Last time, our heroes started their journey north from Zahallan to the Burburan Oasis to seek more information about the death-worshiping Ghost Fist Clan, and the area of the Shalash Escarpment near The Stairs that tribe calls home. They made a detour to visit ZhaZha's home village of Gorza's Well, but before they reached that settlement, they came across the scene of a recent battle between orcs and hobgoblins. They encountered some surviving hobgoblins who were looting the bodies, and dispatched them.
Soon afterwards, the party entered a region of more rocky desert. ZhaZha easily followed the landmarks to find the way to her home, despite having been away for over a year. However, when she came within site of the cluster of large boulders that screened the southern entrance to the ravine in which the village lay, she found signs of trouble. A half-orc body lay some distance from the rocks, and she caught glimpses of something large hiding among the rock. She dismounted to check the body; it was Kazar, one of the village guards. He had been slain by something with a serrated slashing weapon, as well as a bite.
Edel caught sight of the thing in the rocks, and used a
sift spell to get a closer look. It was a dust mantis: an elemental that resembled a horse-sized giant mantis made of sand and dust. He began a litany of advice to his companions for how to fight it, and fired his bow at the rocks.
The mantis produced a thick cloud of dust around itself, obscuring it from view. When the cloud moved forward out of the rocks, ZhaZha charged it, but failed to strike the thing with her lance--or even see it in the cloud. (She did, however, avoid being blinded by the dust.) Jumari followed suit, on foot, and managed to close with it and shout its location to the others. Fatou cast
shocking grasp and moved into the cloud until she could deliver the spell--which hit, and left a small glassy patch in the beast's sandy body. ZhaZha dropped her lance to draw her pick and move close enough to see the giant insect. Edel kept up his naturalist lecturing, but failed to hit anything with his bow.
Inside the cloud, the dust mantis spat a stream of sand at ZhaZha and her camel; she was only slightly injured by the attack, and Zafira was left unscathed. [
As a mount, she has evasion.] The mantis stepped back into the cloud, so Fatou cast
burning hands at it. She then circled around the rocks to find it again, without getting in the way of Jumari or ZhaZha following it more directly. The cavalier found an easier path through the rocks, and struck it down with her pick. The cloud began to settle, but very slowly. While it did so, Jumari struck the mantis a couple more times, until it collapsed into a shapeless pile of sand.
As the dust cleared, the heores could see the gate beyond the cluster of rocks. An orc poked his head out from cover above the gate and asked (in Orcish), "Is it dead?" ZhaZha recognized him as Zakar, cousin to the dead half-orc outside, and informed him that both the bug and Kazar were dead. She promised to bring in the guard's body, and Zakar opened the gate for the party. He stared openly at the two non-half-orcs with her, before leading them to a second gate further up the ravine, where two more half-orcs stood guard. "ZhaZha is back, and she killed the thing!"
Beyond the second gate, the ravine opened up into a larger space that housed the village itself. The population here was almost entirely half-orcs; full-blooded orcs or humans were rare sights, and no other races were visible. Near the gate, the right side of the ravine housed stables--based on the pungent stink of camel--while the left side held caves from which people carried water.
Almost immediately, a middle-aged half-orc man approached, with a handful of younger warriors in his wake. The older man wore no armor, and walked with a confidence matched by his muscular physique. He accosted ZhaZha with two questions, in Orcish: "Did you kill it?" (Yes) then "Who are your friends?" She introduced the others, using Common to indicate that they did not all know Orcish. (Edel is still learning the language.) The man introduced himself as, "Father Abghat, mate of the Women of the Well, and war leader here." When ZhaZha informed him that she and her companions were fighting a death cult, he suggested that they go somewhere out of the sun, and out of earshot of the whole settlement, to talk. But first, he shed his escort by tasking them with carrying Zakar's body "to the usual place, until Mother Shogar can tend to him," and stabling the new arrivals' two camels. (The one who led Zafira away did so with exaggerated care, as if he knew her or her rider's reputation all too well.)
Abghat led the group into one of the left-hand caves, where Fatou soon had to pull out her everburning torch to be able to see her way. They passed through a larger chamber in which a large hole was surrounded by a low stone wall and multiple machines for drawing water--some of them rather sophisticated for such a small desert settlement. Many other tunnels opened into this room, through which a number of villagers passed in order to draw and carry water. Abghat crossed the chamber to a tunnel without any foot traffic, which led to a small antechamber with a few benches facing two more comfortable chairs. He sat in one of these, and gestured at the benches.
(ZhaZha knew the other chair was for Mother Shogar, the Woman of the Well and the village's spiritual leader. A passage beyond led to the two leaders' private quarters, and to the cult sanctum beyond. Few natives--and no outsiders--ever went further than this meeting room, and the sanctum was even more taboo.)
At first, Abghat asked questions about the monster the heroes had fought outside the gate. Edel did most of the talking for this, with Fatou adding in details as needed. During this talk, everyone
except Jumari noticed that the war leader's worn, chipped wooden amulet was a symbol of the Tarrasque.
The war leader then asked to hear more about the death cult that the group was hunting. ZhaZha summarized their adventures so far, leaving out certain details such as Jumari's family and faith. She explained that there was evidence that the cult was growing in influence, encroaching on places it hadn't before, and making allies to help it work unhindered. The party now sought any information they could find on the Ghost Fist Clan, and the region near the Stairs that they controlled. Abghat replied that he knew little about that tribe or its lands. However, Mother Shogar's new apprentice was a recent arrival from the north, so may know more. When ZhaZha told him about the Ghost Fists being led by a human warlord, this disturbed the elder. The Ghost Fists "worship the wrong god," he replied, glancing briefly at Fatou's Javanian holy symbol. (The cleric understood the veiled slight, but did not rise to the bait.)
As the others talked, Jumari remained perfectly silent, with her veil firmly pulled up to her eyes. Being surrounded by so many orcs and half-orcs roused her paranoia. She used her inquisitor powers to try to determine Abghat's alignment, but it didn't register to her senses. Abghat eventually turned his attention to her, and asked which tribe she was from. ZhaZha tried to deflect his questions without disrespecting her elder, but he persisted. Jumari told him, "I have no tribe." She did not know what happened to them--and her tone implied that she didn't care. Abghat asked to see her face, so that he would know it when he saw it again. She complied, and the elder showed no sign of recognizing the significance of her birthmark.
Abghat relented in his prying, and asked ZhaZha how long they planned to stay here. The cavalier replied that it would not be long, as they were eager to find out more about the cult's activities, which would require more travel. She was pretty sure that her father would give them lodgings, so Abghat promised to send the apprentice, Kelk, there to speak with them later.
ZhaZha led the way to her family's cave, which was conveniently on the edge of the settlement--the better to keep her friends from drawing too much attention. ZhaZha's father, who was freakishly tall like his daughter, addressed her consistently as "Zultana," but the cavalier warned her new friends to
never call her by that name. ZhaZha's brother, her only other living relative, was the runt of the family at only a few inches over 6'. ZhaZha was able to smooth over the awkwardness of bringing strange outsiders home after being away for so long, and dutifully did her share of bringing water from the well. She helped her friends continue teaching Edel Orcish during their meal and the long rest break during the hottest part of the day.
As the evening approached, Kelk arrived at the family cave. She was a full-blooded orc, much more attractive than most, with her hair shaved into a mohawk. Her eyes were somewhat filmy, though it didn't seem to impede her mobility. She told the group that she was born into the Snakespear Tribe, whose territory was near the Ghost Fists'. She left because the death-worshipers killed most of her tribe. She knew one of their warriors was a human, whose scythe cut a bloody swath through her kin. (While a scythe is appropriate to a death god, Fatou and Jumari knew that Asmolon's Javanian priests favor the flail. So they still did not know if this Yazdanyar was a priest himself or simply a warrior of some kind.) Kelk didn't know about any other leaders among the Ghost Fists, but did say that a few of the orcs who attacked her people were no longer alive. She also didn't know the enemy's numbers; her own tribe had been slightly larger than the Gorza Well settlement (upwards of a hundred), but she feared the Ghost Fists numbered many times that.
Kelk survived by fleeing, but nearly died in the desert. She was found by Mother Shogar--or rather, she was led to her, by a lizard. ("Why a lizard?" "It was the first food I'd seen in three days.") That was nearly half a year ago--well after ZhaZha last left Gorza's Well.
Jumari asked if the Ghosts Fists ever had any peaceful interactions with anyone. Kelk gave her a skeptical look--it's the way of orcs to take what they want, if they can. The 'Fists often attacked merchants on the trade routes to the Stairs. They and other tribes who live near the Shalash Escarpment dwell in caves, which are common in those cliffs.
(Kelk also wore a Tarrasque talisman, one much newer than Abghat's. Jumari failed to identify this one, too, but sensed chaos in the apprentice's aura.)
ZhaZha asked the orc woman if there was anyone she wanted them to look out for, or avenge. Kelk showed them the snake tattoos on her arms, and said they would know a member of her old tribe by similar marks. The cavalier asked if bringing any other survivors here would be a good idea. Kelk replied that before she came here, she would have said that Gorza's people would not want them. Now, she did not know--but the Woman of the Well would be wary of any large group coming here.
The heroes thanked the apprentice for her information, then discussed their next move. They decided to stay for a day before continuing on to the Burburan Oasis.
Fatou took advantage of the delay to scribe a couple of scrolls. ZhaZha took a shift with the village's guards. Jumari stayed out of sight at first, but then ZhaZha offered to spar with her, and decided to help train the village's youngsters while she was at it.
Edel explored a bit, and was propositioned by a brawny half-orc woman. She was not nearly as attractive as ZhaZha or Kelk, but the bard had been without companionship for quite some time, and he was perversely curious. He accepted, but found the experience far less pleasant that he had hoped; he was left exhausted and
very sore afterward.
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I'll be posting the stat block for the
dust mantis very shortly.
[Edited to add link.]
After my usual awards for the fight and roleplaying this session, the PCs ended up only about 30 XP short of what they needed for 4th level. I decide to increase the award just enough to get them there, so they are now advancing their characters in preparation for next time. Once they reach the Burburan Oasis, they will be able to convert their hobgoblin loot to cash, so they'll need to consider how to spend that soon, too.
Appendix: Previous Sessions
