The Dauntless

"Intéressant," Antoinette remarks. "I agree. We should follow this trail as best we can."

Setting out for the area Renali found the hunter through unexplored wilderness, there's a distinct stillness in the air as you pass through this area of jungle. There's still the sounds of life, but there's less of it here, more muted. As you press forward, you enter a clearing that you quickly realize was the site of a recent battle; a dozen dead Charau-ka lie sprawled on the ground around an area of disturbed earth that looks like it might have recently held some sort of post rising from the ground. A half-dozen stone statues of humans stand in the area in dramatic poses, their presence unusual and incongruous to say the least. A trail of drag marks in the dirt lead away from the disturbed earth and into the treeline.

Suki examines the statues. "So, uh... these definitely aren't normal statues," She says. "Pretty sure these were people once." As she looks over the surrounding area, her eyes flash. "And there's definitely lingering magic around here. Shifting magic, probably related."

”Do you know any among the Cinderclaws who could do that?” Dorrak asks Suki, brow furrowed.

Suki shakes her head. "This is a new one to me. In my experience most Cinderclaw mages would rather blow an enemy up than make some eccentric lawn decorations out of their foes."

"Then we truly have stumbled upon something odd," Antoinette states. "We should keep on the rail before it goes cold."

The trail is fairly easy to follow, and it only takes you about half an hour before you catch up to its source: a sled with a long object tied down to it under a tarp, with another, smaller object wrapped in cloth and secured to the side. Pulling it is a Taldan man, tall, blonde and handsome with a luxurious head of hair that defies the humidity and the realities of travel by being thick, fluffy, and well groomed, along with a broad mustache that curls slightly at the ends. When he hears you approach, he stops pulling, turns, and gives a gleaming smile as he pulls a monocle out from his breast pocket and puts it on. At his back, you can see something most of you have heard of but none have ever seen before: a blunderbuss. "Well, hello there!" he exclaims in a bombastic voice. "It seems we've both met with a great deal of fortune! You've had the great luck of stumbling upon an important archeological adventure, while I've had the great luck of friendly looking travelers coming across me when I'm in need of assistance!"

”I don’t know how that’s fortunate for us,” Dorrak grumbles. ”What exactly did you find?”

"A jungle totem," the Taldan declares proudly. "A piece of ancient Mwangi magic, hidden away for centuries. A truly terrifying power, it was guarded by a hoard of savage apes and fired energy from its eyes that could turn a man to stone! Of course, those apes were no match for a famous explorer and archaeologist like me, Gerhardt Pendergrast, and I single-handedly wrested it from them and disabled the totem! Only problem is, now I need to get it to my boat on the river, which is still quite a ways away, and the damn thing is too heavy even for me. But of course, now you're here! Come, help me get it back to the river, and I'll reward you with ten gold crowns each and a bit role in the novelization of my Mwangi adventures!"

"I doubt you came to this part of the jungle all by yourself," Antoinette posits. "The statues near the fight wouldn't happen to be your crew, would they?"

"Ah, yes, ahem," Pendergrast coughs. "That was my team, yes. Stricken to stone by the totem before any of us could begin to react. Terrible tragedy but, well, they knew the risks when they signed up, and I'll be sure to send their pay to their next of kin when I return to Taldor."

Without a word first, Dorrak raises his arm and brings his sword down on the totem, severing the ropes connecting it to the sledge and chipping into it. ”This is an artifact protected by a cult of Dahak that petrifies people. It should be destroyed, not hauled off by a two-bit explorer too callous to even try to seek aid for his men,” he growls.

As the rope slides off the tarp does as well, revealing a tall wooden pillar carved with runes and draconic imagery. As Dorrak's sword comes down, Pendergrast lets out an ungainly shriek. "What-what-WHAT!? How, you, what, what are you doing! You can't destroy that, it's an ancient artifact! It belongs in a museum!"

"Actually, if anywhere, it belongs where it was," Antoinette retorts. "But given its clear and present evil nature, it should probably be destroyed. There are plenty of safe historical artifacts to gawk at."

"I, you..." Pendrgrast glances at his gun on his back, then at the four of you, visibly does the mental math in his head, and turns and runs. As he does so he looks over his shoulder and shakes his fist. "You haven't see the last of Gerhard Pendergrast, you vile ruffians!" he declares, fleeing into the jungle.

As Pendrgast runs , Dorrak smirks but rumbles. ”I could have handled that more delicately,” he notes. Turning his gaze to the pillar, his smirk shifts to a frown. ”Same as the one at the temple. Shoots petrifying lasers from the eyes. More importantly, it’s partly responsible for the effect keeping the Ekujae out.”

"You definitely could have," Antoinette replies with a sigh. "Be that as it may, we may as well finish breaking it at this point."

After destroying the pillar, you continue on your search for the hunter. When you get near the area Renali said she'd seen him and give the wargs the feather to pick up the scent, they very quickly pick it up and are easily able to follow it to its source. A dark skinned man with dreadlocks has a very large sack, which he pulls behind him. Because he's facing away from the way he's going, he sees you when you catch up to him. A look of surprise comes over his face as he scans you all. "Two Avistani, a rainkin and a werecrocodile," he comments, eyes flitting over the four of you. "And two wargs as well. What an unusual combination to stumble across in the jungle."

”We could say the same about someone carrying something from another plane in a sack,” Dorrak replies. ”What brings you here?”

He lifts an eyebrow. "Another plane? Nonsense, it's just a bird. Granted, a very large and shiny one, but a bird nonetheless. I'm just a hunter, getting food for my little village north of here."

"He doesn't seem to be lying," Antoinette states. "It seems our red feather may be a red herring. I am surprised you speak Taldane though. That's not exactly common in this part of the world."

"My people travel a bit," the hunter answers with a shrug. "We like to pick up useful skills from others and share them among ourselves. I'm fluent in a few languages, actually."

Dorrak frowns. ”You wouldn’t mind showing us this bird, would you?” he asks the man. ”I’d be interested to see the bird whose feather can remain this pristine.”

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't," the hunter replies, shaking his head. "It's not quite dead, you see. My village is still a ways to go with all this weight and I didn't have anything with me to preserve the meat, so I'm waiting until I get there to kill it. If I open the sack to show you it might escape, and it was a bitch and a half to get it in the first time."

Suki checks the bag for unusual magic, but finding none turns her attention back to the man's story. "So what brings a hunter so far from his village? Surely there is plenty to hunt that's closer, if one seeks meat."