Ruins of Azlant Gameplay I

"There are more symbols that match up with teleportation spells," Amissa says after some examination. "I'd hypothesize at this point that this whole spiral of pillars could work as an array to allow travel to other planets, or maybe just projection? I'm not entirely sure. Either way, it could be years before we actually figure out how to get it operational."

The party decides to scout the surrounding area from the pillars, but before Jax can finish a scan with the spyglass, gaunt, long-limbed quadrupeds with huge, soulless eyes and a toothy maw fold themselves out of the corner created where the pillars meet the ground. The lean creatures move with a predatory grace. One of them fixes it's gaze on Amissa, while the other howls, causing the space around to warp.

The warping space surrounds the party, trapping Kaimana and Aisha in a pocket of slowed time. Another of the monstrous hounds howls, warping space around the monsters and accelerating their movements. This isn't enough to save them, however; in the time it takes for one hound to land a glancing scratch on Kaimana, Amissa is able to identify the pattern of symbols necessary to sever their connection to the pillars. Jax grabs hold of the ancient dial on the pillar and the rusted metal screeches in protest as it moves for the first time in ages. Once the dial is aligned, the hounds disappear back into the realm from which they came.

With the outsiders dealt with, Jax resumes his surveillance. He spots giant bees flying over the forest to the east, and to the south, he sees a curious formation of stone blocks in the marsh, where the will o wisps should be. Additionally, he finds a circlet of persuasion and a dusty rose prism ioun stone near the pillars.

The party decides to continue onwards towards where the will o wisps should be, reaching the site just at sundown. As the sun sets upon the ancient stone monument, one by one, dozen upon dozens of lights appear in the darkness, hovering like ghostly lanterns above the fetid waters of the marsh. Four of the lights appear to take notice of the group, flying in wide circles, but edging closer and closer.

As Amissa tries to cast magical lights in an enchanting pattern, Aisha takes a mundane lantern in her own hand and sets to a Varisian dance in the marsh, swaying and bobbing and weaving with the lantern in circles and swings to trace bright lines in the air with it.

The will o wisps approach closer, seeming intrigued by Aisha's dance, now within easy conversation distance.

"Hello!" Aisha greets them, slowing her dance to a conversational pace. "I'm glad you came! We came to this island looking for our friends - missing colonists from the mainland, kidnapped by the faceless. Is there anything you could tell us about them? Maybe we can give you some information in trade."

Aisha repeats in Aquan, and then Amissa repeats in Azlanti, which is understood by them. The will o wisps swirl about, one of them laughing derisively at what Amissa says. "We have all the information we could need," one of them sneers. "Why should we tell you anything?"

"Well, perhaps not information, ancient and wise as you are," Aisha has Amissa translate. "But, we are very capable, competent individuals, and we're more than happy to trade with you. Perhaps you have some errand that we could do that might be beneath you," she suggests, playing to their vanity. "Surely that would be worth sharing what information you might have."

"Hrm... Slay the hounds guarding the pillars of long shadows as payment for the information you seek," one of the wisps declares, buzzing close to Amissa's face, before stopping short, pausing a moment, then whirling away.

"Your task has already been completed," Aisha replies, working a deep bow into her gradual dance.

"No fear of being caught in a lie... this one speaks the truth," one of the wisp declares, spinning about in a tight circle. "You wished to know of friends? Colonists? We have heard that humans have came here recently. We think the ulat-kini have them in their broken temple."

"Where is that temple?" Aisha asks curiously. "We've not seen it yet."

"It is located on the east coast of the island, near where the river meets the sea. You should seek out the House of Bees first and continue due northeast from there." One of the wisps explains.

After learning where the house of the bees is, the party heads off to camp for the night, getting a fresh start in the morning. On the way to the House of the Bees, they observe a group foraging for nectar, and choose to pass the bees by without disturbing them. Not long after, they reach their destination, a pair of two thirty-foot-tall hexagonal stone towers, perforated with many even rows of square holes, flank a third, similarly hexagonal building only ten feet tall. A loud buzzing echoes throughout the structure, and the air is heavy with the sweet scent of honey.

"I think we'll be able to mostly avoid the bees if we move towards the center tower," Amissa says. "Giant bees aren't hostile by default, and the center tower doesn't have a hive. Hopefully we'll be outside of their territory enough for them not to consider us a threat."

Jax looks around, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. "A merchant passing through my village mentioned that some recipes for honey were supposedly Azlanti in origin," Jax notes. "He thought that was a lie to sell the food, but seeing this..."

After verifying that the bees did not find them a threat, the party decides to see if there is anything of value in the three towers. The central tower was clearly used by the Azlanti beekeepers who built it, containing two surviving suits of mithral chainmail, several vials of antitoxin, bee-themed jewelry, and a bee-shaped clockwork spy.

[Amissa hacks the spy, showing the video of the panicked Azlanti and sends it to hunt for people]

With the spy sent on its way, the party decides to smoke out the bees to see what is in the hive towers while they wait. After gathering some greenwood, they light it on fire beneath each tower in turn and allow the smoke to drive the bees away. Once it is safe, the party enters the towers and find a total of twenty pounds of royal jelly, which they collect. Once they leave the towers, Jax makes sure to put the branches out and move them away from the towers so the bees can return to their homes.

The spy fails to return after an hour, and the group decides to waste no more time waiting for it, heading off in the direction that the will o wisps said to. After an hour of travel, the party comes across a courtyard filled with buildings that have long crumbled into jagged ruins and the remains of a massive bronze statue, now lying in pieces. As the group makes their way through this area, a group of faceless stalkers, armed with polarms screech out a rallying cry and move to attack.

There were far more stalkers than there initially seemed, coming in waves, some throwing javelins, others swinging with their long limbs, but each falls quickly to Jax and Kaimana's attacks, only to be replaced by another. When the last of them fall, 13 corpses lie strewn across the battleground, with one having escaped, grievously wounded.

The party decides to take the smaller of the two entrances into the ruined temple, and enters into a long hallway, some one hundred fifty feet in length, which runs from the bottom of the courtyard stairs just north of the cathedral to another set of stairs in the south, leading deeper into the temple. Other corridors open from this one at right angles, and several doors line the walls. Eight Andoren soldiers guard this area, and when the party enters, they move towards them with weapons raised, one taunting "You're too late! They're all dead!"

Aisha moves in first, blessing the group, and Kaimana follows immediately after, bringing his sword's flat side around to collide with a soldier's temple, knocking him out cold.

One of the soldiers moves towards Kaimana with a guarded stance, stabbing forth with his longsword in a thrust that gets under the bloodrager's guard, but the blade stops short at the last second, the soldier's face wrenched by mental anguish as a guttural cry escapes his throat. His blade clatters against the floor as he throws it away from himself, breathing heavily.

The party moves aside to allow the now freed soldier to retreat behind them and continues the fight. Amissa conjures sticky strands of webbing across the hallway, entangling most of the remaining foes, while Kaimana and Jax push forward. Nonlethal strikes turn into lethal ones as Faceless are identified, their soft, flexible bodies absorbing the shock of the impacts. A final swing of Kaimana's blade cleaves the last Faceless in two, leaving four Faceless corpses strewn around the three now-unconscious Andoren soldiers.

Jax pauses, listening for any hint of more enemies, but the only remaining sounds are the deep, heavy breathing of the combatants and the ragged gasps of the soldier. Trusting the others to handle the soldier better than he could, Jax moves towards the nearest unconscious soldier. "Do any of you have more rope?" he asks, as he begins to restrain the soldier.

Aisha takes out the long silk rope from her pack and offers it to Jax, "Here," she hands it to him then zeroes in on the soldier who broke the control over his mind. "Can you understand me?" she asks, trying to see what sort of state his mind's in.