Shalissa feels that Zakiyya is some sort of demon!
Neltji casts spectral hand.
Masozi will use her blowgun against Neltji!
Zakiyya casts Charm Monster at Shalissa!
"A demon!" Shalissa's words are taken by the magics "This all must be a misunderstanding. She cannot be willing to kill us... she is just so... friendly"
She talks up "Let's talk!"
Ndombe will continue attacking Zakiyya...
Melee
fort save and my rolls continue to be in single digits.
Cevill misses in his attack. Shalissa decides that even as a demon, Zakiyya doesn't seem too bad.
Garrick takes a brief moment to study the wyrd woman before him as Blackleaf attacks, watching how she moves before quickly enchanting his staff.
Reroll fort save any bonuses from the spell? Not that it is going to help these rolls.
Blackleak bites the demon, but does not break the skin!
Masozi will delay.
Cevill will move over and wake the sleeping witch.
Zakiyya feels victory in her grasp. Soon you will all be within my thrall! She says with a wicked laugh. The three Zenj Spirit Dancers look at each other, and although no words are exchanged, they know what needs to be done. This evil creature will not dominate any others. With screams as they fight the succubus's control they charge the surprised demon. What? is all she manages to say as she reels from the unexpected, savage attack. Those of you who are charmed by the spirit dancers join in the attack, Those charmed by Zakiyya are stunned as 'your ally' succumbs to her now many wounds.
Bloodied and bruised and finally free, the Spirit dancers look at each of you ashamed. We are sorry for what was done to you, and we could not let it stand anymore. That freed us from her mental control. We would like to heal you of your wounds if you would let us.
"Well, that was unexpected!"
"Unexpected, yes," Shalissa says, answering Ndombe with a glance "but not unearned"
She steps forward, looking at the three women with a hard, assessing expression "You were victims, yes. But so were many others, I suspect, those not as lucky as you to break free" she pauses for a bit, then finally exhales "You made your choice in the end. You fought back. That matters"
The elf sheathes her blade with a clean motion and nods "I'll accept your healing, if only to move forward without dragging this pain behind me"
And looking at the others she says "We have an ancient city to find. We need to be right back at the road as soon as possible"
Neltji wakes up eventually staring around at the room in confusion. What happened? Last I remember was feeling a sharp little pain in my arm and then everything went black. When told of the mind control on the 3 women Neltji moves over and gives them all a large hug. Oh my poor things. I can only imagine the horrors you must have seen under her horrible control.The least I can do on repayment is heal some of your wounds as you tend to my companions.
Healing hex on them.
Looking at her companions, [b]We must harden our mental resistances. We are too weak to resist most of our foes attempts at exerting control over us and others. I will commune with Anthony and see what I can do to remedy this situation.
The Spirit Dancers heal your wounds and apologize effusively. They again offer to awaken your spirit animals. No harm we promise, though the tattooing is painful.
"I will pass."
"Heal me first if that goes well maybe my friends will be more open."
Cevill does not need the healing but is willing to be a guinea pig if need be.
The dancers heal Cevill, and he is in fact healed. There is no funny business.
In response to Neltji's question the dancers explain that they will begin dancing to summon forth the spirits of your totem animals. Once the spirit animal has been brought forth, they will tattoo the animal on to you with long, slender quills dipped in a localized numbing toxin. The process is painful, even with the anesthetic, and the entire ritual takes several hours. They then tell you that your spirit animal will aid you in your trials!
In addition, if the majority of the PCs choose to awaken their totems, the guidance of their animal spirits reduces their travel time to Tazion by 1 day.
"Well, then, I will get the chance to have a call on my spirit" Shalissa offers herself to the ritual, she has already been a tortoise in Nkechi's dream trance.
Neltji almost squeals with delight as they offer to bind her to her totem animal. This is perfect. I already feel such a kinship with animal life this will just be an extension of that. Then not only would I be able to commune with Anthony but will also have my totem animal to keep me company. When can we start!?
The spirit dancers begin to dance and chant and then once your spirit animal is revealed, they begin the tattooing process.
The process is painful and seems to take an eternity but finally ends.
Shalissa has a nice, little tortoise tattoo.
Neltji is getting her own scorpion tattoo and the process is no less painful.
Neltji bears the pain with quite a few tears shed yet when they are done she bares her shoulder to inspect the work and show it off to Anthony. They did a great likeness of you. Now I can have you on each shoulder guiding me as we continue on our journey.
Turning to the women she wipes the tears from her eyes. Thank you so much. Now I will never be separated from Anthony.
"I will carry this mark with purpose. And if the tortoise guides me as wisely as it endured, then perhaps I shall walk more carefully through the traps that await us." Solrisa looks to the rest of the party now, her tone sharpening "Let's not waste this. The jungle doesn't sleep, and neither will the things hunting in it. Who's next?"
Cevill will also pass. "Thank you, but I'm not sure sure how that magic will mix with my battle songs."
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Seeing no other takers, you leave the Spirit Dancers and continue on your journey. After a few days you arrive at Tazion. No other fractions have arrived yet. You are in the vanguard.
The ruins of Tazion stand as a remnant of a forgotten age, an outpost of ancient Azlant lost in the southern Mwangi Jungle. Little remains within its walls, with most of the settlement having crumbled or been buried centuries before. The majority of Tazion’s structures remain unidentifiable. Centuries of weathering and erosion have transformed the once-splendid architecture into little more than scattered stones, curious topography, and fetid tar pits. Few suspect that the ruins possess the key to finding the lost city of Saventh-Yhi, and its secrets are ripe for the taking.
"Well, that took way longer than we expected, but we are here!"
"Tazion at last" Shalissa overlooks the ruins from atop a stone "It is said the secrets of finding Saventh-Yhi are to be found here"
She steps down to the ground and points forward "Well, then, let's see if it is true. Into the ruins I say"
Resolved, the elf takes the lead and starts walking inside the ruins.
Neltji follows along with her eyes wide open taking it all in. Such a place existed only in fairy tales before and even then if you happened to be listening to the right bard as she was selling her seafood. That life seemed so long ago, but now she was here and she wanted to make sure she didn’t miss anything that was going to happen. Where do you think we should start searching? What are we even looking for exactly to direct us to our final destination?
Neltji refrained from stating they were looking for Saventh-Yi as she remembers the problems up to this point every time someone knew the reason they were there.
Perception
"Let's just try to find a side opening. In ruins it is easy to find areas that have broken with the time. If no one is found, then we try the main entrance I say" Shalissa proposes as an initial approach.
Walking around you see The crumbling remnants of a massive enclosure wall mark the perimeter of the ruins. In its current condition, the wall provides little defense. Entire sections have eroded away or lie buried beneath sediment, while vines and vegetation strangle what little exposed stonework remains. You can scramble over those sections of the wall still standing , but there are several large holes in the walls that can simply be walked through
Tazion
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"Well, we’ve survived the trials that awaited us, but now our true challenge begins," Ndombe said, his voice steady but filled with anticipation. "Tazion may hold the secrets we seek, but its ruins are as treacherous as any jungle path. We must be cautious and deliberate in our search."
He looked to his companions, Umngane by his side, ready for the journey ahead. "Let us move forward with purpose—time is still against us, and the ruins will not wait for us to catch our breath." He then gestured toward the broken walls of Tazion, the ancient stonework now covered in vines and sediment. "We shall start with the side openings. Let us not waste time with the main entrance unless there is no other choice."
"Keep your wits about you. We have already faced manipulation and chaos—there’s no telling what we’ll encounter within."
Very well, I will follow your leads once I protect myself a bit from anything within that may attack us.
Gathering Anthony to her Neltji will cast mage armor on herself.
This protection will last for 6 hours and then I can refresh it. Should one of you need magical protection I can grant them the same protection but then I am easier prey later.
Shalissa halts near the edge of a gaping break in the wall, eyes narrowed at the overgrown ruins "I agree with Ndombe. This is the real game. If anyone is not sure, better tell now"
Turning, she steps into the shadow of the ruin's side opening, her hand resting lightly on her bow "It's going to get darker soon. And I'm not interested in seeing what Tazion wakes up when the sun is gone. Let's find out a structure where we can pass the night"
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Shalissa is about to go through the opening when she sees some vines that look a little out of place. she gently, and carefully moves them away when she sees a barbed net. From the looks of it, the net covers the whole area in front of the opening. She thinks that stepping somewhere would cause the net to entrap its victim.
"Looks like a net trap ahead" Shalissa halts just at time and points at the mechanism "Any of you know how to deal with that kind of stuff? Otherwise, we can try to spring it artificially with a large rock or something"
"No, I am afraid that is not within my knowledge"
I have no means by which to bypass the netting. Nor do I have the magics available to me to summon a creature to take our place. I doubt that I am strong enough to throw in a rock large enough to affect it. If you can throw one that may work well otherwise we will need to find a way to climb over the wall proper and avoid the gaps.
She does have Anthony climb the wall 10ft further down from the gap to get a look at the top of the wall and the area behind it.
Know engineering if needed for strength of wall to hold if we climb it
Neltji studies the wall closely to find some decent hand and footholds. This should work here to climb up and bypass the netting. The wall looks strong enough as well to hold us if we climb one at a time.
Take 10 to climb up and over.
Cevill will also climb over following Neltji. Once over, he will ready his bow in case there is an ambush waiting.
Taking 10 will also get Ndombe over!