Wiki of The Dungeoneering Crew

They shopped the rest of the day and found local herbal concoctions similar to cure light wound potions. Everybody picked up some with Pyreece and Audra picking up two each. Also each person picked up a neutralize poison. They were 50 gold pieces each for the cure light wounds potions and 175 gold pieces each each for the neutralize poison. They had something like a potion of speed. Brandy bought that for 500 gold pieces. It ages you one year if you use it. That's permanent. The question came up about what their goal was. Their goal was to find Halaan. If they happened to run into Olengata, they'd kill him for the reward, if they can survive the battle.

They left heading south out of Ishau. Dengo and Omoyala spoke a broken but passable common. As they travelled, Omoyala and Dengo again explained some of the dangers they might run into. The trip headed toward the eastern side of Lake Luo. As they headed into the jungle, it grew very dense very fast. There were sounds coming from all directions. Sounds of shrieks, howls, and movement all around them. Sudden movements of birds quickly launching themselves to escape the outsiders trampling through their home. Other creatures either slithered or ran off, attempting to avoid contact with them. Other creatures moved above them in the trees, unseen but definitely present. As it grew darker, Omoyala and Dengo lit torches. They continued on for a while until they finally stopped. They said , “We must camp here for the night.!”. They staked out a spot and set up for the first night of camping.

Omoyala took watch from the tree. Pyreece took the first watch, Audra took the second watch, and Kipp took the third watch. Pyreece, with her infravision, saw that Omoyala was actually sleeping. It was a light sleep, he seemed alert but his eyes were closed and resting. At least, that's how it appeared. She also saw movement and heard noises all around the camp. Audra took the second watch and she didn't have infravision. She allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but even with that, her vision was hampered. She heard movement all around them all the time and that kept her feeling uneasy and hyper-aware. Sometimes the sounds made her think it was something large, other times they sounded small. There were sounds of night birds and loud mournful shrieks and howls in the distant. She also heard jungle noises like monkeys calling out. Large insects flew up and buzzed around her before flying off. Elenor made a saving throw against breath weapons. She missed. Audra woke Kipp for the next watch. Kipp had the same experience even though he could see some things with his infravision. Other than the occasional vermin, the night finished uneventfully.

Everyone woke the next morning and prepared to travel another day. Elenor noticed that some of her materials had been rummaged through. In looking through her stuff, she found that some of her food had been pilfered. There was a bite taken here and there on many different items. Her food rations were basically cut in half. Everyone else checked their packs but no one else was missing anything. They packed up and moved south again. They appeared to be heading around the east side of Lake Luo but they stayed to the jungle and out of sight of the lake. They were able to peak through at different times only to see large creatures moving around out there and flying creatures moving overhead. They almost appeared like a flock of large pelicans. Not just large, but huge reptilian like birds that Omoyala called Pteranodons. Their wingspan was about 40 feet. They flew like a flock of around nine of them. Omoyala and Dengo pointed out the different creatures. “Triceratops, Damarcus, and sometimes, Tyrannosaurus.”, they told them, “Not good…not good! We stay jungle!”.

They travelled the better part of a day and reached a point where Omoyala stopped and studied the ground and then pointed down and motioned to the rest to come and look. They examined the area and saw the tracks of a large feline. He indicated that they could be Olengata's tracks. They guessed that they'd been made in the last day or two. The tracks went off to the southeast. The peaks of Flame were southwest of here. They decided to stay on the path to Halaan and ignore Olengata for now. They proceeded to continue southwest and back into the darker dense jungle. As night arrived, they set up camp with Dengo taking the watch while sleeping in a tree. She seemed to enjoy the same hyper-aware sleep that her husband did the night before. Brandy, Elenor, and Oglesby took the watch this night. They took better care to protect their packs from would be diners.

Brandy took first watch. She used her infravision and experienced much the same sight's and sounds as the others did the night before. Her watch was uneventful. Elenor took the next watch and lit her bullseye lantern keeping the light closed. She responded to noises by turning towards the noise and opening the bullseye lantern, pointing it toward the source. She was very busy for the first thirty minutes or so before she got used to the sounds and relaxed a little. She finished her watch and woke up Oglesby. He did not have infravision but leaned on his skills as a rogue to help him as he listened and watched for any sign of danger. At some point in the night, a rather large creature, a spider, dropped down out of the trees and bit him. He took a little damage before calling out to the others. The spider tried to bite him again but missed. Everyone woke to Oglesby's shouts. Being highly aware, they were able to get into the fray quickly.

Dengo let out a shriek as Oglesby dodged another attack. When they turned toward Dengo, they could see she had been bitten and was fighting a giant spider while up in the tree. Pyreece shifted to fire on the one in the tree while all the melee fighters moved to atazck the spider on Oglesby. Olayana moved into he tree to help fight with Dengo. They finished them off. The rest of the night passed without event. In the morning, they set out for the day. Omayala let them know that they were nearing the land of the Hachitta. Audra asked if there was any way around them and was told that this would be the most likely path that Halaan would have taken. He indicated that Halaan's guides would have left him before entering the Hachitta territory. He was travelling with a large group, lots of scientist and explorers but also a fare number of guards. Oglesby asked if the Hachitta were superstitious and if there was something we had or could do that would give us an advantage over them. Omayala said that the deeper they got into the jungle, the more primitive the people were. Things they have that might seem mundane to us might be unknown to them, things like pyrotechnics might scare them off. It might also have the opposite affect and they might attack in fear. Their courage will depend on how many of them there are. A single or say, a couple of them might flee, but run into a group of 40 or fifty or even more, you would be in great danger.

You could run into a war party as well, but you wouldn't just blunder into them, you'd know they were there long before they knew you were there. They may have some small hunting parties out. The biggest danger is that they see you before you see them! Be vigilant. If you hear strange insect or bird sounds, something you haven't heard until now, if that sound is answered, that could mean they have started to surround you. They will be very primitive. They will not strike with arcane powers. They are not armored, they are all about stealth, numbers, and speed. Audra asked if they would chase them out of their territory or would they turn back. Omayala answered “Depends, if you violated a sacred sight or if you've killed a number of them, yes, they would probably chase you. If they just ran across you and you took off, they might not give chase unless you looked like an easy kill.”. Elenor responded, “I'm not liking the jungle very much!”.

They continued on until they reached an area where they started coming across skulls on posts, here and there. Omayala said, “We have entered the boundary of the Hachitta. I can go no further. I can't risk war with my people.”. He took time to tell them what paths that Halaan and his company would have likely taken. He mentioned an old pirate fortress in the area. The pirates built it in the land of the Hachitta and the Hachitta killed them. They built a pretty sizable fortress back there, some hundred years ago. That would be one likely place they may have made for. There are some caves near the foot of the mountain that could be good places to seek refuge. They may not be too dangerous but getting to the caves would be challenging, lots of predators. Reptiles, trolls, and lizard folk, might be in that area. Generally you won't see Yaun-ti. They are more to the west. He told them that the fortress and the caves would be the most likely places to find clues of where Halaan and his group might have gone. They should have encampments somewhere in there. They've been here for a while. Oglesby said he thought we would find this pirate fort. Omayala said, “That would be a good place to start.”.

They spent the night here with Omayala and Dengo one more time before going their separate ways. The night passed without event. In the morning, Omayala and Dengo bid them farewell. He let them know that they would go north along the way they had came and then stop for a while in case they had to leave quickly. If they don't see them for a couple of days, then they would return to Ishau. Omayala, before he left, pointed out a few game trails and some ways through the jungle floor that were relatively passable. They didn't see evidence of a sizable group like Halaan's having passed through here. They did see the occasional foot print here and there. Rarely, but occasionally, they ran into a skull on a post. Sign's that they were still in the Hachiitta territory. The skulls were not fresh. They'd been here for years. Some of the posts that held them up had fallen over. Continuing south, they eventually came to a cleared area and in the area was a small castle. It appeared to be uninhabited. The clearing was covered in grass nearly 3 feet tall. The walls were covered in vines. Battlements and walls were broken in places. There were some breaks in the outer wall. It didn't appear to have a gate or portcullis. There were sticks standing around the place, each of them topped with a skull. There was a grim silence that filled the area.

They moved forward and looked for signs of creatures having moved through the tall grass but no trail existed. Oglesby moved to the stairs near this side of the fortress and checked them for traps. He didn't find anything. They made it up the stairs and headed through a passage in the wall. They turned north to a tower. As he entered the tower, he found that the floor above had partially collapsed. There were stairs leading up the center of the tower. They didn't look very sturdy. Oglesby moved in and listened carefully but didn't hear anything. He moved to the next passage way and peered down it, seeing nothing but an opening in the south wall and a medium sized chamber beyond it. He moved to the stairs to see if there was anything about it but they were in too bad a shape for anyone of weight to climb. Oglesby was able to climb it a little and saw that there was no one up there looking down at them. Now that they had all gained a little height, Kipp turned to peer out over the field for any signs of trails or movement in the grass. He didn't see anything.

Oglesby came back down and they started down the passage way east. As he reached the opening, he could see where it led into a courtyard. He stepped in to the courtyard to get a better view of the whole thing. There was some tall grass with some tamped down paths where something had moved through it enough to keep it from growing up in those areas. There was a door to the west. He approached it carefully and listened. Brandy came into the courtyard to back him up. Kipp followed shortly after. As Oglesby listened at the door, not hearing anything, he motioned for Brandy to come closer. She moved up as quietly as she could. Oglesby moved to the rotting door and looked inside. It was a mess and inside he saw skeletons in rotten loin cloths, broken and rotted spears, arrows, and axes with stone heads littering the place. Broken glass and twisted metals were scattered here and there on the floor. Debris littered the place, Cabinets and shelves are damaged. Black marks covered the floor near the door. In the southeast corner laid what remained of a skeleton in burned and blackened robes. The area around the figure seemed to have been burned.

Oglesby motioned for Brandy to move up and look inside. She looked and it looked to her like the skeletons were from people that died in this room, not thrown in here after they were killed. Oglesby stepped in, he heard some skittering sounds. He looked around for something like spiders but didn't see anything. Whatever was making the sound was behind things. Brandy joined him as he moved in a little further. She got her bow out while Oglesby got his sword out. As they got further into the room, they were assaulted by a bunch of giant centipedes. Brandy yelled back, “Trouble!”. Kipp had moved forward all ready and Audra, Elenor, and Pyreece. Had entered the courtyard. (We then paused to learn how to use the initiative tracker.) There were 7 or 8 of these creatures. Kipp moved to the door to assess what was going on.

Oglesby was attacked by three of them, missed by all. Brandy was attacked by three of them as well, and was also missed. Audra ran up to the door with her sword drawn, and looked through, she saw a possible path, jumping over Brandy. She tried and made it but hit Brandy in the back of her head. “Sorry!”, she shouted as she crashed on the other side of the room. Pyreece moved up to where she could see into the room and fired at one. She broke her bow string instead. Kipp moved up behind Brandy and grabbed at her to pull her back out so he could step into her place but Brandy held her position and said, “I've got this!”. Oglesby attacked and missed. Brandy dropped her bow, pulled out her sword and attacked the one in front of her, killing it. Then she pivoted and attacked another one hitting and killing it.

Brandy pivoted on her next round and attacked another one. She missed. She hit on her second attack killing another one. Two other centipedes moved up, one on Brandy and one on Audra. They both missed. Oglesby was attacked by three of them. They all missed. Pyreece started changing her bow string. Elenor fired a magic missile at one and killed it. Oglesby attacked and missed. Kipp fired on one and killed it. Audra killed one. She moved up behind the ones on Oglesby. Brandy pivoted and attacked one of Oglesby's and killed it. They finished off the rest of them.

They stopped there!

Exp, 105 + 11 = 116