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Glad to be leaving, Yndra doesn't waste time
She arches an eyebrow when Grax makes his suggestion, staring at him hard. "Are you serious, lad? These poor folks have been struggling, and you'd take advantage to scam them out of their last prized possession?" She gives him a look that dares him to agree with that.
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Finyik jumps up and addresses you very quickly.
That is wonderful news. Thank you for helping us poor Grippli.
I gives you directions to the nest, yes?
West, head due west into the Kaava Lands. Follow trail...
I will show you. Quickly now. You leave soon as possible, for the other explorers already have a head start on you.
The jungle canopy shades the under story 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 the PCs 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 village vanishes from site behind you.
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"Well then, we should not waste time, even though I much enjoy this lovely village. There will be time for this later." Majal says and slowly walks towards the ladder again, taking the road down without accepting any help once again, though her goat needs some.
The old woman was quite busy stopping Esmeralda from licking their hosts - strangly the animal felt some kind of curiosity in regards to the frog peoples' skin, and this seemed quite rude to the crone. But she didn't try to stop any biting and chewing - these are things any goat does!
Once the group has made themselves ready for further travel, Majal walks over to Graxzos, her Wayfinder in hand. [b]"Take this again my hairy friend. I do not wish to insult your jungle guide capabilities, but it helped before and we need any help posibble to catch up with these aspis scum.
She then proceeds to hold her eyes open and help as well as she can, just as her goat does - though her helping is less of the talking kind and more of the "poking into the side with her horns, doing strange noises and dragging the dwarf around with her teeth" kind.
"Bibi, hii ni njia bora zaidi."
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 sky above, but trees grow to the very edge of the ravine. Their dense
canopy still blocks out much of the light.
Several of the trees have massive, shaggy-barked trunks supporting
countless twisting limbs. The trees' strong
roots grow deep into the earth and some even dangle over the sides
the ravine.
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"Hah!" says Yndra defiantly. "I bought some climbing gear in Fort Bandu. Take that, nature!" If there's something odd (and dangerous) about challenging nature, Yndra doesn't care.
She starts unpacking the climbing gear and ties one end of a rope around some of the tree roots. "Want to help me with this, Grax? Who will have the honor of going down first?"
As Yndra ties her new rope around the tree roots, she sees that they are extremely easy to grab. They seem to be covered with a type of sticky sap as well, giving them extra grip.
It 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.
Sapper makes it down with ease.
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Thaia and her entourage take their time coming down.
"I was merely covering our descent. It is however refreshing to see that the company--even Scamper, has learned how to climb down rather than hurl themselves to their near-doom like last time. Now hopefully the old woman's memory holds long enough for her and her beast to follow suit."
Once you finish climbing, you notice your hands are covered with the sap from the roots and it starts to develop a strong scent, well actually a stench.
As you proceed from the ravine, continuing on the winding trail through the jungle, you have a brief pause.
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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Yndra tries to clean the spa from her hands when they get to the bottom of the ravine, using some water from her waterskin.
"Well, this doesn't look good. Any volunteers for passing through these critters? What are they, anyway? Anyone knows if they're dangerous?" She looks around the group. "Sapper, you probably have a torch or something to scare them away."
The mass of ants seem to have sensed your presence in their domain and they seem to be intent on eating you next....
23-Graxzos <-up
16-Yndra <-up
14-Ants
10-Esmarelda, Thaia
8-Sapper
4-Majal
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Yndra shakes her head at the gnome. "Well, it seems like you'll know exactly what you're up against, when these critters climb all over you. I'm not waiting for that."
The dwarven woman slings her backpack over one shoulder and takes a fragile-looking vial from one of the side pouches. Trying to aim under Majal's elbow, she throws it at the ground, aiming right in the middle of the group of crawling creatures.
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Graxzos, too, tries to clean his hands off once the party is down the cliff. "See, this's why I don' like plants..."
When the ants begin to approach, the dwarf swears and rummages in his pack. "I'm wit' Yndra...I'll go with whatever explosive I got!" He, too, pulls out a vial of alchemist's fire and hurls it toward the ants.
fire damage
Both dwarves pull out the alchemist fire. Yndra hurls her flask but is off the mark, and it bounces wide to the left, into the jungle.
However Graxzos manages to splash directly into the center of moving ant swarm.
Many of the ants are burned, but the remainder press forward towards the group. Unfortunately,
so few survive the burning oil, they disband before they reach the group. One well-placed shot wins this round.
The bites marring the corpse's swollen face make it nearly impossible to identify the body.
The following gear lies in the undergrowth near the body: a rapier, a fine composite longbow, a potion, a potion, two oils, two arrows, and two flasks of alchemist’s fire.
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"Well done, Grax. See, Sapper? It hardly matter what kind of critters they were. I thought you'd be happy for the opportunity to chuck some bombs."
When rummaging through the equipment, Yndra pilfers one of the vials of alchemist's fire, handing the other to Grax. "Pity this bloke didn't have the time to use them for himself. Or maybe he just wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with," she adds with a sardonic smile to Sapper.
Yndra then casts Detect Magic, trying to figure out what the potions and oils do.
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"Why thankee, Yndra," Graxzos says with a chuckle, tucking the new vial of alchemist's fire into his belt. "Guess no matter what yer methodologism, I'm a good guy t'have if yeh want things t'go boom! AHAHAHAHAHA!"
His face turning darker, he looks at the corpse. "S'pose this was one o' our friends from the Aspis? If so, we gotta hoof it. We're behind." He conducts a careful examination of the corpse's person, looking for any documents or unusual items that might identify it, or at least its affiliations.
Watching Yndra, he says with a chuckle, "Y'know, iffen yeh don' know what those do, I'd be happy t'sample 'em for yeh! Heh heh."
Graxzos almost misses a note in a secret flap on his belt pouch.
Meanwhile, Yndra studies the 4 potion flasks, but is unable to determine much about them.
She is interested to see the two arrows are magical arrows of "sleep".
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"Lookee here, gang," Graxzos says, waving the bit of parchment he's found in the corpse's pocket. "'Tain't signed, but the smart money is that this 'ere note is from our mutual friend Valacosti...or someone o' that ilk." He spits on the ground. "Looks like this poor fella had a bad habit o' gamblin' away profits...small wonder the Consortium wouldn' stand fer it. Assumin' this was the Consortium, o' course, but it seems like a safe bet..."
Seeing that Yndra isn't sure about the potions, Graxzos chuckles. "'Ere, lemme give it a go!"
"Lessee...hints of, uh, elderberry, sage, an'...is that bloodwort? Fruity nose with a bitter, ashen aftertaste that reminds me o' lost hopes and deferred dreams..." The dwarf shakes his head. "Nope, I got nothin'." He eyes the oils doubtfully. "An' I'm no alchemist, but I'm pretty sure I ain't supposed to drink those."
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"If you're all done risking your lives," Yndra says scowling while she snatches the potions away, "we can see about catching up to the Aspis and getting that orb."
She hands the potions and oils to Majal. "If you don't know what they are, I'll have them back for safekeeping," she says with a stern face.
"Anyone who can handle a bow? Otherwise I'll keep the arrows as well. Going once...?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
You continue onward, noticing the ever growing stench from the monkey tree sap covering your hands. You think you are close to where you were directed by the grippli.
The floor of the ravine slopes downward slightly and the foliage overhead gradually thins. The ravine is wider here, and numerous boulders scattered throughout the area attest to steady erosion. Some of the boulders bear strange carvings and are even hewn into rough pillars, but they jut at odd angles out from the landscape and don’t seem to be a part of any surviving structure.
Nestled in the shadow of two such pillars is a shallow pit scraped out of the earth by some massive creature’s claws. The nest contains several branches, the half-eaten body of a leather-clad humanoid, several broken shells, and a several large, intact eggs. In the trampled foliage near the nest lies the corpse of a massive, bipedal dinosaur, its tooth-lined maw agape and its hide pierced with dozens of crude javelins.
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Yndra looks triumphant when she spots the nest of eggs. "Hah! There it is. It seems like the Grippli gave us excellent directions as well." Her look then turns to a frown, when she spots the dinosaur corpse in the foliage.
"That doesn't make sense, though. Those javelins might be from the lizardfolk. But why would they leave the eggs if they've been here? For that matter, where are the Aspis. They were ahead of us, and we haven't overtaken them. Why did they not take these eggs and turned back?"
Yndra draws her axe and advances cautiously. "We'd best be prepared for a surprise. This seems too easy."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"I'm with ya, Yndra--I don' like it," Graxzos growls, stepping forward slowly. "But I suspect that Aspis scum've beaten us 'ere; they only need t'take back the one egg, aye? And we might'nt see that missin'. What's tha' body? Not sure it's the doin' o' lizardfolk..." He peers at the corpse, and glances warily about himself as he stands shoulder-to-waist with Thaia, pistol ready.
Yndra and Graxzos approach the nest with Thaia firearms at the ready.
The body of a large beast appears south of the nest area.
The dead creature clearly died from the numerous javelins that stick out of its body, but the broken foliage nearby shows it didn’t die without a fight.
You see a slight motion hidden behind the first pillar, near the eggs. Difficult to get a clear view or shot from your current position (cover+concealed)
You see another motion hidden behind the second pillar. Difficult to get a clear view or shot (cover+concealed)
=== Surprise Round ===
Sapper spots part of the closest creatures and hurls a bomb. The flash shatters in an explosion on the pillar and sprays flames.
The creature hisses in pain as it stumbles trying to avoid the flames.
Graxzos hits it again with his bullet through the folliage, but the creature remains standing.
Yndra calls forth some divine protection.