The party are on the path into the forest a few miles from the village when they turn a corner to discover a group
of twenty two men resting by the path and in the middle, it would seem, of strapping on steel breastplates containing
a symbol of a black sun. The men hail the party who push forward Aya to go and talk to them. Although the men seems
friendly, it is clear they are seeking
Selimbe and after Aya tests their patience they try to grab her. As many have noted, however, Aya has an electrifying presence and she escapes while the men recover from the experience. The men chase
after the party for a minute or two but fail to gain ground on them and give up.
Heading back towards the village the party meet Ayo, Aya's mother, who appears to already know about their encounter. She tells the party to follow her and she chooses a suitable location on the path to confront
the Black Sun troops. Gurr volunteers to stand beside Ayo while the
rest of the party choose suitable spots in which to exercise their various abilities. The troops duly arrive
and Ayo and the Black Sun priest exchange pleasantries. It would seem that the staff currently in Ayo's possession
was at one time exhibited as a trophy in their god Pel's cathedral. Ayo points out that the staff previous to this
belonged to a priestess of Mawu and she had merely terminated the loan
agreement.
The conversation does not end with any useful points for further negotiation.
As the priest give the order to attack, the party briefly wonder if taking on twenty two armoured individuals
is going to end well. In a flash (literally) the enemy troops are reduced to twelve as Ayo unleashes the power
of her staff. Indeed the priest himself seems somewhat shocked but his hasty retreat to the back of the column is
hindered by Dru's Entangle spell. Tiramba meanwhile starts to grope the Black Sun troops with a ghostly hand (nobody wants to talk about this afterwards but it certainly disconcerted them). Although the priest makes an unsuccessful attempt to use
his magic to even the odds the troops have to yield to the greater mobility and strategic thinking of the party.
The party strip the bodies of their breastplate and although Ayo claims half the loot the party are able to pay
for their next level of Sanguar.
After the party finish their training Nola, the white-furred
Wakyambe, approaches the party and suggests that they are now ready
to visit the ruins she once mentioned to Dru. The party duly come across a crumbling stone ruin where on a raised
platform there is a 30' pyramid surrounded by four smaller pyramids. They can not enter the main pyramid but
two of the smaller pyramids have what appear to be small spiral staircases descending into the ruins. The other
two smaller pyramids have what appear to be abandoned giant wasp nests in them.
The party carefully explore the ruins but Gurr is severly wounded when they are ambushed by cultists. Happily Hapu is on hand to use his limited healing ability on Gurr and returning to the fray Gurr leads the assault
on the eight ambushers. Despite their use of poisoned daggers the cultists are defeated. The next surprise for the
party happens when, returning from a dead end, they find their way blocked by a swarm of poisonous snakes. Nola, however,
who hates snakes, decides to unleash one of her more powerful Magic Missiles on the swarm which thins it out
for the rest of the party to destroy.
The last room of the ruin contains an abomination, a Yuan-ti with the head of a snake and the body of a man.
Despite his obvious power the party combine to defeat him after he moves forward to slay them. In his room they find the gold and jewels offered
to him by the cultists enough for 100gp for each party member.
Some time later Nola again comes to the party with news of an interesting ruin in the jungle. This time they have
to first cross the river and it is clear that Nola has a standing arrangement with Uzoma who runs the trading
station on the riverbank to ferry her across in exchange for fruit. As the party approaches the ruin Nola mentions
that the leopard cultists have been digging around the ruin using captured slaves.
Arreng the ranger is sent to scout the ruin and comes back with a good description of the ruin enabling the
party to put together a plan to defeat the cultists and release the slaves. Using Aya's powers to grant darkvision
for an hour they decide to attack during the night using ranged attacks. The plan works perfectly and Aya adds
to the confusion by snuffing out the camp fire and torches of the defenders.
While the battle is in progress Tiramba can't help staring at the 'ruin' which is a large black pyramid made
of some unknown metal and entirely unruined. Questioning the released slaves the party found out that the cultists
had tried to enter the pyramid but first a transparent figure appeared who warned them they were trespassing and
then a flash of lightning struck down those who touched the door. No tool or weapon appeared to be able to so much as scratch the pyramids surface which is why the slaves had dug trenches all around its base.
Tiramba, however, had seen this pyramid in her dreams and now she is here she is convinced it is not
the first time she has seen the structure. Furthermore she remembers camping nearby and also burying a small
pyramid-shaped box before she fled. First finding her old camp the party manage to retrieve her old haversack from the bushes and also a small compass. Using her comb as a divining tool she then finds the box. Inside she knows there is
a large jewel which may be a key to the pyramid door but she just can't remember how to open it.
The party return home and consult Perex who tells them that the structure is one of the hidden bases of the
ancient Guild of Elements who waged a secret war against
the Demon Lord Zananku thousands of years ago.