Seeing the tentacle snake out, Cica shouts, "Look alive!" and fires an arrow at it as soon as she can.
Garland readied his scythe for the moment the creature drew near...
Ilistra drops back into the tunnel before she falls. Her skin heats up defensively as she waits for whatever creature lurks below to show itself.
As Ilistra realizes how difficult the climb will be and scrambles back into the tunnel, a hideous creature emerges from the rocks below. A ten legged octopus like monster the size of a man leers up with a disturbingly humanoid face. It opens its mouth to hiss and Cica promptly sinks an arrow into its palate up to the feathers. The creature twitches violently a few times, and then dies.
"Is it dead?" Ilistra asks while charging up a shot to blast it. After watching for a tense moment and confirming that the strange creature was dead, she relaxes and lets the flames dissipate.
"Let's use the rope this time," she says, then retrieves the rope of climbing and activates its magic. Once it snakes up to the top, she has it knot itself and then tries climbing using the rope.
Garland was the last one up. Once the others had reached the surface, the masked legionnaire securely tied the rope around Luna and then waited for the others to hoist her up. Once Luna was safely at the top, the masked man waited for the rope to be lowered again and then took his turn.
Placidus looks down into the pit and notices the glint of light off metal. "Look..." he says, pointing it out.
Cica identifies the creature as a decapus, an aberration said to have been spawned during the chaos of the War of the Gods.
The remains of several of the decapus’s victims lie at the bottom of the pit. Among the bones are a masterwork breastplate, a magical scythe, two potions of cure serious wounds, a climber’s kit, masterwork thieves’ tools, and 132 gp in assorted coins.
After retrieving the loot, the group makes their way up the rope of climbing to the top of the pit. A single massive ruin rises from the dense brush around them, consisting of concentric rings of crude stone columns surrounding a yawning pit in the earth. Heavily overgrown with jungle plants, weathered writing and stylized pictographs cover the columns.
Ilistra, Cica and Garland immediately notice a pile of crude camping gear near the edge of the pit, and a bit further away, four of the ape men crouched around a fire grunting and hooting to each other in an unknown language. The prevalence of scaled reptilian hides and teeth in their costumes gives the humanoids an evil look.
Coming up first into an unknown area, Ilistra tries to keep as quiet as possible. She moves into whatever available cover and watches the ape men.
Ilistra waves her hands to get the next climber's attention, then holds a finger over her mouth in the (hopefully) universal symbol of quiet. She points in the direction of the ape men, then goes to hide and watch them.
Cica follows Ilistra up. Before she does, she focuses on moving as quietly as an owl.
The creatures appear to be oblivious to the two legionnaires for the moment. They seem to be arguing about something in a hissing horrible tongue, which neither woman recognizes.
Down in the pit Placidus clucks annoyedly. He looks at Garland and Luna and raises one eyebrow. "Want to leave her here until we make sure it's okay up there, and then haul her up?"
After some careful consideration, Garland nodded at Placidus' suggestion.
"That would probably be for the best," the masked legionnaire agreed in a whispered tone. "Perhaps we can just wait until they leave? Otherwise, we should use the element of surprise while we have it..."
Cica keeps still for a few minutes, and then leans back over the hole.
She holds a finger to her lip, suggesting continued silence, points two fingers in the directions of the guards, and then motions for them to come up.
"You should go first, Placidus. You are usually more... stealthy than I am," Garland said. After explaining the situation to Luna, the masked legionnaire waited for Placidus to reach the top. That way, Cica and Ilistra would have melee support if the guards heard Garland approaching. Speaking of which, when Garland finally climbed the rope...
...He did so with the stealth of a jaguar!
The remains of several of the decapus’s victims lie at the bottom of the pit. Among the bones are a masterwork breastplate, a magical scythe, two potions of cure serious wounds, a climber’s kit, masterwork thieves’ tools, and 132 gp in assorted coins.
A single massive ruin rises from the dense brush around them, consisting of concentric rings of crude stone columns surrounding a yawning pit in the earth. Heavily overgrown with jungle plants, weathered writing and stylized pictographs cover the columns.
Ilistra, and Cica immediately notice a pile of crude camping gear near the edge of the pit, and a bit further away, four of the ape men crouched around a fire grunting and hissing to each other in an unknown language.
****
Placidus begins to climb up the knotted magical rope. He doesn't make it far before a spur breaks loose beneath his boot. Without the spur to support him, he veers sideways into the wall of the pit. His armor and shield clatter loudly as he bites back a curse.
Above, the Charu-ka pause around their fire. One of them perks up and raises an arm. He mutters something in their serpentine tongue to the others. The four of them stand up, hefting clubs carved into the shapes of coiled venomous serpents, with small stone teeth studding their open-mouthed striking heads. They are clad in loincloths fashioned from scaly hides. Their matted fur is decorated in sporadic patterns of dinosaur feathers and teeth.
As soon as the simians begin moving toward the pit to investigate the sound, two of them spot Cica and Ilistra crouching in the bushes!
(+2 in jungle)
Group 1: Cica/Ilistra 17.5
Charu Ka: 9
Group 2: Placidus/Garland 7.5
Ilistra doesn't hesitate and blasts the closest ape person with her fire.
The ape man is horribly burned and ignites, screaming as his greasy fur melts into a column of black smoke.
Cica frowns as the ape men's heads swivel toward them. She looses an arrow at one guard, takes the briefest pause to refocus as she nocks her next arrow, and then looses that one as well.
Ilistra takes a moment to summon her reserves of flame as a bright corona surrounds her. She then flings a superhot blast of flame at an uninjured one.
WHOOMP! SCHLICHT!SCHLICHT!
Ilistra's explosion of flame, and Cica's arrows drop three of the Charu-Ka before they can even fully react.
Ilistra tries to blast the last one as well, but misses as he screams and turns to flee into Taizon. The ape man runs as fast as he can, clearing the ring of stones around the pit and heading north.
================================
Having few better options, Garland started to climb the rope.
Ilistra charges up again and sends another blast of flame at the fleeing ape-man. Her skin crackles and blackens, weeping flame as she draws too much fire to empower her blast.
Placidus waits for Garland to clear the rope, looking nervous as he holds it steady.
Cica nocks one more arrow and sends it flying toward the fleeing warrior's neck.
The 'fight' is over in a matter of seconds. Basically before the charu-ka beastmen can react, the ladies have gunned them down.
Placidus waits for Garland to finish climbing up. When he hears the fight is over, he ties the rope around Luna. "Get her up first, in case more of them show up!"
While Placidus and Garland haul up the tiger, Cica goes to examine the fallen warriors. She tries her best to walk quietly, eyes wide open.
Remember, Sabuleum, you're deep in enemy territory. There are more of these ape people than there are you...
Placidus waits for Garland to finish climbing up. When he hears the fight is over, he ties the rope around Luna. "Get her up first, in case more of them show up!"
Garland had little trouble finishing his climb. Once Placidus had securely tied the rope around Luna, Garland quickly but carefully hauled her up. He then lowered the rope again for Placidus.
Other than their clubs and primitive clothing, the ape men have no notable gear.
Ilistra tries to help Garland with the task.
Our hero once again proved to be as strong as an ox! With some help from Ilistra, Garland was able to hoist Luna to the top in a little less than twenty seconds. The masked legionnaire then quickly untied the rope from around his canine companion and lowered it down again for Placidus to use.
Placidus clambers up the magically knotted rope without too much trouble, taking some more time.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The whole unit is at the top of the pit now, standing inside the ring of stones. No one has come to investigate yet, but with the sounds of battle, shouting and the smoke from Ilistra's corpse burning battleways, it's probably only a matter of time until more ape-men show up. The pit the group just emerged from seemingly corresponds with what Polyphemous described near the southern side of Taizon's oval when he scouted the area.
Ilistra ventures past the small camp to the yawning pit and looks down, though she first checks the footing at the edge to make sure it's sturdy.
Ilistra goes to inspect the closest stone structure.
The standing stones are so faded as to be barely legible, but Ilistra finds remnants of ancient imperial writing and water themed motifs.
Other than the rings of standing stones, there aren't any other intact structures here.
"How about we investigate that nearby structure to the northeast?" Garland suggested.
Heading north west, the group leaves the well area behind and goes to investigate more of the ruins. As they are heading out, they encounter another four man patrol of ape-men coming to investigate the frackas. As they rush to attack, they are destroyed before they can even do anything by Cica's arrows and Ilistra's fire.
These ruins are unidentifiable. All that remains of the ancient pre-war structures here are large blocks carved in various shapes, now all tumbled and scattered across the jungle ground, overgrown with vines and other creeping vegetation.
Near the center of the ruins stand the shattered remains of three conical cylinders connected by low, thick walls of piled stone. Boab trees burst from crumbling structures, their thick roots and branches devouring large chunks of ancient stonework.
Garland moved to inspect the interior of the cylinder building.
The walls surround an overgrown courtyard of toppled statues, weathered foundations, and a path of broken cobbles winding around large, watery pools.
Wide marble steps lead to a short foyer hedged by, broken walls. A gnarled boab tree erupts from the foyer floor, its powerful roots twisting through the surrounding flagstones, leaving them cracked and shattered.
As Garland enters the foyer, he spots a crudely rigged trip-wire vine attached to a primitive trap which would have dropped a massive stone block on to his head! He avoids the trap...
"That is a nasty trap," Ilistra comments when it's pointed out. "Careful we don't forget about it when we are leaving."
"Where to next?"
She keeps an eye and ear alert for other danger.