"Another reason we should return to the Walled Compound," suggested Orvex in reply to Miss Imogen, "I could show you where the Thayans have kept their supplies. As most of the Red Wizards and their mercenaries are now dead, they will not be needing any of it. Perhaps we will find Zagmira and any other survivors there. You are in an excellent position to negotiate with them now - they need you more than you need them."
Myrral was used to the heat of the jungle and its himidity. This dank, cold cavern with the river so unpleasantly close made for miserable sleep, but they all needed it.
In the morning he is probably the only one happy to see the sun in all its glory.
Chrysagon, refreshed as the others, agreed that they should return to the Walled Compound. They would most likely find the Red Wizard there, or at least pick up a trail. Miss Imogen was excellent with the bow but not without arrows.
Dellrak wearily lay down with the other sticks. Before he went to sleep, however, he spent his spells on goodberries so they would have them in the morning. The dwarf, finally underground again, slept like the dead, his loud snores reverberating along the underground river.
In the morning, Dellrak was the last awake, refreshed and bright eyed. He stripped down and took a dunk in the relatively cold underground river. Nothing like a good, cold dunking in an underground river! Then he sat and did his morning meditations to prepare his spells before he had breakfast with the others. His vote was for the Walled City for supplies as well, and soon he was back in the heat and humidity of the jungle once more, though with the rain it wasn’t as bad as it could be.
Detect Portal (1/R): Within 1 mile Planar Warrior: As a bonus action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The next time you hit that creature on this turn with a weapon attack, all damage dealt by the attack becomes force damage, and the creature takes an extra 1d8 force damage from the attack. When you reach 11th level in this class, the extra damage increases to 2d8. Primeval Awareness (action and spell slot): For one minute per level of spell slot, detect within 1 mile (6 in favored terrain) aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This feature doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.
The rain beat down on the Sticks as they made their way toward the Walled Compound. To their great joy, they found that the Little Star had returned to the shrine on the earth pillar. They could see it from atop the east-west raised road - the big blue balloon stretched sideways in the wind from the east. Weed scampered across the make-shift rope bridge that stretched between the pillar and Omu proper and joined Miss Imogen by climbing on her back and wrapping its leafy arms around her neck.
Qawasha followed and reported that Captain Bravewing wanted to move the airship to a place more sheltered from the wind and rain; perhaps under the cliffs. After some discussion, it was decided that the ship would set down near the entrance to the Tomb of the Nine Gods, which was under the cliffs to the north. (The Thayans had discovered the place during their searchings, and Orvex was familiar with its location and could describe it and lead the others there later.
Rodrigo and Harb rejoined the ship in case they encountered trouble with the move, while the others continued the journey to the Walled Compound. As they were crossing the Fallen Tree (dangerously slick with rain) they saw the Little Star sail past them in the sky, travelling northward.
The Walled Compound appeared abandoned. There had been the fight between the Thayans and the Yuan-Ti a few days before, and much of the place was in worse ruin than it had been before the Thayan's arrival (which was quite ruined even then). Still, the Thayans had set up camp here and in spite of looting by various parties (there were signs of recent Kobold activity, and the Yuan-Ti had taken things during their raid) the Sticks were able to loot many much-needed arrows, a few nets, and a small amount of unspoilt rations. In addition there were wooden poles and a large animal trap that might prove useful.
As they were about to leave, the last remaining Red Wizard made her appearance from behind a crumbling pillar of stone. She appeared to be a young woman of about eighteen years, but part of her face was wrinkled and old, and her eyes were sharp with wisdom.
"I would speak with you, to propose an alliance," she sighed, obviously used to being in charge, but damned if she would totally fail in her mission, "I have one of the nine Puzzle Cubes that are needed to enter the Tomb of the Nine Gods, where I believe that we will find the source of the Death Curse - The Soulmonger of Acererak. We shall go there together and see what we discover. What say you?"
OOC:
The current motley crew consists of Chrysagon, Dellrak, Miss Imogen, Myrral, Qawasha & Weed (the Sticks); Zagmira, Orvex, and Ghorukk (the Thayans); and Ussal, Yassah, and two broodguards (the Yuan-Ti). Quite the mix.
Weed's leafy embrace is welcome as a cool breeze to the archer, and she laughs when weed's toe-fronds atch under her collar. "I missed you too, my friend." When Qawasha indicates that they both would join them on this enterprise, she performs a low bow to him. "We would be grateful for your presence, but you must be careful. I would understand if you chose to stay with the Little Star. We would see you again." She hesitates, before adding, "Your safety is very dear to me, you know."
*
When the last wizard appears, she again is the first to speak.
"My name is Miss Imogen. You are welcome to travel with me. We need allies, and so we can honour an alliance. I would know what you hope to accomplish when you find the Soulmonger. We mean to destroy it, whatever the cost."
Ussal expected to be sent with humanoids. Adding more of them to the mix increased the number of warm bodies he could put between his people and the potential enemies. But his own speciality meant he will take the beating occasionally. Red wizard will work to keep the advantage on her side and will not help unless absolutely necessary.
He leaves the negotiation to the lithe human while talking to his entourage silently in sibilant language of yuan-ti.
(in whispers) "I want one of you always close enough to the wizard to "motivate" her to help if needed."
On reuniting with the airship, Dellrak nodded to Kasqa. “Everythin’ quiet?” he asked the warrior. “Keep ‘em safe,” he charged the native Chultan as the Red Wizard woman emerged to offer a deal.
“‘ow dae we know ye willnae magic missile us in the bum?” he asked her. “Might be we walk ‘er in front o’ us t’ find traps.” He grinned at the wizard woman. “Earn her keep.” He gave a loud, dwarven laugh.
Detect Portal (1/R): Within 1 mile Planar Warrior: As a bonus action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The next time you hit that creature on this turn with a weapon attack, all damage dealt by the attack becomes force damage, and the creature takes an extra 1d8 force damage from the attack. When you reach 11th level in this class, the extra damage increases to 2d8. Primeval Awareness (action and spell slot): For one minute per level of spell slot, detect within 1 mile (6 in favored terrain) aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This feature doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.
Zagmira eyed Dellrack with a dry expression and said, "I think you will find that I will earn my keep elsewhere. It is you who will be good for nothing more than to shield others with the meat on your bones."
The tense alliance had not grown any friendlier by the time they had slogged their way through many hours of thick, wet overgrowth to reach the entrance to the Tomb of the Nine Gods.
It was raining still, with heavy drops that turned the ground to muck when they were not on the raised road. On the other hand, being up there and in the open, they had twice drawn unwanted attention (the first time, a crowd of frog-men had been quickly dispersed when Zagmira had sent a ball of flames down among them as they were hopping up onto the road, wielding weapons in a mass assault. The attackers hopped away, disappearing into the overgrowth as Zagmira glared smugly at Dellrak).
The second bit of trouble came as they were passing the amphitheatre. As they had seen days ago from the sky upon their arrival, an oversized and feathered great beast (t-rex) came toward them, roaring. To their surprise, it called out in a Chultan dialect that both Qawasha and Orvex translated as, "I am King! You bow before me (and pay tribute) or you be my next meal!"
This looked like it would be a dangerous battle, but the Little Star dropped out of the sky, through the rain, and a battle-plan that Dellrak and Rodgrigo had discussed when they had spotted the creature from the air; The crew of the airship, with Grrol and Braapp; Kasqa and Hup'lo; Harb and Rodrigo, rained arrows, rocks, and a few spells, down on the King of Feathers and the enormous beast ran off, chased by the airship.
Rodrigo called down,"We will meet you there!"
So it was the same group from the Walled Compound that found themselves in front of an ornate obelisk by the northern cliffs of Omu. The crumbling rock of the cliff rose over a hundred feet above them, with little waterfalls cascading down its vine and moss-covered face. Two man-carved tunnels stretched into darkness nearby.
Orvex was prepared to translate any words carved into the obelisk, but as any observer looked at them, they morphed and shifted into their preferred alphabet, revealing an obscure warning:
