Adventure Log, Session 10 The Journey Back to Port Karn
General Summary
The Servitor was dead, as were the priests, and their protectors…all that were left were some scared, leaderless cultists. Mystic Mists had been cast in two areas: one at the top of the stairs to the lower level, where the remaining cultists were located, and one in the kitchen, which is where everyone camped out to rest and sleep through the night, laying their sleeping furs on the stone floor or on the wooden tables. At one point during the night, Mr. Wiggles thought he heard something, growled, and the sounds went away.
They had spent the evening before divvying up the treasure they had collected up to that point, and Elitheris traded the gold-hilted, emerald-pommeled rondel dagger for the broken, enchanted Elven one.
Eykit, for some reason, agreed to this. They had accumulated some money, some gems, several things worth selling, some armor, several weapons, and 23 Shards. Taid, Eykit, and Elitheris spent some time figuring out how to safely see if any of the Shards would join together, and all of them felt the desire and drive to do so, but eventually figured out that all of the Shards in the hands of the cult would likely have been tried together already. Which, in fact, they had, as evidenced by the fact that none reacted to each other.
Shards were known to have some rather odd effects. The main one, and the one that made the possession of them so enticing, was the chance that they might give off a magical effect when they interact with other Shards. The other effect was the fact that people seemed to obsess over them. And the more someone had, the greater the desire. And if they had a large cluster of connected pieces, the drive could be overwhelming, driving people to do things that they wouldn’t normally do. It could turn into an addiction.
It’s also what drove the Game of Shards. People being who they are, the desire to join the Shards together became codified. The game was played by two people, each with their Shards. They alternate placing one of their Shards on the table: if it connects to another Shard, they win all the Shards laid on the table. The player can also remove one of their Shards, taking it out of play, to either hold onto it, or perhaps connect to an opposing Shard laid on the table later.
When the Shards come together, magical energy is released. The effect seems to be random. Sometimes it affects a single person, sometimes everyone in a certain area. It seems to vary, although scholars have determined that the larger the cluster of Shards, the greater the effect. One time it might make everyone within six feet have pink hair. Or it might cause the table to turn into slime. Or cause an explosion. One time it apparently gave someone Magery, or so the rumors said. Some of the effects are beneficial; other times, not so much. But it hasn’t deterred players from taking that risk.
Morning came, and Taid cast another healing spell on both Mr. Wiggles and Eykit. Mr. Wiggles wagged his tail, licking Taid’s face sloppily. Eykit, for his part, was glad to not have to use a crutch for support. The contusions and bruises on his leg were just a colorful collection of splotches, and his leg worked fine.
The first order of business was to check on the cultists. They were gone. Apparently, they had managed to get through the first Mystic Mist, and, upon seeing the second Mystic Mist flooding the hallway near the mess hall they turned around and went the other way, climbing the stairs and getting the hell away from the three murdering wanderers who had slaughtered all of their friends, companions, and religious leaders, not to mention their god’s servant, and freed all of the gifts they had gathered for their god as well. And they had made it seem so easy to do all of that killing. The fervent believers wanted nothing to do with them, and got the hell out of the temple and disappeared into the jungle. The dangers of the wild jungle were a safer bet than the three killing machines.
The freed slaves, after a filling meal and the first safe night’s sleep they had had in weeks, left early in the morning. They could be heard talking about the boat, and they seemed to think they might be able to get to it and ride it downriver until they got back to either the road, or the sea, either of which would take them back to civilization.
The three heroes spent the morning searching the temple. They started at the bottom, going back into the main chamber where the bodies, and parts of bodies, lay strewn about, the air thick with the smell of blood and voided bowels. Good thing there was a drain in the floor….
They lifted the hinged drain, it was heavy, but Taid showed off his strength and one-armed it up and it flipped over, hitting the stone floor with a raucous clang. They peered into the six foot wide hole. It went down about ten feet before widening out into a larger room, the perimeter of which was hidden in the gloom and the humungous pile of wet bones. This would seem to be not only the bones of the recent sacrifices, but also the ancient remains of the sacrifices made millennia ago. No one wanted to go in there. Any treasure that may have been down there could stay down there.
Elitheris spent some time looking at the bas reliefs. Eykit had spent some time looking at them the night before, but hadn’t really been able to figure them out. Elitheris decided to spend some time searching for secret doors and hidden passages, and when she didn’t find any, examined the carvings on the wall. It took her a couple of hours, but she managed to piece together some of the history of the place.
There were three parts to the bas reliefs. The outside parts seemed to be much older than the center section, which was inset about six inches and carved in a different style, as if by a different artist. Those outer parts showed scenes of everyday life in Gijak Balorat, people working, farming, smithing, dancing, going to war, and sacrificing war prisoners. There were several scenes of blood sacrifice, all appeasing Kruge, the Earth Warden. There seemed to be a very good reason that Gijak Balorat translated to “Blood Green”. According to the carvings, Kruge appreciated the sacrifices, and favored the inhabitants of Gijak Balorat.
The center section described what could only be the Thing in the Crystal. The Servitor of Ghebbiloth, as the cult called it.
Ghebbiloth was one of the Chaos Gods, symbolizing destruction, nihilism, malevolence, and callousness. The carvings described how the Entity attacked neighboring Orc nations, slaughtering hundreds. Refugees flooded into neighboring towns and nations, including Gijak Balorat, fleeing the creature. The Entity was systematically destroying Orc town after Orc town. The citizens of Gijak Balorat prayed to Kruge, their patron deity, to protect them. He did, by giving the priests a method to trap the creature. However, the only way to do that was to use the blood of sacrifices to form a lattice that would entice and trap the marauding creature.
The creature soon got to Gijak Balorat, and started killing the townsfolk. The streets ran with blood, like a tide or flood. The entrapment ceremony began, as did the bloodletting of the sacrifices. This also attracted the creature, and it made its way to the temple, killing anyone within reach on the way. It came to the lower chamber, where the ceremony encased it in the blood lattice crystal. What is apparently the last scene was either a large feast, or a mass funeral. It was hard to tell.
Taid cut off the Servitor’s head, taking the fifty pound mass of obsidian-like material and loading it onto Clyde, the pack mule lent to them by Kylen, the Priest of Mithras. Then they combed through all of the priests’ bedrooms, searching for any other loot that might be valuable. Once that was complete, they made preparations to finally leave the old Orcish temple.
They loaded up on travel rations, scavenged from the remains of the food in the kitchen, each of them taking three days worth of food, and putting another six to seven days worth on Clyde. The pack mule earned his keep, carrying their packs, their loot, a Dwarf-sized steel corselet, a great helm, a brigandine, a chain shirt, a bundle of ten swords, and a second bundle, this one consisting of five Tondene hooked hewing spears.
They headed out, going north, using remaining half of the day to get as far away from the temple as possible. Elitheris found a suitable camping spot, in the lee of an overhanging rock face that would provide a bit of extra shelter. She felt it best that since Taid had the Mystic Mist, she should look for comfortable sites with a good sightline, so they could see enemies coming. They themselves would be hidden in the impenetrable fog of the Mist. They wouldn’t have to worry about predators; those would bypass the Mystic Mist, as would any other wild animal. There was still the worry about those cultists, however. They might come back with revenge on their minds.
Once the Mystic Mist was up, they lit a fire. Not because they needed warmth; it was summer, and the temperature never dropped below 70 degrees. But the heat was useful to dry out their clothes and equipment. The last thing they wanted was constantly wet feet, foot sores, or infections.
The cultists never showed; they had an uneventful night, and set out in the morning after some breakfast of traveler’s rations. It was cold food, but filling, and provided the energy needed to hike their way through the jungle. In some places, the jungle was thick, and they had to take time to chop their way through it. It was raining, and the ground was slick with mud and wet roots. They had to skirt around bogs and marshes, not wanting to risk the stagnant waters. Under the canopy, with an overcast, cloudy, rain filled sky, the tree trunks looked like disordered columns holding up a blackish green ceiling. Undergrowth was clumpy, occasionally thick, but always the footing was treacherous, forcing them to find alternate routes all too often.
By midday, Elitheris knew that they were not where she expected them to be. The jungle had swallowed them up. She swore, disappointed in herself. Nothing in the area looked familiar, and the river that they were expecting to reach never appeared. Small streams were common, runoff from the nearly daily rains, but nothing like the navigable river they had followed on the way into the jungle. They pressed on, hoping to find a landmark that they recognized. Or at least a sense in which direction to head towards.
Later that day, the undergrowth got thick, and they had to cut their way through it. Their pace slowed to a crawl. Then, all of a sudden, they broke through into a clearing maybe fifty paces across, and relatively flat. A tree had been cut down, and the trunk had been carved into an abstract, runic design. Around it the area was littered with bones, some human, mostly animal. The skulls, both of the humanoid and the animals, were painted, and arranged in a regular way. As they moved into the open space, both Elitheris and Taid felt the fluctuation in the local mana fields. It was, they determined, a high mana zone. Neither had any spells that they needed cast, so they weren’t able to make use of the locally higher ambient mana.
Elitheris climbed up into a tree, practically running up the trunk in a display of what must have been anti-gravity, or perhaps she was part squirrel. Elf-magic. Must have been. She peered down from her higher vantage point. The painted skulls were arranged in a pentagram, spots of bright color in a lumpy sea of ivory white bones. As no one really had Magical Ritual, Occult, or even Thaumatology, no one was able to tell what all of the bones were for*.
No one was there, besides them. But the area was rather creepy, what with all the skulls and bones and all, so Taid cast a Sense Danger spell, but there didn’t seem to be any danger there. They moved on, chalking up the area to just being an interesting find. If they can find it again, it might be a useful place to hang out.
It was starting to get dark, so Elitheris looked for a suitable campsite. She found one, and it seemed as if someone had had the same idea. There were the signs of a campsite already there: a circle of stone with burned wood and ashes in it, signs of activity all over the scuffed earth, and a horse, tied to a tree. The area around it was denuded, anything edible nibbled away over the last few days. The ribs were starting to show; the horse had been tied to this tree for several days, at least. A saddle lay on a fallen tree trunk, a dozen feet away, set there by whomever had never come back for the horse. No horse owner in their right mind would leave a horse like that. People who own horses know both how to take care of them, and they know that horses are very valuable.
Eykit fed the horse some of the oats they had for Clyde. It ate them greedily; they were much more suitable than the leaves and bark of the tree and surrounding bushes. The band gained another animal, making a total of three, one for everyone. Using Clyde’s currycomb on the matted animal made it feel much better. It wasn’t a war horse; it seemed to have the demeanor of a riding horse, likely civilian, or perhaps a non-combat military horse, like those used for logistic purposes. There was no brand on it, and it’s harness was simple but well-made. So it wasn’t likely a noble’s steed. Perhaps a merchant’s horse? Or perhaps one from the stable of a rich horse breeder, taken on a joy ride by an idle son, who then got lost in the jungle. No matter, Wilbur, as the horse became named, was theirs now.
Taid again cast Mystic Mist, and the night was uneventful until the last shift, which Taid covered. He was tired, and the night was as quiet as it could be, considering that it was a jungle, and thus there was always a fairly loud background hum of ambient noise. Enough to at least occasionally make conversation difficult. His eyes kept closing, and there was nothing in the jungle that seemed to be interested in invading the scary mist that protected them. He pinched himself, and slapped his face, to keep his eyes open. Neither tactic seemed to help. He stood, figuring that if he kept moving, kept the blood flowing, it would keep him more alert. He paced around the campsite, until his foot slipped on a wet root, rolling his ankle and spraining it. Cursing his bad luck, he cast a Minor Healing spell, and the pain in his ankle went away. It hadn’t done much damage, but it would have been an inconvenience while traveling. At least I’m awake now, he thought, ruefully. Stupid third watch. Annoying things always happen on the third watch!
Morning came shortly after Taid repaired his damaged ankle, although the light was minimal due to the jungle canopy and the rain clouds that covered the sky in a dark, mostly unseen blanket. The ground was mucky, their boots sinking an inch or two into the mud with each step. The rain never let up all day. The soft ground sucked at the feet, threatening to pull their boots off if they weren’t careful. Temporary streams, caused by runoff, made it even more difficult to travel than usual.
In the afternoon, they heard a thrashing noise as a great tree toppled in front of them, the limbs and branches flailing in all directions as they slammed through the surrounding trees in a cloud of splinters and leaves. The soft ground had given way, the shallow roots no longer able to keep the tree anchored. No one was hurt, but it could have been disastrous had anyone slipped or lost their footing while getting out of the way. They would have gotten trapped beneath the fallen giant. They led the mule and horse around the fallen tree. Mr. Wiggles sniffed at the branches, but didn’t tarry too long before bounding after the humanoids.
Again, they camped, still with no real idea of exactly where they were. They headed off in the dim dawn light, primarily going down slope, hoping to find a recognizable landmark, or at least get a glimpse of the sun. But it was still overcast when it wasn’t raining.
Later that morning, they heard a series of barks, growls, and roars, coming from up ahead of them, past some dense undergrowth. They stop in their tracks, hoping they hadn’t been seen by whatever the creature was. Elitheris climbs a tree to see what is going on. In a small clearing between the columnar trunks of the trees, was a dead deer. Standing over it was a bear, its brown fur bristling, its lips pulled back in a feral snarl. Around it were a half dozen wolves, snarling and growling, apparently also interested in that dead deer. Perhaps they figured why hunt something when they could just take it from a bear?
The group moves around them, giving the carnivores a very wide berth. There was no reason to get into the middle of that. It would just be asking for trouble. No need to get a third party involved in the debate over who got to eat the deer. They gave them several hundred yards of space, just to be on the safe side.
That afternoon, the clouds finally broke a bit, and Elitheris was able to get a good bearing on what direction they should be heading in. They turned north. Another campsite, but their spirits were revived with the knowledge that they were no longer technically lost. They had a direction, and they all knew that the vast area around Port Karn was rather hard to miss, now that they knew which direction it was in. Elitheris was also pretty sure that it would only take another day and a half to get to the “civilized” farmland area. She also was pretty sure that they would come out of the jungle somewhere near Donnington.
But the jungle wasn’t about to make it easy.
The morning was still overcast, but not as thickly as the previous days. And it had finally stopped raining. The ground was still wet and muddy, and drops cascaded from the upper canopies onto their heads, but it was nothing like the miserable slog it had been before. Elitheris was walking along, weaving her way around the thicker clumps of undergrowth, seeking the path of a least less resistance.
The next thing she knew, she was falling backwards onto the muddy earth, yelping in surprise. Something was pulling on her ankle, and she could now feel it tightening around her foot. She was being dragged, pulled into the undergrowth to her right, the branches slapping at her face. She pulled out her knife, trying to see what it was that had her. It was a vine, animated and strong, and she slashed at it, trying to make it let go. The blade cut into it, but it was woody and tough, and didn’t cut easily.
“Crap! What was that?!” Eykit cried. “Elitheris!” He steeled himself, knowing that to flee would result in the possibility that Elitheris might die. He pulled out his knife just as tendrils wrapped around his ankle and his upper thigh at the groin. The vines pulled on Eykit too, and the Goblin stumbled and fell over as they dragged him through the brush.
The dog was barking and growling at the bushes, his tail low, his forequarters in a ready crouch. Vines swayed above him, and he was dancing back and forth trying to avoid them snapping at them occasionally.
Taid readied his halberd as more of the tendrils attacked Eykit. With an oath and a grunt, he cleaved the vine at Eykit’s ankle, severing it, the cut tendril pulling itself back through the bushes and out of sight in what could have been a pain response, were it not vegetable in nature. In response, a pair of vines snapped out, trying to grab the Dwarf, but a combination of movement and the enchantments on his armor deflected them, keeping them from getting a hold on him.
Elitheris continued to get pulled through the bushes, emerging out the other side. She could now see the thing that had attacked her. It was a large Venus flytrap-like lifeform with eight foot long pale green digester pads, hinged on one side, with the interlocking “teeth” on the other. The trunk was deep green, squat, and about six feet around. More than a dozen greenish brown tendrils waved about, ready to grab onto any victim they could. There were a dozen sets of digester flytraps, and one was moving down to receive Elitheris when the tendrils dragged her close enough. It was colloquially known as a Man Trap plant, a large, animated version of the venus flytrap. It’s root system acted as a sensor net, detecting minute changes in pressure and vibration, allowing it to use its tendrils to attack, grab, and drag victims close enough to “eat” with the hinged traps that stuck out on all sides of its trunk.
There wasn’t much time, it was strong, and although she fought it, it continued to drag her bodily towards its central stem and cluster of giant flytraps. She concentrated, focused the mana, said the magic words and twisted her hands into the required gestures, and cast a Create Fire spell on the central stem. It erupted into flame; Elitheris had made the affected area about eight feet in diameter, enough to completely encompass the central stem. The once slow waving about of the digester pads turned into something a bit more spastic, almost looking like the plant was panicking. It didn’t stop the pulling of the vine; and Elitheris worried that maybe enveloping it in fire was a bad idea as she was pulled toward the inferno.
Eykit tried cutting the tendril on his upper leg, but he barely cut into it at all. His arm got hung up in the bushes as he was being dragged, and it interfered with his strike. It wouldn’t have mattered, as two more vines wrapped about his body: one at his lower leg, one on his neck. Eykit’s eyes bulged as he realized he might be suffocated as the one on his neck squeezed, cutting off his air.
Taid strode through the bushes, leading with his halberd low, sidestepping a pair of flailing tendrils. The plant seemed to be concentrating on the two morsels it had, rather than trying to figure out where a third morsel was. The thrashing victims’ dragged bodies were perhaps confusing the pressure sensitive root network. The Dwarf pushed his way through the undergrowth, and emerged on the other side. He could see the giant carnivorous plant. It was big, and apparently had been well fed.
He could see two more tendrils lash out and wrap themselves around the Elf, dragging her even faster to the open and waiting hinged pads. They looked something like eyelids, but without an eye, and they closed around Elitheris. Taid could hear her screaming for help as she struggled against the plant’s vegetable musculature, one leg sticking out and kicking uselessly.
Eykit could see the plant now, too. It was on fire, and he was being dragged towards one of those spatulate claw-like digester pads. “But I don’t want to be plant food!” he thought, sawing at the vine around his neck. He would have liked to have shouted it, just for the cathartic value, but he couldn’t breathe. He struggled against the inexorable tugging of the vines as they dragged him through the mud, over roots, and across stones.
It was up to Taid to rescue Elitheris, and he swung the halberd down through the stem that attached the digester pads to the main trunk. It was only eight or nine inches thick, and the halberd bit deep, about two thirds of the way. The weight of the pads, plus their meal, was too much for the damaged stem, and the pads drooped, then crashed into the ground as the remaining part of the stem gave way suddenly.
Elitheris felt her face get wet. It was the only exposed portion of her body, and she could only assume that she was covered in some kind of liquid. It started making her face itch. Whatever digestive chemicals were in it were starting to do their thing.
Eykit’s efforts to cut the vine at his neck finally paid off, and he was able to get a welcome breath. He only had a chance to get that one breath before the plant ate him, the two lobes of the pads closing around him, squeezing him.
Taid got ready to rescue Eykit. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, as Elitheris started to extricate herself from the pads, a little at a time. He also noticed that the mass of flailing tendrils seemed to be less coordinated as the stem burned. The fire had spread to most of the pads, and he didn’t have much time. Eykit was in danger of being both digested and incinerated. Again he chopped down at the stem connecting the pads to the main stem, severing the connection. The pad, with Eykit inside, fell to the ground with a thud.
Elitheris crawled out of the pads, the muscles—or whatever the plant had that simulated them—had more or less relaxed when the stem was severed, so she was able to pull herself out of it. The flailing tendrils dropped to the ground, still, one by one. Her face itched, and burned a bit, almost like she had shaved with a dull razor. The skin was reddened, like a sunburn. After stumbling away from the burning bush, she got out her canteen and flushed the skin of her face, diluting and washing off the caustic chemicals.
Taid helped Eykit out of the plant’s pads, levering them open with the shaft of his halberd. Eykit crawled out, spitting. “Gah! Whatever that stuff is, it’s sour as hell. Blech!” he complained. “And it’s itchy!” He saw Elitheris washing her face, and, getting out his own canteen, did the same.
They watched the plant burn for a while before moving on.
The rest of the day was uneventful, and they again made camp. Elitheris mentioned that the area was seeming pretty familiar, which was a welcome observation. Elitheris and Eykit were able to check the status of their armor, discovering that the plant’s juices hadn’t had enough time to do much damage their gambeson. It was a bit sticky, but rinsing them in a nearby stream, then hanging them near the fire to dry took care of that. Both of them were a bit jealous of Taid, who seemed to avoid getting grabbed almost like he was greased.
They knew they were getting closer to civilization when they wandered through and area of trees, many with red ribbons around the trunks. Usually that meant that those trees were marked for lumber. So they knew that they were close.
They broke out of the jungle and into the hedgerowed fields around midday. The traveling conditions immediately improved, and they quickly made it to the paths and roads between the fields and pastures. By mid afternoon, they were in Donnington. They were really looking forward to a nice bed in a nice inn filled with nice people that weren’t trying to free an abomination.
Just in time, too, as they had run out of traveler’s rations. They were hungry, as they didn’t do much hunting or foraging on the way, and for the last two days they hadn’t eaten as much as they would have liked. Getting lost had added about three days to the trip back from the ziggurat.
They had spent the evening before divvying up the treasure they had collected up to that point, and Elitheris traded the gold-hilted, emerald-pommeled rondel dagger for the broken, enchanted Elven one.
Shards were known to have some rather odd effects. The main one, and the one that made the possession of them so enticing, was the chance that they might give off a magical effect when they interact with other Shards. The other effect was the fact that people seemed to obsess over them. And the more someone had, the greater the desire. And if they had a large cluster of connected pieces, the drive could be overwhelming, driving people to do things that they wouldn’t normally do. It could turn into an addiction.
Morning came, and Taid cast another healing spell on both Mr. Wiggles and Eykit. Mr. Wiggles wagged his tail, licking Taid’s face sloppily. Eykit, for his part, was glad to not have to use a crutch for support. The contusions and bruises on his leg were just a colorful collection of splotches, and his leg worked fine.
The first order of business was to check on the cultists. They were gone. Apparently, they had managed to get through the first Mystic Mist, and, upon seeing the second Mystic Mist flooding the hallway near the mess hall they turned around and went the other way, climbing the stairs and getting the hell away from the three murdering wanderers who had slaughtered all of their friends, companions, and religious leaders, not to mention their god’s servant, and freed all of the gifts they had gathered for their god as well. And they had made it seem so easy to do all of that killing. The fervent believers wanted nothing to do with them, and got the hell out of the temple and disappeared into the jungle. The dangers of the wild jungle were a safer bet than the three killing machines.
The freed slaves, after a filling meal and the first safe night’s sleep they had had in weeks, left early in the morning. They could be heard talking about the boat, and they seemed to think they might be able to get to it and ride it downriver until they got back to either the road, or the sea, either of which would take them back to civilization.
The three heroes spent the morning searching the temple. They started at the bottom, going back into the main chamber where the bodies, and parts of bodies, lay strewn about, the air thick with the smell of blood and voided bowels. Good thing there was a drain in the floor….
They lifted the hinged drain, it was heavy, but Taid showed off his strength and one-armed it up and it flipped over, hitting the stone floor with a raucous clang. They peered into the six foot wide hole. It went down about ten feet before widening out into a larger room, the perimeter of which was hidden in the gloom and the humungous pile of wet bones. This would seem to be not only the bones of the recent sacrifices, but also the ancient remains of the sacrifices made millennia ago. No one wanted to go in there. Any treasure that may have been down there could stay down there.
Elitheris spent some time looking at the bas reliefs. Eykit had spent some time looking at them the night before, but hadn’t really been able to figure them out. Elitheris decided to spend some time searching for secret doors and hidden passages, and when she didn’t find any, examined the carvings on the wall. It took her a couple of hours, but she managed to piece together some of the history of the place.
There were three parts to the bas reliefs. The outside parts seemed to be much older than the center section, which was inset about six inches and carved in a different style, as if by a different artist. Those outer parts showed scenes of everyday life in Gijak Balorat, people working, farming, smithing, dancing, going to war, and sacrificing war prisoners. There were several scenes of blood sacrifice, all appeasing Kruge, the Earth Warden. There seemed to be a very good reason that Gijak Balorat translated to “Blood Green”. According to the carvings, Kruge appreciated the sacrifices, and favored the inhabitants of Gijak Balorat.
The center section described what could only be the Thing in the Crystal. The Servitor of Ghebbiloth, as the cult called it.
The creature soon got to Gijak Balorat, and started killing the townsfolk. The streets ran with blood, like a tide or flood. The entrapment ceremony began, as did the bloodletting of the sacrifices. This also attracted the creature, and it made its way to the temple, killing anyone within reach on the way. It came to the lower chamber, where the ceremony encased it in the blood lattice crystal. What is apparently the last scene was either a large feast, or a mass funeral. It was hard to tell.
Taid cut off the Servitor’s head, taking the fifty pound mass of obsidian-like material and loading it onto Clyde, the pack mule lent to them by Kylen, the Priest of Mithras. Then they combed through all of the priests’ bedrooms, searching for any other loot that might be valuable. Once that was complete, they made preparations to finally leave the old Orcish temple.
They loaded up on travel rations, scavenged from the remains of the food in the kitchen, each of them taking three days worth of food, and putting another six to seven days worth on Clyde. The pack mule earned his keep, carrying their packs, their loot, a Dwarf-sized steel corselet, a great helm, a brigandine, a chain shirt, a bundle of ten swords, and a second bundle, this one consisting of five Tondene hooked hewing spears.
Once the Mystic Mist was up, they lit a fire. Not because they needed warmth; it was summer, and the temperature never dropped below 70 degrees. But the heat was useful to dry out their clothes and equipment. The last thing they wanted was constantly wet feet, foot sores, or infections.
The cultists never showed; they had an uneventful night, and set out in the morning after some breakfast of traveler’s rations. It was cold food, but filling, and provided the energy needed to hike their way through the jungle. In some places, the jungle was thick, and they had to take time to chop their way through it. It was raining, and the ground was slick with mud and wet roots. They had to skirt around bogs and marshes, not wanting to risk the stagnant waters. Under the canopy, with an overcast, cloudy, rain filled sky, the tree trunks looked like disordered columns holding up a blackish green ceiling. Undergrowth was clumpy, occasionally thick, but always the footing was treacherous, forcing them to find alternate routes all too often.
By midday, Elitheris knew that they were not where she expected them to be. The jungle had swallowed them up. She swore, disappointed in herself. Nothing in the area looked familiar, and the river that they were expecting to reach never appeared. Small streams were common, runoff from the nearly daily rains, but nothing like the navigable river they had followed on the way into the jungle. They pressed on, hoping to find a landmark that they recognized. Or at least a sense in which direction to head towards.
No one was there, besides them. But the area was rather creepy, what with all the skulls and bones and all, so Taid cast a Sense Danger spell, but there didn’t seem to be any danger there. They moved on, chalking up the area to just being an interesting find. If they can find it again, it might be a useful place to hang out.
It was starting to get dark, so Elitheris looked for a suitable campsite. She found one, and it seemed as if someone had had the same idea. There were the signs of a campsite already there: a circle of stone with burned wood and ashes in it, signs of activity all over the scuffed earth, and a horse, tied to a tree. The area around it was denuded, anything edible nibbled away over the last few days. The ribs were starting to show; the horse had been tied to this tree for several days, at least. A saddle lay on a fallen tree trunk, a dozen feet away, set there by whomever had never come back for the horse. No horse owner in their right mind would leave a horse like that. People who own horses know both how to take care of them, and they know that horses are very valuable.
Eykit fed the horse some of the oats they had for Clyde. It ate them greedily; they were much more suitable than the leaves and bark of the tree and surrounding bushes. The band gained another animal, making a total of three, one for everyone. Using Clyde’s currycomb on the matted animal made it feel much better. It wasn’t a war horse; it seemed to have the demeanor of a riding horse, likely civilian, or perhaps a non-combat military horse, like those used for logistic purposes. There was no brand on it, and it’s harness was simple but well-made. So it wasn’t likely a noble’s steed. Perhaps a merchant’s horse? Or perhaps one from the stable of a rich horse breeder, taken on a joy ride by an idle son, who then got lost in the jungle. No matter, Wilbur, as the horse became named, was theirs now.
Taid again cast Mystic Mist, and the night was uneventful until the last shift, which Taid covered. He was tired, and the night was as quiet as it could be, considering that it was a jungle, and thus there was always a fairly loud background hum of ambient noise. Enough to at least occasionally make conversation difficult. His eyes kept closing, and there was nothing in the jungle that seemed to be interested in invading the scary mist that protected them. He pinched himself, and slapped his face, to keep his eyes open. Neither tactic seemed to help. He stood, figuring that if he kept moving, kept the blood flowing, it would keep him more alert. He paced around the campsite, until his foot slipped on a wet root, rolling his ankle and spraining it. Cursing his bad luck, he cast a Minor Healing spell, and the pain in his ankle went away. It hadn’t done much damage, but it would have been an inconvenience while traveling. At least I’m awake now, he thought, ruefully. Stupid third watch. Annoying things always happen on the third watch!
Morning came shortly after Taid repaired his damaged ankle, although the light was minimal due to the jungle canopy and the rain clouds that covered the sky in a dark, mostly unseen blanket. The ground was mucky, their boots sinking an inch or two into the mud with each step. The rain never let up all day. The soft ground sucked at the feet, threatening to pull their boots off if they weren’t careful. Temporary streams, caused by runoff, made it even more difficult to travel than usual.
In the afternoon, they heard a thrashing noise as a great tree toppled in front of them, the limbs and branches flailing in all directions as they slammed through the surrounding trees in a cloud of splinters and leaves. The soft ground had given way, the shallow roots no longer able to keep the tree anchored. No one was hurt, but it could have been disastrous had anyone slipped or lost their footing while getting out of the way. They would have gotten trapped beneath the fallen giant. They led the mule and horse around the fallen tree. Mr. Wiggles sniffed at the branches, but didn’t tarry too long before bounding after the humanoids.
Again, they camped, still with no real idea of exactly where they were. They headed off in the dim dawn light, primarily going down slope, hoping to find a recognizable landmark, or at least get a glimpse of the sun. But it was still overcast when it wasn’t raining.
Later that morning, they heard a series of barks, growls, and roars, coming from up ahead of them, past some dense undergrowth. They stop in their tracks, hoping they hadn’t been seen by whatever the creature was. Elitheris climbs a tree to see what is going on. In a small clearing between the columnar trunks of the trees, was a dead deer. Standing over it was a bear, its brown fur bristling, its lips pulled back in a feral snarl. Around it were a half dozen wolves, snarling and growling, apparently also interested in that dead deer. Perhaps they figured why hunt something when they could just take it from a bear?
The group moves around them, giving the carnivores a very wide berth. There was no reason to get into the middle of that. It would just be asking for trouble. No need to get a third party involved in the debate over who got to eat the deer. They gave them several hundred yards of space, just to be on the safe side.
That afternoon, the clouds finally broke a bit, and Elitheris was able to get a good bearing on what direction they should be heading in. They turned north. Another campsite, but their spirits were revived with the knowledge that they were no longer technically lost. They had a direction, and they all knew that the vast area around Port Karn was rather hard to miss, now that they knew which direction it was in. Elitheris was also pretty sure that it would only take another day and a half to get to the “civilized” farmland area. She also was pretty sure that they would come out of the jungle somewhere near Donnington.
But the jungle wasn’t about to make it easy.
The morning was still overcast, but not as thickly as the previous days. And it had finally stopped raining. The ground was still wet and muddy, and drops cascaded from the upper canopies onto their heads, but it was nothing like the miserable slog it had been before. Elitheris was walking along, weaving her way around the thicker clumps of undergrowth, seeking the path of a least less resistance.
The next thing she knew, she was falling backwards onto the muddy earth, yelping in surprise. Something was pulling on her ankle, and she could now feel it tightening around her foot. She was being dragged, pulled into the undergrowth to her right, the branches slapping at her face. She pulled out her knife, trying to see what it was that had her. It was a vine, animated and strong, and she slashed at it, trying to make it let go. The blade cut into it, but it was woody and tough, and didn’t cut easily.
“Crap! What was that?!” Eykit cried. “Elitheris!” He steeled himself, knowing that to flee would result in the possibility that Elitheris might die. He pulled out his knife just as tendrils wrapped around his ankle and his upper thigh at the groin. The vines pulled on Eykit too, and the Goblin stumbled and fell over as they dragged him through the brush.
Taid readied his halberd as more of the tendrils attacked Eykit. With an oath and a grunt, he cleaved the vine at Eykit’s ankle, severing it, the cut tendril pulling itself back through the bushes and out of sight in what could have been a pain response, were it not vegetable in nature. In response, a pair of vines snapped out, trying to grab the Dwarf, but a combination of movement and the enchantments on his armor deflected them, keeping them from getting a hold on him.
Elitheris continued to get pulled through the bushes, emerging out the other side. She could now see the thing that had attacked her. It was a large Venus flytrap-like lifeform with eight foot long pale green digester pads, hinged on one side, with the interlocking “teeth” on the other. The trunk was deep green, squat, and about six feet around. More than a dozen greenish brown tendrils waved about, ready to grab onto any victim they could. There were a dozen sets of digester flytraps, and one was moving down to receive Elitheris when the tendrils dragged her close enough. It was colloquially known as a Man Trap plant, a large, animated version of the venus flytrap. It’s root system acted as a sensor net, detecting minute changes in pressure and vibration, allowing it to use its tendrils to attack, grab, and drag victims close enough to “eat” with the hinged traps that stuck out on all sides of its trunk.
Eykit tried cutting the tendril on his upper leg, but he barely cut into it at all. His arm got hung up in the bushes as he was being dragged, and it interfered with his strike. It wouldn’t have mattered, as two more vines wrapped about his body: one at his lower leg, one on his neck. Eykit’s eyes bulged as he realized he might be suffocated as the one on his neck squeezed, cutting off his air.
Taid strode through the bushes, leading with his halberd low, sidestepping a pair of flailing tendrils. The plant seemed to be concentrating on the two morsels it had, rather than trying to figure out where a third morsel was. The thrashing victims’ dragged bodies were perhaps confusing the pressure sensitive root network. The Dwarf pushed his way through the undergrowth, and emerged on the other side. He could see the giant carnivorous plant. It was big, and apparently had been well fed.
He could see two more tendrils lash out and wrap themselves around the Elf, dragging her even faster to the open and waiting hinged pads. They looked something like eyelids, but without an eye, and they closed around Elitheris. Taid could hear her screaming for help as she struggled against the plant’s vegetable musculature, one leg sticking out and kicking uselessly.
Eykit could see the plant now, too. It was on fire, and he was being dragged towards one of those spatulate claw-like digester pads. “But I don’t want to be plant food!” he thought, sawing at the vine around his neck. He would have liked to have shouted it, just for the cathartic value, but he couldn’t breathe. He struggled against the inexorable tugging of the vines as they dragged him through the mud, over roots, and across stones.
It was up to Taid to rescue Elitheris, and he swung the halberd down through the stem that attached the digester pads to the main trunk. It was only eight or nine inches thick, and the halberd bit deep, about two thirds of the way. The weight of the pads, plus their meal, was too much for the damaged stem, and the pads drooped, then crashed into the ground as the remaining part of the stem gave way suddenly.
Elitheris felt her face get wet. It was the only exposed portion of her body, and she could only assume that she was covered in some kind of liquid. It started making her face itch. Whatever digestive chemicals were in it were starting to do their thing.
Eykit’s efforts to cut the vine at his neck finally paid off, and he was able to get a welcome breath. He only had a chance to get that one breath before the plant ate him, the two lobes of the pads closing around him, squeezing him.
Taid got ready to rescue Eykit. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, as Elitheris started to extricate herself from the pads, a little at a time. He also noticed that the mass of flailing tendrils seemed to be less coordinated as the stem burned. The fire had spread to most of the pads, and he didn’t have much time. Eykit was in danger of being both digested and incinerated. Again he chopped down at the stem connecting the pads to the main stem, severing the connection. The pad, with Eykit inside, fell to the ground with a thud.
Elitheris crawled out of the pads, the muscles—or whatever the plant had that simulated them—had more or less relaxed when the stem was severed, so she was able to pull herself out of it. The flailing tendrils dropped to the ground, still, one by one. Her face itched, and burned a bit, almost like she had shaved with a dull razor. The skin was reddened, like a sunburn. After stumbling away from the burning bush, she got out her canteen and flushed the skin of her face, diluting and washing off the caustic chemicals.
Taid helped Eykit out of the plant’s pads, levering them open with the shaft of his halberd. Eykit crawled out, spitting. “Gah! Whatever that stuff is, it’s sour as hell. Blech!” he complained. “And it’s itchy!” He saw Elitheris washing her face, and, getting out his own canteen, did the same.
They watched the plant burn for a while before moving on.
The rest of the day was uneventful, and they again made camp. Elitheris mentioned that the area was seeming pretty familiar, which was a welcome observation. Elitheris and Eykit were able to check the status of their armor, discovering that the plant’s juices hadn’t had enough time to do much damage their gambeson. It was a bit sticky, but rinsing them in a nearby stream, then hanging them near the fire to dry took care of that. Both of them were a bit jealous of Taid, who seemed to avoid getting grabbed almost like he was greased.
They knew they were getting closer to civilization when they wandered through and area of trees, many with red ribbons around the trunks. Usually that meant that those trees were marked for lumber. So they knew that they were close.
They broke out of the jungle and into the hedgerowed fields around midday. The traveling conditions immediately improved, and they quickly made it to the paths and roads between the fields and pastures. By mid afternoon, they were in Donnington. They were really looking forward to a nice bed in a nice inn filled with nice people that weren’t trying to free an abomination.
Rewards Granted
18-fang pendant from High Priest- non magical - “at least” $200 in value, possibly meaningful
Hickory Staff with large potential powerstone ($180 value to most, but mages will pay more)
Pouch of (4) “holy symbols” $570 total (2 silver, 1 gold, 1 gold with rubies)
23 shards - 2 are fused fused pairs
The Servitor’s head
A Book bound in human skin (8 lbs) has writing that looks like gibberish (Meriniri).
“Traveler’s rations” x9 each = 4.5 lbs (for each) (eaten during the journey back to civilization)
Gold: 988 gold from the whole place
330 gold from the division
Room 1 - silver ring, gold ring w sapphire, purse w/ 250, embroidered hanky w/ perfume, which Taid takes
Room 2 - purse - 2 rubies, 2 sapphires, 4 emeralds, 1 topaz, 1 diamond, beaded necklace ($15), purse w/ $40, carving ~$30
Ruby 1 - $30
Ruby 2 - $40
Sapphire 1 - $25
Sapphire 2 - $45
Emerald 1 - $10
Emerald 2 - ?? - more than #1 ($25+)
Emerald 3 - $35
Emerald 4 - ?? ($20-$40?)
Topaz - $15
Diamond - $40
Room 3 - 1 page of notes (Thaumatological?)
Room 4 - journal with last entry of the last week (not taken) ladies’ shoes (taken, Eykit estimates they are worth around $40, or about 2 day's wages)
Room 5 - nothing extra
Room 6 - Nopozu’s room, knife in underwear drawer, unroll cloak and find dagger, chunk of amber with a bug in it worth “something”, spellbook With Ignite Fire, Shape Fire, Create Fire, Fireball, all in Mekiitagi, worth “something”
Room 8 - map of the area showing the old orc towns, and the Port Karn area
High priest room - 2 books, 1 about gods, 1 an old journal (taken), 1 copper athame ($40), belt with a motif of intertwined claws
3 Character points
Hickory Staff with large potential powerstone ($180 value to most, but mages will pay more)
Pouch of (4) “holy symbols” $570 total (2 silver, 1 gold, 1 gold with rubies)
23 shards - 2 are fused fused pairs
The Servitor’s head
A Book bound in human skin (8 lbs) has writing that looks like gibberish (Meriniri).
“Traveler’s rations” x9 each = 4.5 lbs (for each) (eaten during the journey back to civilization)
Gold: 988 gold from the whole place
330 gold from the division
Room 1 - silver ring, gold ring w sapphire, purse w/ 250, embroidered hanky w/ perfume, which Taid takes
Room 2 - purse - 2 rubies, 2 sapphires, 4 emeralds, 1 topaz, 1 diamond, beaded necklace ($15), purse w/ $40, carving ~$30
Ruby 1 - $30
Ruby 2 - $40
Sapphire 1 - $25
Sapphire 2 - $45
Emerald 1 - $10
Emerald 2 - ?? - more than #1 ($25+)
Emerald 3 - $35
Emerald 4 - ?? ($20-$40?)
Topaz - $15
Diamond - $40
Room 3 - 1 page of notes (Thaumatological?)
Room 4 - journal with last entry of the last week (not taken) ladies’ shoes (taken, Eykit estimates they are worth around $40, or about 2 day's wages)
Room 5 - nothing extra
Room 6 - Nopozu’s room, knife in underwear drawer, unroll cloak and find dagger, chunk of amber with a bug in it worth “something”, spellbook With Ignite Fire, Shape Fire, Create Fire, Fireball, all in Mekiitagi, worth “something”
Room 8 - map of the area showing the old orc towns, and the Port Karn area
High priest room - 2 books, 1 about gods, 1 an old journal (taken), 1 copper athame ($40), belt with a motif of intertwined claws
3 Character points
Report Date
28 Feb 2022
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