Session 79 - Respite on Dino Island

General Summary

4th Planting - contd.

Surprised at the friendly welcome of these strange, colorful frog people, and with Denye translating, thanks to a Comprehend Language spell, the team allowed themselves to be led deeper into the village. As they walked the team noted that while most of the creatures had yellow or green skin, there were occasionally red-skinned ones as well that seemed to be bigger and beefier than the others.
The dozen or so grung ushered the party directly to one of the larger, nicer tents where several unique looking individuals were seated around a roaring cookfire. After a short exchange in the clicking, croaking language of these people, the tall, thin purple grung turned the party and smiled before speaking in a rusty Common, "Welcome, welcome to the village of the grung. I am the leader, d'Oh, and these are my advisors, g'Noos and c'Ash." The leader gestured first to the sour looking blue skinned grung on his right and then to the short, squat red-skinned fellow before adding, "Please, come, join us in our evening meal."
Ell stepped up and gave a short bow, "Our thanks and we would be happy to share a meal with you. We were somewhat surprised to find anyone living here on this island."
c'Ash grunted, "I'm sure."
The leader waved a hand at the older grung, "Well, it's true we don't often have visitors. Are you big game hunters here to take trophies from the great lizards that roam nearby?"
Ell blinked in surprise and asked, "That's a thing? People actually do that?"
"Oh aye," said Jilken, nodding, "I've been on a few such hunts on the Savannah. Did you see the size of the meat eaters we snuck by? I would love a chance to hunt one."
"It has been awhile," agreed d'Oh, nodding, "but about once or twice a generation such a group will come. We don't hunt the great ones, we usually only kill the runners." Pointing to the fire, the party saw there were several velociraptors on a spit."
"If you would like some," offered Jilken, "we did kill a bunch of other dinos. I have quite a bit of allosaurus meat if you'd like to add some as our contribution to the feast." The purple leader nodded and signaled to one of the green figures who approached and shyly took the meat.
"Actually," said Denye, "we're more interested in the temple. Do you know anything about it?"
"Ahh, you are interested in the Temple to Offler," said d'Oh, as the blue grung leaned forward to listen. "He was great and powerful and has been dead for long time...and we pray to keep it that way."
"Offler?" replied the wizard, "I don't think I've heard of that deity."
g'Noos spoke up, "History says that the great god Offler who created this protected island and brought all the great lizards. When the Protectors brought us to this island some 200 generations ago, they slew Offler’s physical form and built the temple over his body so he would not rise again and devour us all…so long as we remain faithful."
Denye nodded and tried to project curiosity, asking, "Tell me about this faith of yours, how exactly do you practice and what would happen if this Offler were to come back."
The blue grung shook his head, "It is not difficult or onerous. Once a moon we leave an offering at the gates and otherwise leave the Watchers to keep their vigil."
Over the link, Jilken said, "We should know more about these Watchers."
"I agree," added Ell, "that answer also sounded a little evasive. I don't think he's telling us everything."
Out loud, Denye asked, "Watchers? Do you mean the great lizards?"
"No, no," replied g'Noos, waving a hand in disagreement, "the lizards were the pets of Offler, but they are merely beasts, living their lives as we all do. The Watchers are mechanical constructs that guard the temple."
"Guard the temple?" asked Jilken, "what do they guard against?"
g'Noos shrugged, "Legend says that the corpse of the dead god lies within the temple and it is the duty of the Watchers to keep it safe."
"Have you ever been inside?" asked Denye.
"Only the chosen ever go inside and they never come back," said c'Ash dismissively.
The blue grung glared angrily before sighing, "Once a year two of our own, just past adolescence, are sent to the temple to serve the Watchers."
"I see. That's a very noble sacrifice," said Denye. Over the link she said, "I suspect that there may be something down there is eating them...or I don't know, maybe undead frog people."
Denye was about to ask another question but d'Oh, spoke up first saying, "I believe the food is ready, let us celebrate our guests with Ugelog." As several of the green grungs began to pass out plates, another ran for the tent.
As the food was being passed out Janora asked, "Do you know who you are sacrificing to? I thought Offler was dead."
"He is," insisted g'Noos, "we do not know exactly what happens to the chosen, but according to legend they spend their lives keeping alive whatever magic it is that binds Offler from manifesting once more."
"Wait," said the witch, "is this god dead or banished."
"His physical body was destroyed," replied the blue grung, "but the Protectors believed that he would come back if given the opportunity, but so long as his corpse was bound he could not return to the Material Plane."
Over the link Ell sardonically said, "Well now I think we have a better idea why we were sent here."
"We're here for that damn comb and nothing else," replied Janora the same way. Out loud she asked, "What can you tell us about the interior of the temple?"
"None have been inside and returned in many generations," said d'Oh, "but that is a gloomy subject. Please, please try the ulelog." The servant who had disappeared into the tent had returned carrying a large tray and d'Oh proceeded to pour a thick, purple liquid into each of the cups before passing them out to the party as well as to his advisors.
Jilken sniffed hers and said, "Oh this is lovely. Can you tell me what it's made from?"
d'Oh raised his clay cup and took a sip before smacking his lips. "It is made from the logi fruit of course. They are a sort of large fuzzy fruit with reddish skin with a purple stripe around the middle. They grow to about the size of a fist and only after the cold rains. We crush the fruit and collect the juice to create ulelog and drink it for celebrations."
That seemed to satisfy the Aiel and she downed the beverage. The others were more cautious with both Denye and Janora only taking a small sip while Ell pretended to drink his but surreptitiously poured it on the ground. The liquid tingled on the lips and tingled more as it slipped down the throat.
Over the link, Janora said, "These people are still lying...I do not suggest drinking anything else."
"That's probably a good idea," muttered Jilken through the earrings, "I can't move my arms or legs...but it's okay, I actually feel really good."
Cursing, Janora tried to quietly cast Armor Agathys on herself. As she did so the ground around and below the party began to sprout with needle sharp spikes and thorns...at least until Denye realized and shot off a Counterspell. d'Oh looked shocked but stumbled back, casting Barkskin on himself. Ell jumped to his feet as well and fired off three Eldritch Blasts at the purple leader, all three striking the grung and shaking him badly.
Two of the larger red guard grungs rushed the party. Two went for Denye, while another went for Janora and a fourth went for Tear. Denye managed to dodge one, but the other swung low and left a slice in one wing. Tear and Janora had the same luck, each taking a hit, although the witch burst apart in a bunch of raven feathers before reappearing on Forest's back. Three more red grung rushed the dogesus and one of them caught the mount down a back leg while the other missed and the third landed another hit on the witch and got a spray of ice in the face for his trouble.
Another red grung managed to sneak up and slashed at Ironheart and trumpting anger the battlemare reared and lashed out with her back hooves, clipping the grung in the shoulder. With a mental command from Janora, Forest flapped his wings hard a couple of times and leapt over the heads of several grungs and landed further towards the lake. Pulling a potion bottle out her bag, Janora pulled the cork and downed the green and gold liquid as she slipped of the mount's back. As the potion took effect the witch began to grow taller while her feet turned into roots that snaked through the nearby dirt while branches sprouted from her shoulders and head.
Denye shook her head but threw her hands into the air and calling up a small glowing marble of fire she threw it at c'Ash's feet. It exploded into a Fireball as golden light surrounded and protected Jilken, Ironheart, and the wizard herself. Two of the guard grung screamed before falling to the ground unmoving and even more of the grung moaned in pain. Angry, the wizard yelled, "You started this...if you know what's good for you you would just surrender."
g'Noos leaned down and whispered something to the younger blue grung who ran for the tent. Straightening the blue grung lifted her hands and began casting another spell but Denye whipped out another Counterspell and the Vitriolic Sphere vanished as the grung swore angrily.
Four of the red grung surrounded Jilken and two of them began tying her unresisting hands as d'Oh looked around wildly before trying to cast Spike Growth...at least until it was broken by a Counterspell from Janora. Ell slipped between two of the red grung and ran over to stand by Janora and both managed to land blows on the warlock for his trouble. Holding his side Ell muttered Crown of Stars and seven twinkling lights began to orbit his head. Catching the eye of the purple grung leader he called, "Tell all your people to stop and explain your actions oe you will certainly die."
d'Oh's eyes went wide and he called "You are meat, worthless meat and we will feed you to the Master!" Shaking his head, Ell sent one of his stars at the grung and it exploded in his face, sending blood flying as d'Oh dropped to the ground. One of the reds sliced down at Tear while another two went for Denye. The wizard was able to avoid both blows but the goblin wasn't quite so lucky.
Yelling a Goblin battle cry, Tear activated his Circlet of the Matron and levitated himself up over the fray. Pulling out his force pistol, the goblin fired two shots down at the grung who struck him, dropping the frog person. Ironheart snorted again and kicked out at the grung who was tying up her mistress. With a whistle from Janora Forest leapt into the hair and came down hard on that grung crushing him. With his teeth he picked up the rope and lifted Jilken up and over Ironheart's saddle.
Janora shuffled forward before reaching out and grabbing g'Noos. Squeezing her tight the witch growled, "Tell them to stand down or you will end up just like your leader. Do this now or I will burn a hole through your chest!"
The blue grung seemed unfazed and muttered, "I shall be the leader now. Such is the cycle of lie and death. We all die, but our spirits will be gathered by Master and we will shall live without want in the world to come." Muttering about worthless fools, the witch tossed the grung into the fire. She began screaming in pain and a few moments later a deep and heavy roar came from the forest south of the lake.
Over the link Denye warned, "That sounded like something large and nasty. We've killed two of their leaders and most of these grung have run off. Let's just run for the temple and maybe the lizards will eat these damn frogs."
That seemed to make sense to the rest of the party and so they broke off the fight and took off in that direction. With their leaders killed, the rest of the grung let them go and the party decided that rather than heading directly for the temple they would look for a spot to make camp.

5th Planting

The next morning the party climbed the winding path that led up the large stone pyramid. Near the top was an open plaza with an enormous golden statue of a coiled snake with the torso of a man and the head of a crocodile. A heavy stone door behind the statue seemed to lead inside, but there was no clear way to open it.
Looking around, Denye pointed out the columns that lined the stairs leading up to the plaza. investigating them further revealed that each had a gemstone embedded in the top cap, while the main body was split into four sections that could be spun on a hidden axis. Each section had four carvings and each wheel in a column seemed to be a different category or type of carving.
Each of the pillars was arranged the same way; the first wheel had different dinosaurs, the second were different shapes, the third showed life stages of a frog, and the fourth was the life cycle of a tree. It only took a few moments to discover that not all the images were represented on a single column and there were actually six in each category.
"That makes sense," said Denye as they began looking over the notes, "there are six pillars and I think we need to spin them so that the correct image is presented."
"But how do we know which is the correct side?" asked Jilken. At the same time Ell asked, "How do we know which pillar is which?"
"The gemstones," replied Denye, "to both questions. They are the only other markings on the pillars so I'm fairly sure they denote the correct side...it's also the side facing the stairs. And the gemstones are in rainbow order, so Ruby is the first in the series and Amethyst is the last. The bigger question is what is the right order? I'm fairly sure about the lower three are just about how they happen, but I'm not sure what the criteria is for the dinosaurs...maybe it's when they appeared in the historical record?"
"It's worth a try," said Ell, "I was fascinated by dinosaurs as a child, I should be able to recall when each was around. Let's go see what happens if we try it on the first pillar" Heading over to the Ruby pillar, the pair quickly spun the lower three wheels to the first image in each sequence. "No good," said Ell a moment later, "I'm fairly sure the Ankylosaurus is the oldest, but that's not even one of the carvings here."
"Those carvings of different sizes," pointed out Jilken, "all the others are relatively the same size, but the dinos aren't."
"Ahh, that's it," crowed Denye, "it's smallest to biggest. Try the Velociraptor."
Ell spun the wheel and when the small raptor spun into position, there was a soft click and the gem at the top began to glow. From there it was only the work of a minute for the others to spin the wheels to the correct positions and as the last gem sparked to life, there was a rumbling sound as the stone door swung up and inward. Peering inside, it looked to be a 20ft square room with a set of stairs at the back spiraling down into darkness.
"Do we want to find some clay or something to keep the wheels from moving?" asked Jilken. "I'd really hate for all of us to go in and the door swing shut behind us."
"Actually," said Denye pointing to one of the walls, "There is a lever here. It seems to be connected to the chains for the doors so I'm fairly sure we'll be able to open it again."
Jilken walked over to examine the lever and chains but nodded before looking over at the stairs leading down. "I'm not going to be able to get Ironheart down those," she said worriedly.
"I was just thinking that Forest should probably stay up here," offered Janora, "you could leave Ironheart as well. They can keep guard and protect each other."
"That should work," agreed the Aiel, "I trust her to know when it's better to run away."
Denye thought for a moment before adding, "If we take a few minutes here, I can put an Alarm spell around the entire plaza so we'll know if those grung or anything else comes up here." That seemed like a good idea so the wizard got out her silver thread and began ritually casting the spell. That accomplished, the party descended the staircase into the Temple of Offler.
The stairs led down for three or four full turnings before opening up into a dark rectangular room. A large fountain stood in the middle of the tiled floor and arches to the left and right held short flights of a half dozen steps that led up to doors while a third set of doors was visible on the far side of the room.
Denye sent Helenwye in to fly around and make a circuit of the room. As the lizard did so, Denye relayed to the others. "The walls are covered in murals of reptiles, amphibians, lizards, and such. The door across from here is covered in gold and has another image of the snake crocodile thing. Oh! There are two copper statues with crocodile heads, those are probably the Watchers....we should move carefully."
Jilken was the first to step into the room but had only taken two steps when both constructs turned their heads to look at the party and then began lumbering towards them. Denye was the first to react and with a cry tossed a Ray of Frost at the nearest one, slowing it down as ice crystals formed around its joints. Jilken leveled her staff at the other Watcher and fired off a bolt of electricity that hit it squarely in the chest and caused it to jerk a bit before.
The first Watcher lumbered slowly toward the party, the ice around one knee, causing it to limp as it advanced. Tear of Midnight Sorrow pulled out his new elemental gun and setting the dial to lightning damage fired off two shots at the nearing construct, striking it once in the chest and once in the face. Ell fired off a trio of Eldritch Blasts at the same Watcher and then used his Telekinetic Shove to topple the construct and knock it prone.
While the others were engaged with that Watcher, Janora pointed to the back corner of the room and cast Transmute Rock to Mud, turning the left side of the room into a large mud pit, into which the other construct sank and became restrained. It tried to go into a frenzy to break free but only managed to get a couple of feet closer.
Recognizing how well the cold had worked against the first Watcher, Denye threw another Ray of Frost at the construct stuck in the mudpit, but it was thrashing too much and the bolt went wide. Stepping forward Jilken came up next to the prone Watched and slammed her spear down into it's throat as the Watcher twitched and went still. Nodding to herself, the Aiel spun the spear up and fired off another bolt of lightning at the one stuck in the mud.
Grinning down at the dead construct climbed on top of it for a better shot and fired off two lightning blasts of his own. The first was high, but the second hit it in the side of the head. The goblin's grin was short-lived as another Watcher construct burst out of the right hand set of doors and down the stairs. Ell looked up wildly and fired off three more Eldritch Blasts before knocking it onto it's back as well with a Telekinetic Shove.
Janora turned to look down her nose at the newcomer and cast Toll the Dead, rattling the clockwork construct with the loud, somber tones. Gathering her skirts Janora moved toward the corner just as a fourth Watcher burst through the left hand doors and, leaping over the corner of the mudpit, rushed up to the witch. The Watcher in the mud struggled but still couldn't break free as Denye turned and threw out a Shatter Spell to catch both it and the newest of the Watchers. Both shook from the small thunderclap but didn't seem particularly disturbed.
"Usually the lightning happens before the thunder," called Jilken, flashing a grin to Denye before firing off another ball of lightning to strike the newest Watcher. Tear fired two more blasts of the elemental gun at the same target and the construct shook and jerked as the electricity scorched his copper skin. The Watcher that had been on the ground, pushed itself to its feet before lifting the zombie grung that Janora had brought along and biting its head off. Throwing the body towards the back doors, the construct advanced on Ell. The panicked warlock threw three more Eldritch Blasts at the thing and then unbalanced it again, knocking it to the ground.
Janora looked up into the face of the Watcher and tried to cast Toll the Dead again, but this time the sound seemed to have no effect on the copper construct. She tried to back up and run back toward the others, but the construct lashed out and raked its sharp metal claws down her leg, ripping the skirt. The Watcher lumbered after the witch but stopped when it neared Jilken first. Angrily, it snapped its jaws around Jilken's arm and she only had a moment to keep from getting grappled. It tried to slash at her with its claws as well, but the Aiel elf blocked it with her spear.
Denye looked around at the chaos and threw a Firebolt at the Watcher that was still up and moving. It struck its chest and the metal of the chest plate began to glow a bit, but it wasn't hot enough to cause any damage. Jilken responded to being attacked by slamming her spear into the Watcher's chest, spinning the spear to bring the butt end around for an uppercut, before delivering a second blow that finished the construct. As it fell, a bright light began pulsing in its chest and a moment later it exploded in a white-hot fireball. Jilken managed to stagger back and only took a little damage, but her companions weren't quite so lucky. Nor was the other Watcher on the ground. The fire seemed to have melted part of it's clockwork and it had gone still.
The party waited for a moment with bated breath to see if this one would explode, but when it didn't the party turned their attention to the Watcher still stuck in the mud. It was over quickly with Jilken and Tear firing off lightning blasts and Ell throwing out Eldritch Blasts. Once the creature stopped moving (and did not explode) Janora dropped the Transmutation spell and the ground turned to stone once more...this time encasing the lower half of the Watcher.
Once the party caught their breath, Janora pulled out the hair and repeated her finding ritual. After studying it for a moment, she said, "It's southeast of here but also down, we need to find some other stairs down."
While she had been working Ell had gone over to the ornate gold door and examined them carefully. "These doors don't seem to be locked, shall we look inside first?" Without waiting for anyone to answer he threw open the door revealing a large room that mostly seemed to be filled with water.

Character(s) interacted with

d'Oh - Purple Grung and leader of the village
g'Noos - Blue Grung and sage of the village
c'Ash - Red Grung and leader of the warriors

Report Date

08 Sep 2023