"Thank you for your confidence Yellow, I'm sure you'll find me capable of a great many things." Ezio replies with a grin of his own. "Panwan would be a...reasonable choice, but he is clearly reluctant to fill the role. Besides, as I mentioned back at the camp, I would like for this group to continue questing for the Soulmonger even after this mission of the Order's is completed. I doubt the Order will be willing to give up its most powerful soldier even for a cause they champion; we'd find ourselves having this same conversation as soon as we returned to the camp. The chosen leader should be one of us committed to keeping the group together. We have one nomination, what say the rest of you?"

Ezio was with me from before, he had a more sensible head on his shoulders then our recently departed lizard friend.  I nominate him

Taggart will set up his bedroll and rain catcher.  And offer to take 3rd watch.  

18 survival to see if the river water would be safe to drink and fill out skins with 

We have one nomination, what say the rest of you?"

Ezio looks at the sleeping dwarf with distaste, "From the sounds of it, it seems Kaslo has nominated himself."

Krav, sitting by the campfire with book in hand (the same book as before), chuckles heartily.

"I''ll second Kaslo, but not in his way. He has a good head on his shoulders. But so do you, it seems," Krav says, nodding towards Ezio.

"I will follow either of you for the Soulmonger. And maybe you want to be leader a little more than Kaslo?" the dwarf continues, grinning.

"I want to accomplish what I came here for and leave this jungle, alive, as quickly as possible. That means making this group as powerful and effective as possible so we overcome any threats between us and the Soulmonger. Whether I lead it or someone else matters not, to that end." Ezio replies to the dwarf evenly. But it seems we have chosen, so be it, I shall lead the team so long as you all will heed me as I heed you. I believe we are all in agreement that the order of buisness for tomorrow is to find out what this soldier knows," he gestures to the unconscious Order warrior, "then infiltrate that cave in search of Jobal and the tube. For tonight, we must recover and strengthen ourselves. Those with magical items that must be attuned, please do so. Yellow will receive this shield, since there appear to be no objections. I will hold onto the cursed axe until someone else wishes to claim it, there is no risk of me attuning to eat by accident." With that, Ezio stands and leaves the campfire unceremoniously towards where he set up his bedroll earlier. 

Ekcis sets up his rain catcher, making sure to remove the wrapped up tome from inside of it, keeping it close to him. He studies his spell book before taking the first shift.

Taggart will attune his bracers of archery

Yellow accepts the shield, spends an hour getting used to it, curls up, and sleeps.

Krav nods, smiling.

Objections to someone else taking arrows for you? No! he thinks.

Krav attunes to his sword, then offers to take first watch. He finishes reading through the book, stashes it in his pack, and spends the majority of his watch muttering verses from the book, trying to memorize some of them. Krav is pretty sure that he knows a few of them by then.

Into the Fire

Day 5 of the Second Tenday approximately 8 am

The night goes by without incident except for the occasional demonic screams and moans coming from the cave here and there. You wake up to a cloudy sky and it looks like rain is going to come down at any moment. There is a fire going and the soldier that was near death yesterday is cooking fish. He looks a lot better from the previous day and gives a nod to everyone as they begin to wake from their slumbers.

"Thank you for saving me." He says quietly, his eyes dart from the party to the cave and he has worry lines under his eyes. "I didn't think I was going to make it."

Panwan is nowhere to be found at the moment. He slipped out quietly during the night and the person on the last watch didn't notice him leaving. 

The soldier notices Yellows insignia and salutes to her. "A pleasure Chevall. I am Anthoy, stationed here at Camp Vengeance."

Anthoy takes the fish off the fire and begins handing them out to everyone. "Eat, gather your strength. It looks to be another crappy day in the jungle."

After Ezio wakes, he repacks his things, leaving the rain catcher set up for now, and applies his insect repellant.He smiles roguishly at the soldier in greeting, before sitting down by the campfire with the others, leaning against is pack. After eating the offered fish quickly and washing it down with water, he removes Nightfang from its scabbard then cleans and sharpens it with water and whetstone. As he does so, he addresses the soldier, "As I'm sure Panwan has already informed you, we all are on a mission to find your expedition and finish what you all started. My name is Ezio Miradark. I'll cut to the quick of it as I'm often, rather falsely, accused of being superfluously talkative. What happened to your expedition, where is Jobal, and where is the tube he was carrying?" 

Taggart gets up and applies insect repellent.  He accepts a fish from Anthoy.  Nice to meet you,  soldier, thanks for the fish.  I am Taggart.  Do you think there is a chance anyone else from your expedition is still alive? The reinforcements are here to help!

 "As I'm sure Panwan has already informed you, we all are on a mission to find your expedition and finish what you all started. My name is Ezio Miradark. I'll cut to the quick of it as I'm often, rather falsely, accused of being superfluously talkative. What happened to your expedition, where is Jobal, and where is the tube he was carrying?" 

"We were attacked by undead coming through these parts of the region when we spotted that tower up the cliffside. We decided to hole up in it for the night because it was a good place to defend. During the night we were again attacked by undead but this time we saw a person wearing a hooded cloak leading them." The soldier wipes his brow and looks towards the cave. "We were able to beat back the attack but we lost a few of our men. The hooded figure ran to the cliffside and jumped off of it. We all raced over to see what happened but the figure fell down as light as a feather and then ran into that cave. We set up the rope and climbed down and we decided to camp for the night before heading into the cave."

The soldier takes a bite of his fish but spits it out. "What awaited us in that cave was something out of our deepest nightmares. Jobul lead the way and we fought bravely but we were no match for the undead that attacked us. The whole time we could hear the robed figure laughing manically. We fought wave after wave of undead it was tiring but we were able to hold our own. Until it came..." The soldier shudders and takes a deep breath.

"You ask where Jobul is." The soldier points to the cave. 

What is “it”? Taggart inquires with dreaded curiosity.  Something has clearly terrified you.

Yellow spends time after she first wakes praying and preparing for the day (including eating some fish and applying insect repellent). When the soldier addresses her, she wordlessly returns his salute. Not interrupting those speaking with the soldier, but keeping an ear turned toward the conversation, she quietly gathers the rain catchers, asking those not engaged to help her find them all. To those that inquire, she tells that she overheard Taggart the night before commenting on the suspect nature of the river water and how she can ask Ubtao to cleanse the water by praying over it. After filling the rain catchers, unless another caster says they want to purify the water instead of her (perhaps by ritual — hint, hint), she will purify the water in the rain catchers so everyone can refill their skins.

Krav wakes, applying insect repellent and packing up. He accepts the fish gratefully.

"Thank you. I am Krav."

Having said as much as he felt was necessary, Krav finishes eating, listening with mild amusement and great concern to the words of Ezio and Anthoy, respectively.

 "It was... It was... " The soldier takes a deep breath and looks towards the cave once more. "Its skin was a dark grey that helped it blend into the shadows until it was too late for us to notice it. It stood seven feet tall and had a wicked looking spear in its hand the darkness of night. the other hand had claws the size of daggers, but its teeth, sharp as daggers themselves. Its skin was resistant to our weapons and it laughed as it ripped our soldiers to shreds. Sometimes with its claws, other times with its spear. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst part was its eyes. They bore right through you and sapped the strength out of you. It made us weaker when we attacked it with our weapons. It seemed we weren't doing any damage to it at all after looking into its eyes. During this whole encounter, we could hear the robed figure in another room laughing. taunting us. Then the undead started coming again. I ran..." The soldier breaks down and starts to cry. "I left them all to die."

Krav clenches his fists.

"Babau!" he blurts.

"I remember my clan elders telling me about those when I was young. They are demon warriors that fight for the demon princes, and, like Anthoy says, can make you weaker with their gaze, and have hides that make normal weapons less strong against them. I wonder, though..." Krav trails off, glancing down at his magical greatsword.

Taggart examines an arrow with a bit of a wicked grin and muses I wonder if it’s eyes are resistant too