"I'll stick with Aleesa, I'm not such a good scout or that intimidating, whoever does scout can take Fay though, you can talk to me through her if a warning needs giving" Hayeth says scratching the birds head

Vahorn follows Noell down into the room, patting her on the back awkwardly. "Good job finding this. I'm sure Hayeth can make some sense of that scroll there. She says the shrine up there is some sort of seal, I don't know.... it reminds me of stories my parents told me. A kingdom of serpents that preceded my own ancestors claim to these lands." He nibbles at his jagged finger nail, concern growing on his face. "From what I recall, they were quite the force to be reckoned with. If they come back to reclaim their empire..... nothing in this forest will be safe." Vahorn looks over the room, seeing if he can notice anything that might confirm his suspicions. Perception 21

"The others are questioning the girl for what little she knows. I bet Old Joe will know something about all of this, maybe he learned too much and that's why they wanted him dead." Vahorn pulls a berry out of his pocket. "Hopefully this will keep him going till we can get out of here. Then we can question him when we get to safety."

Noell glances at the stairs, then turns to Vahorn and lowers her voice.  "What are we going to do about all of these cultists?  I'm not comfortable leaving them here tied up... what if there are more shape-shifting snakes?  Surely there must be... I'm hard-pressed to believe so many foreigners came here simply on the whim of two snake-people trying to resurrect a dead religion, or whatever this place is."

She makes a face as she looks at the room again.  "It looks like they were getting quite comfortable here.  I don't like it one bit... it feels like they were going to wake something sleeping here that would better be left undisturbed.  I think we should leave as soon as possible, and take everyone with us before anything else comes back.  I wish I knew of some way to defile that altar they were using, too... but without Derrik here I'm not even sure if we could get some blessed water to sprinkle over it, or anything.  And I'd trust that manciple Tobias to produce something truly holy about as far as I could throw him," she grumbles.

After a few more moments of whispered conversation with Vahorn, she rises to her feet and moves towards the steps.  "I'm going to see what I can do about getting the cultists we took prisoner into some kind of marching order.  But this stinks."

(On return to the main chamber, Noell will give the scroll and the potion immediately to Hayeth, on the chance that she can tell what they do and they're immediately useful)

Hayeth takes the Potion and Scroll taking a brief look at the scroll "I'll thoroughly examine these when we're more comfortable if that's okay, It may take some time" assuming she can't identify the scroll with a look she stows them carefully and stands with Aleesa ready to take her place

"Yes, this place should be buried, I'm sure there are more out there, ready to awaken whatever lies beneath that stone. Once we remove the prisoners, we should have a watch kept on this place." Vahorn nods in agreement.

As Hayeth looks after Aleesa, and Noell rounds up the cultists, Vahorn heads over to Old Joe, offering a goodberry. "Well, well, I'd never thought you'd be in need of rescuing. You're losing your touch." He smirks offering a hand up. "I'm sure you've got a story to tell, let's get on out of here." 

Dumasz looks at Noelle. “I don’t think we have enough rope for that. I’ll take care of the prisoners. When I’m done putting the fear into them, they won’t be going off anywhere.” 

"Well we have 150ft of rope between us all right? That could be enough, we'd have to watch them through the night if we have to camp on the way back though" Hayeth says after thinking a bit

Old Joe gets a little more lucid for a moment and replies, "Yeah, losing my touch."

Ooc: I think we are pretty set on tying up the rest of the cultists best we can with what rope we have and escorting them back to town right?

Yup

Insight 17 (Does Vahorn seem to think Joe isn’t acting himself? Hiding something? Seem charmed? Or just exhausted?)

”Pity. The forest could have used you skills more than ever now. Stick with Noell, she’s more than capable of protecting you.” Vahorn looks over to Noell, gesturing toward her.

Once all the prisoners are tied up, Vahorn scouts ahead to make sure they won’t be ambushed on their exit. Perception 22 Stealth 13

Hayeth whispers to Fay who flies to Vahorns shoulder "Remember you don't need to shout if you see things just tell Fay she will relay it to me"

With that Hayeth will pull out the light rock from before and cover it with cloth to dim it again taking Aleesa gently by the arm and leading her behind Vahorn near the back of the group 

Joe is smashed out of his gourd by some sort of drug.  You think it seems similar to a low dose of some of the poison mushrooms that grow near here, if that is it he should recover soon.

The prisoners start waking up.  They grumble and demand their release, but are shaken by seeing the corpses of the Yuan-ti.

Your trip back to town is uneventful.  What do you do when you get there?

Hayeth will lead Aleesa and talk to her "You're home now, your father was worried about you, I'll take you to him okay? I'll make sure he knows that none of this was your fault"

She looks to the others in the group "Do you want to quickly drop Aleesa off with her dad and then we can get these lot into a cell somewhere?"

Vahorn looks up at Hayeth, barely noticing that they’d made it to town as he’d been petting and feeding Fay “Take her if you must, though she knows her way around town. Don’t forget our fee while you’re there.” He shrugs “Old Joes not looking too well though. Somebody should take him to the Inn, he needs a good rest. ” Vahorns eyes flit around at the others nervously. “I’d prefer not to um.... go alone. There will be a load of townsfolk there, no doubt they’ll be asking for a good story, maybe even...” he shudders at the thought before spitting the word “...Smalltalk.” 

(Where are prisoners normally taken btw? Does the mayor live close to the Inn? Should we avoid splitting up around town for simplicity’s sake?)

Ooc: Prolly best not to actually split up for Chars sanity :P

Noell, still supporting Joe under her arm, frowns at Vahorn. "Why go to the inn? Joe's still completely out of it. I say we take him to the Hearth," she adds, a bit petulantly because she's still struggling under the bulk of the old man's weight. "Tobias might be able to do something to help him recover. And, well. We didn't find Derrik," she adds in a lower voice. "He needs to know."

She looks behind her at the prisoners being frog-marched back into town. "And, well, the Undermayor needs to know about all of this. The cult, about the human sacrifice and his daughter's unwilling role in it, and about Derrik still being missing. Immediately. Plus, we've got all these fellows to deal with, and I hardly want to take them to the town hall, the tavern, the Hearth, or the Undermayor's house. We're going to need to split up."

Noell points to Joe. "He needs to get medical help at the Hearth."

She points at the prisoners. "They need to be taken to the barracks."

And then she points at Aleesa. "And we need a runner to bring the Undermayor back to the barracks or the Hearth. I'd vote for the barracks, since I think Joe won't be able to tell us anything for a few hours yet, and I can come back with Tobias afterwards. Harbin will come quick enough once he hears that his daughter is there, too."

Vahorn scoffs, “I wouldn’t trust that pompous oaf Tobias to heal so much as a graze. Besides, it’s just a little sickness from those poisoned mushrooms we ate as kids, he’ll just be a bit out of it for an evening.” He scratches behind his ear vigorously before continuing. “We could set him down at the barracks, as long as we make sure none of them escape and try to have at him again.”

Lia, who has been keeping the prisoners in check as they made their way back to town, chimes in, "Yeah, I've only spent about five minutes with Tobias and that was more than enough. He'll be fine, just needs some rest. And we'll make sure this lot doesn't get anywhere near him." She glances back at the line of tied-up cultists. "Why don't we all head to the barracks, and we send Aleesa to get Harbin? No sense delaying their reunion."