Bag of Nails
11 Nightal, The Year of Twelve Warnings (1494 DR)
Day 59 of 79
Ruins of Omu, Jungles of Chult
After leaving Obo'Laka's shrine, the adventurers searched the surrounding ruins for another shrine.
It was already past highsun and everyone knew time wasn't on their side. They had found three puzzle cubes. But according to Orvex Ocrammas, a scholar from Port Nyanzaru who admitted that he had trained as a wizard when he was quite young, reminded the group that they needed nine puzzle cubes to enter the Tomb of the Nine Gods. At least that's what Orvex said the Red Wizards of Thay he recently worked for had claimed.
Bolte, ever the suspicious one, began to wonder about Orvex's loyalty. The rogue even personally considered the possibility that Orvex may in fact be a Red Wizard. He did claim the Red Wizards were short one member when they left Port Nyanzaru. Could Orvex be the 'missing' member? Was his story about being left for dead after a ceiling collapsed on him while exploring Omu be true? Bolte wasn't entirely sure, but his instincts as a rogue were warning him to be wary of the old scholar.
The group found a wand after searching another area of ruins. Orvex said he could help identify any magic items with properties the group wasn't aware of. He said he could find out if an item was even magical to begin with. However, his spellcasting abilities were very limited.
The group decided to wait until nightfall before Orvex could identify magic items they have run across since they arrived in Chult.
Early in the afternoon, the group was suddenly ambushed along a cobbled street that had fallen into disrepair.
From a nearby ruin, a hidden attacker had shot Alice with an arrow. The arrow was coated in poison which the effects of the cleric was not able to resist.
The group immediately sought out their unseen attacker.
As the group moved in on the ruins where the attack came from, Bolte was the first to spot a humanoid which appeared to be an aged tabaxi wearing studded leather and wielding a longbow.
The tabaxi was quick and agile and kept making attacks from hidden positions in the ruins.
Nip'hto and Atwix, along with Bolte kept launching their own range attacks in an attempt to flush out the tabaxi. Nip'hto had also used an ability to call upon a nature spirit to soothe the wounded in the group.
Zartan, who had also been hit by an arrow, went into a battle frenzy and quickly made his way into the ruins bent on slaying his attacker.
By the time he reached an area of the ruins that was accessible by going up a flight of stone stairs, the others had been able to mortally wound the tabaxi hunter, who although was deadly accurate in his attacks, was outnumbered by those in the group with equally deadly bows as well.
When Zartan reached the tabaxi, hunter the lord of the jungle stopped in his tracks.
He recognized the tabaxi who had attacked him and the others.
Before Zartan could say a word to the tabaxi, two arrows struck the old hunter. One arrow impaled itself in his chest, the tabaxi's studded leather arrow doing nothing to protect him. A second arrow pierced the tabaxi's throat seconds later.
The tabaxi fell to the ground and died.
Zartan screamed in agony at the sight of a fallen friend.
When everyone gathered in the ruins around the slain tabaxi, Orvex interpreted what Zartan had said about the tabaxi.
The tabaxi's name was Bag of Nails. Zartan said he knew Bag of Nails well and had been trained by Bag of Nails in the use of a longbow. The two had hunted together many times and had fought against many fearsome predators in Chult.
But Zartan said he knew the tabaxi was getting old. He began to notice some time ago that Bag of Nails's demeanor was changing. One day, the old hunter nearly attacked Zartan when the jungle lord came to pay a visit to his mentor.
Zartan said he had not seen Bag of Nails since the tabaxi hunter left his lair, an old cave, near the Kobold Mountains to the west. That was nearly three seasons ago. Zartan spent the next few days searching for the old hunter but eventually lost his tracks.
The group felt sorry for Zartan's loss and offered their condolences.
They realized senility had taken hold of Bag of Nails.
Sadly, as his condition grew worse, Bag of Nails began seeing everyone as his prey.
Zartan, along with help from the others, gave his old mentor a proper burial in the ruins and bid his old friend farewell.
Bag of Nails was buried with his bow. However, Bolte took the tabaxi's handcrafted arrows, along with his custom-made quiver which held a poison-filled receptacle at the bottom. Bag of Nail's studded leather armor was given to Atwix.
Zartan didn't mind the group acquiring the items if it would help them.
After a solemn ceremony led by Alice, the group moved on in hopes of finding another puzzle cube before sundown.
They knew they only had twenty days left before Syndra Silvane died from the effects of the death curse.
They hoped twenty days would be enough time to save her.
Session played on February 25, 2021
Bag of Nails (Tabaxi Hunter)
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