jungle dangers
Ekujae Territory, Mwangi Exapnse; Lamashan 7, 4719 AR
The Guardians of Golarion were huddled in the ruined remains of the village of the Elephant People. The old man that they had rescued, Edka, seemed wary about the newcomers. When heard about the loss of the forest's protectors, the Ekujae, he grew more sullen. Nevertheless, he had given the heroes a clue about where they should strike next. The Cinderclaws who attacked his tribe had retreated to the east, plotting evil with a ritual involving some sort of pillars. He knew of nothing to the east, however, save for an old lake that he used to play in as a boy.
A soft rain greeted the group in the morning, creating an ever present feeling of dampness that pervaded the jungle. Edka was ready to move on, his home destroyed and with the protectors of the land rendered unable to help. He bid the Guardians farewell as they began their hunt for the Cinderclaw's pillars.
After several hours of walking (and eating Inagra's magically flavored hardtack), they chanced upon the remains of a campsite. Inagra sniffed the air... spices, cooked meats, vegetables. Nothing that brought to mind the peppers and turtles that they had eaten back with the Ekujae. Doubtless they were outsiders of some sort. The group decided that the hour was growing late and decided to wait to see if anyone would return. Sure enough, as the shadows grew long, a lone Taldan explorer came rushing into the camp, his machete flashing out wildly. Inagra and Uhn confronted the man, who seemed ready to cut them down if they came too close. Uhn seemed ready to lay the explorer low, but a few words (and a furtive spell) from Inagra calmed the man down.
He explained that he was a researcher here from Port Peril on an expedition with Gerhard Pendergrast, acclaimed explorer and archaeologist. Unfortunately, Gerhard seemed to have gone mad, ordering his men to assault a band of charau-ka and boggards so they could tear down and steal a strange pillar. The man, Francis, had fled during the chaos, as he watched the people he was traveling with being turned to stone as they approached the dragon-headed pillar. The hour was late, but the four were worried about this Gerhard leaving with a potentially dangerous relic. They stood watch in shifts over the river where the Taldan's boat was moored, fidgeting nervously as the jungle steam obscured their view.
As dawn broke and everyone took to their morning preparations, Viggo unfolded his raft from his bag of holding and they paddled across the jungle river. Thankfully, the river barge - The Jungle Cleaver - was still where they left it the night before. What's more, a heavily muscled and mustachio'd man was trying to hoist a massive canvas covered object onto the barge. He waved them down as they approached, introducing himself as Gerhard Pendergrast, here on an expedition for the lost treasures of the Mwangi. The Guardians surveyed the scene not far from the river: the dead bodies of Cinderclaws lay in heaps scattered around the tree line, but most shocking of all were the statues of young men and women frozen in horror. Gerhard brushed the Guardians' concerns aside, insisting instead that they help him to pull his new relic on board his ship.
The group knew that the pillar was dangerous, but they couldn't think of a way to make him give up his quest for academic relevance. After debating what they could do, it was Inagra who stepped up to explain the dangers of keeping something like this around; power like this could cut a career short quite dramatically. On top of that, his hired crew would need to be taken care of if there was going to be anyone left to spread word of his deeds. The explorer let Inagra's words sink in for a moment before grudgingly admitting that she had a point. With the Guardians' help, he loaded up his petrified hirelings (of those that remained) and set off down the river, promising to return with some mages to identify the dark magic pillar.
Once the Jungle Cleaver left their view, Wrin wasted no time in dispelling the magic that surrounded it and the Guardians rolled the pillar into the river. They watched as a draconic visage gilt in gold slid into the depths. One pillar down... how many more remained, however, was anyone's guess.
Uhn stared through the jungle mists at the surrounding trees. Peeking through the landscape was a cliff face, with a small white edifice perched atop it. Edka had mentioned a temple in the jungle, and it seemed as good a place as any to travel to next. Inagra called out to Abadar to guide their path and they began their trek once more. Even magically aided, however, the mountain home was some distance away. After camping and getting back on the trail, the group was suddenly ambushed by a number of boggards lead by a charau-ka priest of sorts. Wrin's eyes narrowed as they chanted out, "Kill the interlopers! Blood for Dahak!" in a mixture of Mwangi and Draconic. The Cinderclaws had found them! The fight was short, but intense, with the priest hurling fire and darting around the battlefield and the boggards ganging up on Viggo and Inagra. However, they could hold no candle to the trained warriors, who ended the combat messily and pushed on towards the clifftop temple.
They made excellent time, arriving to an ancient stone edifice covered with carvings of cavorting butterfly-winged creatures that danced between sky and sea. The group didn't know quite what to make of it. They advanced forward warily, when they saw something they didn't expect: Gerhard. Somehow, the thoughtless explorer had made it here before them! What was worse, he announced his plan to destroy the temple. He viewed the existence of the holy site as something of a historical inaccuracy; he had built his career on the study of the Bonuwat and their worship of Shimye-Magalla, but the temple disproved his claims. When the Guardians advanced on him, he dropped a lit tindertwig by the door and walked away, confident that the burning trail of gunpowder would do the trick.
Inagra leapt into action, her lips quickly moving through the opening phrases of prestidigitation even as Uhn threw open the doors for her. Just in time, she magically swept the gunpowder away, but turned instead to see Gerhard pressing a long wood and steel wand against Wrin's temple. "That's it!" the explorer shouted. "I want the lot of you to stop interfering in my work! You're all going to leave, or I'm blowing your friend's head clear from his shoulders!" The wand, as identified by Viggo, was actually a blunderbuss, capable of creating explosions at the pull of a trigger.
There was a beat as everyone waited for what was about to happen.
Suddenly Wrin twisted out of the way as best he could and threw himself at Gerhard. He caught a face full of grapeshot for the trouble, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. The rest of the party joined in only seconds later, happy to put the reckless "historian" out of his misery. After going through his belongings, it had become clear that Pendergrast had been looting everything he could find throughout the Mwangi Expanse with no regard to the peoples of the land. A retroactively justified murder. If you squint.
The Guardians spent the rest of the day investigating the ancient temple. It showed that the Bonuwat people, thought to be only coastal dwelling, had actually at some point lived far inland. Additionally, it showed not the physical merging of Desna and Gozreh into one deity, but rather an acceptance of Shimye-Magalla as a balance; a small pantheon of deities, as it were. Viggo, however, was once more having trouble controlling his breathing and was sweating feverishly. The poison had taken hold of him again. While Wrin and Uhn removed the offending gold from the alchemist, Inagra wove spells of protection over the half-elf while he drank vial after vial of his homemade antidotes. They spent the night tending to Viggo, who tossed and turned in his fevered sleep. Thankfully, when morning came, he had overcome the poison. Wrin made a promise to himself to keep an eye on his alchemist companion should the lust for gold strike again.
When the group was ready to leave the temple, however, they found four humans waiting for them. Each wore a set of silvery armor and introduced themselves as the "Scions of Silver." A small woman with deep-set dark eyes asked to speak with the Guardians about the things happening in the jungles. They didn't trust the strangers, but it wasn't until one of the members, a massive Ulfen man, produced a symbol of Apsu that the Guardians submitted to this minor interrogation. Wrin and Viggo spoke with a woman in the group, the supposed captain - Olsen. She asked a series of questions about their purpose here and posed them questions about sacrifice and duty. Meanwhile, the same questions were being asked of Uhn and Inagra by the large man - a paladin of Apsu named Kiir of the Fourth Mount. Uhn didn't trust him, despite his appearance of a paladin. He fervently denied seeing any sort of draconic abilities from his allies and seemed ready to defend his statement in battle if need be.
Seemingly satisfied with their answers, the Scions of Silver left the Guardians alone, feeling a little less alone, yet somehow more on edge. Were these strangers allies? Or enemies? Unnerved, the party scanned the jungle from their new perch high among the treetops. Uhn spotted a gleaming shine from far below that might have been the reflection of the sun against the gold of one of the dragon pillars they were hunting. He also sighted two green scaled creatures winged their way through the skies above. Cautiously, the Guardians set out to where the goblin had indicated, aided by Inagra's magic.
Sure enough, lying in a clearing was a green eyed dragon pillar, much like the one they had shoved into the river earlier. They didn't see the creatures that Uhn had seen earlier, but they weren't going to take any chances. Wrin reached out with his mind and severed the strands of magic that bound powered the totem. The gathered group watched as the green light that shone in the pillar's eyes faded. Suddenly a roar from the trees above let them know that they weren't alone! The four dashed into the jungle as behind them, two drakes crashed amid the jungle flora, venomous spittle flying. Uhn quickly took the lead, leaping over a ravine and battling his way through a horde of jungle monkeys while Inagra and Wrin supported each other through the chase.
After what felt like hours of running, they could no longer hear the drakes tearing through the jungle behind them. They stopped to catch their breath when they noticed that Viggo was missing! Unfortunately for the alchemist, he was not nearly as sure-footed as his allies, and was dragged up into the trees while the rest of the Guardians ran. He was soon to become a meal for the jungle dragon, but he quickly hurled a tanglefoot bag into its limbs and wriggled free while the creature struggled with the sticky substance. He could hear its mate closing in one him, but he took no chances, and ran off deep into the jungle. Everything was quickly growing unfamiliar to him and he no longer knew the path back from where he came. As the rain poured down and the sounds of hungry drakes seemed to come from all around him, the alchemist drew forth his onyx dog and began another sprint into the jungle again, this time with the magical hound leading the way.
Yet all was not as it seemed. As he pulled aside some dangling vines, he could feel the hot rain splattering on his chest and the mud caking his boots. The jungle was gone and he stood now in the center of Edras. The buildings were on fire and the rain was thick and crimson as the dying crawled helplessly in the streets begging for death. Masked humanoids stalked the streets spearing anyone who appeared to carry the Scarlet Mist in them. Viggo tried to push aside these visions and keep running, the heat of the fires pressing in more as the alleys twisted and winded around in a dizzying spiral. Finally he reached his destination: his family bakery. Standing in the doorway were the desiccated figures of his parents, their parched skin inflamed crimson red and their eyes blank and sightless. From beyond, his brother pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You left us! You left us to die with your problems around our necks!" Viggo swallowed his feelings and threw his shoulder against the door to the bakery...
...and stumbled into a clearing where his compatriots stood. His magical dog had lead him straight to them. The half-elf sat down on a knotted root and tried to calm his nerves. Something about this jungle was eating into his mind. The rest of the Guardians thought that it was a good idea to get some rest and return to matters in the morning. While Renali set to work constructing their camp, a leopard padded into their midst, bearing a message from the Ekujae about the sighting of a pillar not far to the east. They had a destination to strike next.
They arrived at the pillar late the next day. The sun had nearly set and the rain had become something of a torrential downpour. The place was easy to find, as lightning had blasted away most of the mighty trees in the area, leaving an open and scorched plain surrounding a yellow-eyed dragon pillar. Wrin attempted his same magical trick as before, but the strange leylines in the area were more difficult for him to understand. "You'd better work magnanimously fast, spell-man!" shouted Uhn over the din of the thunderstorm, "We have unexpected company!"
Three bat-like creatures swooped down from the treetops shrieking horribly, spears held at the ready to defend the pillar. Uhn and Viggo found themselves locked in combat immediately, fending off vicious swipes from the creatures and trying to get in blows where they could. To make matters worse, the dragon pillar called down bolts of lightning from the sky, striking Uhn repeatedly. "Turn the damn thing off!" the goblin shouted to Wrin.
"You think I'm not trying?!" The sorcerer continued to unravel the magicks surrounding the magical locus, but the process was slow going. Inagra felt the jaws of one of the bat-things latch onto her neck, straining to get blood from her. Viggo's bombs set them alight, though the heavy downpour seemed to counteract most of his efforts. Even Uhn seemed to falter, possibly from his nervous system being constantly tested by the pillar's dark magic.
Finally, with a hoarse shout of triumph, Wrin dispelled the pillar, and with it the thunderstorm around them. Inagra's magic lashed out, shattering the bodies of the creatures while Uhn charged into them, Choppy hacking pieces of them off. The creatures lay in the mud and gore, nothing but a meal for jungle scavengers now.
And so the Guardians continue their exploration of the exotic jungle. With three pillars destroyed and no real goal in sight yet, what more must they do to stop the Cinderclaws? And what are their plans here? What made them come through the portal to Isger? It seems that more investigation is necessary...
-Dungeon Master
