With the battle over, Marossa moves forward to tend to Sarala's leg. Fortunately, her body is able to fight off the poison on its own, though the underlying damage still lingers.
"You are not going to die," the bard says to Sarala reassuringly, though her confidence seems to wane as the latter reads out her last will and testament. Unamused, she applies her healing magic to the wound.
|
As Marossa's magics cause the snake's fang marks on Sarala's skin to close up and fade, Julius makes a sound of mock indignation with his mouth open and stamps his foot.
"But-but...my marbles!" he says with exaggerated annoyance. Changing his grip on Sarala's fur-backed hand to one of interlocking thumbs wrist-to-wrist, Julius hauls his long time friend to her feet. Still gripping her hand, he pulls her arm so the back of her hand rests on his chest. Their faces close together, Julius puts his forehead on hers.
"You know, next time, the marbles might be more important to me," he says quietly, the concern in his voice making a lie of his words. "Let's not find out if that turns out to be true in the future, okay?"
Then he grins and winks.
Thurrios looks at Sarala, "I don't suppose you own a pair of ear plugs you could put me down for, eh?"
|
Sarala's expression becomes momentarily serious as Julius shows concern for her. The vanara nods her head against the arcanist's forehead a couple of times to acknowledge his words and gives his hand a light squeeze, before she turns to Thurrios and claps her hands together.
"Actually, in the story that Julius is putting together, you get everything that I mentioned," replies Sarala to Thurrios, "Lucky you! Plus, I think if you asked nicely, Julius would let you borrow the marbles, too."
After a moment or two of thought, Sarala adds in a stage whisper to Julius, "Was he implying that I'm annoying?"
Anapa simply listens. Trying to understand those he is now companions with
-Posted with Wayfinder
With Sarala no longer in mortal danger and your macabre trophy in hand, you depart from the slave market and cross the bridge once more. No patrols appear to be in sight, nor have your defeated gnoll opponents evidently been discovered, judging by their still-present, fly-infested corpses. With the exception of course, of the missing body. As you approach the tannery a familiar bustard on its roof acknowledges your presence with a squawk! before hopping inside.
Undrella greets you all with a wide smile, particularly when she eyes the inconspicuous snake head.
"Ah, well done!" she says, clapping her talons together. The harpy then abruptly hops down from the rafters, snatches up the snake head and tosses it over her shoulder. It lands in one of her cauldrons with a splash, before bobbing up in the boiling broth. "That will make for a fine dinner, later on."
"Now," she begins, approaching Thurrios with a sensual gait. "Let it be known that Undrella the Beautiful will keep her side fo the bargain. Promise me sanctuary here, and I will tell you anything you need to know... and more, perhaps."
"Undrella the Honored, as previously agreed, we have kept up our bargain and will continue to do so, provided you do. We will guarantee you sanctuary, provided you promise to act civil when our people return to this area. That being the case, I see no reason to not continue with our bargain."
"Why with the strange titles? Did i miss something? I am not too sure what to make of this"
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Of course," Undrella replies, crossing her arms, "I could do with some civility... as you might imagine, there is none to be had among gnolls."
"But alas, you can worry about your civilized folk once my dear Kardy is dead. Short of wiping out the whole pack, that remains your best chance of defeating the Kulldis. After all, it is as they say - cut the head off a snake, and the body dies."
Narkû nods his head to Sarala's suggestion, once more fulfilling his diplomatic duties for the group.
"Undrella the Helpful, can you point us in the right direction to find Kardy, so that we might handle him."
"He resides within the battle market, at the top of the village," Undrella says, glancing to the side as though she could see the building through the wall, "You can't miss it. I should warn you, though. Kardy - or Kardswann, I suppose I should could him - has opened the market to all manners of... disreputable folks. Gnolls are not the only ones you should be wary of. Not that you should be surprised, considering that Kardy himself is not a gnoll."
"Oh, Undrella the Wise, may I then ask, what sort of creature Kardswann actually is?"
|
|
Sarala slips a few more shuriken into her pockets, just in case, before putting down her backpack. She points at Julius with both of her fingers, points at her eyes with both of her fingers, points back at Julius's eyes with both fingers and then down to the bag.
"In the snake's house?" she asks Narkû, before moving to depart. "We may have to do a little bit of tactical retreat if we get spotted, if that's okay with you."
Undrella smiles luridly at Thurrios' question, before starting to creep closer to him.
"A genie," she answers simply, her tone suggesting a fond recollection.
"It was just two months ago that he first arrived. When the previous Kulldis chief tried to kill him, Kardswann cut him down with a single blow. The other gnolls bowed to him immediately, but he had no interest in being their leader. But that all changed after he went through the magically sealed door in the ruined church." The harpy is close enough now to affectionately trace a talon across Thurrios' cheek, just lightly enough to do no harm. "When he came out of the church, he was meaner. More cruel. More... how should I put it? Evil. He had no trouble then declaring himself a servant of the Carrion King."
"Then we shall end him. Quickly. One can not serve such a... creature" he nods. Almost as if it is a done deal
-Posted with Wayfinder
"I concur, but I do propose that we rest for the evening."
|
|
"Not a bad idea, resting. I still feel a bit sick. I think I'll make a note to avoid getting bit by giant venomous snakes in the future," says Sarala, returning momentarily to her pack to make just such a note in her journal. "The more who help with the corpse haul, it'll go faster. Unless our hostess wants some meat? We could haul them back here for snacking purposes."
"Undrella the Voracious, do your culinary tastes lean towards gnoll? If so, we would be pleased to provide a generous portion."
A look of disgust flashes over Undrella's face as the prospect of eating gnolls comes up.
"I would rather not eat mangy meat. Besides, what would happen to me if Kardy found out I was eating his underlings? I wouldn't want to be forced to expose our... arrangement.
"No, if you're worried about hiding the bodies, just... toss them into the river, or hide them in a building or somewhere. Out here, they'll get eaten by something sooner or later.
"As for resting, you are welcome to stay with me in my boudoir," she says, running her talons down the curves of her body, "No one would disturb us here..."
"Ahhhh, Undrella the Discerning, we shall toss them into the river, and stay the night here. On the morrow, we will go forth and handle our mutual problem. Should the opportunity present itself, have you a particular taste for any particular flavor of minion we might encounter?"
"Your handiwork will be just fine for now," the harpy muses, gesturing at the cauldron of snakehead stew.
With a moment of insightful clarity Narkû says, "Narkû think you may want to save spells for combat. Narkû could push gnolls into it while Narkû fights."
Narkû goes with Sarala to feed the fishes.
The excitment of bull rushing gnolls into a pit distracts Narkû from focusing on his skills of 'Infiltrationing'.
"Here comes Narkû gnoll," foot stomp, foot stomp, foot stomp, "Bam! Into the pit you go!" he says with a tooth grin as he imagines the results.
---------------------------------------------
Current Effects: Whetstone edge on Falchion, +1 damage on next successful hit;
|
|
Sarala does respond to Julius before departing, "Might draw attention, the ground being all freshly dug up, and I don't have a shovel. We'll be in and out in two flicks of a gnoll's tail." Her finger goes up to her lips, to signal to Julius that she is entering silence mode before she departs, giving the half-orc a wide berth so that at least if they get noticed, she may have a little bit of an element of surprise.
|
|
Before Julius can reply, Narkû rushes out with much clanking and jangling as he slide tackles a gnoll right off of the bridge. A hand still raised and mouth agape, Julius watches as the best infiltrationinger goes about his work.
Closing his mouth with a clack, Julius turns back to the two love birds Thurrios and Undrella inside and says, "Well, hopefully noting else will be coming this way for a while."
Julius chuckles and mutters the incantation for prestidigitation and begins to free his clothing and gear from the dust and grime of the road.
Anapa will stay behind as backup. Since one... guardian is ahead with the Vanara, he will stay back as a rear guard
-Posted with Wayfinder
Sarala and Narku leave the tannery to dispose of the gnoll corpses; as usual, the half-orc's armor clangs with each step, while the Vanaran's movements are soundless. Their good fortune seems to persist however, as there are no gnoll patrols within sight. Hastening to the bridge, they lob the dead gnolls into the drink one by one, each of them landing in the water with a loud splash.
The current pulls the corpses away, slowly carrying them out of the village. As they pass the old mill, one of the bodies is pulled under for a moment by the turning wheel, but it comes out on the other side and continues on its way.
Meanwhile, back in the tannery, Undrella continues her unsubtle advances toward the men in the room. Marossa, perhaps to her own relief, is practically invisible to her. It is a small consolation that she at least provides some helpful insight to the Kulldis' workings.
Thurrios will query her on her history, the history of the village, what sorts of creatures and how many have come to serve this genie, and other tactical questions that can help us for tomorrow.
The day drags on without incident. The tannery is cramped and uncomfortable, and the odors from her cauldrons stink, but true to her word, the building is otherwise safe. As Thurrios and everyone else soons find out, Undrella loves talking about herself. Nonetheless, her bird familiar keeps watch
At the ifrit’s behest, she explains how she once lived out in the Brazen Peaks, surrounded by all manners of deadly creatures. She learned her magic from a hag that she later tricked into walking off a cliff; she emphasizes of course, that she probably deserved it.
Seeking a place where she could continue to practice her witchcraft without distractions, she happened upon Kelmarane, which was completely abandoned at the time. It was not until some time later that the Kulldis arrived, and more than a year passed after that before Kardswann usurped the chiefdom. The abandonment of the village unfortunately predates her arrival by several years, so she is only able to vaguely conjecture that something horrible happened.
Kardswann, she explains, opened the battle market to visitors not long after he became chief. All sorts of bandits, mercenaries, and smugglers have arrived there since then, though she notes that none of them have ever left. She is only able to guess at their numbers, as she never really paid them any mind. As for the Kulldis themselves, she is only able to tell you that there are a “few dozen” of them, as they are evidently one of the smaller gnoll tribes of the Brazen Peaks. Of course, they have never had such a strong leader before.
She offhandedly mentions that the Kulldis have always been a superstitious lot, and have been hesitant to expand their territory. They avoid the old temple to the east and the old monastery to the south, as well as the waterfall northeast of the village, which they believe to be haunted by an angry gnoll spirit. Likewise, they have been avoiding the church of Sarenrae within the village, though for more justifiable reasons - evidently, gnolls that have been sent there before have not returned. Undrella, in spite of her curiosity, has only been there once - when she saw the door Kardswann had entered the day he arrived.
On the topic of Kardswann’s non-gnoll allies, Undrella notes that there are two in particular you should be wary of.
“The first is the winged creature living in the old mill. It has agreed to follow Kardy’s orders, so long as the Kulldis provide him with a fat goat every other day. It might not be so happy if it learned that you interrupted its meal.
”The more dangerous of the two is Kezurkian, a demon conjured up by one of the Carrion King’s priests. In the absence of the gnoll patrols, he stalks the streets, hunting down interlopers… you are fortunate indeed to have not become acquainted already.”
Addressing strategy, her suggestions are much the same as Almah’s - clearing out the village before tackling the battle market would do wonders for your chances.
|
|
Sarala, upon her return from giving the dead gnolls a swimming lesson, will listen to whatever Undrella has to say (even going so far as to take a few notes in her journal), but otherwise has as little interest in the harpy as the harpy has in her.
"Overall, a battle by wearing them down slowly makes sense. This Kezurkian demon, does it wander around more during night or day? And is there anywhere that it spends more time?" wonders Sarala.
She sits down next to Julius and asks him in a whisper that she is very careful not to let Undrella hear, "Can you do anything about this stink? 'cause if we're spending the rest of the day here, the stinksmells are going to make me crazy, and I'm still not feeling the best after that snake bite."
Narkû listens to the harpy prattle on, while he keeps watch through the cracks in the windows boards.
While standing ever vigilant, his mind wanders on important information and tactics he has heard and thought about through out the day.
So Julius makes a pit and Narkû bull rushes the gnoll into the pit.
You see Narkû' feet make small moves as if he is running.
This place has a second mill, with a winged creature, that eats fat goats. Good thing Narkû put our fat goat in the mill close by or did they kill Narkû's fat goat? Narkû forgets.
You hear a short giggle come from Narkû's direction.
Shame there were no Sliver Muskets in that place, but Narkû will have snake to eat tonight.
You see the Sandkin glance over to the cook pot from time to time, licking his lips.
Hope Sarala fights the poison ok, she makes good fighter. She learns quick about whetstone.
You see Narkû pull out his whetstone and hone his blades, for the umpteenth time.
---------------------------------------------
Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
"So the winged demon in the mill you think?"
|
|
Having already cast prestidigitation which is a spell that allows Julius to manipulate small matter for a rather time, he begins to nonchalantly banish the grime from around the room under the guise of idle curiosity and examination. When Sarala whispers to him, Julius winks. "Already on it, my dear friend. You rest up. If you're feeling adventurous, you should ask our new friendly witch if she happens to know a recipe for a healing brew. Maybe there's something she can do for you."
Unless stopped, Julius will spend a good portion of the afternoon, "examining" the room, all the while removing the grime, dirt, and presumably the smell from the soiled surrounds.
"The daemon will meet its end by our weapons" He affirms
-Posted with Wayfinder
Narkû ears perk up at the mention of "Winged demon" and "Meeting its end by our weapons".
A large smile crosses his face as he asks, "Narkû going to fight more today?"
He goes rigid all of a sudden and his eyes glass over, as a strange voice comes from this mouth, "Or maybe not feed the Demon and let it fight Kardswann or the others?"
He body and eyes relax, as if the hand of whatever was controling him has released him, Narkû none the wiser for the experience.
He looks at everyone in the room, then they don't respond to this question and says, "Oh, you still 'parleying' with her. Right, Narkû is back to being quiet."
|
|
Sarala is about to answer Narkû's initial question, but is a bit taken aback by the sudden change in tone.
She replies hesitantly, "Yeah, I guess that would work, if we can interrupt the feedings... I'm not really super keen on taking something like that on with limited intel, and the enemy infighting would help us overall."
She nods to Julius, taking his advice on boldness, saying to Undrella, "Hey, I got bit by that snake. You happen to have anything for that?"
"Demon, not daemon," Undrella says, correcting Anapa, "It is a silly distinction, but there is a difference."
She turns to Sarala, looking at her as though this is the first time she has really seen her. The harpy stares at the Vanaran's tail for a few moments before answering.
"Alas, no. A spell of that power is beyond my purview, unfortunately."
Undrella is oblivious to Julius' attempts to tidy things up, far too absorbed in conversation and flirtation to care. The arcanist finds plenty of messes to clean, bird excrement and blood stains (not all of them dry) being the worst among them. It takes the better part of the afternoon to make the room at least appear clean, but the smell continues to linger. The contents of the cauldrons, as it happens, are the most odorous things in the room.