Cycle 5C
Explorers League Expedition
Explorers League Expedition
Notice
Items and abilities obtained in this sub-event do not have a mechanical benefit in Narrator content. These are enabled for my DM content, and content of other DMs who may accept or deny them on a case-by-case basis. To track these additions, please add them to the Storage section at the bottom of your Character Sheet.
You've spent far too long shoving your way through ferns that could dent a truck with a solid smack, and clambering over roots you could park the same truck under. Besides the buzz of mosquitos uncomfortably large and the birdsong high, high above? It's almost a ghost town. And then you hear it: a horrible roar and a shrill yowl ahead, the sounds of a finishing fight reaching you. It doesn't take long before a fleeing loser in a territorial conflict crashes out of the dense undergrowth and slides to a stop. It sends splinters flying as its claws catch. A pillar of stone in the shape of a big cat peers back. Gold blood slops down its chin and from wounds all over its body. Looks like you're not the only one having a shitty day so far.
Glorious news and a blessed (cursed once it's over and you realize the reality of it all) and wonderful mood! Though you are left, you are treated to a glory impossible back home. These trees could never be sustained with the atmosphere as it is and their root networks throughout the Tangleweaves are a miracle of some sort. The view is stunning once all is said and done. But it isn't done and sadly the only thing you've discovered today is how bright as all hell the canopy is when the wind cuts through the boughs. You are blinded and left on unsure (and not technically) ground!
To keep your balance, roll a Reflex Save DC 50.
Unfortunately, your invitation to the winged explorer was denied in favor of foolhardy friends leaping toes first into danger. Instead, the jungle keeps you company. So many souls resist here, both the living and the dead, but the energy is easier to breathe in once you climb to the canopy proper. You traverse highways of branches and bridges of nothing more than vines. The branches ahead split to reveal a mindbogglingly large "meadow" between the jungle treeline and a single tree stump. Dragonflies taller than Childress and longer than five of her hover throughout the clearing and buzz past you without a glance. The worries of the status seem farther away for a moment when confronted with the appeal of this dangerous game. And it's dangerous world.
Habital Zone Discovered!
Green Basin Site: Oddly equally spaced away from the other massive trees of the jungle, a lone stump rises far above the jungle floor. Whatever tree once stood upon it looks to have been cleanly cleaved in half. No fallen trunk can be seen. On top of the stump, a large basin has formed. Water pours through cracks in the trunk to create dozens of small waterwalls on all sides. In the center, an island of sorts. The location is defensible, has excellent sightlines, has no trees directly above it, and appears to have no creatures currently calling it home. If a safer outpost than the last could be made, perhaps it could be here?You barely resist the urge to shoot down your find from the incessant noise and your rising anger.

Spellbird of Paradise Encountered!
Living Focus: When tamed as a familiar, the songs of these avians amplify their master's magic if they share the same attunement.
In the highest crests of the jungle's canopies nest hundreds of different birds that share a singular detail. Though they are all colorful songbirds with wildly different plumage and songs, each is attuned to a different kind of magic. Elemental birds are the most common, glimpses of flaming wings, nests sung out of crystal, ribbons of ice tail feathers, and teleporting leaps of electricity. More powerful and bizarre birds hide amongst them. All, however, are attuned to Harmonic Magic!

Spellbird of Paradise Encountered!
Living Focus: When tamed as a familiar, the songs of these avians amplify their master's magic if they share the same attunement.
In the highest crests of the jungle's canopies nest hundreds of different birds that share a singular detail. Though they are all colorful songbirds with wildly different plumage and songs, each is attuned to a different kind of magic. Elemental birds are the most common, glimpses of flaming wings, nests sung out of crystal, ribbons of ice tail feathers, and teleporting leaps of electricity. More powerful and bizarre birds hide amongst them. All, however, are attuned to Harmonic Magic!
You absolute mad lad, you fucking leap? The wind whistles fittingly, the cool and humid air of the underground embraces you, the roots slide smooth under your feet, and flashes of dark tunnels and open passages to the green and gold jungle air throw you into darkness and out. Your momentum is swiftly rising, and the root suddenly arches, rising and twisting where it has been made to grow in a wild loop by some unknown force. On the other side of the loop is the remains of another, less fortunate, caravan. Do rabbits always land on their feet, or is that just cats? Maybe you should aim for the canvas cover of the wagon instead.
Make sure to check Bluebird and The Guy's results for the rest of your adventure...
To not eat shit while root-surfing, roll a Reflex Save DC 40.
Make sure to check Bluebird and The Guy's results for the rest of your adventure...
While gliding down on wings wide, you spy what looks like a resplendent white stag. Stories from the real world have them as everything from the noblest hunt to the heart of the forest. It stands in the mouth of a tunnel bored into the steep decline. You can hear Ru sliding farther and farther down on the vine below you. Before you can truly consider your options, it shakes. Wobbles on too-thin legs. Moves unnaturally. It almost reminds you of something rabid in how off-putting the motions are. That is NOT a deer. Luckily for you, it doesn't seem to be aggressive, though?
Stickstags can be found in any biome, provided there are wooded regions for them to hide. They are hatched as small as a pinky nail and can grow to the size of a small house, if given enough time. They never, however, grow any hardier than the twigs they mock. Instead, they fold themselves into strange ungulate forms to hide in plain sight as an animal to man and a plant to animals. They are obligate herbivores.
Make sure to check Ru Ning and The Guy's results for the rest of your adventure...
Stickstags can be found in any biome, provided there are wooded regions for them to hide. They are hatched as small as a pinky nail and can grow to the size of a small house, if given enough time. They never, however, grow any hardier than the twigs they mock. Instead, they fold themselves into strange ungulate forms to hide in plain sight as an animal to man and a plant to animals. They are obligate herbivores.
Make sure to check Ru Ning and The Guy's results for the rest of your adventure...
Your gut is right. The loam crumbles from the walls as something climbs down one of the great roots of the weave. It moves slow, swaying, but simultaneously sure. The voices and movements of the other two echo through the dark. You have gone unnoticed, but they haven't. The giant creature steps into your view with two wickedly curved blades for arms and towering compound eyes. You have the chance to step in before your companions are bug food.
Make sure to check Ru Ning and Bluebird's results for the rest of your adventure...
Make sure to check Ru Ning and Bluebird's results for the rest of your adventure...
At the center of the ruins you have descended into, stairs vanish into the darkness. Steeling yourself, or perhaps simply unbothered by heights, you walk toward the edge of the central cavern. The stairs are not just on your side, but all around. There are hundreds of tiers. With the help of flame, though, you can see water at the bottom with glittering gold in its black depths. The speed from your Dynamism would let you clear the stairs... do you go for the dive?
If you dare to leap, roll a Fitness Check DC 40 and take the plunge.
Your blood is the first to have been spilt here in centuries and the roots absord it quickly, leaving the dark stain the only mark to navigate back by. The ruins are strange and poorly constructed for living quarters. Rooms lay open to one another and some of the hallways and stairs make little sense in how they connect. All of them lead you back to the central area with the great well in its center. A narrow gap between two stairs leading up to a dais catches your eye. A statue is hunkered uncomfortably between them, peering back at you. One arm is encased in a golden gauntlet, a glowing orb rests between its tongue and palette, and a tray lay empty at its feet.
In the presence of strangers, caution is the better part of valor. A much more poetic take to the advice than your sentient weapon would offer. But having multiple sources of input does keep you from falling down a dark staircase that would shatter you fourteen times over before you could hit the water below, helps you avoid an unsightly trip over some chitinous corpse, or lets you keep a close eye on the other two. You also notice something curious. A fragment of one of the many sprawling murals in the ruins can be pulled from its place by intentional design. Sadly, pulling it doesn't reveal a secret door to a hidden treasure vault. You do get a really cool rock though. Academically speaking.
Item Seen!
[ Redacted ]The roots adore you. They cradle you. They split their rough skin for you and let you taste the honeyed green-gold blood of the jungle's life force if you accept it... and they also lead you astray. Bluebird and Ru Ning are lost to the dark. A melancholy descends. You have one foot in the world of one of the greatest lifeforms: The Tangleweaves themselves, and with the other foot you stand in the rib cage of something you will never know. Nestled in the middle, like a heart, is a humanoid corpse. Around the cervical vertebra of the skeleton lays a necklace of blocky beads and an odd, wooden whistle. It is shaped like a skull.
Item Seen!
[ Redacted ]The lost city burns around you in the heat of the jungle and revealed sun. The sandstone slabs radiate heat from every angle. All around you find proof of life here, but not a singular body of something you would call a person. You find a hefty, rock footlocker at the base of what was the smooth, stone platform for a bed. The design is hard to parse, but eventually you can tell by the interlocking teeth that it's meant to be a crocodile. Prying it open, you find pottery wrapped in glinting, golden textiles... and what's this?
Make sure to check Seigi Ling Ling and Gideon's results for the rest of your adventure...
Item Seen!
[ Redacted ]Make sure to check Seigi Ling Ling and Gideon's results for the rest of your adventure...
At first, you could mistake the mass of green for a park in the middle of the city, but as you all explore closer, you are able to see the disaster in full. An absolutely colossal tree has fallen over, caught and held partially aloft by the towering tops of the city's buildings and mysterious staircases. Dark shadows pockmark the tree where holes appear to be dug into its red bark. Flying bugs that must be larger than cattle swarm around it.
Make sure to check Cain Darlite and Gideon's results for the rest of your adventure...
Dungeon Unlocked!
The Fallen Titan: A colossal tree has fallen in the jungle region of the Tangleweaves and highly aggressive, but organized insects protect this odd hive of theirs despite being tens of different species. Any attempts to regularly travel past this area, or explore the lost city, are sure to be hampered by them. Someone should do something about that.Make sure to check Cain Darlite and Gideon's results for the rest of your adventure...
While the delve into the lost city is beautiful and haunting, you all take a step too close to the fallen tree at its heart. Like a switch it flipped, a great stream of Giant Soldier Ants lashes out. A troop of the bugs race away from the pheremone trail to assail your party. Their unnatural aggression forces you all back, no matter what fight could be put up against them? There are simply too many. Should one fall, another two are pulled from the river of red bodies.
Just before true dread can root itself in the group, the ants suddenly stop and fall limp. Like puppets with their strings cut, they collapse and do not continue to give chase. Others in the distance pause, waver antennae toward you all, and begin to passively march back to the tree's shadow.
Make sure to check Seigi Ling Ling and Cain Darlite's results for the rest of your adventure...
Cain Darlite takes 15 DMG and Seigi Ling Ling takes 10 DMG from their mandibles.
They seem particularly reactive to the anger rolling off you. You take 20 DMG.
They seem particularly reactive to the anger rolling off you. You take 20 DMG.
Just before true dread can root itself in the group, the ants suddenly stop and fall limp. Like puppets with their strings cut, they collapse and do not continue to give chase. Others in the distance pause, waver antennae toward you all, and begin to passively march back to the tree's shadow.
Make sure to check Seigi Ling Ling and Cain Darlite's results for the rest of your adventure...
You explore the waterline in good company, leading the way down the banks unencumbered by your floating paper unlike the ladies with their's. When the shore begins to slope higher than comfortable, you all are forced to cross the river. A sparkle below catches your eye and you spy a huge tower shield in the water, resting at an angle! It would make a sturdy bridge if your might or magic are up to the task.
Make sure to check Laylabelle and Sol's results for the rest of your adventure...
To raise the shield, roll any Mastery or Expertise Check DC 40.
Astramancy's gravity effects and the raw power of Fitness are rolled with advantage.
On a failure, you three will be pulling an Oregon Trail and fording the river.
Astramancy's gravity effects and the raw power of Fitness are rolled with advantage.
On a failure, you three will be pulling an Oregon Trail and fording the river.
Make sure to check Laylabelle and Sol's results for the rest of your adventure...
As your intrepid cartographer companions join you down the lazy banks and across the running waters and further into the jungle, you get the chance to enjoy clean and open air without the stuffiness of book-filled walls and alchemical sets. All in all, it's rather peaceful. It comes as a bit of a startle when your hounds suddenly sound the alarm! But you can't tell exactly for what? You do discover something else in their stead! You've figured out the source of the illusions at last. A moss under the water appear to be reacting to some kind of magical pulse in the water. These mosses could be useful for detecting magical leaks and radiation for the MIT. Clearly promotion material. Right? Right. Now the question of what the triggering stimuli is...
Make sure to check Frey Elzeiros and Sol's results for the rest of your adventure...
Resource Discovered!
Litmus Moss: A plush, soft, and oddly clear moss grows in the deeper waterways of the Tangleweaves. It the presence of magic, this moss responds by taking on colors and strange, wisping effects that indicate the kind of magic present. Some creatures and arcanists can learn to manipulate it further with specific signals and create detailed, if rippling, illusions. They do, however, demand near constant water to survive.Make sure to check Frey Elzeiros and Sol's results for the rest of your adventure...
Mired in your thoughts, you trudge through glittering waters with gently rounded stones. The water can be heard better than it can be seen with it so low here. Some look more like marbles in the wide, shallow area you've dazedly ended up sloshing through. Peculiarities catch your eye in time. The clink of a glassy sound muffled by the bubbling water pops up to you each step. And then there's an odd grind? Glass powdering slightly underfoot...
Make sure to check Frey Elzeiros, Laylabelle, and Sol's results for the rest of your adventure...
Item Seen!
[ Redacted ]Make sure to check Frey Elzeiros, Laylabelle, and Sol's results for the rest of your adventure...
Something about the beauty of the jungle and the fetching colors of its flora and fauna brings inspiration to your work. You catalogue many creatures on your trip with your party of three, occasionally separating to log a new landmark or specimen before continuing ever onwards. With inspiration, however, comes distraction. With inspiration comes creation comes an open mind and, my, how the river's illusions seem so much more beautiful with every glance. The subjects you've drawn have wild patterns and fantastical mutations in the water's reflection. You near it, leaning closer and closer at last.
Make sure to check Frey Elzeiros and Laylabelle's results for the rest of your adventure...
To resist its lure, make a Will Save DC 60.
Make sure to check Frey Elzeiros and Laylabelle's results for the rest of your adventure...
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