As his wounds close courtesy of Penance's divine healing, Corridan breathes a sigh of relief and smiles. "Thank you," he says to the half-orc paladin, his words of gratitude accompanied by a little bow of his head. "It is really a shame that it does not work on fabric," he adds half-jokingly as he looks down at his clothes. "My attire is getting more and more ruined each day we remain on this island. I may be good witha needle and thread, but even I have my limits."
"Hey, there you're on your own, buddy," Penance says with a crooked grin to the tailor. Now as for their captives...
Penance scratches his head, and stares up at the thin glimpses of sky he can barely make out on the other side of the thick jungle canopy. His face works for a moment as if he's arguing with someone, and then he sighs. "Yeah,yeah, okay."
Penance crouches in front of the orc after he brings him conscious, looking into his eyes to see if the blood-red glassy look is still there. He says gruffly, "Ehn! Ti o gbọ mi?"
The orc wakes from unconsciousness with a start. He struggles against the bonds reflexively for a moment before his bloodshot eyes focus on Penance. He responds, "Nə cəhənnəm? Nə olacaq? Sən kimsən?"
Penance rocks back on his heels, honestly a little surprised that the orc is so lucid. He was sort of expecting drooling plant-slaves still. Well, goes to show he's not always right.
"A wa ni awọn arinrin-ajo. A wá lori o, ati arakunrin rẹ ogun bi ẹrú si yi igi-eda," he says, gesturing to the tree and shifting so the bound orc can see it. "Ti o kolu wa bi eranko. Ṣe o ni ko si iranti?"
The orc struggles against the ropes. "Getməmə, yarım cins!"
Penance thoughtfully rubs one balled-up fist with one hand.
"Don't think he has much memory of the tree thing," he says conversationally to the others. "I could hit him in the head several times though, that might help."
It's really tempting. With a sigh, Penance instead decides to sit on the guy. He's heavy, especially in his full plate; he doesn't imagine it's a very comfortable experience.
"Sé soke ki o si wa si tun. Mo ti o kan pa ti o ku lati. O le sọrọ si wa, tabi emi o le pinnu ti o je kan ìfípáda lati sàn o, emi o le fix mi ìfípáda."
Probably, he thinks, this is not how you're supposed to make new friends, but he really doesn't give a damn. The orc's dumb enough to throw insults at someone who's got him tied up? Then probably he's not worth a whole lot as an envoy back to his people.
"Əgər danışmaq istəyirsinizsə, ilk mənə açmaq. Mən heç səni öldürmək," the orc retorts. "Siz gözəl, mən qorxuram deyiləm, məni öldürmək!"
Penance looks down at his cushion, grunting to himself, then looks to the others. "I'm gonna untie him. No weapon, all of us armed, and he's still pretty banged up, so I don't think he's gonna be able to cause any trouble. Just be ready in case he tries to bolt."
To the orc, he says, "Dara. Ko ba ṣe ohun ẹranko."
Getting off the orc, Penance reaches down and undoes the ropes binding their new friend-slash-prisoner.
"Kí ni orúkọ rẹ? Mo n pe ni 'Penance'. Ko idaji-ajọbi."
The orc struggles out of the ropes, and gets to his feet. "My name Gundle, yarım cins Penance edir. Pulsuz mənim üçün təşəkkür edirik. Siz Thak və Mogog öldürmək mi?"
Penance breathes out slowly at the repeated slur (or slur to him, anyway), but... this isn't Nex, this isn't back where he understood the world, and he's not a hot-tempered kid anymore. Okay, he's trying not to be a hot-tempered kid anymore. He's supposed to be a leader and all that crap.
"Ni mo ki o, Gundle. Wà Thak ati Mogog awọn meji? Ti o ba ti bẹ, ki o si, bẹẹni. A si mu ko si ayọ ni o. Arakunrin rẹ-ogun kolu wa akọkọ. Ohun ti o kẹhin ni ohun ti o ranti, ṣaaju ki o to ji ti so?"
"İndi geri gəlir," Gundle says, clutching his head with both hands. "Ki, ağac ... onu öldürdün? Belə onda mən həqiqətən mənim həyat borcluyuq. Mən düz bir həftə rotgut içməli olduğunuz kimi .... Hara hiss edirsiniz? Mən əvvəl qrup kimi hər kəs görməmişəm ..."
"Bẹẹni. A ri o, ati awọn arakunrin rẹ duro ni ayika awọn igi bi eniyan pẹlu ko si okan. A wá sunmọ, ati awọn igi ṣe o kolu wa. A ri o je ko ifẹ rẹ, ki a gbiyanju lati ko pa you-- rẹ miiran awọn arakunrin si tun gbe, sugbon ti won yoo jẹ ọgbẹ," Penance says with a gesture at the other unconscious orcs.
He takes a breath, and the chance to mutter to the others, "Making progress. He says he owes us his life," before continuing in orc.
"A ni o wa lati kan ilẹ kọja awọn omi. A wa ni alejo. A ko fe ogun pẹlu awọn enia rẹ."
Over his shoulder to the others he says, "Okay, first off: Do we want to ask him to lead us to his people? Is that where we're ready to go, or do we want to keep marking and exploring the lands where we are? Secondly, I haven't told him we're friends with the Kh-- the big guy, yet. We're still in Iron Fist lands, right-- should these guys be here? The Khaan said they're at truce with the orcs, but does that extend to letting the orcs wander through his lands? I can ask him that, but I don't want to tip our hand if these guys are, hell, spies or something."
"Be a funny way of spying." Devram shakes his head. "I think we can offer to help carry his companions back to their lands. Maybe along the way, you can learn what they were doing here. And more about that damned tree. I sure as hell don't want to come across another one and not know it."
"Dəniz üzərində? Strange. Orcs ilə müharibə yaxşı, güclü döyüşçülər var."
Penance nods to Devram in acknowledgment of his point. Makes sense to him.
"A ni o wa ni alafia pẹlu awọn Khaan ti awọn irn ikunku eniyan. A ti a ti so fun awọn enia rẹ ni o wa tun ni alafia pẹlu awọn idile ti awọn irn ikunku. Idi ti o ni o wa ki jina lati ile, ninu awọn ilẹ ti awọn irn ikunku? A yoo fẹ lati pade rẹ chief-- boya a le ran o, ati awọn arakunrin rẹ ile."
"Ṣe o mọ ohun ti eyi igi-ẹdá jẹ? Ni awọn enia rẹ eyikeyi itan ti wọn?"
Do you know what this tree-creature is? Do your people have any stories of them?
Shinjuko watches the exchange with a placid expression, thankful for Penance's explanations. She is no yet familiar enough with the tongue to follow the conversation fully, especially with orcs possessing a wildly different dialect.
"Biz ov. Siz onlar xoşbəxt olacaq, biz burada onlara lazım deyil. Biz sülh var, lakin yalnız çünki onlar bizə zireh verir. Ki, dragon. Biz burada yaşamaq istəmirəm, amma bəzən biz ovlamaq üçün buraya. Bu ev günə qədər deyil. Iki və yarım gün gəzmək?" the orc replies. He then shrugs looking at the tree. "Mən bilirəm əgər sikilmiş. Mən bilirəm, bütün, siz bu mate bilməz, siz onu yemək bilməz həlak üçün yalnız yaxşı."
Gundle looks at how badly beaten his companions are. "Siz də onlara şəfa edə bilərəmmi? Biz ev bu kimi etmək olmaz. Biz Giants Torpaq keçmək lazımdır."
Penance grunts in a resigned tone. To the others, he says:
"They were hunting here... and they weren't supposed to be. He just asked us not to tell. Dammit, I hate being right on that count. I don't think keeping secrets from the Khaan is going to do us any good in the long run. Also, he says that the path to their home is through the land of the Giants. This day gets better and better."
Penance rubs at the bridge of his nose. "Unless we carry those guys, we're not making any further progress to their camp tonight. I can probably get everyone on their feet... don't have a lot of favors left to ask Abadar for the day, though."
He turns back to Gundle. "O yẹ ki o ko sode ninu awọn ilẹ ti awọn eniyan ni alafia, tabi ti o yoo ko ni alaafia. Emi o si sọrọ rẹ olori nipa eyi. Emi o larada rẹ arakunrin, ṣugbọn iwọ o ran si se alaye wọn ohun tó ṣẹlẹ."
Penance moves to the center of the group of downed captives and closes his eyes, wrapping his fingers around the iron key that hangs at his neck. His lips move in a soundless plea to the golden god.
Gundle shrugs again at Penance's political suggestions. Penance's healing is enough to get all the orcs on their feet. Gundle quickly gets the other three up to speed while the Agents discuss their next move.
"Penance, let them go home. We'll probably get there eventually, but we have a mission here. Best case scenario, we'll have some friends when we arrive. Worst case, they never get home. Let's go." Iliante punctuates his suggestion by spinning his revolver's cylinder and holstering the gun.
"Kind of unsavory characters, aren’t they?" says, in a very low voice, Telemakos "I don’t think we should concern ourselves further with them – if their word has any weight in their tribe, something good might come of this encounter." he shrugs, hopeful "Still, we should keep going by our path."
Devram shrugs. "Yeah, true. We can let them go and then continue exploring. We do have a dragon to consider, after all."
"Yeah, suits me," he grunts to the words of letting the orcs find their own way home. He doesn't really want to escort still-rather-injured orcs back through the Iron Fist lands... running into a scout of the Iron Fist, and having to explain why they were with the orcs.... would be-- awkward.
"Awọn arakunrin mi ati ki o mo ni pataki owo níbòmíràn. Lọjọ kan ni mo ni ireti lati wa si abule rẹ ki o si sọrọ pẹlu rẹ olori, ṣugbọn ti ọjọ ko le wa ni loni. Ajo fara nipasẹ awọn ilẹ ti awọn omirán lori rẹ ọna pada si rẹ lands-- emi o beere mi ọlọrun lati fun o ni ailewu fi aye. O yẹ ki o ko wa si awọn iron ikunku ilẹ lẹẹkansi, tabi nibẹ ni yio je wahala laarin rẹ ẹya."
Before they go, however--
"Gundle, kí ni awọn enia rẹ ti sọ awọn?"
"Baş üstə! Biz dragon dəhşətli ölüm yağdıran deyirlər. Allah bir uşaq onun yerinə bizə əzab üçün əti etdi. Əgər Toe yiyen torpaqlarına gəlmək əgər Bəlkə Gundle, bir gün sizi yenə görəcəyəm. Goodbye Allah işgəncəyə unuda bilər, tövbə halbreed," Gundle says, punching his palm with one fist towards Penance in some kind of salute. He and the other orcs grab their stuff, and disappear into the undergrowth quickly and silently.
After the orcs leave, Devram carefully steps up to the dead tree. He inspects the tree-creature and looks up into the leaves.
It's a tree, with long tendril-like vines made for sucking blood and injecting venom. There are some bones around its roots but they are mostly from animals. There is what looks like one hobgoblin skeleton, wearing the plate mail and longsword typical of their warriors. It looks like its been there for years, and is covered in dirt and plant growth.
"Does anyone want to dig for buried treasure?" asks the merchant who detests pirates.
"That would be best." Shinjuko answers Iliante. She begins combing the area for anything else of note and assisting in freeing the slain hobgoblin's form from the ground.
"Poor bugger," Penance says. "I guess the respectful thing to do would be to bury him how the Iron Fist like their people buried... but frankly, we've got little enough daylight left as it is, and stopping to dig this old bag of bones a pit won't help any. I say we get back on the non-existent road, start looking for a good campsite as we go."
He does, however, lay out what is left of the body in the most straightened fashion he can manage, and he lifts and sprinkles a handful of dirt on him.
"Abadar guide your soul, if he'll touch it anyway," the half-orc mutters. "Because seriously, the god you all worship's a little f~~&ed-up."
May God forget to torture you, indeed. Shaking his head, Penance gets ready to keep going. And here he'd thought Abadar was kind of harsh, sometimes...
Devram hauls up the weapons and armor they find. "We'll leave the hobgoblin's armor and sword as a burial rite to them, but these bastards' arms are ours." He ties them to his mount's saddle.
<< | | | >>
The rest of the day passes in sweaty misery. Muscles cramp and ache after hours of constantly clambering uphill through heavy undergrowth, only to work different muscles on the down side of the hills. The whole time the Agents provide a feast for a wider variety of biting and stinging insects than they ever thought possible. By the time the sun is about to disappear into the canopy for the night even the hardy riding lizards are ready for a break. The group beds down for the night, with watch patterns as normal.
<< | | | >>
The first three shifts of night watch pass without incident. During the final shift, Corridan and Shinjuko are awake. They hear a shuffling noise, and then a moment later, a big ass beetle breaks out of the underbrush near where Iliante is sleeping.
Initiative:
Party 13.6
Monster 10
Hoping to rouse the camp before they are set upon, Shinjuko utters a few arcane syllables and purses her lips as if about to whistle loudly. The peal of a trumpet rings out over the camp, and the samurai-ko flicks her blade free from its sheath, rime already beginning to coat its length as she presents it competently before herself and the revealed enemy.
Wasting no time and with Shinjuko having already taken care of alerting the rest of them, Corridan wastes no time, closing with the large creature and striking at it with his right fist.
Iliante wakes to a giant ass beetle barreling down him. He jumps to his feet drawing his revolver in one fluid, unconscious motion. Then, he steps back toward the fire before shooting the ass beetle. The bullet just misses the tiny insect brain and rattles around inside the carapace.
Devram wakes with a start. Where did someone get a trumpet? He looks around, suddenly seeing the giant beetle and the others engaging in battle. He rolls out of his bedroll to his feet, grabbing his dueling sword. He adds his voice to the magical trumpet's sound. "Wake up! To arms! A bug infestation!"
Clad in only his linen pants, the Aldori advances on the beetle, drawing his dueling sword as he goes.
Startled by the sudden wake-up call, Telemakos struggles once or twice before being able to sit up from his prone position in his bedroll. He passes his hand on his face,t rying to put into place his very messy beard “What… what is going on?” in the soft light of dawn, he can barely make out the bull-sized beetle “Oh that is…” he starts crawling away in panic, but then he stops and pauses, perplexed “well, is was going to say disgusting, but is it really? Compared to what we have faced so far, this is quite mundane.”
He doesn’t even bother to stand up. From his sitting position, squinting in the dim light, he points in front of himself “There, I’m sure this proud, majestic celestial predator will be quite enough to take care of the danger! Then perhaps we can go back to sleep!”
A nightmare of a beast appears near the beetle – crimson fur, drooling maw and a growl deep and frightening coalesce into a terrifying hunting cat straight out of the Abyss. The awful monster unleashes fangs and claws at the hard carapace of the beetle.
“Yes, well, this will do the trick just the same!” says Telemakos defensively “It is not easy to keep the various Planes straight when you’re barely awake, you know…”
____________________
Penance lurches awake at the clarion call of the trumpet, leaving behind a fuzzy nightmare about a tree growing out of his torso. "Huuh! Wha?"
Night-time attack, say the shouts of his colleagues, but this time, at least, he's prepared for that.
"Abadar bids us to arms!" he shouts. "Coates, incoming!"
His battered-but-faithful armor appearing on his body in a handful of seconds, Penance lurches to his feet, snatching up his greatsword as he stands.
Hoping to rouse the camp before they are set upon, Shinjuko utters a few arcane syllables and purses her lips as if about to whistle loudly. The peal of a trumpet rings out over the camp, and the samurai-ko flicks her blade free from its sheath, rime already beginning to coat its length as she presents it competently before herself and the revealed enemy.
Wasting no time and with Shinjuko having already taken care of alerting the rest of them, Corridan wastes no time, closing with the large creature and striking at it with his right fist.
Iliante wakes to a giant ass beetle barreling down him. He jumps to his feet drawing his revolver in one fluid, unconscious motion. Then, he steps back toward the fire before shooting the ass beetle. The bullet just misses the tiny insect brain and rattles around inside the carapace.
Devram wakes with a start. Where did someone get a trumpet? He looks around, suddenly seeing the giant beetle and the others engaging in battle. He rolls out of his bedroll to his feet, grabbing his dueling sword. He adds his voice to the magical trumpet's sound. "Wake up! To arms! A bug infestation!"
Clad in only his linen pants, the Aldori advances on the beetle, drawing his dueling sword as he goes.
Startled by the sudden wake-up call, Telemakos struggles once or twice before being able to sit up from his prone position in his bedroll. He passes his hand on his face,t rying to put into place his very messy beard “What… what is going on?” in the soft light of dawn, he can barely make out the bull-sized beetle “Oh that is…” he starts crawling away in panic, but then he stops and pauses, perplexed “well, is was going to say disgusting, but is it really? Compared to what we have faced so far, this is quite mundane.”
He doesn’t even bother to stand up. From his sitting position, squinting in the dim light, he points in front of himself “There, I’m sure this proud, majestic celestial predator will be quite enough to take care of the danger! Then perhaps we can go back to sleep!”
A nightmare of a beast appears near the beetle – crimson fur, drooling maw and a growl deep and frightening coalesce into a terrifying hunting cat straight out of the Abyss. The awful monster unleashes fangs and claws at the hard carapace of the beetle.
“Yes, well, this will do the trick just the same!” says Telemakos defensively “It is not easy to keep the various Planes straight when you’re barely awake, you know…”
Penance lurches awake at the clarion call of the trumpet, leaving behind a fuzzy nightmare about a tree growing out of his torso. "Huuh! Wha?" Night-time attack, say the shouts of his colleagues, but this time, at least, he's prepared for that. "Abadar bids us to arms!" he shouts. "Coates, incoming!" His battered-but-faithful armor appearing on his body in a handful of seconds, Penance lurches to his feet, snatching up his greatsword as he stands.
As the Agents attack the beetle, both Corridan and Telemakos's leopard come to a sudden realization - the beetle is illusory!
From the bushes south west of the beetle comes the sound of someone chanting a spell.
================================
______________________________________
Devram can only turn his head towards Penance when suddenly his mithril chain shirt swirls around him and puts itself in place. "Hey! Nice, big guy!" He smirks and looks back to the beetle in time to see the leopard leap directly through the illusionary beetle.
"Huh. Well that's odd. I..." he trails off and he hears the sound of chanting in the distance. But something isn't right. "Hey, that chanting isn't what it seems to be. Doesn't even sound human. I think it's another distraction. We probably have some trickster sorcerer or fey nearby!"
Devram steps up to the beetle and slashes at it with his dueling sword.
"Well," Corridan says simply as he finds the beetle to be little more than smoke and mirrors, as the saying goes. "The creature is not real, merely an illusion," he calls out to the others, as he in turn takes heed of Devram's own warning. Still, the tailor moves towards the sound of spellcasting, if for no other reason than to investigate further.