From up front Kaul grins at the endorsement from Dingus.
"Hur. Will do matey..."
Kaul leads the way into another moldy old jungle. Insects buzz, tropical birds call and you travel a while before the canopy opens above a muddy brown river. The muddy path follows the bank heading upstream.
Perception:
Survival:
Calling a girding of air to clothe him, Dibbs growls "Big feckin croc inna river like." pointing it out with his gestured finger.
:
The burly thug follows Dibbs' digit and eyes the water warily, then nods toward the path ahead;
"Hur... Way ahead looks a might crumbly lads... Iffen it falls, then Ol' Leathery will be 'avin' us fer breakfast! Hur-hur..."
The little lookout's keen eyes and the thug's sharp cunning spare you a scuffle with a truly giant croc which sinks below the muddy current in what must be disappointment. Kaul leads you away from the treacherous bank and off trail a ways. You continue through progressively muddier ground which sucks hungrily at your feet. The sun is past it's zenith when you run across a strange warning.
The Warn Tree is a twisted cypress tree that dragged itself from the swamp. It is sick and old, its limbs failing, its boughs rupturing from some sort of fungal sickness. Nailed to the tree are various animal corpses and the tree is so covered in carvings and crude writings and symbols that it is almost a living totem. Most horrible of all, two flayed men have been nailed to its trunk. And recently, by the pools of yet congealing blood oozing around the spilled entrails at their feet.
Grimacing a bit at the tree Dibbets chews his cud and makes a startling observation "Nei sure I'm likin that lads... those feckers are fresh-like... Kauly go have a looks an see iffin they look like slave types" palming off the fetid work just in case the buggers come to life and get grabby.
Dingus holds his nose, and turns away retching a bit, but his fascination for strange things overcomes his queasiness.
"Don't worry Big guy. I'll be there to lift you out of trouble should something start.
Dingus surveys the surrounding area with Richards help, to make sure this is just not a distraction for something more sinister.
Perception
Reptilian Perception
Kaul nods at Dibbs' then shifts toward the tree nice and stealthy like, for an upclose check on the flayed corpses:
:
:
Jim stands back, sword in hand, looking around for anything that might come after the party.
Dingus stands ready to lift his shipmate out of trouble.
Perhaps as expected, all is not right with the tree tacked menagerie. As Kaul draws closer, the various rotting creatures twitch and hiss pulling against the nails that peg them to the Warn Tree. One of the flayed men lurches forward with a moan and a ripping sound as his body breaks free leaving a chunk of flesh stuck behind.
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Dingus-
bloody bones
The walker's spilled innards haul up with a sickening slurping sound and strands of intestine begins swinging about him as the dead man staggers forward. A ropy gut comes flinging at Kaul, but the trajectory is poor and it swings wide.
"Feck, mate, what'd you go and do that for?"
"What the feck! Wassn't me Jimmer! Dibbs' said scout so scout I did!"
The brute recoils at the flailing gut whip, and steps in to return the compliment with Lopper;
"Dead should stay that way hur... Put 'em down Lopps!"
:
:
Jim closes with the gutwhipper on Kaul and stabs at it, fully expecting his slender blade to do little damage and mentally preparing to draw his kukri.
Dibbs suppresses a chuckle as the gibbet pole decides to try and snack on the nuggetty half-orc, covering it with a reassuring "C'mon lads... put the fecker back inna dirt" His boomstick is shouldered and he keeps eyes on the situation, but waits to see if he needs spend his bullet...
Dingus keeps an eye on Kaul, and prepares a fan of flame serpents to attack the remainder of the tree.
"Just holler if you want out of there big guy"!
Flaming Fan of Fire Snakes Burning Hands
Careful to keep the fan of flames away from his compatriots.
Kaul moves in swinging Lopper, but the flailing guts throw him off. Jim joins his mate and does land a jab into the innards. Dibbets stuffs his wad and takes aim, but waits. Dingus has none of that and sends a curtain of flame at the cursed tree and the horrible forms pinned to it. Several species of skinned creatures sizzle and hiss before they stop moving. The other dead man however, twists in a frenzy and breaks loose to step forward while its flesh still burns.
The two warriors manage to dodge outrageous organs and brush aside claws as the two creatures assail them.
"Let's see if we can set these rotters up, hey?" Jim prepares to flank one of them with Kaul, dodging if necessary.
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Missing his target gets the thug's blood boiling, and as the new deadmen writhe in attack;
"Hur. I hear ye Jimmer... Chop-chop..."
The thug shifts in the brutal dance with his shipmate and brings his axe to bear on the rotter;
:
:
:
Dibbs bobs and weaves as the bigguns do their thing, holding position and waiting for a need to intervene...
After playing anvil to Kaul's hammer, Jim stabs at the wounded creature if it's still up. Otherwise, he moves on to the next.
Dingus laughs, jumps up and down a bit and claps at the sizzling tree, then turns to the stubborn corpse that originally decided to pay them a visit, and sends out a welcoming Vapor Viper...making sure to keep his distance from the scrum.
Vapor Viper
Kaul and Jim coordinate their attacks. Jim sidles around to get behind one of the skinned and bleeding undead. It is hit by a trio of Dingus' magic bolts and then the swordsman and ax wielding thug cut the thing down. The remaining, slightly cooked, corpse hurls its innards against Jim, tangling him in the dripping ropes of intestines and then slashes the bound man with misshapen claws.
"Here you go Jimmer... let me slicken you up a bit.
Round 3
Dingus casts Grease on Jim to help him break loose from the gross intestinal tentacles.
Mindful of his mate, Kaul takes a more subtle approach to the last redbone - he belays Lopper, ripping into the deader's skull with his hook;
"Hur... Nice an' subtle like..."
:
:
Jim tries desperately to keep his dinner down and slide free. "Thanks...Dingus. Might have another use for this...depending how long it lasts...."
Dibbets keeps a weather eye, not wanting to risk getting all entangled in innards unless he needs to.
Dingus quickly casts a spell to make Jim even slimier than the awful offal. Jim slips loose and Kaul sinks his hook in the back of the flensed fiend's head. The creature wrenches itself around and turns on the ornery orc-blood. One of the eyes dangles by its nerve, knocked lose by the blow. Guts brush over the thug, but he breaks free only suffering a claw slash.
If the tree still appears to be a danger Dingus will Viper fan it again...
If not he'll VV the remaining attacker.
Viper Fan
Vapor Viper
Round 4
Kaul grins at the lifeless orb dangling from his hook - a joy soured by the undead talons that rake across his already scarred form;
"Feck. That. FECK! THIS!"
With a growl he brings his axe to bear on the persistent cadaver;
:
:
:
A blaze of hissing missiles from Dingus blasts the bloody bones. Enraged by the clawsy cadaver, Kaul brings Lopper down right on top of its skull spitting it in half. The dead man goes down and the swamp is quiet around the strange totemic cypress tree once more.
"Huh. Ugly things...wonder what's up with the tree? Do we burn it?" Jim looks to see if the two formerly walking dead are straying crew members.
Jim doesn't recognize the dead though it is kinda hard to identify someone without any skin. He's pretty sure they arent' the missing crew though.
"Dingus, anything of magic on that tree?"
It hardly takes a spell to detect the aura of necromancy and malevolence that lingers about the dark and twisted old tree.
Kaul eyes the deadwood with his beads and looks to Lopper
"Hur. Want me tae chop it down lads?"
The old dense wood is knotted and hard, but eventually no match for Kaul's heavy axe. Red blood-like sap drips from the cut, but nothing untold befalls the axe-orc. The old tree groans and topples onto the barren ground around it some time later. Kaul is left sweating and a bit fatigued from the effort .
Jim looks around the area, more to keep busy while Kaul does his chopping than for anything more. [b]"Too bad Groom's not here--he'd like as not look at the ground and say something like 'Those bootprints there must be from the slavetakers, who came here and fled from the terrible tree. And the blooded claw marks on the path leading further into the dark swamp, they are from our true quarry.'" The Taldan indicates the tracks he just described.
Survival:
Nodding satisfaction as the tree is put down Dibbs surveys the scene. After Jimmer makes his wee speech he's driven to concur "Aye... sneaky bastards must've put tha slaves up onna tree like. Looks like we'll jus have tae foller tha blood eh? - off an afters tha claws?"
Stretching out his neck Dibbs notices that not all of the blood on Jimmer or Kaul's is from the gibbet monster... so proffers a slap of indifference each...
CLW Jim:
CLW Kaul:
Kaul balefully eyes a drop of sweat that hangs from his scarred brow as Dibbs' provides some healing;
"Hur. Cheers matey... Right lets get after it eh lads?"
"Much obliged, mate. Aye, Kaul. You lead--put those night eyes to good use, hey?" Jim cleans his blade and follows.
No need for nighteyes yet, though the sun has passed its peak and the trudge onward is now under the stifling humidity of the afternoon. The trail ends in a small clearing that contains a couple small huts that look to be a hunting camp. It is silent and abandoned beyond the lazy buzzing of fat flies. Several drying racks and equipment look to have been knocked over and tossed around, but two racks still stand and closer inspection finds them covered in gore and strips of tattered human skin.
Jim's lip curls in distaste. "Not the best of neighbors, hey?"
Kaul eyes the skin racks with a scowl;
"Hur. Looks like dinner was a fiesty one!"
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Dingus almost gags when he sees what lays before him, and furtively looks around for any signs of what might have caused this.
Perception
"Richard. Do you see anything"?
Perception + scent