Session 38 - Safari

20 Klarmont 1010 - 22 Klarmont 1010

General Summary

The party arrives at Kobos with beautiful weather, and a gentle breeze off the coast free of Kal-Maru. They settle right in to tourism activities. Immediately off the boat they find a local selling coconuts (expertly prepared for drinking), and everyone orders one. Tork and Seraphina head up the beach to a Luau, and are able to participate in the show, Leo and Elincia do a little shopping, buying a couple pretty feathers for their outfits.
Stavos stops by the tourism center to find any information on Benny Roubitou, the guide for the famous hunter, Regino Decimine, whom rumors said came to this island. The tourism clerk was unaware of this story, but is a young lad, so may not know of the story; he does give Stavos a rundown on some other things such as the tournament to become King and Queen of Ierendi. He suggests that Stavos check at Sambella's, which is at the northwest corner of town. Leaving the building, he passes by Leo and Elincia, who join him.
They find that Sambella himself is at the counter, and he gives Stavos a rundown on different safari options, including big game hunting and sightseeing tours. Stavos inquires about Benny Roubitou, and the big game hunter. Sambella calls for one of his guides, Kai, who was a porter 10 years ago on that expedition. It is clear that Sambella and Kai place the blame for the fiasco on the hunter's shoulders, as he was not honest about his intentions on that adventure. He was ill prepared for what he set out to do, and overly self confident. During the conversation Stavos sizes up Kai and finds he is experienced, but not a swordsman like himself.
After some discussion regarding the specific requests of the party, and explaining that there are five adventurers, Sambella prepares a tour for them led by Kai. They will depart up the river the next day, stay the night in the village of Pupami, then strike out for Mount Boanga, where they will be brought to the head of the valley of the Yuan-Ti. The agency will prepare pack animals and the necessary food for the adventure. The party will be on their own once they arrive at valley, and Kai will stay at the camp to await their return. The Yuan-Ti are apparently a degenerated native group that had been worshipping some sort of snake demon. Once there was trade with this village, but contact has been lost for a very long time, and the area is avoided.
During all this, Tork and Seraphina had walked down the beach, attracted by the sounds of a small celebration. They find a group of tourists reveling to music while staff dig up a fire pit; it is essentially a Kobos luau. Seraphina is fascinated by the drumming and is invited to try her hand at it, which she does an excellent job with. They both also get to try some poi, which is unusual to them, but sweetened enough to be decent. Accosted by the excellent smells of slow pit-roasted pork (reserved for the resort guests) they're driven by their hunger back to town, and find their way to Deiny's just as Stavos, Elincia, and Leo are headed back from Sambella's. They join up and get a table for five, where they splurge a bit on a fancy dinner of the restaurant's specialty "Deiny Leg" along with some local umbrella drinks, and excellent fresh fruit and vegetables. Apparently the "Deiny" is a large, dangerous land bird with vicious claws that can be found throughout the island. Like most creatures on the island, they can be hunted with a proper license. Their dinner is excellent, complete with a dessert of flambéed local bananas, and the food has everyone ready for a rest. Leo decides to stay on land at "The Breeze'', but the rest of the party stays on the ship for the night. They meet at the market for street breakfast before heading to Sambella's together, ready for the adventure.
Their guides have all the preparations ready by noon, and they head to the river to board two outriggers. Kai and his assistant Teemu dip their oars into the water, their strokes appear to be aided by some kind of enchantment to enhance their rowing. Stavos and Seraphina are with Kai. Tork, Elincia, and Leo are with Teemu. As they cruise up the river, they see a wide range of birds, giant Brontos, crocodiles, and even some Deinys. The wildlife is quite impressive and probably dangerous, though the trip up river is uneventful, allowing the party to continue their vacation experience.
In Pupami, their guides take care of everything. At dinner they enjoy even fresher fruit here, along with excellent pork. The next morning the guides prepare a "Bonehead" to serve as pack animal with all the provisions and camp gear. Leo feeds a bit of fruit to the animal, making fast friends. Sadly, the weather is a bit wetter today, so not quite perfect travel conditions, but they are once again enjoying the exotic scenery. They see more exotic large lizard variants and, as they are headed a bit north along a river, they see a small herd of Brontos grazing along the shore ahead and to the east, and Kai freezes. Most of the party at this point also notices several large hunting dinos at the edge of the jungle to their Northwest. Unsure what to do, they take their lead from Kai, and stay still, hoping the "Red Devils" do not see them.
The Red Devils charge out of the woods toward the Brontos, but misjudge the distance, as the Brontos are able to move away from the shore, into safe, deeper waters, grouping up for defense. Disappointed by their failure, the ambushers turn and, unfortunately, notice the party, misjuding them as a potential tasty morsel. As they charge, the party goes into full combat mode, unsure of how tough these creatures will be. Leo lays out a 30 foot radius area of Sickening Radiance between the Red Devils and the party, just as the monsters charge. Most of them are affected by the spell, and the party actually does a remarkable job of overmatching them. Unfortunately two of the creatures are killed by the spell, since Leo did not take it down in time believing that the danger of the remaining behemoths was higher than it turned out to be. This, of course, will lead to retroactive hunting license fees and fines. Thankfully these are not endangered species, so the fines are manageable with the party funds. Since they will be paying for the kills either way, Tork and Elincia expertly skin the animals, and Tork takes teeth to make a necklace
After that, the party has an uneventful trip to the head of the Yuan-Ti valley. They make camp, and stay in Leomund's Tiny Hut, able to stay dry through the night and enjoy the feel of being outside with limited risk. They do hear ape-like sounds in the night, and Kai warns that these "Su", which are known to be dangerous sometimes, so the party should be wary of them.
The party plans to head into the valley of the Yuan-Ti the next morning, as the adventure continues!

Character(s) interacted with

Chandy Sambella Kai

Report Date

29 Jan 2021