And with Tam's shot the last Zombie goes down.
Well done folks, battle is finished. The forest is quiet.
Once the battle is done, Tam's beetle disappears in a puff of smoke.
"Well done, guys. Let's get going to Markavious now, shall we?"
"Whew! That was a close 'un. Thanks for the help, fellas. And thanks for that bit o' healin' there, Lelo buddy. Whooo! That sure gets the ol' blood a flowin'!" He slaps Lelorenil on the shoulder. "Sounds good, Eltumal ol' buddy! Let's get goin'."
Tam frowns and re-slings his crossbow. Still staring at the bodies of the dead zombies, he begins to blur and the Demon Ape envelops him. On all fours, he moves ahead, making small huffing noises as he goes.
Lelorenil flinches when Joe hits him on the shoulder, a silent 'ow' forming on his lips.
"It is not a problem, Mister MacGillicuddy. Please, allow me to help a bit more." he presses his hands against his chest, and a rush of warmth surges over every living being in the party.
Afterwards, he takes Morgan's hand in his and walks over to Amy, offering his free hand to her with a smile.
"You can call me Joe. Or Mac. Whichever be fine."
Amy hesitantly accepts Lelo's hand. "Thank you." She takes it completely. Her hand feels cold.
Ofal puts away his short sword and kicks one of the Zombies in frustration. "Damn things. Claimed so many lives. Wish there was a way to be rid of them." Turning back to where they were heading he gestures. "Heal yourselves and lets get a move on."
Once you all have healed up you carry on.
Thanks for that, Lelo. I feel much better now. It would have been significantly more difficult without you. You said Morgan is your mother? She fights very well. Now, turning to Morgan, "What, may I ask, was your occupation back in Darpuul?
Lelorenil quickly steps between Eltumal and Morgan with a dour face.
"She lost her voice and her sanity to the horrors of Mormont, friend. Please leave her be...She cannot tell the difference between you and them so easily, but my voice seems to help her. But to answer your question, she was a priestess and caretaker to those who needed it."
Throughout Lelo's speech, Morgan stands silently, staring at Eltumal blankly and without reaction to anything.
You guys travel for much of the day through the blistering hot jungle. Along the way you all manage to avoid an undead allosaurus. You arrive at the wall where you met Amy.
"This way." Ofal guides you around to a part of the wall. He pushes through some hanging vines that conceal a small gap in the wall. You all follow through. Amy is looking around nervously at the space.
As you move in you hear "Halt!" Out of the shadows steps the menacing form of a human, no a vampire. Clear by his arrogant and dominant posture and the tone of his skin as well as the beauty of his youth in contrast with the age in his eyes.
Amy hides behind the party clearly terrified.
"What have you brought Ofal? You are now delivering your sacrifices willingly to us? And in droves no less."
Ofal straightens up. "These people have come a great distance to ask a favor of you. We want you to take this girl into your care."
The vampire chuckles. "Really? That sniveling waste of vampire's blood. She is nothing more than a low life. A failure! Even her sister thought as much. Why would we take such a useless beast?"
"Now that ain't a very nice thing to say, now is it. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. I guess your mama never taught you proper manners, did she? I don't take too kindly to rudeness, mister. I'm thinkin' you ought to apologize." Joe says in a tone that's as close to a warning that has ever been heard from him.
That's pretty messed up. You won't even give her a chance? She's pretty much related to you, and all you'll do is turn up your nose and scoff at her? Sickening.
Lelorenil stands angrily between Amy and the new vampire, whispering to her soothingly "Don't worry, even if they won't take care of you, I promise that I will."
After, he turns to Ofal and approaches him, offering only a glare at the vampire. "Sir, how did you ever make diplomatic relations with them? It's obvious that the brain was damaged when the soul left the body." he remarks snidely to the village elder.
Alright. Been a busy weekend. Still really tired but I need to get this moving.
The frustrated Vampire begins to move aggressively towards you. "Insolence! I will teach you the meaning of respect!"
He raises his hand, You all ready to fight but before any blows can be struck
"ENOUGH!!" A voice booms. The vampire before you seems startled and backs off. "Father!? I was about to punish these mortals for their..." He is cut off as a bat flies in front of him and transforms into a tall a sinister looking vampire. "I said enough. I will not have violence with Ofal and any he brings. I shall do the talking."
The taller older looking Vampire turns to you and bows politely. "Greetings. I am Markavious. This brash young man is my son Winston. Now, friends of Ofal, what are your names and what do you need from us?"
"Name's Joe MacGillicuddy. You can call me Mac. Or Joe. Either of 'em's fine. Nice to meet you, Mr. Markavious." After greeting the vampire, Joe gets to the point. "Well, we'd be much obliged if you take in this young girl here. You see, she's a vampire person and she needs a place to stay. We was hoping you wouldn't mind too terribly to help her out. You think you might be able to?" Immediately remembering he hasn't introduced the others, "Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. That fella there is Eltumal, our little buddy there is Tam, and that fella there is Lelo... um... sumpin' or nother. We just call him Lelo. And that's his mother. She don't speak much, though. Okay, that's everyone. Sorry about the interruption. Now you can tell us if you're able to take the young vampire lady in or not."
"Joe's pretty much got the gist of it. We came upon her not too far from here not too long ago, and have been taking care of her ever since. I am, as mentioned prior, Eltumal Woodsoul, and you can, I suppose, consider me both her first caretaker, as well as meal. Our request is that she be taken care of, as unfortunately, there don't appear to be many other options.
The demon ape lets out a low huffing noise, but otherwise doesn't speak to the Head Vampire.
Markavious crosses his arms and bears a sour expression on his face. "I won't take in anymore of those spawn. She was an accident that our first unwanted guest made. I won't take another. We have enough problems. Our food supply is limited as it is and until we can find a way to take down the Kobold sorcerer circle, we cannot hope to escape this infernal jungle. Do I make myself clear?"
Your turn
You won't.... waidda second. You said the Sorcerer's Circle? We just so happened to be looking for them, ourselves. I think the makings of a deal are here. Since we were already aiming to figure out a way to take them down, will you allow her to enter should we successfully rid the land of these sorcerers?
"The circle of Kobold sorcerers is extremely powerful. We ourselves, a family of vampires cannot hope to defeat them.....though there is much we cannot do that you can do. We need to find a way to either break apart the circle or somehow overpower it." He ponders for a moment. "There are many powerful creatures that are also stuck in this jungle. We don't easily get along but maybe an indifferent party could find a way to unify us. It is an option but if that is not your forte then we need to somehow get the circle to break up. Their power is in their unity.
"We'll find a way to take care of these kobold fellas. But I was wonderin' if you might could help our buddy Eltumal here out? He's been bitten by this here girl and he hadn't looked right since. Look at 'im," he motions to Eltumal, "he's a might paler than when we first met 'im. He's gonna have a hard time survivin' any o' these powerful creatures you're talkin' 'bout. Any chance you got somethin' to help 'im? We'd sure be much obliged." He asks, hoping.
I'll be fine, I'm sure. I've slowly been getting better.
"We barely recieve enough food to feed ourselves. Unless you wish to donate or increase our rations of blood, we cannot take the girl, unless you can promise to have us out of this jungle in less than a month."
"Well alright, I guess we ought to get us some rest before we leave. Unless you fellas want to move on out now. It don't matter none to me. Whatever you fellas want to do."
I'm fine to go whenever. A night of rest before we set out wouldn't be bad, though., I suppose.
Markavious gives a toothy grin. "Sure you can stay in the guest room. We would love to have you join us for dinner."
Ofal holds up his hands. "My work here is done. I will make my way back to the village. Good night." Ofal makes for the trail.
What do you do?
Go with Ofal or stay with the Vampires.
Should you stay or should you go?
Do we have your word that you won't harm us while we sleep?
Define "harm".
"Nah, we better not. If Amy here tried to eat our buddy Eltumal, I figure these ones would finish us off by mornin'. I'm not much on bein' a dead fella who ain't dead. Or even just dead. We've got a place in town we can rest at. We'll see you within a month!" He nods at the vampire leader. Turning to the others, "C'mon fellas, let's get on back."
Well, I was going to say do us bodily damage in any way, but Joe's got a point. We'll see you once the fog has lifted, Markavious.
Tam/Ape simply shudders and lets loose a low growl from deep in its throat. Clearly the prospect of a night with these vampires is not one it looks forward to.
You all follow Ofal back into the forest leaving Amy With the vampires under the promise you will have the barrier down in a month.
On the way back I need you to make perceptions.
It is dark at this point and Ofal has a torch. Does anyone else.
Perception:
Your elfy sense are a tingling. Danger is sneaking up on you guys once again, so far you are certain it is a predator dino hunting your group. It is being sneaky but you know the signs.
As we walk, Eltumal says in a low voice: We're being followed. It seems like it's some sort of predator dinosaur, although I haven't gotten a look at it quite yet.
Joe looks around in an attempt to spot the dino. "Good eye, Eltumal. We best be ready for this critter." His grip gets a bit tighter upon his scythe as he prepares for the creature.
This varvacious predator is Carnotaurus It is almost as dangerous as an Allosaurus only much better at sneaking especially for its size....which is huge by the way. This one is obviously smaller than its normal breed. May be juvinille still dangerous. It seems to be stalking you but you can't quite pinpoint from where.
This is what's known as a Carnotaurus. This one appears to be juvenile. They're incredibly sneaky, especially for their size. That's why I can't tell where it is.