Session 18: Captured Report

General Summary

The party prepares itself for a long nights rest under the dark jungle canopy. After some information about Jolo’s device that keeps snakes and pests away from their bivouac site for the night he sets off to find his own sleeping accommodations, leaving the party to take care of themselves for the night. Setting a watch, most pass out to recover from the long day’s journey. The first watch goes uneventful, however both Marigold and Angelo recognize the sounds of the jungle subside - an eerie sense of being watched surrounds the party throughout their watch, but otherwise without any signs of wildlife or disturbances. Rickfried and Fara take over for second watch - the sheer darkness under the canopy continues to weigh heavily on this new watch, and Rickfried senses eyes watching from all around. He even feels he sees eyes, then as he takes a second look there appears to be nothing there.   After an hour or so of this behavior, all of a sudden over 30 shadows descend on the party in a coordinated maneuver - quickly using cudgels to subdue and knock out the party. Fara was the only one who noticed this before she too was quickly grappled, bound and a black hood pulled over her head. Within a few minutes of being drug from the spot she also felt the blunt edge of a cudgel against her head and blacked out.   The party awakens painfully to a new reality. The party is separated between two bamboo cages. Each member has a thick metal collar locked around their necks, and chained to a thick center post of the round cage, dug deep into the ground. They have each been stripped down to their short clothes and loin cloths. Some burlap material seems available nearby for the members to fashion into some form of haphazard garments to cover themselves, otherwise the cages appear fairly barren. The entire team is short on hit points, many have dried blood and headaches from being struck and knocked out.   Each of the two cages houses one old and one new teammate in similar conditions as the party. Incyra (Tiefling Sorcerer) and Laraeyan (Fire Genasi Artificer) join the team as the dark hours of the night fade slowly to light. A guard wanders buy - someone humanoid with two arms and two legs but a massive cobra neck and head, holding a spear. Attempts by the team to converse are met with slamming spear against the cage and telling them slaves are not to talk. Angelo attempts a simple friend spell, only to be met with a searing hot burning sensation emanating from the collar, nearly passing out from the attempt. Shortly after, Wellys and Tiathina are being drug into the cages - both in extremely poor condition from apparent torture. Wellys has significant feathers forcibly plucked from his body as part of the process.   The night slowly fades to twilight, as another snakelike humanoid arrives with a bucket full of some foul smelling gruel; unceremoniously throwing it in each prisoners face. Only Wellys attempts to consume the nasty sustenance and finds he is unable to keep it down. The party is soon after chained one to another and walked a short distance to a bamboo hut. Starting with Angelo, each member is brought in and tortured for information about where they came from, what they are doing in the jungle, and who knew of their route and location. After completing this leg of questioning, the party is lead to a quarry where hard labor awaits them through the rest of the day and into the evening hours. Guards of differing versions of snake/humanoid mixtures are seen, those at the quarry also carrying heavy whips with the ability to deeply cut into the flesh of those who fall out of line. Another bucket of disgusting gruel awaits them in the evening, where only a few members try it and throw up. Only Wellys succeeds - he earns back a single hit point but regrets the meal from the painful stomach cramps as he keeps it down.   Throughout the day several members notice some thin metal shavings or broken tools that they discretely conceal from the guards. Once back at the bamboo cages they attempt to utilize the tools to aid them in getting free. While the set that Rickfried concealed seemed unusable, the set that Wellys collected was just perfect for Fara to discretely unlock the collars of the team members in her cage. Fara also successfully cast mage hand and untied the bindings that were out of normal reach for her cage, allowing her to open the door and sneak over to the other cage while the guards weren’t looking. One by one she frees the entire team.   Incyra casts Charm Person and successfully charms the guard, who she first learned the location of their equipment, then instructs to go and talk with the other guard and distract him from what the team is doing. The second guard is also charmed by Angelo, who they convinced to come inside the cage so the party could ambush the guards and kill them to make their escape.   After one guard entered the cage, Laraeyan used a chain to help grapple and bind the creature while the rest of the caged team members attacked with unarmed strikes and with beast forms to subdue the creature. Outside this cage, the other cage mates attacked the second guard. With a stroke if extreme luck Rickfried not only landed a critical hit, but ripped a limb off of the second guard, disarming the creature of its strange sword. Before the snake-like creatures could react the team had successfully killed both creatures then slid away into the night.   The team slips stealthily through the night to a bamboo shed that houses weaponry, armor, and any other items carried by the party. The party collects their own gear quickly and grabs a small treasure chest worth of precious coins and jewels and disappears into the night. Lead by Wellys and Angelo, the party advances deeper into the jungle. After about an hour of travel and the relative safety of the jungle, the party takes a short rest to recuperate hit points and stamina before preparing to continue their journey. Several of the party carry a level of exhaustion as they prepare to continue on in the jungles.