The Chieftain bounds forward and his long, and very thick, tongue flashes out to entangle Saylarya!
Zathra lays hands on Saylayra and casts a heal spell on Voshi,
Saylarya snarls when the Chieftan's tongue wraps around her. In retaliation, she slashes her sharpened claws against it until she's set free and then continues to slash at the foes between her and the big boss.
With the figures engaged in melee right in front of her, Uthe has to resort to a more ... directed attack at the leader.
Uthe's acid arrow proves much more effective than the ones the boggarts were throwing around earlier and strikes the chief in the face! He lets out an oddly high pitched scream, which is muffled somewhat when Saylarya takes two feet off his tongue, before tearing one of his warriors apart. Zathra meanwhile ensures that the Glaring stays on their feet.
The boggard facing Voshi keeps up the good work, landing two blows despite the nimble cat's best efforts. The other warrior defers to his chief, attempting to grab Saylarya with his own tongue in the meanwhile.
Voshi makes thankful noises as Zathra gives her aid.
Voshi continues her attacks, this time not trying to show off.
Voshi lands two retaliatory blows on the boggard who croaks loudly but keeps fighting. The Chief steps up into the gap and smashes at Saylarya, before grabbing at her again with his now much shortened tongue.
Saylarya takes a blow that makes her ears ring and is once again ensnared by tongue...
Saylarya has no issues continuing to shorten the Chieftan's tongue, moving on to his body afterwards.
Another purple blast streaks towards the chieftain from Uthe's outstretched hand.
Saylarya trims another foot off the Chief's tongue and he shrieks with pain and rage. This is exacerbated when Uthe strikes him in the face with another jet of acid. The boggards are having the worst of this fight...
Zathra blasts the chief with searing light!
Croakchief Globbit continues to take a battering and croaks instructions in a strange guttural language! His warriors respond with renewed clubbing!
Voshi carves her opponent apart leaving just the Chief and his remaining warrior. Globbit looks like he considers running for a moment but his remaining warrior is enough to force his pride.
He continues to hammer at Saylarya before falling back behind his remaining bodyguard and out of sight for most of the Glaring.
Saylarya growls loudly as she is beaten badly, but she does not give up ground and presses her attack. Waiting for the right moment to strike, she slashes three mores times at the Chieftan, but her weakened body is evident in her less than perfect form.
Not wanting the chieftan to escape their wrath so quickly, Uthe moves so she can still see him and sends another purple arrow sizzling in his direction.
Zathra uses her magic to heal Saylarya.
Saylarya rips into the final boggard warrior who falls beneath her assault. The Chief, perched on top of his throne, pales somewhat and hurls away his club and begins burbling loudly, first in a language none of you recognise and then in broken common.
anyone to know about it, so the boggards were supposed to keep intruders away. Globblit isn’t sure what Tomil stole or where he took it, but the boggard is pretty sure it once stood in the adjacent room that he’s too afraid to enter.
"You take treasure. I go now!" The boggard suggests, pointing to the large chest under his 'throne'.
"We are merciful people, I think Zathra said something like that once. You can leave this place from the entrance we came from. No going to report to your employer!" Voshi replies before eagerly jumping in to see what's in the large chest before he even gets the chance to leave.
The tiger-style warrior nods to the boggard, pointing a clawed finger at him "Make no nefariousness!" she declares while puffing her chest out slightly, "OR ELSE!"
Once gone, she turns to Voshi and asks "What have you found, little bouncing one?"
The Little Bouncing One has found several cleverly woven mats of reeds and grasses that are interesting but valueless, several pieces of fake
jewelry, a smelly leather pouch containing 48 gp, five gold bracelets worth 60 gp each, eight playing pieces from an ivory chess set worth 12 gp each, a barkskin potion, and a +1 breastplate.
Of even more importance is the next room which sits above the sunlight room which caused so much suspicion below. An enormous sun symbol carved into the floor of this room glows with a warm light. The symbol is a loose spiral with triangles surrounding it like rays. Two holes pierce the stone floor in the symbol, one at the symbol’s center and the other at the end of the sun-spiral. The walls are carved with intricate runes and myriad shapes of animalistic humanoid warriors, and it takes only a moment of examination to realize that these shapes represent the Pillar-Watchers around Kibwe. A raised dais at the far end of the room contains a pedestal for a statue, but no statue is present.
In addition the pictograms lay out more detail to a ritual for activating the Sun symbol in the center of the floor. You get a +2 on checks to activate the Sun.
"This is an inventory of the Pillar Watchers," Uthe says, tracing her finger along the runes on the wall. She stops at a particular one. "This is the Cursebreaker."
She moves on, continuing to examine the runes. "This is a ritual that must be completed." She turns to Zathra. "It requires two. You should perform the ritual on the symbol below us and we will perform it up here."
Zathra follows Uthe’s instructions to perform the ritual, though it takes a few tries.
Voshi looks on with wide eyes as Uthe and Zathra complete the ritual.
"So Uthe, what exactly does it do...?"
Once Uthe and Zathra complete the activation ritual, succeed, an intangible orb of light 1 foot in diameter appears around Uther at the center of the upper sun symbol and moves swiftly away along the spiral, completing the path in about ten seconds.
When it reaches the end of the spiral, it drops through the hole in the floor to the center of the lower sun and traces a similar path along that spiral. When the orb reaches the end, it rises up through the ceiling to the center of this symbol and begins the path again. Each time the orb returns to the upper sun symbol, the pedestal on the dais at the east end of the room glows as well. The moving light is plainly powering the pedestal, although its precise effects aren’t clear. In addition to powering the dais, the orb’s energy is life-giving. Each time the orb enters a room, creatures in the room regain their level in Hit Points.
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With this unusual display of ancient power complete the Glaring returns to Abayone. The news that Cursebreaker is missing doesn't seem to surprise her as much as it should.
"I feared as much." She says, "I have been following up on the leads you gave me. The leader of the Aspis Consortium in Kibwe, an
unsavory human named Tomil Jabrin, is dead. But oh, he was a busy man before he died. He recently left town with several Aspis agents for a long trip and returned nearly three weeks later by himself. He had a heavily laden wagon when he left, but he returned without it.
Rumors say he ventured to the demon-haunted city known as Holy Xatramba in the jungles to the southeast. Evidence is that he took something large—perhaps a heavy statue—there. The fact that Cursebreaker is missing cannot be a coincidence."
“More troubling still this is not the first time Tomil has been connected with that evil place. There have been persistent rumors
for as long as he’s been in the city that he was raised in Xatramba among wicked cultists who revere the demon lord Angazhan. Tomil never formally disavowed these rumors or Angazhan’s worship, so perhaps he retained some connection with his homeland. Explorers tell of a complex called the Plaza of the Feasting Fiend on the north edge of Xatramba, where humans venerate Angazhan with horrid sacrifices and schemes to dominate those around them. It sounds like Tomil didn’t stray far from his upbringing. Friends, you have done much for Kibwe already but I must ask you, will you do more? Are you willing to journey to Xatramba and bring Cursebreaker back to us? I will happily arrange for your supplies and a sturdy wagon to transport the statue!"
Voshi listens to Abayone's offer carefully watches her friends' reactions to the offer before replying.
"We could possibly do so, but this seems a very dangerous task indeed. Now if you can provide a comfortable sturdy wagon and some useful trading supplies upon our return, we would be much more able to assist!"
Abayone nods, an approving glint in her eye. "A female after my own heart. I will certainly ensure that you have all the camping supplies you could desire. I believe you came trading for Darkwood? I can arrange, shall we say, 500 gold pieces worth of darkwood once Cursebreaker is returned to our city? Will that satisfy you?"
Voshi tries to gauge whether or not Abayone would be open to further persuasion before asking for too much and the deal falling through.
As far as Voshi can tell Abayone approves of the fact that she asked for payment, particularly in trading goods. It's hard to get any more of a read on the woman though - she is clearly a practised negotiator and her almost all-encompassing clothes muffle many of the tells Voshi normally looks for.
"That would be an agreeable deal Abayone." Voshi bows her head in respect to the other woman. "If you could perhaps include some nice travelling clothes for my sister and I as part of the camping supplies as well as a nice night-time blanket for each of these two unclothed ones, that would be much appreciated."
Zathra lets her sister complete negotiations. Afterwards, though, she speaks to her in a soft voice. "Well done, kitten. But even without a reward, we would still venture to this demon-infested city and destroy the evil that festers there. It is the amurruns' sacred duty to protect the jungle from vile spirits, just like our ancestors did in ages past."