Darbiter moves to the back of the huts in an effort to see if any boggards remain in any of them, letting his nerves calm down before trying to finish off the last boggard.
Shocked at seeing Blaze withdraw from a fight Sentis will move in to help with the last boggard.
"Now Sentis hit him!"
Greataxe Attack
Damage
sneak attack
Grusk fumbles his axe suddenly recovering it but missing terribly.....
"Damnable boggard, take a hint and die." Cort's blade once more twirls toward his foe.
Doc steps up to the plate and tries to smack the boggard's head off its shoulders ( for ).
The boggard finally sees the folly of continuing the fight and tries to flee, bounding over the squads heads and towards freedom. The lizardman finally bursts out of the treeline and skewers the boggard on his spear. The lizardman adds "Price is paid, you may keep whatever you find here, and your passage to where you seek will be unhindered." and turns to leave, the boggard he just killed slumping into the muck.
Sentis sheaths his scimitar with no regard to the gore dripping from it and walks to where Blaze stands.
Youre cut up bad man. Let me see what I can do to fix you up for the time being.
He sets his hand on Blazes shoulder and whispers under his breath. leviter curare
Memluk smiles his thanks at Sentis "Thank you again, good thing that last boggard couldn't hit the broad side of a dragon or I woulda been in serious trouble." He says with a laugh.
Standing up gingerly, he stretches to work out any kinks, then sheaths his scimitar "That could have gone better, but as Cort said, thankfully nobody died. Guess we should search this village, though if one or two of you want to scour the nearby swamp to make sure we don't have any boggards lurking in ambush, I think that would be a good idea. I find it slightly odd that only four live here and gave the a mighty tribe of lizardmen so much trouble they needed our help." That said he begins to search the village himself.
Darkbiter will take his time to thoroughly search the huts, "Sentis, you start with that hut, I'll start with this hut."
"We err sure tah find something worth keepin....Wonder how tha legs o a Bog bloke tastes?"
Sentis gives Blaze a questioning look and replies Now that you mention it; it does seem odd that these boggards were any sort of threat to the Pazoko. Maybe its that shaman at work still...
His thought falls off at Darkbiters shout and Sentis waves an affirmation and walks over to the squalid hut that his orcish friend had pointed to and steps cautiously inside and searches it thoroughly.
Running back towards the group Kaavel says "What happened to me? I heard them make a noise than felt that I had to run away."
"It's ok Kaavel, I barely kept my head myself. Must be some sort of magic in that noise." Cort's legs do look very wobbly, and he checks the bandages on his monkey bites to calm himself. "Anything worthwhile in there?" He calls in after the others, keeping a watch around, not trusting this jungle.
Searching the boggard you find a couple of items of note above the standard trappings of war. The shaman was carrying a small satchel that is filled with a gritty salve, and a small statuette of a humanoid that is currently caked in grime.
Additionally in the corner of one of the huts that the boggard appeared to be sheltering in you find a small sack sealed at the top with a drawstring. The sack appears soaking wet, though does not seem to be leaking water.
Although you search the clearing for tracks, you don't find anything that suggests there were more than four boggard here.
I can check this stuff for enchantments tomorrow. I know its extra weight but should we take these weapons and give them to the porters? The way this trip is going they will most likely have to defend themselves again.
While pouring over the loot and talking with the other Wolves; Sentis will draw his scimitar and clean it thoroughly.
"Seems like a good idea to me. Even if they barely know how to use them, simply having a weapon can help scare off the random predator."
"I ken use a morninstar, some things turn away tha swift blade o mah trusty axe,......an another weapon never hurts!"
"Arming the porters makes sense. Perhaps as we travel we can even teach them some what, at least to make sure they don't hurt themselves or others." He looks around the rest of the village "I think we need to be a little extra alert and careful as we finish this journey. I really don't like how off this whole thing feels, but maybe that's just my being too wary and high strung from my years in Qadira and Jalmeray."
He gathers up the daggers which he stows about his person "Ok jungle unit, unless there's anything else we need to do here, I say let's get out of here and back to the village"
"O bush beaters..."
It takes Sentis a minute to get the half orc's joke but he laughs with genuine mirth when he finally catches the clever double meaning.
Very funny Grusk!
and after putting one of the spare morning stars in his pack plus a share of the gold he turns to Blaze I think we're good here. Lets head back.
I hope Icy has pulled through by now...
"The sooner we get back, the better, I don't like the idea of those porters sitting there without someone to keep them from doing something stupid."
The squad makes its way back to the village through the course of the afternoon.
Upon arrival to the village, Robert comes to greet you "Have you performed the deed requested?"
"Aye! Is all well here?"
"I have some legs tah be cookin as I found food nuff fer all in tha bogs."
Profession check
Cooking
"Barely edible!"
Blaze walks into the village looking very wary and somewhat beat up "We did indeed. Was rather unpleasant, with all this croaking, but we got rid of the problem"
"Good to hear that our path to the ruins will be unhindered. Sangoma is still with your Corporal, though he is unsure of how treatment is progressing. He is still unconscious, though the shudders seem to be lessening."
"We did have some minor issues with the porters. It seems that some knew a bit more Common than first thought, and were able to follow our discussions with the Pazoko. It seems that the views of the Keleshite (gesturing to Blaze) and myself weren't taken too kindly."
"Musangi and Sangoma tried to argue for staying, based on the support from most of your squad and the danger of going alone - but a group of six were not swayed. We managed to keep most of the supplies, but they have left to cut their own path out."
Sentis stayed near the back of the group during Robert's summary of the past days events and slipped off to check on Icy. He approached the hut with much trepidition. He took a moment to look around at the near vacant village and shook his head. Going inside he walked over to the corporals cot and gave him a brief examination.
Unsure of his diagnosis he'll ask Sangoma how he's doing.
"A smaller group of porters may be better for us anyway. Less people means a smaller and more easily defended target for those who wish to stand in our way."
"While it is unfortunate that we lost that many porters, there's nothing we can really do about it. Also Dark is right, we're that much more defensible, and seeing as how I kinda feel we were set up with those boggards, that's a good thing. Alright, we dealt with both lizardman and boggard, now what? Continue on to the temple now or wait till morning?"
"Bah tha we discussed tha cattle as cattle an did not sell them intah slavery should ave been nuff. Tha ones who ran are probably serving tha lizard mens right now!"
Sentis - Cpl Valorious' condition seems improved from the morning, the shakes are less frequent and less violent - but he is still very weak and only half-conscious.
Sangoma, looks like he's going to break his fever which is good news. Youve done very well, thank you. We all appreciate what youve done for our corporal.
Sentis will nod to Sangoma and return to where the group was discussing what to do in time to catch the last few comments.
Id rather we at least wait until morning. Whats the rush at this point? We could all use the rest. Icy looks to be pulling through his sickness but he wont be going anywhere for quite some time.
"Ken tha old man tell us tha lay o tha land, so Biter an I knows what tah spect up ahead?"
"Might be worth taken a look tha way, up a tree o on a hilltop afore headen out."
Standing a ways off with the same exasperated look on his face that he usually wears, Doc suddenly shakes his head and looks concerned. Blinking in confusion he slowly looks around like a man coming out of a stupor but trying not to let anyone notice.
Inching closer to Grusk and nudging him with an elbow, the dwarf clears his throat and whispers "'Ey, ah, Grusk lad, what the blazes 's goin' on?"
Kaavel stands to listen as the others speak he thinks to himself "I need to train harder I should not of been overtaken by those frog-men tricks."
"Doc we err still headin fer tha temple seems tah be tha way a piece through tha jungle."
"We won passage by fighten frog men, tha one was a leaper an I thought tha legs would make fer good eatin but I was wrong."
"The las' thing ah r'member's gettin' overrun by a buncha monkeys an' drinkin' some healin' juice." the dwarf says rubbing his eyes. "Ah think ah need t' quit experimentin' with new formulae variants on th' stuff ah need t'be the most reliable."
The night passes uneventful for most, the jungle the quietest it has been for some time.
In the morning, Vankerman and Musangi prepare the porters for travel to the object of the trek - the ruins. Sangoma will stay behind with the old man from the village to help tend to Cpl Valorious.
Kaavel stares into the jungle trying to figure out where the sound he had heard was coming from.
@ Kaavel - No direction in particular, and you could hear it only for a few seconds before it faded away.
Sentis shivered at the sound of the laughter as he remembered that the mask wearing shaman still needed to be dealt with and would likely be an obstacle to their trek.
After his watch he spent some time in quiet communion with forces of nature and felt enboldened and empowered by a new understanding of the world and his place in it...the Green Faith is the way...
He then took the time to wander the jungle close to the village and gather what he needed for a healers kit.
His step lively; he returned to the village where the others had gathered and toook his share of the mornings repast. Over bites of crunchy red fruit and spoons of porridge he recounted the events of the last few days to the obviously confused Doc.
you should be more careful with those self experiments Doc. I wont argue their efficacy though.
He cleaned his bowl and spoon and refilled his waterskins before checking his gear and tightening the straps on his leather armor.
Im ready when the rest of you are.
The shaman was carrying a small satchel that is filled with a gritty salve.
Additionally in the corner of one of the huts that the boggard appeared to be sheltering in you find a small sack sealed at the top with a drawstring. The sack appears soaking wet, though does not seem to be leaking water.
Maybe we should see whats in this funny bag first?
Sentis will open the wet bag and carefully remove whatever's inside.
Darkbiter is too lost in his own thoughts to notice anything as they rest and prepare to visit the temple on the morrow.
Reaching into the wet bag you notice that there are some spongy balls inside about the size of your fist. You count eight of them in the sack.
He will pull one of them out and into the light to get a better look at it first.
and then cast Detect Magic on it.
You confirm a presence of magic, sensing a faint aura of conjuration.
Hmm...these are magical in nature. I wonder...
Reading the feedback that the item gives off, you are able to ascertain their purpose.
Divesting his knowledge to the rest of the Wolves -
Interesting; each of these weird balls will turn into a giant frog when dropped on the ground. What they do after that I have no idea. I guess you could control them. And this jar of salve will speed up the healing of a injured person and very effectively I might add.
"It makes frogs you said? Can't imagine what use that would be... maybe a distraction." Cort calls from where he continues practicing. I'm getting almost as good with my left hand. It helps putting in some of the moves Blaze taught me, not that I'd ever tell him that. There's a huge smile on his scarred face, and he seems to be in high spirits, whistling a jaunty tune as he twirls and slashes, ribbons and trails of light throwing off a whirling kaleidoscope of color. "Good to have you back Doc, and would someone mind treating this wound before it slows me down?" He points to a particularly painful monkey bite. "You are after all the Doc."