Tomorbataar surveys the antics of the other heads from his reclined position on the bed, which by this time has become quite dry and comfortable.
Just let them fight it out, it's not like they're making friends with each other or anything. Then at the end, when they're all bickering and bashing each other, I'll look like the reasonable one, they'll come crawling to me. Master Tomorbataar, they'll say, please resolve our conflict, we need you to decide what to do with us.
Just as the body begins to lurch forward, Tomorbataar drifts back to sleep, wrapping his head in sheets and dreaming of mastery over the other heads.
Just as Tomorbataar gets dragged unceremoniously off of his bed, a lizardfolk pokes her head up over the wrecked portion of stockade. She says something, and Mo looks over to her. He starts to speak just as the supernatural silence fades.
"____ ____ ___ ____ ___ to hear," he says.
What's that? Mo, are you calling the rest of the lizards here? As a mere quartermaster i should hope you don't think that you've been vested with such power... Tomorbataar looks down at the ground for a second, realizing that he's fallen out of his bed and is now lying in the dirt.
Ah! He springs up, looking sternly at the other heads. Why didn't you warn me I was on the ground? There's some seriously unfortunate things down there, Tomorbataar begins to reach his head toward the stream, dunking it into the water and emerging dripping. And anyway, you really shouldn't be walking off when I'm about to go to sleep. Tomorbataar looks at all the heads once more before shaking the water off, sending drops flying everywhere.
the supernatural silence fades.
"...look mother it's my life, okay? So if I want to live on a beach and walk around naked--oh.
"Um, are we ready to head back to the lizard folk?"
"Tom, I know you're fastidious and would be bathing every moment of the day,but I didn't ask for a bath, ok?" Ziphora glares at Tomorbataar after he splashes her with droplets of water.
"If you want to, Beachhead, by all means. I might join you. I could use some sunning myself."Ziphora gives Tomobataar a dirty look.
"But yeah, lets head to the lizardfolk. They're probably wondering what took us so long. I'll tell them some sleepyheads couldn't get up on time."Ziphora mutters, grumpily.
Vote move it to lizards. After breakfast of smoked meat, of course.
"Is no problem!" the female lizardfolk says. "Give much time for preparing great feast! Already told chief of great victory, bugbears running in fear! Feast ready at sundown today!"
You didn't ask for the sun to rise either, but it did, didn't it? And you didn't ask to wake up alive this morning, or to keep breathing just now. Lots of good things just keep happening to you without you even asking. Sunlight's good at killing little things as well...I think.
Tomorbataar surveys the Lizard for a moment, A feast sounds like something we'll want by the time we return. There are loads of supplies here, but we're not going to be able to carry them all, so I suppose your Liazards can just claim them. Assuming, of course, that they hold up their end of the bargain.
Tomorbataar votes to return to the Lizardfolk.
Hungry's anger quickly fades as sound returns to the group.
You set out back the way you came, the lizardfolk in the lead. Mo is rather loaded down with everything he's trying to carry... especially when it becomes clear that Tomorbataar's bed isn't going to stay nicely on your back. He ends up walking next to you, keeping an eye on it and steadying it when it tries to fall off.
While you hear some movement in the underbrush, nothing jumps out at you or the lizardfolk on the way back.
You smell the feast before you see it. The journey had given you enough time to get hungry again after Hungry's nighttime gorging, and the delicious smells that manage to weave their way through the other scents of the swamp is enough to set your stomach rumbling in anticipation.
Then you come around a bend and see a large group of lizardfolk waiting for you in a large clearing. They cheer at your appearance, shouting praises to the 'Great Hydra'. You can see large platters of meat set on stones in the clearing, as well as many smaller portions that are probably for the lizardfolk themselves.
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Ziphora basks in the adoration of the lizardfolk.Then she starts to sing a ballard of their great exploits.
"Across the swamp lay a mighty stockade,
But we were not scared, we were not afraid.
We gave them a chance to surrender, told them to back down.
But they told us we had no right to enter their town.
They shot us with arrows, we returned fireballs back.
Why we even had to stuff their leader into a sack.
Dru turned into a tiger, and bit them right through.
Tom headbutted them really hard until they all turned blue.
Beachhead snuck around and bit them really good.
Really you don't want to see what we can do once we get into the mood.
The stubborn bugbears finally surrendered and we let them run away.
You've had your fun, I told the rest, we've done enough today.
We return to you victorious, the bugbear menace has come to an end.
And you've even prepared a feast for us, we're one happy, merry band!"
"I didn't know you could make 'good' and 'mood' rhyme like that. Very impressive."
"Thank you, thank you. I'm just that awesome." Buoyed by all those happy feelings, Ziphora begins to sway left and right rhythmically.rather erratically.
The lizardfolk cheer at Ziphora's song.
The cheering at her 'dance' is more... polite. Then Chief Kassmak stands.
"Oh Great Hydra, we thank you for what you done. Now is time for feast, and then we give you writings we have found."
As he finishes speaking, six lizardfolk approach, each bearing a huge platter filled with mouthwatering meats of different types. Another six approach with large basins of clear water. To your side, another lizardfolk comes forward with food for Mo.
Hungry's eyes grow wide and his jaw goes slack, a little saliva drips from the corner, as he sees the feast set out before them. Quietly to himself, "I think I just had a foodgasm." As soon as one of the meat trays is within reach Hungry digs in.
Beachhead makes himself scarce in the shadows of the mess of necks before suddenly darting out to snatch a slab of meat from the platter, causing no less than...
...six lizardfolk to jump in surprise. He tips his head back to let the meat fall into his mouth as he repeatedly bites it until it is finally masticated enough to go down his thin gullet.
"Last night, I just let Hungry do all the eating, because it all goes to the same, stomach, right? But it seems rude for everyone not to sample the food."
Tomorbataar watches Zip as she dances, snapping unconsciously into a combat stance to better react and keep his distance. He turns to look behind him occasionally, making sure that he's not going to bump into anyone.
Tomorbataar smiles to himself for a moment, knowing that the Lizardfolk will honor their end of the bargain. Then, suddenly, while his vigilance is relaxed, a droplet of Hungry's saliva falls on his cheek, causing him to jerk wildly for a moment and rub his face on the hydra body, until he realizes in horror that the body is not clean. Tomorbataar eventually finds a nice smooth rock to rub his face against, winding up with only a small amount of moss on his face, which he then shakes off.
Hungry, you'd better stop eating for a moment so you can pay attention. Tomorbataar looks at the other head, trying to catch his eye. You need to be more mindful of your...urges...try to control yourself a little bit more, maybe eat with a little bit more decorum? It's not good, after all, to eat with such frenzy.
"Who cares. Let him do what he wants." Ziphora bobs her head a little. "Well as long as we don't become sick the next day." Ziphora adds as an afterthought. She takes a few delicate nibbles out of the food to determine how they were cooked.
I care, and all those of us who are sufficiently enlightened, Tomorbataar looks around at the others knowingly, also care. It's more than just being sick, it's about the purity and cleanliness of the soul. Tomorbataar takes a few delicate bites of meat, chewing and swallowing carefully.
"Oh come on, he's having a bit of harmless fun, he isn't hurting anything, those foods are already dead, let him be." Ziphora replies. "I wouldn't be bothered about purity and cleanliness of soul. I have done nothing I would feel ashamed to speak off before Pharasma. My soul is pure and clean." Ziphora declares.
"Guys, come on. We all poop the same, right?"
Beachhead looks back at the body. "Literally. We literally all have the same poop."
The food is delicious, and the lizardfolk keep it coming until all of you except Hungry agree you're stuffed to the brim. It takes a little while to convince the servers not to listen to Hungry's claims to still have room, in which time he manages to cram yet more into your straining gullet. Contrary to expectations, your stomach doesn't quite explode, but it's a near thing.
Once the feast is done, Chief Kassmak signals an elderly-looking lizardfolk. "These are writings we found," he says as the lizardfolk approaches you.
You see he is carrying three tablets--two of stone, one of wood. He lays them out before you, bows, and then retreats.
Ziphora noses the tablets curiously. What do they say?
As the meal commences Hungry only catches bits and pieces of his siblings' conversation, being completely enraptured by the sheer amount of food in front of him. What he does catch evolves into a deep existential debate with himself, but he keeps it to himself saving it till the most evil and appropriate time to reveal his conclusions.
Begrudgingly Hungry does stop eating and in a whining voice, "But I'm still Hungry!" He mumbles to himself as the tablets are brought forth. Hungry glances over the tablets as he casts Read Magic and Detect Magic.
"But I'm still Hungry!"
Beachhead slithers close to Hungry.
"Hey, pal. You'll always be Hungry. Don't worry. Only you can define you, know what I mean? Not us, and not our collective poop that you probably contribute the overwhelming majority to."
One of the stone tablets and the wooden tablet are enchanted.
With read magic, Hungry is able to read the enchanted stone tablet.
The wooden tablet is written in Druidic, which Dru-Head can... sort-of read.
The last one is written in Celestial.
I found the ruling scepter, as ordered, but the beast's claws were diseased, and even with magic I now struggle to write these words. I shall not live much longer. If one of my lord's men finds this, know that I hid the scepter in the shadow of the claw peak at sunset. The wedge-stone points to the place.
Hungry looks over them all. "You like nature-y things right Dru? This one is probably right up your alley." Hungry passes the wood tablet to Dru. "This one isn't inherently magic but it talks about a 'ruling scepter' which could be interesting. But THIS one has the most potential!" Hungry points to the first tablet "It talks about another Hungry One who hid a small cache of magic items, Just for ME, *stammers* I mean we could all probably use some of them!"
"Hungry, I think you ate the last magical amulet we found...head and all." Ziphora interjects. "If we're going to be finding any magical items, you'd better not eat them..."
She looks at the particular tablet with with distaste. "Why are we looking at how people sinned in some ancient empire? Couldn't it be something more cheerful, like a ballard on how a hero rescuing his princess from her evil stepmother?"
Hothead glances over the first two tablets without understanding a word, but the third one catches his eye. "Oh look, something that actually makes sense! At least a little bit," He spends a minute reading it over. "Oh, someone died and left some kind of rod hidden somewhere. Nothing very interesting."
Hungry doesn't have a clue what Hungry is talking about. "Well that's weird... Some kind of ancient food club?"
"That is one way of putting it Hothead."
Turning to Zip, "Don't worry Zip. That was just a passing experiment! To see what it tasted like. These are special items! I have negative desire to eat these, unless of course they are supposed to be eaten in which case, I'M ALL FOR IT!"
It's not just any scepter, it's a ruling scepter. We need to find it.[/dice] Tomorbataar says, looking over the celestial tablet before turning to the lizard folk.
[b]Where did you find this? Did you steal it from someone or take it from an old storehouse, or was it written by your own people? I cannot figure out what the claw peak or the wedge stone are.
"Cool. Did it taste good?"Ziphora asks Hungry curiously. "Frankly, I'd be more interested if it were some ancient culinary club. Imagine ALL the recipes."Ziphora chimes in excitedly.
"Come on Tom, it was probably sitting in their storeroom, gathering dust until we came. Sheesh. Though I'd be happier if they had a collection of fairy tales," Ziphora gives an exasperated sigh.
"A bit metallic but the magic didn't add any flavor or texture, which saddened me. But more importantly, Zip! An entire 1/7 of a nation that was solely devoted to gluttony for centuries, AKA EATING! Imagine what kind of culinary advances they made an incorporated into their recipes! We might even be able to find some this treasure leads us to one of their ruins!"
"Really? They had recipes? That's awesome! Ok, I'm with you Hungry. We shall seek out the ancient Gluttonic empire in search of their sacred, fabulous recipies!" Ziphora volunteers enthusiastically.
Vote Hungry's magic cache for quest
"It found in our territory, hidden between roots of a tree, but there were no stones near," Chief Kassmak replies. "There is, however, a peak to the northwest that looks like claw. Perhaps that is Claw Peak?"
"Well, if it's nearby, I'm for checking it out."
Yes, perhaps it is. We should check out this mountain, and the spot where you found the tablet. Did it seem to have been there long? We can also look for this lord, or their descendants, and see if we can figure out what the beast referred to is. Tomorbataar looks the tablet over once more, taking a bite of meat.
The wedge stone is probably found within the shadow of the claw mountain, but we need to know what time of year it was.
"Whhhatt?" Ziphora looks around with a aggrieved expression. "The tablets are here, why do we need to care where they came from? Or what year, for that matter?"
"I suppose we could check the mountain, then check Hungry's cache, then look into the rest."She sulks.
If we examine the are where they were found maybe we'll find some clues that can lead us to this staff, in case it's not so straightforward. Finding the people who were looking for it is also useful, since they can tell us how to use it for ruling. Tomorbataar explains patiently, then glances at the sinking sun.
The sun moves around differently at different times of the year. So if it was winter when the staff was hidden then the shadow of the peak in summer won't help us.
"Ok, fine, we'll check the mountain, then check Hungry's cache, then find that silly stick." Ziphora blurts out exasperated. "Since you're making so much noise about it. What would we want to rule over, anyway...?" Responsibilities are a pain in the @rse." Ziphora grumbles.
"I think going for the gluttony stuff first would be better," Hothead opines. "If there's many items there's probably at least one that we can use. The scepter might not have been designed with hydras in mind. It might require the user to hold it and speak at the same time or something ridiculous like that,"