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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2164931" data-attributes="member: 1210">The Deadly Serpent Folk of Sriti's Jungle7/7/369 O.L.G., 2 p.m., in Sriti’s JungleOh dear.  Oh my.  Didn’t they learn?Our heroes return to the jungle.  Two of them, Jawbreaker and Beau, are already blind.  Ezeekiel insists that he can prevent any further serious illnesses, especially with the aid of Hortense.  Her training in the healing arts in extensive, to put it mildly.  She aspires to become a healer.*As the party pushes through the thick foliage the heady smell of the jungle permeates their nostrils, a weird mix of flowers and rot and thick rich soil.  Strange large squirrels leap from tree to tree above our heroes’ heads.  Brightly colored birds and huge bugs are everywhere.For several hours our heroes move into the jungle unmolested.  Then, as they march through a thinner area of growth, they hear voices hissing in an unfamiliar tongue beyond a screen of bushes, and suddenly a group of what at first appear to be humans bursts into view.  A second glance reveals something is wrong with this picture.There are a pair of slim humans, but the other four appear to be some kind of half-snake folk.  One has the head of a snake, its long forked tongue flicking out to taste the air.  The second has a snake’s tail emerging from his back, behind and between his legs.  The third has no legs at all; her entire body below the waste is a serpentine tail.  The last of these terrible abominations has snakes where he should have arms.Then it goes dark, and the grass grabs our heroes, entangling them.  Ezeekiel, outside of the sphere of darkness that just came into effect, feels a wave of fear wash off of him, but he is a paladin.  He knows what fear is intellectually, and he understands it emotionally.  But in his guts?  He cannot comprehend it.  He does not feel it.  He struggles against the grass and vines holding him in place, but he cannot break free!Meanwhile, Achtung, who has managed to twist free of the entangle, flies straight up and out of the darkness.  Suddenly he can see again!  Down below, Martini is trading shots with one of the humans, while the other human tries to charm him!  Meanwhile, both the serpent headed and the serpent torsoed creatures suggest to Martini that he surrender, and the halfling archer casts down his bow.  Uh-oh, thinks Achtung.  Drawing his own bow, he launches an arrow at the snake-armed creature.  It glares up at him.  “Come down,” it calls, and the urd can’t for the life of him think why he shouldn’t comply.A full-fledged desperate combat has broken out.  Those trapped by the combination of entangle and darkness struggle furiously, several gradually breaking out.  Naomi, entangled but not in the darkness, doesn’t bother.  She just strikes mentally at the snake-folk again and again, battering at their defenses.  She has reasonable success, but the monsters are definitely resistant to psionics, at least to some extent. Nevertheless, she has also made Beau effective in battle by establishing a sight link with him.  Now he can see through her eyes, letting him step up with a shocking grasp.  He shocks one of the humans, and the man shrieks.  His hair all stands on end.  He falls to the ground, blasted to death by Beau’s touch.  Then the sorcerer grins and casts another one.  Swinging wildly, he touches the snake head creature, but to his chagrin it resists the power of his magic!  Then, naturally, it turns on him and begins taking its displeasure out on him with its blade and envenomed fangs!  When Jawbreaker finally emerges from the entangle and darkness she sight links with him too, shouting to explain what she’s doing so as not to confuse the barbarian.  The battle draws desperate.  Achtung manages to duel with his adversary for a few moments before breaking the suggestion and flying out of reach to switch back to arrow fire.  Martini, too, eventually breaks his suggestion, and begins firing again.  The battle is tight; Portnoy, Federico’s dog, does a good job of tying up one of the snake-things.  Still, all of them are formidable adversaries, and the battle stretches on.  Finally, Martini drops the snake-armed creature with an arrow to the head, and everyone is severely wounded.  The snake-headed creature turns and sprints into the jungle, abandoning his fellows to their fate, and this turns the tide.  Quickly, now, our heroes finish the remaining villains.  Then, exhausted, they slump down on the ground while Zeke and Hortense hurry from one of them to the next, using what healing magic they have.   “We need to rest,” groans Beau.  Even after the healing, he is badly wounded, and so is the dog Portnoy.  “Agreed,” says Martini, “but not here.  We should move on.  Remember, at least one of them got away.  There may be others.”The group moves several miles along before making camp.  Their rest is unmolested, and in the morning, Hortense and Ezeekiel apply more healing that brings our heroes  up to good health.  The party moves along, with Beau moaning about how dangerous the jungle is.  “You’re right,” admits Ezeekiel, “but we’re already this far in... and besides, you’re the one we’re trying to help!”Next Time: Unseen monsters in the dark!*Healer is one of my first homebrewed prestige classes, created long ago for the character Scrilla.  Ah, Scrilla.</blockquote>

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