Neph agrees, let’s pay the gnome and move on.  Neph has a strong urge to pickpocket the gnome, but he will hold that in check.

Quote from CrispyDM >>

"Hi, Zhi! I didn't recognize you back there! You look much better now!"

 Zhi slooowly blinks his reptilian eyes. "For the sake of everyone here, I will choose to take that as a compliment," he sneers, returning to his usual, grumpy self. 

Quote from Isacaar >>

"I'm starting to think I should have just left him"

 "Well, Arora - I am more valuable than you. Why should I thank you for serving your purpose?" he snappily remarks with a roll of his eyes. He brings a dagger into his palms and - still quite weak - shakily slices into the Drow, collecting some more blood for, well - demon summoning, obviously, though knowing Zhi it might be for a late night snack. 

As they return to the gnome, Zhi's irritation flares - a palmful of fire wells in his clawed hands. The gnome was certainly in range of his spells. "The choice is yours, Gnome. We have money if you desire," he snarls, (reluctantly) accepting to paying the gnome for passage. 

Arora looks to Raza and Kasha who were right there "Has he gotten grumpier and more indignant? Yikes!  We best get going, c'mon"

Arora walks to the edge of the water and hollers out to the gnome "Kind sir, we have agreed upon your payment of 20g per person to get across"

Quote from CrispyDM >>

 As the first arrow hits the heavily wounded T-rex, a druidic shockwave of magical energy erupts from it, and where was once an enormous thunder lizard is a wiry young woman with bright green eyes, elven ears, and brown hair. She sprawls to the ground, like a rag doll, heavily wounded and disoriented. Like trying to rouse from a heavy sleep, she groans and tries to get up.

"Auuuhhhh..." Kasha moans. "What the...?"

Quote from PlumPie >>

Speaking of the demon, the first thing he does is lock his gaze on Doc. He shakily points a claw and pulls his expression in a snarl, cobra hood flaring along his neck to accentuate his irritation. “You,” he weakly snaps - yet the sharpness on his forked tongue still remains, “Heal me. Now. And if the thought of meddling with the creatures I summon and the powers I wield crosses your mind again - know that I can end your life as easily as-“ Zhi hacks a cough. A small flow of congealed, black, thick, Yuan-Ti blood spills from one corner of his mouth. 

He turns to the rest and gives a single, furious glance around. “I have expended most of my capabilities keeping you all alive.” He bares his fangs before he takes a single steps away from the party, unceremoniously trips on a stone in the way, and - now more injured in pride rather than physically - begins tracing a tiny hut in the air, expression as sour as usual. 

Doc felt like he should've been surprised that Kasha had reappeared out of nowhere, but in all honesty he wasn't.  He remembered reading her dossier when this team was put together what seemed like ages ago.  Apparently, it had said, she was by far the strongest member of the group but had no control - or even memory at times - of her abilities or what she could really do.  Doc had been incredulous, but seeing Kashasauras in action just now had more than confirmed the intel group's findings.  Now, if only there was a way to help her gain more control or remember what else she could do...

He was quickly snapped out of these thoughts by blathering of Zhi.  Sighing loudly enough for everyone to hear, Doc scratched at his forehead before slowly beginning to turn in his direction, only to stop when Zhi thought it alright to order him around like one of the thugs from his other line of work.  Jokingly thinking that he must not be in that much pain if he had the energy to complain this much already, Doc decided to ignore him for the time being and address Kasha instead (he would eventually heal the snakeman, but only after he cooled off a bit and remembered his manners).  "Welcome back Kasha, glad you're alright.  And don't worry about the message.  Even if you had delivered it, there's no way help would've come on time; but you seem to be reinforcement enough.  Stay close to the others and don't stray off..."  

Giving the Half-Elf a nod, Doc then joined Arora at the edge of the shoreline and waited on the gnome for his response.  The sooner they were out of this area the better.

Zhi slooowly blinks his reptilian eyes. "For the sake of everyone here, I will choose to take that as a compliment," he sneers, returning to his usual, grumpy self. 
"Sure! Whatever!" Kasha squeaked, her shoulders shrugging.

Arora looks to Raza and Kasha who were right there "Has he gotten grumpier and more indignant? Yikes!  We best get going, c'mon"
Kasha gives Arora a look that implies she totally agrees. Sheesh!

Arora walks to the edge of the water and hollers out to the gnome "Kind sir, we have agreed upon your payment of 20g per person to get across"
"Oh, splendid! I shall be right there with the boat!!" he screams back.

"Welcome back Kasha, glad you're alright.  And don't worry about the message.  Even if you had delivered it, there's no way help would've come on time; but you seem to be reinforcement enough.  Stay close to the others and don't stray off..." 
"Run for it, Marty!!" she cries in the voice of an old man. Her shoulders bob up in down as she covers her mouth and laughs quietly. "Aye, aye, professor!"

The gnome takes you all across the lake by boat, happy to accept your payment. Once across, you continue down the path numbered five and continue for over a day through a large cave system until you reach AREA 12. Take a look at the map in discord if you need to.

THE GREAT FUNGAL FOREST

You notice a strange earthy smell emanating from the cave ahead. The scent is reminiscent of decaying vegetable matter but with strong fungal overtones. Ahead lies the vast Fungi Forest. The darkness is suddenly broken by distant specks of light dancing through the air. The glittering motes float on an Underworld breeze that carries them through a cavern so large that both the ceiling and walls stretch far beyond your field of vision. Massive mushrooms, some rivaling castles in size, dominate the landscape far below you, a space with a spectacular display of colors and textures. More exotic growths are set far below their gargantuan cousins, utterly covering vast sections of this otherworldly cave.

You start in AREA 1, and your exit is AREA 17.

Decide where to go.

During entire trip over the river, Zhi eyed the Gnome like a cat watching a trapped mouse. Someone likely had to remind him the gnome wasn't a - to Zhi - 'expendable resource' for a multitude of tasks, such as creating undead minions or serving as a splendid component for Zhi's favorite - summoning demons. 

Before entering the cave, Zhi's breathing became progressively more haggard and his wounds barely even closed - though a creature such as pretentious and petty as Zhi would not give in to the silent standoff Doc seemed to start by doing the thing which annoyed Zhi the most; ignoring him. After giving him the evil eye the entire journey, Zhi halts as the scenery changes beforehand. "I suggest we rest," he rasps, doing a rather poor job of obscuring his exhaustion from Zhi's least favorite activity; hiking long distances. "My spells will easily protect us from any harm," he assures, at least determined to show off some of his skills - and, besides, Zhi's spells were actually quite useful, even if Zhi is quite the annoyance. 

(If we want to take a rest, Zhi can trace a tiny hut in the air which should prevent anything from attacking overnight.)

Neph nods his head at the suggestion of a rest, and the use of the tiny hut.  “Zhi, I feel as tired as you look.  You look like a worn out dish rag.  Make with the hut.”

Mock does not trust boats. Never has, never will. So after giving Kasha a large hug and a ruffle of her hair, she'd clambered into the center of the boat and sat extremely still as they went. She definitely breathes a lot easier once her boots are back on solid ground, though she is eyeballing the cave around them a lot more cautiously now. Last thing they need is more cave rocks coming to life, no matter how slow they were.

Her nose twitches a little at the scent coming from the cave ahead of them. It almost makes her want to sneeze at the sudden change, but she holds it back. She starts to move forward until the others start talking. Rest? Here? She wrinkles her nose but doesn't disagree. She feels like she could keep going for some time; then again, if the less-athletic members of the party wanted to rest, she wouldn't say no to a safe spot to rest her eyes. So Mock shrugs. "We all gonna fit in that hut ya usually make?" she asks.

Taking a seat next to Mock in the boat, she notices her rigid posture.  She wraps her tail around Mock's leg in silent support and watches the ripples as they glide through the water.  The smell of the cave is unpleasant and Raza wrinkles her nose in distaste, a sigh escaping her.  Raza wouldn't say no to a rest, she wants to talk with Kasha anyway but she doesn't relish being so close to Zhi and his constant, demeaning rudeness.  Hopefully Doc would reign him in.

"Correct. It fits nine," Zhi replies, looking somewhat offended that Mock questioned his spells. "It will be uncomfortable, of course, but that is a minor cost for safety." 

Kasha hated water, so she sat on Raza's lap and stared at it with a very concerned look. When they were across she stayed close by and wondered where she was going to sleep.

Daewen was nervcited about crossing the lake in the boat, as she had never been on a boat before in her 300+ year life. Giddy, she jumped into the boat and took a position at the prow of the boat, constantly looking all around as if something were to jump out of the water at any second.

That excitement soon turned to abject fear as the boat started to gently rock. Foot tapping, leg jumping, ants-in-the-pants nervousness soon took over. Enough such that as soon as they got to within 30 of the far shoreline, she blipped out of this plane and teleported herself out of the boat and to the shore. She quickly scrambled away and hid in the shadows on the far side, attempting to calm her nerves and slow her rapid breathing.

She was the last one of the group to climb into Zhi’s magical shelter, electing to spend most of the time outside, scouting for any lurking dangers.

Upon approaching the mushroom area, she was taken aback by the brightness of the lights. Being a creature of the darkness, she could operate in the bright light but much preferred the pure, stark darkness of the Underdark. And that smell.  The moist, damp air reminded her of the recent lake crossing, which caused goose pimples to raise on her legs and arms. Shuddering, she cowers behind Mock. 

"What is this, a tent? Wow, it's really, uh..cozy in here. Does this thing have cooling? What time are we going to wake up?" Kasha rambled off some questions, finding a corner to curl up into and fall asleep. Eventually she does, and luckily, she's only a light snorer. 

After the rest, we approached the fulgal forest as mentioned above. Choose a location to explore as we make our way to the other end.

Neph scouts ahead and looks at the road through to the south.  He pauses though and is curious about the mushroom men to the east.  "Are there actually mushroom creatures?  I would like to see that... are they good on pizza?  Or should we explore or head directly south?"

Arora takes a look at the waterfall slope trying to decipher how dangerous it is.  "Once we get past all this water, I would suggest the road less traveled, possibly to the North" she looks back to Doc "What say say you Doc?"

Aroraception of Waterslope area: 12

Portent rolls: 5, 10 - daily casting of Mage Armor too. 

After a night’s rest, Zhi only seemed slightly less irritated with the current circumstances. At least the uncomfortable heat in the fungal jungle was welcome. 

“Allow me to cast a spell which will allow me to quickly view over the entire jungle,” Zhi suggests - and after a momentary incantation, a faint, glowing arcane eye drifts forth, resembling a basketball-sized, vertically-pupiled eye hovering midair. Zhi’s own eyes rolls back as his senses are transferred into his magical scouting device. 

(The Arcane Eye will float towards area 2, 3, & 4 as Zhi recounts what he sees.)

You see a massive waterfall (2), about 2300 feet of muddy pond (3), and a massive fungal forest (4). This place is huge.

The waterfall slope is a wide yet shallow underground river that caresses the rocks into a smooth sheen. A worn path is just barely visible beneath the surface of the rippling water from bioluminescent algae clinging to the ancient stone. Further on, the river appears to cascade serenely down a short by beautiful waterfall then flows along a gnelt slope into the larger main cavern. It seems the only safe route leads directly through the cascading waterfall then continues down a series of switchbacks and into the massive cavern.

Should you wish to proceed, a challenge will be presented.

"Well, it's either this way or we go all the way back and pay the gnome again...." Arora proceeds towards the challenge in front of her.  "You can kinda see a path, so someone or something else has gone this way before"

Raza turned to Kasha and Mock, placing her hand on Kasha's arm.  "Kash, looks like we have to travel in some water.  Will you let Mock carry you?  It looks like it's the only way to get where we are going."