"Very well! Thank you for accepting our terms," Mother Bogwynne bows slightly, then waves a large, webbed hand toward the Huntmaster. "Finyik will give you instructions on how to reach the Ravine. Best of luck to you, friends."
Finyik leads you out of the treehouse and back down to the forest floor, where he begins to give you instructions on how to reach Deepblood Ravine. As he talks, he leads toward the edge of the village, and finally leaves you when he has reminded you that you are not the only ones in pursuit of this goal, and the other pursuers are already ahead. You will need to move quickly to reach your destination first, but the village does have some simply supplies to offer if you feel you need them before you depart.
The jungle canopy shades the understory during the day, casting the ground in dim light even at noon. Some parts of the wilderness are especially dense with vines, tree trunks, and broad-leafed plants that try to soak up what little light reaches the ground. Other stretches are relatively open thanks to the relative darkness. Thankfully, the Kaava Lands are slightly less humid than other parts of the Mwangi Expanse and don’t expose you to dangerous heat levels.
The Kaava Lands teem with wildlife, from squawking birds and stinging insects to humongous trees that create a dense canopy above. Vines, roots, and large-leaved plants cover much of the ground. The gripplis’ directions lead northwest through the dark, virtually trackless terrain. The myriad sounds of the jungle grow louder, and the undergrowth grows thicker, as the Krihirik village vanishes into the distance.
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"Thank you for your help, Finyik. We'll have those eggs before you know it."
Once the Grippl are out of sight and the party leaves the village, she looks at Ser Willem Dargerion. "What are you thinking? You almost killed the mission back there." Meredith sighs. "What, you think they want to go to war or somethin'? They barely have swords and spears, how are they gonna survive the next stampede? What if the lizardmen recover and raid the village? They need something to protect themselves."
Denair pipes up. "Well all of those human miners seem to be at war and wanted to steal from each other. You weren't ready to share secrets with them." She smiles as much as she can. "Everything's different in 'civilized' culture and it's confusing." Denair scampers ahead to scout and clear her thoughts.
Meredith feels conflicted and keeps her mouth shut for the time being.
Outdoors, Meredith lets her instincts take over.
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"Everything's different in civilized culture," Laiashi agreed with Denair, "if your frame of reference is... well, uncivilized culture. But it's not so bad when you get used to it. Plus, the Krihirik tribe is in pretty dire straits from the local lizardfolk, so if they don't get help soon... It could be the difference between life and death out here."
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Ser Willem nods, expecting the question from Meredith. "For one so used to nature, it does not seem clear to you? This tribe is looking for a weapon, any weapon, to give them a chance against the lizardfolk that may or may not be so bad. We haven't met them yet and I have a feeling they will tell us a similar story. Did you notice all the steel they were trading for? They are preparing for war. Nonetheless, we do have a mission and far be it from me to jeopardize that, so my apologies if it appeared that way. Tribal leaders respect power, even subtle power. If we simply acquiesced, they would not have given us the respect we have now." He offers Destrier a drink from his waterskin and then takes a swig from it himself. "We'll get those eggs, we'll get that weapon and we will find Sharrowsmith. Or what's left of him." He then offers a drink to Meredith.
Your trek into the jungle begins smoothly enough, as Meredith's old skills navigating through natural environments resurface and she swiftly leads you toward the destination. As you travel through the jungles, several of you also notice tracks leading ahead of you in the trees. The tracks include at least six Medium humanoids and a curious set of smaller tracks left by a barefoot humanoid missing two toes on the right foot.
About four miles from the Krihirik village, the terrain suddenly drops off into a deep ravine. The far side of the ravine is sixty feet away, and its craggy faces descend one hundred feet to the ravine floor below. The gap in the jungle allows a glimpse of the sky above, but the trees grow to the very edge of the ravine, and their dense canopy still blocks out much of the light. Several of the trees have massive, shaggy-barked trunks sporting countless twisting limbs. The trees’ strong roots grow deep into the earth and some even dangle over the side of the ravine.
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Meredith pauses as Ser Dargerion forces her to consider the bigger picture. "Hmm... those are a lot of ifs. I guess we don't have enough information yet. The sooner we figure out what Sharrowsmith was doing, and what happened to him, the better."
When they reach the ravine, Meredith pulls out some rope. "I have some rope. What about you guys? If we tie 2 lengths together we should have enough to reach the bottom. Denair can hold the top of the rope and I can summon her again when we reach the bottom."
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Willem takes a rope from Destrier's saddle. "With this of course. I'll tie it around him and then we'll lower him down. These trees look pretty sturdy, maybe Denair can simply retrieve our rope for us, rather than having to hold on to it."
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"Yay! I'm being helpful!" Denair runs around Meredith's ankles. "I'll take care of the rope!"
Denair wraps the rope around the trunk of a particularly sturdy looking tree near the edge of the ravine. As she does so, something strikes her about the tree. A particularly strong scent, like the spicy foods many of the people back in Fort Bandu had been making, strikes her.
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Jann peers down over the edge. "Hmm, I wonder if something awaits to devour us at the bottom? Of course, a quick devouring would be preferable to a long slow demise at the hands of Dread Cthulhu or a lifetime of suffering in the world which the dark ones will make when they reach down from the darkness between the stars to caress our planet into destruction. Should I go first?" He starts to climb down the rope.
Denair sniffs as she wraps the rope around the trunk.
"Something smells weird, lemme think..."
"Oh! It's spicy, like that stuff you cook in the Fort!" She touches her nose with her leafy tongue. Suddenly a memory comes up and she puts out a hand to stop Jann.
Denair catches a whiff of the tree, looks again at the roots, and suddenly realizes exactly what she is looking at. The tree is a monkey tree, a common but subtle hazard in the Mwangi Expanse, and its bark and roots contain concentrated oils that react upon contact with skin or leather to create an overwhelming, spicy odor. Anyone who climbs down the ravine wall without first identifying the monkey tree and making efforts not to touch its roots (even with gloves) exposes themselves to the concentrated oils and smells strongly for the next day. While exposure to the monkey tree doesn’t directly harm the person, this stench might cause unfortunate ramifications in the future.
It is possible to climb down the ravine without touching the roots, but it does make the climb a bit more difficult (DC15). Of course, you could always try to come up with some particularly clever way of getting down. What will you do?
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"Always something...", Willem mutters as he realizes what they have found. "Well, other than smelling like someone's dinner, does anyone have any better ideas for going a bowshot down the ravine?" A thought suddenly dawns on him. "Denair, you are great at climbing. Perhaps if you take some of the rope across, we can make bridge out of the rope." He looks around. "Maybe.Or.."
"I can climb?" Denair grows quiet. "Farshaya's better at this than I am." She gives a smile, but she's trying to hide her regret.
Meredith pipes up. "It sounds like Farshaya is the best climber here, he's probably the only one who can get down there without smelling up the place. Let's take a look for some kind of alternate way down. But if we can't find one we have a limited time span- we'll have to fight off every predator in the jungle to catch up."
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Lai wrinkles her nose. "Yea, and since this mission sort of relies on not being found by anything, that's the last thing we need. Can anyone, like... teleport?"
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Willem, Meredith and Denair confer with one another and quickly realize that some of the trees would in fact be tall enough to span the ravine. In fact, a few trees a short distance along the ravine have already leaned out over the edge, which should allow you to rappel directly down in the middle of the ravine rather than along its wall. Of course, this would require each of you to scramble up the tree's length and descend from its upper branches, which would fairy cover you in the trees odorous resin.
While the others puzzle out what they hope to be a better solution, Farshaya takes hold of the rope and masterfully climbs down, bouncing from one foothold to the next to dodge around the roots. He touches down on the ravine floor, checks himself over, and finds that he successfully avoided the hazard.
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Meredith grumbles. "Well, let's get your horse down before we all climb and smell like hot peppers."
Once that's done, she reaches for the branch. "Man, that's strong." The climb is simple for her.
Denair, meanwhile, feels adventurous and impulsive. She waits for Farshaya, then grabs the rope and tries to climb down carefully.
Despite her best efforts, she brushes against the trees. "Aww. This used to be so easy!"
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Lai will look around for something anything, she can put between herself and the roots. "I for one do not want to touch this thing."
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Both Meredith and Denair manage to climb down the rope successfully, but as they descend, they fail to watch where they are going for just a moment, and both of them brush up against a tangle of roots that had been hidden under a large rock they had used as a foothold. As they reach the forest floor, Farshaya doesn't need any kind of special perceptive abilities to catch the spicy scent of the roots on the summoner and her eidolon.
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Finding nothing, Laiashi tries picking her way around the sap-covered roots.
Out of practice at climbing, however, takes its toll. She slips and grabs onto a root in her momentary panic. Great. Now I'll smell as bad as the rest of them. So much for sneaking anywhere.
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Watching everyone climb down, and smelling everyone's stench (except for Farshaya, Saritirnen and Jann it seems!) Denair has an idea.
She tries to use prestidigitation to clean the party members and eliminate the oils that produced the scent. The smell may have already given the party away, but it's worth a shot.
Plus, she's being helpful.
Denair's spell does the trick of cleaning the oils out of the skin, hair, and clothing of those who had come into contact with the tree's roots, though it takes her quite some time to accomplish the task. Eventually, however, you are ready to continue your trek through the forests of the Kaava Lands in pursuit of those who before you and the prize all of you seek.
Fallen trees, rocky streams, hanging vines, and other obstacles litter the ravine floor, making travel through this area just as difficult despite the sparser foliage. After several hundred feet, the terrain gives way to a natural trail running through the middle of the ravine. In most places the trail is a mere five feet wide, though it widens to fifteen or even twenty feet in some areas. The ravine walls and the distant canopy still block out most of the natural light along the path.
Where the path narrows again, a humanoid corpse—one hand stuck in its vest as though desperately trying to reach for something—lies sprawled in the dirt next to a thick, thorny plant. Countless biting ants swarm over the corpse, making its features difficult to discern.
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"Good idea Denair. Now we don't smell like lunch anymore." Meredith pets Denair on the head in appreciation. Denair is of course overjoyed. "We lost enough time there. Let's move on."
For Meredith it isn't too bad to travel through the jungle. It all makes sense to her, although it is more humid than she's used to. She notices Denair keeps her head up, mostly scanning the treetops. How does she notice so much with her head in the clouds like that? Denair's head snaps down suddenly as she points towards the ground. Meredith wonders how she noticed... wait, what did she notice?
Meredith looks down and sees the corpse, covered in ants. "I have an idea." She draws upon her breath. "Flame of life, lend me your aid!" and an Unseen Servant appears before her. "Good, hold onto this." Meredith lights a torch.
"Okay, bring the torch near the body and wave it around a bit. The heat should scare off the ants and then we can take a closer look."
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"Ooo, thank you Denair!" Lai sniffs her palms to confirm that the foul stench doesn't linger.
"Hmm," she says aloud as she considers the body. "I'd be pretty interested in seeing what he was reaching for. Anyone have a way of getting rid of the ants that doesn't--?" She stops herself when Jann steps up to wash them away. "Huh. Like you read my mind."
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Willem pats down Destrier as he removes the ropes from the horse and puts his own back in the saddle bag. "If I had known you could do that, I would have suggested just going down right away and not wasted precious ti.. never mind."
A bit later, he sees the body and watches as the magicians in the group clear away the ants. Once they are clear, he draws his sword and slowly uses the point to open what remains of the man's clothes near his hand to see if something was still in there.
Meredith sends her Unseen Servant forward bearing a torch. The magical servant waves the flames over the swarming insects, scaring off a few of them, but whipping the rest into a frenzy! The ants move as one to engulf the servant, which soon can be almost seen by the silhouette of swarming ants covering its entire form. Just before the magic sustaining it gives out, the silhouette of ants seems to turn its head toward Meredith and look down sadly, as if asking why she would she would send it to its destruction like this...
"Man, those ants look real mad..." Denair looks curiously as the swarm engulfs the servant and it drops the torch.
Denair delays, hoping the swarm moves away so she can grab the torch when it moves.
Meredith just glares, dumbfounded.