Session 3
The group talked to the owner and bartender of the Thundering Lizard, Emeka Isrit. He provided some background on the various guides as he could, noting that most of the guides seem to do well enough, but many seem to have ulterior motives.
The party also talked to Eku, a middle aged chultan guide who claims to donate her wages to charity, mostly. She recommended the group travel to see the guardian naga in Orolunga, past the ruins of Mbala to the southeast, skirting the edge of the Aldani Basin on the way. She also mentioned she knows of an Aarakocran settlement in Kir Sabal in western Chult.
Muricana tried, and failed, to start a bar brawl.
Xandala and Saryth got together, biblically speaking. Either Xandala is easy to persuade in that regard so you go girl, Saryth! Turns out Xandala is a dragonborn sorceror, and the pseudodragon Summerwise is very shy.
Qhelec tried to pickpocket Muricana, and failed. This resulted in a stupid tussle and Qhelec flew upstairs.
Session 4
On their second day in Chult, the hired adventurers made their way to Kaya’s Repose, a fine Inn, Spa and Theatre. There they spoke with Sir Pettibone and Priestess Undril Silvertusk, both of the Order of the Gauntlet. The party agreed to escort the knight and priest on foot to Camp Vengeance.
All have planned to reunite the following morning with Sir Pettibone and Undril either at the Thundering Lizard or, if past mid morning, at Kaya’s. Undril was uncertain that his nibs will make it out of bed in time…
Also at Kaya’s Repose the group met Lerek Dashlynd, a representative of the Lord’s Alliance. He wants a map showing the exact locations of Orolunga and Nangalore, and will provide a seafaring vessel to the first party to provide him a
verifiable map.
The party started to head down to the Red Bazaar when the alarm sounded and they were informed a horde of undead was approaching via Malar’s Throat. A group of children were apparently in danger of being trapped in the Temple of Tymora. The party fought off the undead in the temple courtyard, and retreated inside with Acolyte Clara. Clara showed the group to a secret path in the crypts.
Now the party is wading through the vermin-ridden, waterlogged, and apparently bandit sheltering tunnels beneath Port Nyanzaru, trying to find a way out for Clara and the children…
Session 5
Finding themselves caught between Zhentarim thugs and local smugglers the band fought back both groups in the sewers and made common cause with the smuggler’s leader Wakko. Wakko negotiated the contents of the den in exchange for his escape. In a not so secret room the party found a stash of dancing monkey fruit, a small stash of gold and a pair of fascinating items: a cloak of elven kind and a set of pipes of the sewers.
After dealing with the smugglers and bandits, Clara and the children stranded in Tymora’s temple were safely guided from the sewers. The band now makes final preparations before embarking into the jungle.
Session 6
The merry band of adventurers rose, some brightly, some early, and others less so. After meeting Eku and Xandala at the Thundering Lizard, the crew went to Kaya’s repose. After some impromptu squiring, Ser Pettibone was prepared along with Undril Silvertusk, and the band left the safety of Port Nyanzaru.
The first day of travel was calm, with mild (for Chult) weather in the 90s and clear skies. The party camped overlooking the Soshenstar River.
On the second day the party left the low lying hills and fully entered the jungle. As they ventured under the dense canopy, with Eku helping guide the way, the group noticed furtive shapes fliting throw the tree. As camp was prepared, a swarm of flying snakes descended. Luckily the party had kept their guard up as they prepared for the night at dispatched the pests, suffering a few poisoned bites along the way.
On the third day, shortly after wading across a very shallow portion of the Soshenstar, the group found a pair of wagons next to a cave. There were also the corpses of a giant wolf spider, a goblin, and a human. It appeared that a goblin ambush of another expedition was hot dropped by the native arachnids. As the band approached, more spiders emerged, but were quickly broken. A trail led to the west, with evidence that survivors of the expedition escaped or were taken by captive after the ambush.
As the group followed the trail, the monk Teddy fell through some particularly dense brush into the path of a pair of Knight of the Order of the Flaming Fist. The knights and their retainers demanded proof of an Explorer’s Charter from the Flaming Fist. After a brief meeting between Teddy’s attitude and the gauntlet of a knight, battle ensued. The party successfully slew the entire Flaming Fist patrol. What consequences may stem from this chance encounter?
Session 7
The party continued past the cooling corpses of the Flaming Fist patrol. The following day they overheard boars in the woods. Seeking something more palatable than the endless supply of Saryth’s nourishing but slowly nauseating goodberries, the party attempt to hunt the boars, with Eku and Sir Pettibone assisting. The group dispatched the boars, but not before some ill-advised zeal caused Sir Pettibone to charge the boars and suffer sever injuries in the process. The band spent the next day help the foolhardy knight recover, while also preparing as much of the boar as they could.
Over the next few days the group found a forgotten cache of insect salve, defeated a tricky assassin vine, and avoided a hive of giant wasps. As the trail they followed progressed south broken branches gave way to foot trails and then worn tracks. Sven days after the encounter with boars, the party scouted a goblin village. The village was surrounded by giant ant mounds and Saryth and Qhelec also spied two human prisoners held in the village.
The party approached with Saryth and Qhelec under the cloak of druidic magic, and the rest of the party approaching from the north. The layout of the village was simple, with huts in the center, the prisoners cages to the south, and a large hut to the northwest. Perhaps a hundred feet west of the village was a small stream and some beached canoes. The plan was for Saryth and Qhelec to kill or distract the guards of the prisoner pens, free the prisoners, and escape.
Qhelec’s arrows struck down the guards before the prisoners, and Saryth tried in vain to cause a distraction to the north, but found his magics to be too effective and his murderous efforts went unnoticed. TO the south. The dead guards were noticed and the alarm was raised. As the goblins fanned out and began to encounter the norther force of explorers, it rapidly became apparent to the goblins that the fight was not in their favor. While two dozen goblins are a strong force, they excel at trickery and traps, not open combat.
The party began encroaching on the goblin huts. All of the goblins save a few runners withdrew to the middle of the village. The runners ran to a confusing contraption to the side of the main settlement, and began hack and sawing at crude vines and ropes. It appeared that the whole village was attached to a bent tree limb, bowed down by some inventive goblin engineering. The Sebastian and Eku felt something large approaching from the north.
The following quarter minute was tumultuous. The prisoners were freed by Qhelec. Saryth tried in vain to defeat the waves of goblin runners attacked the mechanism. Sir Pettibone charged into the encampment as Muricana threw javelins and axes with deadly accuracy at the horde of goblins increasingly shouting at the runners. Then a Tyrannosaurus Rex burst through the dens jungle to the north. Xanadala loosed a fireball into the creature.
As the creature bellowed, the goblins succeeded in cutting through the ropes and vines. With a great breaking and tearing, the main village center was lifted up from the ground into a warped and woven sphere of tree limbs, fronds, vines, and ropes, and hurled into the night sky. The half dozen surviving goblins, their goblin children, and Sir Pettibone sailed cacophonously through the darkness to the east. Muricana was knocked to the ground by the force of the gobli-pault. Sebastian, Eku, and Xandala, standing a few paces from the Tyrannosaurus, held stock still as the beast watch the screaming, meat-filled village ball arc away.
Muricana stood up. The giant predator’s eyes snapped to the barbarian and it slammed its’ skull into the man, driving him to his knees with the sound of cracking ribs. Both the prisoners, apparently a priest and a wizard in red robes, unleashed radiant and flaming fury on the dinosaur. Xandala, thinking quickly muttered a spell and transformed the beast into a toad. Silence fell, aside from the labored breathing of the party and the crackling of the abandoned bonfires.
Session 8
As the party gathered their wits following Xandala’s successful polymorph spell on the T-Rex, rain began to fall. Qhelec grabbed the toad-rex, and flew it a healthy distance into the dark woods, dropping it from a great height. The wizard in red incanted a spell and fly off into the night. The other prisoner turned out to be Inete, a priest of Sarvas, who had been investigating the rumor of red rober wizards in the Aldani Basin
Saryth flew over to the wreckage of the goblin village, some half mile away. The scene was a grizzly mess of broken and twisted branches, smashed huts, and corpses. In the middle of the collapsed village-ball lay the dead body of Sir Pettibone.
The knight appeared to have valiantly fought off a half dozen goblins while dying, but their small knives and blunt trauma from the launch and impact were too much for the old knight. Saryth found a wounded goblin and a handful of children still alive. When Saryth left, there were no survivors.
Once regrouped and rested, the party searched the ruins of the goblin village. They found a larder hut full of various supplies… many of which came from prior “guests” of the village. After gathering what they could, the party headed back east, towards the Soshenstar River. The ruins of Camp Righteous awaited.
Upon arriving at the river, the party and Eku crossed, leaving Xandala to guard Inete and Undril and the triceratops. Once across they found a desolate, moldering camp underneath a Carved into the cliff was a giant stone man, holding a crocodile above his head. Eku told the party the story of man and crocodile, each taking turns holding each on their backs, to safely cross a strange land.
The party entered the dark tunnel between the statue’s feet. A first attempt to enter revealed a vicious pit trap. Once resetting and re-triggering the trap to get every out of the stone pit, the party tried following the example of the giant statue carry each other piggyback style. They successfully solved the pit trap, a blade trap, and an enchanted floor and door. In the depths of the ruins they found an Alchemy Jug. While the exit was a bit touch and go, the party is about to emerge back into the forest of Chult.