Mercenaries of Talathese
Setting
Talathese, 150 point characters.
Characters
- Kokoro ("the Green Dragon")
- Erik
- Kia
- Ephialtes
- Academis
Chiogi
Worshippers of Chiogi, a once-popular strength and justice jaguar-headed god, believe they have unraveled the mystery of the location of their god's original temple. They sent out some clerics two weeks ago, and they have not returned, so it's become time to hire professional adventurers.
Arrangements are made and the party boards a fisherman's modest vessel to be transported some 40 miles west along the coast. There, they ascend Blackeagle Crag and discover evidence the clerics made it at least this far. Following instructions given to them by their employer, they wait around for sunset and - behold - the evening's mountain shadows briefly create a shape of a cat that they can use to navigate to their destination.
Marching through the rocky hills the following day, they follow the clerics' tracks down into a sandy canyon where Academis summons pure water to drink and Ephialtes snags a suckling fawn for lunch.
After climbing out of the canyon, late in the afternoon they descend into a green valley with lush broad-leaf plants and hanging vines. They soon smell -- and then hear -- an offal pile covered in insects. Two human corpses are evident-- stripped of all four limbs. Later, they encounter a deer, tied to a tree with vines, one leg removed, barely alive. Ephialtes puts it down with an arrow.
Then, 350-lb baboons attack. Two wield clerics' maces. The party defeats them, but not before the Green Dragon is badly injured in the lower abdomen. Kia beheads one creature, and the party is showered with hot blood.
As many, many more gigantic primates rush in from other parts of the jungle, Academis creates a complex illusion of a towering jaguar-headed humanoid bedecked in fancy robes. The incoming attackers pause, outraged and confused, hooting and barking and shrieking, smashing their fists into the ground.
Meanwhile the party forges ahead, wading into the jungle pond and the temple entrance at its center. Within, candles are lit and sarcophagi examined. At the end of the tunnel, a skeletal figure wearing a jaguar helmet sits on a throne, a ruby rod in its bony hand. This, the Green Dragon simply grabs, but then slumps into the water, unconscious.
Then all the sarcophagi grind open, and lightning-quick zombies emerge. In a fit of inspiration, Erik dons the jaguar helm, and holds the skeletal hand gripping the ruby rod aloft. The zombies acquiesce, and then he commands them to attack the baboons. Silently, dutifully, they do so, and the shrieking baboons scatter into the jungle.
The party makes haste back to the ship and returns home for payment. Mission accomplished!