Anzir swings his war pick against the nearest wasp again.

War pick Attack: 13 Damage: 5

As the strike lands, he summons divine energy to smite the foe (for 3 radiant damage.)

Anzir slams his war pick into a wasp and it explodes in radiant goo!

Poole, hoping she is still shooting from hiding, targets the other assassin bug with her bow.

Attack: 26 Damage: 12 plus sneak attack 10

Bonus action hide again, back in the crates. Stealth: 9

Poole is well hidden and emboldened by taking down one of the bugs places a very well aimed shot into the other one as well. It does some serious damage, but the bug is still going.

Irma casts another Healing Word on one of the guards fighting wasps for 7 health. Followed by Toll the Dead on the wasp that hurt it (WIS save (12): 14) for 5 damage.

Undril sends a Guiding Bolt against the remaining assassin bug: Attack: 21 Damage: 11, but misses once again.

Melanthios and Aurok are up!

(Assuming Mel’s original target is still alive, kind of confused—)

‘Attack: 11 Damage: [roll]1d8+2d6+13[roll]

Otherwise, target the other assassin bug with Slayer’s Prey and . . .

Attack: 13 Damage: 15

Pretty sure if the first attack goes off it misses, but just in case here’s a fixed damage roll: 23

(Either / both of those miss / would miss)

Aurok throws himself at the assassin bug slashing with scimitar and dagger

Attack: 22 Damage: 7 

Attack: 14 Damage: 2 

Aurok lands some solid hits on the sturdy bug.

It starts to understand the futility of this fight and as last ditch effort tries to lay eggs inside Aurok: 6 to hit (which Aurok blocks with Shield). It then will try to fly away. Aurok, the veteran and two guards get attacks of opportunity against it:

Attack: 12 Damage: 11

Attack: 16 Damage: 9

Attack: 23 Damage: 12

.. but is cut down before it can make its escape!

The maggot on the other hand goes for the next goat: 14 to hit. It chews itself into the horrified and screaming goat.

But that's where the attack ends - the guards and tribal warriors, along with veterans and the party swarm the remaining giant wasps and dispatch them easily. The last goat dies, but the moment the maggot pokes its head out of it it gets destroyed by multiple spears thrown at once.

Sister Cyas runs to the downed guard and proclaims that she still lives!

Losses: 1 guard dead, 1 guard unconscious, 3 goats.

----

Ord and Perne, the seconds-in-command get the cleanup effort going quickly and efficiently. The corpses of the bugs are dragged out and thrown into the river. The fallen tribal warrior is brought down from the gatehouse and their fellows gather outside the compound to build a pyre for his last journey.

Commander Breakbone also emerges from his tent rubbing his eyes as if he hasn't been in daylight in a long while.

"This is what we are facing here. One day it's wasps, the other day it's dinosaurs, at night it's the undead or some creatures in the river. This is why we need to relocate to a more secure place."

He takes a slow walk around the camp while Sister Cyas and Ord brief him. He arrives back at your group and says, "Very well. You have apparently been helpful and my people ask me to be lenient with you. You still need to go to Mbala, but you don't have you return here if you do not wish to do so. Eight of our people," but he is interrupted by Ord who says something to him in a low voice, ".. apparently one of them decided to die. I am disappointed."

He sighs and starts again, "Seven of our people will accompany you there and they will bring back the information by themselves." And he turns around and returns to his tent.

Ord stays with you and says, "We are ready in a few minutes, most of the day is still ahead of us. I will accompany you as well, Perne still needs to recover her health from the last time." He leaves to make preparations.

Sister Cyas thanks all of you profusely, heals you all who need and then goes to attend the other wounded.

Undril says, "I need to stay here. This is much worse than I thought. Commander Breakbone wouldn't let me go anyways. I hope you stay safe and find what you are looking for."

Finally, Irma looks somewhat lost. "I will come with you, for now. But I might come back here with Ord and the others so that they make it safely and have a better chance to relocate."

You then hear a cough behind you and see Qawasha standing there. "I .. guess I'll come with as well if you don't mind. I will come back with Ord and Irma and then probably return to Port Nyanzaru after that. No charge, I've just always wanted to visit Mbala."

---

Everyone is at full health and you are expected at the gatehouse in a few minutes.

Aurok does indeed shield the last hit.

Anzir gathers his gear into his backpack in careless, practiced fashion. He is the first to the gatehouse. "C'mon," he says to a few of his comrades as he passes. "The sooner we get moving, the sooner we are out of...this...and on our way to Mbala."

Aurok holds up a hand. “Please, a moment. Give me a chance to catch my breath and recuperate my faculties. That poison was no simple bee sting.” 
a short rest would get me health, 2 spell slots and a bladesong use back... I can front line like a champ, but it’s costly. :(

Melanthios sighs, and follows the rest.

Everyone gathers at the gatehouse after a few minutes. Aurok is settling in at a tent when Ord passes him by and says, "Come on now, off we go. We'll take a break in a few hours and you can rest then. Commander Breakbone showed some very rare leniency by backing off his initial request and I'd rather we be out of here as soon as possible."

As you start checking your canoes then one of the accompanying troupe says, "I don't think we need those. We need to start heading west after a couple of miles and the river just continues south."

You set off on foot with some of the locals leading the line down a known path. The jungle gets less dense and opens up quite a bit after a couple of miles, the path leading slightly upwards most of the time. Ord says, "Ok, this is good enough to take a break and some of you wanted to rest a bit. We'll need to cover a lot of distance in the afternoon if we want to make it there in two days."

The grasslands that open up are lush, the jungle curves away to the right of you and then seems to curve back a few miles later. The river takes a slight turn to the east and is considerably narrower here. It is a welcome open sight after so many days with the jungle being all around you.

Qawasha points to the south and says, "That's Aldani Basin, a full marshland for tens of miles. We are almost at the highest point here, the Basin is a bit lower and drains off into several rivers like the one we just traveled."

He then spans to the right, pointing southwest and you can indeed see a large rock there. "That's Mbala. We are still about 20 miles away as the crow flies, but we need to go around the jungle instead of through it. Doesn't make a huge difference, but it's best to stay in the open."

(consider this a short rest)

The march continues at a quicker pace after the break as the visibility is good, the weather is good, and there is enough animal paths to use instead of wading through chest high grass.

A few hours into this march Aurok is starting to feel a bit cold. It's odd - it's the middle of the day and you are doing continuous physical activity. He has to blink his eyes a few times as the vision swims. He keeps pushing on though.

Others notice it when he wanders off down a different path, but gets directed back to follow the person in front of him. He does it again half an hour later and it starts to become worrying.

The evening finds you having gone far enough south that the jungle doesn't impede your view at Mbala any more. It sits among some rolling hills another 10 miles or so to the west. It's actually beautiful for a change as you can see the sunset and have a pretty good view all around you. Except Aurok - he's shivering, the vision is blurry and he'd rather not take another step this day. Irma examines him, confers with Ord and says, "I believe this to be the same shivering sickness that people back in Camp Vengeance had. They got it from a wasp attack and you got stung as well. I won't be able to help you today, but come morning I believe we can get this cured."

Is there anything anyone would like to do, talk about or otherwise reflect on the situation?

(Is there anything we are camping near that we could use an an anchor to tie Aurok up to with rope, so he doesn’t wander off at night?)

Also I am imagining the grasslands to be like the bigger fields they found on the island on Lost, which is a fun break from the jungle. Poole will ask some of the party members if this is just a convoluted plan to allow Camp Vengeance to steal their canoes, sort of as a joke but sort of not. She tries to ask Qawasha more about what is ahead of them after Mbala, what to expect. And she tries to remember where the party is headed after this, what they know of what’s next.

Anzir sits by the fire with Aurok in companionable silence. He drinks purified water from a tin cup and stares into the distance, lost in thought or mind wandering. Every once in a while he offers Aurok something, some water or food or another blanket. Otherwise, he spends the time alone with his thoughts.

Aurok takes the kindness, but doesn’t talk at all, preferring to suffer in silence and with his own thoughts.

Melanthios slouches down against a tree, and shows a true soldier’s knack for falling asleep anywhere.

Quote from rkmobius >>

(Is there anything we are camping near that we could use an an anchor to tie Aurok up to with rope, so he doesn’t wander off at night?)

Also I am imagining the grasslands to be like the bigger fields they found on the island on Lost, which is a fun break from the jungle. Poole will ask some of the party members if this is just a convoluted plan to allow Camp Vengeance to steal their canoes, sort of as a joke but sort of not. She tries to ask Qawasha more about what is ahead of them after Mbala, what to expect. And she tries to remember where the party is headed after this, what they know of what’s next.

Aurok is very docile. His symptoms are more on the side of disorientation and blurred vision rather than moonwalking.

The grasslands are link a savannah / safari park - lush greenery, no high vegetation. On occasion you can see slow movement in the distance, probably some dinosaurs grazing.

The group with them is eager to chat, they have not seen anyone but their own group for a long while and neither have they had a chance to leave the camp. They laugh at your joke, "And take the canoes where? Up this way it's a deadly marshland and we are not about to abandon our cause and flee back to Port Nyanzaru!"

Poole asks Qawasha about the future and she chuckles, "This is the furthest I have gotten in this direction. Most folks I work for go back after the first night in the jungle. I have been north along the Mistcliff mountains, but there isn't much there aside from watching big birds. And I've been east of here as well, although not this way. River Tiryki flows almost directly south of Port Nyanzaru and ends or rather starts in the mountains about a hundred miles east from here. What I do know is that there is quite many various inhabitants in seemingly unlikely places. There are stories about a floating rock, cannibalistic tribes living in midst of the undead, lobster people, talking birds and a red dragon! Most of it is just eating the wrong mushrooms if you ask me. Or the right ones, depending."

The party ( as far as I know ) has no idea about where to go next. They are now at the very edge of the known lands of Chult.

------

Day 12

The night passes uneventfully and the wind picks up come the morning. It makes an especially pleasant waking, breakfast and start of another day as the bugs are somewhat less of a nuisance.

Irma works her magic on Aurok in the morning and his symptoms dissipate rapidly. He had an awful night though and has 1 level of Exhaustion.

It's a cloudless day and as the wind shifts from northeast to east or even southeast then it brings very high humidity directly from the Aldani Basin, along with an assortment of smells that makes everyone uneasy. Hot stench of rot and decay reminds some of them Camp Vengeance and others possibly a metal barrel in the sun with something dead inside.

This makes everyone quiet down and quicken their pace to get further away from the marshlands and also towards Mbala. Lunch is taken in a few minutes as nobody feels really that hungry.

With this forced march and clear day the party gets to within a mile or so of Mbala, starting to weave between the hills as they get closer. Poole is the first to notice that the large birds she noticed a few hours back are still circling in a similar spot. And they seem about as large as before. Which is unusual. She points it out to Qawasha who takes a look.

"These may be some flying dinosaur.. or worse. There are legends of terror-folk as well, but these are just legends. Aarakockra might live here too, but they like the closeness of the ocean more as far as I know."

(Poole may roll a nature check with advantage to try to determine the size of these)

Pushing forward to get there before darkness the party encounters more and larger boulders on the ground, some as large as ships. From time to time it looks like there are sections of a path high up on the face of the cliff, but the start of it is nowhere to be seen.

From the approach and the view from up close it looks to be about half a mile wide at the bottom and not that much narrower at the top. Nobody has ever been next to something thigh strictly vertical and high, so the height is difficult to gauge. Could very well be the 2000 or so feet that was estimated back at Camp Vengeance. The various boulders and thick thorny brushes between them make the whole area a very difficult terrain within a few hundred feet of the base of the cliff.

You have about two hours of daylight left and have arrived at the east side of Mbala.

Poole nature: 15

"Is this the best place to fight off corpses?" Anzir says as he gnaws on some rations.