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Blood flies from the scratches, then the demon grabs Oso, and the warrior smiles.
"No running, good. You are dead. I'm just the bait."
Pip's bardic inspiration gives Oso the Eye of the Tiger, and with the haste spell in effect, he's able to grab the thing's schnozz and twist out of it's vulgar embrace.
It retorts with one eerie trumpeting from it's nozzle; tries again.
It hits with two claws again; damage 15 h.p. to Oso.
CMB 18.....what a sucky attempt.
Group's attack again.
The din dies down.....the madam shows up downstairs, with three of the four bondage-plate-garbed halforcs in tow.
She asks if everybody's okay, then.....judiciously says maybe youse guys oughtta go sleep it all off somewhere else.... that apparently, somebody who has some weird servitors is mad at you guys.
Elgan shimmers back into his usual handsome self,... I mean ELF, And grins in fierce joy as he places one still dripping foot upon the corpse of the last thing to fall, and raises his head skyward. He Raises his fists as if preparing to beat upon his chest, then notices that he's not only dripping water upon the floor, but a fair amount of blood as well,...
That sounds like a plan;.....
The cathedral's basalt walls welcome the group in a cold embrace, and the rest of the night, though sleep is fitful, is uneventful.
A positively tropical breakfast is laid out for the group in a side room with a long wooden table......every type of fruit in every type of color imaginable......biscuits, and berry muffins.....and (whatever country in the Oerth lends it's name to) danishes slathered in purple jam, and coffee....a rich bold dark tangy coffee that the Sasserinians insist is, down through the years, still flavored by the very blood of that black dragon Zelkarune who fell so long ago.
And in the morning, the people buzz about the streets on whatever errands they find pressing, like so many leafcutter ants in their chemical roads. Only this morning, with murder and mayhem in evidence the prior two nights and still no suspect under guard in fetters, the normally cheerful people seem somewhat furtive.
How do you guys wish to approach this foresaken arch?
Next morning Oso travels straight to the shrine of Kelanen. He takes Voidwand and will spend sometime communing with his betters.
Probably a fight or two just to test the mettle. Then a chat about his initial dream (the two fighters) and how his sword is connected to the Prince of Swords.
Finally Oso brings up the subject of the 10,000 gold burning a hole in his pocket and can anyone help him with finding a phylactery of positive channelling?
Yeah; you can find the phylactery. (sheesh)!
They hook you up at the Church of Kord, since y'all are working for them, and thus far work is pretty damn good....
The small Shrine of Kord is across the way from the Scarlet Brotherhood's Embassy in Sasserine.
It's a good sized house, neatly kept; you're allowed in by a short, bald, smiling gnome that doesn't speak.
The priest in attendance to the shrine is tall, wiry, and middleaged; he wears comfortable, somber clothing. His greying hair is tied in a ponytail behind his head. A longsword and a shortsword hang at his waste.
"Greetings, I am Brother Gerwim. Welcome to the shrine."
In back you hear the staccattoe of shinai, bamboo swords striking eachother.
"I have students,....I shant tarry long....the shrine is in there, if you wish.....Kelanen visited here fifty years ago. He gave the rebels aid and tutelage, in the time of the occupation.
So,.....are you in the Baron Houses? *sigh* I'll duel any of you, any time, but please; let's go out of the city. I think this duelling code of yours is barbaric, so let's take it outside of city walls. Name your place, to the blood or death; it makes no difference to me, yadda yadda,.....I fight with long-and-short though; it is the way I have found....but I CAN fight with any blade, if you insist..."
he turns, and heads back the way the bamboo swords call him with their tappings.
Wihtout hesitation, Oso joins the others and grabs a shinai. He works up a light sweat, only stopping if his opponent needs a bit of advice on his swordplay.
"Life is good! Listen to that it's like music to a swordpriest's ears."
When people stop for a drink he approaches the sensei and bows before, "just wanted to say, I aint no Baron House warrior. My friends and I had a run in with them when we were in a bar but they have left me alone since then."
Oso's Dream from long ago:
In the night, Oso cannot sleep at first; the bespoke woman, denied him....not used to that....he can smell her perfume still; she's down the hall...
In his dreams, a Warmaid of Kelanen appears to him in full splendor. She opens a seal; he floats through and he floats as if on the ether.
He sees Kelanin fighting his Brother, the Red God, eons long ago on the Oldoinyo Lengai, the GodMountain. Their swords clatter and clash. Shards of broken steel, and of fully-formed swords scatter from the clash of the gods flying to the corners of the earth for men to find, and to make and master swords.
They fight for the right to court the First Queen...
And the red ochre people turn their backs on metal, for it is evil to touch, and return to their cattle.
And later, he sees two more gods, no not gods, something else entirely. Fighting on the GodMountain.
For both are cloven hooved, though one is obese, and hideous, and beast-faced; the other is black as the void, and horribly yet beautifully conceived; and their clattering weapons rain down swords and war on men everywhere.
And they too fight at the behest of a Queen.
Gerwim listens to Oso's dream description thoughtfully, in between bouts with the kendo sticks.
"I'm....not sure what it all means....I will meditate on it tonight though.....hmm......the queen.....they fought over; it's been speculated to be so many goddesses, or demonesses, or both depending on your perspective; it would seem that their battle is.....recreated somehow? But why?......"
also;
"I'm glad you're not in the Baron Houses.
They mistake the sublime way for a feeble, deadly game.
They....have power though. The power to invest blades, much as Kelanen can.
It perplexes me."
Looks like everybody did their shopping,....
heading out for the forsaken arch;
there's a somewhat maintained road heading out of Sasserine to the west; it winds up into the hills and through farmlands. You look down as the road crests a hill, and bid tiny Sasserine farewell for a while. Here and there small squares of land are dug into the jungle to allow room for a wood shack and a few squares of yams, or banana trees, mangos, then into the hills there's some coffee plantations, perched at odd angles along the slopes.
The road seems pretty busy for a while; farmers bringing produce/goats/whathaveyou into Sasserine.
They notice you all seem heavily armed, and you can tell nobody wants to taunt you in any way, shape, or form; you don't get any hard sales techniques, no busking, no criers.
About 2 miles, you hit straight jungle. The sounds of chickens and sheep and farm laborers are replaced by hooting monkeys, and birds, and the buzzing of insects.
The biting ones come pretty heavy a ways away from civilization; mosquitoes aplenty.
How are you going as you hit the jungle?
The group comes down off of a rise into a jungle valley thick with forest; trees, vines, and underbrush aplenty. Wet leaves slup and slosh underfoot, and the ground below seems like a gooey mess.
Pip notices it first: a loud thrumming noise.....
"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzoooooo....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzooooooooo......."
over and over again....it's close, whatever it is....within 200 yards.
You can't see much past fifty yards though; the jungle is thick.
Pip:
It has six insectile limbs; it's creator didn't decide whether they wood be hands and feet or hooks when it's body was wrapped in a vulgar blue-grey chitin.
group: Pip's been gone about a minute. Still hear the intermittent thrumming.
Pip:
In the Abyss, they serve more powerful demons as torturers and taskmasters.
They have an aura of fear if you are within melee range of them.
Their chitin shrugs off weapons that are not infused with purity and goodness. (i.e. cold iron or good).