Jovial Jungle Jaunt (ToA)

Nenne looks at the state of the fighter and frowns deeply. "To be frank, my friend, I would much rather us rest here. We do not know what other creatures or treacherous terrain lurks beyond this clearing, and the corpses of these beasts may prove a deterrent to other threats in the vicinity. I know you are hardy, but I would feel much more comfortable if we took advantage of this momentary peace to let you recover."

 "Let us take a short rest, then be along our way. If there ars any more of those creatures, and they find ourselves to be around their friends' bodies; it is highly likely that they will not take a liking to that at all."

As the group pauses for a rest Boosey plays a calm folk song from the Sword Coast "'Neath the Willow She did Sleep", the gentle refrain filling the jungle with music. (Anyone who expends hit dice can add 1d6 to the healing total)

Feeling rested and his health restored Allister offers his thanks. „We have a long trip ahead of us, so let’s get going.“ 

While the party is resting Nenne notices some haphazard nests of a sort nearby. It seems the primates home was here in this place. The structures show signs of support and took some intelligence to build.

„Let’s see if we can anything here. They were not ordinary monkeys, maybe they liked to collect their victimˋs gear.“ Allister tries to find a way to get to the nests without breaking his neck

Nenne points out the nests to the rest of the group. "These creatures were capable of much more than I expected," she muses. "Be on guard. We might not have dispatched all of them." She rises to get a better look at the structure, keeping an eye for other primates that might be incoming. She doesn't stray far from the party, but she does advance warily to inspect the nests more effectively, trying to determine how many primates might have lived there.

"Sounds appropriate Mr. Allister. Shall we split amongst ourselves into two groups and investigate further? Or keep as one to help each other in case of an ambush? We are in enemy territory." With that Funderburk looks about the place as if a beast might punce out into their fields of vision at any moment.

"It would be nice to have some sort of trinket or trophy that is not made of monkey flesh after that battle."

Sthara takes a deep breath, reaches out towards the nests and make a pull motion – in a cloud of quickly dissipating vapor, she finds herself at the top, where she'd been looking (misty step). Gathering her bearings a bit, she looks around to see whatever she can drink in about the contents of the nest (Investigation: 6).

The nest creaks under Sthara's weight and her adrenaline surges as the nest adjusts under her. There are foodstuffs hanging about in the trees tied off by ropes crafted out of plantlife. Stashed into a corner is a rotting quiver with arrows that still seems serviable. Their tips are silvered.

Sthara grits her teeth as the nest adjusts. "Not much up here to see." 

She reaches for the silvered arrows and tosses them off the side and then goes for one of the hanging foodstuffs with a dagger to throw down. Once satisfied, she'll look over the edge and blink back down to the ground.

Some time later the jungle gets quite dense. The rain has come back to a steady pour and visibility is reduced quite a bit. Nenne is thinking to herself that if the weather gets any worse, the expedition will have to wait until it calms down. Seemingly in tune with her thoughts, the weather slacks up and turns into a light drizzle. Around mid afternoon, a loud crash has the party jumping. A mudslide has uprooted a tree nearby and is now laying flat. As adrenaline dies down and the five companions set out to move farther south a long limbed creature with wiry, jet black hair bursts out of the thick jungle up ahead. The troll is covered in bats almost completely and is running full speed towards the party. It yells out, "Du är inte ett välsmakande mellanmål!" The thing is 40 feet from Nenne and Allister leading the party.

“Hold fast”, Boosey shouts to the group as he casts comprehend languages on himself.  “It may not be dangerous, just looking for help”.  He nervously shouts to the rapidly approaching troll.  “Do you need our help?”

„It’s a troll, Boosey. A damn troll. What do you think it wants? You, tied to a branch, hanging over a campfire.“ Preparing for the inevitable Allister draws his blades. 

The massive creature skitters to a stop still 30 feet away and eyes Allister's drawn blades angrily. It tears its attention away from the blades and says something again this time directed at Boosey. The creature is obviously suffering and it seems the bats are dining on the thing wherever they can get their teeth in.

“I understand you well enough, Vigg. Do you want our help or not, those bats look pretty nasty?  I’d rather you think of us as friends rather than snacks, believe me, you do not want to go down that route!”  Boosey puts a hand on Allister’s sword arm. “I’ll ask again.  Do we help you?” Persuasion 20

The troll roars out and slaps at a bat biting into its armpit. It comes forward kind of aggressively towards Boosey saying more in its language. It hunkers down lower about twenty feet from the party, very ready and alert as to what the party is doing. It winces periodically as the bats bite in.

“We need to get the bats off him”, Boosey says to the others.  “They’re biting him, the nasty blighters.  Roll around on the floor, Vigg,” shouting to the troll “see if you can’t dislodge a few. We can deal with the bats then”

"Please tell our new friend that I am going to soothe his wounds and not to be frightened," Nenne requests of the bard. Once he translates, she will cast Healing Word on the troll (5 healing).