Session 9: Kubazan

"Undead and Elementals" Halveer confirmed after again using his keen senses to get a "feel" for the surrounding ruins of Omu.
 
"Do you think perhaps there is an elemental residing within the lava pool?" Kasimir asks.
 
"I get no sense of direction, only that they are present in the area." The ranger replies.
 
"What do you know of elementals?" Kasimir asks.
 
"Only the basics." Halveer shrugs. "A spirit that controls or embodies the elements."
 
"A spirt?" I ask. "You mean as in something undead?"
 
"No." Halveer shakes his head. "Perhaps spirit is the wrong term. Just some form of sentient essence from the elemental planes."
 
I nod my head pretending to understand what he means by "Planes."
 
We continue our exploration of the city. When we first found Orvex Ocrammus in the smoking compound, we had made note there were structures to the west behind the compound. We had been eager to visit the shrine Orvex mentioned, so we did not venture back there. Flashes of a bloodied Taban enter my mind. "We must finish this quest so he did not perish in vain."
 
We make our way around the compound to the backside and come upon four of the humanoid Yuan-ti. They are using some rubble to hide from something or someone to the west as if they mean to ambush them as they did our own selves when we first arrived. "Fascinating self-created race." Nhile comments. "They actually chose to become Yuan-ti."
 
"Disgusting abominations, I say mate." I give my unsolicited opinion. "Halveer should take one out."
 
"Wait." Kasimir replies. "Let us wait until they attack whoever they are watching. Then we will arrive and aide them. That way, they will be in our debt."
 
"Then we can..."
 
"Talk to them." I finished Halveer's sentence. I didn't protest the plan, but I hoped they sensed my disagreement. I was not expecting a friendly welcome by whomever the Yuan-ti were ambushing, no matter our involvement. But I shrugged, willing to see how it played out.
 
The snake folk, sprang their ambush and moved forward to attack. Halveer called out a warning. We followed, taking their vacant position to see who they assaulted. In the distance we saw another shrine with a large pool of water before it. And on this side were eight or nine humans. It looked like several mercenaries along with a robed wizard. My eyes narrowed when I realized some of the guards were actually animated skeletons doing the bidding of their master.
 
That settled it for me. The snake folk now became mere obstacles on my way to destroy the undead. I was sure my mates would disapprove me attacking the undead servants of our impromptu allies, but I didn't much care. I didn't answer to them. I answered to the Order of the Ghostslayer which mandated that I destroyed all undead.
 
As we moved to ambush the Yuan-ti and squeeze them in the vice of both groups, we began to advance. I kept my eyes on the undead positions, but the wizard, now seeing us appear on the board of battle saw us as the greater threat. He moved up and flanked our position. Kasimir nodded to the robed man in a gesture of peace and friendship. Naïve or hopeful, it mattered not, the wizard replied with a cone of cold. It completely enveloped Nhile, myself, and Kasimir who took the brunt of it. I smiled grimly. "Well then. That makes things less gray doesn't it!" I shouted while shaking frost from my hair. Any faction encountered here wanted one thing; The Soulmonger what resided in that sealed tomb. And I was determined not to allow it to fall into the hands of those who would use it for evil intent. We engaged both snake folk and the wizard's guardians at that point.
 
Seeing artillery come in from the far end of the field, the wizard also sent a massive ice storm over the archers, Halveer and Cimber. Artus shook it off of course. Unfortunately, Orvex was fairly pummeled by the falling chunks of ice and did not survive.
 
Nhile switched places with his echo and finished off the evil wizard whom we had driven back into the vine covered temple area. Most of us were wounded and needed a rest. I saw the knight do his breathing exercise and restore his health. I asked him to show me how to do that. My fighting skills had improved greatly since coming to Chult. My Order's teachings becoming less prominent in my mind as well. I was becoming more martial as we fought through encounter after encounter.
 
Nhile searched the dead wizard finding his book of spells. "Mind if I have a look at that?" I asked. He handed me the arcane tome.
While my Order was mostly supported by the clergy of Kelemvor, I found myself more interested in the arcane than the divine. During our rest Halveer took the scrolls and notes of Old Omu from Orvex and Kasimir sent him on his way. I sat down and flipped through the Wizard's spell book. The notes on spell components, arcane words, and gestures used to cast the spells made sense to me. The magical symbols themselves would take some studying to memorize them. I walked over to the wizards robes and searched them pulling out small pouches of spell components. I stuffed them in my back pack.
 
WIZARD'S SPELL BOOK:
1 - Alarm, Burning Hands, Chromatic Orb, Magic Missile, Color Spray, Detect Magic
2 - Continual Flame, Darkness, Gust of Wind, Alter Self, Arcane Lock, Blur
3 - Fireball, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Animate Dead, Bestow Curse, Blink
4 - Fire Shield, Ice Storm, Banishment, Blight, Confusion
5 - Bigby's Hand, Cone of Cold, Animate Objects, Cloudkill, Conjure Elemental
 
After our rest, Halveer was studying the pool of brackish water. A state of some sort rested in the center. "Something stirs beneath the waters." He warned over his shoulder.
Nhile and Kasimir approached to the stand on either side of the ranger trying to spot what he had seen. "Let's toss something in and see what happens." Nhile suggested. Halveer slowly backed away. Kasimir and Nihle picked up the dead wizard and heaved him into the pond. The water thrashed as something huge broke the surface and engulfed the corpse. It was black with slimy rubbery skin, a toothy maw and tentacles protruding from it's backside.
 
"Beware the frog monster." Kasimir said, remembering what was written on the walls of the city when we first arrived.
 
We decided to try and fish it out. We tossed another body at the pool with a grapple hook imbedded. But the creature had had enough of our meddling and leaned out over the edge of the pool. Halveer and Cimber fired arrows and I managed to land a crossbow bolt.
 
It's long sticky tongue shot out and wrapped around the paladin. He was pulled to it and we quickly abandoned our plan. Cimber ran forward as Kasimir was engulfed by the frog-like monster. He cast a cold of cold making it lethargic and giving the rest of us a chance to close in and attack. My fear was that the thing would vanish beneath the waters and we would never see the paladin again. Fortunately, the creature remained trying to crush Kasimir and strike us with its other tentacles.
 
We dispatched it in time to free our paladin from its maw. "Welcome back." I said, hacking the rest of the tongue off him. "Dark in there." he shuddered.
 
There was a statute of the thing in the middle of the pool and inside its mouth we found a key to the shrine. After a couple of tries by trial and error, we were able to secure our second puzzle cube from the poison chamber inside.
 
We turned our attention to the north looking for the next shrine. We arrived outside the Shrine depicting the Eye of Zaltec. A couple of corpses with the tattered Yellow Banner of Lord Brixton, greeted us. Strangely. these dead one had not seem to rise as the undead like most other corpses were doing. Perhaps there was something about this shrine that prevented this?
 
 
We also spotted this tomb's guardian as well. A uni-horned rabbit Halveer called a Almiraj. Avatar of the god I'JIN.
What fresh hells await us within?