The Mystery Of Absoli

The old man's moaning has now become weak and limited words, and he seems to have slight movement returning to his hands and feet.

"so... many... couldnt... stop..."

Briar rushes to the old man's side and examines him Medicine 7 to see if there is something she can do, breaking out her Herbalism Kit asking Terrance if the frog creature is responsible and seeing if he and the others might get a sample of its toxin or whatever creature he thinks is responsible for her (Briar) to try to make something (an herbal remedy) to counteract it.

@Briar

"I believe the creature is, especially considering what the man is muttering. The beast stunned me with some strange ululation and clearly did a number on Zaroc. He may be able to provide you with a sample of something if he hasn't washed it off already."

Scraping some of the ooze off of the old man, Briar quickly whips up an anti toxin for the old man using her herbalism kit. Presenting it gently to his lips, she lifts his head as he slowly drinks down the remedy. Within moments, he is able to sit up and talk normally. "Oh bless you lass. I see you are skilled in more than just beautiful music."

Briar looks down at the old man and smiles, "just rest a bit and take it easy, get your strength back and when you are feeling up to it we need to talk about the robe and the beyond but for now just rest and we'll see what we can do about making you more comfortable."

Briar to the others, Terrance, Hanzo etc., "find a spot somewhere safe and dry nearby so we can make a camp for him to rest and regain some of his strength before we begin to question him to get some answers. We don't want to wear him out, he has been through a lot but I think he will fully recover... he just needs a little time." As the others are doing that Briar does what she can to make the old man comfortable as she can and watches over him. Then when things are ready watches as the others carefully and gently move him to the makeshift camp.

After setting up the makeshift camp and giving the man the number of minutes Briar recommends to recover.

Terrance impatiently saunters over to the old man replacing his warhammer at his hip. "Well Old fellow we have some questions for you not least about what you were spewing in town. Firstly, you claim to know of a way beyond the Island what is it and how can we know you speak the truth with such an outrageous claim. Secondly I assume you were set upon by these frog men. Are you not a great and powerful wizard who singes guards and teleports around bars, how did they leave you in such a state? And how did you end up fighting them? Where they sent to hurt you or did you wander into their domain? I suppose last but not least who are you?" Terrance finally breaks after unleashing a tirade of questions.

Briar steps back and watches Terrance question the old man, content to just listen to his responses...

My name is Salazar, and I must express my gratitude to all of you for your help. I was caught of guard and outnumbered by grungs. I don't know how much you know about the little buggers, but they come in a handful of colors, each with a different style of poison. Having little time to react, they easily inflicted their collective poisons and robbed me. I have no reason to think they were sent by anyone, we are simply outside of the protection of the city, and the wilderness has a way of testing your skills as well as your luck, which I seem to have been having a rather rotten streak of since that robe came along. The robe came to me by way of a mysterious teleporting dog one night in my cabin, not far east of here. I took the robe, which had a note attached to it explaining how to use it and something about snake bandits. I have heard stories of the Yuan-Ti in the great swamp, but I never knew they had formed a criminal organization. Certainly never heard of them making any trouble near the city. Upon using this robe, I was somehow transported to a sort of limbo dimension, with access to many other worlds. So many in fact, I panicked and simply removed the robe, appearing back in my cabin. After that experience, I would hear voices... Two distinct voices. They seemed to warn me against prying further, and I must say they sounded very light and dark in their tones. I ignored their warnings and once again tried using the robe. This time, while in the sort of limbo, I was contacted by someone mistaking me for a man named Balis and asking if the portal was ready. I played along and the man gave me this...

Pulling his beard to the side the man presents a strange stone, the likes of which has never been seen by anyone in on the Island

I am not sure what it does, if anything. Perhaps it has something to do with the portal the man mentioned, or maybe it was meant as a form of payment to this Balis character. Anyway, the man also asked if I had found a suitable sacrifice, to which I claimed I had. With that, the man bid me farewell, and without allowing me to respond, he was gone. Soon after that, my cabin was robbed and I knew I needed to find help to get the robe back. I believe this is much more serious than simply lost trinkets... I believe a life may be at stake, and if this portal is opened, it could be world changing.

Zarocs boar ears perk and he transforms back to a human. He asks the man "A mysterious teleporting dog? Have you seen other animals like this or ever heard of instances of animals bringing gifts from the beyond?" He points at his shield "I have a somewhat similar story as well"

When the opportunity presents itself Briar asks Salazar, "do still have the note that was attached to the robe the dog brought you? If so I would very much like to examine it and read it myself with my own eyes if I may?"

Hanzo sits and listens, once he has a moment he asks the old man.. "Do you know any more about these snake bandits? Maybe where they hide out?"

@Zaroc

Oh I do not think this dog was from the beyond. I believe it was someone's pet, or perhaps a druid like yourself, with the ability to shape shift. Do tell your shield story.

@Briar

As a matter of fact I do have the letter.

He searches his pockets and pouches curiously, patting himself with a concerned face.

Oh no... Those little buggers must have taken it when they went through my things!

@Hanzo

If they are in fact part of the Yuan-Ti, then they would hail from Serpent Swamp in the Northwest area of the island. I should warn you though, the way to the swamp is filled with danger if you travel on foot. Perhaps it would be safer to travel by boat. Then again, you mentioned being attacked at sea... I fear there is no safe way to solve this mystery, but there is in fact, strength in numbers. That is why I have sought assistance. The fate of Absoli, The Island, and the the worlds beyond, may hang in the balance.

Briar gives the old man a sad look and walks away and sits alone (nearby inside the camp) giving the others a chance to continue their questioning. Her interest in the old man and the matter all but gone as she reconsiders what she has learned thus far and what she might do next to find her sister.

@everyone

"I may be able to get my hands on a boat, no promises. But I'm willing to go to the Serpent Swamp. I promised Briar I'd help find her sister, and if there's a chance these people know more about her then I must go."

Terrance strokes his beard and says to the group, "I think there are two things we must do, 1, we must retrieve the note from the frog folk in case it contains information about Briar's sister and any information we could use about the yuan-ti. 2, we must travel to the Serpent swamp and deal with these yuan-ti bandits to stop them sacrificing whomever and causing any damage with the beyond. That is the order I would suggest doing these things as the note may give us an advantage over the yuan-ti." 

He turns back to the old man, "Do you know where the frog folk would have taken your note? Retrieving it seems the best course of action to me."

@Terrance

No idea. For all I know one of them could have eaten it. I can assure you, nothing in the letter will help with the Yuan-Ti. It was a letter from the one who sent me the robe, telling me it had fallen into the hands of snake people, and that it was too powerful to be possessed by such an evil group. I believe the one who wrote the letter may be the one they plan to sacrifice, as it seemed hurried and there was mention of them wanting revenge for the betrayal of stealing the robe. Whoever wrote it, may be in serious danger, yet they risked their life to get the robe to me. All was in vain unfortunately, as it seems the Yuan-Ti have stolen it right back. Anyway, I would not advise going on a wild frog chase at a time like this. We should either head North along the river, or we should travel to the ports in the Northwestern part of Absoli, near the fishing village, and attempt to secure a vessel to sail to the Northwest coast. Neither option is without danger, as I am now a wanted man in Absoli, however I fear there could be even greater danger lurking in the Iso Mountains.

Terrance harrumphs "In that case I guess we're heading straight for the Serpent Swamp. Do you know anything else about these Yuan-Ti that could be of use? Obviously we've fought one but he was pretty weak when all was said and done. Any idea of numbers or skill?"

"As to how we get there, I'm open to either journey. The walk up stream is more direct while the sea route affords us speed and rest we could not otherwise reproduce. We could always pick you up from the coast once we have a ship to avoid you being recognised."

"Are you sure that the yuan-ti know how to use the robe, because if they don't know how to use it we have more time to get it back." Ducolis says to the old man and nods in agreement with what Terrance just said.

@Ducolis 

“I thought the robe was originally stolen from the Yuan-Ti. So they would know how to use it. Even so what’s the benefit to waiting? So far none of them know we know about anything or that we’re coming after them. The one that attacked us was because he mistook Briar for her sister. If we go now we have the advantage of surprise. Also there’s a man being held captive! We can’t allow them to sit in captivity, fearing their inevitable death just because we want to wait...”