. On one of them we see two winged figures attacking someone on a rope bridge. We run into help but the attackers fly off. Screaming Wind is a female cat person and tells us of her people disappearing and that the flying dino-people, Pterafolk, are responsible. We agree to help and she leads us into the jungle. After a bit she leaves us and we continue on.
It is hot and gross in the jungle. I am sweating in places I didn’t know I could sweat from. But I drudge on. The elf and cleric take their leather armor off in an effort to be more comfortable. I guess it works for them. Lucky for me I brought extra water skins. Thatch, the mage gets swarmed by insects and looks a little ill. Through the elf’s vigilance we avoid some poisonous plants and some come upon a gristly sight. A female elf and male cat-guy are caught in brambles, we free the cat-guy but couldn’t get to the elf in time as she is drawn deeper into the thicket. Dam jungle is dangerous. Several man sized and small plant creatures erupt from the brambles and attack us! They fling thorns from range and use their whip like arms up close. Some of us get roughed up but we put them down without too much trouble, it was glorious.
The cat-guy thanks us and runs off. We move forward. The path opens into a clearing with a shallow pool of water. In it are four frog people surrounding what looks like and alter. They seem friendly enough beckoning us toward them. The elf goes first as the rest of us move to the edge of the pool. The elf stand still for a moment and shakes her head. One of the frog people croaks an order and they draw weapons to attack! I charge into two of them and crush one with my morning star. I glance at the stone alter as the frog man crumble and am overcome with a need to protect the stones. Everything else is null and void. I go numb to the heat, the shouts and sounds of a fight and see the elf as someone who wants to hurt the stones. I stomp over to her, raise my star and call upon Torm to imbue my strike with his righteous power. On the downward swing the head of my morning star crackles with radiant fury! I hit the elf so hard she flew back and was unconscious before she landed on her back in the pool. I snap out of it as the last frogman dies, rush over to the elf and by Torms grace, heal some of her wounds. Helping her up, I profusely apologize. She smiles and was impressed with the power of my smite.
At the Order of the Gauntlet, something I am very curious about, we are tasked to find a man named Daario who was sent to find more information about missing people. Doesn’t take me long to find someone who recognizes me from the arena fight and after tossing him a coin he tells us about stopping whatever it is that they are doing and wonder off to heed the Call of the Dead. Creepy. He also last saw Daario heading off to some huts. We make haste and find yet another gristly and nasty sight. Three undead zombie’s burst out of one of the huts! The smell was enough to gag a maggot. The mage rushes forward and sets fire to them. The cleric falls in behind the mage and buffs her. The elf and I move in and attack! The fight is over quickly, but I am a little shaken at seeing actual undead things for the first time. The wave they moved, their silence and the malice in their eyes is something I will not forget anytime soon. Inside the hut are the remains of a few chewed and chained corpses. I barely keep my breakfast down.
The saytre gets annoyed or something and rushes past us as we are discussing the zombies and the huts contents and tries to open the door of the next hut. She pulls back and I see a tiny trickle of blood on her palm. She set off a trap! I guess it was just a pin prick because it doesn’t drop dead from poison. The elf is clearly upset, as she is the expert at doing stuff like that. If I were the elf, I would let people go ahead and set off trapped doors, or fall into a pit trap until they learn their place in the group.
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Post by dragonforgotten on Jan 25, 2021 17:06:09 GMT -5
“Thatch. Listen carefully. You must go to ctult. A close friend who we our lives to is in great danger. They will be the first step in many in proving you are ready for the knowledge and gifts we wish to bestow upon you. It is a heavy burden we place on you but you are the only one capable enough to do it. We wish you luck and send you our prayers in stoping this foul curse.”
That is what granny told me before I left my small little book shop to sail across the sea to the ungodly jungle. I just never realized how much trouble he would be. I just hope with the little knowledge I have I can save her before it is too late. Her notes directed me to this untamed land, the source of this so called death curse. I’ve already found a small band of adventures and have become apart of there ranks. As a simple store keep going alone would be suicide. I told them of my dying uncle but not of the inheritance. The less people know about it the better. Even I do not know much of its nature. My family have a history of powerful and infuential mages with vast sums of knowledge at there disposal compared to my tiny Spellbook of knowledge. It’s all so infuriatingly secretive. It’s not that Im only doing this for the inheritance. But I want to know what my ancestors left for me. Maybe they could make me as great as them. Well here I go rambling again. We’ve taken on random jobs around the port town. Helping out each of the organizations set up to try and stop the death curse. The forest elf has taken to leading us around while the paladin talks. When trouble happens we fight. The three of us behind them haven’t quiet found our place in the group yet. They both heal which is marvelous. In our first job I got little too big for my breeches. I tried to witchbolt the criminals wizard but I forgot that at times it to be simple then flashy. She strikes me down with magic missile. I come around just as the battle winds down feeling very sheepish. One job done we find ourselves helping the zentarium. I find helping then rather, distasteful. They are not known to be a force to be trusted but the bounty hunter sees use in them. Our contact is ecentric, he wants us to compete in the locals dino races and gladiatorial combat to win the prize. A rare stone of sorts. We agree and I find myself sitting on the back of a disgruntled alasaurous. The moment the bell rings the beast does not want to corporate, then he gets stuck in the mud, then an **** knocks me down, then a nets dropped on me. Regardless, the others are able to win the race. In our celebrations we are approached by a woman name Narissa. She wishes to have the binding that the jewel holds and offers to pay us should we win the prize. An odd thing to ask for. Why just the silver binding? I don’t trust this agreement but I lack the knowledge to make an informed choice and allow the older member to speak and come to an agreement. We move onto the gladiatorial ring where a kenku has trained his small raptors to take down there targets nonleathally. I’m disgruntled to find that not only is the ring caged but vicious vines cover the walls and ceiling. As the bell rings I take in the situation and find alittle cover may be of use should things go side ways. I cast fog cloud and take my positions near it. The others gather around it and as expected the raptors run close to the walls. The moment the kenku emerges all of the paladins and rogues might raise down on him and he drops. His pets take a little longer to deal with but we are victorious in the end. I get grips from Elora about my spell but I believe it was helpful in the end. I prepared for a situation should things go bad, it is all I could do in a duel and it’s not in me to stand by and do nothing if it helps out odds. We met with the merchant prince and are presented with the prize and much renown and noise I’m not too keen on. As promised we deliver the both items to our clients and reap our rewards, still feeling like we may have done something we’d regret in giving away the jewel binding without probing for more knowledge. The next day take us to the to a Tabaxi named screaming wind who we find fighting and successfully driving away strange humanoid petrasaurs. These race of flying creatures have apparently taken an interest in kidnapping from the local villages. For what, we don’t know. We have been assigned to rescue the rescue party to a village victimed to these assaults. The moment I step into the jungle I’m annoyed that I still can not fly. I have not felt the heat everyone’s talking about but the insects! The damn insects! That is madness! The rest start to strip off there armor of and I can only they don’t get hurt with there protection lowered. As we progress my vision starts to get hazy and I find it hard to not to drag my wing tips and tail. The March seems to go on forever. I’m poked and dragged along in a haze around dangerous fauna and plant life. Before I know it we stumble upon our targets, well... what’s left of them. One woman is staged screaming into the brush as plant creatures rush us. They drop Vic before I even know what happens. The poor angelic cleric is left to fend off our foes in the back while Elora has rushes the front. I take to the sky and do the only spell that works without sights. “Magic missile” they slams into my foes, destroying one Elora was facing, then I frostbit the second one. The fight blurs together in my head as the haze gets to me. It’s over in an instant and we are left the victors. We help free the survivor, a male tabaxi who tells us the reason the petrafolk are stealing people form there homes. They are trying to sacrifice them. Barbaric. We move along, Elora once again stopping me from walking through dangerous fauna but then she makes us wait while she talks to some frogs. It didn’t quiet go as planned. They attacked us so we retaliate with deadly force. Something seems to have grasp the mind of our paladin because he suddenly smites the elf, screaming about a stone. I can only be glade it wasn’t me. Elora grabs the amulet from the stone as I reach for the ring only to find Vic doing the same. “Rock, paper, shears?” “Of course.” It takes three rounds of stalemates to decide Vic the keeper of the ring while I look at the scroll. Can’t read This primative language. We return these items to screaming wind who confirms this could be tired to the curse but she can’t quiet understand as well. Note to self, find scroll of comprehend languages. I’ve advanced further in my feild and have come to understand new spells but they are not of that prosuasion. We bed down for the night to tackle the next organization, the order of the gauntlet. The leader turns out to be far less impressive then I imagined. We are tasked to find Daario, a clergyman who went out to investigate a series of disappearances. Not only are they vanishing, they’re coming back undead. How charming. I think to myself heavy with sarcasm. We investigate the area of his disappearance and find one fo the huts is crawling with zombies. I see my chance, I’m overwhelmed with bravado and charge in, setting the undead aflame but also the hut they are squatting in. I get a claw across my arm but I manage to escape the fray to let the physically strong do there work. Gosh that stung but I learned a valuable lesson today. My experiments in mixing defense and offensive Magic’s worked but it is not fools proof.
Thatch Brier
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Post by Aileen on Feb 1, 2021 12:47:29 GMT -5
We go inside the bigger hut and start tossing the place. I wait for everyone to satisfy their sticky fingers before raiding the desk, finding things only the magicky types would want. Melvakri found some paperwork and a book with drawings of circles on it, and it all comes together when Lazakon calls us outside to behind the hut. He found a Yard Yardley’s coupon so that’s about all he cared about in the hut. There’s a ziggurat with matching symbols, and they’re able to get it open.
“I’ll go ahead, you lot stay behind me. This place is bound to be trapped.”
I scout ahead, eventually coming to a room with a wall with some patterns. I quickly realize running my finger along one part of it will trigger a door mechanism, and wait for the others to catch up before opening it. This brings us to a series of small rooms with similar secret doors, and the last one leads us to a corridor. Ahead is a sloping passage, and I can just see a bit of a large chamber and a raised dais.
“Interlopers! You shall become food for the undead!”
Screams of terror echo back to us. People are in trouble, and we must save them! My compatriots start running and flying for the sloping passage, Melvakri falling and sliding into the chamber. Sounds like zombies in there. I make a run for the long passage, hoping it comes out the other side of the room. If there’s one thing I know about ziggurats it’s that they’re almost always symmetrical. My hunch pays off and I come out by the dais, locking onto the crazed priest guy with my bow. I let loose, and kill him with one shot!
Unfortunately one of the zombies gets to two of the captives before we can take it out. The third guy falls to the ground as I press a button on the button panel. Thatch flies over to distract the zombie, and I keep shooting away as the others fight on the ground. Lazakon has two in an alcove, having the time of his life battering away at them.
Soon the zombies are put to rest, and we find out from the living guy that he’s Daario. Narissa runs in, shouting at the undead until she realizes we took care of them already. Apparently she’s a monk, but her rescue timing is a bit off. Thatch and I have been searching the dead guy and the dais, finding a staff and an amulet. I put the amulet in my bag, noting it gives me a weird feeling.
“Have you found the source of the zombie animation?” She asks.
“Yes, it was the staff,” I lie, testing her.
She grabs the staff and snaps it in half. I take the amulet out a moment later, laughing.
“I was kidding about the staff, this is what we found.”
She takes it from me.
“This is important! And evil,” she says, handing it back to me after a quick examination. “You must bring this to Allistair.”
And so we do, bringing Daario back home while we do. Allistair tells us to bring it to Soggy Ren, which brings us to a bar and a very drunk man. Now his name makes sense. He drunkenly tells us this is part of a bigger piece, something about the Dreamer’s Amulet. It’s a powerful object and must be kept safe from thieves. After several drinks for most of us, and a very wasted Thatch, we bring the amulet to the boathouse where Soggy Ren told us to give the amulet to his friend Diamsar.
I have a bad feeling about the guy, but give him the amulet anyway. The others are adamant we complete the task. Well, Thatch is too busy swimming to care about anything. We leave and go get some Yard Yardley’s before retiring for the night.
The next day we receive news that Diamsar was bad after all, and has taken the amulet to the Yuan Ti. Great, I probably should have acted on my suspicions. Too little, too late. Now we have some free time in Port Nyanzaru, and I’m starving. I think I’ll go hang out in the sketchier part of town. I heard Yard Yardley’s has a competitor there.
🍃 Elora
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Post by kynigoskerata on Feb 1, 2021 13:44:29 GMT -5
Looking down at the two bodies, two people formerly among the living only in the state they are in because we weren't fast enough takes a while to work through. It isn't the first time I've seen death, of course not. In the work of anthropology, adventuring, and healing I run into many situations that can only be solved through violence. This is the first time though, that people were in danger to be saved and we, I, couldn't save them. At least one person survived, hopefully they will be able to apply rites to the two that fell.
As it is, there is no end to the stream of death that this place brings, and as we head back into town, there is only one goal now. To end the Death Curse. It will be a long and arduous task, and as we leave the house of the dying mage, I feel we will not complete it in time to save her. 20 days, how would it feel to have your life displayed like numbers on a page, to know that death is closer than ever? I, I hope to never find out.
Putting that thought out of my mind is no easy thing, but before we leave we still have to figure out our route, what supplies we will need to bring, and who, if any, of the guides we have met while traveling the city is the right one to take us deep into the jungle. Having to trust a complete stranger is no new thing for an Adventurer. Most parties barely know each other when they first meet. Still, best be wary, for not everyone has the same goal. The druid looking fellow seems trustworthy, but if wr go out of our way to kill every undead more people will die. It is the same with many of the guides. If we help them with their little missions, we will lose more people who have resurrected all over the known plane.
It is a difficult choice to make.
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Post by Aileen on Feb 7, 2021 12:59:33 GMT -5
Chult is hell. Go into the jungle, they said. Stop the Death Curse, they said. What we were never told is that this place is crawling with cute little things that can rip you to shreds. Everything about this island is wrong.
Our guide is a sweet young man that’s built like a slightly smaller Lazakon. He’s a pleasant guy to have around, our expedition hiking down the coastline to get to the river to explore inland. We run into our first signs of life outside the city not too long after leaving, a group of women standing on the beach. They call us over, claiming one of them is injured, and Laz goes to help her. She claims to have cut her foot on a seashell, but I don’t smell any blood, nor see anything wrong with her. If anything it smells like... seaweed and rot.
“Hey, Laz, we need to get going. Lots of ground to-“
Suddenly the three women turn into horrible hags, kelp hanging off them where there should be hair.
“Cover. F***!”
They start wailing on him with nasty claws and pointy teeth. I draw my rapier, still a bit in shock from their sudden transformation. One looks at me and grins.
“I don’t like you, you’re uppity!” She cackles.
“I haven’t said anything!”
She rushes me and goes for a clawing, but falls flat on her face. One of her sisters drops Victorine, and another is chasing Thatch as she runs away. A casual onlooker would think we’re just a bunch of party goers enjoying a jolly game of tag on the beach, but there’s quite a bit more blood involved. My hag gets up, snarling, and comes for me. She rakes me good with her claws, but I stab her right back.
“My friends! Should I help the fuzzy one or attack?” Shouts Shago.
“ATTACK!” I scream.
He runs over, muscles rippling, and begins bashing my hag with his shield.
“Yeah, Muscles!” I cheer.
“No, it’s Shago!”
Sweet boy is so literal. We’ll fix him soon enough. He knocks her to the ground beating on her, but she gets back up. I thrust forward with my rapier, running her straight through. After that beat down she’s finally dead.
“These things are tough!” I pant, running to help Laz. Shago comes with me, going to help Victorine.
Meanwhile, Thatch is flying in the air getting away from her hag, who is getting frustrated.
“Fine! I’ll go play with the pretty one!” The Hag snarls, running over to Shago.
The last thing I see is claws coming at my face. Damn hags. I wake up in camp a bit worse for wear, but alive. We spend the night resting from our wounds, and the next morning head out. We finally reach the river, and I think we’re all grateful for not having to port the canoe for a little while. I’ve gotten out of porting it thanks to my job in scouting, but I’ve helped some.
It’s a lovely trip down the river, and we all get to know each-other as we paddle along. We all really like Shago, he’s a capable warrior, extremely at home in the jungle, very sweet, but a little humorless. Night four in the jungle, after taking my watch, I’m trancing when suddenly Shago cries out in alarm.
“Zorbos!”
I snap to consciousness, noting the eight very adorable small, fuzzy creatures swarming our camp. He rushes in and kills one as I quickly grab my rapier and shake Lazakon awake. His eyes flit open.
“Creatures attacking!” I hiss.
Six of them are surrounding Shago as he fights, and one runs over and claws Victorine as she sleeps. Looks like it removed her appendix, and she’s just laying there unconscious and bleeding. These things are horrible! I run over and three of the ones on Shago swarm me. Their claws are horrible, and they’re looking decidedly less cute. Laz wakes up Thatch and then comes to help me. Thatch flies up and casts burning hands on our group, but they’re still fighting. Shago knocks one of his down and impales it as it’s crying on the ground. He’s mid laugh when another one slashes him with his claws. His head falls to the ground, followed by his body a moment later.
I scream in horror, seeing this young man taken so easily by these horrid drop bears. He’s about the same age as my own son, and that’s all I can see... my dear boy Daegan, his head separated from his shoulders... I shake my head, clearing the image, and get back in the fight. I’m missing, shaken and truly afraid. Feeling my energy waning, losing a lot of blood, I give in to my thirst for that life sustaining fluid. I try to bite the creature, but it’s too squirrelly. My teeth clack together, and another one claws me.
I return to consciousness in a pool of blood, already coagulating and no good to eat. Some of its probably my own. In this state, I don’t even care if my new friends find out about my heritage. I’m not a threat to any of them, but I need to feed soon. Then again, a nice glass of wine would be much appreciated over the other red liquid. Thatch flies down, landing beside me.
“They took our bags!” She says. “I couldn’t stop them!”
“You’re lucky to be alive,” I tell her, clapping her on her back, avoiding her wings. “You did good, kid.”
We see to the others, unconscious but alive. Laz wakes up shortly, and I’m able to get back to mediation. After four hours I’m healed up and take over watch as the others rest and heal. We gather what little supplies we have, and get ready to head back out. We take Shago’s body to the river, crossing his arms over his chest and laying him in the current. His head we place on his chest, and off he goes. We watch until we can’t see him anymore. Goodbye, sweet Shago, we will try to stop this Soulmonger so you may be at peace. I promise you this.
“We can’t turn back to the city,” I say, looking at the map. “Camp Righteous is the closest known settlement.”
“Let’s go there, then,” says Victorine. “Maybe we can hire a new guide.”
Seems like a great plan! I’m sure nothing will go wrong, and we will be alright.
I certainly hope.
🍃 Elora
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Post by kynigoskerata on Feb 8, 2021 11:40:47 GMT -5
Oof. Let that be a lesson to me. Never trust a hag with a foot injury. Still, I have to say that I do not think I will be able to simply pass the next person in need by. It's not in my nature to ignore the suffering of others for my own safety. I don't regret taking the moment to help her, even if it proved fruitless and dangerous.
As for the matter of Shago and the Red Panda Bear things, that is another matter of great regret. I only learned about it after my party woke me up from my unconscious state, and to know that the kind young man who was so willing to help us navigate this hellish jungle died so suddenly is a painful realization. Without him, we lost our one great chance of finding the heart of the jungle and ending the Death Curse, and now we have to fight tooth and hoof for every inch we want to take.
Even better still, after all that was said and done, the camp is clearly abandoned, and it wasn't a matter of last night either. From the state of the tents and the smell of rot and waste, this place hasn't been touched by sentient hands in a long time. It is a shame, and the hope for a new hand to help and guide us through the jungle dwindles again.
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Post by dragonforgotten on Feb 8, 2021 17:17:13 GMT -5
Well. Next job could have gone better. We failed to save two out of three victims of a crazy necromancer stealing and charming people from there homes before turning them into undead. Atleast we saved the one that mattered. The next job is we met some guy and my vice calls to me the moment I enter the bar. I’ll just have one drink. Oh, I only have gold. Ah well. How much could a gold piece get me. Apparently a lot. Wow. The rest gets a little fuzzy. I can’t really remember what happened that day. I woke up in my bed at the inn, clean and changed into fresh clothes, and a raging headache pounding into my skull. It’s only when Elora fills me in that it kind of floated back into my head and I just want to die now of embarrassment. I did it again. It wasn’t even good drinks. While I was drunk off my a*** Apparently the amulets we’ve recovered were assembled together by my new best friend who we then took to a contact while I took a soak in the spa. It didn’t end well. We’ve been fooled but there’s nothing that can be done about it now. I spent the next day copy the spell scroll into my book while I have the chance. By the time I’m done a man comes to ask, begging for help after an idea has turned out to be a very bad idea. He used mad monkey fruit as a clothes dye and it not working out so great as he planned. We spend the next couple of days trying to schedule an appointment to met with one of merchant princes to no success. The man has completely vanished off the face of the continent. Four days and we still can bloody met him. Unbelievable. Just as were about to try again for the fifth time we’re stopped as a letter finds my way and my stomach drops. The mysterious family friend has shown themselves. They wish to met with us. I’m both excited and terrified. What would they think of me? I’ve heard so many great things about them from my parents, I just don’t know what to do or say. She’s such a powerful mysterious figure. I just hope I don’t disappoint. We arrive in her home and are Shepard into her living space. She’s not what I pictured. I imagine someone larger then life, rich, knowledgeable and wise. But not this. She’s covered in shawls and colorful robes, her voice rattled with weakness and fatigue. “Ah, you must be Thatch. Your parents have told me much about you.” I take her hand and can almost feel the bones under her skin. So this is what the curse has done... “It’s an honor to met you madam.” I tell her, gently shaking her hand, careful with my claws. she tells us more of the death curse, how it’s ravaged her and the source of it. The soulmonger is the cause and it is hidden somewhere in the heart of the jungle. She does not have much time left. Nothing the clerics have done has helped her. They predict she may only last 20 days before it to claims her. She promises that if we can save her she shall gift us each one magic items but for me it doesn’t matter much. I can feel my heart freeze. That is not enough time, but I’ll try my best. I hope I can help her in time. Knowing what must be done we go the job board looking for a guide. “Hey Thatch. Is she serious about the reward.” I nod my head. “She is. For as long as I can remember she’s helped keep the bookstore going in bauldrs gate. I’m sure you’ve seen the rent in that place. If we do manage to save her she will reward us but it doesn’t matter for me.” I tell Elora. I sigh looking at her. “I got to save Aunt. She once saved my family and has given so much to us. I need to return her kindness.” She rests her hand in my shoulder. “Well try. Just chin up and don’t lose hope.” Her words raise my spirits. I manage to find a guide but she seem to not like me and the group don’t like her so we go with option B which is a huge, muscle bound man with a bright smile and the heart of a tyrannosaurs named Shago. After buying supplies and a canoe we depart into the hellish jungle as I slather on the big repellant. We have to carry the canoe to the river. We hope riding down the river will speed up our trip into the center of the jungle. Our trip has already started off rocky. First we are nearly killed by Hags. I spend the entire fight petrified in the sky, throwing down molts of flame and freezing there limbs. It was only thanks to Shago we all didn’t die a early and miserable death. We’re forced to make a early camp and continue our March. Thankfully nothing bothers us from then on. Three days in on our river travel and we come across a herd of massive, grazing heribavors dinosaurs with young. Blessfully nothing else on the river besides them. By day four we settle down for bed while Shago borrows Laz’s sheild. I’m lulled off to a deep sleep despite al bloody insects and humidity. Suddenly I’m violently being shakened awake by our paladin, hissing and snarling outside my tent. I step outside into a hell scape. Small teddy bear like creatures have swarmed the camp with there razor sharp claws. They cut Shago into ribbons and everyone else into bits. Even burning hands doesn’t stop these hoping terrors. I focus on helping my friends. Confident that Shago can handle himself till the unthinkable happened. A lucky zorbo leaps and lips his head clean off his shoulders as we all stare in horror. “You b****!” I scream in rage, firing my last magic missiles and managing to kill it. We manage to get two more before I am left the last man standing, well flying as I am peppering them with firebolts, keeping them from savaging my downed friends but unable to stop them from stealing there bags. When they vanish back into the trees I alight back down and staunch lazs bleeding. I drag everyone together in one tent and breathlessly wait for them to come to. All the jokes I said about this place. How it will be easy. I take it Back. Gods help us.
Thatch
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Post by Aileen on Feb 14, 2021 19:35:13 GMT -5
Exploring the camp reveals this place was abandoned. The tents are wrecked and deserted, there’s evidence of fire and rot, and the only occupants of the tent we search around in are poisonous snakes! They attack me, biting and injecting poison, but I shake it off. I’ve been bitten by worse. We quickly kill them, and I angrily hurl one of the dead snakes into the jungle before doubling over fighting the urge to be sick.
“Anyone... got healing?” I pant.
“I’ve got you!” The paladin places his hands over my wounds, and I feel that familiar soothing warmth flow into them. “May the power of Torm heal you!”
Somehow I don’t think Torm would like me very much, but I accept the healing regardless. No longer at risk of keeling over, I head straight for the little crazy bird running around in its cage. While Thatch feeds it rations, I look for a way to let it out.
“What is this thing?” I ask.
“Axe beak!” Says Victorine. “They’re worth good money.”
“Also extremely vicious, sometimes,” adds Thatch.
“Let’s let it go. It doesn’t belong in a cage.” I say. When the others agree, I open the door.
The baby axe beak lingers a moment, as though thanking us, and then scatters off into the jungle. A moment later we can hear others. Guess it’s a good thing we returned it to its family, I wouldn’t want that beak tearing me apart!
We go to the latrines next, under the assumption that if there’s anything worth finding here it’s gonna be buried in s***. It proves true when we find a body in one, wearing a shiny breastplate. After much convincing, Thatch flies down into the muck and attaches a rope to it after some trial and error, and Victorine and I start pulling the rope up. Just as we’ve got him halfway up, I hear the sound of something moving through the jungle toward us.
“Undead!” Lazakon shouts.
Victorine drops the rope before I do, and we scramble to get into fighting positions. Zombies charge us, skeletons coming in the rear, and Lazakon is grinning like a fool. I dash over to the ledge, my feet latching on to the earth, and run effortlessly up the side as I draw my bow.
“That’s new!” Lazakon remarks, staring mouth agape at me as he takes on the zombies. They’re starting to surround him, and I take a shot at one.
As I start picking away at the zombies with arrows, the skeletons turn their attention to me. I was hoping the height would give me an advantage, but now I realize I’m in the perfect place to get shot. And get shot I do. A few good shots and I go down, succumbing to unconsciousness.
I’m not out long, waking up from Victorine’s healing magic and finding Thatch standing above me with her wings still unfurled. Melvakri suddenly pulls her holy symbol out, brandishing it forward. A holy light surrounds her, and I have to fight the urge to run. My legs flail and my whole body recoils, but I manage to shake it off. I have no quarrel with the gods, but to them I’m the spawn of an unholy union. And sometimes the other half wins.
“What’s wrong with you?” Thatch asks. “Are you having a seizure?!”
“No, I’m grand.”
I quickly stand up, picking up my bow, and fire off a shot at a skeleton before dropping back down.
“I suggest you take cover!” I tell Thatch.
She falls over a minute later bleeding from arrow wounds in her arm and leg. My stomach rumbles, my jaws aching. Not now, Elora! I crawl over and staunch the bleeding, saving her until one of the healers can get her back on her feet. Things appear to be going well below, the zombies running off to the jungle as the skeletons are being destroyed left and right. Lazakon goes down, his leg not looking so great, but Victorine gets him up again. One skeleton remains, and I finish it off with a shot.
Crashing sounds and high pitched screams come from the jungle, and then silence. Melvakri comes up on the ledge and helps Thatch, and we all head back to the latrine to finish our work. Getting the guy out of the s*** we are a bit disappointed to find the armor is broken beyond repair, but he does have a sack of gems. Poor guy died in the s***ter, not a good way to go.
We cover the canoes in torn tents, and then go to check out the temple. There’s a huge statue of a man with a crocodile on his back, which makes a little more sense after Victorine, our resident anthropologist, tells us the legend of the man who carried a crocodile as a return favor for the crocodile helping him across a river.
“So we just need crocodiles to wear on our back,” I say with a smirk. “You all stay here, I’ll go in and scout for traps.”
Into the entrance I go, realizing it’s too dark for me to see certain traps, and back out I go. Thatch kindly lights a coin for me, and I go right back in with it clamped in my teeth. Almost immediately I find a pit trap, right in the entry chamber, and a narrow ledge going around it. Fine for me, maybe not so easy for the others. Next is a couple of scything blades, which I think I can disable by wedging something metal in them. I run back out, taking the coin out of my teeth.
“Laz, darling, may I borrow your hammer?”
“Of course. Need some muscle?”
“I think I’ll be alright. You lot stay out here, there’s a couple traps!”
I run back in, along the ledge, and back to the blades. I hammer my spare daggers into the slots, and they hold! Nobody’s getting scythed in half on my watch! After the blades is a seven foot tall ledge, which I scramble over to find a tiled floor with one subtly glowing. Climbing along the wall, I look over the next ledge to find a pattern similar to the floor on a door, with a square glowing. It immediately clicks in my brain that the door must show the safe pattern to cross. So, back out I go, running along the wall, then the ledge, and back outside to the group.
“I need a volunteer!”
“Me!” Victorine immediately steps up, always up for anything that girl.
“Great! Follow me, mind your step there’s a pit trap!”
We make it to the ledge, which I climb up then give her a hand over. I stand on the wall, and point to the glowing square.
“Alright, you’re going to start on that square. If anything happens to you, I’ll get you out. Ready?”
She nods, and steps down. Nothing happens, but another square on the door lights up. I tell her where to go, and she makes it across. I help her up the other ledge, and she examines the door while I run back to the others. They all come in, and Thatch pulls out a rope to do a rope trick so we can rest. After an hour we come out and Victorine and I go to the door.
I try pressing the pattern backward, but both of us are hit by a wave of force as thunder claps in our ears. Luckily we’re alright, and I do the pattern from the bottom up. The door opens! We come into a chamber filled with dinosaur bones and webs from wall to wall. A narrow staircase goes up to a pillar, and there are relief carvings of the man carrying the crocodile again.
“Get on my back!” Says Victorine to me.
I hop up on her back, but she groans and barely can take a step forward. I’m not that heavy, but she’s willowy and about the same strength as me.
“Big guy!” She calls as I hop down.
Lazakon comes in, and I scramble up on his back at his request. Up the stairs we go, finding a jug at the top that appears empty. Laz grabs it, and back down we go.
“Nice jug!” Says Victorine.
“Thanks, they’re real!” I smirk, grabbing my chest. “Oh, that one. Yeah, it’s nice.”
Lazakon puts water in the jug, swishes it around, and dumps out a slurry of dirt and grime. He grabs an extra loin cloth from his pack and wipes it out, before filling it back up with water and taking a drink. When he’s done and doesn’t appear to be ill or dead, I do the same. It’s nothing special. Thatch takes a look at it and tells us it’s an alchemical jug, which can make a bunch of different things, most importantly beer, wine and mayonnaise.
We spend the night in the temple, nothing bothering us. I’m up most of the night, only needing to meditate for the last four hours, and find Thatch watching me as she studies her spells. I smile and join her sitting against the wall.
“You alright, kid?” I ask. “Took a couple arrows today trying to help me, that was very brave.”
“And stupid.”
“Yes, maybe. But you meant well. Next time just leave me, I’ll be fine.”
We sit in silence for a bit, listening to Lazakon’s snores, until she breaks it.
“I don’t mean to be rude, Elora... but what are you?”
Ah, I’ve been expecting questions. I guess not many people can climb like I do.
“I’m a wood elf,” I say. “But I’m also what you may have suspected. My father is a vampire. I inherited some of his more helpful traits.”
She doesn’t seem too worried about this revelation. Then again, she’s a tiefling. Demon spawn are just as persecuted as the cultured undead.
“Do you drink blood?” She asks.
I nod.
“Sometimes. I try not to, it’s not the easiest thing to acquire. I always crave it. It’s like... Yard Yardley’s. You know it’s bad, but you still would stuff your face full of it if presented the opportunity. If it makes you feel better, I’ve had more Yard Yardley’s in my life than I have blood.”
She laughs, putting her book away.
“I saw you climb that ledge, and then when Melvakri turned the zombies, I had a feeling you weren’t just an elf. Your secrets safe with me. I’ve got demon blood, after all.”
“No secrets here. I just don’t mention it in strange company, not everyone likes us blood suckers. I worry about the cleric and Torm’s chosen here, but you all have nothing to fear from me. I’m old as hell, I’ve got two grown children, and I’m here the same reason all of you are.”
Everyone gets a good night’s sleep, or as good as you can in an abandoned temple in the middle of the jungle. I meditate and feel good and ready to go by the time morning comes. We head out of the temple, into the howling gales of a tropical storm that whipped up in the night. If it weren’t for our time crunch to stop the Death Curse, I would deem it wise not to go out in this. We check the boats, finding them riddled full of holes. Something was here and knew we hid them!
“Mother b****!” Lazakon roars.
From the jungle comes the beating of drums, and the sound of a trumpet. A goblin rushes out, flanked by five strange creatures. As they draw closer I realize they’re goblins standing on each others shoulders, wearing wooden masks. This shall be fun.
🍃Elora
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Post by kynigoskerata on Feb 15, 2021 17:20:56 GMT -5
Turns out that the camp wasn't exactly abandoned as we had though, seeing as there was something like 15 undead milling abput in the forests surrounding us, I can only hope whatever effect turned the soldiers of this place does not have the power to turn any of us! That would be a most terrifying proposition. Still, with teamwork we have made the dream work, and while I cannot say it was easy, we were able to turn or destroy the majority of the vile unliving.
The journey into the cavern temple was an interesting one, since it allowed for us to take a moment and breathe, but also to explore a little of this dangerous and tempest-like land. An eleaborate series of traps, which were disabled or surpassed by the roguishly charming Elora or my own self, with some help from the large and in charge follower of Torm. You know, it is one thing to trap a tomb or treasure vault, that I can understand, they are places not meant for all but a few mortals, but who traps a temple. Temples are places of worship and faith. It may be a test for the faithful, but it seems more like builders of these complex mazes and dungeons have more time on their hands than they know what to do with. Maybe they should get a hobby! Hahaha
That wasn't even the ending of the day though! After all that, we find ourselves staring down a bunch of cheery looking fellows in angry wooden masks, most of whom seem to be worshippers of the crocodile-man thing, what with all of them on each other's backs. Just our luck too, I suppose.
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Post by kynigoskerata on Feb 21, 2021 17:11:33 GMT -5
Between the first camp and the second camp that we have found oyt here in Chult, I'm not entirely sure which one I like the least. On the one hand, one is all too willing to take our lives in a feeble attempt at control, the undead being it's main weapon. On the other hand, the first camp was a derelict area, abandoned of civilized life. I hope the soldiers and lieutenants of Camp Righteous are able to protect themselves well enough, because I fear the cruelty of their commanding officer and his mad quest.
I mean, his quest isn't that mad, but the fact that he is attempting to shanghai wanderers into joining his group, forcing them to take on missions that will likely get them killed, while he sits cozy in his camp and starves his men doesn't sit right with me. At the very least, it is a sign that whatever madness and strife has struck Chult is growing. Which makes our own quest all the more important. Now we have to figure out what to do. We keep getting lost, through no one's fault, but we simply don't have the experience and know how to contend with such a dangerous area. Without a guide, we are lost most of the time, and it will come back to bite us on the arse soon.
Elora tries her best, and leads the party well, but she is no expert on jungle survival. We are at the mercy of the trees and the beasts, and the undead.
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