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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3463342" data-attributes="member: 1210">“Ahh, good,” chortles Barouk, “this fellow is still alive! Now we just need to bind him and take him back to your master, and- Kifla?”The gnome is walking away from Barouk, hurrying towards the small cluster of pacifist pilgrims that the party has just rescued. Finneas, their leader, stands with his hands clasped solemnly before him. Herb, the pilgrim who aided our heroes in their fight with the bandits and dogs, looks crestfallen. Finneas has just cast Herb out. “Hey, he was just trying to help,” Kifla protests. “In fact, if he hadn’t helped us, we might all have been killed- and you might have been too!”“They weren’t going to kill us,” Finneas replies.“How do you know?” Ally demands, glowering. She is still catching her breath from her rage. “They were bandits. What, were they going to take your money and then just let you go?”Finneas says calmly. “They were trying to sway us to their cause.”“Like they converted your driver?” Ally sneers.“He insisted on fighting,” the pacifist answers with equanimity.”What’s going on?” Barouk asks, walking over. “Aw, come on,” Kifla wheedles, “he was just trying to help...”“He has broken our vows. It is not up to me.” Finneas sighs. “It is the rule of our order: none may do violence against another living being.”“But-” Kifla begins.“He is right,” Herb sighs. “I have broken my vows.” His voice cracks. “I must find another path.”There is a pregnant pause. Then, Barouk slowly says, “Well, we’re going back to Alathion with our prisoner. If you’d like, you can come with us.”Herb seems close to tears. “Thank you. I suppose it is... safer than traveling alone.”Finneas is willing to heal Barouk and Ally as best he can in thanks for our heroes intervention with the bandits, but- although Kifla tries once more- he is unrelenting in his rejection of Herb as one of his pilgrims. “I am sorry,” he says, not for the first time. “I wish you well, Herb, but your path does not follow ours.”A search of the bandit leader turns up a mix of gear, including a rapier, dagger and light crossbow, a disguise kit, a substantial purse (holding over 200 gp worth of coin!), a sealed fancy bottle of wine, a meerschaum pipe carved with a dragon symbol (as well as a pouch of pipe weed) and two potions.“Let me check those out!” Kifla squeals effervescently. She mutters a series of arcane words while waving her hands around; then she nods. “Aha! They’re magic potions!”Our heroes examine the two potions. One of them is a light pink color; Kifla says, “I think that’s a healing potion. At least, it’s conjuration magic.”Ally looks at her doubtfully. “What about the other one?”“I can’t tell about that one,” Kifla sighs. The party looks at it; it is brown in color, with little nasty clumps of hair floating in it. “Eww,” Kifla says.“Let me see it,” Barouk grunts. The others warily give over the vial, and he uncorks it and sniffs it. “I can smell that from here,” Ally announces, wrinkling her nose. She waves her hand in front of her face, attempting to drive away the unpleasant odor. “It smells like B.O.,” she adds.“Yeah, close that up for now!” Kifla exclaims. Barouk shrugs and sticks the cork back into the vial’s mouth. “Say, I just thought of something,” the gnome goes on. “How are we carrying the bandit? I certainly can’t lift him- he’s big, and I’m really small.” She looks, big-eyed, at Ally and Barouk. “Can one of you do it?”“We should just drag ‘im,” Ally suggests.“That’s not very nice,” Kifla complains.“Well, neither was trying to kill us, and kidnapping pilgrims, and killing their driver,” Ally sniffs back. “Have you forgotten our mission?” Barouk asks. “We need to capture one of them and bring him back to Kifla’s master.”“Oh, hells,” Ally snaps, “I can see where this is going!”“Well, I’m too small to carry him,” Kifla points out again. “I don’t think I’m strong enough,” Barouk admits grudgingly.“Fine!” Ally grumbles. “I”ll do it- for now.”Muttering to herself, the young barbarian hoists the unconscious bandit over her shoulders, and then the party begins heading back towards Alathion. Out of the Dead Grass Lands and back into the jungle the party goes. Behind them, they are keenly aware of the flashes of light and the distant thunder, an incredible distance away. It is not quite drizzling, but the leaves are beaded with moisture and fat drops of water hang like pendulums from jungle flowers.Unfortunately for our heroes, a dire snake’s coloration blends very well with the jungle; and suddenly it drops down, nearly on top of Ally. She cries out in pain as it bites her in the shoulder, the wound burning with poison, and then tries to loop itself around her! She manages to throw the beastie off of her arm with a great grunt of strength; then she pulls out her axe, dropping the bandit. Whisssk!She misses. Kifla tries a color spray, but the snake is unaffected by the illusion. However, as the unconscious form of the bandit hits the ground, the serpent changes to an easier target: it sinks its teeth into the unconscious bandit, then loops its long, strong coils around the limp man.“It’s just an animal, don’t harm it!” Herb yells.Barouk aims a kick at the snake, but his foot bounces off of its thick scales. He curses, but then grins as Ally brings her axe around again, chopping into the reptile and wounding it badly. Kifla, meanwhile, fires her crossbow; however, the bolt snaps off of the beast’s tough hide. The snake itself unhinges its jaws and then begins trying to swallow the bandit!“RAAAHG!!” Barouk grabs it, attempting to pull it off his prisoner. He tries to force its jaws to stay open so that it cannot work its victim further into its body. Herb rushes in to help, trying to aid Barouk in freeing the bandit, and the three of them struggle for a moment. Kifla hesitates over the sites of her crossbow. If I fire, she realizes, I might hit my friends! She gulps, then pulls a crossbow bolt out and rushes up to stab the snake, thrusting the sharpened head into the monstrous reptile’s side. It hisses, squirming in the grip of Barouk and Herb.Ally screams a war cry and swings her axe again. There is a scarlet splash of blood, and the snake’s body is severed, cut in two!“That got it!” she smirks.Panting, the party takes a moment to catch their breath. Barouk hauls the bandit from the serpent’s mouth and checks for vital signs, then begins cursing, long and loud.“Uh-oh,” Kifla sighs.“Crap!” Ally exclaims.“He’s dead,” Barouk grunts. “We’re back to square one.”Our heroes give out a collective groan. Glancing up at the jungle canopy, Ally points out, “It’s getting dark. We’d better make camp anyhow.” The others reluctantly agree, and the party starts working on building a small fire. As they are doing so, Barouk catches glimpse of a small, monkey-like humanoid off in the trees. He scowls, but the thing leaves the party unmolested. Rain is starting to trickle down, only a light drizzle, but enough that neither the dwarf nor the gnome can find enough dry wood to get the fire started. Ally snorts and shakes her head, and, using her axe, she cuts into a fallen log, taking the dry wood from the heart of the log. Soon a crackling fire is giving our heroes both light and warmth, and, after dinner- which Barouk declines, fasting- they bed down. Barouk takes the first watch.Meanwhile, in the trees, the tasloi gather for the attack...Next Time: Tasloi attack!!</blockquote>

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