All was still in the jungle. A rare moment of quiet shrouded the night, with the exception of a muffled whisper drifting from the folds of Garth's tent.
But Garth was not alone in receiving a visitor.
Deep within the vaults of Reksus' mind, a voice called to him. A calmer, more composed Reksus responded in thought.
The voice commanded: Reksus must regain control of his body, and he had but one month to succeed. Fail to do so and the voice would leave him.
Reksus accepted the task and vowed it will be done.
A new dawn at last.
After a thoroughly eventful night for all, the party were perhaps not as well rested as usual, but muscle memory took charge and they packed up their site as efficiently as ever and made way for the boat.
They drifted for a time upon the water; Poe soaring high above, Reksus advancing his rapier fishing skills and Gorg and Uthal competing in rowing prowess.
Akaza chose to query Garth on something she had overheard the night before. She quoted Akal's question regarding the Doombringers of Myrkul and Garth's response that this role was filled by another.
Garth immediately clammed up and attempted to change the subject, but Azaka pressed on.
But as she continued to pressure the flustered Cleric, a second voice barked from his lips:
TELL THEM NOTHING.
Azaka was momentarily stunned. The Chultian tried to meet Garth's gaze and continued the questioning.
STOP SPEAKING TO THEM.
The rest of the party exchanged concerned glances and Azaka sat back in her seat, deciding to relent. Garth donned his helmet and fell silent, hugging his legs to his chest.
A bird call.
From beneath the skull helm, Garth relayed Poe's message:
Two Giant flying dinosaurs were gliding high above them. Whether they were following the river or the tiny canoe itself was unclear, but all should be on guard.
As night began to approach, the flying creatures were spotted banking off to the north and, as Poe tracked them, he also spotted a horde of zombies a little way beyond the shoreline; some with a blue arcane symbol emblazoned upon the foreheads.
With both points considered, the party made camp on the southern shore of the river.
The night to follow was uneventful, although each watchman did report a similar stench wafting in from elsewhere in the brush.
As morning came, it was immediately apparent that the smell had become far worse; the source had moved much closer.
They hastily packed up and paced towards their beached canoe, but as they approached the vessel the jungle stirred behind them.
Trees shook and branches shattered as a massive ankylosaurus lumbered from the treeline.
The smell of rot hit them like a wave. Parts of the beast's skull and jaw were exposed and the gaping hole was visible in its rib cage; providing a delightful window into its rancid chest cavity.
But a moment of shock, and the party sprang into action. Azaka loosed arrows from her longbow as Gorg and Uthal surged towards the foe; great weapons drawn. Garth strafed to a wide flanking position and sent Poe into the undergrowth, unseen.
A hushed scream sounded by the boat and Reksus looked up from the pack he had been rifling through, the mask now clamped to his face.
But a new visage could be distinguished from the wooden surface.
The new persona, with chubby cheeks and eyes wide with fear, quickly took in his new surrounding before bolting down the river bank and away from the battle.
Upon reaching what he appeared to deem a safe distance, he took cover behind a thick tree, took a deep breath and began firing spells back towards the action.
The stage was set. Gorg and Uthal held the beast's attention and clove into its decaying hide, while Azaka, Garth and chubby Reksus unloaded volleys into its unguarded flanks.
A sudden, unexpected strike caught Uthal square in the chest, but the Goliath's raw strength met the attack dead on and sent it glancing away harmlessly.
The beast would not get a second opportunity.
The party's time together paid off in full as they instinctively worked as a cohesive unit and slew the creature within seconds of the initial attack.
The rotting carcass now lay at their feet.
Uthal made to search for harvest-able goods, but the stench sent him reeling. Garth, however, was unperturbed and dove in elbow deep; he could not help but admire the power required to animate such a beast.
Alas, anything of value was set with rot and decay, so the team returned to the canoe and finally set off upon the river; Port Nyanzaru was now only half a day away.
The bustle of the Port could be heard before it was seen and the canoe soon found itself navigating the packed waterways. A spot was picked out in the docks, so they moored up and began tying in to the small jetty.
A pair of garish boots stepped up to eye level on the wooden planks above.
MY FRIENDS! SO GOOD TO SEE YOU.
Slowly, filled with dread, each set of eyes rose to meet the gaze of Lohsi. He stood, arms wide in welcome and a broad grin upon his face.
One exhausting exchange later and it transpired that Lohsi was here acquiring supplies for his stall in Fort Belaurian, but now that he had bumped into his favourite customers perhaps they would like to take a look at his stock?!
As misfortune had it, the party had a large amount of loot from their excursion that was weighing them down and Lohsi was the perfect merchant to offload a sizable amount of it on to. Garth tallied up a rough estimate of the hoard's worth and Lohsi offered less than half the gold in return.
Reksus quickly interjected and pushed Lohsi far closer to Garth's original price, sealing the deal; although Garth was clearly upset at losing out on a potential fifty gold or so.
However, on second thought, with business concluded, they could escape Lohsi all the sooner and a hasty exit was made before the merchant could sell them back some of their wears.
As they made their way towards the bustling street, Azaka cleared her throat. She announced that it was at this time she would part ways with the party, having concluded their business together.
The Reezlanders made it no secret that they were unhappy with this exit; Azaka had proved invaluable to the party on countless occasions and had quite literally saved the life of one of its members. But there was no swaying her; she had business to attend to.
She promised to put in a good word with the other guides in Port; perhaps they would receive a discount on their next hire.
And with a curt nod, she blended into the crowds.
Stood alone in the docks, the Reezlanders felt a little lost for direction. In reality, they were no closer to completing their primary quest than two weeks ago; they were quite literally back in the location they had begun their journey and now they had lost their guide.
Garth still had some goods that Lohsi had not wished to purchase and Uthal pointed out that they had amassed a large (and heavy) amount of silver and copper that would best be converted into gold, thus a decision was made to head into town and run some errands while they sought the next direction for the team.
This would prove to be more time consuming than expected.
The party approached stall after stall of local salesmen only to find that not a one spoke their dialect of Common. Despairingly, they flagged down a pair of guards and asked where in the Port they could find a bank. In extremely broken common, one of the two explained how there were no banks in Port Nyanzaru, but if they wished to exchange coin the Merchant Princes would likely be able to assist.
They set off at once.
The entrance to the Villa complex was flanked by two Chultian guards as usual. The party approached and explained how they wished to meet with the princes. The Princes, however, were not present. They were taking audiences at the governmental building, Goldenthrone.
Goldenthrone was a large complex in the centre of town. A long queue of locals wound down the street, leading to the grand entrance.
Garth explained to the doorman that they were friends of the Princes and required a brief meeting with them. The doorman garbled back in thick Chultian. Reksus' eyes lit up with an idea and he cast Comprehend Languages upon himself.
He translated that the guard was explaining that he did not understand them. Garth asked Reksus to translate his own message and Reksus' expression dropped as he realised actually spell only worked one way; he could understand the guard, but was still unable to communicate back to him.
Back to the drawing board.
Glancing back at the queue, unwilling to join it for hours on end, Garth quickly penned a note and attached it to Poe's ankle. Poe soared up over the walls and into the complex. He began to circle the main structure, looking for an opening, when a dagger struck the Owl firmly in the side and he disintegrated into a puff of arcane energy. Apparently the guards in the complex had in fact never seen an owl before and one had decided to take down the unknown intruder.
Begrudgingly, the Reezlanders joined the back of the line.
After an hour or so, the party eased into a casual conversation with the man in front of them; his name was Atumwa, a priest to Savras.
Atumwa was a fountain of knowledge and he told the party of numerous point of interest within Chult. He was also well aware of the Death Curse and revealed that, if the party wished to learn more on the curse, he recommended they travel to Orolunga, home of the Guardian Naga, Saja N'Baza. Furthermore, he had heard that famed author, Volothamp Geddarm, was in town and rumoured to also be searching for Orolunga; perhaps they could be of each other's assistance?
As a final nugget of information, he told the group a little local history, specifically regarding necromancy within the region. They had surely noticed the the undead rife within the jungle, perhaps they had noticed some with an arcane mark emblazoned upon their heads?
This blue triangle was the mark of the Necromancer, Raznee. While the man himself was long dead, his marks, it seemed, live on beyond him.
As the conversation flowed, the queue shrank, and the party soon found themselves being lead into the complex.
A grand doorway was opened before them and they stepped into a hall. The Princes sat upon tall pedestals on the opposite side of the room.
Upon recognising the Reezlanders, Wakanga greeted them warmly.
Previosuly distracted by the lengthly process of aquiring this audience and the grandness of the room they now found themselves in, it slowly dawned on Garth that they were purely here to exchange some coppers into gold.
Too late now. He made the request.
This is why we're here?! Apparently the task a hand had also slipped the mind of Reksus.
The Princes exchanged bewildered glances and asked if this was in fact all they required?
Uthal stepped forward and decided to ask the Princes if they had heard of the death curse.
There was an awkward silence before Wakanga reminded Uthal that the Princes were the ones who had in fact hired the party; along with Syndra Sylvane.
Garth and Reksus hastily pulled the confused Goliath back behind them.
Wakanga explained that a clerk would handle the gold exchange and dismissed the party at once.
As the clerk counted out their gold, the Reezlanders reflected; as embarrassing and pointless as their meeting with the Princes had been, it had indirectly resulted in the most valuable piece of information they had acquired to date; their next destination.
Garth pulled the map from his pack and plotted a course for Orolunga.