Swamp Trek III: The Search for Ter-raen

[covaithe]

[sblock=Gildrim]

Tired and sore, with great half-healed bite marks marring his flesh, Gildrim is more relieved than worried to see the warband, but nevertheless keeps very still.

"Fekiikiri, tilsin sthyri! Qe doegel mrith douta neri!" he calls. "Wux ossalur mrith jennu ohhu. Si jahus vorqir ihk wux. Si mi vi thurirl vur lotoc ekess ocuir wux."

He carefully presents his greatsword hilt first to the leader and begins the lengthy process of divesting himself of his other weaponry. "Arominak Gildrim Nerixen," he announces. "Nakta astahi algbo; nomeno belhal ekess vi bensvelk sthyr, vur si tepoha coanwor ekess jennu nirescholii ekess ehtah trian caexi."

The lizardfolk are clearly quite surprised to see that you speak their language. However, their wariness does not slacken as they share out your weapons among themselves. They do take good care of them, though it is not clear whether this is due to your request or to the scarcity and value of metal implements in the swamp.

"Greetings, Gildrim," the leader responds after a moment. "I am Tatupu. Why have you been looking for us?"

He motions you to follow, and begins leading the way through the swamp as you converse. The other lizardfolk fall in around you, just beyond arms reach. With closer inspection, it is clear that all of them have taken small wounds recently; bruises and shallow cuts for the most part, but there are at least two deeper wounds in sight, poulticed with herbs and mud.

[/sblock]

 

[Scott DeWar]

"Stop them, ... there was that Halfling priestess whow could be asked to help to stop any further attacks on your people. If approached in a kind fasion, she could be asked to do do so. I am sure she is more then willing. She opossed what was being talked about in the first place by the villagers."

 

[Trouvere]

[sblock=Gildrim]"Do you know Sister Anemone, or does she just meet with Apikotoa?" Gildrim asks, namedropping. "Er, do you know Apikotoa?" he adds, having no idea how many lizardfolk in how many villages or how many tribes inhabit the swamp.

"Anemone sent four of us to warn that the drylanders - some of the drylanders - are looking for a fight with you. But our mission went awry. We met a great beast with many snake heads. Now we're dead, or scattered, and I am as you see me, chewed and carried off and spat out. I killed it as it slept well-fed beside the remains of my comrade."

Gildrim gives a bark of laughter and just as abruptly cuts it off.

"But I think my warning comes too late, as I should have known it would."[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

[sblock=Weel and Karl]

"Well, he was very gruff and was sometimes hard to understand, but then I can be, too, I'm sure, and ... well, he was a dwarf, and he had black hair, and his beard, now that I think about it, always looked a little burnished, er, burned. Yes, on the ends.

"As to where he ... well, I'm afraid I think he's in a Hydra's stomach. Stomachs? Do they have as many of those as they do heads?"

The lizardman gives a long, drawn-out hiss at the news, and his shoulders slump slightly in a very human-like gesture. "Then he ees gone. I am sorry for thees. I am Apikotoa; I was his guide when he first came to thees swamp. He gave me thees bow." He gestures to the shortbow he carries. "Eef you were hees companions, then... I weel do what I can for you. Eet may not be much. Your kind ees much hated here, now."

"so, we are your prisoners?" Karl nods in understanding. "Weel, I think we need to submit our selvs as prisoners to these most noble of peoples." then to the lizard man he says, " I have but one request that I can think of. Please keep us seperate from the attackers. I am not party to their ideals."

Apikotoa's crest rises slightly in a reaction you have trouble interpreting. He responds slowly. "Thees I cannot do. We have many preesoners, and many hunters are wounded or not yet returned. You must all be kept together for now. I am sorry. I weel remember your names, and speak for you when the time comes. But now you must go there." He turns to the other guards, who have followed this interchange with signs of impatience: shifting from foot to foot, looking around at each other, growls and hisses to each other. Now Apikotoa exchanges a rapid burst of draconic speech with the leader, whose crest rises to its full height all down his back. He shoots you a venomous glare that is much less difficult to interpret, and gestures you to follow with his javelin.

Apikotoa explains, "I have asked heem to treat you well, for I do not theenk you were eenvolved. He does not believe, but weel do as I ask. For now."

[/sblock]

 

[Scott DeWar]

[sblock=Weel and Karl] "Then it woiuld benifit us greatly if we act as model prisinors." Karl gesturs to Weel to move in the lizard frolk's desired direction of guidence and starts moving that way himself.
[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Weel Naxel, human cleric

[sblock=Weel and Karl]Weel gulps at the obvious hostility in the lizardfolk guard, but bows his thanks to Apikotoa and complies with the guard's gestures to follow.[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

[sblock=Gildrim]

"Do you know Sister Anemone, or does she just meet with Apikotoa?" Gildrim asks, namedropping. "Er, do you know Apikotoa?" he adds, having no idea how many lizardfolk in how many villages or how many tribes inhabit the swamp.

"Anemone sent four of us to warn that the drylanders - some of the drylanders - are looking for a fight with you. But our mission went awry. We met a great beast with many snake heads. Now we're dead, or scattered, and I am as you see me, chewed and carried off and spat out. I killed it as it slept well-fed beside the remains of my comrade."

Gildrim gives a bark of laughter and just as abruptly cuts it off.

"But I think my warning comes too late, as I should have known it would."

The lizardfolk look at you with respect and perhaps a little awe as you describe your battle with the hydra, despite the outcome. They hold your weapons a little more carefully.

Tatupu shrugs dismissively at the mention of Sister Anemone, but after your story, responds. "Yes, your warning is too late. The humans... but you will find all that out soon enough. You say you know Apikotoa? Anyone could say this, but... Perhaps you can tell me, what weapon does Apikotoa carry, and how did he come by it?" His tone is cautious, but not unfriendly.

[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

[sblock=Karl and Weel]Apikotoa waves a polite farewell, and the hostile lizardman leads you to an area on an island at the back of the encampment. On the island, strung around five trees arrayed roughly in a circle, is a fence roughly six feet tall, made of thick vines woven through saplings, which are driven into the ground like stakes every few feet. The fence is lashed to the trees at the corners, and at the westernmost tree, facing into the ramshackle village, a bent sapling tied to the tree forms a kind of gate, tied shut on the outside with thick leather cords. The barrier looks sturdy, but is not quite opaque. Peering through the woven vines, you can see the outlines of perhaps two dozen figures, pacing or standing or sitting inside. A pair of lizardfolk stand guard by the makeshift gate. One holds a spear with a long, leaf-shaped blade, and the other a metal shield and longsword. The weapons are notable, for they are the only metal you have seen thus far in the encampment.

At your approach, the guard with the sword and shield sets them carefully aside and begins to undo the gate ties. It takes nearly a minute, since there are several cords, and they are swollen and stiff in the humid swamp air. Once the gate is opened, the angry lizardman who escorted you here shoves you toward the entrance, though gently.

Inside are about twenty five human men, some middle aged or even a bit elderly, and some in their mid teens, but most in the prime of adulthood. They are even more filthy and bedraggled than you are, despite several days of travelling through swamps. A handful bear minor wounds, and two are badly wounded, laid out in the center of the camp on makeshift blankets made of the least filthy clothing at hand. Some of the men are bare chested, having given their tunics to the cause.

As the lizardfolk close the door behind you, all eyes turn to you. A black-haired man, bare chested and heavily muscled, with half a dozen minor wounds criss-crossing on top of old scars, demands roughly, "Who are you?"
[/sblock]

 

[Trouvere]

[sblock=Gildrim]

"Perhaps you can tell me, what weapon does Apikotoa carry, and how did he come by it?" His tone is cautious, but not unfriendly.

Gildrim knows a test when he hears one.

"He carries a spear," he says, pauses just long enough to let doubt arise, and concludes, "but he is more dangerous with the shortbow that we took from a forest bandit and gave to him in gratitude for his guidance through your lands. He killed an undead thing with one arrow."[/sblock]

 

[Scott DeWar]

[sblock=Karl and Weel]
as much as Karl would like to assume thewe people ar the causes of this unrest, He holds his thoughts at bay.

"We are friends of a great person named Gildrum Nurazak. We were out trapsing here in this swamp when we fell victum to a creature. We lost two of our numbers to a Hydra."

looking to Weel ahe asks, "was that just yesterday?

Who might you guys be?"[/sblock]