Session Summary #16

[Nathan Sherman]

Cast of Characters
Theren Moonshadow, a Moon Elf Bard played by Payson
Lutheo, a Halfling Paladin played by Dale
Otep, a Half Orc Fighter played by Nelson
Akronos, a Human Wizard played by Alec
Ceress, a Saurien Monk played by Graham
Q'Tahna, a Myrian ranger guild from the Nengeli tribe

We pick up the session right after the air ship has crashed into the jungle.

The air ship just crashed and the party gathers together to search through the wreckage for any other survivors. Unfortunately, none of the crew of the airship were sturdy enough like the players to survive such harrowing experience. After spending several minutes searching the wreckage Otep and Theren decide to procure one of the floating Dasjani stones from the sky ship. Otep starts to break it free of the housing it's in but soon realizes that when he succeeds it will launch into the air due to the dappled sunlight falling on it through the canopy of trees. Theren covers it with his cloak and Otep breaks it out of its housing and they stuff it into the bag of holding.

Apparently this delay at the crash site was enough time for the Myrian wizard to gather some warriors and return to the crash site. They have surrounded the party and battle is announced when Q'tahna and the one airship survivor Roger are both struck multiple times with Myrian arrows. Roger drops dead and Q'tahna takes refuge against the base of one of the nearby large trees.

Otep charges through the forest in the direction that some arrows came from to find someone to fight but apparently the enemy is adept at concealing themselves in the jungle and he doesn't see anyone right away. Ceress and Theren rush over to join the rest of the party In a defensive group.

Ceress enacts the combat shroud which brings up a ring of fog to obscure the party from their enemies but unfortunately, just seconds later a large fireball explodes in the center of the tightly packed group, damaging everyone except the insightful Otep who was far enough away to escape the damage.

The party starts to scatter throughout the forest after this, deciding that they don't want to provide an easy cluster for the mage to target again.

Akronos casts Enlarge on Ceress who uses his new found stature to scout out the enemies by looking over the top of the shroud of fog. He sees many Myrian warriors darting from jungle foliage to tree cover and doing a great job of staying hidden between shots at the party. The Myrian warriors are dressed in leather armor studded with iron wood and decorated with feathers. They stand about 5 feet tall and blend into the jungle very well.

Otep finds his target enemy and beats him into unconsciousness.

Akronos uses his limited knowledge of the Myrian language to call out to the attackers that he is a friend of the Pahavi tribe, they are friends, they have helped bring down the flying ship and kill the infidels.

Akronos repeats the claim of friendship and finally gets a response from the Myrian wizard that the Amaputu are not friends with the Pahavi so his alliance with them doesn't matter, they will still die as infidels.

Theren fires off several arrows, Akronos blasts some Myrians with spells, Ceress provides a great big target that none of the archers can seem to hit either due to his great dodges or the catching of arrows mid flight. Q'tahna returns fire but appears to be a favorite target and gets dropped, healed and then dropped again.

A Myrian warrior shoots Theren in the back and Otep and Lutheo charge him and catch him despite his evasive efforts. Together they make short work of the little warrior.

Arrows are peppering the party from multiple directions and almost everyone has been hit at least once. The wizard cast a spell and slows Lutheo but several other party members shrug off the effects. Everyone is running out of spells and resources since this battle followed right after the battle on the air ship and they realize that they can't survive it. They throw the Snatch Pit on the ground, opening up the portable space and all pile into it with Ceress grabbing Q'tahna. Sealing the pit from the inside allows the party to view out of it and they see many Myrian warriors searching the area for them for the next 15 minutes.

After using the last of his abilities to provide a little bit of healing, Theren goes into his elven meditation in an effort to to regain some of his abilities while the rest of the party debate what to do when the Snatch Pits abilities expire after 4 hours and they are dumped back into the jungle where scouts will undoubtably be waiting for them.

After much debate, it is agreed that it would be best if Q'tahna uses his Longstrider ability to make him and Ceress quicker then they leave the Snatch Pit, close it from the outside and take it with them to run through the jungle in a desperate escape attempt.

He explains that the Amaputu build stone shrines to their gods and believe these places to be holy. These places, once built, are left untouched, left to the creeping vines and weeds for the jungle to reclaim. They are the dwelling places of the gods. The most ancient of these sites are difficult to find. Trespassers upon these grounds would find themselves facing an angry shaman and Amaputu warriors, but the party will already be facing that. The Amaputans will not set foot on the holy ground of these shrines. The holy ground of each shrine is designated by a ring of stones at its perimeter. An Amaputun will die before breaking this holy law. Someone fleeing an Amaputan tribe could conceivably find refuge in one of the shrines, but such sanctuary would be futile. The Amaputans would wait outside, indefinitely, to punish the infidels.

Since the party won't be back up to full health or spells when they have to leave the snatch pit, fighting the shaman and his warriors at the crash site of the air ship would probably result in death. If Q'tahna and Ceress can make it to the center of a holy site, they can open the snatch pit there and the party can rest and recover there. Most likely, the shaman will gather all the warriors he can find while they are recovering, but at least this way they will have a better chance of escaping them for good.

They put the plan into effect and Ceress and Q'tahna try to sneak out of the area. They spot one scout in a tree but he doesn't see them. They head the other direction and try to avoid detection but unfortunately, they pass right under another scout that spots them. He shoots the traitor Q'tahna in the back for his association with the infidels and then raises the alarm. Ceress and Q'tahna run for their lives with arrows pelting down around them and drums beating out the alert that the prey has been found and the chase is on. A couple more arrows catch Q'tahna but they are able to put enough distance between themselves and the archers before he is dropped.

Ceress and Q'tahna spend almost the next two hours running through the jungle, zig zagging, avoiding ravines and looking for sacred Amaputu ruins. They finally find one of the stones marking the perimeter of a sacred site and follow it to discover where the perimeter is and where the center of the site is. There is an ancient step pyramid being slowly taken over by the jungle in the center of this holy site. There are lots of little glyphs written around the stones of the pyramid and Otep spends time studying them and trying to figure out what they mean.

Otep asks Q'tahna about the Myrian gods and who this site is dedicated to? Q'tahna looks at the symbols of birds, cats, sun and more and declares that is is a shrine to Teara'now. Otep asks him for more information about the Myrian gods and Q'tahna goes into great detail.

The Gethyans see everything in four layers within the whole. The jungle itself is four levels:

The ground under foot, the caves and the darkness below. The forest floor, the cave entrance. The trees and branches above. The forest canopy (and the endless sky above).

There is a great god and then the four facets of that god, just like the jungle and the world. Uaht'a'hau is the Great God, the One God who oversees all. Tesh'ah and Oks'oh'aah are high gods, Ge'ara and Teara'now are lower gods but all are just facets of Uatht'a'hau

Uah'ta'hua is The God of The Jungle Overall. Uah'ta'hua is the jungle. He is everything. The four aspects of Uaht'a'hau are Life, Death, Plants and Animals.

Tesh'ah is the God of Life and Birth. Healing, Harmony, Protection. Tesh'ah is the creation of all life. Tesh'ah is the counterpart of Oks'oh'aah. Without one, the other could not exist.

Ox'oh'lae is the God of the Afterlife, Death, Knowledge, Magic. Ox'oh'lae is the gatekeeper of the afterlife. Ox'oh'lae is the counter part of Tesh'ah. Without Ox'oh'lae claiming old souls, teaching them, and giving them back to Tesh'ah, the cycle of life could not continue.

To the worshipers of Ox'oh'lae, death, afterlife and undead are all holy, not evil. The dead are to always be given words of departing. The ones killed would not die if Ox'oh'lae was not ready for them and the ones that are saved could not be saved if Ox'oh'lae was calling them.

Death is very natural and comes to all. Without death, there could be no life. The decay after death brings life. After death, all things (people, plants, animals, everything) go to the Forest of Waiting. In this afterlife, there is no need to sleep or eat. Time is spent exploring, traveling and learning. That's why we know some things without learning them in this life. Everything remains in the Forest of Waiting until called by Tesh'ah to return to the Jungle of Life (often referred to as the Jungle of Death by worshipers of Ox'oh'lae.

The Jungle of Waiting is seen as having four steps as well. These steps mirror the steps within the Jungle of Life. First is disorientation. Second is learning how to navigate the Jungle of Waiting and becoming a new individual. Third is traveling, learning and exploring. Fourth is teaching other new comers and thus preparing to return. The time frame for each in the Jungle of Waiting varies greatly.

Animations like skeletons are on loan from Ox'oh'lae for the faith that has been shown. The essence is done with the form and completed its cycle. The shell is empty. An essence from the Jungle of Waiting will be assigned as caretaker of the animation for as long as it is needed.

It is considered bad mojo to create more animations than one can control. That would bind an essence to be caretaker for an uncontrolled time, not allowing them to return to the Jungle of Waiting to continue the cycle.

Ox'oh'lae is often seen represented as an ant for decay and a bat for the afterlife.

Ge'ara is the God of Plants, Land, Water, Caves, Safety, Darkness.

Teara'now is the God of Animals, Strength, Luck, Risk, Light.

He also explains that most holy men wear their hair long, in a single braid. The longer the hair, the closer the holy man is to his god. Piercing is a common practice of the holy men.

Shaman will pluck their hair, all except for a patch in the back top of the head that is worn in a topknot. The longer the topknot the greater the shamans communication with the spirits. Shaman will often file their front teeth to points.

Warriors wear their hair in mohawk. Longer mohawk indicate greater status as a tribe's warrior. Warriors will paint themselves for battles and great hunts.

Scouts pluck their heads bald. Scouts will also wear paint when going on missions.

Shortly after the detailed lesson on Myrian religion and culture the Amaputu warriors have finally tracked the party down to this ancient site. They start in with their drums to summon more warriors and shamans to set up the vigil and kill the infidels when they finally leave. The drums play on through the day and night.

The party decides that the best chance for escape is to once again use the snatch pit with all party members in there except for Ceress. Ceress will close up the pit from the outside and while undercover of invisibility and silence, he will sneak out during the dark of the next morning. Having superior night vision to humans will give him an even greater advantage over the Amaputu keeping watch. To make this plan work, they will need to spend a full day at the sacred sight hoping that the legends of the Amaputu superstition around the sacred site are true and they they don't come in to kill them.

They decide to also incorporate Lutheo's mystical riding dog as a further diversion, having it run while carrying a magically glowing vine to enhance its distraction, in a different direction than the Ceresss escape route.

Around four hours before sunrise the next day, they put their plan into effect. The only unforeseen kink in their plan is that the dog moved at a much greater speed than Ceress and broke through the line of the enemy surrounding them before he did. When the Amaputu see the dog, they rouse everyone with their drums, signaling that the hunt is on!

One of the Amaputu warriors notices something unusual as Ceress slipped past the guard line but the warrior can't figure out what it is and Ceress makes good his escape with the rest of the party in the snatch pit.

Ceress runs for the next four hours through the jungle and anytime he finds a river he uses his superior Saurian swimming abilities to traverse it for a ways to further make it hard to track him.

After four hours the snatch pit expels the party back into the jungle. Having timed it well, the sun is about to come up and the snatch pit is soon ready for another days use and four more hours of concealment for the party. They decide to have Q'tahna take the next four hour shift of running through the forest with the party safely in the pit.

At the end of those four hours, Q'tahna brings them out of the snatch pit and the party realizes that they are in the center of a large gathering of Myrians...

Q'tahna introduces them as the Gethyan tribe and U'gita is the tribes chief and holy man. He doesn't speak common but his brother Nu'Takie can translates for him better than Q'tahna can.

This is where session #16 ended.