The Forbidden City: Part Two

After resting the night and curing themselves, as well as stocking up on supplies, the adventuring group made ready to pursue the snakemen slavers deep into the jungle, perhaps into the Forbidden City itself. Traveling light, they would leave their beasts of burden behind, hoping to move fast enough through the jungle to overtake the caravan with Ardu and the others, even though the serpent people had a few days head start.

It was thus that Kalphistane, Cadelaine, Endefal, Mongo, Alando, Nadal, Kumar, Sholo and the loyal ape Gra-Gra made their way into the wilderness. Outside of the Valley of the Elephant, they back-tracked their way to the site of the ambush, and from there, began following the trail left behind by the serpent men.
The small group made good time through the jungle for the next three days…traveling quickly and quietly, they were able to avoid any dangerous encounters. Covering almost 30 miles in three days, they were able to eat up the distance between themselves and the captured slaves, but still the serpent men stayed maddeningly ahead of them. On the 4th day, resting inside a cavern, they were attacked by a large group of Carrion Crawlers who proved tough foes, having honeycombed the cave complex with many tunnels they used to attack by surprise. However, Cadelaine’s Web spell, as well as summoned and enlarged giant ants from Kal, turned the tide and allowed the party to kill all the crawlers and discover a small amount of treasure.
The next day the party traveled yet deeper into the jungle, and going began to get tough. It became obvious they were far, far off the beaten path, perhaps going where no outsiders had ever traveled before. Soon they began to see signs of the snake people, along with marks like beasts of burden and wagons. The next day, early on, they heard sounds of a large group heading through the jungle. Cadelaine and Mongo very stealthily scouted ahead and saw a small caravan of serpent people leading a group of slaves! Unfortunately, after following them for awhile they realized the slaves were not Ardu and the rest of the members of House Valaryan. Nevertheless, they hurried back to the group, where plans were made to rescue the slaves and kill the slavers.

Quietly and carefully scouting, the party numbered the enemy at around 20 tasloi, the same amount of ophidians, and nine pureblood serpentmen with three wagons and around a couple of dozen men in chains. Traveling ahead and setting up an ambush, the party hit the wagons with Entangle and Web as soon as they got near, and commenced with missile weapons on the serpentmen driving the wagons. The first two serpentmen drivers threw up darkness spells to shield them, but their allies the tasloi and ophidians were not as lucky and several were brought down with arrows and slings.

As Alando, Sholo, and Kumar stayed in cover of the jungle and used missile weapons, the rest of the party attacked. Cadelaine used several poisoned arrows and invisible attacks to confuse the enemies, while Endefal, Nadal and Mongo rushed in for hand to hand combat. Kal changed into leopard form to attack and destroy half a dozen tasloi, chasing them through the jungle and bringing them down. Mongo attacked his hated enemy with a fury, downing three ophidians and working towards the serpent men leaders themselves, as he and Endefal attacked their sworn nemesis. The druid Kal’s spells of summon insects and giant insects worked well as several giant wasps also aided the party members in stinging and killing serpent men, and Gra-Gra battled one serpent man to the death.

The battle was long and hard, and before it was over the middle wagon had been set afire by Endefal during the heat of battle, and the serpent and their allies were scattered. Mongo and Endefal managed to bring down three of the serpent men leaders each, and once the leaders were down their servants were no match. Several tasloi escaped into the jungle, but the ophidians and their masters were butchered to the last snake. Unfortunately in their anger the party had managed to destroy every reptile, with no one left to question! After the battle, as Endefal made his usual pyramid of heads, the enslaved merchants were released. Their leader, Marsh, was a fighter with House Tarn and thanked them profusely. He told the party members that they had been ambushed while trading with some of the more distant Ashante tribes, which was very lucrative since the attacks by serpent men had become worst in the last few months. Marsh mentioned the snake men, when attacking them, made sure not to try not to kill anyone and he had caught snatches of conversation that the party was destined to be sacrificed to some great evil! He affirmed their destination was a place called “The Forbidden City”, and from some notes and maps found among the serpent men’s supplies they soon pieced together where it was relative to the information they already had…not five miles distant, almost to the western edge of the Great Plateau itself!

Marsh stated that now rescued, he would take his decimated merchant train straight back to civilization, trying to avoid all conflict and ambushes, and let the leaders of House Mith and House Valaryan know of the dangers here. He rewarded the party members with a small bit of treasure and a small horde of potions he had kept hidden in a wagon, grateful as he was. He also gave them anything from the wagons they needed, and the party loaded up on flour, dried figs and dried pears as they might need the supplies in the future. Marsh also mentioned the village of his last trading partners, and drew the party a map to the heavily fortified location. He said the chief, Juma, had managed to hold out against many serpent men attacks and was now avoided by the scaly ones….the party would find a place to rest, recover and re-supply there if they wished. He gave them a note, written in Ashante, and told them to give it to Juma when they saw him so the native chief would recognize them as friends. At this, he and the survivors of his merchant train quickly began heading NW back to civilization. The party moved towards Juma’s village and camped for the night off the trail in case the escaped tasloi brought trouble. Another wave of Remove Curse and Cure Disease spells would follow the next day for the party members bitten by the ophidians, and after curing they slowly and carefully made their way through the jungle towards Juma’s village….

The Forbidden City: Part One

The next week was a whirlwind of activity for the adventurers, despite finally being given time off the rest by the head of House Valaryan, Gam. After being allowed to rest for a few days, they were called into a conference with Gam, Talith, Ardu, and the Vistnan priest Vespasian. All the adventurers were there, including Alando, and the “tag alongs” Kumar and Sholo.

Gam quickly got down to business, telling the party that he had spent the last few days quickly getting together a large group to return to the valley to both set up a permanent camp there, and continue gathering the ivory tusks. He told them that per House Valaryan rules, they were entitled to a percentage of the ivory they had brought back. He brought several sacks of gold onto the table and said it equaled 36,000 gold pieces to be divided however they wished!!! He assumed the party (Endefal, Cadelaine, Kalphistane, Nadal and Mongo) would split the money evenly, and they voted to give Alando a share since his spells and healing had come in handy. Also out of their profit was taken weregild for the dead native porters, as well as payment for the caravan leader Ajada, and payment for the lost mules. He told them Kumar and Sholo must be paid out of their own shares, as they did not work for House Valaryan and were the adventurer’s responsibility. All in all, each adventurer received a sack of 5000 gp in coins and gems, a huge amount even after paying off Alando and Ajada. Gam told them that they had a week to rest; he was sending his best men, Talith and Ardu, to lead the next expedition and he wanted the characters to go along as scouts (since they knew the way there). However, he was giving them a bit of relaxation time to have a bit of fun.

While in the meeting, the subject was brought up of living arrangements; did the party members still have to stay in the House Valaryan barracks now, and what was the status of their servitude towards the house? Game explained that Mongo and Kal were free to go as they would; they were only employees of the house. Endefal was paying off his “rescue” from the sea by working for the House, but due to the vast amount of profits he had helped generate for them Gam declared him also free to go, to be employed by House Valaryan as he chose. Nadal must stay, he declared, as his father had given him to Gam to watch over; Cadelaine, also, was told to stay, as it appeared she might be the target of those who would wish her harm due to her “connections” to House Valayan (being the merchant prince’s bastard daughter). Cadelaine gladly said she would stay, as she knew it would be safer for both her and her adopted family if she lived within the walls of House Valaryan.

Kal immediately began making plans for a place of his own outside the walls of Port Maugre, in the shanty town of fishermen on the beach. He used much of his money to begin building a large, reinforced grass hut where he and his animals (the ape Gra Gra and the captured water buffalo of the cannibals) could live in peace. After getting rip roaring drunk in town, Nadal, Mongo and the wide-eyed Sholo decided to purchase a “bachelor’s pad” at the Number One Inn, keeping their own rooms in the inn with the tavern close by, so time spent in town could be spent enjoyably. Endefal and Kumar went to the small shrine of Attar and Endefal presented the head priest Jerrod with a massive offering of gold to further the aims of the god Attar. Jerrod gratefully accepted the offering, and rewarded his faithful servant with magic items (potions and magic sling bullets) and the knowledge that slavers were on the move. Scuttlebutt around town said that snakemen and their servants had been spotted nearby and several expected merchant trains had not shown up in the past week. Jerrod told the pair that the worshipers of Set were notorious slavers, and had been active for years, but only recently so bold as to kidnap entire caravans. Endefal and Kumar vowed to keep their eyes open in the future. Cadelaine spent most of her time to herself, sending gold and a generic message to her family back in the Empire.
Finally, after a week, the adventurers were once again called into Gam’s presence. His expedition back to the Valley of the Elephants was ready, and he once again needed the party. He told them that he wished to hire them to lead the larger caravan he had assembled back through the jungle to the Valley, as they had already blazed the trail. Their job would be to lead the merchant train to the valley, guard them as they loaded up ivory, and then lead them back….Gam assured them that this time, other mercenaries would go along to watch the caravan, their job would be scouts only. Although they hadn’t been back long, the party quickly agreed, as they already missed the simple Armec tribesmen and were eager to see how much they had progressed in the last few weeks in the valley.

Cadelaine asked Gam about whether Alando would also accompany them, and Gam said that unlike the first time he was not being supplied by the Vistnan priesthood, so he wasn’t being hired. Cadelaine then took it upon herself to travel to the Vistnan temple and meet with Vespasian herself. With Alando in tow, Cadelaine had an audience with the high priest, who surprised her by agreeing to not only meet with her, but to give her and Alando important information. First, he said he would release Alando again to travel to the Valley, and he also wished to “hire” Cadelaine for a job. Intrigued, the thief/magess wanted more details. Vespasian said that he had gone through the papers and books Alando had returned to them, and inside Honapo’s journal he had found several unusual tidbits. First, it appeared that whatever madness had overtaken Honapo was the result of some ancient tome he had found while in a library somewhere he referred to as “The Forbidden City”. This notation greatly intrigued Vespasian…an entire library of ancient knowledge somewhere in the depths of the jungle? He and the Vistnan priesthood wished to know more. He told Cadelaine (and Alando) to keep their eyes and ears open, and gave them a crude map he had transcribed from the notes of Honapo from the journal. If they were able to locate the location of the city itself, Vespasian promised great rewards in treasure and magic! On parting, he gave Cadelaine and Alando some minor potions and scrolls to help them on their journey, and told the adventuress she was free to keep this to herself, or share with her friends, but to be circumspect about who she trusted with the knowledge. For his part, Alando was ecstatic on being able to spend more time with Cadelaine and travel by her side once again for a long period of time.

As for the rest of the adventurers, after making donations to local temples in exchange for Healing potions and scrolls, they were once again ready to head out into the jungle. The caravan itself consisted of twice the mules, buffalos, and bearers as last time. It included a complement of a dozen mercenary fighters and priests, and the main House Valaryan fighter Talith (along with the ranger Ardu and the fighter Ajada) was in charge. Traveling a half mile ahead of the main caravan, the party picked up their old trail easily, and readied themselves for any sort of foe on the return to the valley.

For the next few days, travel was easy as they struck out over their well-marked trail, and the party noticed little activity in the jungle. As a matter of fact, they traveled almost the entire way to the valley with no opposition or monstrous battles. The only things that put them on edge were the complete lack of larger creatures (mammals or other) in the jungle, and the appearance of what appeared to be a large battle fought with the cannibals by snakemen, with no survivors on the cannibal’s side. Increasing they became suspicious of the lack of creatures in the jungle, and became super-vigilant of any sort of attack.

Within a day of the valley, the tension was finally broken. While traveling, the scout party of adventurers heard screaming, shouting, and the sounds of battle half a mile back at the caravan’s location. As they made to hurry back, they were attacked by a large undetected group of snakemen and their servants! Several dozen tasloi and ophidians, led by eight human looking snakemen and three “halfbreeds”, attacked from ambush. A giant snake/man crossbreed abomination commanded them from behind the battle lines, and began casting spells on himself to prepare for battle.

Quickly the battle was joined with a Sleep thrown by Cadelane taking out several of the tasloi, and a well placed Web spell trapping three of the pureblooded snakemen. Kal also used his Entangle spell to trap several other tasloi, and then hand to hand combat was joined. Cadelaine and Kal battled a snakeheaded half breed, while Mongo quickly chopped through another halfbreed with a long constricting tail. Endefal and Sholo battled another halfbreed with scales instead of skin, as the rest of the paty took on the pureblooded snakemen and opidians. Unfortunately as Mongo went to help another he was trapped with the nets and lassos of the tasloi, and those bitten by the snake-headed halfbreed were quickly saved with applications of the spell Slow Poison. The snakepeople and their allies fought expertly, and managed to bite most of the party members during the battle. It wasn't until Mongo got loose not once, but twice, from the nets of the tasloi that he was able to lead the charge against the reptilian foes. Finally only the leader was left, and he was brought down through the combined efforts of Mongo, Kal, Cadelaine and Endefal in a hard fought battle. The party was quite injured and unable to chase the few escaping tasloi and ophidians. Beaten, tired and bleeding, they finally made their way to the caravan to find chaos everywhere.

The attack here had consisted of twice as many snakemen and their allies, and Talith and his men had barely fought them off. Half the caravan’s native porters were dead or had been dragged off, and this included Mongo’s uncle Ardu! Many of the bearer animals had been slain also, it was quite a disaster. It appeared that an effort had been made by the snakemen to take prisoners rather than kill the caravan members. Quickly taking charge, Talith got the survivors together and with a couple of snakemen captives, made way through the jungle before dark to the abandoned Armec village ahead where they made camp. The surviving snakemen were charmed and made to tell much of their plans and the destination of the captured people before they were executed. Through this knowledge Talith and the rest were able to draw a crude map showing a location many miles deeper into the jungle, almost to the base of the great plateau!
In the day ahead, as Endefal, Kal and Alando cast Cure Diseases and Neutralize Poisons on the snake bitten party members, Talith called for the group. He told them that his job was the same as before….to harvest the ivory, even under such awful circumstances, even now that he was short of men. However, he gave the party leave to pursue the escaped snakemen through the jungle to rescue Ardu and the others taken prisoner by the reptiles. Cadelaine and Alando looked at each other, realizing the same thing: the map given them by Vespasian and the location indicated by the charmed snakemen led to the same place. It appeared that the so-called “Forbidden City” would be their destination! The party took the day to rest and interact with their friends in the Armec village, who had done much to start rebuilding their town and plant their crops, before taking what meager supplies the main caravan could spare and make their plans to track down and kill the hideous snakemen!

Elephant's Graveyard: The Return

In the days that followed, the Armec people used building materials they had brought from their outside village to begin constructing a new village. The druid Kalphistane assisted their efforts to begin tilling the old fields with several spells that would make the plants grow faster and stronger. Cadelaine studied the spellbook taken from the temple to learn new spells. Endefal, Mongo and Nadal destroyed the stone golem guard in the upper temple to help clear it out, letting Brolo take it over as his own. The rest of the time was spent gathering ivory and getting it ready to transport via mule and water buffalo.
After several days, it was decided that after a week of gathering ivory, the party would make it’s way back to Port Maugre with as much tusks as they had, and let the next expedition gather the rest. They really only needed to prove the ivory was there, as well as supply a map, and their duty was done.

Part way through the week the party was joined by a young warrior lad of the Armecs, the chief’s son, who told them his name was Sholo and he was curious about the world outside the Armec village and valley. Although his father did not approve, Sholo had decided to follow the party to Port Maugre. His hero worship of the native warrior and elephant god worshipper Mongo was evident, and he appeared quite fit and athletic, so the party acquiesced to his entreaty and let him join up with them. The reasoned they would need all the help they could get on the way back, and Sholo looked competent with his weapons and eager to help.
One night while guarding the porters gathering the ivory, there was a disturbing encounter. As the party rested, a group of snakemen and their ophidian servants crept close enough to the group to attack, seeking to capture rather than kill party members. They were led by a spear wielding human looking snakemen with slitted eyes and forked tongue, and a halfbreed snakeman with a snake head and a deadly poisonous bite. Half the party was back at the new Armec village, but Cadelaine and Endefal managed to hold off the serpent men long enough for Mongo, Kalphistane and his ape to join the fray. The monsters were quickly killed, except for a couple that managed to escape into the night. Following him, they found a small group of guards at the valley entrance had been overcome and were tied there, awaiting the return of the snakefolk ( to be taken to some unknown fate, probably slavery). From that point forward the party made a point to watch the entrance, and trapped it with glyphs of warding and various traps set by Endefal and Cadelaine, respectively.
Soon, a week passed and 900 lbs of ivory were gathered. Goodbyes were made, including several Armec ladies who had enjoyed the favors of Mongo and were perhaps future mothers of Mongo’s brood. Traveling out of the valley, the party resent the traps to the entrance and the druid Kalphistane cast several spells to cause the vines growing over the outer entrance to extend and grow thicker, further concealing the valley. The party hoped their way back would be quicker and their journey to the valley, as they were worried about the length of time it might take them to arrive back at Port Maugre….perhaps House Tarn or another rival would ambush them along the way, and they were ready.

Several days passed with few incidents. Passing through the area where the cannibal tribe had been found earlier, the party was attacked by almost 50 of the savaged, and a pitched battle followed. Several cannibal leader types were among the attackers, and the battle was very deadly. Half a dozen native porters were killed and dragged off for food, and both Sholo and Kumar were knocked unconscious. The cannibal leader rode a tamed water buffalo, which Kal held, throwing the leader onto the ground and making him a quick kill for Endefal and Mongo. The rest of the cannibals were slowly brought down, until at the end only a half dozen lived to retreat back into the jungle. The battle however had taken it’s toll with several native porters and mules dead, and the party shook up by the violence of the attack. They quickly gathered their surviving animals and porters, as well as the ivory, and headed to the Kumar’s village which was nearby and a good place to rest and recuperate.
The next day they continued their trip, and on the way back to Port Maugre only ran into a few menaces, including a group of trolls, some jungle stirges, and finally a band of half-ogres who attempted to ambush the caravan. Another battle was fought, and a surviving half-ogre mercenary confessed his group had been hired by “someone” to make sure the caravan never reached Port Maugre. More evidence that someone knew much more than they should was evident, but the party could only concern themselves with reaching Port Maugre, as by this time they were only a day away.
Finally, after more than a month away from “home”, the party entered the gates of Port Maugre at the head of the merchant train, causing dozens of villagers and merchants to crowd around and comment on the size and amount of the ivory. A huge group gathered but let the party pass to the gates of the House Valaryan estate, where the tired group reported in to Gam and the priest Vespasian.
After a short rest, the ivory was unloaded, and Gam debriefed the successful group on their journey. His happiness at their quest was quite evident, and after their tale he immediately began making plans for a larger, better equipped group to travel back to the Elephant’s valley and begin the task of gathering all the ivory. The party was given leave to rest after their rough journey. Finally, a well cooked dinner, hot bath, and soft bed to sleep in were the only reward for the triumphant adventurers as they quickly took advantage of their return to indulge themselves.

THE ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD: CONCLUSION

The Elephant’s Graveyard: Conclusion.

After the epic battle against Honapo and the golem, the party spent the next day in the relative safety of the priest’s tomb, healing and resting. Soon, they begin to finish their explorations of the temple, as there were several locked rooms they had not visited. One in the main hallway had a symbol on the door that Alando had identified as a Symbol of Death, so they avoided it. They went into the room next to it (which appeared to be a priest’s room and tomb) and stone shaped a door out of the wall, entering the large room. It was a mage’s tomb, with only a dozen or so skulls there, and a large book resting on a pedestal in the center. Once again, using the powers of a priest of Vistna, Alando was able to see another symbol upon the pedestal. Not wanting to disturb it, they brainstormed various methods of retrieving the book, and finally stone shaped the floor under the pedestal, causing the book to drop, which Cadelaine expertly caught before it hit the ground. Checking out the book, it appeared to be a large ancient spellbook with dozens of spells, all written in ancient Armec.

Also in the tomb was found a long stone rod. Alando examined it and noticed the runes along the sides were a history of sorts…the history of the Armec people! This would prove invaluable to the priests of Vistna. The top unscrewed, and within the hollow center were five potions. All were tasted and found to be potions of longevity…Alando said this fit the history of the Armecs, which stated mages were rare and might live 100’s of years.
With the spellbook and rod, the group made to exit the tomb. Mongo went back to the resting place of Armec to retrieve the sword. The sword, Sentinel, stated it was a Defender blade that could give other powers (flight and Detect Magic). All it asked is that it’s bearer be the protector of the Armec people, who were in perilous danger of becoming extinct since there were so few of them left. The blade also noted that Armec’s skeleton was wearing powerful studded leather armor, and Mongo should also wear that in his quest against evil. Mongo assented to the terms of the sword, a small price to pay for such a powerful weapon.
Leaving the lower level, the party made their way back up, and brainstormed a way to get the elephant god icon out of the room with the statues. Working a method where Mongo flew in and attached a line to the icon, it was yanked out, and Mongo narrowly avoided one of the stone statues that came to life and tried to crush him (but did not follow him out of the room). The party then decided to leave the building, and begin the long task of summoning their bearers, and gathering the ivory, and telling the Armecs the valley was again clear.
However, danger still awaited them. Upon exiting the temple, a hideous site reached their eyes…as they passed through the gate (noticing the elephant that had earlier attacked the temple peacefully grazing outside), the 20 stone statues surrounding the temple suddenly moved, and came to life! As one, they began striding after the party, death in their eyes. The party scattered, trying to separate the statues, but they kept heading after Endefal…who was carrying the elephant god icon! Endefal immediately went into the lake, and although it slowed the statues down, they doggedly followed Endefal across the lake. Getting an idea, Endefal yelled to Mongo to fly over, take the icon, and throw it in the lake. Doing so, Mongo dropped the jeweled icon in the center part of the small lake. The statues followed, to eventually come to a halt surrounding the sunken icon. Standing thus, the party decided they were no longer a menace and made quite a good monument up to their rocky waists in the lake. Whatever the icon was worth, it was not worth battling the stone guardians over

Again resting and preparing to travel back to the entrance to retrieve their porters, mules and water buffalo, the adventurers were surprised to see a long caravan of people and belongings headed their way, followed by their own merchant train. Soon, the Armecs reached the area by the lake. Brolo the shaman commended the party on task fulfilled, saying he saw their victory in his dreams, as well as the death of Ark and the destruction of Honapo. Saying that now that the valley was cleansed, the Armec people would resettle the valley, and stop the decline of their race. Having spoken thus, Brolo collapsed, as his 90 years appeared to be finally catching up with him. He whispered that he only wished he had been able to train another elephant shaman, as he was the last of his kind. Quickly, Endefal grabbed the rod and poured the contents down the throat of the dying shaman. Immediately, Brolo grew younger, and soon was a heartier 80 years of age, and not in danger of dying! The slightly rejuvenated Brolo thanked them, saying they had given him the gift of another decade to train another Elephant God shaman to protect the tribe. The now victorious group gathered their men, and the Armecs, and had a huge celebratory feast where for the first time in several weeks they allowed themselves to enjoy themselves (and Mongo seeded himself liberally among willing Armec women).

THE ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD: PART FOUR

Having dealt with the Pteraman menace, the party rested overnight on the quiet, lush plain filled with scrub grass and elephant bones. Nothing bothered them in the night, and the only sounds were the occasional hyena or jackal cry. The next morning was clear and bright, and the party completed the rest of the hike to the end of the valley. Beside a small (500 yds around), placid lake fed by a waterfall, there stood a large granite wall surrounding a one story stone building. The gate in front was opened, but the adventurers spent some time investigating the lake (finding nothing but fish and fresh water within), and a large cavern nearby (finding nothing but a few wandering carrion crawlers that were quickly dispatched). Finally, the adventurers entered the stone gate and stood before a large granite building, crumbling in places, with 20 statues surrounding it depicting a creature with the body of a human and the head of an elephant. At that time, they heard something from behind them in the valley….going up on the wall, Kal and Mongo saw in the distance a large bull elephant, seemingly uninjured and not near death, traveling at full speed towards the temple! Fearing the elephant had been summoned by Honapo, they shut and locked the gates, and retreated into an inner courtyard. Soon after, they heard the large elephant slamming into the gate, which shook and cracked, but did not give. Kal attempted to speak to the elephant, and even charm it, but a foreign presence in the elephant’s mind prevented him from learning anything useful. Obviously, the same force that had taken over the temple was able to summon and control elephants….they had to forge ahead unless they wanted to battle the giant pachyderm to the death!

After talking with several coconut bearing trees in the courtyard, Kal learned that no one had left the building in almost 100 years, except for a large elephant-headed man who placed the stone statues around the exterior of the building. Cadelaine was able to force open the door to the building, and a grisly sight met their eyes: a pile of skeletal remains on the inside of the door, with their bones cracked and crushed. Searching the first few rooms on the upper level, the party found nothing but barracks and chambers for the Armec warriors, some dead in their rooms, their skeletons showing they tried to defend themselves from some superior force.
Carefully going from room to room, the party found grim evidence that all the inhabitants had been slain at one time or another, probably by Honapo. In one room a skeleton which looks like he was a warrior of some authority (perhaps a captain of the guard), lay crushed and dead. As his sword and armor were not aged, they were gathered up by the party, as well as a beautiful matched pair of daggers in his footlocker. Throughout the temple, the party attempted to not become tomb robbers as they realized the wealth and items within belonged to the Armec people, so often they bypassed items of wealth and worth….their reward would come later, after clearing the temple and getting back to Port Maugre with the ivory!
One room on the ground floor contained a stairway leading to a lower level, but the group continued to search the upper level to cleanse it of evil. A large barracks was found with dozens of skeletal warriors, and a pitched battle was fought as Endefal could only turn a portion of them. After a long battle, and imaginative use of Cadelaine’s web spells, over 30 of the skeletons lay destroyed across the floor. Another room that appeared to be a priest’s room contained a large snake in the ceiling, which dropped on the unsuspecting Mongo and was quickly killed by Kal and Endefal. A hole was found in the ceiling and the snake had obviously entered through, but it looked too unstable to be used to leave from. In the room, and in a high priest’s room next door, the party came across several small, silver plated ivory tusk replicas studded with sapphires…holy symbols of the Elephant Cult. Mongo felt a sudden pull from the symbols and placed one around his neck, feeling a religious fervor he had never before felt in his young life. The next room appeared to be the original room of Honapo, which was richly decorated and contained a larger and much more valuable holy symbol of the type found in the lesser priests’ quarters. It’s presence here was ominous, as it must prove that Honapo no longer followed the will of the Elephant spirit.

Also in Honapo’s old room the party found a large ivory mace, which Endefal took for himself (and named “Tantor”, by runes written on it’s head), a magic scroll of Protection from Fire, and a notebook written in ancient Delosian. Translating it, Alando said it was Honapo’s journal, and the most important entries were the last ones….Honapo stated he and a small group would be soon exploring a nearby Forbidden City, which rested in a valley in the jungle, where it was rumored many buildings still stood and a large ancient library still held many books and scrolls. Honapo told of his eagerness to investigate the ancient writings, and the party speculated finding a cursed or evil tome, or perhaps an intelligent, evil weapon or item, caused Honapo’s insanity.
Another room contained several holes in the walls, and an unusual plant growing in the room that Kal was wary of. He identified it as a yellow musk creeper, a nasty growth that was known to grow into a person’s brain and take over the body. From the doorway, several vials of oil were thrown at the root bulb, and set alight, which killed the plant. Searching the room only turned up a smattering of ancient gold and silver coins that the party gathered up.
The final room on the level seemed to be some sort of a temple. Two elephant statues stood against a wall, with a golden icon of a elephant headed man between them. In front, a jeweled dagger lay on a low pedestal. Thinking trapped, Cadelaine slowly entered and searched the room, discovering a pit trap by the door, and some sort of trap around the icon and on the pedestal. Leaving the icon for now (concerned the elephant statues would come to life if something on the altar was touched!), Cadelaine carefully tied twine around the hilt of the dagger, then exited the room to yank it off. Sure enough, after leaving the pedestal, a sharp pendulum swung down, which would have struck anyone standing in front of the pedestal. The dagger was small and rusted but had a nice sapphire in the hilt, which Cadelaine soon pried out.

Nothing was left but to explore downwards. Taking the staircase, the party came upon a dark and dusty hallway with many doors leading off it. They soon found the lower level contained the tombs of the Armecs, and they had the unusual habit of burning the bodies (as evidenced by a large room with a pit full of burned bones, and several barrels of a clear substance that burned without smoke). In other rooms they found skulls of the dead arranged in shelves along the walls, some wearing jeweled headbands (that the party left alone out of respect for the dead). One room held many zombies that shuffled to the attack as the door was opened, but it was quickly closed. What looked like a “commoner” crypt with thousands of skulls was discovered, and a “warriors” crypt with many skulls was searched and a single large sapphire was found in the brim of a helm (and taken by the party). A crypt with some sort of symbol inscribed on the door (which Alando identified as a Symbol of Death!) was bypassed for the time being; a narrow, small tomb was then found with a single stone slab and an actual skeleton resting upon it. The skeleton wore nice studded leather and held a beautiful long sword and shield. Reading the inscriptions, Alando stated this was the Tomb of Arm, the warrior-hero of the Armecs that had led them to the valley over 1000 years ago. He had been specially honored with this internment, a tomb of his own and his body intact.

The party very carefully stood outside, reluctant to go inside in case of traps. Finally, after Cadelaine gave the all clear after examining the room, Kal, Endefal and Mongo went inside and began searching the small tomb. Curiosity overcame Mongo, and he grabbed and lifted the sword….with amazing results! Immediately, a voice spoke in his mind saying it was the sword, Sentinel, and he was the ultimate weapon of the Armecs. Saying he was a special defender sword with the power to give flight and detect magic, he urged Mongo to head for the door at the end of the hallway straight away to battle Honapo. Suddenly, upon taking the sword, the three in the tomb noticed a small, one inch tall figure that leapt upon the ground from the arch above the doorway…the figure rapidly grew, until it filled the entire doorway, preventing escape! The large, clay monster began attacking, and swinging the newly acquired Sentinel did not harm the golem at all, bouncing off his hide, as the golem pounded the fighter. Endefal swung the mace Tantor, which put a dent in the figure, as Kal quickly cast Stone Shape on the south wall to form a crude passageway into a crypt beyond! The party members quickly squeezed through the opening, which was too small for the golem to follow through. Sticking an arm through got it broken off due to a strike from Endefal and his mace, so the golem retreated back in the tomb and began pounding on the stone door (which had been quickly shut by Cadelaine and Nadal from the hallway!). Thinking quickly, Endefal ran through the door out into the corridor, and used his Stone Shape spell to blend the edges of the stone door with the wall, trapping the golem. The creature, however, continued to pound on the wall, causing dust and grit to settle down from the roof and the wall to slightly shake, but he had little chance of escaping.

Deciding at this point to rest up and regain spells (and cure themselves) before talking the rooms farther down the corridor, the party made to leave the lower level for up above. However, the sword Sentinel would have none of this! His purpose to destroy Honapo overrode everything else, and he took over Mongo’s mind and body. Suddenly, the ranger got a strange look in his eyes, and sprinted down the corridor to kick open the door at the end! Inside, the party could hear a buzzing sound as a strange mist (which obscured the floor) began drifting out.
At the end of the large room stood what was obviously Honapo, a large figure with the head of a elephant and body of a giant man, wielding a large ivory battleaxe. The imposing figure was surrounded by a couple of dozen flying giant wasps, who the priest obviously controlled.
Endefal attempted to stop Mongo/Sentinel’s mad charge with a charm, but all the charm did was completely subsume Mongo’s personality, and with that the sword took over completely. Activating it’s fly power, Sentinel flew across the room to engage Honapo in hand to hand combat! Caught totally by surprise, the rest of the party began the run down the corridor to help Mongo against the evil priest. However, they were stopped at the door by the attacking wasps, and soon they were caught up in battling the flying insects to try and get inside the room.
The giant wasps proved formidable foes, sometimes stinging an adventurer and paralyzing him, only to have one of the priests cast slow or neutralize poison to get him on his feet again. A stalemate of sorts was thus joined at the entrance to the room, as Mongo and Honapo hacked away at each other furiously. Soon, however, the evil priest’s battleaxe was taking his toll, and Mongo was forced back in danger of death. Ark took the initiative, jumping into the room and running to the combat, and getting close enough to Mongo to throw him a pouch filled with Healing potions. Mongo caught the pouch, and backed off enough to drink them quickly as Ark and then Nadal engaged the elephant priest. Nadal, however, triggered a trip (the misty fog prevented anyone from seeing the floor) and a bear trap snapped on his leg, pinning him. At the same moment, several giant wasps swarmed Ark, sending him to the ground, and to the horror of the party members he was stung again and again, and soon lay dead and unmoving under the mist!

Cadelaine then realized she must use the Wand of Frost otherwise Nadal and Mongo would follow Ark into death. Firing her wand in the air inside the room, she killed a dozen or so of the wasps, and was able to clear a path into the room. Entering, both Kumar and Alando triggered another trap, falling into a pit, as Endefal hit the room and Honapo with Dispel Magic. The spell worked well, dispelling the fog, the wasps, and several protection spells on the Elephant priest. Unfortunately, Honapo countered with his own Dispel Magic in the corridor….which had the unfortunate effect of undoing the Stone Shape on the door of the room holding the clay golem!!! Soon, the party faced danger on two fronts as the golem kicked in the door and emerged into the corridor….

Meanwhile, in the room, Mongo was hit by Honapo hard enough to lift him off the room and slam him against the wall, unconscious. Kal, Endefal, Nadal and Gra Gra the ape swarmed the priest, and after a flurry of blows, brought the evil creature down! At that, the party felt a tremor through them and the temple, as the spirit of the Elephant God, trapped inside the form of Honapo the last century, was released to once again tread the world. Immediately, Honapo turned to dust…..but just as immediately, the clay golem leapt into the room over the pit (landing on the dead Ark and crushing him completely to goo) and began flailing at the party! Only blunt magical weapons would injure the golem, so only a few of the party members could even combat him. Alando was helped out of the pit trap by Cadelaine, and he joined Endefal in swinging his mace at the creation, while Kal threw magical sling stones at the monster.
Alando was quickly beaten to unconsciousness, and Nadal picked up his mace to strike the creature, but soon followed him as a mighty fist struck him and took him out. Only Endefal (who had paused many times to cure himself and drink potions) was still standing to battle the monster hand to hand, but the golem had several pieces missing and was unsteady. Kal kept throwing stones that struck the mark, and finally Endefal struck a blow with Tantor that cracked the golem down the center, destroying it.

At the destruction of the golem, it grew silent within the tomb, and the unconscious party members were bandaged and healed. A decision was made at that point, with such serious injuries among the party, to rest in Honapo’s room and pray for healing. The remains of Ark (crushed beyond recognition) were taken into the cremation room, and the priests gave his remains over to the fire after a short ritual. Brolo’s prediction of a party member’s death had come true; luckily, it had been the once evil ranger (who had proven valuable even in death) and not some other. The Helm of Alignment Change the ranger had wore was bent beyond repair, and could no longer be used to convert their foes, so it was tossed into the same fire that was used to dispose of the ranger's body.

THE ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD: PART THREE

The expedition continued on with clear weather for a change, as Ark took the place of Roho in the scouting party of Mongo and Kal that traveled 100 yards ahead of the main group. The next day, the party came upon a small group of apes that had brought down a beast of the jungle…carnivorous apes! This rare species fed on bloody, red meat as well as the fruits and berries of their brethern. Sensing they could get by this encounter without killing the great beasts (the hairy apes stood 7 feet tall and looked very mean and powerful), the rangers and druid did not attack but instead threw the apes food and did not appear threatening. Kal began speaking with one, and casting Animal Friendship, got the giant beast (who said his name was “Gra-Gra”) to follow him around like a docile puppy…..a docile puppy that enjoyed eating red, bloody meat (as they found when they were attacked by wild boars about an hour later, where Gra-Gra promptly ripped one in half and began noisily feasting!).

As the expedition continued, and hour or so later the scouts were shocked to hear the sounds of battle and shouting up ahead…as well as a loud baritone singing voice which they found strangely familiar. Summoning Nadal and Cadelaine, the small group rushed into the jungle and came upon a grisly scene: a clearing that held the remains of some sort of expedition, surrounded by a horde of cannibal warriors about to overwhelm the party. Bodies of cannibals and members of the expedition, along with dead mules and broken carts, were strewn across the small glade as the remnants of a party, their backs against a stone cliff, were making their last stand shooting crossbows and arrows into the mass of screaming, slavering natives. The party quickly made plans, coming from the rear they were not seen or heard by the natives. Ark and Kal threw Entangle spells, Cadelaine threw two Sleep spells, and a couple more Hold Person spells by Endefal took away fully half the 50 or so warriors.

Mongo rushed into combat and quickly killed a shaman chanting spells before being set upon by bloodthirsty, howling native berserkers. Endefal engaged the leader of the natives, who had been blinded by a spell cast by Kal, and quickly killed him also. The rest of the party, including the ape Gra-Gra, began hand to hand fighting. Cadelaine snuck through the battle invisible and helped the trapped expedition survivors by casting Web at an attacking group, capturing a half dozen of the natives. She then saw the leader of this party was Drake, the intenerant bard of Port Maugre. Meanwhile, the battle was a tough one against the berserking natives and at one point Kumar and Alando had to join the fray for their healing powers, as Ark went down unconscious and several other party members were desperately injured. Gra-Gra was a definite asset, ripping off heads, arms and legs of cannibals and pausing to take a bite or two before getting back to the business of killing. Even Kal’s stores of goodberries came in handy as they were eaten by the handful to keep up strength and soon the natives were all either dead or routed. Pausing for curing, they checked with Drake and the members of his party, also healing and helping the few left of his group.
Drake heartily thanked the party and said he and some other mercenaries were out looking for adventure when they had run afoul of the cannibal horde. He offered the party extra rations and half of the little treasure he and his men had gathered (several ivory tusks) as his only aim now was to make it back to Port Maugre in one piece. He wished the party luck and continued on his way, as the adventurers quickly left the scene of carnage (and half a hundred dead bodies) for fear of predators, and continued moving down the trail.

Finally, early the next day, the end of their trip was in sight as the map showed only a few miles to the village at the mouth of the Elephant’s Graveyard. Pushing ahead wearily, the rangers noted several human footprints criss-crossed with reptilian footprints and tail dragging the ground. Discussing the find briefly, the party (consisting of Ark, Mongo, Endefal, Cadelaine, Kal and his ape) decided to follow the reptilian tracks, as Mongo identified them as Ophidians, servants, scouts and guards of the dreaded snakemen (the Yuan Ti).
They quietly followed the trail to a steep overhang looking over a small village. The village was undoubtedly the one marked on their map, and they saw five of the ophidians observing the villagers go about their daily business. After a short planning session, Cadelaine snuck up invisibly and hit the group with a Web spell…only one got loose, and he was set upon by Ark and Endefal, who quickly killed him. Suddenly, two unseen snake creatures slid out from the rocks and attack the party, with Mongo, Cadelaine and Gra-Gra taking care of them. As they did so, The other members of the party pour oil on the trapped ophidians and lit them on fire, killing them. During combat both Gra-Gra and Kal had been bitten by the creatures, and Mongo told them that per legend, the poison would cause them to become ophidians in a few days time. Quickly, Cure Disease spells were cast by the priests to prevent this awful eventuality.

Having seen and heard the combat, as well as the plume of rising smoke, the villagers were observed running into their small village surrounded by a 10 foot stone wall as the gates were dragged shut behind them, a warning horn being sounded at the first sign of fire so close to the village. The party members soon presented themselves at the gate with several ophidian heads prominently displayed on the ends of their weapons so as to quell any fears the villagers had concerning their intentions. They noticed there were only perhaps a dozen warriors on the walls, indicating a very small tribe. Soon, the chief Hamar and his shaman Brolo were engaged in conversation with Mongo (which, despite drinking a Philter of Persuasiveness, they found very confusing), then Alando and Kal (who could somewhat understand the ancient Delosian dialect of the tribesmen). After telling the villagers they meant no harm and were there to trade food (which the tribesmen, known as the Armecs, were very much in need of), the gates were opened and the small expedition with pack animals was allowed to enter.
Entering the small village, the adventurers noticed the poor health and non-existent wealth of the Armecs. Talking with the chief, with the shaman hovering around, the adventurers were told that the Armecs barely scraped out a living here on the edge of the jungle with their few crops and very small amount of game the hunters brought in. Due to the nearby cannibal tribe, and the threats of predators like the ophidians, the men of the tribe were reluctant to travel very far to hunt or gather. The party immediately sensed the helplessness and sincerity of the chief and his villagers; they were probably on the last generation of the tribe if conditions continued. The adventurers gladly opened up their wares to the grateful villagers, sharing the contents of the large amount of iron rations Drake and his group had given the party for being rescued. This was obviously more food than the Armecs had seen in awhile; immediately, the chief called for a celebration in honor of the visitors as the hungry villagers began eating the bread, meat and cheese.

Soon after, as the small caravan had settled inside the village (which only numbered a dozen or so stone buildings inside the enclosure), and as they shared their rations with the Armecs, the ancient-looking shaman got up to speak. The adventurers had been asking about the “elephant’s graveyard” for awhile, and the chief had talked about it only in passing, to say that the entrance to the valley where the elephants died was only a short distance away. As the shaman faced the characters, they could see the carved ivory elephant token hanging from his neck, identifying him as a shaman of the Elephant cult.
In answer to their questions, and why they had come, he told them in his dreams he had seen his own death not far in the future (from what he said and events in the past he talked about, the party estimated his age at 90 or more). However, he had also seen the arrival of the adventurers, and the fact they would be searching for the elephant’s graveyard. He looked across the fire at the cliffside past them and spoke: “ When I was still a small child, the Armecs lived in the “Valley of the Elephants”, which was abundant in everything we needed….there was a small lake with fish, fields to plant crops, and many edible creatures. A temple was built there in worship of the Elephant God, and many a generation of Armecs lived peacefully in the valley and tended the temple there (the tribe was named for it’s greatest warrior of centuries past, Arm).
Many years ago, a man called Honapo became high priest. One day he came back from a journey outside the valley filled with madness. He entered the temple swinging a great battle axe and struck down many of the Armecs. Only those who quickly ran outside survived. Honapo then locked the doors of the temple with himself inside. Frightened by what had happened, my people left the temple and the valley to make a home for themselves outside the valley, in the edge of the jungle. Any who re-entered the valley since that awful day decades ago never returned, so now it is forbidden to return there and no one living in the village has seen inside the valley except for myself. In the years since, some mystical power is in the valley, possibly caused by the priest Honapo and whatever has befallen his mind…dying elephants began to find their way here from all over the jungle, and they all travel down the tunnel into the valley never to return. Sometimes the gods intercede and one of the great beasts falls dead outside our walls, not making it into the valley, and our god has told us this is for our survival as we are then able to use it’s meat, tusks, bones and skin for our purposes since it is taboo for us to kill any of the great beasts ourselves.”
Brolo paused to stare down, clearly exhausted by his long speech and the memories. “Leaving the valley proved to be the downfall of our tribe, as each successive generation has grown smaller. While in the valley, we were protected from attack, but for the last few decades the beasts of the jungle and eaters of flesh have worn down the tribe to its present state. The only thing standing between us and utter destruction is myself, the last Elephant Cult shaman. When under attack I can summon elephants to battle intruders…Unfortunately, I am very old now and can barely call the power to summon the elephants, and the village will have no shamans or protectors after I die…and I have not very long to live. Please when you enter the valley, cleanse the temple of evil, for in my last days I will be able to re-consecrate the temple then and my people will again have a land they can dwell in and be protected from the outside evils of this land. I can then die with the knowledge my people are safe. ” At this, the shaman sat down and was silent, except for one more thing. “I have seen in my dreams your arrival here, and you will free the valley from it’s curse, but some of you will die. I and my people thank you for your sacrifice…and know the Elephant God looks upon you with favor also.

The next morning, plans were made for the party to investigate the Valley of the Elephants. The chief told them his son, Sholo, would guide them to the entrance (which was in the cliff wall, shielded by hanging vines), but could go no further….from there, it was up to the adventurers. So, Kal and the ape Gra-Gra, Cadelaine, Mongo, Endefal, Nadal, Ark, Alando, and Kumar packed up their supplies and followed the chief’s son to the entrance several hundred yards away. They left Sholo at the large opening and pushed past the hanging vines…there was a tunnel 200 feet long lit by light from the other side, and the tunnel was immense…large enough for the great elephants to pass inside on their journey into the valley.
The trip through the tunnel was short, and soon the party stood at the entrance of a valley, approximately 1 mile wide and five miles long. Around the entrance where they stood, the floor of the valley gradually tilted down to a basin, where shimmered a small lake, and a large stone building. Between them and the structure was several miles of broken plain, and the sun gleamed off the hundreds and hundreds of elephant skeletons laying all across the valley floor! The party surveyed the area; besides right next to the entrance, there was little growth except for scrub bushes and grass, and the sides of the valley looked crumbling and sheer. Several groups of large vultures fed on recent elephant corpses, and the adventurers saw several lone jackals and hyenas running across the plain. Nothing but small animals, scavengers, seemed to inhabit the treeless valley.
As the party made their way from the entrance, suddenly the air filled with pollen. Ark, Alando and Kumar had a glazed look in their eyes, and began walking towards what appeared to be a large, 6 foot tall flytrap…a gigantic “mantrap”! They had been hypnotized by it’s pollen, and began heading toward the open maws of the plant to step inside, but Kal threw up an Entangle to stop them, and then Endefal used several vials of oils to burn the abomination to the ground. After it was on fire, the charmed individuals’ heads cleared, and the group began to head into the valley.

However, attracted by the smoke, several man sized winged creatures began circling the party from a couple of hundred feet up. Coming from what looked like caves on the side of the mountain, these dozen or so creatures began trailing the party from above as the adventurers moved through the valley. Small bones crunched under feet as the party marveled at the sheer amount of elephant skeletons scattered across the plains…estimates of how much ivory could be brought out of the valley by Nadel and Ark took the total over 100,000 gp worth! Walking past and through huge skulls, rib cages, leg bones, and great curving tusks, the party could see nothing alive except for small rats, mice, insects and such. The occasional jackal and hyena kept their distance, as did the great vultures feeding on the corpses. Only the winged beings kept pace with the adventurers, keeping a couple of hundred feet away as they circled overhead and began screaming to each other in a strange guttural language. Ark gave them a grim look and told the party he recognized the creatures…”Pteramen”. They were winged reptilian beings, he said, with no redeeming qualities…as a matter of fact Ark told them, they were cruel and evil and lived in trees and caves attacking creatures weaker than themselves, not just for food, but for sport.
Resolving they needed to find out more about the reptilian flyers, Cadelaine volunteered to climb to their caves. Turning invisible, she made the long climb up over 180 feet to a ledge that connected several cave entrances. The stench of shit and worse hit her nostrils, causing her eyes to water as she gagged, moving invisibly and silently past several of the perching creatures (who resembled, in her mind, winged lizardmen). Walking through a few caves and searching, she found some bodies of past explorers and their packs. Cadelaine was able to gather a wand, a scroll tube, and many gold pieces, until picking up a bulging leather pouch, the rotting thing fell apart dropping dozens of gold coins onto the stone floor with a ringing sound. Immediately, the flying reptiles went silent, only to began screaming and squawking as they rushed through the caves angrily searching for an intruder. Very quietly, Cadelaine slipped out and climbed down the cave, bringing her findings to the party. Identifying the wand would have to wait, but upon opening the bone scroll tube they found a priest’s scroll with several spells.

Suddenly, the air 100 feet above the party was a dozen or so pteramen clutching rocks. They began dropping them on top the heads of the party, causing several injuries! The party responded by firing arrows and sling bullets, as the pteramen returned again and again to drop rocks from on high. A crude shelter was sought by the party members in the carcass of an elephant, as Nadal threw a blanket over a giant skeleton to shield Kumar and himself. The rest of the party returned missile fire but they were not killing any of the creatures. Seeing a storm front blowing in, Kal began concentrating on a spell as Ark, Alando, Endefal, Cadelaine and Mongo returned fire at the pteramen. Suddenly, after concentrating for ten minutes or so, with raindrops hitting his face, Kal gestured dramatically, and lighting bolt ripped down into a small group of the pteramen clustered on the ledge, incinerating them! Three burnt bodies lay crumpled at the edge, and the rest of the pteramen, realizing the gesturing figure was causing the bolts to hit them, retreated in fear into their caves. Kal caused bolt after bolt to hit the area, hopefully scaring the creatures into leaving them alone.

As the small storm blew through, the adventurers huddled underneath the crude shelter in the elephant’s skeleton (supplemented by several more blankets). Ark told them that even if the pteramen were scared now, they had to be dealt with, as they would return to bother the party until they got brave enough to try to snatch individuals up and bring them to their lair for food. A plan was then drawn up, more of necessity than good planning, where Cadelaine and the ape Gra-Gra (with Kal riding on his back) would climb the slope, tying several hundred feet of rope to rocks, hopefully before the pteramen came out of their caves to investigate. The rest of the party (excluding Alando and Kumar) could then climb up, and perhaps they could ambush the pteramen in their lair. Not a great plan, but it was the best the party could think up on short notice, as it appeared no alternative existed to getting pelted with rocks for however long they were in the valley.It was decided that Cadelaine (while invisible) and Gra-Gra, with Kal riding on his back, would take up long ropes (or many ropes tied together); fasten them at the top, and guard/defend the ropes as the rest of the party members used them to slowly climb up to the pteramen’s ledge and lair. Hopefully, they wouldn’t disturb the Pteramen (who had all retreated into the caves), and most of the party would be on the ledge ready for battle by the time the reptilian bird men noticed intruders on the ledge.

Quietly and quickly, Cadelaine and Gra-Gra (with Kal in tow) traversed the rocky slope, and reached the ledge. Cadelaine quickly tied her end of the rope off, but Kal had may problems and could not seem to fasten the rope to any nearby protrusions. As this went on, a scream was heard, and pteramen began pouring out of the cave openeings to battle the party members! Gra-Gra leapt to the attack, battling two of the creatures, as one by one the party members reached the ledge and joined in the battle. It was a long, dirty, bloody combat, as the party members had to be careful of their footing, as well as the claws of the pteramen. One time Cadelaine was grabbed by a pteraman and dropped over the side, but her Ring of Feather Falling made the drop a slow, floating fall to the bottom of the valley.

Ark, Endefal, Kal, Mongo, Nadel, Cadelaine and Gra Gra (both Alando and Kumar were told to stay below to prevent injury) slowly fought through the screaming, slashing creatures as one by one they fell dead at the blows rained upon them. Mongo fought madly at the reptilian enemy he hated most, and soon the party was surrounded by steaming pteraman parts on the blood-slippery outside ledge, all the creatures destroyed. Then, reluctantly searching through the filth of the pteramen’s lair, the party discovered a few additional coins not located earlier by Cadelaine, as well as a potion in a metal vial. With their meager treasure in hand, but secure in the knowledge the winged reptiles would cause no further damage, the party scaled back down the cliff and set up camp for the night.

THE ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD: PART TWO

The next day, the expedition (with it’s ranks swelled by an extra 40) started off heading for the nearby lake, and from there, to the village of the ex-slaves. Within a few miles they had hit the western shore of the small lake (perhaps a mile in diameter), and heading north another mile along the shore brought them to the village. When they arrived, several startled natives came out of the their huts…these were fortunate members of the village who were out hunting or fishing the day the Taranthian slavers raided the village, and had been spared capture. They screamed and cried in happiness as they saw their relatives returned to them, and the reunion was quite joyful. Of course, nothing else would do but for the village to hold an impromptu festival, and the trip to the Elephant’s Graveyard was delayed a day as the adventurers and their entourage enjoyed the hospitality of the grateful villagers.
Long into the night, music was played with drum and flute, there was dancing, feasting, and games of skill, and merriment abounded. Most of the party stayed alert and did not drink much of the fermented banana wine, except for Mongo who not only heavily partook of the beverage, but told the party “It is time for Mongo to plant some seeds!” and commenced to dallying with several of the village girls, including one incredibly comely lass at whose hut he spent most of the night.
The next morning, the adventurers made their leave, with the newly minted priest of Attar, Kumar, joining Endefal at his side. Using a broken chain link as his holy symbol, Kumar reluctantly said goodbye to his family as he joined the expedition to spread the word of The Rescuer to others.

The first night there was little problem, except for a poisonous fer-de-lance snake that crawled into the camp and was killed by Endefal before it was able to bite Kumar. The next day, skirting the lake they crossed a swampy, wet area with water up to their ankles, slowing the expedition down. Scouting ahead, Mongo, Roho and Kal ran into a nest of crocodiles with 9 crocs guarding the eggs. As they were attacked, they fought back and a giant specimen slid into few and attacked Mongo. Kal entangled almost all of the reptiles, as Roho and Kal dealt with the two crocs that escaped the vegetation. Soon Cadelaine and Endefal were there to help, and between them all they killed the crocs with Mongo performing fanatically against his chosen foe (downing five of the beasts by himself).
The rest of that day was uneventful, until late in the day. The scouts found signs of a battle that had been fought, with broken weapons, blood, and pieces of bodies. Mongo identified the items as cannibal weapons, and it looked as if someone had run into them. Immediately the group became suspicious because so far they had found no sign of anyone on the trail to the Graveyard except for slavers…they immediately suspected something wrong. Mongo and Cadelaine snuck up ahead but made an abominable mess of noise, alerting the trio they found in a nearby clearing. All three were light-skinned and clearly not Delosian natives. A large man in armor with a large sword, a woodland type of man holding a bow, and a half elven woman in leather stood talking in the clearing. All were wounded and all immediately looked to the bushes as they heard Cadelaine and Mongo thrashing through. The thought crossed the party’s mind that this might be the group of thieves that had stolen the map from the priesthood of Vistna, for why else would this group be alone in the jungle dressed like mercenary warriors, on the exact path as they?
The trio immediately readied their weapons as the ranger-type shouted “Who’s there?” to Cadelaine and Mongo as they remained hidden. Hoping to confuse them into revealing something, Mongo walked out of the bushes with his hand held free of weapons. Meanwhile, Endefal, Nadal, Kal and Roho arrived to back up the hidden duo, leaving Kumar and Alando a few hundred yards back to watch the caravan.
The trio of mercenary types in the clearing were clearly confused by Mongo’s appearance, as he was obviously no cannibal, but was far too well equipped to be a native of the area. From concealment, Endefal cast Hold Person and Kal cast Heat Metal on the large fighter type, but neither seemed to have any effect on him. The trio in the clearing kept shouting questions at Mongo that he did not answer, then finally the large man said “Screw this, let’s just kill the bastard!”
At that, Mongo attacked, and all hell broke loose! Both Nadal and Endefal rushed from concealment to assist him. Suddenly, a wall of flame burst up in front of Kal, Roho and Cadelaine…and the unfortunate Endefal, who had begun charging and took full damage from the fire as he rushed through the wall. A now-visible mage stood about 30 or so yards back behind the party, concentrating on the wall. Obviously, the party was not the only one planning an ambush! Cadelaine quickly dropped her blowgun and darts and began pouring deadly snake venom poison on her arrows; Kal and Roho tried to rush the mage, but suddenly Roho was stabbed by a previously invisible half elven thief type, and they began battling. Kal was left with the mage, who by virtue of being able to cast a Wall of Fire, looked quite capable and deadly!
Back in the clearing, Mongo, Nadal and a now-healed Endefal began mixing it up with the trio, a fighter (Charl), ranger (Ark), and a female half elven thief (Hem), who avoided combat to stand back and fire sling bullet after sling bullet at the party members. Charl was quite experienced and competent, he was struck many times but fought on, delivering nasty blows to the trio with his bastard sword. One blow knocked Nadal unconscious, and only Mongo and Endefal were left to battle him. The ranger Ark took a few blows and retreated to the foliage to leave Endefal and Mongo to Charl, but before leaving cast Entangle on the area! Both Endefal and Mongo were caught up in the grabbing vines and grasses, but so was the enemy fighter Charl, who began swearing threats to Ark for getting him along with the others. From the bushes, Ark and Hem continued to pepper party members with missile weapons.
On the other side of the trees, the battle had taken a desperate tone. Struck by what appeared to be a poisoned blade, Roho gasped, and fell heavily to the ground. At almost the same time, Cadelaine’s poisoned arrows were bouncing off the mage (who appeared to have some sort of Protection spell going) so she shifted to the thief that had attacked Roho, striking him solidly and killing him almost instantly with the poisoned arrow! Meanwhile, Kal had thrown a magical puffball at the mage, who was engulfed in the cloud and began coughing and gagging. After stabbing the nearly helpless mage with his spear a few times, he realized desperate measures must be taken as the mage had reached into his robe and pulled out a wand! So, dumping two vials of oil on the ground and all over the coughing mage, he used his spear to light the mage up, turning him into a flaming bonfire as the oil ignited whatever the mage himself had on his person. The enemy mage was quickly consumed by the flames and the blaze became a funeral pyre for him. The threat ended for now, Kal rushed to Roho, but it was too late. The poisoned blade had taken the life of the native fighter, and Kal grimly decided his death would not be in vain.
Back at the clearing, Alando and Kumar had arrived in response to the shouting and sounds of battle they had heard back from the caravan. Cadelaine at this point was trading missile fire with the hidden Ark and Hem, and Alando crawled into the clearing to minister to the unconscious Nadal with healing spells. Still caught in the entangled shrubbery, Endefal, Mongo and Charl could only watch helplessly. Joined by Kumar, who shouted “For Attar!” as he raised his club high, Nadal rushed the hidden Ark who was still firing arrows into their midst. The party heard a short struggle, then the crack of something striking a skull. After several minutes, Nadal and Kumar emerged from the jungle, dragging an unconscious form…they had taken care of Ark with a well placed blow from the novice cleric!
The mercenary fighter Charl still held by the entangle spell cast by his own comrade, Kal, Alando and Cadelaine used him for target practice with missile weapons as he finally collapsed unconscious, just in time as the spell dissolved. Without wasting time, Mongo and Endefal rushed into the jungle to find the missing thief, who had a several minute head start and had disappeared into the trees. After about a mile, there was an ambush as a now partially healed thief dropped from a tree onto Mongo, backstabbing him with a poisoned blade. Mongo, however, wasted no time in dispatching the thief with several powerful blows, separating her head from her shoulders with the final one. The poison did not seem to have any effect on the native ranger, and so he and Endefal dragged her body back to the clearing.
Finally, the party’s survivors dragged the bodies of their enemies, as well as the still alive but badly beaten Charl and Ark (now tightly tied with rope) to the camp for questioning. Searching the bodies, the party found the original stolen map in Ark’s pack, marking this group of five as the mercenaries who had ambushed the priest of Vistna back in Port Maugre. Under questioning, Charl gave up everything, saying he was just a hired hand and the jig was up, He told them they worked for House Mith, and had been tasked to find the Elephant’s Graveyard before the party, and eliminate any witnesses to the deed. They were the ones who had attacked and stolen the map from the priest of Vistna, on orders of the merchant house (or so Charl said). They had unfortunately been sidetracked on their mission to find the Graveyard when they had been attacked by cannibal headhunters the day before, who had killed their cleric, another mercenary fighter, and scattered the few native porters they had brought along. When the party had come upon them, they had been debating whether to return to Port Maugre empty-handed or go onwards.
At these words, Ark began shouting to Charl that his life was now forfeit, as their employers were not forgiving men and would kill them all rather than be revealed. He was silenced as Endefal placed the cursed Helm of Alignment Change on his head, causing the ranger to revert to an alignment much more aligned to law and good! Ark immediately became sorrowful at the attack that had killed the party member Roho, and asked if he could do anything for them. Charl was quickly executed and searched, along with the rest of the dead mercenaries. As Ark was talked to more and more, it appeared he had definitely changed profoundly, and now could be trusted to not only assist the party, but join them in the rest of their journey! With a written confession from the now-dead mercenary Charl, Kal tasked a bird to carry the papers to Port Maugre and the House of Valaryan.

Searching the mercenaries yielded quite a bit of magic that the party could use, so they divided it up. Cadelaine got one thief’s (Jakk) ring of invisibility, and a wand of frost that had survived the intense burning of the mage’s (Mofti) body. She also got a magical dagger and longsword, and some magical arrows. Mongo was able to get a set of magical hide armor worn by one of the mercenaries, as well as a ring of fire resistance worn by the fighter Charl (the reason the Heal Metal spell had no effect on him). Kal acquired a Ring of Jumping from Ark, but the party was loath to take more from him less his now firm loyalty to them fail. Nadal took the magical bastard sword of the mercenary fighter, and Endefal took a magical sling and ring from the dead female thief.
It was with great sorrow the party then held a ceremony for Roho; as per his native customs, his body was burned to let his ashes rise in the air and his sprit reach paradise. Somberly the party stayed in the clearing for the night, and were attacked by a swarm of large spiders that overran the camp at dusk. With Ark’s help, Cadelaine’s two sleep spells, and Kal’s entangle spell, a couple of dozen spiders were dealt with and destroyed. Ark proved a big help, as he was now firmly on the adventurer’s corner and was quite a good fighter. He also showed his skill the next day as a flock of jungle stirges attacked, unfortunately killing a mule and several native porters before being destroyed. As long as the helm stayed on his head (and part of the enchantment was that Ark nor anyone else could remove it without the assistance of a spell) the now-good ranger could prove to be very useful in the wilds of the jungle on the way to the graveyard.