Zalkore leapt into the air, wings unfurling as she rose above the battlefield. From that height she loosed three precise arrows, each one striking true and pinning a hero in place. Chaos followed as the party struggled to reach her, forced to contend not only with Zalkore but also with the Elbis, crane-like creatures that swarmed them. Half the party soon began to succumb to petrification, their bodies slowly turning to stone as panic spread through the ranks. In the midst of it, Kornelijus and Tuna managed to slow the curse’s spread, buying the group precious moments, while the medusa was tricked into seeing the Elbis as enemies and fired upon them, shifting the tide as the cranes fell and the battlefield finally opened. Sara pressed the advantage, steadily wearing Zalkore down with her own arrows until at last she faltered and sank down, Kornelijus hit a powerful smite and the medusa was defeated. Weapon lowered, the medusa waited for the final blow. The party chose mercy instead.
What followed was not another fight, but words. Zalkore spoke of her past and of Nangalore, believing she had been exiled by her husband Thiru-taya, and in her bitterness she sought a way to reclaim her beauty and youth. Her path led her to Mbala, where a powerful crone granted her wish with a cruel cost, transforming her into a medusa, forever young and beautiful in face yet twisted in form. She then shared what she knew of Omu, speaking of an heir in Kir Sabal and of Ras Nsi, who had returned to rule Omu, urging the party to remove him and restore her bloodline’s claim.
At the mention of Ras Nsi, the party’s guide went pale. When pressed, he told the old story: Ras Nsi had once been one of the seven barae, immortal champions of Ubtao himself who ruled Mezro and kept order across Chult. He had been granted command of armies and the power to raise the dead, but during a campaign he was consumed by rage and ordered the massacre of all captured enemies, including women and children. For this atrocity Ubtao stripped him of his power and immortality, and it is said Ras Nsi was still in Mezro when the city vanished centuries ago.
Unconvinced, the party captured one of the Elbis for questioning, and though reluctant, it spoke of a serpent-bodied figure in Omu known as Ras Nsi. The guide dismissed it as error, insisting Ras Nsi had been human, not a serpentfolk. With uncertainty growing, the party left the gardens and turned west toward the Heart of Ubtao, reaching the great floating earth mote shaped like a large blood dripping heart.
Using rope and Ezra’s flying boots, they climbed upward and along the way passed a tabaxi woman in a sailor’s outfit who gave Tuna a strange look before disappearing down the rope. Inside the cavern they found a small outpost led by an elf who introduced herself as Valindra, asking how she could help, while in a side room Žvirblis’s long-lost friend, a drow named Varnenas, calmly brought tea to the table.
