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"Belmazog leads the Cinderclaws. She is a boggard, mostly, but also part dragon. When our people started dying, she said the Ekujae cursed the gold, so no one would take it. Said they were the enemy. The pillars keep them away, Belmazog said, or else they would kill us even faster."
"Well then, she is a liar and a murderer. What are the Cinderclaws' numbers? How many lieutenants?"
"Not so good with numbers...more than this." Mikmek held up all eight fingers. "Always coming and going. Also, very hungry giant vulture people. Hezle runs the mine -- she is one of us, and not bad like the others, just stuck. If you tell her you helped the Thornscales, she will help you."
"Vulture people? Well, after frog people and monkey people and a golem made of door, I suppose that is likely a very accurate description. Even if it is too vague to be useful."
"I am not really wanting to delay our travels too much. But I also don't want to leave the Thornscales here alone in such bad shape. Shall we wait at least one day and see what we can do in that time?"
"Lisi, would you teach me this spell to assist with toxins?"
"Part boggard, part dragon?" Catalina repeats in Taldane, grimacing. "Sounds weird."
"Let's do what we can, then. They've helped us with lots of information," she replies to Caiten, before turning back to Mikmek and asking in Draconic: "Where is this place at?"
"...we'll need about an hour to talk about the spell. I'm sure you'll love the conversation," says Lisi, knowing that Caiten, unlike most humanoids, will actually love the conversation, or at least, hang on every syllable uttered.
"Vulture-folk. Well, I assume they fly and eat carrion," says Lisi. "Vultures serve a very necessary purpose in the wild--they prevent the spread of disease by eating dead animals and neutralizing the pathogens that would infect others. They also, ah, vomit on themselves."
Lisi shrugs. "Unfortunately, many creatures have been distorted with magic beyond their original purposes and are no longer in line with keeping the wilderness pure. We shall see with the vulture-folk."
Yasamina spends some time helping with the symptoms. She doesn't talk to the kobolds, but she keeps scribbling something into her notebooks when others talk to them. "Caiten- or anyone talking to them - please ask where can we find this Belmazog individual. And whether the entire tribe now works the mine, and the mine's location. Might as well go sever the Cinderclaw head. One less hydra neck to worry about."
She looks around. "Unless someone else has other ideas?"
"The mine is to the west. I am not certain where, exactly...we just fled, and are not exactly at our best. I know we avoided crossing the river.
"Belmazog visits the mine, but does not stay. I do not know where she spends the rest of her time. Hezle might know. As for our tribe, we are all that remain, other than Hezle. She stayed behind and wouldn't come with us, I do not know why -- she said it was important she stay."
Catalina will translate, relaying everything exactly as it is said by the kobolds.
"Sounds as though it will not be too difficult to find the mine. And we need to be aware of one of their own, Hezle, who did not flee...for whatever reason." Catalina stretches, mentally exhausted from the extensive work of translating in the past several days--first with the Ekujae and now with the kobolds.
"Severing the head sounds like an excellent idea. We finally have some direction for the hunt. I am ready." Catalina grins, pulling out her Harrow deck and shuffling to The Wanderer, the card she drew in her Harrowing several days before. She studies it for a moment and then shuffles it back into the deck, a satisfied smile on her face. The cards had yet to fail her; her faith in them was unshakeable.
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"...we'll need about an hour to talk about the spell. I'm sure you'll love the conversation," says Lisi, knowing that Caiten, unlike most humanoids, will actually love the conversation, or at least, hang on every syllable uttered.
Caiten sits down with Lisi and consults with both him and Sulee about the finer points of the new spell - making copious amounts of notes in the process. Afterwards, he hands the notes to Sulee.
"Well, we should make camp here then since we are going to be staying for at least one night. I don't want to crowd the Kobolds, they might get uncomfortable with us there."
Sulee takes the notes and lays down with them. She studies them for quite a while, occasionally switching which page she is looking at.
Like the previous times, after about an hour the notes abruptly disintegrate like a spell scroll that has been cast. Sulee comes back to Caiten and mumbles quietly, "OK. That will be ready in the morning."
The next morning, Caiten prepares the new spell that Lisi showed him.
He goes to the Kobolds and says, "Wǒ xūyào yīgè yǒnggǎn de zhìyuàn zhě. Bié dòng, zhè kěnéng huì yǒudiǎn cì tòng. Dàn zhè yīnggāi huì yǒu suǒ bāngzhù."
After assisting the first Kobold, Caiten asks if there is another that would like treated too.
After treating the Kobolds, Caiten approaches the others in the group. "With a few of the Kobolds feeling better, I am expecting that they will be successful at taking care of themselves now. We should continue our mission."
"I am not great at using maps. Even less with vague directions. Can someone else lead us to either the mines that they were mentioning, or the Elephant tribe that we were originally heading towards?"
"I got you, Caiten. Elephant tribe it is."
"mmm. I wonder if the Elephant People know about this mine."
Deadly though it can be, arsenic is not a terribly difficult substance to counteract magically, and between Lisi, Caiten, the kobolds begin to mend, and you feel comfortable leaving them to tend their own, confident they won't die because of your absence.
So, the morning after meeting the Thornscales, you take your leave. Mikmek thanks you all profusely, bowing and kowtowing and making a scene. "Remember -- you tell Hezle you helped us. We will stay close until she can find us."
The trek back to the river is uneventful, and once more you find yourselves on the bank of the river, debating how to cross. Swim, and hope to avoid any predators lurking in the water? It's a wide river, two hundred feet across, though it's moving slowly and lazily. Alternatively, you could spend a day fashioning a raft, with a little help from Renali and the more hands-on type folks amongst you.
Caiten looks at the river blocking their path. "With Dario's help, I could build a vessel capable of carrying us across the river. Probably by the end of the day as long as we don't care what it looks like."
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Lisi nods. "We don't want to swim in that. Leeches, catfish that swim up your--anyhow, let's build a raft."
"A raft sounds smart. I will cheer you on while you build." Catalina grins widely at the rest of the group, having no talent for building such things.
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Caiten takes a few minutes and sets up his new portable crafting room. It doesn't have much in the way of walls and roof, but sufficient to keep the sun out of his eyes at least. "Dario, if you want to assist, I would be grateful for it. Any of the rest of you as well. I may need some supplies gathered too."
"Let me know if you need help K10, otherwise I am probably best suited to help Catalina with the cheering."
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"Of course, I've got you." Dario says, clearing out a little area of dirt to make out a crude plan of how they'd assemble the map. Even those less gifted in creating things would be put to use; porting and cutting where Dario instructed them to do so.
"Be careful out there friends. Who knows what might be rummaging around in the jungle out there." Dario cautions, wiping the sweat from his brow as he gets back to cutting lumber to make a suitable raft. He looks over at Caiten, shaking his head. "No, not that wood. Too soft. I know I came from a desert and it seems weird that I know this but just trust this; the ferry fees of some places are absurd and I refuse to be scammed."
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Catalina consults with Yasamina on where to explore and ultimately decides to follow Yasami's lead on heading east, adjacent to the river.
"Cevendyll, will you be joining us? Anyone else? One of you large people," Catalina waves a hand at Joran and Oren, "Should probably stay with these smaller ones," she finishes, gesturing toward Dario, Caiten, and Sulee, a teasing grin crossing her face. A few days together had Catalina feeling far more comfortable with the new company and her Ustalavian accent had mostly mellowed, although her "th" sounds still sounded like "z"s no matter how soft her accent became.
Yasami shudders as Lisi mentions THAT parasite. She looks around while the boys start building a boat. "Yeah they will take a while. Let's go check upstream? Maybe find something to eat while we're at it?"
She tosses the shipwrights a length of rope and her crowbar, just in case.
"Yes, Renali should absolutely come with. If we get lost or something. I bet you know this river like I know the cha-cha.", Yasami nudges the spider lady with her elbow.
Catalina consults with Yasamina on where to explore and ultimately decides to follow Yasami's lead on heading east, adjacent to the river.
"Cevendyll, will you be joining us? Anyone else? One of you large people," Catalina waves a hand at Joran and Oren, "Should probably stay with these smaller ones," she finishes, gesturing toward Dario, Caiten, and Sulee, a teasing grin crossing her face. A few days together had Catalina feeling far more comfortable with the new company and her Ustalavian accent had mostly mellowed, although her "th" sounds still sounded like "z"s no matter how soft her accent became.
"Happy to - let's see what's out there."
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Catalina has spent a fair bit of time in this jungle, and Renali is in her element. Between the two, you find game trails to move through the undergrowth with ease, and avoid falling prey to anything poisonous, venomous, or prone to ambushing its prey. Renali points out some tiny, adorable, brightly colored frogs. "Be wary, even touching them can kill you. Their skin itself is toxic, and the venom can pass through your own skin into your blood stream."
It's nearing midday, and you're thinking about heading back to the others, when you see a clearing up ahead and decide to check it out. A recent battle seems to have taken place within. A dozen dead baboon-like humanoids -- charau-ka, like the cultists you're quite familiar with --lie sprawled on the ground around an area of disturbed earth that looks like it may have recently held some sort of post rising from the ground. A half-dozen stone statues of human explorers stand in the area in dramatic poses, their presence incongruous and unusual, to say the least.
Nearby, humming to himself while he works, you see a man with luxurious hair and an impeccable mustache working to pack up some supplies. He appears to be alone, and is standing alongside a long bundle wrapped in sheets of canvas and lashed to a wooden sledge on the ground. He's humming a little song to himself while he works, and has a strange weapon on his back -- it almost resembles Dario's or Catalina's but it's much longer.
He doesn't seem to be aware of your presence.
Catalina has spent a fair bit of time in this jungle, and Renali is in her element. Between the two, you find game trails to move through the undergrowth with ease, and avoid falling prey to anything poisonous, venomous, or prone to ambushing its prey. Renali points out some tiny, adorable, brightly colored frogs. "Be wary, even touching them can kill you. Their skin itself is toxic, and the venom can pass through your own skin into your blood stream."
"Ooh, I have run into one that makes you hallucinate a little bit, too...that was fun." Catalina grins at the spider-woman, grateful for the new knowledge of their jungle environs.
It's nearing midday, and you're thinking about heading back to the others, when you see a clearing up ahead and decide to check it out. A recent battle seems to have taken place within. A dozen dead baboon-like humanoids -- charau-ka, like the cultists you're quite familiar with --lie sprawled on the ground around an area of disturbed earth that looks like it may have recently held some sort of post rising from the ground. A half-dozen stone statues of human explorers stand in the area in dramatic poses, their presence incongruous and unusual, to say the least.
Nearby, humming to himself while he works, you see a man with luxurious hair and an impeccable mustache working to pack up some supplies. He appears to be alone, and is standing alongside a long bundle wrapped in sheets of canvas and lashed to a wooden sledge on the ground. He's humming a little song to himself while he works, and has a strange weapon on his back -- it almost resembles Dario's or Catalina's but it's much longer.
He doesn't seem to be aware of your presence.
Catalina stays crouched and hidden, looking over at Yasami and Renali "I don't like the look of those statues. Reminds me of a hunt I was on where Niko and I fought a basilisk..." She narrows her eyes at the pretty man, trying to pick up on anything identifying about where he might be from, what he might be doing...
Catalina notes he has an awful lot of equipment for one man to carry. The bundle on the litter was a good eight to teen feet long and about as wide as a hug. That alone would be difficult to maneuver through the jungle, and he was strapping smaller packs to it, seemingly preparing to depart.
His fashion, and the accent that he slips into as his humming occasionally turns to a few quietly sung words, mark him as Taldan -- a people from a once-great empire that is past its prime, who still revel in decadence whenever they can and tell stories of the "good old days".
Without taking her eyes off the man, Yasami whispers "What's a basilisk?"
"Big, ugly lizard with too many legs...can petrify you. Kind of like this ring I got from the Ekujae," She replies, tapping the ring on her left hand. "This guy can't be all alone. Is too much to carry by yourself."
"Oh. I see." Yasami continues to whisper. ”Maybe his friends gave him the cold shoulder...” this time she looks briefly at Catalina, and you can swear you see a hint of a smile as she finishes the thought with short delay - "... stone-cold."
She looks back at the man. "Yeah that wat terrible. Nevermind. I'll go try to get myself killed as punishment. Stay here as backup, in case something goes wrong."
She unpina the lock on her sheathe and tries to approach the man without being seen.
Catalina's softly glowing eyes widen at the joke, and she stifles a snort of laughter behind one of her hands. "I like bad jokes," She comments softly as the other woman sneaks off, pulling out her mirror, pistol, and esoterica pouch just in case things went awry.
Yasami kicks a pebble that skitters into a tree trunk, and the man stands quickly, whipping the weapon from his back smoothly and taking aim, making a most undignified high pitched squeal.
When he sees Yasami he relaxes somewhat. "Oh I say old girl! I thought it got all of you. Glad to see I was sorely mistaken! Help me secure the rest of the rations and let's away before a tiger or some such comes calling."
Catalina keeps an eye on Yasami, waiting to see what the other woman planned to do--ready to spring to her defense should the need arise. In her mind, she was already concocting a fake name to call the other woman by (a tossup between Mimi and Mina...the thaumaturge figured that Yasami would be less than pleased with Mimi, though), their story (that one was a struggle...they were too eccentric a group to pass for anything other than adventurers)...
She shakes herself out of her odd daydream and glances at the others who had followed along, an expression on her face that suggests she is seeking input on what to do next.
Lisi gathers wood and busies himself with making rope from vines. "You twist like this, double twist, see," he says to his animal and plant friends and anyone who cares to watch.
He also goes foraging for food.
He also identifies the local fauna, making use of his new staff.
Yasami curses under her breath at the noisy pebble. She keeps her hand on the guard of her blade when the man points his gun at her.
"If you want to fire that thing, you better kill me with your first shot. If you are not sure whether you can do that, I suggest you put the boomstick down. I'm not in the business of stalking the jungle for random strangers to eviscerate."
She remains still, waiting for the man's reaction.
Oren waits back with Catalina, to see if Yasami's going to need backup against the man with the long gun. He can't help but raise an eyebrow at how eccentric this man is and wonder why such a stuffy sounding and looking man is out here in the middle of the jungle, far from home.
"I think we should go help her..." Catalina whispers to Oren, Cev, and Renali. "Let's go."
Catalina moves through the foliage quickly and quietly, her implements and esoterica in hand, but at her sides nonthreateningly. As she emerges, the thaumaturge gasps with surprise and says, "Mina, there you are! We lost you..." She then turns her gaze to the mustachioed man who is pointing his weapon at Yasami and looks startled, eyebrows shooting up into her hairline. "Oh! Uh... hello?"
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When Catalina addresses her, Yasami stiffens up, she slowly turns around towards the fortune teller, and her face is pale with shock and surprise that quickly turns into anger. She stares daggers at Catalina for a short while as she scans her head to toe several times with squinted eyes, her mind racing. She suddenly darts towards Catalina, ignoring anyone else besides her. When Yasami reaches Catalina, she embraces her in a 'friendly' hug, but Catalina feels the grip is a little too tight.
"I thought I'd die here. Thank heavens you showed up!" she exclaims loudly. She doesn't let go for several seconds, grip still quite strong, almost pushing air out of Catalina's lungs.
As Yasami holds the fortune teller, she leans in for a whisper. "If you call me Mina again, especially in front of strangers, one of us will end up dead."
She loosens the grip, and lets go, then turns around to the man with the blackpowder weapon. "So, where were we?"
Catalina can't get much paler, but she feels the blood drain from her face at the dancer's grip and whispered words. She embraces the woman in kind, her grip far gentler. "Won't happen again. Tried to think of a fake name, came up short," she whispers in reply, face tinged slightly pink with embarrassment.
Catalina grins as she leans away and then turns to face the strange dandy man in front of them...hoping that Oren, Cev, and Renali would join them shortly.
Oren runs after Catalina, the large man rumbling through the jungle as he's not even bothering with an attempt at being stealthy. "Ah! There you are! Had us all worried sick." He says as he bursts through the foliage and arrives where Yasamina is.
"Are we gonna have a problem here, sir?" He says, making eye contact with the man that's currently pointing his gun at Yasami.