"Does anyone have some cold iron?" Ilistra asks, frustrated that her fire will not have any effect on the monster.
"Yes! My dagger and morningstar!" Garland said to Ilistra and Placidus. It seemed that our hero was well-prepared to fight this particular foe!
Seeing that only Garland's weapon could hurt their enemy, Luna instead tries to distract the demon. She might not be able to hurt the fiend, but the wolf could certain draw her attention! While Luna distracted their opponent, Garland once more swung his mighty scythe at their foe.
Ilistra moves up and snags the dagger off Garland's belt. She slashes at the demon, but doesn't come close to hitting.
Placidus leaps on to the demon, trying to grab hold of it.
He barely manages to get a grip on the demoness, holding her in place.
The succubus struggles in Placidus' iron hews, but cannot budge him.
================================
Garland and Luna kept attacking the demon!
Cica's frustration grows as she tries to recover from her fumbled arrow. She takes a deep breath, draws her bow back carefully--and somehow manages to snap her arrow in true, causing the bowstring to whap her in the thumb.
Placidus continues to struggle with the demon, trying to force her to the ground.
Ilistra tries to help where she can, which involves mainly staying out of Garland's way and jabbing at the demon's arms and legs to keep her from getting out of Placidus's grip.
Placidus manages to pin the demoness with the help of Cica's arrow stuck in her flesh, and his companions swarming along with him.
Zakiyya growls angrily. "I do not know who you are, mortals, but today you have earned a dangerous enemy!"
She fades from sight, and seemingly existence. Placidus slips right through the demoness as she disappears.
"Sepent's spit!" Placidus curses, surging to his feet. "Where did she go?"
Ilistra looks around at their surroundings, heat shimmering from her body despite it not being a very effective defense against the demon.
"We don't want to become her slaves, so she decides to be our enemy?" She shakes her head in wonder at that logic.
"Trying to understand the logic of demons is a recipe for madness, dear," Placidus suggests. "What should we do with these three?" he says, motioning to the enchanted Zenj girls who had been the succubus's harem.
Cica shudders at the thought of being enslaved like that. "Are you OK now that that demon is gone?"
Ilistra gives Placidus a strange look, then shrugs. She helps translate to the harem if they need help being understood.
"I know a spell that might help them. It is the same one I just cast on myself," Garland says. "It is called Protection from Evil. If someone is already under the effect of an evil enchantment, then this spell will give them another chance to break free."
The three girls seem to come to themselves as if out of a walking dream. They seem confused for a moment, and then begin crying and hugging one another. It takes quite a bit of comforting before they can even communicate, and they don't speak Imperial. Ilistra eventually gathers that they were older unmarried teens who were enchanted and kidnapped by the succubus over the last couple of years. They are now highly traumatized by their forced sexual slavery, and just want to go home, but have no idea where they are now or how to get back to their villages. They know where the hut Zakiyya was living in with them is, if the Legionnaires want to check it out.
Kittabisha seems to have some experience in this field, and she quickly ushers the girls under her wing. Alexandra assures the Thirteenth, "Don't worry, we'll look after them while you decide what to do."
Ilistra holds onto the dagger and keeps it out, glancing around in case the demon decides to make a reappearance. She follows the rest of the group to the hut to investigate.
Edit: Oh, wait. I just looked it up. I thought it allowed you to overcome SR. Nevermind.
Garland searches the hut from top to bottom.
"I do not think leaving these three here would be wise. Zakiyya is almost certainly still lurking nearby. And even if she hadn't escaped, this part of the jungle seems to be particularly dangerous. That succubus was the second demon we've encountered recently," Garland says. "Personally, I think that taking Alala, Masozi, and Osumare with us is the best option we have. However, before we make any decisions, we should ask them what they want to do next."
Ilistra finds herself nodding in agreement. "Yes. It doesn't seem right leaving them here."
The women prefer to stay in their hut, informing the group that they are in fact spirit dancers (some kind of native shaman it seems). They offer to perform a magical ritual to awaken the soldiers' spirit totems as a reward for freeing them from the demoness's enchantment.
With Kittabisha as her translator, Cica says, "You are free to make your own choices, but think carefully. What is to keep Zakiyya from returning to enslave you again?"
When they offer to awaken their spirit totems, Cica nods. "I for one would be pleased to receive this blessing."
"This time she would not have the element of surprise. Last time she deceived us, and was thus able to catch us off guard. We will never drop our guard again. Ever."
Ilistra already sports a number of tribal tattoos and piercings with native jewelry. She readily accepts another tattoo.
"I guess we need all the help we can get. I will accept your blessing."
"I appreciate the offer, but I am afraid that I must decline," Garland says. "I will keep watch in case Zakiyya returns."
The three spirit dancers ask Garland to wait outside their hut, respecting his wish not to participate.
The other three soldiers are sat round the fire in the middle of the house. The women begin dancing and singing to summon forth the spirits of the totem animals. As they dance the smoke from the fire animates, curling away from the hole in the dome of the hut to swirl about above the legionnaires. The smoke takes the forms of all the animals of the Grave, stampeding, swimming, flying and crawling over and melting into one another. Once the interior of the hut is filled with swirling animal spirits, the women draw long slender quills from their robes.
They motion for the imperials to lay, and then dip the quills in some kind of sticky green goop. Continuing to chant, the women crouch over the soldiers and begin to tattoo them. The goo is some kind of numbing ink. The process is painful, even with the anesthetic, and the entire ritual takes several hours. As the women work, the smoke is slowly drawn down into the skin of the Thirteenth, through the magical quills. Cica receives a tattoo of an antelope, Placidus a porcupine, and Ilistra a jackal.
After completing the ritual, the Spirit Dancers offer the group rest in their hut. They cook a filling meal of fish, frog legs, and wild rice.
In the morning Alala tells the Thirteenth, "The totems will help to guide you on your journey through our territory. The spirits know this part of the land well. Good luck, thank you again for freeing us." Masozi and Osumare offer the group rice and crab cakes for the road.
The remainder of the journey to Taizon takes just over a week. During the trip the legionnaires with totem spirit tattoos receive occasional nudges, feelings, from their tattoos that guide them on their way. This often leads them to shortcuts or easier paths than they would have otherwise found in the scrubby foothills.
54 days after leaving Apollonia, the Thirteenth Contubernium finally arrives at their destination - the ruins of Taizon. The ruins of Tazion stand as a remnant of a forgotten age, an outpost of the ancient Old Empire lost in the jungle of the Serpent's Grave after the War of the Gods. The majority of Tazion’s structures remain unidentifiable. Centuries of weathering and erosion have transformed the once-splendid architecture into little more than scattered stones, curious topography, and fetid tar pits.
The crumbling remnants of a massive enclosure wall mark the perimeter of the ruins. In its current condition, the wall provides little defense. Entire sections have eroded away or lie buried beneath sediment, while vines and vegetation strangle what little exposed stonework remains.
"I think that it would be best if kept the auxiliaries close but not too close," Garland suggested as he studied the ancient fort. "I am hesitant to have them hide in this demon-infested wilderness, and if something bad happens, then we must be able to reach them quickly. However, we know that at least one of our old foes might be inside Tazion..."
Garland found himself wondering if such a compromise was possible.
"If we must pick one or the other, then closer is probably better," Garland continued, "As for our approach, I would not just walk in through the front door. However, I think that we will be fine if we slip in through a hole in the wall."
"That seems like a sound plan. Who knows what horrors lurk within? We should be as stealthy as is practical."
"I have a scout for us," Ilistra says softly.
She looks vaguely away, and whispers, "Yes. You can come out. It's all right." She holds up her fingers and a small flame appears that coalesces into that of a moth the size of a sparrow made of fire. It takes flight, fluttering around the party, leaving trails of sparks.
"Everyone, this is Polyphemous."
"Excellent. Your power grows, my friend. Your connection to Mazda's fire is getting strong."
Placidus offers a slight bow to Polyphemous. "Hello, Polyphemous. I am Legionnaire Placidus Utilinus."
The fiery moth dances around Placidus while Polyphemous crackles like a small fire. Ilistra quirks a half-smile. "He says hello, but he knows who you are. He's been watching and listening for a while."
The moth returns to Ilistra and alights on her outstretched finger. "You know what to do? Search around and report back. Good boy."
The moth then streaks up in the air like a skyrocket, then flies over the ruins once before fluttering down and through the various chambers.
While it does this, Ilistra sits down and closes her eyes, focusing her mind on the elemental spirit.
Polyphemous takes off, and is gone for well over an hour. When he returns he flutters down to hiss and pop at Ilistra for a couple of minutes. She gathers that inside the walls is mostly thick brush and undergrowth; large areas have become jungle again. He reports there are several large ponds as well. There is a ruined aquaduct on the west side of the fortress, some kind of massive ruined well or pit on the southern side, a ruined tower in the east, an unidentifiable crumbled building in the center, and some kind of massive overgrown structure or hill in the north. As he was flying over, he saw groups of armed ape men patrolling and guarding throughout the ruins. He doesn't think they noticed him as anything special.
Ilistra translates for everyone. The moth of flame fades away, but there's a brief fire that lights up in Ilistra's eyes. She whispers something unintelligible, but it's in a soothing and encouraging tone of voice.
"If the whole ruin is occupied, we will need to approach this carefully."
Ilistra stands up. "Ape people? I wonder if there's a way we could form a truce with them?"
"Maybe...but I don't think we should rely on that. Do you have a concrete suggestion for how to approach that?"
Ilistra shrugs. "Find out if they don't like snakes?"
"As Placidus said, in this situation, diplomacy does not strike me as the best first approach; if they are not open to negotiate, then things could get bad for us quickly," Garland said. "Instead, I think we could use Polyphemous to simply local the patrols and avoid them."
Having come to a plan the group decides to send Polyphemous inside Taizon to start a fire as a distraction to cover their entrance.
The fiery moth makes his way inside the crumbling walls of the ruin and finds a pile of dry leaves caught in the underbrush in the woods to the north. Soon he has a small forest fire going and returns to Ilistra. The group can see a column of smoke begin to rise into the sky.
Placidus leads the way, ducking low and moving as fast as he can towards the hole in the wall.
He fails to spot a cleverly hidden trap, and he finds a crude spiked net springing up around him! Garland is just behind, but spots the trap in the nick of time to skid to a halt before stumbling into it.
The spiked net snatches Placidus up into a tree, where he struggles entangled in its barbs.
"Serpent's blood!" he hisses. "Help me down before those beastmen put out the fire and come looking for trouble!
Ilistra flings a blast of fire at the rope keeping him suspended above the ground.
"Cica, can you shoot the rope with an arrow or two?" Garland suggests. "Unfortunately, I do not think I can- Actually..."
Realizing that the weapon has just enough reach, Garland grabs his cold iron lance and tries using it to weaken the rope.
Garland is able to slice through the netting quickly and quietly with his polearm.
With Placidus back on the ground, the group hustles through the opening in the ruined wall. They cut south through the overgrown woodland inside the ruins, towards the nearby fallen tower.
The tower is basically square, with a stone staircase leading up into the lowest level, which is still partially standing. A slithering carpet of multicolored snakes crawls like a living carpet over the structure. Hundreds, potentially thousands of snakes of all different sizes and shapes are currently occupying the crumbled stones.