Mal puts her rapiers away, "Glad we did not come to blows as currently I am not sure how much of a fight I could give ya." At which point she slumps against a tree gasping for air. "I thought at first this hidey hole might be safe to wait the night, but now we might want to move to another location and then wait for the night. who knows if those snake people will catch that Tabaxi but I do not want o be hear when either one of them decided to circle back and take a look. And I desperately need to take a rest for an hour or so if not the night."

Silas will eye the newcomer since last newcomer was less than pleasant company. 

There is plenty of daylight left in the day, probably 2 hours. But Mal seems to be hanging by a thread....injured, her flesh badly damaged from cold, and having sustained multiple injuries from the big frog creature. You did tell the others you'd meet them back across the river at the same camp as last night.  You can either try to give Mal some healing and then continue on, find someplace to rest around here, or head back to the camp on the other side of the river.  Or, you know, do anything else, but those are roughly your obvious options.

Decision? 

Grenk gives a little nod, "I do not relish taking lives.  I hunt the undeath and maybe you should rest lest you pass and become undeath as well."

Silas will vote for rest but also cast prayer of healing at 3rd level just in case.

Healing: 13

Then come, says Badger cheerfully, let us find our companions and take rest and counsel together... urgh, does anyone remember the way?

The group trudges through the ruins reaching the massive tree that spans the river. Below the water rushes past on its way to plummet off the cliffs edge into the massive pit lake of lava only 200 feet away. The steam billows into the dimming evening sky. You pick your way through underbrush and past extensive ruins as well as the walled complex before reaching the crumbling mansion where you set your base.  Grenk follows as they pick their way through the ruins finding what at one point must have been a large mansion. The basement has high enough ceilings, seems relatively stable with few cracks or gaps, and two ways in, and out. Seems like a reasonable enough place to camp. 

It's three hours later, an hour after dark when Silas comes downstairs from his watch position on the roof and whispers, "They're coming." 

Grenk, you watch as a group of four individuals trudge down the steps. The first is an older human. He appears relatively frail and you're surprised he is with such a group. Perhaps he is a wizard. He looks at Grenk and his eyes open wide, "A Golaith. What good luck to have found such an ally. They are fearsome warriors. What stories you must have to have arrived at a place such as this." 

The second down the stairs is a strange creature you've not seen one of before. Almost like a dinosaur man, he has green skin and a peaked head. He wears clothing though, and has a glittering blade at his side. He arrives, looking seriously about, paying special attention to the man with the icy cold hand, before silently going to settle in. Not a big talker.  The next is a human boy, young, maybe twenty, grasping an axe of what appears to be ice. He looks warily up at Grenk but doesn't have fear in his face, just some caution and curiosity.  He nods to Grenk, "I'm Boris." 

Lastly comes what must be the undead. The robed and wrapped figure steps lightly down the stairs. The shadows seem to cling to her, darkness like a blanket that makes it hard to see between the gap in her hood. She stops, looking at Grenk. "What's this?"   

The tense moment stretches on as the group explains and makes the introduction. Grenk's skin crawls at the nearness of such a creature, but it's clear it's not a mindless monster. Whatever is inside it is different.

The robed woman speaks up, "We didn't get very far. The monstrous T-Rex seems to live up near that amphitheater so we had to go pretty quietly. Now that we've been there, we should be able to make more progress. But no shrines or cubes today." 

Orvex speaks up, "We did see some very interesting locations though, evidence of the ancient royal line of Sh'gama as well as some surprising indicators of late Omuan societies trend towards economic disputes between large houses."   Mandra speaks up, "Which he wouldn't shut up about. Can we trade him for Silas? I like Silas, he's quiet." It doesn't appear to be a serious request though as the group goes about resting for the evening.  

Mandra nods to the big guy, "Does he know about the cubes?"  She watches him carefully for his reaction.  Grenk, a short time later Orvex is explaining to you the legends of the nine trickster gods and how it would seem, a magical cube from each's shrine will be necessary to breach the location of the Soul Monger, which is apparently in the north end of the city past the amphitheater. 

The evening passes uneventfully and the next morning everyone nods to each other as the two groups again agree to divide and meet back at night.  Mal leads the party back across the main boulevard and through the ruins to the rushing river. Cautiously the group traverses the log bridge without event. A wide raised parade strip covered in thick bush stretches down the main part of these blocks of the city as the group picks their way towards the edge of the lava lake, but before they get there, Sickle notices two large obelisks that you've come to recognize as markers for shrines.  Swirly carvings decorate the two obelisks at the entrance to the compound. An overgrown courtyard lies under the shade of tall palms. Stone doors seal the entrance to a windowless shrine, with a smaller ruin standing nearby. Carvings indicate the shrine of the flail snail. Interestingly if there was a cube missing from the set, the group had figured this would be the one.  

Badger spends a few moments casting a complex ritual spell so that he can read the text above the door to the shrine.  He reads aloud, "Unkh urges us to contrast all options before acting." 

Before retiring for the evening, Badger finds a private corner and conducts a divination on whether Grenk can be trusted. The resulting coin throw reads: Whirlwinds and Thunder: When the Superior Person encounters saintly behaviour, he adopts it; when he encounters a fault within, he transforms it. Progress in every endeavour. You may cross to the far shore. From this Badger feels confident that even if Grenk doesn't appear to be a saint, Badger can still learn from him. He also feels encouraged about exploring the shrine across the river on the morrow.

Portent Rolls for new day: 16, 16

Arriving at the shrine and reading the inscription, Badger ponders it for a few moments. A truly neutral god this one - we must keep open minds.

In the morning, Silas speak his daily prayers to Torm before preparing his spells for the day. Silas looks at everyone for signs of possible diseases as this jungle is not kind and unyielding before speaking, "Between what we're learned and seen, where should we explore next? Also I think the shrine may be in that broken off lava area but best left for last,"

Mal enjoys the briefest of moments as the sun caresses her face waking her from a deep sleep and then she opens her eyes. Sighing, guess it is time to start the day in this hellish place. I wonder how many times I will come close to death before its claws sink into my flesh and drag me down.

Getting up and adjusting her belongings on her body to sit comfortably for the trek ahead she looks and her fellow companions and grins. At least these people are a whole lot better than her previous traveling companions.Then she will walk over to Silas, "Thank you for the healing last night, it was most appreciated. I hope to not need your healing again today but I think we all know better. I am thankful to have run into your group the other day as surely I would have been lost. If there is anything you need all you need to do is ask."

(OOC: OK, so we are now at the exterior of the shrine of Unkh the flail-snail, right?)

Badger says: Well there don't seem to be too many 'options' to compare at the moment. Then, looking over at the smaller ruin nearby, he will have a look to see if this is an option worth comparing (Perception: 20)Otherwise, he will return to the main building and attempt to open the stone door.

Mal will accompany badger and search the door to see if it has any traps.

Investigation: 19

Badger heads over to the smaller ruin inside the property. The roof of this workshop collapsed long ago, and now a thick mass of plants grows from the rubble. Through the moss, you see hundreds of iron keys hanging from hooks on the wall. Some are bent and broken, while others are rusted beyond repair. The rest look serviceable. They are of sorts of shapes and sizes with a myriad of patterns on their key heads.  Mal pokes about, no traps in the workshop. 

She examines the large doors. They are not locked, but they are solid stone and look incredibly heavy.  Though...with Grenk here, you doubt pushing them open should cause much trouble.

(Sorry for the delay)

Grenk doesn't say much the first evening and mostly sets about watching and observing.  He takes some mental notes regarding the groups interactions, mannerisms and especially the walking corpse.  He had yet to form an opinion on the woman yet but if he needed to take her down, he would.  Overall, he felt fortunate, they already had a corse of action planned to meet this evil and that was several steps farther than he had though.

Previously, have no clarified direction, Grenk followed their lead.  He kept a close eye on the surroundings but once he heard the door was clear he knew his role.  "Once everyone is ready, I'll work on moving the door.  Who knows if the door was to keep someone out or something in but sounds like we need whatever is in there. "

Strength check: 14

Grenk works the door, pushing with all his might. It ever so slowly begins to grind open. He continues to push, muscles bulging, feet slipping against the ground but he slowly works his shoulder into the door and gets it pushed open enough to enter. Mal examines for traps as you poke your heads into the temple.  The inside of this temple is just one large room. A nine foot tall statue of a giant snail looms before you in the center of the room. In place of antennae, it has five pseudopods ending in rocky clubs. Along the walls six iron keys hang in small niches above stone plinths. Behind the statue, a carved pedestal in a wide alcove has a keyhole set into its base. From here, all six keys appear to be the same size, with solid heads.

Nice. Badger will start to look for any clues that might suggest what key to use, including the six in here and the many in the 'garden shed' outside.

Investigation: 20

"One, two,... six keys on the walls.   Five antennae and one head on the statue?  Do the keys go there?" he says mostly to himself.  He then turns to the others and asks, "Does every shrine have a puzzle?"

The group cautiously moves into the shrine and looks around.  They glance about at the keys, the statue, and manage to move far enough over to see the pedastal with the key hole. 

Grenk turns to the group and asks about the puzzles. Eight undead charge from behind the statue and around two near corners of the room and rush the group letting us hisses and growls as they charge with unnerving speed. 

Roll init.  If you go before them, please take your turn. 

Undead init: 6

They appear to look like undead Chultan people...with dark bluish skin, smooth and muscled, and long fierce elongated claws for hands. They move with speed and fervor.  As they charge, they give off a horrific stench that seems to choke the room with it's terrible scent. 

Mal Initiative: 29

"Best to assume but they don't always have puzzles or traps!" Silas answers.

Silas Initiative: 14

Silas casts Spirit Guardians on himself, summoning a legion of ghostly soldiers as he moved forwards, ready for the horde..

WiS Save DC : 14 upon on entering or starting turn within 15 ft of Silas.

Damage: 18

EDIT: can I change my move due to Badager casting Fear?