Journey Through the Jungle

Discovery, Exploration

Most of the party, consisting of Khlagor, Niko, Cyprin, Gabbi and Sora, head south into the jungle with a plan to make their way to the likely location of the vine drake's lair. Along the way, strong thunderstorms hamper the party's progress, and eventually they are accosted by the very drake they are hunting. In a short lived battle, the party is able to kill the creature, and track its path back to its lair. The party enters its lair, and after making their way through multiple deadly chambers and underwater passageways, find themselves trapped deep beneath a set of ancient ruins with no direct path back to the surface.

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Prior to leaving Nightbarrow, Khalgor met with Faarend and spent the night with him. They awoken the next morning by Niko who snuck into the Gorge 'n Forge bakery and starled the pair awake by banging a spoon and pot. Khalgor immediately lept into action, and tossed the human right back outside, although he forgot his clothes in the process.
After leaving a rainy Nightbarrow the next morning, the party found their way into the vast jungle of Akilum's Nest. The first day did not go well as a massive thunderstorm caused a great deal of rain and wind to hinder their progress to the south. Through the heavy rain though, Cyprin was still able to identify a Spirit Tree thanks to the help of small floating lights that guided him to its location. Gabbi was then able to find a good location to camp for the evening and the party rested through the night.

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The next morning, the party continued their trek through the jungle with only a light rain falling around them and through the heavy canopy above. While attempting to harvest some herbs, Sora was suddenly ambushed by the very vine drake that the party was seeking. It demanded payment in the form of gold for the safe return of their companion. The party did not take this threat seriously and and attacked the creature, freeing Sora in the process. A battle comenced, and thanks to the vine swinging dexterity of Khalgor, the party was able to bring the drake down to their level and deal a tremendous amount of damage to the creature. As it attempted to retreat back toward its lair to the south, the party was able to halt its progress and bring it down for good, dealing a final death blow to the creature and gathering some of it hide for later use.
Knowing that bringing additional information about the creatures lair back to Vigo would increase their reward, the party trudged onward, and soon found a large ancient ruin and showed signs of the vine drakes presence. They entered what seemed to be a partially collapsed passageway below the ruin, and soon found the path split in two directions, a stone passageway with stairs lead down toward the west, and and moss covered tunnel bored into the rock to the east. The party also located the remains of several adventurers, who looks as though their bones had been shattered, and their belongings torn from their bodies.
The party first ventured to the west to investigate the stone staircase, but Sora's curiosity got the better of him when he attempted to pick some mushrooms that covered the stone walls. The mushrooms suddenly burst forth spores that filled the lungs of half the party, poisoning them. Niko was able to cure the poison, and Sora learned a lesson to not touch every interesting fungus he finds.
The party, refusing to light a torch in order to not alert whatever creatures might be present, found thier way to a large, foliage filled chamber filled with the sounds of buzzing. Here, they saw a massive wasp nest covering the ceiling of a tall chamber, with massive wasps working the nest. Some large ants were also seen wandering the foliage covering the room. The party decided against moving through this chamber and instead back tracked to the mossy tunnel.
The party moved through this tunnel, eventually seeing a eerie set of dim lights seemingly floating the air up ahead. As they got closer, they realized there were large mossy tendrils hanging from the ceiling. The party, thinking this could be some kind of trap, crawled their way the rest of the distance, and made it passed the tunnel and into a larger chamber with a small underground lake before them.
Gabbi and Cyprin, the only two amphibious members of the party, entered the lake and found a tunnel headed north. They followed it to scout ahead while the remaining members of the party stayed behind and waited for them, though Niko began to get curious about the moss covered walls they had snuck passed...
Gabbi and Cyprin soon found a fork in the underwater tunnels, one headed up and to the north, and another headed east and deeper down. Again, their curiosity got the best of them and they followed this long and winding underwater tunnel before eventually finding a small chamber at its end. In this chamber they saw a backpack and mace at the bottom and a fairly large glowing green gemstone imbedded in the wall. Cyprin decided to investigate the gemstone, only to trigger a trap that left Gabbi completely blinded. Cyprin quickly grabbed the mace and Gabbi, and led her back toward the rest of the party.
Meanwhile, Niko decided to antagonize the moss with his lit torch, which triggered a viloent response! A large mossy tendril wrapped around Niko and began crushing him, nearly rendering him unconcious. Khalgor was able to free Niko from the creature and the party retreated back toward the lake just as Cyprin and Gabbi emerged. The party then all swam to the north through the tunnels and made thier way up onto a small area of land that contained a small pile of treasure guarded by a few zombies which they made quick work of.
After splitting the gold, the party made their way through a tiny side tunnel, which eventually led to a large ruined chamber that may have once been a gathering hall. The party investigated this large chamber which had its entire north wall collapsed into a water filled sinkhole, and determined it was once the lair of the vine drake they had already killed. The party now found themselves at an impass, as a path to the west sounded as though it headed right back to the wasp nest, while the collapsed chambers they could see lining the walls of the massive sinkhole could also lead them out of these ruins, or deeping in toward their own tombs. Investigating the watery sinkhole itself also led the party to discover the drakes horde of treasure.
Now the party must decide how to make their way out of this ruin and back to the surface, before they are trapped forever!