Placidus runs up to the mound, placing himself next to the entrance where he can attack anything that comes out.
The burning troll zombie runs at Ilistra trying to chomp down on her with its massive tusked jaws. She manages to hop out of the way.
From within the mound, the group hears the chanting of a spell being cast.
Seeing their friends in danger, Garland and Luna charged at the troll zombie! Garland's scythe cuts one of the zombie's arms off as Luna tears into its calf.
Ilistra fires another blast of fire into the thing's face, and it falls over, into a pile of burning rotten flesh.
"Good work!" Cica smiles. She keeps her bow trained on the mound, advancing slowly toward the opening, ready to shoot if whoever cast that spell exposes themselves.
Placidus runs up to the mound, placing himself next to the entrance where he can attack anything that comes out.
================================
More chanting comes from inside the mound, but no one emerges, yet.
After converting her flaming energy into a defensive field that would burn anything that touched her, Ilistra follows Placidus to the entrance of the burrow. She peers inside to try to get a glimpse of whatever is chanting.
Garland and Luna decided to take a page from Placidus' book. Thus, the duo quickly moved to the entrance of the mound opposite their comrade. They then readied steel and fang to attack whatever came outside...
Cica stands to the side, bow drawn, listening intently.
Placidus says, "I'm going in in five," holding his hand up to begin a silent count on his fingers.
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A man wearing a ceremonial mask and wearing a spear bursts from the mound, flying through the legionnaires waiting outside the hole.
Garland and Cica manage to hit the man.
Already charged up with flame, Ilistra sends a blast at the man.
Garland and Luna proceeded to attack the other masked man!
Garland only manages to hit the man once as he emerges, Luna can't pierce his magical defenses. Ilistra's blast slides off his protections as well.
Placidus can't manage to land a kick on the man as he swoops past.
Cica lets an arrow fly as soon as the man bursts out. As she does, she looks him over to understand how best to damage him.
Despite taking two blows, the assailant manages to clear the group and fly up above them.
================================
Cica attempts to shoot him out of the air, but fumbles and drops her arrow.
"Dammit!"
Ilistra charges up again, drawing power in a showy display. She sends the blast at the masked man.
With his ranged options limited, Garland quickly casted Bless to help his allies hit the other masked man.
Placidus pulls out his atlatl and fires off a dart at the spellcaster.
Cica and Ilistra miss the man, while Garland blesses the group. Placidus manages to sink a dart into him, causing the man to grunt in pain.
The man's mask flashes with a sudden burst of violent energy.
Visions of horrible serpentine creatures begin to assault the legionnaire's minds.
Ilistra shudders in fear but barely holds it together thanks to the support of her companions. She fights through the visions in order to charge up another shot of flame.
The badly wounded necromancer ignites like festival candle on dywahhli. Within moments a charred skeleton falls to the ground along with the ashes of flesh and clothing. A spear, amulet and the man's mask remain intact among the ashes.
Both the courageous Garland and Luna were unaffected by the masked foe's spell. However, before they could act, they saw Ilistra defeat the enemy mage! Once the dust settled, Garland carefully approached the man's burned remains and checked them for any magical items...
Placidus resists the fear stoically. "Another minion of Yarzoth perhaps? Or just some foul soul twisted by the secrets of the Grave?" He shrugs as he watches Garland examine the deceased man's items.
Cica shudders as the mask's aura washes over her. Her knees shake, but she stands firm.
She notches another arrow, but before she can let it fly Ilistra has already downed the necromancer.
"Nice work, sister!" Intrigued by the caster's enchanted gear, Cica spends some time with each, trying to identify what they do.
Cica can not figure out what the spear, the mask or the amulet do.
Neither can Garland at the moment. Perhaps with more time to study the objects, their secrets will become clear.
The next seven days after the encounter with the necromancer pass without major incident. The jungle seems to be endless as the Thirteenth hacks its way through the steaming wall of green. Though they spot many colorful animals, nothing dangerous happens.
A tribe of filthy, gnome-like headhunters stalk this section of the jungle near the ruined city of Liclac. Known as Eloko, these Mwangi spriggans have grayish brown skin and spindly arms, and spike their hair and beards with lime. Their faces are painted to resemble leering skulls. As the expedition nears the ruined city on the eighth day out, the Eloko begin stalking them. Patient hunters, the Eloko follow the imperials until they make camp for night. Then the spriggans lay an ambush, and one of them rings his enchanted iron bell to compel the group to venture unprepared into the jungle, where the Eloko spring their trap.
While some of the group are temporarily affected by the fey magic, the other legionnaires spring into action. The Eloko enlarge themselves to the size of giants, but even then they are no match for imperial steel and magic. Ilistra's flames and Cica's arrows cut them down as Garland, Luna and Placidus charge into melee. After the headhunters are defeaterd, the group loots their gear.
Aura moderate enchantment; CL 7th
Slot none; Price 5,000 gp; Weight —
Description
This small, rusty iron bell contains great magic.
When the bell is rung as a standard action, all
creatures within 60 feet who can hear the bell
must make a DC 14 Will save or be compelled to
seek out the source of the sound for 7 rounds,
moving at their normal speeds. If the sound leads
its subjects into a dangerous area, each affected
creature gets a second save. This is a mindaffecting compulsion effect. The bell affects a
maximum of 24 HD of creatures. A bell can be
used 5 times before it crumbles away into rusty
flakes and becomes useless. This one has 4 charges left.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, suggestion;
Cost 2,500 gp
After defeating the foul serpentspawned fey creatures, the group rests to heal and recover.
The day after fighting the Eloko warband, the group finally makes its way out of the Screaming Jungle to follow the river across the Korir Plains. Another five days pass as the group travels over the grasslands, a familiar feeling after the beginning of their long journey West of the jungle.
At this point, the Korir river widens and becomes fast and shallow, no more than a few feet deep. The surrounding vegetation consists almost entirely of reeds, mangroves, lotuses, and other water plants. After a few miles of travel, the group spots four young Zenj women bathing in the river. When they see the imperial expedition, the girls giggle shyly, covering their nudity with wet hands. They get out of the water, slipping into silken wrapped garments.
"Hello travelers. Welcome to our lands," says one, a striking almond eyed goddess with skin the color of burnt vellum. She holds her hands out in a gesture of peace, showing open palms and exposing her chest. She seems to be the oldest of the four, and looks nervous but confident. "Would you like to visit our home and share a meal? We have no fight with the Empire."
As they walk though the jungle, each day, Cica takes time to contemplate the spear, mask, and amulet...and the bell as well, once they claim it. She develops a ritual of asking Garland for his aid and guidance in examining each afresh, hoping to unlock the mystery of their magic.
When they meet the young Zenj women bathing, Cica averts her eyes out of respect. When she hears them speaking Polyglot, she turns to Ilistra. "Can you translate?"
Ilistra makes sure to greet them on behalf of the group.
To Cica and the others, she translates. "They, uhh, are welcoming us and inviting us to visit their home and share a meal. They say they have no fight with the Empire."
Placidus bows to the women. "I wouldn't mind a real meal for once. The last Zenj we met were friendly enough. Maybe these ones have a pair of ape monsters for us to slay as well?"
Before saying anything, Garland took a moment to listen for any signs of deception. Unlike Cica, the masked man knew Polyglot. As such, he could directly understand what was being said to the group. Normally, Garland would not have been so skeptical. However, the nonstop fighting had left him rather wary...
Cica shrugs, and then waves to the Zenj women.
"Someone else's cooking? And maybe a chance to trade? I'm in!"
Garland thinks that the woman is being sincere. The other three appear to be under the influence of some enchantment magic. The effect is very subtle, but no dark magic gets past Garland the Gallant!
After Ilistra translates, the woman replies. "Great! I am Zakiyya, these are Alala, Masozi, and Osumare."
"...Why are those three affected by enchantment magic, Zakiyya?" Garland announces rather suddenly as he prepares to cast a spell on himself...
"Whatever do you mean, friend?" Zakiyya asks.
"...Deceiver!" Garland roars, quickly reinforcing his mind with a protective ward. To his allies, the masked man says, "She just attacked my mind!"
With Garland's shout the woman hisses like a serpent. He flesh seems to melt into her body and change, leaving a nude, alluring woman with flesh as black as obsidian standing in her place. Serpentine scales trace light patterns along the curves of her body, while a small pair of horns tops her brow. A pair of batlike wings and a long sinuous tail poke out from behind Zakiyya. "Fools! You could have joined my harem. Now your flesh will feed my whores!" she screams angrily.
Illistra immediately begins charging up her flames, gathering power to her before sending a fiery blast at the fiend.
"Awwww, I was really getting excited for some home cooking."
Cica fires off an arrow before looking back over her shoulder, and adding, "No offense, to Kittabisha, you do amazing stuff with dried meat."
Before moving into melee, Garland and Luna waited for the ranged combatants to strike first. Once their allies had acted, the duo advanced toward Zakiyya. Garland drew and then swung his awesome scythe. Meanwhile, Luna tried to drop the deceiver to the ground.
Ilistra's fire hits Zakiyya, but it doesn't seem to affect her at all.
Cica sinks an arrow into her shoulder, leaving the demon somewhat hindered.
Garland and Luna both strike home. While Luna can't seem to pierce the demon's scaly flesh, Garland's scythe cuts through her like a an oar through water.
Placidus steps into melee, and nearly trips as he tries to kick the demoness. He recovers swiftly and pretends that nothing happened.
The succubus turns her attention to Garland, who both revealed her and is the only one wielding a weapon that hurts. She lashes out at him with jet black talons.
================================
"Careful around her! She's a demon. A succubus. Immune to fire, and hard to hurt without cold iron."
With that, she fires off another shot...or tries to, but she instead drops the arrow at her feat. "Serpent take you!"