Firefinger

30 Marpenoth, The Year of Twelve Warnings (1494 DR)
Day 18 of 79
Firefinger Signal Tower, Chult


Perne Salhana, one of the two captains in Camp Vengeance, asked Nip'hto and Atwix to undertake an important mission for her.
For a reward, she offered them the same Bag of Holding she offered the entire group if they would kill King T'Kal, the tyrannosaurus rex that had recently been attacking the camp. However, the adventurers felt they weren’t strong enough to take on the fearsome dinosaur.
Captain Salhana asked if they would travel to Firefinger. She said Firefinger was an ancient Chultan signal tower located several miles east across the river Soshentar. Before the Spellplague toppled them, many such towers were used to send messages between cities via colored flames at night or colored smoke during the day. Firefinger was one of the few still standing in Chult, if not the only one.
However, it seemed Firefinger had been taken over by a flock of pterafolk that preyed on hunters and explorers along the river. She added that three of her scouts had been killed by the pterafolk that hunt as far as the river. She asked the two to clear Firefinger of any pterafolk lairing in it.
Captain Salhana said if captured, Firefinger would make a great observation post. On a clear day, one could possibly see as far as 10 miles in all directions from atop its 300-foot-high vantage point.
Nip'hto asked if he and Atwix could try diplomacy with the pterafolk. Captain Salhana said she doubted the "terror folks" as they were known would be diplomatic but they could try. If successful, she told Nip'hto to pass on to the pterafolk jleader she could trade food with them if they would stop the attacks.

***

Atwix and Nip'hto left the camp leaving Alice, the cleric, to stay behind and help tend to the sick soldiers in camp. Bolte stayed to help Alice and keep an eye on her safety. The group didn't entirely trust Don Bonespur and the rest of the Order of the Gauntlet in Camp Vengeance.
The two adventurers made their way to the tower which was easily visible through the thick jungle canopy. They were able to avoid being spotted by any pterafolk patrolling the area.

When they were close enough, they saw the tower and was impressed by its height. Rising high above the jungle canopy was a 300-foot-tall, naturally formed spire of rock with smoke issuing from a flaming beacon at the top of it. The walls of the spire were sheer and dotted with small caves. Frail-looking ladders hung from narrow ledges at various heights along the tower's steep walls.
As the two circled the tower to find any other means of reaching the top besides the rickety ladders they saw, they discovered several bodies in the jungle around the spire. They found the body of a male elf lying in the mud. Most of his limbs were broken. His ribcage was crushed. Broken twigs and torn leaves were stuck in what was left of his clothes. The dead elf was stripped of anything valuable on him.
In other areas nearby, they found more bodies near the base of the tower. At first, they thought the unfortunate explorers may have fallen to their deaths after falling off the ladders. However, the grisly truth became more apparent based on how far from the spire the bodies were and how none of them had any of their gear or weapons on them.
It was clear the explorers had been captured, stripped of their valuables, then mercilessly tossed off the top of the tower, or an equally great height, to their deaths.
Nip'hto and Atwix decided to try and get the attention of one of the pterafolks that would occasionally take flight from atop the spire.
The elf ranger lit a torch and waved it frantically to get any of the pterafolk's attention. Soon a lone pterafolk came flying down and began to circle them both looking to see if there were any others with them. Satisfied there weren't any, the pterafolk landed on a huge rock nearby.
Nip'hto and Atwix, along with the others, had encountered a small group of pterafolks on the way to Camp Righteous. Seeing another one this close still amazed them both. This particular one stood about 10-feet tall and had a 20-foot wingspan. It held a thick javelin in one claw, clearly used for a single range attack. The monstrosity's rows of needlelike teeth and sharp claws could easily rend prey to pieces by the looks of them.
Nip'hto lowered his bow but was ready to plant an arrow into the thing if necessary. "I don't know if you can understand me," he said. "We're here from Camp Vengeance. The Order of the Gauntlet wants you to stop attacking travelers in the area. In return, they offer to provide you with any food and supplies your kind needs."
The pterafolk tilted its head from side to side. "I cannot speak for our leader, N'rak," it said as it eyed Atwix while drooling. "I haven't seen your kind before, elf. Does your dark meat taste good? I bet it does."
"Go tell N'rak we want to speak with him," Nip'hto said.
The pterafolk looked around again, seemingly suspicious of possibly getting ambushed. It started to flap its huge wings. "I will return," the thing said. "Don't go anywhere, dark meat."
Minutes later, the pterafolk they spoke with came diving down from the spire along with another of its kind. Both had their javelins poised to throw at the ranger and the fighter who also were ready with bows in hands.
"I don't think our negotiation was convincing," Atwix said.
"It was rather short-lived," Nip'hto said.
Before the new pterafolk could hurl its javelin, Nip'hto let loose three arrows. One tore through the thing's left wing. Two buried themselves deep in the reptilian biped's chest. Dead, it fell nearly 100 feet to the ground. All of its fragile bones broke on impact.
"You sure you don't want to try convincing N'rak to talk to us?" Nip'hto yelled to the one they met earlier who immediately changed direction and flew back up to the top of the spire.
The two adventurers hid themselves and waited for N'rak to arrive.
Nearly half an hour passed and there were no signs of any pterafolks coming down from the spire.
Realizing that diplomacy was over, the two waited until nightfall before ascending the 60-foot ladder clinging on the south face of the spire. The ascent was dangerous and slow considering how old and worn the ladder was.
When they reached the top of the ladder, they saw a small cave and entered it. A large pit, some 10-feet deep, dominated the small cave. Across the pit, some fifteen feet on the other side of the pit, a narrow tunnel led deeper into the cave.
Atwix threw some rocks down into the pit. Suddenly, four hairy spiders began to slowly emerge out of crevices the spiders used as nests.
The drow fighter easily slid down the side of the pit to fight the spiders while Nip'hto rained deadly arrows down from above.
Moments later, with all four spiders dead, the two made their way through the narrow tunnel on the either side.
There they saw a narrow rock chimney that led up some 90 feet to another cave above. Tying ropes around their waists again, just as they had during their first ascent, the two slowly climbed their way up.
When Nip'hto was near the top, he lost his grip. He fell thirty feet down and landed hard on top of Atwix who, seeing his friend fall, braced himself in hopes of preventing them both from falling all the way to the bottom some 60 feet below.
"Get your arse out of my face," Atwix yelled.
Nip'hto pulled himself higher up the narrow chimney. "Thanks for stopping us both, or our arses and faces would have been splattered on the ground below," the ranger said.
Slowly, the two continued their climb and emerged into another small cave. Another narrow tunnel led farther into the cave.
As they followed the tunnel, they suddenly heard the familiar buzzing and flapping sounds of stirges flying towards them!
Several breaths later, the encounter was over.
Although they were able to kill all of the stirges, the fight almost cost Atwix his life. Nip'hto himself did not come out of the fight with the stirges unscathed.
Tired and wounded with no healing potions available, the two decided to search the cave then rest for several hours.
While searching, they found the remains of a female human explorer who like the other dead bodies they found below had been stripped of her belongings. The corpse looked as though it may have been there for months. The two assumed the explorer may have managed to escape from the pterafolks and had made it this far before falling prey to the stirges. Her desiccated corpse was slumped along the northern wall of the stirges' chamber, and the glint of gold and gems could be seen through tattered clothing and a rotting purse.
The two recovered 15 gp, a gold and carnelian ring worth they figured was worth 60 gp, and two onyx figurines they assumed were worth 50 gp each.
"Based on the corpse and the stirges, I don't think the pterafolks use this cave," Atwix said. "Which makes it a perfect place for us to rest and recover before going further."
Nip'hto agreed and sat down on the stone floor, thankful they both had survived their ascent of the spire so far.
But Nip'hto also knew they had only made it halfway up the spire. They still had a long way to climb before reaching the top.

Session played on November 25, 2020

Pterafolk