The Danger Gang finish up Pella
After resting up from the trouncing given them by the Giant snakes, the Danger Gang decides to head back down to the basement and show them what's what. Everyone is in fairly good shape except for Arben, who lost all his gear and has been sitting nude on the roof without even his spellbook. Can, however, is kind enough to let him borrow his, as well as some clothes he hasn't stunk up too bad.
They climb back down into the basement, ready for more action. The snake, however, is nowhere to be found. There's a trail of blood leading to a giant snake sized hole in the wall. With typical youthfull exhuberance, Martialis places a rope in front of the hole and casts Trip on it. He then realizes that you can't Trip a snake, and coils the rope back up. Arben urges them to stuff the dead snake in the hole to block it, but no one else is that excited about that plan, so he does a half-assed job by himself. The others look around. There's a pair of manacles attached to the wall, and within arms reach of the manacles is an inscription scratched into the wall, which reads:
"I shall surely die here, and perhaps for my crimes against P. A. I deserve to. Let me at last confess, then, that the father was neither the one-eyed beast, nor Zeus in the form of an oak, but a snake sent by Nectanebos of the many faces. P. was fooled by the disguises, but I fancy I never was.
Was his father a god in the form of a snake, then, or just a snake? Am I Europa or Pasiphae? But we all know the monster born of unnatural union was Kukuth, the one who killed Stratobia. Had she not, everything would have been different. I would be mistress of the world, and not even N., clad as a crone, would have been able to stop me. Surely had anything gone differently I would not be here today with nothing but my snakes and the ghosts of those I killed.
Io, Dionysus Myrtale, Queen "
Arben recognizes a few names from the inscription, including Europa, a lover of Zeus, Kukuth, a female vampiric spirit from around Western Europe, and Stratobia, which seems to not be the name of any historical figure, but translates to "The Power of Battle". Everyone is disturbed to read that whoever wrote this can not rule out both a snake and an oak tree as the father of her child, but it is agreed that P is Phillip and A is Alexander. They take a rubbing of the wall. Now it's time to investigate that hole.
Arben is chosen to investigate; Ramble preassuring him to "lead by example". Can Reduces him, and they tie a length of rope around his waste to yank him out in case of emergency. "Wish me luck, boys", he says in a diminutive voice and begins to crawl through the hole. At about a hundred feet, Ramble warns him that he's about to run out of rope. Arben presses on, and soon comes to the end of the hole, which leads on into the swamp. Waiting at the other end is the other giant snake. Arben quickly starts scuttling backwards, but the snake soon catches up to him. He tries to give it a Color Spray, but the snake just shrugs it off. The snake repeatedly bites him on the face, but soon he's back into the room with his cohorts. Can casts Web on the snake, trapping it in the hole, keeping it from constricting them. Ramble and Martialis soon chop it to bits and everyone is happy.
They give the room another quick scan, but there's nothing else to be found. Just to be sure they haven't missed anything, they give the other ruins the once over once more, but find nothing. Pella is done.
They head back to the river, looking forward to regaling Tobin and Karp with stories of the bravery of the Danger Gang. They're not out of the woods yet, however. As they stroll along the river, a vicious looking Owlbear leaps out from behind the treeline. Martialis and Can are stupified by it's horrific mightiness, but Arben thinks fast and whips a Color Spray at it. The beast falls over, unconscious. Ramble kills the sleeping beast, ensuring that it will harm no other woodland travelers. Arben has heard of these beasts. "It's an Owlbear", he says. "They call it that, because it's half owl, half bear." In retrospect, he' glad he didn't have his spellbook, cause he would have ended up loading up on magic missiles.
They soon arrive at the river, but Karp and Tobin are no where to be seen. Instead they find a burly, bearded, be-robed gentleman. "What are you doing in my forest?" he says.
