The Grand Souk, The Chase, and The Run

After a surprisingly restful night at the Thundering Lizard, Kitayne, Dara, and Rose met for breakfast in the common room. They were still wearing their travel clothes, which were admittedly ill-suited for the Chultan climate, but they were refreshed by a night of good sleep in comfortable beds.
“Mornin’,” Dara yawned. “Is it just us, then?”
Kitayne looked around. “I don’t see Ororo anywhere. We might as well have a bit of breakfast. He’s probably going to sleep in after the amount he drank yesterday.”
They sat themselves around an open table, surveying the morning crowd. It wasn’t quite as rowdy as the evening before, but there were still plenty of locals laughing over their tankards. The Thundering Lizard was a popular watering hole no matter the time of day, it seemed.
Terina swept over and offered to take their orders. “Tej all around?” she suggested cheerily.
“At this time of morning?” Rose sniffed.
“And why not? You never know what the day might bring,” Terina answered with a wink.
“I think we’ll pass on the tej for now. Maybe just some breakfast,” Dara said, speaking for the group.
As they tucked in to their meal, which included some kind of salted meat that they suspected was another bit of dinosaur, two strange men approached their table.
“Good morning, and sorry to bother you,” began the one who was the most bizarre in appearance, “but Syndra Silvane sent us to find you here.” The man – if you could call him that – appeared to be made entirely out of rock and gem.
His companion, a human man with strings of dirty, dark hair, showed no emotion as he studied the women at the breakfast table. As his eye met Rose’s gaze, they both fought back scowls of distaste. She was taken aback by his ugliness and unkempt appearance, while he was put off by her beauty and meticulous grooming. However, as they knew they would be traveling companions, they both kept their judgments to themselves.
“Good morning. Won’t you join us?” Kitayne invited. “I’m Kitayne.”
“Randolph,” the dirty man grunted as he sat down.
The stone man introduced himself as Eirikr, a genasi.
Rosalie inclined her head politely to the two newcomers. “I’m Rosalie. You may call me Rose if you wish.”
Dara introduced herself next, then peered around the bar again. Ororo was apparently sleeping in, which might have been a blessing on a different day. “There’s also Ororo, but I guess he’s not awake just yet. Perhaps someone should go look for him,” she suggested.
As Terina approached to take orders from the newcomers, Kitayne caught her eye. “Excuse me, Terina, but have you seen our friend, the rabbit man? I wonder if you could send someone up to his room to check on him.”
With a greedy glint in her eye, Terina nodded. “Oh, the generous tipper! I don’t think he purchased a room with us, but I’ll have the porters check, anyway.”
That handled, Dara turned to the newcomers. “Alright then, how do you two know Syndra?” she asked.
“I was summoned,” said Randolph, simply.
The others nodded knowingly at that answer.
“And what are you looking for?” Kitayne wanted to know.
Randolph’s eyes darkened. “Revenge.”
“Oh, I understand,” Kitayne said, her voice friendly and conversational.
Eirikr studied the group. “I’m looking for information on who I am or where I came from,” he admitted. He shared the story of his unlikely origins to a rapt crowd. They leaned in as he described the ore vein where he was found and his dwarven upbringing.
“Fascinating,” Dara muttered, caught up in the story.
When the story was done, Randolph had warmed a little, and he seemed ready to speak in more than single-word sentences. “My family was destroyed by the rot,” he volunteered.
“The rot?” Rose questioned.
He took a deep breath before explaining. “Yes, the undead rot. Undead killed my wife and children. I’m the last one to make it out. I’ve been exterminating undead ever since, and I hope I can put an end to the rot now that I’m here.”
“It seems like there are a lot of undead around here,” Kitayne commented.
Dara leaned in. “So, we’re all looking for the Soulmonger, yeah?” she asked conspiratorially.
Randolph and Eirikr confirmed that yes, they were on that mission for Syndra.
“Well, we have a lead, at least. There’s a necromancer in a ruined city in the jungle.” Dara told them. “Nani Pupu in M’bala.”
Thoughtfully, Randolph nodded.
Ororo wandered through the front door and stumbled up to their table, half dressed and groggy. He dragged his leather armor behind him, and his sweat-damp fur stuck out in clumps.
“Oi, bunny man!” Dara greeted him. “Did you sleep well?”
“No,” he grouched.
Kitayne looked him up and down. “Did you lose your clothes?”
“It’s hot,” he replied gruffly.
“My room was pretty comfortable,” Kitayne said.
“I didn’t get a room. They cost silver, and I’m trying to be frugal with my money,” Ororo replied, settling himself on a chair and pulling on his clothes. “I slept on the roof.”
“Trying to save money?” Dara murmured incredulously.
Terina spotted Ororo and hustled over. She was disappointed when he asked for nothing more than water, but she didn’t argue today. She brought back a tall pitcher of cool water, which Ororo guzzled greedily.
Eirikr was quite taken aback by Ororo. “We need him?” he asked skeptically, pointing a stoney finger at the harengon.
“We wonder the same thing,” Dara joked, “but he’s not so bad.”
Rosalie waved everyone to attention. “So, we need to pick a guide, and we need to find the Harper’s guild,” she said imperiously. In short order, she caught up their new companions on their activities of the previous day, the guides they’d already interviewed, and what they thought of each.
They had a hearty conversation about Salida (who they didn’t like) and Azaka (who they did.) Randolph and Eirikr liked the ad from Qawasha, but they were all a bit intimidated by the distance they’d need to travel to interview the druid.
“One thing about Azaka is that we can get her for free if we help her find her family’s mask,” Kitayne chimed in.
“But she will leave us alone every time there’s a full moon,” Rosalie added.
Meanwhile, Ororo chugged pitcher after pitcher of water.
Terina, tired of delivering refills, hauled over a barrel of water and plunked it onto the floor beside their table. “Help yourselves,” she quipped before moving on to serve other guests.
Fur-covered Ororo wasn’t the only one who felt overheated in the tropical weather. Kitayne was also drenched in sweat, and she did indeed help herself to the cool water. It wasn’t even mid-morning yet, and already the humidity and heat were approaching miserable levels.
“Can we get you some new clothes or some armor that’s not so hot?” Rose asked Kitayne.
“I’ve got fur!” Ororo snapped.
Kitayne sighed. “She was talking to me,” she said, wiping sweat from her dripping face.
“Maybe we can get you something light,” Rose continued. “Some shorts, maybe?”
Ororo twitched his ears in annoyance. “Shorts? We’re going into the jungle. We should all wear long pants to avoid the pricks and the bugs. Besides, look at what the guides wear. It’s all protective gear, not light, airy stuff.”
Everyone paused and stared at Ororo.
“That was uncomfortably smart,” Rose commented.
“And he’s drinking water,” Dara added.
Glaring back at them over his mug of water, Ororo’s nose jittered with annoyance. Clearly, the heat was exhausting his already short patience.
“We should get going,” Rose broke in, bringing them back to business. “It’s going to take us a long time to get all over town to talk to the guides and stuff.”
Randolph hefted his coin purse. “We need a job,” he muttered.
“Do you think Syndra would teleport us again? Maybe she can help us get to all the guides faster,” Dara suggested hopefully.
Rose shook her head. “Syndra told us that she wouldn’t help us with the guides, remember? Something about fate and needing to do this ourselves.”
“I remember that,” Kitayne agreed.
“Well, shoot,” Dara sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to do it the hard way, then.”
Kitayne waved down Terina, who trudged over a little begrudgingly. “Excuse me,” Kitayne began sweetly, “do you know if Azaka will be back today?”
“She’s in here most every night unless she’s out on an expedition,” Terina confirmed. “Now, what else can I get for you lot?”
“We don’t need anything else right now, thanks,” Ororo said, and he tipped her a silver piece.
Her mood instantly improved.
“While you’re here, Terina, can you tell me anything about Aremag?” Dara asked.
“Aremag?” Terina mused. “The dragon turtle? I don’t know much, dear, but what everyone knows. He always takes treasure from any ship that sails through the Bay of Chult, and he has an uncanny ability to know exactly what a ship is carrying. Other than that, I can’t tell you much.”
Dara thanked her, a little disappointed that there wasn’t more information. She pressed on with a new question. “And what about the Harper’s Guild? Do you know anything about them?”
“Ah, the Harpers operate up on the north side of the city. You’ll find more information up that way,” Terina answered, then excused herself to help another customer.
“Isn’t that where the dinosaur races are?” Rose wondered aloud.
“Ooh, I think so,” Kitayne said with a tinge of excitement.
“And we need to visit a market,” Dara added.
They decided to head to the Grand Souk Market, and on the way, they could stop and check the job board. Kitayne was still quite interested in looking up the guides River Mist and Flask of Wine, who might owe money to the Zhentarim. She wanted to take note of where those two might be found.
As they reached the board, they found that the job postings for Shago and for Qawasha & Kupalué had been taken down.
“Does that mean someone hired them?” Dara asked.
“How should I know?” Rose retorted.
While they were there, they perused the available jobs, too. One asked for someone to find Artus Cimber, and Rose snatched the posting down, hungry reading every word.
Who is this Xandala who wants to find Artus Cimber? she wondered. Intently, she read the posting again, making sure she didn’t miss anything.
Dara raised an eyebrow at Rose. Rose raised her chin, stuffed the posting in her pocket, and turned back to the job board with the others. There were just a few postings on it, and they didn’t seem to be very high-paying jobs for the most part.
“Well, it looks like there’s not too much going on here. I hope this market is a good one. I’d like to at least look at some cooler armor,” Kitayne said, turning away from the board.
“Ororo is right about the clothes, you know. I think I do want pants. A dress is not good attire for the jungle,” Dara chatted.
Suddenly, they heard a shout. “LOOK OUT BELOW!”
They looked up to see a giant water cistern rolling off of the roof above them. There was only a split second to react. Everyone managed to leap out of the way except for Eirikr, who was a little too slow. The barrel crashed over him violently, dashing him to the ground. He lay there, unconscious, while his horrified mates looked on.
Ororo was the only one to notice the Yuan’ti pureblood slinking away from the scene. “Hey, there’s a lizard person! A snake-woman thing! She’s going that way!”
Without thinking, Dara sprinted after her.
Ororo and Randolph quickly followed, though Ororo didn’t get very far before he turned to see what was happening with his injured adventuring mate.
Kitayne pulled out her healing kit to tend to Eirikr. Rose patted her shoulder encouragingly, but uselessly. Kitayne looked up at her questioningly.
“Moral support,” Rose said with a shrug.
Kitayne stabilized Eirikr, who opened his eyes groggily. He clearly had a concussion, and as he sat up, he wavered unsteadily.
Hastily, Ororo cast a spell of healing on Eirikr. The genasi sighed gratefully and got to his feet while Ororo shot off after the Yuan’ti again.
The Yuan’ti was quite far ahead at this point, weaving quickly through the street. She was running as hard as she could manage.
Randolph drew his bow and took the shot, but he was breathless from the chase and couldn’t hit the retreating figure at such a great distance. Fortunately, he didn’t hit any bystanders, either. The arrow thudded into a wooden post and stuck. He continued his pursuit and closed some of the distance.
Dara closed in, too. Magic surged through her, and blue energy electrified her body and hair, crackling ominously. Her firebolt shot out in a blue streak of flame, lashing the Yuan’ti fiercely. It left a nasty burn on the Yuan’ti’s shoulder, but even so, she managed to continue running.
Seeing the Yuan’ti gaining a greater lead, Ororo and Randolph both doubled down on their pursuit to close the distance.
Kitayne watched as her friends charged down the street, sighing in resignation. As much as she would have liked to be a part of the action, especially when it came to retaliation for the Yuan’ti’s attack, her skills were needed here. She laid her hands on Eirikr and healed his wounds completely. A faint clap of thunder rolled as her healing took hold.
Dara raced behind the fleeing attacker, but she was gradually losing ground as the woman put all of her energy into escaping. Trying to stop the Yuan’ti in her tracks, Dara wound up and threw another firebolt, and again, it connected. It still wasn’t enough to knock her off of her feet, though.
Ororo hurled a magical insult at the Yuan’ti. “You’re just a slimy bag of scales!”
The Yuan’ti made a rude gesture over her shoulder and kept going. She never paused, running as hard as she could to get away until they luckily chased her into a dead end. Ororo was hot on her heels as she turned to fight. Desperately, she walked back towards Ororo and tried to invade his mind.
Her attempt worked.
“Help me,” she hissed.
Charmed, Ororo scooped her up and tossed her at the dividing wall. She propelled herself over and out of sight.
At a short distance, Randolph watched Ororo help the Yuan’ti. Fortunately for Ororo, he had also seen the spell be cast. He wasn’t sure what the spell did, but he assumed that it was magic and not malice that caused the harengon to work against his friends.
Randolph was, of course, correct in his assumption that the spell forced Ororo to help the Yuan’ti. Unfortunately, he was not correct in assuming that the spell had only compelled that one action.
“Bunny man, give me a leg up!” Randolph called.
Ororo held out his hands as if offering a boost over the wall, but when Randolph stepped into the waiting grip, Ororo grappled him and held him back. Flailing wildly, Randolph tried to break free, but couldn’t land a blow.
Dara approached her wrestling companions. Taking in the scene – Ororo had his furry arms wrapped around Randolph’s waist, his face smashed hard into the ranger’s rear – she decided that the best thing to do was to go after the Yuan’ti and let these two sort things out on their own. The only problem was the wall.
Assessing the situation, she could only see one source of footholds to make it up and over; her two co-adventurers.
She took several long steps back, then, with a running start, launched herself at the struggling men. One foot landed on Ororo’s knee, then the next on Randolph’s shoulder, and with a mighty leap, she hurled herself towards the top of the wall. Unfortunately, Randolph twisted hard just as she tried to use him for footing, and instead of scaling the wall as she planned, she came crashing down to the cobbles.
The landing hurt. A lot. There was a meaty thud as her head connected with the hard ground.
Ororo was still fully under the Yuan’ti’s spell, and his grapple on Randolph tightened as Dara came crashing down beside them. Randolph landed an elbow hard in Ororo’s side, but, being unskilled in unarmed combat, the blow didn’t hurt the way he thought it would. Ororo showed no sign that it even bothered him.
Struggling to her feet, Dara looked down at the blood streak on the pavement. Her head spun. Panic rose in her throat. She screamed.
Kitayne, who had wandered into the streets in search of her friends, heard the scream and recognized it as Dara. She ran towards the sound, and Eirikr followed at top speed.
Rose, who did not appreciate running, walked calmly in that direction, too.
Suddenly, the spell of suggestion snapped, and Ororo realized what was going on. His face was buried in Randolph’s ass and his fingers dug into the little bit of fat on his belly. The smell of unwashed ranger assaulted his sensitive harengon nose. With a groan of disgust, he flung himself away from Randolph and turned to see Dara, dazed and bleeding. “Oh, shit,” he mumbled. “What’s the word for my staff?” He fumbled out the Staff of Healing that he got from Syndra and bonked it on her wound. “Bonnik!” he announced.
The energy from the staff glowed around her in a vibrant brassy yellow. Dara’s wounds healed completely. Blood remained matted in her hair, though the cut that caused the mess was closed.
Randolph didn’t wait for his companions to have a happy moment, and, to his credit, he didn’t pause to argue with Ororo about their little scuffle. He leapt up and climbed the wall, staring after the Yuan’ti. She was gone without a trace. Disappointed, he returned.
“Gone,” he rasped.
“I’ve got a great sense of smell. I’ll track her!” Ororo offered, desperately trying to make up for his actions while bespelled. Unfortunately, all he could smell was the rank odor of Randolph, which he was far from thrilled about. “Well, nevermind,” he mumbled as his whiskers twitched.
Kitayne tore into the dead end and saw Dara matted with blood, but somehow totally uninjured.
“What happened?!” Kitayne demanded.
Dara crossed her arms. “The rabbit.”
“It wasn’t me! I couldn’t help it!” Ororo argued.
“You threw her over the wall!” Dara shrieked.
“Magic?” Kitayne asked warily.
“I saw it. She did cast some kind of spell on him,” Randolph chimed in. He didn’t mention their little wrestling match. It didn’t need to be rehashed.
“So, she magicked you,” Kitayne confirmed.
Randolph stepped forward. “She was a Yuan’ti, one of those snake people,” he said. “I only know a little bit about them. Most Yuan’ti are made, not born. They worship some god and do some dark ritual, and it turns them into snake people. There’s a civilization of them somewhere out in this jungle, I think, and I doubt we’d want to visit.”
“Do you think Salida sent her after us?” Kitayne asked.
“Well, she did seem like a bit of a snake, didn’t she?” Dara replied meaningfully, still cautiously fingering the bloody clumps in her hair. Despite the healing, she was still trembling. She had never been hurt so badly before, and this was just a silly accident.
Rose arrived, barely sweating. “There’s blood in your hair,” she commented blandly.
Dara’s face looked pale. “I’m aware,” she said, still shaken.
Eirikr walked up, muttered an arcane word, and made a gesture. The blood in Dara’s hair disappeared.
“Thanks,” Dara said sheepishly. “That actually makes me feel a lot better.”
“It’s the least I can do,” Eirikr replied. He was still a little dazed, too. The two shared a moment of understanding, both painfully reminded that resurrection was not an option anymore.
Ororo prodded Eirikr’s rocky arm curiously. In response, Eirikr flicked one of Ororo’s long ears.
“Oi, stay off the ears!” Ororo snapped.
“Stay off my arms,” Eirikr answered.
Smiling at the interaction, Dara made a gesture. “Well, that was a strange diversion, but I don’t think there’s much more we can do here. Shall we continue on to the market, then?”
The group headed on, chatting about the sudden attack by a Yuan’ti. They all agreed that this couldn’t have been an accident, but what exactly prompted the assassination attempt, they couldn’t be sure.
As they neared the market, two soldiers wearing icons of flaming fists on their armor approached the group. Eirikr and Randolph both recognized them as the protectors of Baldur’s Gate, but neither had any idea what the Flaming Fist might be doing on this island.
“That was quite a chase you had,” one soldier said conversationally. “Those skills will serve you well in the jungle.” His tone was friendly, but his stance made it clear that the party wasn’t going to just walk by.
“Who the hell are you?” Ororo demanded.
“Watch your tone,” the other soldier warned.
Dara flashed a charming smile. “And how do you know we’re going into the jungle?”
“We’ve heard that you’re looking for a guide. You’d be wise to purchase a pass from the Flaming Fist before you enter the jungle,” the first man said.
“A pass!” Kitayne laughed. “What do you mean we need a pass to go into the jungle?”
Randolph studied them carefully. These men seemed quite serious, and he generally thought of the Flaming Fist as lawful, mostly honorable men. He made a gesture to Kitayne to stay calm.
“Well, you don’t have to buy a pass,” the soldier continued, “but if the Flaming Fist find you in the jungle without one, we’ll confiscate everything you have.”
Ororo fluffed his fur and put on what he clearly thought was a charming smile. It looked strange on his rabbit face. “Ah, yes, of course. Liara told us that someone from the Flaming Fist would find us to deliver our pass for free,” he tried, hoping to persuade the men. “Would that be you?”
The soldier rolled his eyes. “Liara Portyr doesn’t give out passes for free. It’s unwise to try to deceive the Flaming Fist.”
“How much is a pass?” Rose asked quickly, shooting a warning glare at Ororo.
“It’s ten gold for the registration and paperwork. From there, you can hire a guide or not. You can buy them at Fort Beluarian,” he answered.
“Well, you look like guards, you act like guards, and yet you didn’t help when someone threw a water barrel at our heads,” Kitayne spoke up angrily. “Where were you when someone was trying to kill us right here in the streets?”
The talkative soldier shook his head. “We’re not guards, and it’s not our job to protect you on these streets. We’re just here to…share information.”
“I think we should just go talk to Prince O’tamu and Syndra,” Rose announced, eyeballing the men to make sure they heard. “Our friends,” she added meaningfully.
“I think we should talk to the Harpers,” Ororo chimed in.
The name dropping had little effect on the Flaming Fist soldiers. “What you do is your business,” said the quieter of the two.
“And what happens in the jungle is our business,” the other added.
Rosalie crossed her arms. “Well, thank you very much for the information,” she said flatly.
Amazingly, the Flaming Fist soldiers tipped their heads politely and moved off after Rose’s pointed dismissal.
“Well, that was interesting,” Eirikr commented, watching the two men retreating down the street. He started moving the other direction, towards the market, and his new friends followed behind.
“Think we should take them seriously?” Dara asked as they walked.
“I think we should ask Azaka or one of the other guides about it. Seems like the guides would know,” Kitayne suggested wisely.
They rounded a corner and laid eyes on the Grand Souk Market. It truly was a grand place, packed with almost everything a person could possibly want.
“What’s first?” Dara asked.
“Clothes!” Kitayne responded immediately. “I’m desperate to get into something a little cooler.”
As they made their way into the clothiers district, a dress vendor approached them and held out a lovely gown to Rose. “Nice dress! Very beautiful, for the beautiful lady! You take! You take!” he barked.
When she only stared back blankly, he shook it at her insistently. She still didn’t budge.
Not discouraged, the man turned to Ororo. “Very nice dress!” he repeated, shaking it urgently at the harengon.
Puzzled, Ororo took the dress from him and looked at it. “Yes, it is very nice. It’s good satin,” he agreed. “We don’t want it.”
“One gold! One gold!” the seller hollered.
Ororo held it back out to him and shook his head. “We don’t want it,” he repeated.
The seller took a big step back. “One gold! One gold!” he continued to bellow.
“No, I don’t want it!” Ororo insisted. He took a step closer to the merchant, but the man backed away again. “Take it back!” he demanded angrily.
“One gold! One gold! One gold!” came the insistent bark of the dress vendor.
Ororo stood there and stared at the merchant. He didn’t know what to do.
Finally, the dress merchant grew impatient. “Guard!” he shouted. “Guaaaard!”
“Yes, call a guard!” Ororo yelled back, increasingly frustrated.
Two Grand Souk guardsmen, one very tall and the other very short, appeared quickly. “What’s going on here?” the taller man wanted to know.
“Very fine dress! One gold!” barked the vendor, gesturing at the dress in Ororo’s hands.
“Look, I don’t want this dress. He handed it to me and he won’t take it back. I’ll give you each a silver piece if you get him to leave me alone,” Ororo offered, exasperated.
Dara groaned. Ororo ignored her.
Both guards perked up. “Alright,” the tall one agreed.
Ororo produced the silver and held out the coins and the dress to the guards.
The short guard took the dress and his coin, and the tall one pocketed his coin and stood back. Turning to the dress vendor, the short guard held out the fine dress.
Again, the vendor backed away.
“See?!” Ororo demanded.
The guard didn’t seem bothered by this. He put the dress on the ground at the merchant’s feet and took a step back. With a friendly nod to Ororo and the others, he and his tall companion walked away. Calmly, the dress merchant picked up the dress and went back to his stand like this was a normal interaction.
As they moved on, other vendors shoved goods at them. They didn’t touch anything.
This part of the market was full of a huge variety of clothing in every color, material, and style imaginable. It was vibrant and loud.
“What are we looking for?” Rosalie asked as they walked.
“Oh, I’d like something lightweight with long pants. Maybe something in a nice bright blue, like electricity,” Dara mused. Her eyes wandered over the booths hungrily.
After shopping around a bit for jungle-friendly attire and supplies, they realized that prices here were much higher than anything they paid on the mainland. Getting goods to Chult had to be expensive, and the dragon turtle’s “tax” probably didn’t help. Dara found her new clothes, but paid a premium for them.
Ororo wanted a leather shoulder piece and tunic to go over his current leather armor, but the expense was prohibitive. He decided to purchase modifications for his leather armor that was more practical for the heat instead of replacing anything.
“Oh, sure,” said the armor merchant, “we have a specialized process to braid the leather and make it more breathable without weakening it. We can have it done for you by this evening.”
It was possibly the only smart thing Ororo had done with his money for a long time.
“What about you, rock man?” Ororo asked Eirikr as he handed over his armor to the merchant for modifications.
Eirikr shrugged. “I don’t really need anything. Heat and cold don’t bother me a bit.”
Kitayne asked the armor vendor about other metal armor options that might be more practical in the jungle.
“Wearing heavy armor out in the wilderness is more likely to kill you than it is to help you,” he said in reply. The merchant recommended changing to hide armor. “There’s plenty of enchanters around here who can give you some extra protection on hide,” he added helpfully.
Understandably, Kitayne balked at the idea of downgrading her armor too much. “There’s really nothing you can do with what I’ve got?”
The man glanced around to see who was listening. “Well,” he said slowly, “I’ve got something that I made as a sort of experiment. I had to carve the whole thing by hand, so I don’t expect I’ll make another one.” He help up a one-of-a-kind dinosaur bone ringmail.
“Ooh,” Kitayne cooed, admiring the piece. “How much do you want for something like this?”
“I wouldn’t want less than 50 gold pieces for it,” he told her.
The price was steep, but it was lightweight and offered good protection. It was tempting.
“What about a trade?” Kitayne suggested. “My chain mail cost me 75 gold. What kind of deal can you offer me for it?”
“Well,” he said hesitantly, “chain mail isn’t popular here. It’s just too hot to wear it, you know. I like you, though. I’ll trade you one for one. My bone ringmail for your chainmail.”
Kitayne grimaced. “That’s a pretty steep price for ringmail, even if it is one of a kind. What if you gave me the armor and 10 gold for my chainmail?” she negotiated.
He thought it over for a second and agreed. “Nice doing business with you,” he said. “Now, let me show you some things. This ringmail will float in water, and it’s near as tough as your metal. I can dye it any color you’d like, too.”
“Can you make it a nice, dark gray?” Kitayne requested.
He could.
Both Randolph and Rose wandered the market for a bit in search of a reasonably priced, adequately tough armor option that would wear well in the jungle. Eventually, both had the armor merchant modify their armor in the same way that Ororo was getting.
While Randolph was finishing up his purchase and dropping off his leather armor for modification, the others gathered in the street to discuss their next move.
“I guess we should keep looking for a guide,” Dara said.
“I wish we could talk to Azaka again,” she sighed, and, in a stroke of natural 20 luck, she turned around and saw Azaka walking by. “It’s Azaka!” she exclaimed.
Azaka froze. “Hi,” she said slowly. It was clearly a surprise to see them, but she wasn’t too bothered by the interruption to her day.
“Can we go somewhere and talk?” Rose requested. “We’d love to ask you some questions, but not here.”
Randolph rejoined the group and peered at Azaka curiously.
“Oh, yes, we can sit in the food district. Come,” Azaka said, leading them through the market.
They were pleased to find that Chultan food was much cheaper than all the other goods. Plates loaded with local favorites, they gathered around a bench to eat.
Dara sampled a heavily spiced piece of fish and smiled. She turned to Azaka, chewed, and asked, “Have you heard about some kind of pass you need to buy from the Flaming Fist?”
“Oh, did they pay you a visit?” Azaka said. “It’s not surprising. The simplest thing to do is to buy their stupid pass. You’re likely to run into them in the jungle, and they’ll want a percentage of any treasure you bring out with you. Chult is a very expensive place, you know.”
“We also wanted to ask you about where the Firefinger is,” Rose continued.
“It’s at the tip of the River Tiryki. Well, about 100 miles from the mouth of the river,” Azaka told them. “To get there, we would go by canoe. We can get 6 people in a single canoe, and it might be wise to hire porters or other people to handle some of the strain of paddling upriver. Canoes here run about 50 gold each. Like I said, everything here is expensive.”
“The Flaming Fist said we could hire guards, but I don’t think we’d want to bring them if we’re looking for treasure,” Rose commented.
Azaka leaned back. “Perhaps not. The guards are cheaper than guides, though. You’d have to go to Fort Beluarian and ask the Flaming Fist about that yourself.”
“Would you help us get there?” Rose asked.
Azaka chuckled. “If you hired me, yes. But I don’t think you want to hire a guide just to get to Fort Beluarian. It’s only a little ways into the jungle. Anyway, you could always just take a boat most of the way.”
Bored and increasingly broke, Ororo pulled out his lute and began to strum. A few people took notice, and a little crowd began to form.
Rose discussed the idea of hiring porters. She asked about average pricing, how many they would need, and what those people would do for them. The idea of hiring help appealed to her, but as Azaka explained the fees for everything, she realized that the price would add up quickly.
“It sounds to me,” Eirikr spoke up, “like no matter how we look at it, we need to make some money.”
“We need jobs,” Randolph agreed. This wasn’t the first time he had made that comment today.
Kitayne brought up the Yuan’ti attack from earlier. “Any idea why we might be a target for the Yuan’ti?”
“I don’t know much about the Yuan’ti, and they’re very secretive. It makes me wonder if Salida found out you were talking to me, though,” Azaka said thoughtfully.
“We told her we were going to,” Rose pointed out.
“You told her?” Azaka scoffed. “Seems unwise.”
“Is she Yuan’ti?” Kitayne asked.
Azaka’s lips thinned. “I don’t know, and I don’t like to speculate and spread rumors. I’m not like her.”
Ororo’s playing was drawing more and more attention.
Changing the subject, Dara asked about dinosaur racing. Azaka told them that it was very entertaining, and the betting was a big draw.
“Anyway,” Azaka said as politely as possible, “I do have appointments to keep today. Please do find me at the Thundering Lizard later if you decide to hire me as your guide.”
They said their goodbyes and finished their delicious meals. After some discussion, they decided to visit the job board one more time for a closer look at money-making opportunities. Their purses were much lighter now, after all.
Ororo was reluctant to leave because of the gathering crowd. “My audience needs me,” he argued.
Dara tried flicking his ears, but Ororo played on, undisturbed.
“Fine. We’ll go without you,” Dara snapped, grabbing her things.
“Ugh!” Ororo swung his lute onto his back and grabbed his tip cup. “Fine!” While he joined the group, he sneakily sprinkled some of his cologne onto Randolph. It didn’t cover up the smell.
The job board didn’t have any new opportunities on it, so they reconsidered the available jobs. One, a request to collect on an outstanding debt, was posted by a bookie named K’alahu who could be found at the dinosaur races.
“At least this one will take us somewhere we can see dino racing,” Kitayne pointed out.
They decided to check it out.
Entering Executioner’s Run, they passed two giant stone ziggurats that were absolutely covered in beggars and vagrants. Past the first ziggurats, they saw a deep carved channel that was filled with all sorts of loud, bellowing dinosaurs. Another ziggurat nearby seemed to be the primary seating for spectators of the dinosaur races. They watched the races from a distance, but the promise of income was more alluring than the excitement of a dinosaur race right now. Further on, there were more crowds and more pits, but they didn’t walk up to investigate.
They found K’alahu in the betting booths. She explained that a man named Taban lost his bet and didn’t pay up. He owed her 500 gold.
“Taban will probably be at the Temple of Savras. I hear he’s very devout these days, now that he’s not at the races all the time,” K’alahu told them.
The reward for collecting the debt would be 10% of it – 50 gold. The only conditions would be to keep him alive and collect all the money owed. Their methods were their own prerogative.
Ororo made a proposal. “How about this? If we can collect the whole debt on our first try and get it back to you right away, you should give us 12% instead of 10%. What do you think?”
K’alahu laughed. “I like you, rabbit man. I think you’re going to have a tough time with Taban, so, okay. If you can get it all at once, bring me the 440 gold and keep 60 of it. You’ve got a deal.”
Encouraged, the group headed towards the temple in the Merchant’s Ward.
They were nearly there when they spotted a frantic man running from person to person, shouting something that they couldn’t understand. He was absolutely distraught. Tears streaked down his dirty face, and he was sobbing so hard he could hardly talk.
After being shoved away from another group of people, the man turned to them and locked his tear-filled eyes on them.
“Save my husband! They’re going to execute him!” the man sobbed. He ran up to them and threw himself down on his knees, clearly begging for their help.
“What’s going on?” Kitayne asked gently.
Between sobs, the man explained that there was a case of mistaken identity. “It’s my husband. They’re going to execute him! Someone called him a thief, but he would never, ever steal! It must have been someone else. Please, they’re going to feed him to a velociraptor! We must hurry!” he babbled desperately.
“Why us?” Rose asked disdainfully.
“I’m looking for anybody who can help,” he cried. “They’re going to throw him into a pit of raptors! I have to get help now!”
“What’s your name?” Rose asked.
“Belym,” he sniffed.
“What’s your husband’s name?” she asked quickly.
“Draza,” came the immediate answer.
Ororo snorted. “Today might be the day he draws-a last breath,” he joked.
“That’s not funny!” Belym wailed, shaking with fear and grief.
“It’s a little funny,” Dara muttered.
“Where is Draza?” Kitayne asked.
“Executioner’s Run. Let’s go! Please, help us!” Belym begged. He grabbed Kitayne’s hand and tried to pull her back the way they had just come.
“I think we should go,” Dara said to her friends.
Rose scowled. “I don’t know,” she muttered.
“Please, I’ll give you all the money I have!” Belym pleaded. He held up a coin purse. “It’s only a few silver, but it’s our entire life savings.”
“Feeding someone to raptors because he stole something doesn’t sound just to me,” Kitayne declared.
“He didn’t steal anything!” Belym insisted.
Rose groaned. “We just came from Executioner’s Run!” she complained.
“Come on, let’s go,” Dara said decisively.
They followed Belym back to Executioner’s Run, where there was indeed a pit of prisoners being set upon by velociraptors. A pair of raptors were loose in the pit, and five more pairs of raptors remained on ropes at the far end. Every few minutes, another prisoner was shoved into the pit, and despite their efforts to run, each was torn to pieces by the hungry dinosaurs.
At the edge of the pit, there was a line of crying men being carefully guarded. These were the prisoners waiting to be thrown to the raptors.
“Which one is Draza?” Dara asked.
Belym pointed. “It’s him! Save him!” The man he pointed to was a thin, tall man with richly dark skin and, incredibly, bright red hair.
Dara marched up to the guard at the front of the line. “Oi, you’ve got to let that one go. He’s innocent,” she demanded.
The guard shrugged her off. “It’s not up to me. It’s up to the magister,” he said.
A magical timer chimed, and the guard shoved the next prisoner into the pit. The prisoner stumbled to his feet and sprinted towards the other end of the pit. He didn’t make it far. One of the velociraptors caught him by the thigh and ripped. There was a wet splatter of blood and an agonized scream, then the other raptor crunched the man’s skull.
“We don’t have time to talk to the magister. Who feeds a man to raptors for stealing bread, anyway?” Kitayne demanded angrily.
All the while, other men were being torn apart by raptors in the background. They didn’t ask what those prisoners had done to deserve this fate.
“This isn’t right,” Dara said frantically. “We have to do something.”
Belym’s wail tore the air, and they turned to see that the redheaded Draza had just been dropped into the pit. Desperately, Dara tried to throw him a rope, but he was already running from raptors at top speed. Dara threw a spell at the nearest raptor without thinking.
The spell hit the raptor and crackled with electricity. The little velociraptor was fried to a crisp, and all of the other velociraptors shrieked and roared with rage as it died.
Draza panted with exertion as he ran as hard as he could towards the end of Executioner’s Run. There was still one raptor loose, and the other roped pairs strained at their bonds.
Ororo immediately dropped his rapier and put his hands in the air. He wasn’t going to get arrested if he could help it. “I’m not with them!” he hollered to no-one in particular.
The remaining velociraptor, freaked out by his counterpart’s demise, panicked and started scrambling up the wall of the pit towards the crowd.
Guards around the pit began signaling to each other, pointing at Dara. They didn’t seem to notice that a frenzied raptor was making its way towards a crowd of spectators.
As the velociraptor scrambled up the far wall, Rosalie cast a blast at it. The raptor screamed as it fell, and upon hitting the ground, it died with a terrible squelch.
A sharp whistle cracked the air. The guards were now pointing at both Dara and Rosalie.
Ororo sat still, and a guard approached and placed a hand on his head. “Stay here,” he warned.
Dara looked at the scene and broke into a run. Rosalie shot after her. She was not accustomed to running. The guards threw spears after them, and most missed, but one connected with Dara and caused a deep wound. It hurt, but adrenaline kept her running anyway.
Rose ran towards the crowd. Dara, seeing the wisdom of that plan, ran after her.
“Pick a different crowd than mine!” Rose shouted angrily.
Meanwhile, Randolph quickly assessed the situation. He made eye contact with the nearest guard, who didn’t seem to be too interested. Randolph wasn’t standing with the troublemakers, and he hadn’t done anything, so he wasn’t really a person of interest.
Paying attention to the behavior of the crowds, Randolph moved in the direction of the largest group and blended in while he watched for opportunities to help his friends.
Loud screams and meaty splats ripped the air. More velociraptors had been released, and more prisoners had been thrown into the pit.
In the confusion, Belym had shot towards the end of the pit where Draza was about to emerge. Eirikr followed him.
Dara entered the crowd, which was starting to panic. She tried to blend in, but she was bleeding heavily and people were staring.
“Hey, I was trying to save an innocent man. Help me out, here,” she panted.
Caught up in the moment, the nearby bystanders threw a cloak over her, shuffled around, and hid her from view. The guards came by, but didn’t spot her.
Meanwhile, Rosalie made it to the crowd on the other ziggurat. “I was trying to save an innocent man! Don’t give me away,” she cried. At first, the bystanders seemed willing to help, but when Rosalie’s appearance shifted before their eyes, the crowd went silent in shock. Her blonde hair was replaced with a style that was short, curly, and black. Her fair skin turned dark. Even her height and weight were different – this was a completely different woman wearing the same clothes, which were now ill-fitting. This was not a magic that they had seen before, and they certainly didn’t trust it.
Desperately, the changed Rosalie tried to rouse them by shouting cheers for the scene below. “Yeah, raptors! Wooo!”
The crowd remained totally silent. One person pointed at her, quavering. This brought the attention of the guards, who made their way through the crowd.
Angrily, Rosalie pointed. “The blonde lady went that way!” she insisted. “Go get her!”
The guards grabbed her arms. “I think you need to come with us,” one said.
At the side of the pit, Ororo was still sitting with his hands up. The guards dragged Rosalie over and pointed at Ororo.
“Do you know this woman?” a guard questioned gruffly.
Ororo looked her over. “I’ve never seen her before,” he answered honestly.
“Why did you put your hands up?” another guard asked.
“Some crazy person started doing magic at raptors, and I’m not from around here. I didn’t want to get killed in the crossfire,” Ororo told them, still quite truthfully.
“Let me go!” Rose snapped. “You’ve got no reason to hold me, either!”
“Seems like you’ve got bigger problems than a couple of witnesses who don’t know what’s even happening,” Ororo argued. “You probably should let us go.”
Considering this, the guards backed away. “Stay out of the way,” one said as they returned to the line of prisoners.
At the end of the pit, Eirikr watched the tearful reunion between Belym and Draza.
“What now? Are they going to come after you?” Eirikr asked Draza quietly.
The sobbing and exhausted man shook his head. “It’s Executioner’s Run. If you make it out, you’re free to go,” he explained.
“Never, ever scare me like that again!” Belym sobbed into his husband’s shoulder.
Draza said something back. Eirikr assumed it was some kind of promise to that end. He thought it would be a rather impossible promise to keep, though.
Belym handed over the coin pouch to Eirikr. “Here. You’ve earned it. Thank you so much! Thank you!” With that, the two men hurried away.
Back at the edge of the pit, Ororo looked at Rosalie, but he really didn’t recognize her. “Who the hell are you?” he asked.
“Don’t talk to me right now. I’m so mad,” Rose answered hotly.
“Whatever,” Ororo grumbled.
Near the milling crowd, Kitayne caught up with Dara. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Not really. Let’s talk elsewhere,” Dara whispered back.
They filed out with the dispersing spectator crowd.
Randolph and Eirikr both went their own ways, figuring that they would find their mates sooner or later.
Ororo wandered out, too, unaware that Rosalie was trailing behind him in her new body.
In the aftermath of the raptor fight, the adventurers didn’t want to draw more attention to themselves by trying to regroup. Perhaps they would find each other soon, they all reasoned.
At least, they all hoped they would find each other.