"Don't forget the treasure," Pezock adds. "That's why I'm here. I want treasure and they say there'll be lots of treasure at this city. We've travelled a long way and I'm getting impatient."
"And let us not forget the ancient evil that grows there."
"The ancient evil will not stand in our way!" Pezock declares. "It shall fall before our might and its treasures will be ours!"
"Yes, well, we need to find it first," Shokambe says. "Our best bet is to head a few miles into the jungle and then start a spiral pattern. Depending just how old this place is, there may not be much left beyond bits of crumbling wall and that could be covered in vines and other plants. Keep your eyes open."
Tar'kanas looks to Sasha before turning to Pezock as he gives his thoughts on their purpose for finding the city as well. With no type of reaction to either of their answers, "Hm. Fascinating," he simply responds.
"Yes, well, we need to find it first," Shokambe says. "Our best bet is to head a few miles into the jungle and then start a spiral pattern. Depending just how old this place is, there may not be much left beyond bits of crumbling wall and that could be covered in vines and other plants. Keep your eyes open."
Tar'kanas nods. "Very well. Let us move."
"Do we have a way of maybe exploring from the sky? A bird's eye view may give us some hints that would be missed here on the surface."
"Do we have a way of maybe exploring from the sky? A bird's eye view may give us some hints that would be missed here on the surface."
"I don't think we have any means of flight, do we?" Sasha replies. "I could send Alton to scout, but he'd have no way of telling us what he saw or, for that matter, even knowing what to look for."
"The jungle canopy can be very thick," Shokambe says. "There is a good chance that it would be difficult to spot from above. However, if you have magical flight, it certainly wouldn't harm to try it. There may well be signs from above that we can't see from the ground. Those of us stuck on the ground can continue on by foot."
"Right. ...hmmm... I don't supposed one of you got a spirit animal that would help with this, ya?
"Right. ...hmmm... I don't supposed one of you got a spirit animal that would help with this, ya?
"I just have a stupid spirit animal," Pezock grumbles.
Shokambe leads the way into the thick jungle, starting out sourth and gradually curving clockwise to the west and then back north, spiralling around. By necessity, you move fairly slowly. Not only does it take time to cut through the undergrowth, but you have to spend time looking and being observant. After several hours, it feels like you've hardly made any progress, though Shokambe assures you that you actually have.
After making one complete circle and during the next as you travel northwest, you come across stone blocking your path. It's not immediately noticeable as vines and vegetation cover and strangle it. You're almost right upon it before you even realize it's there. Getting up close, you can see that it's definitely the remains of a wall. It's not in good shape. It's heavily eroded and partially collapsed. It would be very easy to climb over .
Tracing along it for a short distance in both directions, it becomes clear that it's a curved wall, that probably once made a complete enclosure. At the rate of curvature, you can estimate a diameter of about 1500 feet--certainly enough to enclose a small settlement. Due to its crumbling nature, the height of the wall varies, though it's never more than about 10 feet, which would seem to have been its original height. Even in the short distance along it you've examined, there are numerous gaps in the wall apparent. Beyond those gaps lie more tangled vegetation.
"Any buildings will be in no better shape," Shokambe says. "They likely won't look like anything more than mounds of vegetation."
"Don't sound so negative. This is the most promising thing we've found. Let's go into it with hopeful hearts and watchful eyes." Urza will move slowly as they search the area. He pauses every couple of minutes to examine the area for magical auras.
Take 20 on search 26 total.
"Not being negative," Shokambe says. "I agree, this is very promising. I'm just being practical. Just because we've found a wall doesn't mean we don't need to keep our eyes open anymore."
He climbs carefully through one of the gaps in the wall.
"At last!" Pezock says exuberantly. "Our destination is here. Adventure and treasure await!" He follows Shokambe through the gap.
Tar'kanas follows as well with Untari right behind him.
"Wise man would not count his chickens before they crow," Mahjik intones. "There's no telling if anything helpful is beyond - and given our history, I'm inclined to suspect we'll find a handful of trouble as well."
Mahjik frowns as he speaks, as if another thought got smuggled into his mind, then asks Shokambe: "Have you seen any signs of others getting this far? Do you think we're the first? And if so, it may be safer for us to try to hide our efforts from here on out."
"Trouble is what we do best. And we may just have to accept people following us. The trail of hacked foliage we're leaving will be very difficult to cover up."
"They're probably already ahead of us," Douena sniffs. "They've been ahead of us the whole way, thanks to the Pathfinders blabbing."
Tar'kanas looks to Douena a moment, "These Pathfinders seem to be a source of trouble for you, Douena. And I would gather the rest of you as well. What is the level of trouble they cause? Is it enough to warrant to have them eliminated? I shall aid you as best I can in such an endeavor if need be," he states candidly.
"What?" Lorenz looks aghast. "But the Pathfinders are our allies! We're working with the Pathfinders. We don't need to eliminate them. Douena's just bitter. Yes, Gelik shouldn't have blabbed, but that's Gelik's fault, not the fault of every other Pathfinder in the entire world!"
Sasha places a hand on Lorenz's shoulder. "Yes, but the Pathfinders had to tell their own people in order to start planning the expedition, and they had to buy supplies. Somewhere along the line, word got out to people who weren't Pathfinders, to the Aspis Consortium and other groups. Unless you're saying that Gelik also blabbed to non-Pathfinders, then the leak had to come from somewhere else in the Pathfinders."
"Yeah, but it's still not the entirety of the Pathfinders," Lorenz says. "They are still our allies." He lowers his head with a sigh. "But whatever. If somebody else has got here ahead of us, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."
After travelling a couple hundred feet past the wall, the jungle starts to thin a little, allowing you a better view of what's ahead. To the north, you see a bit of swamp cutting out of the jungle, but to the west, you see a ruin rising from the dense brush, consisting of concentric rings of crude stone columns, surrounding a yawning pit in the earth. The columns are heavily overgrown with jungle plants. Humanoid creatures with long arms move about amid the columns. They don't seem to be looking in your direction so don't seem to have noticed you yet.
"Exactly," Douena agrees with Sasha, ignoring Lorenz. "We didn't say anything to anyone, but just a day or two after the Pathfinders started planning their expedition, everyone in Eleder knew about what we found on the island. Oh, look! People! Hello!" she calls out cheerfully in Polyglot. "We're looking for pillars of light! Do you know where that is?"
"Douena! Wait!" He places a gentle hand upon her shoulder. "Let us be sure they are friendly." He pulls out his bow, just in case.
"How are we going to find out if they're friendly without talking to them?" Douena objects, undaunted.
He looks to her a moment, pondering the question. "You will go and speak with them with Untari and I by your side. Your ability to speak is unmatched by any of us. I would suggest a company of us go, while the rest remain a distance behind. If they notice all of us at once, it could easily appear as a threat to them which could easily lead to battle." Turning his attention to Pezock, "Tengu, remain with the group that lags behind. They will need someone to protect them if an ambush occurs. Your blade is as nearly as sharp as your tongue. We do not know what type of creatures we are dealing with, so remain alert."
"No, Tarkanas. We all go. Our group may be intimidating, but only the two of you may seen as an easy target. When in doubt, I chose the safer of the two. As the saying goes, there's safety in numbers."
"When I say company, I was suggesting half of us. While too many could prove threatening, too few could prove vulnerable. We do not want them forming defensive measures no more than offensive. Indecisive is what we need them to be, if that is even possible. We still do not know who or what we are dealing with."
"I'll join the forward group. I think Tar'kanas has the right of it. There is no need to over-commit the group - some 4 or 5 of us should be fine. That way," Mahjik estimates, "we'll be as many as them; that should be adequate."
"As many as them? There could be hundreds or thousands of them in the area. I still say, we all go. Don't forget the last time we separated, one of us died. I appreciate your thoughts, Tar'kanas, but you do not know our history, so in this I care not for your opinion."
Tar'kanas looks to the half-orc with a raised eyebrow. "Whether you care of my opinion or not means little to me. You obviously live in fear due to a past event which could prove costly to this group in the future. I suggest you work past it or move on. And whether or not we all go together or separate... if there were 'hundreds or thousands' of these creatures as you claim, that issue would be the least of our worries."
Douena starts to call out to the humanoids, but is shushed by Tar'kanas. The humanoids don't react, so it seems they didn't hear Douena over the general sounds of the jungle.
Pezock looks uncertain and suspicious as Tar'kanas tells him to stay back, but his eyes then glint at the thought of his sharp blade. However, when Urza and Tar'kanas begin to argue over how to proceed, he starts to get noticeably impatient. Jask puts a hand on his arm when it looks like he's about to march out ahead of all of you.
"Perhaps we should move a little closer and get a better look," Jask suggests.
The humanoids are not very tall, so it's hard to get a good look at them over the vines and brush. Conversely, it becomes quickly clear that if you move too far away from the cover of the trees, it will be easy for them to spot the taller members of your party (i.e. everyone except Douena). However, you are able to get yourselves into a position to a bit of a better look (they are more concerned with each other than with looking away from their immediate surroundings).
"Charau-ka," Shokambe says. "Not surprising. There are a lot of them in this jungle. They are demon followers and not usually friendly. Those four are probably not alone."
"Wise man won't argue with demon worshipers. Actually that is just common knowledge, nobody should argue with demon worshipers." Mahjik moves up to the front.
"So it does become the least of our worries. I do not know if we can take on an entire assembly of these creatures. If their numbers are as Shokambe says they are, then eventually they will overcome us."
"Well, of course they're not friendly if everyone just attacks them on sight without even trying to talk to them first," Douena huffs. "I might follow demons too just to spite everybody."
Looking to the gnome and then back to the Charau-ka, "Then maybe we should continue with Douena's idea of speaking with them. If there are a multitude of them as suggested, fighting them all could easily be our end. It is possible she can reason with them. If not, then we fight. Unless we can sneak in a dozen of us," he looks to them all, knowing that's an epic long shot due to how noisy they typically are, "then we are left with the only option of either fighting or reasoning. I say we give Douena her opportunity. We have nothing to lose."
"As long as we all go with her." Urza is adamant on this point. "And I think it wise that we are prepared in case they do not want to talk. I'll cast some defensive spells." Urza looks to Douena for approval.
If approved.
Mage Armor on self
Mage Armor on Mahjik
Shield on self
Protection v Evil on self
Protection v Evil on Pezock
Resist Energy (Fire) on Pezock
They're mostly staying put where they are, but they do occasionally shift position slightly or gesticulate at each other with their arms. They seem to be talking amongst themselves. Once in a while, they look towards the pit, but never out in your direction.
"Wise man would worry when the friends of chaos focus all their attention on a single thing."
OK then, Urza's ready.
You move forwards cautiously, out of the heavy canopy of trees and into the brush. Douena waves and calls out to the charau-ka, who turn and look in your direction. One of them suddenly lets out a loud, monkey-like screech. The others reach down and pick up clubs from the ground that the wave in the air. They then join in with the screeching, jumping up and down in frenzied movements. A moment later, further screeching comes from the south, and then the northeast. Soon, there is screeching coming from just about every direction except directly behind you. The cacophony is like being back in the screaming jungle again.
While the monkey-like humanoids look enraged and ready to fight, none of them actually move forward to engage you. Perhaps they're waiting for others to arrive or perhaps they're just trying to intimidate. You're not sure.
"We should back away. They'r going to surround us, then fall all over us."
"Where to?" Douena points out practically. "The jungle? Or the ... more jungle? Whatever we're looking for is here somewhere, unless you want to go all the way back to Eleder. Maybe one of their friends fell down that hole and they're trying to figure out how to get him out. We could help them!"
Wondering what they're screeching at one another, Douena invokes her innate magic to try to understand.
"They're alerting someone named Raogru," Douena murmurs, "I think. Yes, we're here to see Raogru," she calls out in Polyglot, hoping they understand it. "Where is he? Is he down the well?"
"They are alerting their leader. A part of me thinks that the 'more jungle' may be a wise course," he says in his typical stoic fashion, making it difficult to tell if he's kidding or serious.
It's hard for Douena to make her voice heard over the din of the screeching. However, the four in the stone circles stop their cries and move forward cautiously. To the north you see more charau-ka approaching.
Pezock draws his sword and sneers.
The charau-ka at the front of the ones leaving the stone circles speaks in stilted Polyglot, "The well is sacred. You are prisoners. Drop weapons."
Pezock sneers some more.
"What did he say?" Makoa asks, hand on his axe while his grip on his shield tightens. He really needed to learn Polyglot...