Solaria and Sydney take up a protective position with the frail Ralkawi between them. Arc readies himself for combat with his blade out. And Ted, Spectre and Isu prepare their various methods of attack in anticipation of something big and dangerous.
And the jungle does not disappoint. With a great crashing and tearing of branches, a massive raptor-like lizard careens through the underbrush in a mad dash. It smashes through a fallen log and bursts into the clearing your party has spread out across! The creature thrusts its head to the sky and lets out an enraged bellow!
This one seems particularly enraged... you notice that its eyes and mouth and rimmed with spores. Possibly it got caught out without shelter during the moldstorm and the spores are now driving it crazy. That'll make it more reckless and irrational, but likely not much less dangerous!
-----------------------
---
Its momentary pause gives the ready members of the party time to unleash an initial volley of attacks. Spectre's icy beam glances off the creature's hide, but Isu's laser scorches it with a direct hit. Ted's top emits a stream of grey slime that coats the ground underneath its feet, but it somehow manages to stay standing.
The attacks draw the crazed monster's attention. Its head whips from side to side, nostrils flaring, and it rushes directly towards the source of the harm. Its claws slip slightly once or twice on the grease, leaving it unable to attempt a deadly charging attack. Instead, its forced to approach slowly. It strikes out with its massive jaws at the first creature it encounters: Arc!
|||||INIT - ROUND 1|||||
Definitely-Not-A-TRex (9 damage)
Sydney
Isu
Ted
Solaria
Arc - (12 damage, 13 HP damage)
Spectre
Everyone is up!
Solaria points and shouts a warning to her companions, "Let it pass, its a Whiskered Renkroda! Looks like it's affected by the mold spores, it's been driven crazy. It's likely to be raging at everything and everything." Whilst Sydney hears in her mind, Shame we fired at it, if we'd been hidden it might have just passed...this could be nasty.
She gets up and laser pistol in hand, shooting as at the creature.
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"Good thing you kept your eyes closed during the spore attack, Spec," Ted observes, "Or else you'd be as angry as this monster."
Ted's top burns like little fireballs as its greasy sheen erupts in to flames as Ted throws it in to splitting missiles of energy.
Responding to Arc, Ted banters "There's nothing in this ecosystem worth protecting."
Solaria recognizes that Renkroda of all kinds have fairly well rounded defenses, but their fairly simple intelligence means they can be fooled more easily by mental magic
Ted remembers that Whiskered Renkroda have a dangerous charge attack that strikes with enough force to sweep people off their feet. Thankfully that grease earlier made an initial charge impossible for this Renkroda.
With Ralkawi safe, Sydney has an opportunity to fire off a tricky shot from her hiding location.
But her laser bolt skims over the creature's nose.
Her allies on the other hand deliver attack after accurate attack! Arc cuts a deep gash across the renkroda's chest. Solaria singes it with a stray laser shot, and Ted slams it with a volley of magic missiles. Isu's artillery laser proves effective as well.
Just as Spectre fires his ice beam, the renkroda ducks its head down and coils up. In an explosion of movement, it lashes its tail out at Arc! The incredible speed of the attack catches the solarian off guard.
It releases a deafening roar, full of rage and pain. The bellow rattles your heads!
|||||INIT - ROUND 2|||||
Whiskered Renkroda (40 damage)
Sydney
Isu
Ted
Solaria
Arc - (38 damage)
Spectre
Everyone is up - Don't forget your Will save!
Round 2:
Sydney dashes forward, zig zagging from her hiding place. She hoped the position would give her a better shot.
The deafening sound of the Rekonda's scream assaults Solaria's ears, her mind freezes as it processes the awful sound, a fear takes hold of her and she quickly follows Sydney for morale support. Watching her companions she tries to notice any of them affected as she is by the sound, signalling them to continue.
That ally ignores one condition of your choice until the start of your next turn, chosen from the following list: confused, fascinated, fatigued, shaken, sickened, and staggered.
While your ally doesn’t suffer the effects of the condition during that period, the condition is merely suppressed, not removed, and its effects resume at the start of your next turn. The condition can still be removed with spells, technology, and other effects as normal.
Spectre holds firm against the frightening roar of the renkroda, and holds his rifle steady to deliver a beam of ice into the creature's neck.
Isu stands a little less steadily, but seizes on the renkroda's angry bellowing to strike its softer belly with a powerful laser beam!
-----
The tricky zigging and zagging from Sydney proves quite effective. As the creature turns to track her movement, she zaps it with a laser beam. Meanwhile Arc puts all his weight into a momentous swing. But the renkroda backs off enough that he strikes the ground instead.
Solaria directs Ted to focus, clearing his fear for just a moment. But the clear head isn't enough to let the technomancer land a shot with his pistol.
The scorched and bloody renkroda turns towards Isu - clearly the kasatha got its attention with that last attack. It roars with pain and rushes madly at him! The jaws close across his arm, and with a violent swing of its head, it tosses him into the ground!
|||||INIT - ROUND 3|||||
Whiskered Renkroda (65 damage)
Sydney
Isu (16 damage, prone, shaken 1 round)
Ted (Shaken 1 round)
Solaria (Shaken 1 round)
Arc (38 damage)
Spectre
Everyone is up
Round 3:
"Hey!" Sydney shouts at the creature and tosses her pistol into the air, catching it by the handle. She wraps her fingers around the trigger and squeezes.
With her head still spinning, Solaria moves towards Spectre to get closer to her allies, her legs wobbling and her hands shaking as she goes. Calling to Ted, "Have no fear, you are more than a match for an oversized lizard." The words bolstering the technomancer, enabling him to suppress his fear from the creatures roar.
Sydney, Ted and Spectre unleash an absolute barrage of deadly weapons fire, scorching and icing the renkroda in rapid succession. But its Isu's sparking hammer that proves the finishing blow. As he staggers to his feet, his retaliatory swing catches the beast in the side of the head with surprising force and a resounding boom of electricity! The renkroda sways once and then collapses to the ground, its head a caved in mess.
Out of Combat!
---
Fresh from the success of downing one of Ukulam's most dangerous predators, you feel you've reached a real milestone on your journey after Tahomen and in search of the truth behind the Drift Rock. The jungles of Ukulam have thrown danger after danger at you day after day, and as a team you've come through not only successful, but truly triumphant. As that sense of mastery comes over you -
As the creature staggers and falls under Isu's mighty blow, Solaria feeling somewhat better after the roar, can't stop herself jumping up and down, clapping her hands in excitement and relief. Before realising they had left Ralkawi behind the log, so immediately mkaes her way over to make sure that the female is both safe and secure.
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With bits of gore spread all over his face and armor, Isu stumbles over to Arc.
"Arcalinte Soter, you have been taking blow after blow. This one is beginning to fear you will die before this one, which is not the plan. You are to live. Alas, all this one's vast medicine training, the hours and hours and hours this one has spent becoming a medical doctor, are failing you. However, will our goddess fail you? This one feeling something, Arcalinte Soter. Our goddess will not let you die. Sarenrae!"
Isu lays his hands upon Arc and implores the goddess from the depth of his being. In a flash of warm light, an explosive healing emanates out from him!
"By the gods themselves...! Sarenrae! More! Save your servant Arcalinte Soter!"
Isu casts mystic cure on Arc.... twice!
|
Arcalinte is about to reassure Isu that he's fine when Isu blasts him with the warm, healing light of the Dawnflower! His eyes widen and his armor seems to resonate with it, glowing brighter and brighter until he feels even he might go blind. Then his solar armor flashes off, returning to its mote form and resuming its orbit around his head, while his wounds are mostly healed.
"Isu, you've...The Everlight has given you a great gift! You've taken your first step into a much larger universe..."
Then he pauses as if in thought, blinking a few times.
"Something's not right...my connection to the cosmos has gotten stronger but something's...off...like it's taking more effort to draw on the stellar energies."
After you come to terms with your newfound gifts and capabilities, you circle back around with Ralkawi, who blinks through a wave of pain and then gives the group of you a weak grin. "Heh, I heard some kind of awful beast out there. Nice of you to block my view with this log so I didn't have to piss my pants." She slowly winks at Solaria and Sydney, then sobers up a little "I dunno what your real story is, but you're serious business if you managed to kill one of the big lizards around here. Serious enough that Tahomen- that bastard- might not paste you right away."
She opens her mouth to make another comment about your chances, but is seized by a heavy, wet cough. She coughs up a mix of woody sap and blood that stains her armor. "Uhhghh..." She turns pale again as she groans.
----
|
|
Spectre has mostly been stoic about this wilderness trek, staying on task and trying to reach their destination. He has also been disinterested in Ralkawi.
She is slowing us down. Perhaps I should run my energy optimization protocol in the event I need to go faster.
Several minutes later, he says "I have been dedicating a substantial amount of energy toward an attempt to understand what Ted is saying to me. Inasmuch as the effort has been mostly fruitless, I will quarantine that information, leaving me with 10% more energy."
Sydney doesn't feel any different. Maybe a little bit stronger, hardier, but she's still stuck in the middle of the mother-glorping forest, filled with dangerous creatures and plants. Man, she could really go for a burger and fries right now.
"By the gods themselves...! Sarenrae! More! Save your servant Arcalinte Soter!"
Syndey scrunches up one side of her face, staring at Isu like he's just squatted in the middle of the forest and publicly defecated. Didn't know he could do that. She opens to mouth to comment on his new(?) powers when-
She opens her mouth to make another comment about your chances, but is seized by a heavy, wet cough. She coughs up a mix of woody sap and blood that stains her armor. "Uhhghh..." She turns pale again as she groans.
"Hey, man. Not. Cool." Sydney looks over the lashunta. "You allergic to Starbrite's magic?" Sydney thumbs in Isu's direction.
Ralkawi lays back and closes her eyes as Sydney works at cleaning her wounds once more, then gives the operative a weak smile. "Uh, thanks, I uh, I owe you one." Her halting speech is only partially due to the pain - she probably doesn't have a lot of practice in offering thanks.
She turns to look at Arc and takes a deep breath before saying "Tahomen. He runs my cell, or rather, my former cell of the Cult of the Devourer. From the way he talked, I think he had connections to someone pretty high up." She coughs to clear her throat "A lot of the members have been following for a long time. He has a way of talking... he's inspiring, and somehow you can't help but see how the Devourer acts in all our lives. I mean, he's a bastard, but even now I can say I really liked him."
"The Devourer chose him, y'know. Gave him some kind of magic to help the Universe towards its ruin. I saw him use it on one of the captives once. Dissolved her right on the spot." She gives what looks like a disgusted grin. "If he didn't need her, I'm sure he would have done to same to that kasatha professor he found, after she talked back to him."
----
You manage to settle Ralkawi back on the makeshift stretcher and continue onward. Sydney easily picks the trail back up and you quickly find yourselves making good speed through the dense jungle. As evening approaches, a steady driving rain sweeps in and washes away what pink spore-tufts remain strewn across the ground and plant life.
You camp for the evening with the sound of driving rain lulling you to sleep. The following morning, the rain has cleared, replaced by a steamy haze. All around you, you easily spot pieces of ancient stone rubble and weathered sculptures. It seems that you've entered the remaining ruins of what Zan called the outskirts of the 'Forsaken City'.
When you go to check on Ralkawi, you find her easing herself to her feet! Though she clutches at her weakened muscles with pain, she's once again able to walk.
-=-=-=--=-=-=-=
JUNGLE EXPEDITION
Day 9
Hot and hazy
Location: Scattered Ruins (40 miles to go)
Sydney frowns and states in matter-of-fact manner: "Ugh, I hate squares. What does he need with a stuffy professor, anyway?"
Day 9:
"Come on Sydney, what's up with you this morning. I've heard that withdrawal symptoms from ketchup can be quite disorienting." she winks at their pilot. "Look, take a look here this might get us on the way."
Her antennae twitch as she communicates with Ralkawi, "Careful as you go Ralkawi, don't overstretch yourself. You know we can help you, you can redeem yourself and seek the light and power that Arc and Isu follow, but you must help us and renounce the Devourer. So as Sydney so eloquently asked, what does Tahomen want with the professor and what were they talking about when she answered back?"
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"This cult of the Devourer disgusts this one," Isu says to the wounded woman, who he is know starting to see as more of a prisoner than someone they are trying to save.
"You speak of how this Tahomen makes such a difference in your lives in one breath, and then how he melts prisoners in the the next. So what is it? Is this man insane or god-gifted? Or worse, both? This Devourer sounds altogether EVIL!"
|
|
Arcalinte dryly comments "He needs her presumably to read the inscriptions and help guide him to the Temple," when Sydney asks her rhetorical question. He isn't able to help much beyond hacking through greenery.
As he listens to Ralkawi's description of Tahomen and his Devourer-given powers and thinks.
"I doubt the Devourer chooses anyone for anything, Ralkawi. It doesn't answer prayers or pleas. It just grinds and obliterates. Whatever power Tahomen possesses is less a gift granted by a god to its champion and more a manifestation of his own malicious nihilism."
He listens to Isu and frowns.
"By most conventional ethical models, yes, you could say that, Isu. But entropy is as much a part of the Cycle as Sarenrae's light. Like I said, evil isn't really something you can apply to The Star-Eater itself...that would require more cognizance than it ever demonstrates. But the people who devote themselves to it? The cannibals and nihilists who murder people in its name? Evil really does apply to them."
He tosses Ralkawi a sympathetic look.
"In a way you're kind of lucky. If Tahomen hadn't abandoned you, he might have made you do something terrible, to try and make you more like him. I don't think you're a bad person, Ralkawi, and I'm glad Tahomen didn't make you into one."
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Isu considers Arc's word, and shakes his head and inwardly sighs.
While this one respects his blood-brother Arcalinte Soter very much, he is often naive. This one will allow the woman to stab him in the back badly before this one intervenes. Then perhaps Arcaline Soter will listen to this one more carefully in the future.
As Solaria treats Ralkawi's wounds once more, the lashunta responds telepathically to her questions. 'Uh, thanks. Y'know, there's no really 'renouncing' the Devourer. Its tied into the whole fabric of our reality, part of everything that ever lived, and everything that didn't too. Everything that has any order to it also has a little bit of the Devourer in it slowly waiting to tear that order apart and return it to nothingness..." Her telepathic tone is even, measured, like she's reciting some kind of mantra. With a start, she interrupts herself and glances over at Solaria. "Sorry, you just asked me to ditch the Devourer and I started giving you the 101."
"Honestly, I dunno about whatever god those two worship. Between you and me, I think it's driven the kasatha nuts. We had a couple like him in the cell." She sends a furtive look at Arc. "I guess the other one is kinda hot."
After a moment to hide a weak grin, Ralkawi answers Sydney's question out loud. "Tahomen didn't know where to find that damned Temple. He didn't fill us in on all the details, but there's some kinda Temple here in Ukulam, something real old, that has info Tahomen wanted. A couple of the guys thought it had to do with that news from Absalom Station about the Drift Rock - they overheard Tahomen talking about it." She shrugs. "We needed someone to be a guide for us, and were going to hire the professor all above-board for it. But she started being difficult, so Tahomen had a couple of the guys bring her in. I'm not sure why she didn't want to just help us. It's not like we were planning on doing anything worse than killing a few of the overgrown lizards around here."
She eyes Isu warily and responds "Tahomen's a cruel guy. I know that better than anyone. But he's effective, and he knows how to convince you if he wants to. I don't know if any of that is 'evil', but you suit yourself."
She listens to Arc's analysis and nods "You got it down, uh, Arcalin- Arcalinte." She struggles with the name. "Both on why he got the professor and about the Devourer. Though I don't know about malicious. We were taught the Devourer just is, and its up to us how to see it."
She listens to Arc's final comments in what appears to be a pained silence. At the same time, she sends telepathically to Solaria. "Is he always like that? So, positive? It's... weird."
----
The Devourer doesn't have a real form like other gods can manifest, and in many ways it doesn't have the agency of a god either. But some cultists that seek to worship it are mysteriously given powers of destruction and unmaking that seem perfectly aligned with its intentions. It cannot be reasoned with, delayed or halted, and destroys its own cultists as readily as anything else.
The Cult of the Devourer is a haphazard organization of self-sufficient cells. Little public information is available about them, though they have a reputation for containing the worst of the worst.
----
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Spectre considers the conversation.
"The furtherance of the religion of this 'Devourer' sounds extremely unprofitable. Though I find the science behind it questionable. Regardless, in the event there is anything to the reality of an existence-devouring entity, we should do all in our power to stop it. There is a bottom line to consider, after all."
"Tahomen's a cruel guy. I know that better than anyone. But he's effective, and he knows how to convince you if he wants to."
Is Tahomen lashunta?" Sydney asks, as the party continues to navigate through the jungle.
Ralkawi grunts affirmatively. "Yeah, striking too. His hair is all green and white. Though I guess he kept it dyed black while we were back in Qabarat."
--------
While Sydney has rarely led the group astray before, you soon get the sense that the twists and turns of the jungle have thrown her off. Your group backtracks a couple of times to get back to the direct route to what Zan called the 'Plague Warden' - your next major landmark. With Ralkawi now on her feet, you make similar time overall. But the experience is a little demoralizing after so many days pushing hard through the jungle.
In the mid afternoon, you find the trees ahead thinning, forming a broad clearing centered on an immense stone statue of a reclining elf whose skin bears dozens of raised markings like painful welts. The figure rests on one partially buried elbow while extending its other hand toward the sky. The elf’s simple robe and hair are both sculpted of heavily weathered metal that has corroded entirely in places. Numerous crumbling outbuildings ring the clearing, where only mosses and a few stubborn, stunted trees grow.
Closest to the edge of the jungle are the clusters of ancient stone ruins. Untold ages have reduced these buildings to low walls and buried foundations, with only a few fragmented walls standing more than four feet in height. The more complete structures have trapped millennia of sediment and runoff, forming a spongy floor of silt and moss. None of the structures have anything resembling a roof remaining - whatever architecture existed here has long since been destroyed.
Solaria continues to talk with Ralkawi on their way through the jungle, hoping that she can see that following the Devourer will hasten her death and means she will miss out on the beauties of life, of laughing, of learning, of adventuring, of excitement. That whilst death is inevitable, being positive and see enjoyment in life is what makes the journey desirable. Until they come across the statue of the elf, which she sees, stops and stares.
"See that, even though it's makers have long since passed, their essence lives on in the magnificence of the statue, a work of art."
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Arcalinte is clearly impressed by the sheer scale of the statue and how it has weathered so long in Ukulam's climate. Then he notices the holes and their nature.
"It's not a statue, Ted...it's a building! Some of those holes are windows.
And then he notices the alcove.
"And THAT looks like the door!" he says, pointing it out.
With your attention drawn to the awe-inspiring elven statue, no one in the group notices a bizarre flying creature halt its natural cloaking ability and descend towards your group. When Arc finally looks up, he notices a massive floating hexapodal creature drifting downwards slowly, extending long, trailing tentacles in your direction! Like a cross between a starfish and a kite, it seems to be held aloft by gossamer sails.
You've heard that most large Castrovelian cities maintain perimeter aerial defenses specifically to ward off Sky Fishers for opportunistically sneaking in and picking off vulnerable land-dwellers.
The floating creature takes advantage of its surprise round by launching a dense, sticky filament from the end of one of its tentacles. It whips the filament through the air and lashes it across Ted! With deft twitches of its extended tentacle, the sticky filament wraps around the technomancer and squeezes tight!
-----------------------
|||| INITIATIVE - ROUND 1 ||||
Sydney
Ted (11 damage, entangled, lasso'd)
Solaria
Isu
Spectre
??? Sky Monster
Arc
Bold are up!
The filament springs back upon being hit by Isu's hammer. It seems fully resistant to bludgeoning (and electricity!).
Round 1:
The filament springs back upon being hit by Isu's hammer. It seems fully resistant to bludgeoning (and electricity!)
Sydney stares at the giant floating octopus(?) and can't make heads or tails of it. "What the $^@% is that?" She points at the blue alien.
The operative pulls out her azimuth laser pistol, tumbles to her right, and fires off a round. After shooting, Sydney leans her head away from the creature in disgust. "Hell, man. Thing's ugly."