The afternoon is quiet yet unsettled on the jungle island of Karakata. The villagers go about their daily lives, but with a constant fear looming over them, for they know that when night falls, some children of the island will be stolen away by and turned into nightmarish imp creatures, the horrifying result of what happens when a child consumes Grammy's cursed Pineapple Pizza.

The demon creature known as Grammy inhabits the Ananas Temple, a hidden shrine thought to be entirely lost within the jungles of Karakata. There was no hope for the islanders, they knew that as long as they lived on the island and Grammy continued to toil away at her cursed pizza deep within her temple, the children would never be safe. However, there was a glimmer of hope when esteemed Ranger Tyndareus the Green and his party arrived on the island, having heard of the temple from far away lands. They scoffed at the idea, thinking such a ludicrous legend would be no problem to tackle, but they were mistaken. They found the temple through some feats of impressive magic, yet once they raided it, only Tyndareus lived to tell the tale, and was mortally wounded, forced to retire from his adventuring career. To avenge his fallen party members, he reached out and recruited you, and knowing his party's mistakes, he felt that he had an adapted plan that would mean you would have a chance of success.

You all sit gathered in Tyndareus's upstairs lodgings in the local tavern. He's clearly been battle-scarred, deep scratches across his face, and eyepatch round his left eye, and his right arm, lower left leg and a chunk of his waist missing. He looks to you all, the adventuring glint lost in his eye, and says 'As you know, I have brought you here to defeat the beast known as Grammy. My party tried to attempt this, but we made a fatal mistake; Grammy's imps are nocturnal. They hunt children all across the island at night, then roost like bats in her temple by day. We raided the temple during the sunlight hours, and had to face the full force of her cursed child army.' His face grows pale as he relives the horrors in his mind, 'There were hundreds of them, and though they're individually weak, they overwhelmed us tremendously. 4 of my party members lost their lives, only I remain.' He finishes his monologue and his face regains some colour as he pulls a map out of his pocket. It's a fairly detailed map of the jungle, with a neat red X in part of the deepest reaches of the wilderness. He says 'That's where you'll find the temple. The map is spot on, so it shouldn't be hard to follow, but the crucial step is that you go at night. If you go in the day, you'll be overwhelmed by the ghoulish army like we were, so you've got a couple hours now before sundown to gather supplies, prepare and begin to go into the jungle. The only caveat is that you may encounter some Pineapple Imps on your journey in the night. That's to be expected since they'll be crawling all over the jungle looking for kids, but don't worry, like I said, they're individually weak so a party like you can pick off a group of them with minimal trouble.' He then leans back, and says 'Are there any questions?'

"What happens when adults consume this pizza?" Tem asks. 

Tem is a short human looking older fellow with a bit more bead, eyebrow, ear-tuff fuzz then would be expected. 

Tyndareus grimaces and says 'I can only assume similar results to the children; the person will become a mindless, slavering minion under Grammy's control. However, Grammy has a strange and inscrutable obsession with only turning children into minions, so I don't know if this has ever occurred. I can only expect this is children are more nimble, but I dread to dwell much further on such a twisted topic. I would recommend you ask the village folk about such an occurrence, but I understand the curse is an incredibly upsetting thing to them, and they would not take lightly to foreigners asking such taboo questions on the subject.'

Cassian is a human in his early twenties with tied back, curly red hair. While his right eye is a normal light brown, his left one has a black sclera and white iris. He steps forward to peer over the map, looking wary of standing too close to any of the others.

"To p-prey upon children...The foul creature must be stopped. I know the u-usual imps, but are these 'pineapple' ones also fiendish in nature?"

Tyndareus shakes his head and says 'No, no, they're much worse. The islanders use the word 'imp' to describe them, but truly, they're closer to a goblin of sorts.' He sighs deeply as he remembers the hordes of them, suffocating the party, and how he only just escaped. 'They're the size of children, as you'd expect, but have a grayish pallor to their skin and long claws. They wear a simple loin cloth and a wooden masks shaped like a pizza that covers their entire face, aside from a slice taken out, revealing their bloodshot red eyes. Their hair is wild and frenzied like the top of a pineapple, and they also carry machetes and shortbows, so watch out for that'

One of the heroes stood out among the gathered heroes in the dimly lit lodging area of the tavern.  With feathers as black as night and eyes that gleamed with curiosity, Whistler was a small figure clad in tattered robes.  Like all kenku, Whistler was unable to speak with a voice of his own, but he could communicate through mimicry ... replaying snippets of conversation heard elsewhere.

After Tyndareus unveiled the map and recounted the horrors of his failed quest, Whistler tilted their head, as if absorbing every detail. The kenku's eyes flickered with understanding, and he produced a series of speech fragments using the maimed ranger's own voice.

"Temple... slavering minions... fatal."

The tone and tenor of his mimicked voice shifted then from Tyndareus to that of a young man goading his best friend into doing something foolhardy.

"Come on, Whistler.  What're ya afraid of?"  

Although none in the room could know it ... it was the voice of Tommen Hull ... a dear friend and fellow street urchin that had recently gone missing.

Ragnor has been quietly observing and taking in the mammoth task before them. As a Hill Dwarf he has all the patience in the world and is rather good at it too, which is ironically unusual! 

"Greetings all" and nods respectfully towards Tyndareus, and nobody noticed Ragnor carries a set of tattered bagpipes strapped to his back, "begging all yea good peoples pardon," and pulls out his beloved bagpipes, "if all else fails I have this monstrous beastie!!". And chuckles saying so.

Ragnor puts it away, "I enjoy playing it, it helps me focus and reminds me of better times".  

A high elf with a tall, large build wielding a long sword across his back arrives in the area. ”And I suppose there’s no way to break the curse?” He looks around, observing the party. “And this is going to take place in the jungle? How oddly convenient for me.”

Tyndareus acknowledges the dwarf and his bagpipes with a friendly smile, but it seems to remind him of someone, and he can't keep the smile on his face for long. Turning to face the high elf that's just spoken, he says 'I know no way at the moment to break the curse, but I'm sure you might find something in the temple that could assist. My party didn't get far at all, but you may discover a way to break the curse if you delve deeper.'

Ragnor puts his bagpipes away (for the moment), "Do yeah have any lessons learned when yea look back? Anything that can be used by us so as ta not make the same mistakes?"

Tem looks over at Ragnor and says "Perhaps we can do a duet. I am versed in Flute, Lute and Viol myself."

Cassian frowns thoughtfully. "If there is a chance that we might find a way to turn them back, w-we should avoid killing the imps when possible." He gives a small smile towards Tem and Ragnor at the mention of music. "Perhaps we could use your skills to calm them."

Tyndareus responds to Ragnor and says 'The only tip I have is to go at night. That way you won't be overwhelmed. Grammy may have installed extra traps, puzzles and security since we last went, so there might be things that I can't prepare you for.' He then looks at the party discuss a more pacifist approach, but says with a weak smile, 'It's wonderful that you want to help these people, but the imps are hardwired into evil, so are likely to keep attacking until death. The majority of them are children from generations ago that wouldn't even have families to return to if you spared them and then released the curse, so don't feel too bad about killing them at all.'

Cassian rolls Insight on Tyndareus. 18 He will feel bad killing the imps either way but wants to be sure Tyn isn't hiding anything.

You sense that Tyndareus wants the best for the cursed children, but also has a deep bias against them. After all, they were the ones that murdered his party and left him crippled. You can tell he's telling the truth though; for the majority of the children, they have no family to return to, and he's unsure what will happen to them when the curse breaks. You never know, maybe death will be a release for the poor cursed souls that allows them to ascend? But, killing them is not the only option. You can always restrain them or possibly scare them off like any enemy.

Tem says "Perhaps we will identify a way to remove their curse without having to resort to killing them. I would also prefer to not kill. Bad Karma. Makes the sprit's restless.""

Quote from GR_Mustang >>

Tem looks over at Ragnor and says "Perhaps we can do a duet. I am versed in Flute, Lute and Viol myself."

 Ragnor is somewhat goes 'red' with joy hearing Tem's offer of a duet and replies, "N.. n . no no one has ever asked to do a duet with me before, I would enjoy that very much, ttthank you"

He also responds respectfully to Tyndarareus' position, "tough place to be in Master Ranger, but I must agree with Cassian we must know everything, my experiences for what their worth have always shown 'theres always another side and more to any given situation".

Tyndareus responds to this in a similarly respectful manner. 'Yes, I understand completely, of course, this is a sensitive situation. I advise you take whatever approach you feel most comfortable with, and proceed with caution. Whatever solution you find to the curse, may it be passive or violent, will be a relief for the island people either way.'

You have about 6 hours until sundown before you can safely begin to set off. In that time you can go to the market in town, which will have all the supplies from the Players Handbook spread amongst the various stalls, along with a few other trinkets and items. Or you can speak to locals, spend the time in an inn, rest, etc. The choice is yours!

Cassian pauses, deep in thought before speaking up to the group. "I'm going to check out the market. Grammy used food to transform the imps, so perhaps I can find a cook or alchemist and get their advice."