Professor, together with Gruk, you mark out the easiest route, and after reviewing it for a few minutes, you are fairly sure you'll get where you want to go.

(Anyone proficient in survival and using the map gets advantage for the navigation roll, the DC of which is reduced to 12)

Maxine squinted at the markings: "How long would it take for us to get there?"

You estimate about four to five hours of travel at a moderate pace.

"An im sure its going to be hotter there. But ima still taken me armor

"Armor and many more things, we might get stuck in there." Maxine looked around, counting necessary equipment. "Rain-catcher and water purifier we can leave here, of course - too bulky to carry around anyway. But water-skins we need full. Some food, may be, too. Ropes, tools, weapons of course ..." She quickly packed her backpack and soon was ready to go.

OOC: Interesting - I still have some rations in my inventory :)

Rations yes, but your waterskins are all empty...

Professor S:

OOC:  we should be able to refill our water skins at the water source where we found Gruk if it is on the way.  Otherwise, we can fill them from the water barrel we replenished from that same water source last night.  We may want to boil it first unless someone can make a survival check to let us know it is good to drink immediately...

Water in barrels was purified and the fresh one can be purified the same way.

Professor S:

The Professor will pull his supplies together and casts Mage Armor for the day, taking a moment to privately say goodbye to Gruk before the translation spell fades.

"I am trusting you, Gruk, with my friends, my tribe.  You have given me no reason to mistrust you, and I believe your intentions are honorable, or I wouldn't do this," says Snively carefully.  Taking a deep breath, he continues quietly but earnestly,  "If this, however, is some elaborate deception to separate us and kill or enslave us, I will find you and extract vengeance."

"We better get a move on while we hae the light"

Naturally, Shae would check on the wounded and review the supplies with Maxine. She’d review their medical supplies, if they had any left in their kits. The scholar would make sure she included the experimental plants in her supplies.

Shae would look around for any signs of moisture on the surrounding nature or on the ground. “Kam, do you think we can collect some water in a concentrated area, enough to fill our waterskins for Maxine to purify?” She would finally speak up. (Shape Water)

Nodding in agreement to Berrus, Shae would review the map the Professor and Gruk compiled together and contemplate if she should offer leading the way. Shae, I can provide you some guidance. And her skin would have a slight sparkle to it. (Casting Guidance)

(If no one objects... Survival: 17 + Guidance: 3)

Packing lightly so as not to be weighed down, and filling up your wineskins with some boiled water from your barrels, the four of you are heading out. Shae is taking point, using the crude map to guide the way. Maxine, not feeling too well, sticks close to her, with the Professor just behind. Berrus makes up the rear, carefully watching the area surrounding you for any threats.

Although the going is tough, you all start to sense your bodies getting more used to the environment and the heat. You all make good time, although Maxine is struggling, but she seems determined to push through. After two hours, you break out of the canopy, to a breathtaking sight- before you, for seemingly several miles, stretches a deep sapphire blue lake. You can't see much beyond half a mile or so, as the steam rising constantly from the surface bathes the entire area in a deep fog. A heavy scent of sulfur hangs in the air. As you push forward, the spongy undergrowth gives way to dust and ash, and eventually heavy mud, that sticks to your boots like wet cement, because it basically is. it doesn't take long for you all to be engulfed in the mist, and while navigation is easy enough, just requiring you to keep the lake on your left, the heat and smell, as well as the ground, are tough to get through.

I need a Con Save from everyone, DC 14. Maxine, you're rolling at disadvantage. 

Maxine Con Save: 9    (Now it's working?! I have no words!)

Shae will offer some of Kam’s guidance to any of the others should they feel challenged by their current cement trek.

Not wanting to show any wavering, Shae would dig deep into her reserves to keep pressing forward.

Con Save: 20 + 4

Professor S:

Constitution Save with Guidance:  19 1

Con save..  5

Although starting to feel fatigued, you all manage to remain level-headed, despite the fumes and the mist. Wading through the the Morast, you carry on for what feels like another hour or so, when all of a sudden, you notice small faerie lights in the fog. The air around you seems to be shifting, and between the clayey cement, the billowing smoke from nearby volcanic fissures, and the shifting steam, you can't shake the feeling of being watched by something. 

Shae, as you're leading the party onwards, you start to feel a strong sense of foreboding, as if Kam is trying to communicate the presence of evil nearby. The lights seem to guide you here, but the surroundings are strange. Just as you think you can make out what looks either like a large rock, or a small hill in the distance, you hear a hissing sound, as several steam mephits take form in the fog. Among the billowing steam, you can make out several other shapes too, among them the unctuous form of two mud mephits, and two darker smoke mephits.They seem aggressive and ready to bar you access to this area, as if they were the physical embodiment of some sort of ward.

The Professor:

”Shas,” says the Professor, “Do you want to call out to the Horned Lady and try to get an audience?  I think you may be the most well-spoken of us all.”

Berrus tenses and moves closer to defend the group

The mephits inch closer, hissing and gurgling. circling your group. Berrus, having been in about twice as many bar brawls as battles, and hence being a veteran of both, you quickly gather that they are trying to circle your group and are positioning themselves advantageously, should things come to blows.