Moving into a flanking position, Blaze calls forth the mystic energies within him, enchanting Sunstrike
After the smoke of battle clears you take stock of the destruction wrought. The carriage of the crucified man lies burning and broken before you, the four armed hill giant fading from this realm at his death. The beasts that fell upon Baran also collapse into inertness at his death, seemingly inextricably linked to it's essence.
The wagon and ankheg have survived relatively intact - a few scores on the side of the wagon, but nothing that has affected it's structural integrity to any degree. The only possessions of the crucified man appear to be organs and entrails of the Mwangi you saw butchered earlier - cooking in the fire and creating a disturbing smell halway between carrion and barbeque.
Eager to be on, Holmburg pleads to continue. He has recalled more of the words he lost - Madaro-Shanti being chief among them... and a few crytpic fragments: The Well Moves the Walls, and the dangers of a dark cloud.
Judging by his newfound certainty, it would seem that you have but a days travel left before you will come upon the site he recalls.
"Durn craziest s+** I ever saw!"
"We got lucky. How's Baran?" Doc said, already making to reload the various ammunition containers from the storage drum mounted beneath the main hold and in the Packwagon's tail.
"Gimme a hand folks. Ye all are gonna need t' learn how t' do this."
Sentis hopped to the ground and checked his loyal pup over for injuries.
"He appears fine but you never know about such things..."
Worry was evident in the druid's voice and he pondered the wisdom in having the wolf follow him and the Steel Wolves...maybe he would be better off running free?.. but then he remembered how they had found him and realized that poachers and trappers abounded.
Baran seems in good health as the others help Doc reload and resupply the wagon. Night falls and those who keep watch during the night are spooked on occasion by distant howls and screeches of wolf, ape... or something else. However the campsite is not assaulted and you are able to rest freely.
Holmburg begins to grow more lucid in his remembrances and talks of a spreading pall of black clouds and roiling fog. A town that stood was destroyed in the great past, and the temple which is sought is where the black fog originated. He can recall nothing of the reason for the fog disappearing, but the town that was lost was rumored to hold great wealth of gold.
As morning rises and you set out once more, you see a dark stain on part of the jungle in the distance... as though it was enveloped in black fog.
"Well don't that look promising." Doc said sarcastically over his breakfast of some kind of granola made of dried potatoes, peppers and jerky soaking in a bowl of beer.
"Thats some coincidence. Do we want to scout ahead?"
With the dark patch in the distance appearing much like the black fog the old man had spoken of; Holmburg's memories had now become a sort of ominous foreshadowing. Sentis still hadn't really gotten over the scene of the day before. The crucified man had given them no answers and now they had other matters to worry about.
Scouting ahead would be wise. Whats the play Sunny?
"No point in scouting too much until we're closer. Grusk why don't you range ahead some, but stay within sight of the wagon for now. Sentis, you take over driving. Doc and I can man the weapons."
Stealth
Perception
+2 monsterous humanoids
Initiative
Grusk heads into the wilderness to scout ahead.
"I will put Skylar into tha air, Doc try an not run me over!"
"Ah ain't drivin'. Talk t' Sentis. Better yet, if'n ye happen t' look back an' see a giant metal wolf being pulled by a couple ox sized bugs right on yer heels, go ahead and step outta th' way."
Take his advice Grusk. I'm still getting used to driving these bugs and they're still a bit spooked from our previosu encounter. Plus I think Doc would miss you.
Sentis smiled as he was feeling good after being able to join in on teh company's typical banter and whistled sharply and cracked the reigns.
Hearing the whistle and seeing the big brute and his bird range ahead; Baran bolted to follow and slunk down when he got to the orc's heels.
Grusk is glad to have Baran along in case the fog proves impenetrable to sight.
Setting off you find the easiest way to reach the ruins is to take an old road which leads deep into the jungle. The road is constructed of great stone blocks sunken deep into the ground, occasionally winding its way past large stone statues, most broken, overgrown with vines, or badly cracked. In many places the road has been buckled and ruptured as though by earthquakes and mostly overgrown with jungle vegetation. However the ankheg prove able bullocks and clamber over the best and worst of the road with little complaint... apart from that of Holmburg as the jittery and jolted ride.
Soon after you enter the fringes of the jungle you move beyond the edge of the dark, roiling fog. You can still see near to as well as when beyond it, but the dark smoke feels and tastes oily as you forge into it. A stark difference is seen in the trees though... as vegetation turns to diseased and dying, and that all sounds of wildlife – birdcalls in particular – have ceased. The remainder of the two day trip is spent as an eerie journey through silence and darkness, the only noises heard those of your own making.
Drawing up on the ruins' location you see a huge gatehouse before you. Forty feet tall and built of massive, cyclopean stones. The portcullis at the center of the tower is closed, but the walls to either side of the gatehouse are shattered into ruins. The building itself is badly damaged by siege weaponry. The sides of the road you travel upon are limned with dying jungle trees and block your sight of aught but the gatehouse itself.
Nose to the ground; Baran stalked the area around where the wagon stopped searching for any spoors. The unnatural fog had his hackles raised and he wished the pack would move on and out of it quickly.
Grusk and Baran scout around the perimeter of the city....
Stealth
Perception
+2 monsterous humanoids
Sentis's almond shaped eyes scanned the damaged walls hoping to not see any movement. Despite not making a habit of it; the half elf dearly wanted a bath. The oily fog was bothering him both in body and spirit as he guessed it was the cause of the dying vegetation and lack of animals.
What do make of this fog Doc? In all my years I've never heard of such a thing.
"Ain't any kinda smoke Ah've ever seen. Too oily. It's like ash, but wet. Lemme try somethin'."
Taking a few moments to light a torch, Doc tested whether the oily smoke could be burned off by fire. Then he waved a clean white cloth through the air a few times like a butterfly net to see if the smoke would stick to the cloth.
"Ah got nothin'. Gonna need more time t' figure this out. Ah think that portcullis is a more immediate problem though. Either we c'n climb over an' look for the winch, or Ah c'n try t' rig up some sort of lever-pully t' yank it up."
The damage to the walls is centuries old by your measure, the site itself gives you the impression of a long slumbering ruin that perhaps has recently awakened.
The haze itself proves beyond your easy kenning - it does not leave a visible residue, but you still feel it upon your throat and eyes especially. If you remain long enough in it's grasp then you are confident that harm will come... but you are safe enough for the now.
A circuit of the grounds is taken from a wide arc as the near cover of trees thins out immediately to the side of the main gatehouse. The ruins are ringed by a wall that has mostly crumbled but remains intact in segments. Within the core there looks to be three structures that have some integrity left... a palace plaza at the ruins core, a fort that has been razed to the ground line and what looks to be a temple complex of some kind.
There is nothing stirring within the core of the ruins to the naked eye... but as Grusk circles back towards the wagon - he sees some curious creatures near to the gatehouse. With the body of an antelope that is topped by a gorilla's torso that seem to be some strange mockery of centaurs. Standing near to the gatehouse and looking out, they seem to be standing sentinel.
Blaze opens his sight to sense mystic energies, and peers around both at the mist and the ruins.
The wolf pup sneezed almost violently from the fog and rolled in the dirt scratching at his snout trying to rid himself of its foulness.
Grusk circles back to the wagon ....
"Blaze, Doc, an Sentis, we got a group of antelope on tha bottom, gorilla on tha top just within tha gate area, an they err not grazin, that on lookout."
Doc blinks and looks at the others "On top 'o what?"
The mist itself does not hold any dweamor that can be detected, and the gatehouse is still too far distant for any reading to be made of it.
Sentis shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders both at Grusk's description of what he saw and at Doc's question.
You got me. But whatever they are if they're on lookout then they have a boss of some sort and something worth protecting.
"I'm thinking we should probably take those guards out. I don't think I want them at our backs. Doc, got anything that can help us?" Blaze asks his second.
"Quiet ain't exactly my strong suit. I'd say that if'n ye want t' take 'em out quiet so they don't have time t' run or sound an alarm, we could send in Team Green. I might be able t' mix up some choakin' powder an' mix it in with some tanglefoot glue t' make up a bomb that'd stick 'em down an' make 'em too busy coughin' t' call fer help. What d' ye think?"
"If'n ye ain't concerned 'bout noise, well, then we c'n do this th' easy way."
"I'm guessin they make my long jump look short bein built like tha on tha bottom and like tha other on tha topside. Maybe Doc should strip down an put tha moves on em!"
"Might crimp our style if these things start followin' us around all heartbroke an' sappy." Doc says with a shrug.
Has that happened to you before Doc?
a smiling Sentis replied feeling a deeper sense of familiarity and slowly getting the hang of the back and forth barbs.
Theres plenty of cover to get close but how many of them will we have to take out?
"Every time." Doc says mournfully while lighting a cigar. "Can't say I blame 'em. Once th' Doc makes a housecall, nothin' else'll do. It's mah curse."
Scratching a lose outline of what he could make out into the dirt while he lamented his prowess as a lover, Doc used stones to mark the sentries.
"Someone wanna climb up somethin' and git a good look 'round? We should get layout and numbers before we commit t' this."
"Thats Docs story an he sticks to it, though tha vicims remembers it different."
"Yer mom jus' said that so ye wouldn't think she was enjoyin' it. Victims don' usually keep comin' back like that."
"Naw Maw just thought yah was a real Doctor, front an rear as I recall."
Doc raises an eyebrow. "Ye think I ain't a real doctor?"
"Pretty sure Doc is a Doc of crazy science stuff" Blaze says with a grin.
"Sure yer a real doctor an I'm a surgeon use mah great axe fer spinal surgeries."
"Ah'm a g%&~%!n doctor! A ship's doctor. I was damn good at it to. Figured tha' was gonna be mah life until our cannoneer went town wit' blindin' sickness. Ah had t' start measurin' an' mixin' all th' powder for 'im, on top o' treatin' the crew fer scurvy an' bootrot. Ye numbskulls think I jus' started pourin' chemicals together one day?"
"Ah c'n still patch ye up wit' the best o' 'em, I jus' can't compete wit' magic. Ain't no doctor anywhere tha' can. Lucky fer you lot, I ain't just a doctor."
"I'm a g+&~&~n surgeon with dynamite."
Blaze grabs a flask of solid booze and passes it to the angry dwarf "Here Doc, have a swig. You're pretty cranky when you're thirsty."
Sentis ws trying his hardest to not laugh at the back and forth but it ws becoming too much.
Lets try to keep it down fellows. Remember where we are. We still have to hatch a plan for gaining entry to the temple.
"Shhh! I thought tha plan was tah rile ol Doc up enough an let him have at them freak beasts."
Doc takes a swig. And then a bit more than a swig. Then he finishes of the flask and hands it back, scowling a little less.
"Buncha ingrates." he grumbles.
"A'right, how's this fer a plan- We're gonna pull the 'wagon right up t' th' gate, then Sentis 's gonna try t' talk to 'em an' tell 'em we don't mean 'em no harm an' that we're just passin' through t' investigate them ruins. If they're nice, no problem. If they ain't nice, we hook the winches t' their nice gate an drag th' whole thing down while Holmburg an' I rain hell down on 'em."
To the typically sensible druid, Doc's plan sounded completely insane...and somehow highly possible of working...but
What if that place is full of those things? Should we get more intel before rushing the gates?
"Fine. Go 'head. I'll stay here an' git all th' systems fully loaded."
"Care where you step tha hooved ones err none to tidy with horse s&!*."