Session 10a: The Jungle's a Hoot
General Summary
Chomsky and Rubi zip into the darkening jungle, leaving Abarl, Azaka, and Douglass standing among smouldering corpses and dying goblins. Before them, a very angry group of Vegepygmies, a dying goblin queen, and a large, hulking mass of a chieftain who really takes the "pygmy" out of "Vegepygmy."
Azaka looks angry, frustrated, and confused, but leans in and hisses to Douglass. "We should run. Why aren't we running?" Douglass ignores her and tries to placate the Chieftain.
"Oh nooo, the gnomes have probably taken it, I'll go after them and get it back, so uuhhh let's go do that, huh?"
"Dog, we need to leave... NOW."
The Chieftain trails a mouldering hand over - and into - Queen Grabstab, tendrils of fungal hyphae making her twitch and roll her eyes back madly. It's unclear if he does this to read her mind or simply to torture or consume her. He turns a ponderous head to Douglass. "Youuuuu. Liiiiiieeeee." He rumbles.
As angry vegepygmies close in, Azaka finally shouts at Douglass. "RUN!" She bolts for the forest, and finally Douglass does too, wildshaping into an axe-beak. Abarl does not run. Turning to see everyone disappear into the forest faster than he can run, he tightens his claw around his staff and grits his turtley beak...
The gnomes are running at a madcap pace, barely able to see more than 20 feet ahead of them and covering ground fast. Behind them the whoops and hisses of vegepygmies follow, along with a rabid growling and a brief, vicious roar. Dodging brambles, bushes and pitfalls, they plunge headlong down an overgrown path, Rubi spraying protective turkey baste as they go.
Bright, fiery light from the battlefield illuminates the jungle as you hear Abarl screaming "FFFFAAAATHEEEEERRRRRRRRR!" Douglass looks over his feathery shoulder, the axe-beak's long neck able to crane back a full 180 degrees, and sees the tortle silhouetted before an enormous conflagration. As the flames die down Douglass can make out the shadowy, hissing figures of a number of vegepygmies and thornies in hot pursuit. His distraction proves almost disastrous as his foot trips a goblin snare trap, but his speed and lithe axe-beak leg lets him slip out in time. Azaka keeps pace, following the furrow in the ground from Rubi's magically charged sprint.
The gnomes ahead nearly drop into a pit trap, but their speed and a quick reaction flings them across the gap. They slide to a halt briefly, nearly losing their footing. Chomsky turns and gets ready to cast some spells if anyone comes in range, and Rubi levels her turkey baster. Trying to make out the shapes of vegepygmies in the jungle, she squints and lets off a shot with a quick squeeze. The force bolt blasts past the shape of an axe-beak that she assumes to be Douglass - of Azaka there is no sign - and shatters the bough of a tree. With a creaking groan it falls across the path, crushing some of the vegepygmies and causing the others to halt. They quickly clamber over.
Resuming their chase, some find themselves ripped into the trees by more snare traps. The gnomes stand and let off a few more shots. More of the vegepygmies fall, more are taken into the trees, and Douglass pounds off the path and into the jungle. Rubi does some quick calculations. Judging by the approximate weight of the village, angle of the launch and what she could see of the village's parabolic arc, she determined that it should be only a few miles away. With about ten minutes left on both her movement spells, they might be able to reach Rahlg'n by then. Perhaps concerned for the goliath's safety, or just wanting to make the best of this chance, the gnomes bolt into the jungle, their gnomish darkvision letting them see well enough to avoid most of the dangers.
Meanwhile, Douglass loses the vegepygmies and slows his run. Listening carefully to the forest, the hoot of night birds and apes goes silent. Getting ready to run, he hears a rustling in the bushes. Azaka melts out of the dark forest, eyes bright with anger. "Well, we're still going after them, right?"
Meanwhile the gnomes are barrelling through the forest, wind whipping past them. Chomsky on top, being buffeted about calls out hazards as Rubi dodges them with barely inches to spare. Before them looms a sudden steep drop, and Chomsky yells for Rubi to stop. Screeching to a halt so fast that her feet dig through the leaf litter, into the soft loam, and burying Rubi up to her waist in mud, they stop before a small ravine. A creek runs through the middle, and they zip around to ford it elsewhere. Chomsky tries to keep an eye on the moon and stars to navigate, or at least maintain their orientation, while sprinting at such a pace. After several minutes they suddenly burst into a clearing where a herd of Triceratops are sleeping. Woken by the rapid pounding of gnomish feet and perhaps nervous noises from one of either of the gnomes, they spook, starting a stampede of sharpened horns and huge scaled bodies. Some of them charge at the gnomes, who get buffeted and scraped, but aren't knocked down.
The clearing perhaps not being the safest bet, they return to the jungle, but shifting from waning gibbous moon light to forest shadow plays with their eyes. They don't see the bough of a tree coming up before it's too late. The gnomes smash into the tree in a tangle of limbs, landing in a groaning heap in the dirt.
While this is happening, Rahlg'n is in bad shape. Dazed, hearing muffled, ears ringing, vision blurred. He feels numb. His eyes adjust, and his senses come to him gradually. He smells burning meat, fungal, and plant matter. He looks up to see a dazed goblin walking over to a severed arm. It looks like it's meant to be attached to its bleeding stump. It tries to put it back on before it falls over, dead. He feels a stabbing pain in his ribs and arm. Looking down, he sees it dangling, broken, useless.
Shaking his head, events starts coming back to him as his hearing returns with a rush of sound. Remembering the sudden lurch, the tangle of vines, goblins, vegepygmies, and burning bits of village smashing into and around him, followed by a feeling of weightlessness before gravity violently reasserted itself. He remembers the crunch of the village hitting the ground, then pain, and then nothing. Trying to right himself, he picks up his shield, bandaging his arm to it like a splint. He looks about to see those round huts still reasonably intact. Some of them are burning, as are the vines that the village were built on.
He looks around and hears something moving in one of the huts. It's a bigger one. It's likely the Chieftain's hut, and half of it is torn open and smouldering. Looking inside he finds another goblin. Still alive, but barely. He puts out the flames consuming the hut, and notices a glint in the dying firelight. A Presidio insignia, nestled amongst some spilled coins. Reading the tag, it belonged to one of the earlier scout groups sent to Chult in search of the Soulmonger and the source of the Death Curse. Rahlg'n assumes the scout dead, and likely eaten. With a grunt or a sigh, he resumes searching for more supplies.
Walking past a vegepygmy corpse, Rahlg'n is surprised to see its broken neck suddenly straighten with a sickening crunch. It shakily gets up, holding a knife and staring at him blankly. Casting about, Rahlg'n notes that all the other vegepygmy corpses are smouldering. They don't seem to be regenerating like this one did.
They return to the chieftain's hut, the wounded goblin finally stirring. It looks up, surprised, and startles. "YOU! GIANT-KIN FROM HOUSE OF MAN AND CROCODILE!" It feebly tries to back away, but looks at Rahlg'n's gilded crocodile teeth necklace. This was the goblin leader that ambushed you when you left!
"Please no kill Skruzz'k! Only wanted treasure for Queen Grabstab! No Quarrel now!" The vegepygmy looks into the hut and immediately pounces on the goblin, knife in hand. The goblin, weakened as it is and unable to get up, resists feebly. The goblin pushes back, but knife slowly descends towards its heaving chest. "Please no kill! Can help you! Help you with treasure! Help you find way! Please!" Rahlg'n looks on impassively, letting the vegepygmy drive its knife home. With final gurgling pleas on its lips and bubbling, bloody froth heaving from its lungs, it dies.
The vegepygmy merely looks up blankly at him and squeaks. It holds up the knife and stares. Rahlg'n ignores the little creature and gets to work shifting the bodies. Hurling the freshly dead goblin out of the hut - but not quite far enough - Rahlg'n begins the work of securing the area, putting out fires, and moving bodies far enough away so jungle predators won't find him as well. Exhausted, he finds a large, singed girralon pelt in the hut, and rests, awaiting rescue...
The gnomes stand up, dazed and more than a little battered. Between the triceratops and the collision with the tree, they have a few wounds between them. Rubi and Chomsky look up at the moon, and realise that they've been going in a huge circle. "Chomsky! What are we gonna do now?"
Racking their brains and discussing their options, Rubi suddenly remembers the magic charm the Chwinga bestowed on her, and intuitively knew how to use it. Eyes lighting up, she weaves the magic, unfamiliar to her but still remarkably pliable. With a jingling of tiny bells and flurry of feathers and hooting, 8 giant owls appear and fly into the treetops. They peer down at her, hooting softly, heads cocked to the side as if waiting instruction.
Excited, they get to work. Using Rubi's artificer skills, she creates 4 branches that magically broadcast looping sound. Chomsky steps up, clears his throat and shouts "Friends! Friends! Follow the friendly owl! Come find us!" Giving these to an owl each, several of the owls fly off in search of Douglass, Azaka, and Abarl. More fly off to try and find Rahlg'n after the gnomes give them clues as to what to search for. Soon enough, two return, and the gnomes grin at each other.
Douglass and Azaka, having decided to try and meet the gnomes at the crash site, eventually find a deep furrow in the ground made by a pair of speeding gnome feet. Looks like they got turned around. Following the track, they eventually come across a clearing, the ground churned up in the pale moonlight. The tracks are lost among the berms and footprints of what were likely triceratops tracks, though the beasts were long gone. Frustrated, they struggled to find the gnome's trail again. Just as Azaka and Douglass were on the verge of argument they hear Chomsky's voice fly over them "Friends! Friends! Follow the friendly owl! Come find us!" The owl landed on a branch with a soft flutter of feathers.
Rahlg'n suddenly wakes up to snarling and tearing. He doesn't remember passing out, but something had alerted him to danger. The vegepygmy sat at his foot, knife upraised. It puts a finger to its lips and points outside. Peering out, he sees a pack of velociraptors tearing at the corpse of a goblin, their feathers covered in blood. It was a good thing he removed the corpse. Observing their activities, he noted that they wouldn't go near the vegepygmy corpses, only consuming the goblins.
The soft wind changed direction, and one of the velociraptors raised its muzzle and sniffed the air. It turned to the hut as Rahlg'n and the vegepygmy ducked down. The raptor makes soft, chirping, crackling noises as it gets closer, cocking its head side to side, its pupils dilating and narrowing as it sniffs the air. Inside the hut, Rahlg'n and the vegepygmy huddle against the hut wall, a portion of the makeshift doorway created by the crash and flames giving them scant cover. Holding their breaths, they hear and feel the raptor jump onto the entrance of the hut with a curious clicking, purring noise. It sniffs the air and leans in. Rahlg'n can see its muzzle and prepares to strike. The scaly, feathery muzzle angles down to sniff at the vegepygmy and it recoils as if stung. It swiftly leaves to resume its feast. Rahlg'n decides to remain awake for the rest of the night.
Douglass and Azaka follow the owl from branch to branch, still emitting the audio loop of Chomsky's voice. It soon meets up with another one. Exchanging hoots, the owl changes direction, heading southeast. Azaka and Douglass have no choice to follow, but are heartened when they see a brontosaurus with bits of the goblin village stuck to its head - obviously the source of the panicked bellowing they heard after the village took flight.
Douglass grins at Azaka, his Yorkshire terrier muzzle showing white canines in the moonlight "Well, looks like he bore the -bronto- that."
Azaka scowls at him. "No."
Douglass "I bet he's really -sore-us-"
Azaka lets out a frustrated yell and walks on ahead, gritting her teeth.
Meanwhile, high above the canopy, the gnomes are in full flight - literally. The owls talons holding them gentle under the arms, they're seeing the forest in a way they never could before. The jungle spread out below them like a map, moonlight illuminating the treetops, glinting off of the great Soshenstar river in the distance and other tributaries closer by. Chomsky felt like a god, and didn't hold back in his enjoyment. Rubi felt a mix of the same amazement, but perhaps her enthusiasm was tempered by motion sickness. Both of them noted, that for the first time since they had come to Chult, they were shivering cold. As fun as the ride was, it was exciting to see the smouldering, shattered ruin of the goblin village and begin their descent as the horizon lightens.
Ears popping, they dropped down, the owls letting them off gently with surprising silence. Two more owls land on broken branches nearby. The gnomes look down at a bunch of raptors, tensing. They flare out their feathers and screech, ready to pounce, but soon look up at the owls. 4 pairs of eyes suddenly dilate as they lock onto their prey. The owls swoop down as the raptors scatter, their wingbeats deathly quiet until they all secure a raptor with a sickening crunch. Rahlg'n who watches all this, comes out to see the gnomes waving happily at them, and they run up to check on him.
As light slowly dawns on the crash site, two more owls arrive, one bearing a looping recording of Chomsky's voice. Azaka and Douglass emerge from the jungle, waving at the rest of the party. While smiling, it looks as if Azaka says something, and - if possible for someone covered in fur - Douglass briefly pauses and goes pale. Just for a moment.
The party back together, Douglass examines Rahlg'n's arm and sets the bone with a pop and crunch, and Chomsky uses his magic to heal the arm. Then someone asks about Abarl. As if in answer, another owl swoops down. Using his druid magic to speak with the animal, Douglass passes on the message. Abarl has been taken. He's being dragged to the Vorn. Two of the owls were taken by vegepygmies, and only this one escaped.
With the reminder of their new companion, they all turn around as one to see the vegepygmy. Holding up a knife. It squeaks as if asking what the fuss is about. While it doesn't seem hostile and doesn't seem to understand the common tongue, everyone assembled pretend everything is ok, and try to keep smiling. Azaka and Rahlg'n suggest they find somewhere else to rest in case the rest of the vegepygmies come. Rubi and Chomsky saw a series of cliffs on the way in, and everyone heads south in the hopes of finding a safe place to rest, away from the heat of the sun.
As the sun rises in the sky, the cliffs rise into view through the tangle of trees and vines. Azaka soon finds a blind cave where they should be able to rest. It's hidden from the ground, so they should be safe enough. They all climb the rocks towards the cliff and settle in. Creating a fire at the entrance of the cave to cook a meal and provide light, they notice that Chomsky's hand has gone grey. It smells of mould and a thin black knot of tendrils runs through the palm where the first vegepygmy had touched it to facilitate their communication.
Immediate, Chomsky begins panicking. First they try healing magic. This only makes it spread faster and causes pain. They try using anti-toxin to no effect. Finally, desperately, Chomsky places his hand in the fire. The vegepygmy screeches, holding its head and bats his hand out of the flames.
Azaka stares at this gravely, seemingly deep in thought...
Eventually, she mentions that there might be one option. A witch doctor living in the ruins of Mbala. She has a foul reputation, and many believe her to be a wicked cannibal or to curse travellers. But she also has given blessings, and is known to know many strange rites. Beyond that, Azaka would not say much more.
Mbala was to the south, a plateau reaching out of the jungle and home to a ruined kingdom that was once rich in metal ores. Mbala traded with the lost kingdoms of Mezro and Omu, but was struck down mysteriously not long after the spellplague hit over 200 years ago. If anyone can heal Chomsky, it would be the Witch Doctor of Mbala. Azaka however, did not seem terribly optomistic or thrilled at the concept, but this seemed like the only option.
Settling in to gain the rest you were not able to during the night, you lay against the cool cave floor, and dream...
Report Date
12 Jan 2022
Primary Location
Related Plots
Related Characters
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments