"Are you all right here? We heard noise, and run to help." Cimeri noted fresh blood stains on the clothes, agitated guards and confusion on some faces. Though, everyone was standing and did not look injured.
Goblin's disappearance was ... disappointing. She had to watch better, of course, and check if Kurgaz was running with them, but still - disappointing. Also, troublesome - Cimeri could not imagine why would a goblin need insect repellent and, above all, a woman fancy dress? In the jungle? And that doll... Could it be an indication, Kurgaz did not leave on his own?
"Azaka, what do you make of this?" Cimeri pointed at the doll, not touching it, though.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Before heading out Celtra presents Salhana with Breakbone's blade. In her eyes it's a sign of taking over command but may mean nothing to their order.
Once back rowing she says, "well most of that sucked but we at least left it iij n better shape than we left it. Now, what's the next step? Three, four days of rowing again?"
Will use the 2and wind feature to gain some HP back because I'm less than full and why waste spells it healing kits.
Fulcra looks back at the sad palisades of "Camp Vengeance", and mutters, "Suitable name I suppose." He smiles to Azaka when they return to camp, "I don't know what you were talking about. The people in there were super nice. They even gave us a cute gold statue before sending us on our way! I'm sure it's not cursed." He winks at Taman.
"So, let me just check this map here and figure out now what...."
(OOC: Post 348 on page 18 if you're looking for the map)
"Well, Mbala it is. Azaka, you think you can find it? It's the next thing on the mappy map."
Taman seems put out by the goblin's disappearance. He helps get the canoe loaded up and then sits silently as he feels the betrayal of his scout's desertion.
Salhana receives the blade with a small amount of reverence; she understands warriors and their weapons, even if they are foes. "Thank you for all you've done," she says simply. You clasp forearms before departing.
Azaka picks up the doll, sniffs it. "I'm pretty sure this is his bellybutton lint… ewwww…" She tosses it back on the ground. "I think he left you something for that which he took. He had nothing of value and was scared and alone; the dress was colorful, the insect repellent smelled nice, and the thieves tools, well, they looked important, no doubt. Goblins not smart. He knew I would kill him if I had the chance, knew those men would kill him if they could, and knew that he was a prisoner, despite what you all told him. He had few choices. Perhaps he did not want to be a pet." She picks the doll back up, hands it back to Cimeri. "Maybe this is a totem of a kind. You see goblins again, show them this?"
"The insect repellent is unfortunate but not dire. But," she says, turning to Fulcra to answer his question, "it changes our path, if you agree. Your map does not show it, but very soon, perhaps by the end of today, we could reach the Aldani Basin. It is the source of this river, the Soshenstar, and of another, The Teth; I had planned to go as far as we could up the Soshenstar, then trek through the basin, which is nearly all swamp and stagnant water, to reach the Teth, then down the Teth to Orolunga." She glances around at all of you. "I am not sure the swamp is the best way without insect repellent. The alternative would be to leave the canoe here, where it is safe, and trek overland. I have never been to Mbala but know of it, where it is. We would then go on foot the rest of the way to Orolunga."
"Ten days," she guesses, "either way. Further by water, but faster travel. Less dangerous. By land, much more walking, slower, shorter, and no insects. I vote for land. You?"
"You are the guide for a reason." Taman speaks up. Meeting Azaka's eyes then he gives her a very penetrating look. "Despite what you think, that goblin, if he stayed loyal to us, would have become as much a member of this group as you, or even myself." He glances to the others. 'I do not take on people lightly, and do not turn my back on those I do pledge myself to." He then returns to brooding as he watches the water pass by.
(Taman has bug incense in his own pack as well, he bought some as well, it was not all in Azaka or Cimeri's pack.)
[errr...oops I thought all of it was in Cimeri’s] ”well, says Azaka, now that we know we have more, we can go either way. I will ponder this and make an accurate choice in a moment...”
OOC: Do you think someone in Camp Vengeance can have thieves' tools? Or can some be created? After all, it's just a small file, a set of lock picks, a small mirror mounted on a metal handle, a set of narrow-bladed scissors, and a pair of pliers.
The biggest advantage of the river was the weightless travel - the boat carried all the equipment. The fact, that Cimeri was not the one rowing, had nothing to do with her choice! Well, truthfully, river did look safer (while jungle were full of all kind of danger - from living plants to undead corpses), and Azaka said herself - longer but safer. Lately, Cimeri learned to appreciate safety. Still, she did not vote and would go with decision of others.
[OOC:lol OK Salhana is happy to provide one to you. ]
"Well, Robes," says Azaka, "there may be some who argue with you about me and whether I can stay or not." She chuckles, "The Purple One knows; our time together ends at Orolunga." She will not say more on the matter, and turns to her choice of destination. "Mbala it is."
Eventually she ties up the canoe next to the other rowboats in the water and everyone hoists their trappings, minus those Kurgaz fled with. The sounds of industry can be heard inside the camp as you leave; soldiers lining up, cooking food, tending fires.
That evening, after a torrential Chultan shower in the afternoon, Chiirki nuzzles its head into the crook of Cimeri's neck and shakes away water, then returns to his newfound perch, Cimeri's right horn. The sun comes out in time to recede behind the final trees for miles. You enter an estuary with lumpy, frondy plainlets and islands allowing visibility far beyond the banks of the narrowing river. A pterodactyl soars overhead in the distance; you are unsettled at how wide open your field of view is. You skirt the edge of the jungle where it meets the swamp.
Azaka chooses a site as best she can, even she seeming unsettled by no cover of canopy overhead.
The next day you get your first view of 'Mbala', or at least the plateau it is rumored to be upon. The plateau forms a twenty mile wall in the distance to the west, of red and orange rock, a sharp contrast to the green below it. "The highlands are the Chult I know least," admits Azaka. "But I have heard nothing good of that place. Once a kingdom, then shrivelled to a village over time. I know of no one who has heard from Mbala in 50 years, but for the rumor of a witch who can restore life, it is said. Superstition is rife in Chult. Stuff to get people like yourselves killed. Adventurers," she snorts. "some will believe anything."
"It will be two days across this marsh until we get there, and another to the top."
The trek across the marsh happens to be uneventful; you appreciate the quiet serentity of the swamp compared to the jungle noise. Some of you get the unmistakable feeling that you're being...watched? Monitored is perhaps the better term for the feel; it's not a foreboding sense, but something always seems to move out of your peripheral vision just as you spot it...
Two nights later, on the morning of the third day out from Camp Vengeance, an 1,800-foot-high plateau with sheer cliffs rises above heaps of boulders as large as ships. A narrow path is cut into the cliff face and seems to climb all the way to the top. It takes most of that third day of grueling hiking in the heat, followed by rain, followed by heat again, to reach the top. At one point during the climb you get above the treeline, and to the west, far in the distance, you can see the very top of a ziggurat poking up through the trees. Azaka points, and says, "Orolunga: Our destination." The climb continues, until about a hundred feet below the lip of the plateau, where the path (which is proceeding west across the cliff at that point) veers directly into a natural cleft in the stone face. Steps are cut into the 15-foot-wide crevice, and scenes of jungle predators, flying lizards, and erupting volcanoes are carved in shallow relief onto the walls in ways that make creative use of the natural shape of the rock.
Azaka looks southeast, ignoring the steps for the moment. "If you cannot see it in the fading light, you will see a marvel of Chult tomorrow. The Heart of Ubtao. There," she points to where some of you can make out a speck floating in the distance, like a boulder hovering in the air. Fulcra spasms as he's bitten by a marsh midge.
"It is indeed the petrified Heart of Ubtao. I have been there many times. He bleeds still. Some will say that it is just a chunk of rock with a petrified tree's roots hanging out, and that iron is a red rock that drips from the tree… but to me it is my god's heart, still bleeding. This is what a true Chultan would tell you," she snorts.
"Priests of Ubtao would fly there upon flying lizards to seek visions inside the heart. To beseech him to return, after he abandoned them." She spits in the water. "Gods…"
She turns back to the steps and begins climbing as daylight begins to fade. The stone steps emerge onto the top of the plateau beneath a once grand, but now decrepit wooden gateway. The gates that sealed this entrance are rotted away; only their rusted iron hinges and reinforcing bands remain. In their place are heaps of human skulls. Picked clean of all flesh and bleached white by the sun, they grin up at you from the roadway and down from atop towering mounds.
Azaka looks less happy than usual at the skulls, and turns to you all. "Skulls are usually not the best of signs. Camp here or look further across the top of this plateau?"
rain caught: 3 gal]
[Day 15 - Morning: 22 bug repellent each (except Cimeri): full rations (35): three raincatchers - full canteens (3 gal surplus)]
Fulcra looks on with curiousity, "A floating gods heart? Sounds gross. Everyone ok with going to Mbala? It doesn't sound so great, but a witch who can bring people back from the dead may have some good hints about our quest. So, it's still got my vote."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer? Class.
"The witch may know things that could aid us." Taman allows with a frown. Glancing to their guide. "Is there any reason we should not talk to this witch before we move onward?" He asks her.
OOC: happily adding the tools of my craft to inventory :)
Cimeri initially was going to keep quiet about Azaka's deal and Orolunga untile they would come closer to the place, but since it was on the open already, explained the situation before everyone departed: "We've being followed all this time. And in Orolunga they will be waiting for us - waiting when we come out of the place. What Azaka means by "our together time ending" is self sacrifice that would - probably! - let us escape. And I have to say right now, I do not intent to let her do so. While we have time, we might as well think what to do."
In the canoe she kept quiet, just from time to time re-perching Chiirki from her horn (you are not that light, you know?) to her shoulder. The Heart impressed her as much as everyone else - she was not about to listen all that scientific nonsense about iron and roots, she knew that believes are powerful and can turn an ordinary rock into a god. So, whether is was truly a heart of the God, or something declared thereof - it could be equally powerful.
"I would like to go and see it too, if we can afford the time."
The spot where they stopped could work for the camp as well as any other (to Cimeri's eyes, of course), so, she would vote for the stop right here instead of lurking in the darkness all night.
When Cimeri brings up the gods heart, Fulcra flinches. "Fine. FINE. OK OK OK. We'll go to the heart. FINE. Gross, but fine. Ug. A giant floating god heart. Gross. Yes, let's go, it's worth the side trip. After we talk to this witch though." He clutches his head, wiping away sweat, and squinting down at the earth. He seems unwilling to look around and just stares with squinting eyes at the ground.
Irritably he adds, "So, can someone explain to me this Orlunga - Azaka situation please? I'm not following...speak plainly, stop talking in code.."
He sighs heavily, taking a drink of water from, then breathing heavily for a short while.
(Character sheet updated with gold and figurine.)
"Are you all right here? We heard noise, and run to help." Cimeri noted fresh blood stains on the clothes, agitated guards and confusion on some faces. Though, everyone was standing and did not look injured.
Goblin's disappearance was ... disappointing. She had to watch better, of course, and check if Kurgaz was running with them, but still - disappointing. Also, troublesome - Cimeri could not imagine why would a goblin need insect repellent and, above all, a woman fancy dress? In the jungle? And that doll... Could it be an indication, Kurgaz did not leave on his own?
"Azaka, what do you make of this?" Cimeri pointed at the doll, not touching it, though.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Before heading out Celtra presents Salhana with Breakbone's blade. In her eyes it's a sign of taking over command but may mean nothing to their order.
Once back rowing she says, "well most of that sucked but we at least left it iij n better shape than we left it. Now, what's the next step? Three, four days of rowing again?"
Will use the 2and wind feature to gain some HP back because I'm less than full and why waste spells it healing kits.
Heal 4 hp
Fulcra looks back at the sad palisades of "Camp Vengeance", and mutters, "Suitable name I suppose." He smiles to Azaka when they return to camp, "I don't know what you were talking about. The people in there were super nice. They even gave us a cute gold statue before sending us on our way! I'm sure it's not cursed." He winks at Taman.
"So, let me just check this map here and figure out now what...."
(OOC: Post 348 on page 18 if you're looking for the map)
"Well, Mbala it is. Azaka, you think you can find it? It's the next thing on the mappy map."
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
Taman seems put out by the goblin's disappearance. He helps get the canoe loaded up and then sits silently as he feels the betrayal of his scout's desertion.
Salhana receives the blade with a small amount of reverence; she understands warriors and their weapons, even if they are foes. "Thank you for all you've done," she says simply. You clasp forearms before departing.
Azaka picks up the doll, sniffs it. "I'm pretty sure this is his bellybutton lint… ewwww…" She tosses it back on the ground. "I think he left you something for that which he took. He had nothing of value and was scared and alone; the dress was colorful, the insect repellent smelled nice, and the thieves tools, well, they looked important, no doubt. Goblins not smart. He knew I would kill him if I had the chance, knew those men would kill him if they could, and knew that he was a prisoner, despite what you all told him. He had few choices. Perhaps he did not want to be a pet." She picks the doll back up, hands it back to Cimeri. "Maybe this is a totem of a kind. You see goblins again, show them this?"
"The insect repellent is unfortunate but not dire. But," she says, turning to Fulcra to answer his question, "it changes our path, if you agree. Your map does not show it, but very soon, perhaps by the end of today, we could reach the Aldani Basin. It is the source of this river, the Soshenstar, and of another, The Teth; I had planned to go as far as we could up the Soshenstar, then trek through the basin, which is nearly all swamp and stagnant water, to reach the Teth, then down the Teth to Orolunga." She glances around at all of you. "I am not sure the swamp is the best way without insect repellent. The alternative would be to leave the canoe here, where it is safe, and trek overland. I have never been to Mbala but know of it, where it is. We would then go on foot the rest of the way to Orolunga."
"Ten days," she guesses, "either way. Further by water, but faster travel. Less dangerous. By land, much more walking, slower, shorter, and no insects. I vote for land. You?"
"You are the guide for a reason." Taman speaks up. Meeting Azaka's eyes then he gives her a very penetrating look. "Despite what you think, that goblin, if he stayed loyal to us, would have become as much a member of this group as you, or even myself." He glances to the others. 'I do not take on people lightly, and do not turn my back on those I do pledge myself to." He then returns to brooding as he watches the water pass by.
(Taman has bug incense in his own pack as well, he bought some as well, it was not all in Azaka or Cimeri's pack.)
(I thought Bryn had some bug repellent in her bag as well?)
just an unstable unicorn.
[errr...oops I thought all of it was in Cimeri’s]
”well, says Azaka, now that we know we have more, we can go either way. I will ponder this and make an accurate choice in a moment...”
OOC: Do you think someone in Camp Vengeance can have thieves' tools? Or can some be created? After all, it's just a small file, a set of lock picks, a small mirror mounted on a metal handle, a set of narrow-bladed scissors, and a pair of pliers.
The biggest advantage of the river was the weightless travel - the boat carried all the equipment. The fact, that Cimeri was not the one rowing, had nothing to do with her choice! Well, truthfully, river did look safer (while jungle were full of all kind of danger - from living plants to undead corpses), and Azaka said herself - longer but safer. Lately, Cimeri learned to appreciate safety. Still, she did not vote and would go with decision of others.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
[OOC:lol OK Salhana is happy to provide one to you. ]
"Well, Robes," says Azaka, "there may be some who argue with you about me and whether I can stay or not." She chuckles, "The Purple One knows; our time together ends at Orolunga." She will not say more on the matter, and turns to her choice of destination. "Mbala it is."
Eventually she ties up the canoe next to the other rowboats in the water and everyone hoists their trappings, minus those Kurgaz fled with. The sounds of industry can be heard inside the camp as you leave; soldiers lining up, cooking food, tending fires.
That evening, after a torrential Chultan shower in the afternoon, Chiirki nuzzles its head into the crook of Cimeri's neck and shakes away water, then returns to his newfound perch, Cimeri's right horn. The sun comes out in time to recede behind the final trees for miles. You enter an estuary with lumpy, frondy plainlets and islands allowing visibility far beyond the banks of the narrowing river. A pterodactyl soars overhead in the distance; you are unsettled at how wide open your field of view is. You skirt the edge of the jungle where it meets the swamp.
Azaka chooses a site as best she can, even she seeming unsettled by no cover of canopy overhead.
The next day you get your first view of 'Mbala', or at least the plateau it is rumored to be upon. The plateau forms a twenty mile wall in the distance to the west, of red and orange rock, a sharp contrast to the green below it. "The highlands are the Chult I know least," admits Azaka. "But I have heard nothing good of that place. Once a kingdom, then shrivelled to a village over time. I know of no one who has heard from Mbala in 50 years, but for the rumor of a witch who can restore life, it is said. Superstition is rife in Chult. Stuff to get people like yourselves killed. Adventurers," she snorts. "some will believe anything."
"It will be two days across this marsh until we get there, and another to the top."
The trek across the marsh happens to be uneventful; you appreciate the quiet serentity of the swamp compared to the jungle noise. Some of you get the unmistakable feeling that you're being...watched? Monitored is perhaps the better term for the feel; it's not a foreboding sense, but something always seems to move out of your peripheral vision just as you spot it...
Two nights later, on the morning of the third day out from Camp Vengeance, an 1,800-foot-high plateau with sheer cliffs rises above heaps of boulders as large as ships. A narrow path is cut into the cliff face and seems to climb all the way to the top. It takes most of that third day of grueling hiking in the heat, followed by rain, followed by heat again, to reach the top. At one point during the climb you get above the treeline, and to the west, far in the distance, you can see the very top of a ziggurat poking up through the trees. Azaka points, and says, "Orolunga: Our destination." The climb continues, until about a hundred feet below the lip of the plateau, where the path (which is proceeding west across the cliff at that point) veers directly into a natural cleft in the stone face. Steps are cut into the 15-foot-wide crevice, and scenes of jungle predators, flying lizards, and erupting volcanoes are carved in shallow relief onto the walls in ways that make creative use of the natural shape of the rock.
Azaka looks southeast, ignoring the steps for the moment. "If you cannot see it in the fading light, you will see a marvel of Chult tomorrow. The Heart of Ubtao. There," she points to where some of you can make out a speck floating in the distance, like a boulder hovering in the air. Fulcra spasms as he's bitten by a marsh midge.
"It is indeed the petrified Heart of Ubtao. I have been there many times. He bleeds still. Some will say that it is just a chunk of rock with a petrified tree's roots hanging out, and that iron is a red rock that drips from the tree… but to me it is my god's heart, still bleeding. This is what a true Chultan would tell you," she snorts.
"Priests of Ubtao would fly there upon flying lizards to seek visions inside the heart. To beseech him to return, after he abandoned them." She spits in the water. "Gods…"
She turns back to the steps and begins climbing as daylight begins to fade. The stone steps emerge onto the top of the plateau beneath a once grand, but now decrepit wooden gateway. The gates that sealed this entrance are rotted away; only their rusted iron hinges and reinforcing bands remain. In their place are heaps of human skulls. Picked clean of all flesh and bleached white by the sun, they grin up at you from the roadway and down from atop towering mounds.
Azaka looks less happy than usual at the skulls, and turns to you all. "Skulls are usually not the best of signs. Camp here or look further across the top of this plateau?"
rain caught: 3 gal]
[Day 15 - Morning: 22 bug repellent each (except Cimeri): full rations (35): three raincatchers - full canteens (3 gal surplus)]
[Marching Order: Celtra - Fulcra - Cimeri - Bryn - Taman - Azaka]
[Rotating Watch, for tonight: Fulcra - Bryn Taman - Cimeri - OFF: Celtra]
Fulcra looks on with curiousity, "A floating gods heart? Sounds gross. Everyone ok with going to Mbala? It doesn't sound so great, but a witch who can bring people back from the dead may have some good hints about our quest. So, it's still got my vote."
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
"The witch may know things that could aid us." Taman allows with a frown. Glancing to their guide. "Is there any reason we should not talk to this witch before we move onward?" He asks her.
OOC: happily adding the tools of my craft to inventory :)
Cimeri initially was going to keep quiet about Azaka's deal and Orolunga untile they would come closer to the place, but since it was on the open already, explained the situation before everyone departed: "We've being followed all this time. And in Orolunga they will be waiting for us - waiting when we come out of the place. What Azaka means by "our together time ending" is self sacrifice that would - probably! - let us escape. And I have to say right now, I do not intent to let her do so. While we have time, we might as well think what to do."
In the canoe she kept quiet, just from time to time re-perching Chiirki from her horn (you are not that light, you know?) to her shoulder. The Heart impressed her as much as everyone else - she was not about to listen all that scientific nonsense about iron and roots, she knew that believes are powerful and can turn an ordinary rock into a god. So, whether is was truly a heart of the God, or something declared thereof - it could be equally powerful.
"I would like to go and see it too, if we can afford the time."
The spot where they stopped could work for the camp as well as any other (to Cimeri's eyes, of course), so, she would vote for the stop right here instead of lurking in the darkness all night.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
[Please reread post 981 if you already read it, and also...]
Fulcra/Taman: Arcana checks pls
Everyone: Active perception checks pls
Taman's perception: 11
Sabastian's perception: 6
Taman's arcana: 25
[OH! and y'all got a milestone so... HAPPY UPGRADE TO LEVEL 3!]
Hurrah to specialization!
Perception: 7
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Perception for Celtra 15
(OOC: Hurray for leveling up!)
Arcana : 2
Perception : 19
When Cimeri brings up the gods heart, Fulcra flinches. "Fine. FINE. OK OK OK. We'll go to the heart. FINE. Gross, but fine. Ug. A giant floating god heart. Gross. Yes, let's go, it's worth the side trip. After we talk to this witch though." He clutches his head, wiping away sweat, and squinting down at the earth. He seems unwilling to look around and just stares with squinting eyes at the ground.
Irritably he adds, "So, can someone explain to me this Orlunga - Azaka situation please? I'm not following...speak plainly, stop talking in code.."
He sighs heavily, taking a drink of water from, then breathing heavily for a short while.
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.