The group hunkers down for what might be their last night of sleep in a comfortable place for a long while. Your alarms sound bright and early, telling you it's time to get up and go to the Port Authority. You get there the same time as Tumsy, who as expected is very excited to see you. Though this time he is dressed a bit differently. His casual clothes are exchanged for decent suit of armor and has a small gun at his side. Even with his change, he looks less of a soldier and more of a child playing dress up.
You are able to be processed and your visas check out so you are lead to the aiudara, or elf gate (a portal), that leads to the location known as Turhalu Point. The travel takes you back a couple of time zones so you arrive in the dead of night.
The station at Turhalu Point sits at the tip of a broad peninsula covered in rolling plains and expanses of tall, pale- green grasses that shimmer with violet hues in the wind. Short-lived blooms of magenta fungus tower nearly twenty feet over the landscape, though many have begun to wilt and others are marred by bite marks of half a dozen sizes. Trumpeting calls echo across the plains as immense, six- legged creatures with long, swooping necks trek steadily across the grass toward the western jungles. Beyond rises the Singing Range, its peaks barely visible through the haze.
Once one of Qabarat’s minor military outposts on Ukulam, Turhalu Point has been decommissioned for more than 20 years. It still maintains a token security force to keep the wildlife at bay, but industrious researchers have converted most of its gun turrets and bunkers into greenhouses and biology labs.
Upon arriving through the aiudara, you are met by a nerdy looking human. Welcome! Welcome to Turhalu Point. I am Dr. Khair al-Nuaf. Professor Muhali informed me that you would be coming. I heard of your dire mission. Just know that you have the full support of our small outpost here.
In causal conversation you learn that he has a little new information about the group you are after. They consisted largely of armed lashunta mercenaries. Based on what he overheard, they were headed toward some elven ruins to the northwest to perform archaeological survey work with the oversight of Dr. Solstarni, though the kasatha appeared to be groggy and perhaps ill.
Based on your notes from Zan and the professors, it seems like this will be about a 10 to 12 day trip. The trip will start in the fairly sparse lowlands around Turhalu Point, into the dense subtropical rain forests to the northwest, and finally into the foothills of the Singing Range.
Professor Muhali has told meto help you out with some supplies so, here take this He points to a create full of additional supplies. This includes, a scratched-up suit of lashunta ringwear II armor, a carbon steel curve blade, a stickybomb grenade II, 4 doses of tier-1 antitoxin, and 4 doses of sprayflesh, and 3 weeks of field rations for each of you. I can also offer you some ammo if you need it. Lastly, I can send in a runner to pick things up in town for you before you head out.
The group puts splits up the cash to help people buy new gear. Each of you get 655 credits.
"I am Dahlia. Thank you for your assistance, and for the supplies, Dr. Al-nuaf. Is there anything you can tell us about the wildlife out there that might make our trip safer?"
Dahlia takes the anti-toxin and sprayflesh, and some of the rations.
The easy answer is, the wildlife is nasty. The is not much friendly, but I haven't been deep in the jungles yet. I do know that poison seems to be a common theme in the wildlife.
Tool picked up a Aeon Stone , Clear Spindle(this stone sustains you by negating the need for food or water) 245g
Katara purchased the jump jets armor upgrade and 2 batteries, cost 1120cr
Alim loads up on a bundle of new gear, spending just about all of his caps.
Once everyone is satisfied with their purchases the crew gets ready to head out into the long, scary trek into Ukulam. The xenowardens offer to use one of their eco vehicles to take you about 10 miles. With laws and regulations, that is as far as they are allowed to take even green vehicles that don't touch the ground.
Your trek across Ukulam will not be easy; in this region, the days are long, hot, and muggy, with temperatures rising to above 90° F shortly after dawn. As a result, you must endure very hot conditions for about 12 hours each day.
Thanks to the jungle’s density, the average visibility is only 90 ft in front of you. This reduced visibility makes navigation difficult, but you should have Halkueem Zan’s notes, which provide bearings taken at several key landmarks.
We should get moving, yes we should! Here Hux, let me see if I can help you with navigating. I am somewhat good using landmarks, yes I am!
Tumsy travels for the first 6 hours of the day using his environmental protection, but goes the rest of the day slogging through the heat.
It is hot out here, yes it is!!! I feel like I am burning up. But I am glad I bought the environmental clothing, yes I am! How are you guys feeing?
Katara uses his environmental protection suit for 6 hours the first day, instead of all at once he travels an hour with it on and an hour with it off.
Dahlia wears her old suit of armor the first day of travel. Using 12 hours of its E.P. charge. Then changes into her new tempweave. Before sleeping, she will channel to heal any non-lethal damage.
After the traveling for the day is done and they set up camp, Katara approaches Tumsy and offers him his hand.
Hello Tumsy I don't believe I introduced myself yet, my name is Katara. I noticed you used up all of your protection hours at one time and then had to suffer in that heat for 6 hours straight. That's gotta be rough, if you just use your protection at hourly intervals you can get some time to cool down and it makes the heat a lot more bearable. Just thought I'd let you know so you're not suffering for 6 hours straight tomorrow as well.
Well I guess that is why the school hired the professionals! I am honored to be here, yes I am, but I must say, I am not the most prepared. But I think we can find Dr. Solstarni if we use our areas of expertise together. Thank you Katara for your advice, I will follow that advice from now on, yes I will! You seemed to already of known my name, but I go by Tumsy. I am happy to meet you! If you see any other improvements I can make please let me know. I would hate to ever be dead weight on you all, yes I would. It is easy to read Tumsy's emotions as he talks as when he is excited, his whole body is giving an aura of excitement but when he is saying something negative he shrinks in size and his voice gets real low. What is even more interesting is that he seems to flip between these moods from sentence to sentence.
Hux feels confident in his Ysoki instincts and attempts to use landmarks to guide the group to the temple. Like Dahlia he will use his old second skin for its environmental protection all 12 hours before changing back.
Alim, having a rough day, is excited to finally set up camp the first night in the jungle. Sitting around, Alim pulls out one of his field rations and slowly munches away, carefully sliding food behind his red scarf. He listens as Katara and Tumsy carry on a short conversation, not feeling much like talking himself.
As Hux walks by, Alim gives a nod of approval of a job well done on leading us through the first day in the jungle.
Alim pulls out his hygiene kit, which seems so much heavier than he remembers it ever feeling like. He steps to the side of the tent, and takes a moment to freshen up. With the sun setting, Alim feels refreshed.
Crawling into his sleeping space, the soft smells of essential oils on his scarf remind Alim of Naziha. Falling asleep, he smiles to himself, as his hand gently rests on his chest, where her letter is kept.
Hux is able to make navigating the dense grasslands look easy. You have not entered the official jungle yet, but the grasslands are full of grass that grows up to 8 ft tall. You feel like you are on the right path as you settle in for your first night in the wilderness.
After a full night of extremely comfortable rest thanks to your portable hotel room, it is time to get moving through the grass lands again for day two.
Dahlia will again use her old armor for the hottest parts of the days travel. Then change back into the tempweave as the day cools down.
Dahlia will take the first watch each night, unless rigorous combat from the day cause her to make a different suggestion.
Katara will take the second watch each night. Katara decides to go with the same plan as yesterday for his environmental protection.
Again Hux leads the party using landmarks
Hux goes with the Katara strategy for using his environmental protection
Alim is a pretty earlier riser, so he will take the last watch overnight, into the dawning hours.
Tumsy takes Kataras advice and turns his suit on and off every hour to cool down and is shocked about the how effective the results are.
Tumsy seems bored traveling through the grasslands. I expected more ruins and excitement. This is just hot and boring, yes it is.
Day two passes as a really hot day as well and a slog through the grasslands. The good news is that Hux seems to have this navigating thing down. He takes you another 12 miles in the right direction! The full day is spent traveling with nothing special happening. Hux is fairly certain that you will be hitting the jungle at the latest midday tomorrow.
The night passes without event as well and the crew heads out for day 3.
Katara goes with the same plan.
Dahlia dons her new armor in the morning and as the day heats up, she uses 12 hours of protection.
As they walk through the grassy planes early the third day, Alim eyes the small furry purple creature. Looking worn out even though the day is still young, it is easy to see the creature is not used to adventuring. Trying to keep his mind off the dense grass and encourage some conversation, Alim looks to Tumsy to make eye contact, then continues forward, to make sure he doesn't walk into anything.
"Tell me Tumsy, what got you into University studies?"
Again Hux leads the party using landmarks
Hux goes with the Katara strategy for using his environmental protection
Tumsy uses the same strategy as the group, one hour on one hour off for his armor.
When Alim begins his conversation with the small skittermander, Well my people are not very smart, no they aren't. So when a smart one comes along, they groom them to become extra smart and then send them to a school to fill one of the needs of society. My people struggle with understanding other people... they are so greedy and mean. So they wanted me to master culture. So a couple years later, I am studying at one of the best cultural school in the known universe and I fell in love with elven culture, yes I did!
Again Hux leads the party using landmarks
Hux goes with the Katara strategy for using his environmental protection
Three hours into the day the group comes to the edge of the grass lands and the start of the jungle. It turns out that you are not the only ones at this intersection though. A heard of HUGE beasts seem to drawn to this area as they stomp around, knocking over small trees and eating plants.
Alim goes to respond to Tumsy but as he does, he hears a loud awful noise, accompanied by subtle rumbles of the earth. Emerging from the grass, he sees massive creatures, bashing down trees. Intrigued by them, Alim's finds himself staring.
Caught up in his thoughts, he thinks back to Zan's book. Alim quickly pulls up his comm unit and clicks on the electric version of the book. " Comrades...These things sound a lot like the Thunder-Bellied Behemoths... From Zan's book..." Alim makes reference to the electronic writing. "Maybe I should read this book over again..."
Looking up from his reading, Alim notices that these beasts- while destructive in almost all of their movements- allow other creatures to move around them without paying them much attention. They also seem to be gouging trees and the nearby plant-life in search of...fruit? Calling out his observations to the group, "I think these creatures mean no harm... At least, not to other living creatures. See how they go about eating, even when other wildlife is near? I think we should be able to just walk around them...?"
Tumsy's small jaw drops when he sees these mighty beasts.
He feels like he should know what they are but can't quite place it. Those things are huge! I don't think I ever learned about them... but given that they are here, it seems like a bad idea to get near them!
"We should give them a wide berth. Not aggressive does not mean not dangerous." Dahlia says scanning around for any other potential hazzards.
After a quick discusion, it seems the large creatures won't be an issue and the group decides to travel through the herd rather than around.
The large animals do not even seem to notice you as you travel through there area. But being so close really lets you feel how huge of a size they are. Towering over 20 ft tall, it feels as if these things could accidentally step on you and there would be no hope. As that thought runs through your mind... you hear a pop noise a large distance away.
Careful not to startle or upset the beasts, Dahlia strains to deduce what the noise might have been.
Dahlia can point out that the origin of the pop comes from the jungle, at least 200 feet away but is unable to identify the exact location or what the source of the noise is.
Alim looks to see where the noise came from, but one of the tall beasts legs seems to hinder a direct line of sight.
No one seems to be able to place where exactly the sound came from or what caused it, but the effects are immediate. One of the large animals rears up on it's hind legs making a loud trumpeting noise. This has an instantaneous effect on all the other animals, setting them into stampede mode. This is very dangerous for you since you are so close to all these beasts.
Activate an Ability (No Check): The PC activates a special ability or casts a spell that takes a standard action or full action. This does not necessarily earn the PCs any successes, though at the GM’s discretion, using an ability or spell with limited uses to perform a flashy distraction or eliminate an obstacle might count as a success.
Distract (Bluff or Intimidate dc 14):The PC draws the beasts attention away from the PC’s companions. With a successful check, the PC takes a –2 penalty to AC and saves against all effects in the My Actions table during the next phase, and the other PCs receive a +2 circumstance bonus to AC and saves against those effects during that time. Only one PC can use the distract action at a time, and if a second PC performs this action, it negates earlier distract actions. This does not earn the PCs any successes.
Hide (Stealth dc 15):The PC takes cover to avoid being attacked. With a successful check, the PC receives a +2 circumstance bonus to AC and saves against all effects in My Actions table until he takes another action. During this time, if one of those effects would randomly target the PC, randomly determine the target again and use the second result. This does not earn the PCs any successes.
Navigate (Survival dc 17):The PC identifies a good path to temporarily escape the beasts. With a successful check, the PCs earn one success.
Scramble (Athletics dc 18):The PC clambers over obstacles, swings across gaps, and runs ably through the jungle. With a successful check, the PCs earn one success.
Spook (Intimidate dc 20):The PC attempts to scare a beast—not necessarily enough to stop it, but enough to slow it or make it veer off course. The PC can attempt a single ranged attack (EAC 20, KAC 22) as part of this action, and if he hits, he gains a +2 circumstance bonus to the Intimidate check; if his attack deals at least 10 damage, he gains a +4 bonus instead. With a successful check, the PCs earn one success.
Squeeze (Acrobatics dc 19):The PC slips between two large obstacles or nimbly crosses fallen trees as a shortcut, stymieing the beasts in pursuit. With a successful check, the PCs earn one success.