Suggestions on where to go now?

[Ganryu]

I've been running a long campaign in my dorm with a few people from there. People have joined and left (mainly exchange students) but the three original players still remain. We've played to and fro for about two years.

This takes place in Eberron, and after some random adventuring on the main continent the players got caught up in "house" business. They're now on a mission from House Cannith to retrieve an object that has been stolen from their workshops. They know nothing about this object, but they have a tool that lets them pintpoint its location.

The known location of the object is on the southern continent Xendrik, a huge place with mostly uncharted jungles. The PCs have been travelling across the continent for many roleplaying sessions now.

The whole journey is going to culminate in the discovery of the item they've been looking for, but until then I need some ideas for what they can encounter before that point.

Something I really want involved somehow is a HUGE waterfall, because they are awesome.

[Tom S 820]

When party is near HUGE water fall add fog (<10-20% miss chance for Missle Fire) -2 for perption Fort Save for caster DC 13 to be deafed.

[Peasant]

A few things that no self-respecting fantasy jungle can do without...

* Naga, Yuan-ti and/or giant serpents
* Druids, especially druids with minions
* Alien plants such as shambling mounds or yellow musk creepers
* Colorful flocks of birds, harmless or otherwise
* Pygmies, cannibals, head shrinkers or other token primitives
* Rain and heat; flooding and/or forest fire are common images.

Perhaps your waterfall is a cascade pouring across the facade of an ancient temple and slowly eroding it away. The party witnesses a primitive shaman (druid) atop the cliffs sacrificing a captive by heaving them into the torrent to be swept, screaming into the ruins below. The screams startle a flock of parrots that briefly block the view as the denizen of the temple finishes off the miserable victim (Yuan-Ti Abomination). The party now has at least one monster to defeat, a flooded lair to explore and a seemingly evil shaman to address. If they fight the shaman atop the cliff, villagers, monkeys, jungle cats, etc could assist, or maybe he summons a water elemental at the edge of the falls, or simply blasts the parties off the cliff with wind spells.

Elsewhere, the party stumbles across the closing moments of a battle between a Rakshasa and a Jaguar Knight (Shapechanging ranger, taken from Aztec mythology). It's probably too late for them to intervene in the battle (if they would even want to), or to prevent the Rakshasa from escaping, but they might hear the final words of the knight (queue cliched request to complete his mission). Tracking a deperate, savage illusionist (or being stalked by one) in an already hostile environment should be fun. For an especially memorable encounter, use illusions both to disguise real dangers (perhaps concealing a colony of army ants) or make them doubt the very obvious danger in front of them (that's a real forest fire).

Or play out the visibility and terrain issues in a jungle to their fullest. Blink Dogs and Displacer Beasts are not themselves terribly dangerous, but fighting them on steep slopes, among trees the size of buildings, in the dark, in a downpour...

Or play to the continental scale of the jungle. If it's really that big, let the megafauna come out to play. A Roc might be fun. Players seldom get the chance to feel like mice, but to a bird of that size, they're just an appetizer.

[Ganryu]

Thanks for the suggestions! Lots of good ideas here :D

[Blake Ryan]

Dinosaurs... Pteranodon chase them into the cover of the trees. Then when they hear the roar of the waterfall they might miss the roar of the approaching Tyrannosaurus.

Maybe Naga or Yuan'ti on some aztec temple with umberhulk in cages, ready to eat the slaves given to them to appease the dark gods.

For some intrigue, perhaps the Rakshasa and Yuan'ti are fighting over the jungle lands, with kobold and lizardmen tribes caught in the cross fire. A Rakshasa 'guide' in disguise may aid them several times before luring them into a trap.

There should pretty much be some terrain/environmental modifiers in each situation within the jungle area.