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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 92448" data-attributes="member: 143">Book III, Part 15The next day, they left the hills behind and penetrated into the jungle.  The place didn’t seem too bad at first, although the heat quickly became sweltering, even sheltered as they were from the direct rays of the hot sun above.  Benzan noted that it was likely the humidity, a thick dampness in the air that soon had all of them coated in sweat.  Soon they were shedding clothing and excess armor, placing their extra items in Lok’s bag of holding for storage.  The genasi kept his armor on without complaint, shrugging off the heat with his incredible fortitude, and Benzan kept his mail on as well, apparently less affected by the heat than most of the others.  “Maybe there’s a benefit to my cursed ancestry after all,” he ventured.The forest swallowed them up into its embrace, as they continued on their northward course.  It would have been easy to get lost in the trackless expanse of tall trees and dense undergrowth, but Delem’s natural sense for direction helped guide them steadily toward their intended destination.  Dana and Ruath were called upon to create water several times a day, and they were alert to the constant presence of life they could feel all around them, lurking hidden at every turn.  They saw several large serpents and a variety of unnaturally large insects over the course of the first day, but all of the creatures took the initiative to avoid them rather than contest their passage.  Their first night in the jungle they spent camped in the dead remnants of a once-massive tree, taking shelter in the hollow of its trunk.  They passed an uncomfortable night in the sticky heat that persisted even after dark, surrounded by the constant sounds of the forest around them.  Just before dawn a cluster of monstrous centipedes stumbled across the camp and attacked, but Delem managed to drive them away with a burst of flames.  Dana treated the minor injuries suffered by Horath and Varrus in the brief confrontation, and after an early breakfast they headed out again into the jungle.  The second day they found the going much slower, as the jungle grew even denser around them.  Dana’s knowledge of plants and animals was put to the test as they encountered a variety of strange things that challenged them, from a thick vine whose thorns burned when they pricked the skin, to a bulbous fruit found on another bush whose scent made them feel sleepy and lethargic.  Working together they were able to avoid these prospective dangers, and pressed on toward the north, and the mountains they could no longer see but knew where there, waiting for them.  The morning had already given over into afternoon when they reached a clearing and paused for a rest.  “I don’t think I’ve ever sweat so much in my life,” Dana said, as she sat wearily on an old log and poured a stream of water from her waterskin across her face.  “Careful, we should conserve that,” Cal cautioned.“I’ll just make more tomorrow,” she protested, but she stoppered the container and slung it back across her shoulder.  They continued talking about the jungle and their experiences in it, but Delem, who was sitting near the edge of the gathering, heard a slight chittering noise and looked up.  There, sitting atop a branch a stone’s throw away, was a pair of creatures watching them.  They looked like a cross between monkeys and raccoons, with curious faces, small but fully articulated hands, and long tails that wrapped around the branches behind them.  They were short, perhaps just a tad smaller than Ruath.  Delem made a chittering noise back at the creatures, and took a fruit—one of those Dana had declared safe to eat—and lifted it toward the two creatures.  They looked at him curiously, but made no move to approach.  “Hey, looks like Delem’s found some new friends,” Benzan said, noticing the exchange.  “Hey, Delem, why don’t you call her as your familiar?” he laughed.  “You’d make a cute pair!”Delem shot a venomous look at the tiefling, and continued to call to the creatures while the others watched.  Finally, when it was clear that neither of the creatures was interested in coming closer, Delem tossed the fruit up to them.  The nearest caught it smoothly, and tore it in half, handing one portion to her neighbor before digging into her half. “Maybe they’re intelligent,” Delem said, as he watched the pair watching him. “I’m just glad we’ve encountered something that hasn’t instantly attacked us,” Benzan commented.  Delem waved at the two creatures, and as they watched the female imitated his action, and waved back.  “They have similar creatures in Calimshan,” Horath said.  “Monkeys—some of the people there keep them as pets, or even use them to help in petty thievery, I’ve heard.  Better keep your eye on your purse, magus.” he added with a smile. Delem, however, wasn’t ready to give up on his theory that there was more to the creatures than it seemed.  He addressed the female, introducing himself and their purpose in coming to the jungle, keeping his voice easy and friendly.  “Yer wasting yer time, magus,” Varrus said with a growl.  “Them things might be good in a stewpot, but they’re no use beyond that.”“I think they’re cute,” Elly said, coming up beside Delem, digging in her own pouch for a treat.  The two creatures, spooked perhaps by the increased attention from the companions, turned and darted back along the branches deeper into the tree cover, vanishing quickly from sight.  “Oh well,” Benzan said, coming up beside Delem.  “I just guess it wasn’t meant to be.  Plenty of fish in the sea, though.”  He chuckled to himself as he moved back to where he’d left his pack and bow.  “Hey!” he cried out, suddenly.  “Where’s my bow?”The others jumped to their feet and started looking around, and more than one carelessly discarded possession was discovered to be missing.  Benzan was livid, and started a string of curses that caused even hardened Dana to blush more than once.  “Damnation and hellfire!” he concluded, although it wasn’t clear if he was actually done or just pausing to draw breath.  “When I get my hands on those thieving…”“There’s no use griping about it now,” Cal said.  Their brief search had turned up no tracks, no indication of where the creatures might have disappeared to.  “We have to keep going… just keep your eyes open, and keep your hands on your gear.”The jungle itself seemed eager to make their passage difficult, as the route out of the clearing led through a particularly dense knot of growth.  They made little progress over the next hour, but finally the route passed over some hard, rocky patches of soil, and the undergrowth cleared enough for them to make their way swifter through the trees.  The light around them was just beginning to dim, indicating that the afternoon was giving over into evening, when Horath called out for them to halt.  “What is it?” Cal asked.  In reply, the elf nodded in the direction of one of the trees just ahead of their path.  Ten pairs of eyes turned in that direction, where a small form sat watching them in the crook of a branch twenty paces or so up the thick trunk. “Lend me your bow,” Benzan said to Lok.  “Careful,” Cal cautioned.  The advice proved to be sound, for after a few moments they became aware of a rustling sound that seemed to come from the forest canopy all around them.  Soon dozens of the small creatures appeared out of the greenery and took up positions on perches everywhere they turned their eyes.  None of them were lower than ten feet from the ground, and they watched the companions with their intent, masked eyes.  “Give me back my bow, you little sneaks!” Benzan yelled, his voice startlingly loud in the silence. “Perhaps a little more diplomacy would be helpful,” Cal suggested.  He stepped slightly away from the group, and lifted an open palm to the watchers in the trees.  “We mean no harm,” he said.  “Yeah, that worked really well the last time,” Benzan grumbled.  “This time, if they want to challenge one of us to single combat, I want to be the one to do it.  No offense, Lok,” he added.The genasi’s expression was inscrutable, but his axe was close at hand in case the little forest creatures became a threat.Cal tried a different tack, playing a soft melody on his lute.  The creatures watched, and some exchanged soft whispers that could have been anything.  Finally, a vine dangled down from the forest canopy above, trailing along with its length one of the creatures.  The little thing came down the impromptu rope head-first, until he hung eight feet above the ground, directly in front of Cal. At close range they could see that Delem’s suspicions about the creatures’ intelligence seemed to be well founded.  The monkey-creature wore a harness of some sort around its small but muscled torso, and they could see what looked like small knives stuck in notches in the leather.     “Buenos días, los extranjeros. Qué lo trae a nuestro bosque?”“I’ll be damned,” Horath said.  “You were right, Delem.”“Nobody do anything foolish… especially you, Benzan,” Cal said quietly, without taking his attention from the small creature that hung there, watching them expectantly.  “Dana, if you wouldn’t mind using your spell once more…”The priestess came forward, and shortly she had enacted another spell of translation.  Cal managed to indicate to the creature—which seemed to be quite perceptive—that the cleric would translate his meaning, and with a nod it addressed them further.  The creature and its companions called themselves phanatons, an arboreal species native to the island.  The spokesman said that his name was Charek, and that he was some sort of war leader for his tribe, which lived nearby.  They seemed curious about the adventurers, and explained that they’d been watching them for some time, even before Delem had first spotted them in the clearing.  Cal, using gestures, was able to impart some small part of their story to the attentive creature, including their destination within the mountains ahead.  Charek reported that the mountains were very dangerous, but that there was a route that led well up into the range.  Something unreadable flashed in his eyes when it said that, but instead of elaborating he suggested that they accompany him back to his tribe, where they could speak to the tribal elders.  “What about my bow,” Benzan interjected.  “My bow,” he repeated, making a motion with his hands as if he was drawing the weapon.  “Su arma será vuelta a usted, el guerrero,” Charek said, and just like that he spun and seemed to run up the vine to the nearest branch, reaching it in a matter of seconds.  “Sígame,” he said.  “He says you’ll get your weapon back, and to follow him,” Dana indicated.  “Never trust a thief,” Benzan growled, as they fell in behind the rapidly departing creature. “Oh, come on,” Cal said.  “We learned to trust you, didn’t we?”  Benzan’s expression darkened for a moment, but Cal’s tone was so easygoing, and his smile so transparent, that finally the tiefling gave in and laughed. “All right then, I’ll play nice… but I’d better get my bow back!” he said.</blockquote>

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