Saja N'Baza

Upon waking, it is incredibly hot. Nisus finds a brightly plumed pheasant on the ground, shoots it and we cook it for lunch. Towards the afternoon, it cools slightly but the rain begins.   The forest begins to thin slightly, 150ft away, a massive brick and stone ziggurat rises from the jungle. Two staircases and up across the front face which meet at a landing on the second level tens of feet above our heads, this repeats on the second and third levels. The fourth level, 100ft above the jungle floor Is an enclosed shrine / temple. It’s walls are covered with mazes and labyrinths. Creepers, tree roots are growing on the structure. A humanoid sits to one side of the ziggurat around a small campfire, it has not yet noticed the party. It is a tabaxi, with leopard fur, with leather armour and a headdress of green feathers.   As we go through the jungle there are purple and orange orchids around. Hundreds of crimson macaws are sitting in the trees, they appear to be following us as we pass through. Kailyn gathers some of the feathers.   Kailyn kicks some rocks on our way through, the tabaxi stands up and pulls out a bow and arrow. ‘Who are you?’. Tabaxi asks why we are here. For knowledge, we want to talk to Saja N’baza if they will talk to us. He will tell us in exchange for food. He says he is called Bag of Nails, Yesne introduces herself and cuddles him, he licks her head. Nisus introduces himself, why are you here. He’s been here a few weeks trying to get knowledge. He didn’t follow ‘the others’, there were 6 of them….. dragonborn, goat head, dwarf…… it was the Yellow Banner. They arrived a few weeks ago, left the same day.   Says he is there to find his son…. He doesn’t know his name.   The first set of steps rise about 30ft, covered in vines etc. will be a bit of a challenge to climb them. Whilst investigating the first steps Kailyn discovers the whole Ziggurat and surrounding area is full of magic. Fang begins to climb the steps and although it should be difficult terrain it feels to be relatively easy. 10ft up or so she catches herself on a vine barb. The spines start puncturing through Fangs boots and thighs. No matter how she tries to place her foot she takes damage. The party notice that as Fang is climbing all the Macaws have stopped moving, stopped making noise. Another foot forward and she takes more damage.   Kailyn casts Aid on himself Yesne and Bjorn.   Each step she takes, she takes incrementally more damage. Fang gets to the top step and the vines envelope her and she dies.   Yesne asks Bag of Nails if this happened last time he says yes but then they came back and a little ….. oh here he is….. a Cheywinga appears with an orchid. The Cheywinga runs up the stairs with the Orchid, the vines seem to move and she disappears into a bunch of petals.   Kailyn grabs two orchids and runs up the stairs to Fang to heal her. The rest of the party grab some orchids.   Fang wakes up, but as she isn’t holding an orchid, takes more damage and dies….again.   Kailyn heals her again and stuffs an orchid in her hand. Yesne begins to ascend the other steps, with orchids in hand she is able to climb freely as is Bjorn. Nisus climbs the steps where Fang and Kailyn are.   Fang’s scalp has been flayed, she has gouges in her head, 15% of her hair is remaining. Most other injuries have predominantly healed but Fang is now disfigured on her head and face. She notices that some of these wounds are festering and give her pain and discomfort.   Kailyn decides to lick the orchid! He falls off the back.   The second set of steps – the stones are crumbling from decay but clean from foliage. They rise 20ft to the next level.   Bjorn and Nisus call upon the help of a Cheywinga to guide us up the next step. A little dust devil appears, and a pop, sat in front of them is a Cheywinga, it’s mask resembles the head of a chameleon. It is carrying an orchid in one hand and a red feather in the other. It jumps down then lightly climbs up the steps onto the next level then disappears in a cloud of dust.   Kailyn goes back down the stairs and gathers fruits from the trees. He hands one to each and a feather to each. He climbs the stairs and, feather in hand, finds himself very lightly climbing the stairs to the top. The party follows.   The 3rd set of steps rise only around 12ft. they are in excellent and perfect condition, the least damaged. They are covered in swarms of writhing snakes. Kailyn squishes a fruit on himself takes a step and gets attacked by the snakes. He comes back and a cheywinga is there with a Mongoose mask, orchid and feather in one hand and the fruit in the other. It looks at Kailyn who mimes eating and the Cheywinga seems to agree. The Cheywinga climbs the stairs, puts the orchid in front of the snake, tickles it on the back with the feather and then takes a bite from the fruit. The Mongoose mask opens and eats the snake. The Cheywinga lies down and it’s body elongates, it slithers up the stairs into the temple.   Kailyn follows the Cheywinga’s steps and ends up slithering up the stairs. The party follow suit. We enter the shrine!   We have reached the shrine, it is a simple rectangular structure. The outside walls are decorated with Labyrinth symbols. Beyond the doorway is a baron dusty room. We can smell an aroma of incense. As we walk through the doorway there is a slight shimmer, the empty room we were looking at is not the room we are in. It is full of hanging lamps, incense burners. The stone around the room looks less aged, cushions and reed mats cover the floor, with pots of blooming flowers lining the walls. Singing birds flit from plant to plant. Sat at the back, in the centre is an immense female snake. Iridescent scales cover it's body and it rests upon a heap of cushions,. It rises slowly to a height of 5ft staring directly into our eyes. Its face is human like. It’s tongue flicks before it speaks ‘I am Saja N’baza, what do you seek in this ancient place, locked in the past. Speak only the truth, for I hear your hearts’.