Jovial Jungle Jaunt (ToA)

As Boosey reads the book, a shiver works its way down his spine as he sees the name Dendar the Night Serpent.  He'd heard numerous tales of Dendar, all of them chilling, as his troupe traved in the deep south of the Sword Coast.  Assuming these were just stories, he never for a moment thought he would encounter proof that it was real. 

"This is not a creature we would wish to meet!"  He mutters to himself, then looks to the others.  "How does a serpent bigger than this building sound?" and he shudders before describing the creature to the others.

  "300 feet long with blue-black scales, yellow eyes, and a huge maw filled with four fangs, spittle, and the bones of some of her former victims. She was a dream stealer too, feeding off nightmares and fear."  His voice becomes flat with fear.  "She would even feed of the dreams of Gods."  He rubs his head where his hair had been removed some days previously.  "She could've been responsible for those dreams I had.  I don't know how, but it's one thing that makes sense.  This Dendar could be trying to return."

"Dendar you say?" Nenne muses as purple starts to spread across more of her skin. "If I recall, she was also thought to be responsible for the end of an age of warmth. I wonder if the winter patches we encountered are further evidence of this? And certainly if Dendar were involved with this curse, it would be sensible that our own lady mage would be given a divine charge to impede it, given that Sthara is a devotee of Ubtao and he was responsible for Dendar's defeat."

A sudden thought crosses her mind. "That diamond pendant. It was mentioned in the letter Worlo gave us as being important in helping Sthara defeat the curse. Think you that we might find a clue about its purpose or function here in Mezro? Does the wizard still have it? Wizard! A moment of your time, please! Join us below!"

The bard nods to Nenne.  "This is all linked in some way.  We don't know how or why yet, but I feel certain that all that is happening is connected, and Dendar may be at the centre of it, curse and all. This building must have been a place of central worship and hugely important to the city!"

"There are implements of worship strewn everywhere," the cleric agrees. "I wonder if Ras Nsi was exiled fom Mezro for worshipping Dendar? A wild hypothesis, but perhaps not so unimaginable."

Funderburk, coming down and listening to what Nenne had to say, reluctantly agreed.

Funderburk walked to the center if the room, ever couple of seconds getting distracted due to the bewilderment of the place, and placed the pendant in the center. He then stood back 10ft, and waited for something to happen, if anything.

With the pendent placed in the centre of the maze the group stand there in silence for a few minutes.  Nothing happens, and Boosey attempts a prayer to Ubtao, trying his best to copy the words that Sthara had used in the past.

"Oh great and majestic Ubtao, give us guidance in...um...our hour of need.  Guide us through this maze....em….of Chult and...er...Mezro, so we can have a clear pathway to....er...our....em...destination.  We beseech thee, aid us in banishing this death curse and return our Sorcerer who is lost to us.  May this pendent guide you to us and...er...your greatness be...em...forever."  After the prayer has finished he stands there a little awkwardly and self conscious waiting for any kind of response.

Boosey vanishes as soon as the word, "forever" leaves his mouth. Part of the ceiling caves in near the center of the room and the pendant is almost buried.

Funderburk jumps after the pendant, afriad that if it is lost, so is their way of getting Bossey back. After ge retrieves the pendant he looks at Nenne. "What now?" Is all he musters.

A stream of eladrin invective pours out of Nenne's mouth. "I sincerely hope this is like the first time the lady mage disappeared, and our storyteller will soon return to us unscathed," she says when she settles down some. "In the meantime, perhaps we should none of us pray to this...strange being. Unless, of course, we all plan to go together in search of our missing comrades."

“Great. We solve a puzzle, or part of it, just to be presented with another one. Maybe we all have to pray to this Ubtao. Otherwise the pendant would have gone with Boosey. Anyone else want to give it a try?“

"Maybe... one could pray with a roped tied and held/anchored here? That way we can possibly follow or have the rope pulled to have us pulled back to... here in the least."

Nenne scowls. "I highly doubt that a being who can snatch a person from one plane of existence would be outwitted by a rope. I also am not in favor of losing anyone else, and neither am I inclined to pray to the being in question. Yet if you both are insistent upon it, I suppose it would be foolish to let you venture into the unknown by yourselves." She looks rather disdainful and annoyed at the entire prospect of praying to Ubtao. 

“Sthara said this pendant was linked to finding clues about the curse. We don’t know where she went, but we have seen Boosey vanish after using it. So either he is somewhere and needs help, or this brings us to a place where we have to go. Don’t know why you say this is foolish. What is your plan? Search every building in these ruins, hoping to find the one clue? I am with Funderburk, I think we use this again.“

As everyone wonders what to do Boosey suddenly reappears just as quickly as he had gone, he reappears sitting on the floor where he had left from. His arms and legs are flailing and he's screaming at the top of his lungs, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllp!" The distinct smell of Tej fills the room with his reappearance

"Are you all right?" the cleric asks Boosey. "What happened? What did you see?"

Boosey sits where he has reappeared babbling incoherently

“Maybe I was wrong... are you ok, my friend? What is that smell? Have you been drinking?“

Funderburk looks at the gnome and figures what he must do. 

"Let me read his mind carefully. He may be able to show us what he cannot speak."

It takes a few minutes, but eventually the gnome begins to calm.  "Wha..what smell, I've not......oh.....no, not been drinking" and he takes a deep breath.  "Elf on island in the sky," and he gestures wildly in the direction of Port Nyanzaru.  "Flying...then.." he looks up a the dome with wide eyes "falling" he says with a shudder.

"I appreciate your bravery and quick impulses, friend warrior," Nenne says to Allister while Boosey is still incoherent, touching his arm gently. "When it comes to the gods, however, I find it pays to be cautious. Hopefully, our storyteller will come to himself soon and we will learn what our next steps should be."

Upon hearing the bard recount his experience, her brow furrows. "Island in the sky...Mezro, perhaps? And an elf...when you are ready, storyteller, I am curious if you remember any further details. Was this a vision of the past? Or something else entirely..."

She offers Boosey some water from her canteen and gives him space to breathe and ponders whether she's heard of a floating city before. (History 8 or maybe Religion 1)