32nd of Frost's End, 1440 A.P.
The party awoke after a very restless night. The fight with the bullywugs and the shambling mound had been exhausting and to top it all off, they still hadn't found the professor or his ward. It was more than a little disheartening. They gathered around Umami's cooking stone, eating quietly and not really talking much. Sadly Umami's cooking was not up to its usual standard. Today's fare was just warm oatmeal with only a few spicy Mara berries as seasoning. Despite running out of several of his key seasonings, including his perennial favourite, moru root, Umami's "just warm oatmeal" was still leagues beyond anything served in any roadside inn.
While the food settled, warmly nourishing and revitalising them, the party took the opportunity to marvel at all the work Bolt-1 and Axon had put into repairing the airship. They had been too tired to notice last night but the warlock and forgeborn had managed to pull the ship out of the muck and somehow get it level, even without the balloon filled with aetheric gas. Sadly the balloon still lay deflated, draped over the far side of the hull, the huge tears still a visible eyesore. Thankfully fixing the balloon was the last step to getting back in the air. All they needed was frog spittle and the bark from a witchwillow tree.
Axon was pretty pensive and seemed preoccupied as they prepared for the day. In an effort to get him to open up, Angrar tried pressing him for details about how they'd got the airship unstuck from the mud but Axon just grumbled a non-answer and said that it took a lot of work, effectively shutting down the conversation. Angrar sighed and gave up questioning him for now. He decided he'd dig deeper later, but for now they needed to focus on the current goal: Rescuing Alvarine and the Professor.
They left Bolt-1 with the ship and headed back to the bullywug camp. When Axon didn't enquire at all about the previous day's events, even Deadeye realised that something wasn't right with their warlock compatriot. Despite his best efforts to start a conversation, Deadeye couldn't get any traction with Axon and eventually drifted into awkward silence as they neared the camp.
Despite the moodiness of their companion, they made good time back to the camp. As a precaution, Oorr made them hang back while he scouted ahead, expecting a trap of some sort but he didn't see anything. He needn't have bothered. The camp gate was wide open and leaning against one of the pillars, waiting for them, was the brightly coloured (and dressed) bullywug that Oorr had started referring to as "D'Artagnan" (D'Art for short). He waved hesitantly when he spotted the group approaching and bowed formally once they got close.
Torak was very wary as they entered the camp. Despite the frogmen's subservience and outward friendliness, something about the camp didn't feel right and his hackles prickled. He couldn't put his finger on it as he looked around, searching for the unseen threat. The conversation stopped (not that he'd been able to follow much of it anyway) and after a moment he noticed that everyone was looking at him strangely. It took a second for him to realise that he'd been unconsciously growling low in his throat since they stepped into the camp. He stopped with a cough and managed to look abashed before going back to scanning the camp for threats. He noticed that there were fewer archers and lookouts in the towers this morning, and fewer bullywugs in general wandering around the camp but still enough to likely overwhelm them if push came to shove. He didn't see that shaman around anywhere but there was something going on behind the large central hut. He nudged Angrar to try and get his attention but the half-ghrym was giving Oorr some last minute reminders on what to say.
Oorr shooed Angrar away dismissively and returned D'Art's bow with an equally elaborate one, enjoying the attention the fawning bullywug provided. He addressed his new friend and started enquiring about the whereabouts of Alvarine. They had been taken to the temple of the Snake God, a reddish stone pyramid located further in the forest. D'Art said that they take prisoners there to be sacrificed to the Snake God and they were likely already dead. It soon became apparent that the bullywugs weren't followers of this Snake God like they had initially assumed, but instead lived in fear of it. Oorr then tried to get a description of the Snake God, but was simply told it was a BIG snake. As they learned more, the party realised that the bullywugs were actually afraid of this Snake God and if they played their cards right, they might be able to convince them to help.
The group (other than Oorr) collectively looked to Axon, expecting him to speak on behalf of the party and negotiate some crazy deal, but he was still pretty withdrawn and didn't speak up when Oorr continued to do the talking. Angrar inwardly cringed, but also didn't say anything and let Oorr launch into his "best" sales pitch. Oorr took the direct approach. He demanded that D'Art lead them to where they dropped Alvarine (once again completely leaving out the professor). D'Art seemed nervous and was hesitant to say he'd take them. He was willing to point them in the right direction, but no matter how much Oorr pressed, the bullywug just didn't want to go.
Oorr was getting a little frustrated with the bullywug's stubbornness and it showed. He was getting closer and closer to doing something that they'd regret and the others could sense it too. Axon reluctantly stepped in and tried to play the voice of reason to counterpoint Oorr's demands. Axon started off slowly, seeming somewhat hesitant to speak at first, but as he did so, he became more confident and the words started to flow more freely. As if he was remembering who he was. Umami would later describe it that watching Axon shed his hesitancy was like watching a dragonflit emerge from its first chrysalis. Axon started enquiring with D'Art as to why he didn't want to go and discovered that the bullywugs believed the area was haunted by the spirits of those the Snake God killed. That it was not a good place. Axon suggested that if they were to kill this Snake God, maybe it would put the spirits to rest and then the bullywugs wouldn't have to live in fear of it anymore.
D'Art seemed hesitantly receptive to the idea but before Axon could elaborate further, there was a great commotion from the direction of the central hut. They all looked over and saw a massive bullywug emerging from behind the hut. He was being carried by four smaller bullywugs on a palanquin. The bullywug on the palanquin was huge. Twice as large as the one they'd fought the night before, but whereas that one had been all muscle, this one looked like it was mostly fat, with unsightly rolls of green flesh poking out from underneath a once regal (and ill-fitting) set of clothes. The smaller bullywugs shouldered the burden of their larger companion in silence and walked slowly towards where the party had gathered. Angrar winced in sympathy as he watched them slowly step closer and doubted he could have carried that weight, especially without any sign of strain. The obese bullywug shifted into a more regal pose as he approached. He held a golden sceptre in one hand and a small crown sat awkwardly on his head, shifting jauntily and threatening to fall off every time the palanquin moved, forcing him to adjust it. He hastily readjusted the crown once again as the palanquin came to a halt and the party immediately saw that it was too small for his head and had likely originally been made for a child. He turned to address them, clearing his throat with a rumbling croaky cough, took a deep breath in and spoke...
...in a high-pitched falsetto that had everyone stifling giggles almost immediately. "Greetings subjects." The bullywug king turned to D'Artagnan and asked in heavily accented sylvan "Are these the ones that killed my son? What do they want?" D'Art replied in the bullywug's native tongue and the king responded in kind -- a much deeper pitch than the one he'd assumed speaking with them. The conversation went on for some time and while they couldn't understand the words being said, some of the accompanying hand gestures turned out to be fairly universal. Eventually the King turned back to the party and spoke in his high falsetto again
"This one says that you are not to be blamed for our royal spawn's death. That you fought the beast that did do it and saved us all in the process it seems. He says that you want to kill the Snake God for us, which is well and good, I says. But I also says that no one does this for free. What do you want?"
They were slightly bemused by the Bullywug king's bluntness. Axon stepped up and said with more confidence than he really felt, "Frog spit." The king laughed. "You're telling me that you will kill our troublesome Snake God, and all you want it some of our spit? This one said you were brave. He didn't say you were kissed by Marah as well." The King continued to chuckle and he asked, "How much of our royal spittle dost thou need?" Axon looked inquiringly at Umami and translated. Umami waggled his hand in approximation and replied "two buckets." When the king heard, the amount he laughed again. "Thou truly art blessed by Marah, You would kill a god for two buckets of spittle. Gods be wary what you would do for gold! Very well. You will have your spit. Now go rid me of the God."
Oorr stepped forward and said, "M'Lord. We need the services of your knight. He needs to lead us on our quest." The bullywug king thought for a moment and then replied. "Yes. You're right. This one and his squires shall accompany thou so thou dost not take all the glory for thyselves. Now go!". He dismissed them with a wave and signalled the palanquin to turn around. Axon and Oorr heard him saying something as he left about having to deal with his shaman. They didn't think that he meant it in a kind way.
When he'd gone, D'Art looked miserably resigned to his task, but he went off to talk with several of the soldiers and archers from the night before and soon had a small group of them clustered off to the side of the party, checking their gear and preparing themselves for a fight. The party quickly did the same and then they set off as a group.
D'Art led them through the swampy forest. At first they had no idea exactly where they were going but Torak briefly scampered up a tree and said he was pretty certain they were heading towards that building he'd spotted a few days back. After an hour or so they started to catch glimpses of a building made of red stone. As they got closer, the glimpses became full views and the views became more and more frequent as the forest thinned out. Eventually they came to a clearing where they had a full view of a step pyramid made of reddish stone looming out of the forest with a large pond surrounding it. A set of stairs led up out of the water to an open air altar at the very top. The other sides of the pyramids, from what they could see, were laid out in a similar fashion but with a smooth slope rather than a stair. Along the sides of the central stair and above the doorway at the top, were carved images of snakes.
The pool before the stair was surrounded with reeds and long grasses and seemed fairly shallow, barely going past Angrar's knees (though that meant it was just past Torak's waist). Several large rock outcroppings covered in lichen and greenery were located in the pool. The largest rock near the center of the pool had several dark stains visible under the greenery. They also counted at least three sets of rusted metal chains ending in heavy manacles laying across the top of the rock, all currently empty. From their vantage point, Umami was fairly certain that the dark stains on the rock were blood but couldn't tell if any of it was fresh.
D'Art and the other bullywugs were nervously clustered at the edge of the pool. They pointed at the large rock and said that's where they'd left their friends. When Oorr and Axon spoke to them, they remained very nervous and kept eyeing the pool, while also trying to keep the temple and the forest around them in view at the same time. D'Art said that they had done their part and were heading home now. They wished the party luck and started to head out. Oorr and Axon stopped them and tried to convince them to stay. Oorr finally convinced them by suggesting they would be heroes if they were the ones to slay this Snake God.
There was a palpable tension in the air as the party slipped into the pool. Almost as if something had been waiting for them. D'Art and the bullywugs nervously joined them, heads paranoidly swivelling as they moved forward. Deadeye moved to the central rock to investigate it while the others continued to wade through the pond towards the temple steps. Torak said something in
goblinese and Axon looked over at him quizzically, "Why would we need to worry about beaches?" Torak shook his head. He repeated himself and pointed at the water while moving his arms in a wriggling motion. Axon looked confused for a second before his face lit up in understanding. "Ah. You mean leeches." He started to teach Torak the word in goblinese and then paused again " ..... Wait?! What?" and started to scan the water in a panic.
As if on cue, there was a great splash from the pool on the opposite bank from where they were. Everyone immediately turned towards the noise but saw nothing other than a surface ripple on the pond that spread slowly outwards. The party was about to carry on when D'Art shouted that he saw something. They watched as a wooden spear floated to the surface. Angrar did a quick count and came up short for one of their bullywug compatriots. A feeling of dread suddenly washed over the pond, agitating the bullywugs into a near panic. Only D'Art seemed to be made of sterner stuff but even he was a little wild around the eyes.
The party weren't much better off and even Oorr, who was traditionally
immune ignorant to fear, shared D'Art's wild eyed look. The dread continued to build and they kept spinning around, expecting the ghosts to manifest at any moment. They didn't have long to wait though, as they saw movement at multiple points along the pond's banks. The tall grass and reeds rustled back and forth. The creatures that emerged were a
nightmare amalgam
of fish and crab. A gaping maw of razor sharp teeth and dead black eyes added to the creepiness, as did the gulping and clicking noise they made when they breathed. Their mottled green-grey leathery skin glistened wetly in the light as they rapidly scuttled forward to attack.
The fight started poorly with Axon and Deadeye both succumbing to the dread radiating off these creatures. Axon backed away and climbed up onto the central rock. He hoped casting a fire bolt on the creature would scare it off, but his aim was way off and it went wide. Unfortunately for him, the creature easily scuttled up the rock in pursuit and took a hefty chunk out of his leg. In retaliation, he let loose a
Hellish rebuke against the creepy fish but it only singed it. Deadeye tried to focus through his fear to shoot one of them but his hands shook too hard and his shot went wide, barely missing Angrar who shouted out a cautionary, "Hey, Watch it!"
Torak was unaffected by the fear and dove into the water next to a pair of the creatures. He ripped into them with his kama and claws, tearing at them as viciously as possible. Sadly neither went down. When one of them bit him, he screamed in its face and bit it back, defiantly spitting out a chunk of bloody flesh back at the creature.
Oorr acknowledged the horrific aura, but it had no hold over him. He slashed into his opponent multiple times and managed to cut an artery. The fish bled out quickly and gave Oorr his first kill (not that he was keeping score).
The beasts continued to swarm out of the pool. They overewhelmed bullywugs who were paralysed in fear, tearing into them and easily dragging another two into the pond. D'Artagnan was hard pressed to fend off the one he was fighting and took several deep wounds that continued to bleed heavily.
Angrar was bitten several times as well and had to back away. He was able to shrug most of the damage off through a combination of his heritage, his armour and sheer obstinance so wasn't overly hurt but something about how the creatures scuttled across the water gave him pause and he didn't want to get any closer. Sadly, this translated into him ineffectually throwing his hammer at the ones that were biting him and doing minimal damage. His run of bad luck continued when he lost his grip on his hammer as he was throwing it and it sailed off and hit Umami in the back. Thankfully the tetsudan's shell prevented any damage but the fact that he'd hit a friend really irritated the big fighter. He recalled his weapon easily enough and abashedly gave a little wave to Umami as an apology.
One of the
terror fish leapt at Umami but the
tetsudan deftly rolled his shoulder into the blow and the beast ineffectually bit into his carapace, doing little damage and managing to break off several teeth in the process. In return, Umami cast a spell, bolstering his allies and allowing them the ability to overcome their fear. Deadeye instantly utilised Umami's spell to stop his hands from trembling and repayed him by feathering the beast that had attacked Umami moments before.
Once everyone was able to benefit from Umami's spell, the tide turned in their favour. The terror fish were vicious creatures but thankfully they went down fairly easily, especially once the group started concentrating on targets. Soon there was only one left. Oorr managed to stab it viciously, ending it's life but not before it tore out D'Art's throat, dropping him in front of Oorr. Oorr screamed "Noooooo!" and fell to his knees trying to save his froggy twin. Umami raced over to try and save the plucky bullywug.
Thanks to Umami's quick skills and spellwork, they managed to staunch the bloodflow and bring D'Art back from the brink of death. Once he was back on his feet, they suggested that he and the remaining bullywugs make a camp further back in the trees and wait for the party's triumpant return. The bullywugs didn't argue and hastily retreated into the trees, wanting to be as far from the pool as possible.
The sense of dread had lessened but not completely vanished. Axon wondered if it was the fish that caused the dread or if it was something about the site itself. No one had any answers, and no one wanted to stick around and find out, especially now that the sense of dread had been replaced with the smell of blood and gore. Neither sensation was overly pleasing so they minimised their time in the pool and eventually made their way to the staircase.
The lower steps were slimy with pond scum and lichen but as they climbed, the steps dried out. The temple seemed to be in good repair despite its age. There were no large cracks or missing sections that they could see. Umami surmised that this meant one of two things: Either the temple was built to last and was very durable, or two, the temple was being maintained by some one or some thing, and he didn't think it was the bullywugs.
It was a steep hike, but they made it up to the top of the stairs. Everyone was slightly winded. The temple hadn't looked that big from down below but it was surprising how high up they'd travelled. They could see across the canopy of trees, Torak spotted a wisp of smoke that indicated the bullywug camp. From there, they guessed that the sparkling pool in the far distance beyond was likely where the airship was, though they couldn't see the airship to be certain.
Sightseeing done, they turned their eyes inward and looked around the room at the top of the temple. The snake motif continued across the walls on the inside with carved depictions of serpents repeating throughout. The room was more of a walkway around an open pit in the center. On the far side of the pit was a single set of stairs ascending upwards and on the sides of the pit were two sets of stairs descending in a spiral. Diffused daylight trickled down from above, catching motes of dust in stray sunbeams but leaving most of the temple in dim shadow. They looked down and saw that several more levels beneath them and could vaguely make out an altar or plinth at the bottom of the pit but the light was too poor for detail.
Umami chanted something and then methodically went to each of the party members, annointing them with a scentless oil and drawing something on their foreheards. After he was finished, the shadows of the room disappeared and they could all see farther than before. The colour of the red stones washed out and appeared dark grey to their eyes. The stray sunbeams were blinding and they had to squint when looking at them.
As soon as Umami was finished with him, Torak scampered off to check the upper level. It was an open air room, exposed on three sides with a mural done in washed out greys on the wall directly above where the others were standing. Torak glanced at it and saw that it was yet another picture of snakes (though this time they had arms) and quickly dismissed it, thinking it was boring. "Who paints in all grey anyways?" He tried to peek outside, but the sunlight was blinding and made his eyes water painfully. He saw the top of one of the slopes and thought about sliding down for a second before stifling the impulsive thought. He had no desire to walk back up those outer stairs again today. His tiny legs already burned from the effort of last time.
With nothing of note, he scampered back down the stairs to the others and reported his findings: a big pile of nothing. Satisfied, they started to head down. Deadeye arbitrarily picked the right hand set of stairs and they descended a level in a clockwise pattern. Immediately, the forest sounds from outside became muted and they could hear the steady drip of water and occasionally the wind would gently blow a breath of air across their faces.
This level of the temple was wider at the edges but maintained the same central open shaft. Angrar instinctively kept back from the edge. Stairs without railings had freaked him out ever since they'd climbed the ruined tower back in
Aldergrove. There were occasional holes in the walls and floors, spaced out in regular patterns. Oorr's first thought was "TRAP!" but when they found the rotted remains of a wooden pillar in one of the holes and actually looked at the pattern, they realised that they were likely where the internal walls of the temple had once been. They had either rotted away long ago, or had been purposefully removed. The party couldn't tell. With nothing of note on this level, the party descended once again in a clockwise spiral.
The third floor was much the same as the one above but with more remains of the wooden interior walls. There weren't any real rooms, just more rotten pillars and the occasional cross brace scattered throughout giving vague suggestions to this level once having lots of small rooms. Enough to give them the sense that maybe many people once used or lived in the temple ages ago.
They descended again and they noticed an immediate difference. The air was wetter and when Deadeye touched one of the outer walls, his hand came away damp. Axon surmised that they were likely under the pool now and wondered if it always had been. Angrar just hoped that whoever built the temple had made it water tight, though based on the increased amount of drips and splashes they were hearing, he had his doubts.
They had one more level to go. About twenty feet below them they had a better look at that altar they'd seen above. It was a raised dais in the center of the room. They could see two slumped bodies laying at the base of the plinth in the center of the dais. From their vantage point, they also saw a massive alcove in the center of the wall right where the stairs ended. There was a second alcove on the opposite wall as well facing the other stairway. The floor of the temple was rough stone covered with several small puddles where water had gathered. Around the puddles, colonies of lichen and moss had sprouted, making the stone slippery.
The alcove they were facing was dark, but with their enhanced darkvision, they all saw something moving in the shadows. It undulated and slithered into view. A giant snake, twice as long as Angrar was tall and easily as thick as Umami around, stuck it's head out of the alcove, tasting the air with it's tongue. Its tail was lost in the shadows of the alcove. It turned it's head instinctively towards the party and hissed menacingly.
Angrar wasted no time and charged down the stairs. He purposefully swung his hammer and connected solidly with the beast's head, cracking open it's skull and sending it flying. The beast collapsed, apparently dead from the single blow. Angrar turned triumphantly towards the others, saying "Puny Snake God!". He expected them to celebrate his victory but instead saw a look of horror on their faces as they pointed behind him. He turned back just in time to see the snake's head that he had hit shrink back into the alcove and be replaced by several more heads and a writhing massive central body that looked like a knot made of snakes.
Shit. A Hydra.
Several of the heads snapped out to bite him and thankfully his armour saved him from most of the bites. One did manage to get through though and injected him with a poison that burned like fire.
Oorr and Torak raced down the stairs to help him while Deadeye stayed back trying to feather it with arrows. He summoned his drake to assist and it too moved forward to provide support. Axon moved to the far side of the dais and launched a fire bolt at one of the heads. Umami remained at the top of the stairs and instead of climbing down, he gathered the shadows around him like a cloak and stepped into mid-air. Rather than fall, the shadows swirled around him and he hovered in the air above the others.
The hydra struck out at Oorr, Torak and Axon with multiple heads, injecting them with more poison. The bites themselves weren't bad but the poison was definitely debilitating. Oorr sidestepped back up onto the central dais, hoping to get out of range of the many-headed beast but was surprised when it struck out again and still managed to reach him.
They had to come up with a plan quickly as the creature definitely wasn't going to go down easy. Axon used his
misty step to get further out of range and shouted something about using fire or acid. Torak grinned at this and swung back at the snake, slashing it with his acid laden claws. He cut deep ribbons into the creatures neck, and combined with Deadeye's precision shots, severed one of the heads. The creature recalled and the stump pulled back into the writhing mass that was its body. One head down!
Before Torak could celebrate though, another snake head appeared out of the central torso. It locked eyes with Torak and the little wildling heard an ominous rattle emmanate from the snake as it stared at him. The rattle seemed to loosen all the fears he kept tightly bound up inside. "What were they doing? This really was a Snake God. They had no business attacking this thing. They were all gonna die." The intrusive thoughts kept coming as the rattle shook him to the core and he stood there paralysed in fear.
When he saw his small companion frozen in fear, Angrar lunged in to cover his friend. He swung his hammer with precision and hit the hydra in the side of the head. The rattling subsided, but Torak was still shaken up and his next several attacks suffered for it. Oorr continued to dash in and out, stabbing at the hydra's heads. His blades were covered with their usual spectral green flames and where Oorr struck, the wounds seared and smoked.
While the others engaged, the hydra, Umami continued to hover in mid air above the fight, shadows swirling around him like cloth blown by an unseen wind. He outstretched his arms and invoked twilight's sanctuary. The already dim light got a little dimmer in a sphere around him and the rest of the party felt bolstered by his presence.
Torak was able to use it to shake off his brush with fear and dove back into the fight. Though this time, instead of charging in himself, he summoned a forest animal to aid him. A small weasel, that glowed with a faint blue light appeared by his side and then charged in to nip at the hydra's flank. When the creature got mauled by one of the hydra's attack's, he casually quipped that it was okay "It's not real. It's just a fae." which made Axon very upset.
The fight was long and exhaustingly brutal. No matter how many times they sliced off the creature's heads, more kept emerging from the central writhing mass. To make matters worse, it kept making that eerie rattling noise that would throw off their momentum and give them pause. It even tried to hypnotise Angrar and Oorr on two seperate occasions, but thankfully Umami's sanctuary allowed them to shake off the effects before any real damage was done. In spite, one of the heads spit venom at Umami as he was floating messianically above the fight, blinding him and breaking his concentration.
Eventually they damaged enough of the heads of the creature that the undulating mass of snakes that formed the hydra's body collapsed on itself and the creature died. The temple floor was littered with severed snake heads and tails that continued to writhe about even in death. While Umami ministered healing to those in need, Oorr jumped up onto the dais and discovered that the two bodies were that of the professor and Alvarine. Both had been poisoned and were in grave condition. He shouted for Umami to come and help.
Meanwhile, Axon wasn't taking any chances with the hydra. He grabbed a flask of oil and poured it over the remains and then promptly lit it on fire. The hydra slowly caught fire and soon greasy black smoke rose up the central well like a chimney. The others cursed him out for not warning them first and they coughed and covered their faces against the smoke but didn't disagree with his reasoning.
Once the smoke had cleared out somewhat, they went to investigate the other alcove and even before they were inside, they could see something sparkling in the dim light. When they were properly inside the far alcove, they found a hoard of treasure. A massive pile of coins loose on the floor along with several weapons and suits of armour. They were in awe at the sheer amount of coin they were seeing.
Angrar quickly brought everyone back to reality when he said he wasn't going to be able to carry all of that. They worked at the logistics for a bit before Deadeye suggested just putting it inside the bag of holding. They were sceptical at first that it would all fit but spent the next hour or so shoving in everything they could. The coins took the longest. Just when they thought they were done, Oorr would spot another pile under some debris. With the last coin inside the bag, Angrar hefted it up and was shocked that it weighed not a gram more than before.
With the last coin collected, the party slowly climbed back up the stairs, assisting Alvarine and the professor who were still very unsteady on their feet. They reached the top of the temple and breathed in fresh air for the first time in what felt like forever. Now to return triumpant to the bullywug camp, collect their two buckets of frog spit as a reward and get the airship back in the air so they could make their way to
Tharsis and then on to the capital,
Myr.
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