Sickle will come over and climb up with the the others, and study the figures, trying to determine if they are alive...or at least animate.

Perception: 22

Sickle studies them carefully from a distance. He notes a small yellow flower sprouted out of the neck of one of them. It turns away and shuffles behind a bush. 

With quiet, but hurried words Boris states:

"200 feet huh... Maybe we just avoid whatever that is and travel through the jungle on either side. Yes! We could just climb over the wall and end up much closer... hopefully past these unfortunate souls."

Boris anxiously bobs his head.

"So everyone back in the boats?"

Urgh, the jungle may be no safer than these gardens! replies Badger to Boris. We may make better progress along this open avenue than through the dense jungle.

Then, craning his neck and standing on his toes to see what the others are seeing, Badger adds: Perhaps I could encourage them to look the other way...

Rubbing his nose, Badger tries to determine whether he can see far enough through the foliage to place a minor illusion some way beyond the flower-zombies. He would be aiming for a sound unlike any currently heard in the gardens, such as the chirring of a grung.

"if they choose to strike, I would wish to test something on them for sure," Silas states as eyes the figures and having ahold of good holy symbol. 

The sound of a Gruung's throaty chirring comes from the back of the garden.  The figures immediately turn and begin moving. As they push through the foliage you see there were several more you didn't notice.  At least five in total.  Their flesh is rotting and they have plant growth all around their heads with small yellow flowers.  They are the same as the zombies you found with the large yellow plant that seemed to mesmerize Sir Darak a few weeks back. 

A few moments later they've pushed so far back on the left side of the garden that you can't see them anymore.  It's quiet. 

As soon as her ritual casting of Detect Magic is completed, Mandra will join the group as they climb up the wall, securing her boat at the roots. She nods approvingly at Badger's bit of trickery as the zombies wander off. She whispers, "Well then, let's grab these things and get out of here before they catch our scent. Azaka, do you want to scout ahead?"

She'll move with the group carefully, watching for anything unusual and sticking to the shadows to avoid being detected by anything unusual. Stealth: 11 Perception: 19

Boris starts to visually sweat as he tries to scope out a path. He then turns to the Azaka and then the group.

"Azaka, can you help me find a safe route? I am not sure about you, but I believe Mandra is right in that the less time we spend here the better."

He starts to walk west in a semi-crouched state to get to the path which heads north. He tries not to look in the direction of the bushes which the plant infected people disappeared into. 

He looks back to see if Azaka or anyone else joins him.

"I will remain in the back should we need healing," Silas states before put his hand on Boris, casting Guidance, "Stay safe ok?"

The group creeps along behind Boris and Azaka who lead the way straight west across the lower garden.  Moving through the garden you arrive at the ten foot wall leading up to the walkway along the west side of the gardens.  Atop it a bell-shaped dome of sculpted stone rises from the end of the upper walkway. The dome is wrapped and draped with thick webs. Azaka gives Boris a boost and he uses his powerful arms to pull himself up and peer over the edge. Crouched in the web, staring at him with it's beady cluster of eyes, is a spider the size of a horse. It seems to be missing one of its legs and sits in the web staring at you, unmoving. 

As Sickle brings up the rear of the group as they near the ledge, he turns to check behind them. Standing inside the mouth of a large flower, just behind the flowers pistil, is a small creature, a few inches tall, wearing a strange mask that covers its whole face.  It regards Sickle in silence. 

 

Boris lifts himself above the ledge and for a brief moment disappears from sight. He seems to be gone and out of view. Enough time passes that tension starts to build.

Animal handling: 15

Boris stares at the spider for a short time while he studies the creature. Seemly unfazed by the situation. Then without hesitation or change in his expression turns and reaches down a hand to assist Azaka up.

Azaka you see a clam and slightly bored face greet you as Boris reaches out his hand you help you up.

(Fine with me, but Silas was in the rear...)

Sickle is distracted as Boris and Azaka climb up, staring at the small figure. (Assuming I recognize it as a Chwinga...)  The half-orc slowly reaches into a pouch, and pulls out a goodberry from the morning's casting.  He extends it towards the figure, offering it as a gift.  He studies the creature, trying to ascertain its intention, and its attention to Sickle in particular.

Insight: 21

Azaka grabs Boris' hand and is pulled up the cliff. Looking over she sees the spider. Whispering to Boris angrily "You could have mentioned the spider before you pulled me up here!" and will open up her bag and put on the mask of the beast while chanting under her breath. Azaka casts animal friendship on the beast.

(OOC: oops, sorry Silas!  I got confused....well, Sickle notices a Chwinga anyway...)

The spider stares back at Boris unmoving as he pulls Azaka up.  

Boris' unflinching bravery in the face of, what was once his worst nightmare, stands out in the groups mind. The jungle has clearly changed him. He's not the same untested teen that had shown up with Sir Darak at Port Nyanzaru. 

She pulls out her mask and looks at the spider.  20.    The spider twitches as she stares at it with the mask. It doesn't move to attack, but instead just seems to sit there.  The rest of the group begins climbing up, trying to keep some distance from the spider.  As the third person comes up, the spider moves back a bit into it's nest, further from the group. It doesn't seem aggressive. 

Sickle passes the goodberry to the Chwinga.  It hops back and forth excitedly from foot to foot as it receives the gift, and then leaps from the flower, the berry under one arm, swinging gracefully off a leaf into a patch of growth, vanishing. 

The group moves past the spider down the walkway.  The creature seems to leave you be as you make your way on the raised walkway past the lower garden below.  Staying to the left of the walkway you're able to stay out of site of the zombies below. 

The walkway approaches a large statue that matches the one at the front, covered by the spider webs, except there are no webs on this one. There is a walkway to the right, which leads to the large structure at the center of the garden.  Traces of gold colored plaster still cling to this dome in a few spots, but everywhere else you see old weathered bricks, more than a few of which have fallen through. The larger-than-life-size elephant carvings and the graceful, towering spire are still magnificent sights, even if their glory is dimmed by time and decay.  There are two gardens down short five foot stair ways on either side of the path to the palace. The contain a multitude of colorful flowers. The garden to the left of the path to the palace is where Sickle can sense the black Orchid. 

The walkway also continues further on to a crumbling pagoda (domed open building).  This pagoda must have been lovely once, with its wide, graceful arches inviting the breeze to blow through, and overlooking the silent pool below. But time, decay, and some bestial presence have given it a sinister air. It smells foul, and dark stains cover the floor and seep down the white steps.  To the right of the pagoda and down is a large area of pools that you can partially see beyond the garden walls. 

Azaka, you notice a seven foot tall crane crouched in the tree tops, just outside the garden.  It doesn't seem to be making any aggressive movement, just sitting and watching. 

Boris with head held high walks in sharp paths around the bushes and past the statue. He stands in the middle of the two gardens and at the bottom of the steps to enter the domed building. He checks for any danger in the three locations. 

Survival: 15

After he stands at the ledge, above the northern garden with the orchid, surveying the terrain for his approach. Anyone who looks at Boris' expression will notice that he pays no mind to them and that he seems apathetic to the current events.

Ham, the dinosaur man with the glowing sword follows quietly in the middle of the party, taking Boris' lead. The dinosaur man never speaks, and only communicates through the release of scents. The group had spent some time learning the different smells and what they meant. Badger is able to hold conversations with him through magic.  His smells are: Brimstone - Confusion; Roses - Sadness; Lemon - Happiness; Baked Bread - Anger; Violets - Fear; Honeysuckle - tenderness / concern; Wood smoke - Loyalty or devotion; Tar - celebration; Ham - worry; Pine - Curiosity.   (OOC: NPC)

Behind Ham is Badger, a gnome, supposedly from deep within the ground. Badger seems confident, strong willed, and uses his magical powers to great effect. He also holds the rod that lets the group retreat to a protected gnome home. Badger's cards, bones, and other future scrying techniques are frequently brought out in the evenings as he tries to determine what tomorrow holds.

Behind Badger is Mandra. Mandra is undead, her rotting body seemingly held together by stitching and magic. The undead woman has unleashed powerful magic when the group needed it, but seems to spend most of her time in quiet observations. It's not clear if the rest of the group entirely trust her.  The story is that her she was from Cormyr, but killed. Her soul was on it's way to be consumed by the Soul Monger when the groups jump from the gnome home back to reality dragged her soul with them, where it landed in a nearby zombie corpse. 

Sedrik follows near the rear and has been Boris' companion from the beginning. While Boris was just a servant, Sedrik was Sir Darak's apprentice. With Sir Darak dead, Sedrik has tried his best to take his place, but is simply missing the military expertise, the confidence, and the physical strength to take Sir Darak's place. Sedrik is eighteen, human, and from the sword coast. He has light brown hair and  brown eyes. He's been trying to press Boris into the role of apprentice, helping with armor and weapons maintenance, but Boris has seemed to find his own way.  (OOC: NPC) 

Behind Sedrik and second last is Sickle, the half-orc druid. Sickle has shown the ability to transform into a giant wolf spider, and spends his evenings with bare feet communing with nature. He now wears the Ring of Winter on his finger, and the group is very worried about what this powerful evil ring may do to his personality. 

Lastly is Silas, a human cleric of Tyr. The large black skinned man is a powerful force in the group, providing healing, guidance in all things, and some powerful battle abilities. 

(OOC: Feel free to provide more complete descriptions of yourself in the OOC thread) 

Through the rusted, collapsed doors Boris can see into the main structure.  An 18-foot-tall stone statue of a Chultan warrior in splint armor, wearing a helmet festooned with tyrannosaurus teeth and bearing a shield of intricately patterned leopard hide, towers over the chamber and looms above a wide, octagonal cistern. The chamber echoes with the sound of rain water dripping from the ceiling into the gaping pit. The face of the giant warrior statue is obliterated by deep gouges, but the rest of the statue remains intact. Clutched in the statue's right hand is a stone spear, and resting on the floor beneath it is a clay urn. North of the statue Is an open balcony overlooking a flooded garden.  Standing to one side of the giant warrior is another statue, this one much smaller. Exquisitely life like, it depicts a man reaching for the urn, his face turned toward the balcony. In his lifeless eyes, you see terror.  Stone steps ascend along the curved wall to the level of a second floor, but that floor is almost entirely collapsed. Someone's been up there, however, because a message of some sort is scrawled across the domed ceiling.  Mandra looks at the life sized and life like statue and suspects petrification.

The gardens to both sides are enclosed in walls and down steps. The plants in these enclosed garden are like nothing you've ever seen. Their shapes are fantastic, and their colors are like gems sparkling in the sun. Enclosed by 5-foot-high walls, this strangely beautiful garden imparts a sense of serenity. You see messages scrawled into walls in each of the gardens, but they are not in any language anyone here knows. 

A seven foot tall Crane flaps from the far side of the garden and lands on top of the golden dome, where it can watch the group through large gaps in the ceiling.

Boris doesn't see any obvious threats in any of the three areas.  Silas and Badger, you can both roll Medicine checks if you like. 

Medicine: 25

"Let's see what there's to learn," Silas says as he looked around. 

Sickle murmurs low, “We have a choice here. Get in and out with the orchid, or look around for more clues or other things that might help us on our journey, realizing that might lead to more danger. The orchid lies ahead, but those things may not like us disturbing this place anyway.” Sickle looks pointedly at one of the giant cranes, trying to judge its intelligence, its sentience, whether it is a hunting animal, or a being of speech and reason...who also hunts.

Medicine: 15 (OOC: is this for the colourful plants?)

A sense of foreboding presses in upon Badger, as palpable as the oppressive humidity. The ruins and gardens are breathtakingly beautiful, but the serenity is false - more like when the jungle turns silent in the presence of a predator. The sight of the placid Crane unnerves Badger, and he can't help thinking of the spectators in Port Nyazeru gathering to watch the executioner run. He imagines the creature privately placing bets on which one of them will survive...

Turning away from these morbid thoughts, Badger observes the mesmerizing flora and the indecipherable graffiti. He understands the need to continue moving, but also resolves that in the first opportunity he will attempt a ritual to translate the scrawlings.

(OOC: If we stop for more than ten minutes, Badger will ritual cast Comprehend Languages)