The morning mist clung to the jungle floor as the party took a moment of respite, sorting through the glinting magic items and swirling potions claimed from their previous trials. But as the sun climbed high, the heat of Chult became a physical weight, driving them further south toward the elusive Omu.
Their path first led to a crumbling wooden shelter, a lonely ruin surrounded by a perimeter of trapped, snarling zombies. Once the undead were returned to the earth, the party ventured inside to find the remains of an adventurer clad in a suit of heavy armor unlike any they had seen—pristine, yet forged from strange, interlocking chitin. Kornelijus claimed the prize, sliding into the plates only to feel the sharp bite of hidden spikes at the neck. The armor was now a part of him, a protective shell that refused to be cast aside.
As they pressed on, the jungle underwent a surreal transformation. The underbrush ignited with the rhythmic pulsing of thousands of fireflies, and the air grew heavy with the scent of exotic, shimmering flora. Žvirblis froze, recognizing these blooms not from Chult, but from his own distant homeworld. Somewhere nearby, the veil between worlds had thinned, leaving a planar fingerprint upon the wild.
In a clearing of shimmering ponds, they met the Great Turtle. A creature of ancient patience, he sat amidst a swarm of Al-mi’raj and smaller turtles. He offered a bargain: information in exchange for victory in a race against the Great Al-Mi’raj, a legendary beast of staggering speed but fleeting focus.
The “race” became a chaotic display of teamwork:
- Kornelijus brewed a distracting, savory carrot stew.
- Tuna blurred into a streak of light, weaving through the path to disorient the Al-Mi’raj.
- Sara foraged a buffet of potent weeds to distract the Al-Mi’raj.
- Ezra’s hawk familiar dove from the canopy, startling the hare-like creature whenever it gained ground.
- Though Crystal’s performance and Žvirblis plan faltered, the collective effort pushed the Great Turtle across the finish line by a hair’s breadth.
Honoring the contest, the Great Al-Mi’raj surrendered its horn, and the Turtle shared visions of the shifting lands before returning to his slumber.
The following day brought them to a quiet dinosaur ranch, where a pair of terrified albino dwarves remained barricaded within their cottage. Their livelihood—a herd of dinosaurs—had been scattered by a rising tide of undead. The party split to save the ranch’s wealth. Sara tracked and gathered twelve ankylosauruses, but as they neared the cottage, a nightmare took shape.
The pursuing zombies did not merely attack; they began to climb one another, fusing into a singular, pulsing Zombie Clot. This mountain of necrotic flesh launched tangled corpses like living boulders, burying Sara beneath a heap of the dead. The party fought with desperate ferocity, tearing the symbiont apart before the rest of the group could even join the fray. Grateful for their lives and their herd, the dwarves gifted the party two ankylosauruses and pointed them toward two landmarks: the Old Gardens of Omu to the west, and the Heart of Ubtao—a bleeding earth mote—to the east.
That night, the jungle played one final trick. While on watch, Kornelijus caught the unmistakable, heart-aching scent of his mother’s signature stew. He found a sweet, elderly woman tending a pot at the edge of the clearing. She smiled, offering a spoonful of “home.”
The scent was perfect, but the taste was ash and venom.
Realizing the deception, Kornelijus struck out. The “grandmother” dissolved into a cackle of fiendish laughter before vanishing into the dark. Shaken, the party retreated into a fitful sleep, plagued by visions:
- Žvirblis and Tuna saw the bleeding Heart of Ubtao.
- Sara and Crystal wandered through the lush, silent Gardens.
- Ezra saw the crumbling spires of Omu.
- And Kornelijus spent the night screaming, trapped in a dream where he boiled endlessly in his mother’s pot.
The road so far
