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<creack> <groan> <splinter>
Bane, seriously injured several times in the fight, demonstrates why monks practice chopping wood with their bare hands.
With a mighty crash the tree falls over. Once again, dark energies gather, swirling like mist before vanishing with a popping sound.
And suddenly all is quiet once again.
Zeeta rushes up to you all.
"Let me help!"
Searching through the rubble left behind by the battle, the group finds a few interesting items.
Pai with a +18 can probably identify these with a take ten.
Pools of sap that can be gathered into potion bottles:
Speak with palns, 2xresist energy(fire); tree shape; rage;
There are three shamble vines (one use rope of entanglement);
+1 ghosttouch / MW guarterstaff.
Several leaves have also been turned to gold.
Status,
Bane -40 damage, protection from evil,
Wyrgan -10 damage
Dioneo 9 damage
Pai 8 damage;
Nox - 42 damage
Hellion - 14 damage
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Pai casts Detect AMagic, and sees the sap flowing. She grabs bottles and tells the others about the potions. "There's two resist energy (fire) potions, a speak with plants potion, tree shape potion, and a rage potion. Looks like there's a rope of entanglement, a masterwork quarter staff and a +1 ghost touch staff. Some pretty nifty items there.". She also pockets the gold leaves.
"Let's get somewhere private and question these men. We need to figure out exactly what's going on."
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"Wow, that was a close call! Well done, guys. Thank you for the healing, Zeeta. Is this the first time this happens? Also, did you understand what was said before the fruit stands began to walk and attack us? It was some sort of human dialect..."
As he says this, Dioneo heals himself and offers to heal anyone with their wands.
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Zeeta, pale looks surprised "No, this is a lucky market. Nothing like this has ever happened before."
She thinks for a moment "The voices were speaking in Sholanti. I couldn't make out everything but it was along the lines of: 'This is hoanti land!,” “You will bring no war here!”,and “My people will be avenged!'"
Status,
Bane -4 damage,
Wyrgan -5 damage
Dioneo
Pai 8 damage;
Nox - 2 damage
Hellion - 14 damage
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Zeeta shakes her head "Not that I am aware of. She comes from time to time to buy herbs. I think she lives nearby in the Skaldwood forest, maybe if you talked with her?"
As for the Aspis.
"We just wanted to do business here. Ideally we wanted to buy the place. It's not fair that she won't let us sell weapons here."
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Svetlana nods at Zeevas words "Then it is off to the Skaldwood to speak with her then"
She turns on the Aspis "In a decent and orderly society there are laws and process that are to be followed. One does not just bully and threaten honest and productive citizens to get their way and make them cave to their demands - that is the way of the corrupt and wicked demon kind who only revere brute force and chaos. You have been late to learn this lesson, and you can thank whatever gods you hold sacred that none of us were slain administering it. If all you wanted to do was sell weapons then it was on you to respect the due processes, and should you come to an unfavourable outcome then move it across the street and sell somewhere else. Any wealth you have upon you is forfeit, as the local honest and decent vendors and merchants will need compensation for the destruction of their wares, damage to their stalls, and any damage to common property"
The Hellknight starts drawing up a small ledger and turns to the merchants to hear their petitions for damages "One straight line please..."
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Whose body do you drag out to animate?
General animation of the dead is against the law of most places. I'll remind you once again the Aspis agents didn't attack you lot first, and one of them is dead...
The Aspis agents had in general Greatswords, Scale armor, longbow, arrows and cloaks. The greatswords, cloaks and scale along with half a dozen arrows each were magical. The talky-one was dressed differently under his robes. He carried a packet of dust, a magical rod, a wand and a ring.
The crowd forms a line, although you can see that many are looking rather apprehensively around. Slowly the buzz of conversation comes back to the market.
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The bodies are in the middle of the market. Unless Nox is going to find a graveyard somewhere to dig up...
And exactly what is the plan to disguise a skeleton walking down the middle of the road?
Animate dead is a great ability, and in the wilderness there is some hand waving that can be done to accommodate it. This scenario takes place in the middle of (or for the next scene, in the woods at the edge of) an ordered city. Undead are not normally walking the streets.
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"Now, I'm enjoying our fine and budding friendship Wyrgan, but as you probably know that whilst there are a few good and righteous similarities between us and the aims of our respective orders, the Hellknights do differ in we occasionally consult and work with Devil kind in the pursuit of driving away the corruption and Abyssal influence that plagues the decent and righteous people in just about every land. It is within my power to draw my particular Devil to aid me and carry out my will, and I tell you this in a hope that by having an understanding you would not rush to judgment should I need to call her to my side in a time of need. I once was a Silver Crusader, so have worked with enough of the Holy warriors to understand - and likewise, I seek to talk to you about this now so we both may be understood. You have your powers and graces, and I have mine. I understand you may not wish to be given any of the devils Infernal healing, but I would see you saved should you fall and be dying. Where might you stand? Does your order give you freedoms to suffer the presence of a lesser evil to defeat a greater one?"
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Wyrgan listens to Svetlana, thinks for a moment and then crafts his response...
"Well since the beloved General of Vengeance, the most esteemed Ragathiel, has an arch-devil for a father I can assure you I understand the power some devils ply upon those that seek power. Ragathiel ascended from his infernal spawning to become a force for good so I believe there is still some hope that you may also ascend from an infernal relationship to something better. We are teammates at the moment, and as such, I will not interfere in your choice of tactics to defeat our common enemy, however I will abstain from receiving your choice of healing as it would conflict with my own morals and ethics and if I live after receiving them willfully then I might as well not be living at all. Thank you for your honesty."
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While the Aspis grudgingly give over their weapons as a penalty for starting the trouble, they are not so keen to hand over the body of their friend.
The Shoanti who call the Skaldwood home have worn numerous trails through the wood, connecting the many clearings where they have established semi-permanent campgrounds.
After an hour or so you are guided to meet with Telmayne Fire-Eyes.
She is shaved bald in the custom of many of her people, and wears a scarlet bandanna tied around her head to protect it from the sun.
"Yes?" she asks, somewhat bluntly, when the group is ushered into her presence.
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She seems soothed by your words, most especially by those of Pai.
"I suppose I could tell you some of the history and stories of my people."
“There was once a great shaman who dedicated himself to unity and peace among the Shoanti quahs. The Chelish invaders executed him centuries ago, and buried his shrine to remove any memory of the peace he once preached.”
"The shaman was known as Galdron Greenheart, a name he adopted when he set aside the warlike ways of our quah. History recounts that he was moved by an ancient legend that spoke of unity between the clans to lay down his weapons and provide a place of peace where all Shoanti were welcome. Without weapons, however, he could not defend himself against the Chelish invaders who saw him as a potential threat for his ability to inspire and unite his people.”
“Galdron Greenheart’s shrine was located near where the Green Market now stands—likely buried beneath the current marketplace. I have felt his spirit there even today, and his rage at the violence between yourselves and your rivals is likely what motivated the strange events you described. Only by calming him can you restore balance in the Green Market. Locate his shrine and place upon it a Shoanti symbol of peace; seven broken klar blades in the shape of a star is traditional among my people.”
“When you uncover his shrine, Galdron will likely lash out at you as he did before. If he manifests with fire, he has forgotten that he left the Sklar-Quah, the Sun People. He wanted to be of all quahs and none—the Green Heart. You see, he left this world a man of peace,
not a man of war. Your best hope might be to make him remember that.”
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Pi recalls the trip from the ship to the Green Market. She stopped in a tavern to ask directions. Besides directions, two marriage proposals and three less savory propositions she also heard about all the things you could buy there. One particularly drunk man said something about "and don't forget you can get shamans bones between the "Pumpkins and the oranges".
She wonders if perhaps there might be a shred of truth passed down in drunken re-telling of that story..