Let’s catch up. A series of unfortunate events, including surgery and a hurricane, have prevented me from keeping the blog updated. With this summary of the past several sessions we are now all caught up! Returning to our regular format soon!
When we last left the party they had just infiltrated the lair of the Red Mist, a bandit gang led by a Red Dragon. With the help of Gordon, and Otterace Rogue, Lysithea and Gobbles were able to defeat Red Mist and retrieve the stolen pearl. Unfortunately, Gordon lost his life in the battle against Red Mist. After returning the pearl to its rightful place in the Otterace Temple, a funeral was held for Gordon. The city of Otunia was built for those of smaller size, so the party decided to camp with their wagon just outside of the city. They are hoping that the otters will hold true to their agreement and help the party make it up the river so that they can reach the jungle.
The party is resting peacefully outside of the city of Otunia. Some members of the Otterace volunteered to keep watch so that the party could get a full rest, especially Lysithea and Gobbles who need to recover from their battle with Red Mist. Deep in sleep, the party begins to have a dream, or really a vision:
Abn Awaa Ruh, the jackal chaos god, parts a sea of desert and begins to descend stairs into the parted sand. Fast forward. Ruh sits on a throne in a temple holding his staff. He is not fully healed from the battle with the party. Figures in white robes surround him and kneel before him. With a scowl on his face, Ruh begins to laugh.
The party awakens. Gobbles cautiously taps Thistle Winkle Frost on the head.
Gobbles: Hey Thistle, you there?
Thistle: Yes, new friend?
Gobbles: Did you just have a very, very terrifying dream?
Thistle: Yes, new friend. Terrifying.
Gobbles: Okay, just checking.
Thistle: He looked like he was laughing. Maybe someone told him a joke.
Gobbles: Yup. That seems reasonable. So that happened. He got himself some friends and a temple.
Lysithea checks to see if anything on the magical map, given to them by the Fey, Alenia, has lit up, but there is nothing there.
Lysithea: I guess a temple doesn’t count as an artifact or one of his… toys… But now we know that somewhere in the desert he has a temple underground, and he has his priests and some of his monsters back…
Gobbles: All we gotta do is blow up the desert.
Lysithea: Nnnno… I mean, we could start combing the desert, but I think searching where we actually know things are might be more useful at the moment.
Gobbles: Ayup.
Thistle: Hey, new friend, I have the joke that someone might have told him!
Gobbles: Huh?
Thistle: What did the man living in the A__ Tundra name his dog?
Gobbles: What?
Thistle: Frostbite!
Silence.
Lysithea: Boo!
Gobbles: Uh… Okay! What is Frostbite’s favorite food? Chili dog!
(Wisdom/Intelligence Gobbles 17, Professor 19, Lyisthea 10, Surina 19) The stones of the temple they saw in the vision look the same as the stones Thistle’s dungeon was made out of (see Session ).
Gobbles: Hey, Thistle?
Thistle: Yes, new friend?
Gobbles: Do you know any other places that were built of the same stuff your place was?
Thistle: No… *hesitates* I don’t know of any other places like my place…
Gobbles: (Insight 15) The place we found you in?
Thistle: Yeah, that was my place.
Gobbles: Do you know any other places that were like that place?
Thistle: No. I just found that place.
Gobbles: Okay.
Professor: You know, I just had the strangest dream. You were there, and you were there, and you were there!
Lysithea: Yes, we know.
Unable to return to sleep, the party begins to start packing up their belongings. They find some of the otters setting up 2 rafts, which look like they’ll fall apart at any given moment. Lysithea takes off her new headband and puts back on her Ring of Water Walking so that she can attune to it before boarding the rafts. Samuel, the fisherman otter that the party originally encountered, walks up to the party.
Samuel: Ah, you’re awake!
Lysithea: Top of the mornin’ to you.
Samuel: Well, we have the sacrifices ready…
Lysithea: Sacrifices?!
Samuel: *pauses* Gifts. I meant gifts.
Lysithea: *worried* Uh huh?
Samuel: Don’t worry, they’re already dead.
Lysithea: Uh huh…
Gobbles: That’s comforting?…
Professor: Well, give it here.
Samuel: No, no, we need to offer it to the river.
Professor: Oh, I thought you meant they were for me.
Gobbles: It’s been a while since we’ve gotten an offering such as that.
Samuel: We need to offer it to the river guardians for save travel…
Professor: Well, I thought it would be nice… I would like a gift…
Surina: Haha, giff.
Samuel: But our magic is back! We can sail you up river now!
The party places everything inside the bag of holding, including the chest of infinite cheese, since the wagon will not fit on the river rafts. Professor, who turned his pot of holding back into a regular pot, asks if he can hold the bag of holding. The party agrees that’s fine, especially since most of the items in the bag belong to Professor.
There are 2 rafts, with an otter standing on each. Samuel stands on one raft, and a female Otterace stands on the other. Gobbles runs to the front of one of the rafts and begins to “King of the World”! Professor climbs onto the same raft, while Surina and Lysithea board the other. Using giant poles, the tiny otters push the rafts off of the land and into the water. The rafts initially begin to float backwards, because the river is slowing down, but a sudden energy takes control and something starts propelling them forward.
Lysithea: That is fascinating! *begins taking notes*
Even though there is no motor, there is a trail of bubbles left by the rafts. Excited, Thistle leans over the side and casts a spell, making the bubbles rainbow and sparkly. The two otters have little satchels made of leaves tied to their sides. Every so often they’ll empty out a satchel into the river.
Gobbles: Got some sort of river shark creature that you’re feeding so that it doesn’t eat us?
Samuel: Well, there’s spirits of the river…
Gobbles: Ah, ghost river sharks.
Samuel: Our tradition is we over them sacrifices to…
Gobbles: Oh heck yeah!
Gobbles grabs the chest of infinite cheese and begins to toss cheese into the river.
Samuel: Usually we offer dead things.
Gobbles: I mean, it’s not alive, is it?
Samuel: Good point.
The rafts are moving at an impressive speed. The otters use the poles to help steer the rafts, but no one is rowing. The rafts are flowing north on a river that flows south purely by magic. The party has been around fey magic enough to know that this if fey magic.
Lysithea: I’m fine. This is fine. *twitch*
The party sails smoothly for a few, uneventful hours. Suddenly, they hear a loud BOOM, followed by another, coming from further up the river.
Professor: LAND HO!
Lysithea recognizes the sound from their encounter with Giff the Griff (see Session ), but it sounds much larger. A few seconds later, they hear the sounds of fire blasts, but it doesn’t sound magical.
Lysithea: That sounds like the things that tried to explode me.
Professor: (Intelligence 19) Yes, I’ve heard this sound before.
The party prepares themselves for battle. Lysithea casts her Mage Armor, and the party makes a plan. The sounds were far off, but they eventually come upon a large river boat with two smaller rafts floating to the side. On the front of each raft is a large mechanism chained to the riverboat. They pass by some people splashing in the water, and some floating uncomfortably still.
Lysithea: Surina, help, I’m not very strong!
Lysithea lowers her quarterstaff into the water for someone to grab onto. Gobbles hooks his infinite rope to one of the logs of the raft, then tosses it to one of the people splashing. As more people get rescued the rafts begin to slow. (Athletics Gobbles 11, Lysithea 13, Surina 16) With their combined efforts the party is able to rescue 5 people.
Rescuee: Thank you! Thank you! They took over our river boat! We thought these rivers were safe!
Samuel: They usually are. Who are they?
Rescuee: There’s a bunch of hippo-type people.
Gobbles: Uh oh.
Lysithea’s eyes go cross as she rolls them into the back of her head.
Rescuee: They shot these things! We didn’t see them coming!
Surina: Giff.
Lysithea: I don’t want to be shot at again. That was an unpleasant experience.
Gobbles: Lucky for you, fire is usually effective against boats.
Lysithea: *remembering the giff encounter* They don’t like magic, do they? *rubbing hands together in an evil way* Let’s light ‘em up!
With the rafts slowed down, the party quickly joins together on the raft with the female otter. Samuel takes the rescued survivors onto his raft and starts sailing to rescue more and to drop them off at a safe location.
Samuel: I’ll go save as many as I can! I’ll use my fishing skills! *takes out a net*
Professor: Alright, we get it. You’re an otter.
Before the sail off, Lysithea talks to one of the survivors.
Lysithea: Is that your boat?
Survivor: Yes.
Lysithea: Do you need it back?
Survivor: We would like it back.
Lysithea: Do you need it back in one piece?
Survivor: They fired these giant guns. We’ve never seen anything like it. They tore part of our boat apart.
Lysithea: If I were to light it on fire…
Survivor: We’re surrounded by water.
Lysithea: I’m taking that as permission.
Survivor: Get some of our supplies back!
Lysithea: … Sure…
Survivor: We’re not the captain, so we don’t care.
Lysithea: Okay! All I heard was that it’s fine to light it on fire!
And so began an epic battle on the river. The party faced off with Giffs, Elves, and a mysterious white-robed figure. Several projectiles were fired at Lysithea, but Surina’s new Shield of Missile Attraction took every hit instead. Gobbles climbed aboard the boat and used their own cannons against them, firing directly into the ship. Lysithea lit things up with Fireball, and counterspelled the robed figure’s own Fireball before it could take out Professor and Gobbles. One by one, the party slew the Giff’s and surrounded the robed figure. After a barrage of attacks, the figure finally fell, and it was revealed that this one was of Rhu’s priests. Gobbles, being noble, decided to let one of the Elves live in exchange for information, but knowing nothing, the Elf jumped overboard. The female Otterace threw her spear and slew the Elf before he could get away. The party returned what remained of the ship to the survivors, who were very thankful for being saved. The rest of the journey up river was peaceful and uneventful.
Eventually the party arrived in the city of Naima, an arts-based town on the northeastern edge of the Plishpy River, home of the Ozzibold School of Fine Arts and the Feona Ozzibold Orphanage. Professor cast Disguise Self on himself before stepping into the town, for reasons he kept to himself. Gobbles set out to find lodging for the night. He first checked out The Black Mare, a bed and breakfast, run by a Half-Orc couple named Fred and Ethel. They were kind and friendly, even though they ribbed on each other a bit. During Gobbles’s conversation with them, another couple appeared, seeming to be bickering. The red-headed Tiefling was crying, “But Ricky, I want to be in the show!” Gobbles took his leave and went to check out the hotel across the way. THe Black Stallion was run by a man named Mr. Roper. Gobbles did not speak to him long, stating that we was going to stay at the The Black Mare because Mr. Roper was not nice. Gobbles returned to The Black Mare and got rooms for the party. Professor went to his room immediately and locked himself inside.
Meanwhile, Lysithea decided that the party had been through a lot and deserved a nice evening out. She had always wanted to come to Naima and see the world famous opera, so she bought tickets to the night’s show and got reservations at The Spicy Noodle, the town’s fanciest restaurant, for later. Later, the party all met at the local tavern, Fizzy Pop, famous for its bubbly juice. Even Professor came, wearing the disguise as himself but with a slightly larger nose. While enjoying their drinks the tavern suddenly burst with excitement as in walked a majestic Tiefling. Meredith Ozzibold the descendant of the opera’s founder, and is the diva and lead in the opera. Gobbles, with his kind nature, invited her over for a drink, which she happily accepted. Professor ran out of the tavern as soon as she sat down. Meredith became excited when she learned the party were adventurers, but Lysithea would not give her too much information, hoping to avoid causing a panic or accidentally letting any of Rhu’s followers overhear. Meredith offered to give the party special box seats for the opera later, which Gobbles gratefully accepted. Upon her departure, the party noticed that Meredith has a very odd limp, caused by either some sort of curse or other sinister plot…
Having plenty of time before the opera, Surina, Gobbles, and Lysithea decided to check out Gomaxee’s, the local magic shop, which had a huge logo of a large Otterace face on the front. They were stunned when they walked inside. The giant, 3 story building had a huge water slide running through it, and was filled to the brim with magical items. The party explored the many sales, viewing magic scrolls, armor, and clothing. Surina traded in some of the armor she got from Red Mist’s lair for some upgraded armor for herself. Lysithea bought Thistle a tiny top hat, monocle, and cane. Lysithea went to the magical jewelry section and asked to have the Ring of Fire Elemental Command appraised. The clerk was taken aback and had to call the owner, Gomax himself. Suddenly, a very large Otterace came sliding down the water slide and landed behind the desk next to the clerk. He asked if the party would follow him upstairs to speak with them privately. Up the waterslide he went, but the party followed on foot.
He led them to a private room, where he made sure no one was listening. After lots of bargaining, Lysithea traded the ring for a very large sum of money, and a mystical orb that belonged to Rhu himself. Gobbles immediately spent all of his share on Mythril Plate armor, made to fit his tiny body. Gomax then asked the party to go on a small quest for him in the mountains to the east of the city. With time still to spare before the opera, the party decided to go on this quest.
With Professor nowhere to be found, Surina, Gobbles, and Lysithea made their way to the mountains. There they found a small opening in the side of the mountains, leading into a series of hallways. They were greeted by statues, who came to life with their presence. The statues were able to defend each other, making it very difficult to hit them. Working together, the party figured out the right timing to hit the statues, but were quickly joined by more forces trying to stop them. They made their way through the turning halls, defeating more and more mechanisms and monsters trying to stop them. They eventually came to a small room, where 2 Gnomes were frozen in place. They appeared to be scientists, based on their attire. After some investigation, the party figured the Gnomes were not just frozen in place but frozen in time. The party continued on, looking for something to help the Gnomes. They came to another small room, defended by a Clockwork Myrmidon and other mechanical monsters. Lysithea immediately Fireballed the room, with Surina and Gobbles rushing in after. Surina’s Flametongue sword proved powerful as she carved through her enemies. As the battle commenced, from a small outcove to the right emerged a giant, mechanical spider with a clock in its chest. The spider was partially scorched, Lysithea’s Fireball having previously hit it. The spider proved a powerful foe, with attack damage not affecting it till later. Gobbles landed a mighty hit with his warhammer, using Divine Smite, Fury of the Small, Green Flame Blade, and every trick he knows. However, the damage did not take immediate effect. The spider crawled out of the room into the hall and was about to end Lysithea, when all of the damage from Gobbles’s attack took effect, defeating the spider.
Battered and bruised, the party returned to the room with the Gnomes to find them suddenly back to life and very confused. After some interrogation the party discovered that the Gnomes had created the spider, which then turned on them and froze them in time. Apparently this was not the first time one of their creations had turned on them. Unphased, the Gnomes mentioned how they were excited for the opera tonight, which they had tickets for. Lysithea asked to see their tickets, which were dated for 50 years ago. Since the party now had box seats, Lysithea offered the Gnomes the tickets she had previously purchased. Together they returned to Naima, and reported back to Gomax, who rewarded the party for their deeds.
The party had just enough time to clean up before heading to the opera house, in the shape of a giant clam shell. The opera, Landolin, is about to begin! Meredith Ozzibold will be starring as Senoa.
Act 1
A bard named Landolin (tenor) travels to the Feywild, spreading his music. While traveling to the Canowind Festival to win the Harp of the Fey, Landolin meets a mysterious woman who calls herself Senoa (alto). Senoa is really Landolin’s mother who seeks to steal his magic lute, Dasolmi, which was made from a magical tree. Senoa, who is actually Myxol, crafts a potion that she promises will give Landolin the most beautiful voice, but turns him into an ugly demon.
Act 2
Now cursed and without his instrument, Landolin lives alone. A beautiful Elf, Nandë, becomes lost in his woods. Hearing the song of Landolin (his aria), she travels to his dilapidated house. She reveals that she has also been cursed, though she does not know how. She has no memory beyond being lost. She does not shy away upon seeing Landolin’s appearance. As they fall in love (duet), Nandë’s voice rings out like a beautiful harp. Now inspired, Landolin and Nandë travel to the festival.
Act 3
At the festival, Myxol is favored to win, especially with Dasolmi. Seeing Landolin take the stage, she bewitches guards to storm the stage and capture the monster. Landolin continues to sing while fighting. As an arrow sails, Nandë jumps in front! As she dies, magic begins to swirl as she becomes the Harp of the Fey. Landolin grapes the Harp, and with music banishes Myxol to the Shadowfell.
The curtain falls. A standing ovation for the incredible performance! Throughout the entire opera, a red-headed Tiefling was seen inserting herself into scenes, with the other actors trying to chase her off stage while remaining in character; however, the Tiefling’s performance was so incredible she received her own standing ovation! After the show, the party went to dine at The Spicy Noodle, dining on the finest and most artistically beautiful meals they have ever had!
After a good night’s rest at The Black Mare, Samuel takes the party across the The Plishpy River so they can head into the Jorra’be Jungle. Their new friend bids them farewell as they enter the hills to the south of the jungle. Professor knows of a shortcut into the jungle and leads the way. As they walk, Professor reveals that he has been into the jungle once before. He was sent to retrieve the tooth of a monster in the jungle, as a right of passage; however, his younger brother followed him into the jungle. It was there that Professor saw his brother die by the beast he was supposed to slay.
Professor leads the party through a col, where they are greeted by pits of strange tar. Before Gobbles can sample the tar, the party is attacked by puddings and oozes. Lysithea attempts to Fireball their foes, and while some of the monsters were instantly vaporized, others remained unaffected and now actively on fire. As the now flaming monsters move around, setting both the pits and the land ablaze, they begin to surround Gobbles. A sudden, horrid screech pierces the air as an undead, white dragon descends upon the battlefield. Through teamwork, the party split their focuses, with some focusing on the flaming oozes, and others focusing on the dragon. After many a Fireball, Fire Bolt, and Flametongue Divine Smites, Surina and Lysithea are able to slay the dragon. Gobbles, Octavia, Professor, and Lysithea’s Hound of Ill Omen are able to slay the oozes with barrages of bites, arrows, Eldritch Blasts, and many tiny cannon blasts. Lysithea puts out all the fires with Thaumaturgy, and the party camps here for the night.
After a not-so-good night’s rest, the party enters the mountain pass. Thistle, the Fey faerie dragon, suddenly does not feel so well, as the party has entered the Shadowfell. They come across a figure, trapped in mid-air. Closer inspection reveals that this is Horgus, the lost High Explorer of the Explorer’s league. The party tries to free him, and are only able to do so after defeating a series of attacking runes and shadow monsters. Thankful for their assistance, Horgus leads the party to the entrance of a temple that he has been unable to open. Mysterious eyes on the wall watch their approach, causing Octavia to lose her cool and freak out. Lysithea is quickly able to figure out how to open the temple, and, together with Horgus, the party enters.
The theme of the Jackal, Rhu, is very present in this temple, but there is also the presence of another evil, chaotic being. Triangles and watching eyes line the walls, causing Professor to join in on Octavia’s freak out. The party comes to a room which is essentially a winding walkway over void. A call cries out, and Professor tries to jump into the void! Luckily Gobbles was able to stop him in time. Another cry, and this time Horgus takes a leap! Gobbles stops him, too, but the call is too strong. Horgus goes over the edge into the void! After he falls, a Slaad appears on the other end of the walkway and attacks. The daring Surina bravely rushes the beast, and the party is very quickly able to vanquish their foe. The party descends further into the temple, eventually coming to a room with a giant pit that seems bottomless, with walkways going around to the left and right. At the end of each walkway is a pedestal, with a bowl of water placed on top. The water in one bowl is clear, and the other is murky. Lysithea, reminded of the water in the Snake Temple from one of their first adventures, sticks her head in the clear water. She receives a vision of armageddon, and from the bottomless pit a giant mass of bones and organs rises and attacks! The party blast the decrepit pile with everything they have, till it falls back to the bottom of the pit. Gobbles then walks to the murky bowl and sticks his face in. As he receives a vision of peace and harmony, the party can hear the mass of bones and organs reforming. After some very quick thinking, Professor sends his homunculus servant into the clear water, so that Gobbles and the servant are both submerged at the same time. The mass of bones rises, but this time forming a winding staircase leading down. The party decides to take a rest before descending.
At the bottom of the stairs lies another room filled with void. Two walkways, one to the right and one to the left, reveal shadow monsters lying in wait. Across the void is a platform, with a gargantuan Shadow Fey Guardian ready to strike. Across from that platform is yet another platform, with a Tiefling sorceress beginning a ritual. Horgus is seen falling from high up, back down into the void. Surina banks to the right, and Draggy to the left in order to slay the shadow monsters. Upon their defeat, they each receive a rune that they can use later. Gobbles leaps across the void onto the first platform to attack the guardian. Gobbles lands, and begins his duel with the guardian. Lysithea sends a Fireball across the void, landing directly on top of the sorceress. The protective barrier around the sorceress shatters, but she continues her ritual. Again, Horgus falls from somewhere high up, back down into the void. He continues to do this during the battle, gaining momentum each time. Surina and Draggy join Gobbles in his fight, but suddenly the platform begins to rumble. It breaks apart into several pieces, and shifts around. Together, Surina, Draggy, and Gobbles leap across the ever-changing platforms and strike at the guardian, while Lysithea continues to barrage the sorceress with fire. The guardian and sorceress fall, but the party cannot celebrate yet. From the void rises an undead phoenix, angry and ready to attack anything that moves. With everything they’ve got, the party attacks the phoenix. Draggy slashes with his mighty axe, Lysithea blasts with poison, and Surina and her mighty sword land many a Divine Smite. Gobbles lands his amazing warhammer blow, using every spell he can, dealing a devastating blow, sending the phoenix back to death.
With everything defeated, a final platform at the back of the void lights up, revealing a triangle shaped creature, with one giant eye in its center, sitting at a grand piano. He thanks the party for the fun, before ascending into nothing, singing “We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when…” As the triangle creature disappears from site, the platforms form a straight bridge, leading to the temple exit. Horgus finally lands on the bridge, his constant fall finally over. The party rush out of the temple as quickly as possible, ready to leave this terrible place.
Upon exiting the temple, Thistle feels instantly rejuvenated (the party has exited the Shadowfell and have entered something connected to the Feywild). Running into the jungle, they are greeted by a humanoid, covered completely by cloth except for the eye holes. Lysithea recognizes this as a Drow, but more importantly, everyone is confused at meeting someone in the jungle. The Drow, who reveals that he is a guard standing watch at the exit of the temple, is just as surprised as the party at seeing someone in the jungle. He points to a small encampment at the base of a small hill. In need of rest and answers, the party and Horgus follow the guard to the small village. As the party walks they notice that the sky is missing, completely blocked by the trees of the jungle. Even so, the guard is completely wrapped in cloth. The guard walks with his spear in front of him, causing the vines, bushes, and other plant life to move out of the way. He reveals that the jungle is alive and constantly changing, but the threat of his weapon allows him to make a “clear” path to the village.
They reach the village and the guard pulls vines out of the way so that they can enter. As soon as they are inside the guard releases the vines, shutting them inside. Horgus, however, has disappeared. Everything in the village is made entirely out of clay – the buildings, the furniture, no wood, plants, or metals are being used. The party agrees to meet with the village’s Priestess in order to ask for lodging and answers. As they walk they notice a few more people entering the village, also completely covered in cloth; however, once inside they remove the cloth and walk about in more standard clothing. There are Drow, Gnomes, Elves, Humans, a wide variety of races. Small children run around playing in the streets. Further in the party begins to note a few similar themes, including the jackal, the triangle, and a spider. The party now feels very uncomfortable and not very safe, and Lysithea prepares to light the place up if needed.
Priestess Sadrae greets the party enthusiastically, excited to have found new “lost”. When asked for clarification, Sadrae explains that this village is a place for lost people, those who have been rejected for their beliefs and are unable to find a way in life. The lost always seem to find their way to the village, finding a place of acceptance. The party clarifies that they are not lost, but exploring and do not intend to stay. The priestess does not fully believe them, but grants them lodging and invites them to their nightly party. Upon hearing the words “pie eating contest” Gobbles lights up and graciously accepts.
Lodging is built for the party in front of their eyes, with workers building a small house out of clay completely with furniture. They take a much needed rest before joining the evening’s festivities. Surina, Draggy, and Gobbles eagerly join the pie eating contest, along with Priestess Sadrae and a Gnome. Professor and Lysithea choose to sit out, keeping an eye on things in case of a trap. Several different types of pies, ranging from delicious to questionable, are brought before the contestants. Each round the contestants eat one pie and are given points based on how quickly they can eat it (and stomach it). The Gnome is very competitive, but is not having the best day. Sadrae just enjoys the fun, eating a bit too daintily to actually compete. Gobbles is having the time of his life, but his small stature is not able to keep up with the 2 Dragonborn. Pie after pie is downed until the pies are no more. Surina is the new champion! Draggy comes in a close second, followed by Gobbles, the Gnome, and Sadrae in last. Each contestant wins a prize, and they all congratulate each other.
After a fun night, the party sleeps as well as possible on the clay beds, then sets out into the jungle early the next morning. The jungle is treacherous, moving and swaying to block the party. Recalling the guard, Professor leads the way with his weapon in front, discouraging the plant life from getting too close. Sunlight does not break through the treetops, so they cannot tell in which direction they are travelling. After half a day’s travel the party comes upon an incredible sight: dinosaurs! Living, breathing dinosaurs, but there is something different about them. Some of their scales are bright pink, purples, blue, red, orange, yellow, etc. These dinosaurs have been Fey touched. Most of the party tries to sneak past, but Surina, captivated by their majesty, goes in for a closer look. Seeing Surina as a threat, a gorgeous Ankylosaurus attacks her. Draggy, Gobbles, Professor, Lysithea, and Octavia try to rush to her aid, but suddenly the jungle vines begin to strike at the party, and a Stegosaurus joins the battle. The party splits, each taking a different foe, and are doing pretty well when a loud, cacophonous roar pierces their ears. From the depths of the jungle appears a mighty Tyrannosaurus-Rex, it’s golden scales flecked with rainbow crystals, it’s purple teeth the size of Gobbles and razor sharp.
The mighty T-Rex slowly starts making its way towards the party, who are still battling the other dinosaurs and jungle elements. Lysithea becomes grappled by the vines, which are angry at her fire, but Professor is quickly able to free her. The T-Rex lets out another roar, causing Gobbles to become charmed. Gobbles now has the urge to get as close to the T-Rex as possible. The party eventually defeat the other dinosaurs, and the jungle ceases to attack for the time being. They shift their focus to the T-Rex when it suddenly blinks out and reappears right next to them! It lets out another roar, this time charming Octavia. Professor uses every weapon in his artillery, determined to slay the beast that he believes is the same species that killed his brother. The T-Rex’s mighty teeth and tail are terrifying and deadly, but the party are able to dodge most of its attacks. With a barrage of missiles, spells, swords, and arrows the party are eventually able to defeat the T-Rex. Its lifeless body falls to the ground, and Octavia and Professor immediately swoop in to investigate it. With relative ease, Octavia is able to pull off many of the T-Rex’s gorgeous scales, handing one to each of the party. Professor pulls out one of its teeth, finally able to complete his right of passage that he began 200 years ago.
Before setting out further into the jungle the party decides to rest under the shelter of the T-Rex corpse. Professor decides to stay behind a little, wanting to further study the beast. Surina, Draggy, Gobbles, Lysithea, and Octavia head further into the jungle, still with no clue where they are going. They eventually come across a giant skeleton on the earth. Worried about awakening the dead, Gobbles taps into his divine senses, but no undead can be felt. Confident, he jumps into the skull of the giant skeleton. Suddenly, the skeleton takes shape and stands to a terrifying height! Gobbles, now in the mouth of the skull, can see vines holding together the shape of the skeleton – the jungle attacks again! The skeleton is joined by two shambling mounds, which proceed to attack the party. The party begins with a barrage of fire, Lysithea using her many fire based spells and Surina swinging with her mighty Flametongue sword; however, the fire does not seem as effective as it should be. Now extremely angry, Lysithea casts Blight on one of the mounds, dealing a devastating blow. Gobbles is eventually able to safely jump out of the mouth of the skeleton, and together with Draggy is able to defeat it. The vines retreat, and the skeleton lays back in the earth. Octavia, Surina, and Lysithea focus on the mounds, which are proving to be powerful foes! They focus all of their power on the first mound that Lysithea cast Blight upon, and are eventually able to take it down. The party sends everything they have at the final mound, including another Blight by Lysithea. Surina lands a mighty Divine blow and the mound finally falls. Battered and bruised, the party only takes a moment’s rest before continuing through the jungle.
The party is beginning to feel that they will be lost forever when they come upon an unusual sight – a giant stone temple with a huge stone face on its side, and an old man sitting out front. The party cautiously approaches when the old man lights up with excitement! He introduces himself as Fog. The party immediately recognizes this man as High Explorer Fog, who went missing over 50 years ago. Apparently he came to explore the jungle and has been standing watch outside this temple, not because he is the guardian, but because the jungle will try to eat him if he leaves. He has no concept of time and does not realize how long he has been missing. When asked how he has kept his sanity all this time, Fog points to the giant stone face on the side of the temple and says that Azmec, the keeper of knowledge, has been keeping him company. Skeptical, Octavia decides to talk to “Azmec”. To her surprise, Azmec responds! Azmec is the guardian of this temple, which holds both treasure and answers inside. The party deduces that the relic they have come to find can be found inside this temple. Azmec warns the party to be careful, and Fog lets them know that many have gone inside the temple, but none have come out. They each receive a token, which acts as a “Get out of Jail Free” card and can be given to the guardians inside should the party make a mistake and get attacked. The party takes a collective deep breath, and enters the temple.
The inside of the temple begins with a hallway split to the left and the right. Surina quickly states that the party should go left first, so left they go. This side of the hall leads to a small area with a door at the other end; however, the door is surrounded by spiked pits. Gobbles opens the unlocked door via Mage Hand, then expertly leaps over the spikes through the door and lands on a small platform. The door leads to a room filled with quicksand! Looking around, Gobbles sees no way out of this room. High above him he sees ropes hanging from the ceiling, as if to swing from. Gobbles doubles back and the party decides to go the other way. As soon as Gobbles leaps back over the spikes, a temple guardian appears out of the shadows, hand outstretched. After hesitating a little too long, Gobbles hands the guardian his token, and the guardian disappears. Now taking the right path, the party comes to a room filled with 3 statues, each holding a book and a sarcophagus. Upon the sarcophagus was an inscription, indicating that the party had to find the book held by the Dwarf. The party thought way too hard about this riddle, when Octavia rolled her eyes and grabbed the book held by the statue that was dressed in armor. Getting the correct answer, the door on the other side of the room opened.
The door opened to a set of stairs leading up to an opening over the quicksand room. In front of the party were the swinging ropes, and a platform on the other side. Octavia tied Gobbles’s rope of mending to an arrow and expertly fired into the wall on the other side, then secured the other end so that the party would have a failsafe if they fall. With relative ease, Octavia swings across the ropes and flips to the other side, almost showing off. Surina goes next, having a little difficulty due to her size, but makes it safely across. Gobbles casts Guidance on himself before swinging across, not too confident in his own abilities; however, he safely makes it across. Lysithea, however, has a very hard time making it across the ropes. She almost falls into the quicksand 3 times before latching onto the arrow rope and shimmies across. At this time, Professor catches up to the party. Having no idea what’s going on, Professor takes a mighty leap and lands on the other side of the platform, no ropes needed (imagine Yoda flipping in the air). On this platform are 2 doors, both of which are locked. Professor decides to lockpick the door on the left, opening it easily; however, Azmec’s voice can be heard saying that cheaters will be punished. A temple guardian appears, but Octavia gives it her token.
In this room were several barrels. Gobbles, wide eyed with excitement, opens the first barrel and drinks the liquid that’s inside. Gobbles becomes poisoned and takes acid damage. The rest of the party enters the room and opens the remaining barrels. Professor boldly decides to drink the next sample and, having picked the right barrel, the next door opens. This door leads up to an observatory, with nothing besides a telescope inside. Lysithea looks through the telescope and sees the rune for Transmutation. She moves the telescope around and can see the different runes for each school of magic. She decides to leave the telescope looking at the rune of Divination. Gobbles then casts Guidance, a Divination spell, and the next door unlocks and opens.
In the next room there is nothing more than a pedestal and 3 pieces of a statue. Obviously the party needs to put the statue together, but they are nervous because there’s no way it’s that easy. Professor feels that this is his calling, that his whole life has led up to this moment. Gobbles casts Bless and Guidance on Professor before he tries to assemble the statue. In the blink of an eye, Professor is able to assemble the Pewter Simian statue (he rolled a 26 on a DC 25). Triumphant, Professor walks through the next door, which is now unlocked. The party follows the stairs down into a room with 2 trees, each with 2 giant branches. Gobbles jumps up and grabs one of the branches, but a temple guardian appears, hand outstretched. Lysithea quickly hands it her token, and it disappears. Lysithea then tries a branch on a different tree and luckily picks the correct one. The next door opens, leading to a mine shaft going down and stairs going up. The party decides to go up, which leads them to a room with 3 vases. The party inspects the vases and discovers that they have previously been broken and pieced back together. With pleasure, the party smashes the vases. Inside each vase was a piece of paper, each with one word on them: Live, Azmec!, Long. Lysithea quickly shouts, “Long live Azmec!” and the door unlocks. In Lysithea’s hand appears a new token, and the next door unlocks.
This leads the party back to the room with the Pewter Simian. The party then continues the path they took before till they come back to the room with the mine shaft. This time they take the mine shaft down, which leads to a giant room with the temple exit on the other side.
Waiting for the party in this room are 4 tentacle vines, 2 large flowers, one red and one yellow, and one giant flower bulb. As soon as the party entered the room the plants attacked. Surina, Draggy, and Professor focused their power on the tentacle vines, slaying them almost instantly. Octavia and Lysithea begin attacking the flowers. Lysithea immediately casts Fireball, centered on the bulb. The bulb appears a little scorched, but does not seem too bad for wear. The red flower, much to Lysithea’s frustration, did not take as much damage as she had hoped. The yellow flower, however, took the full effect of her mighty blast. With the vines defeated, the rest of the party moves in and begin to attack the flowers. Surina’s Flametongue sword is not as effective on the red flower, so she focuses her might on the yellow flower. Very quickly the yellow flower dies and wilts. Suddenly, the bulb blooms and reveals a giant red flower. Not wanting to miss her chance, Lysithea casts Blight on the flower. The flower is unable to damage any of the party, so it closes back up. Where the yellow flower died a blue flower quickly blooms, and more tentacle vines form and surround Professor. Professor retaliates with his Tentacle Rod, and quickly defeats the vines. The bulb blooms again, this time as a white flower. Lysithea takes this opportunity to cast another Fireball, this time dealing incredible damage to the flower. Surina and Draggy focus their power on the newly bloomed blue flower and quickly vanquish it. Gobbles makes his was towards the giant white flower, which quickly closes back up. He prepares to deal his trademark mighty blow; however, the bulb opens again, this time as a black flower. It releases a cloud of spores, causing Gobbles to become frightened and run away. The party is hitting the plants with everything they’ve got! The giant flower is starting to wilt and the party can tell they are close to success. Seeing her anger, Professor decides to let Lysithea land the last blow. She casts a mighty Fireball directly onto the black flower, and the plants go up in purple flame.
The flames die out, the plants turn to ash, and where the giant bulb once stood is a purple, pulsing seed. They immediately know that this is one of Rhu’s relics, the item they came to the jungle for. Lysithea pulls out her knife and offers to stab it, but Professor decides that he wants to keep the seed, at least for now. Fed up with this temple and the jungle, Lysithea quickly storms out of temple, followed closely by Surina and the rest of the party.
It has been a long time since the party started making their way towards the jungle. They have finally completed their mission! Now all they have to do is leave the jungle safely… End Sessions.