Hot&Wet: Awesome when you're with a woman...Not so much when you're in a jungle

Several days after the scuffle at the Prancing Peanut, as the party tended to its affairs in Upper Arlen, the druid Mirri was summoned by the elven priestesses. The high priestess (who never gave her name AND will never give her name to the likes of you-so DON’T ask!!!!!) reminded Mirri of the legend surrounding the elven prince Alenica. Ages ago, Alenica, after suffering through a premonition regardnig the decline of the elves due to the rise of man, sought out forbidden magics to forestall his people's demise. Since that type of shit never works out well, leaders of all the elven nations got together to curb Alencia's machinations.

Using magics reserved only for the most dire of circumstances, one representative of five elven races (High, Wood, Air, Fey and Sea) sacrificed their lives to harness the power required to imprison Alencia within the Plane of Ffendyar. The five are known by many names amongst the elven people but most of the tales simply call them the 'Saughre', 'saviors' in the oldest of elven tongues.

The shackles imprisoning the Forbidden Prince are sealed by five powerful Runes, each made from one foundational element of the world-Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Primus. To safeguard the magical bonds, the runes were secreted away with the hopes they would never be found. The prison will hold for as long as one Rune remains whole. Now it appears that the dark elves are attempting to release Alencia, though their purpose remains unknown.

The elven priestess, whose name you can not speak (because you DON’T know it (only her second in command knows her real name)) commands Mirri to recover one of the runes which was hidden within a temple to a long forgotten lizard diety. To aid in the recovery, the priestess offered the party the use of an elven warrior named Bainor. The elf, only to happy to be rid of the elven bitches, joins the party as they begin their quest.

While all those shenanigans were going on, Krond worked at the guild forges alongside his smithy brothers to reshape the plate armor the dwarf liquidated from the dead paladin of Tiamat. Gorak, the First Smith, took Krond aside to show him the crown he intends to present to Queen Kandarian as the winning tribute for the Queen’s Challenge. Krond at first  mistook the crown, forged from the metal helm the party recovered from the Temple of Haldrus, for a cock ring. Upon realizing his mistake, the cleric acknowledged that the crown would make a wondrous gift and agreed to join Gorak in a place of honor in presenting the crown to the queen at the Tribute’s Procession in one month’s time.

Leaving the guild, Krond was joined by the rest of the party who had been summoned to the duke’s office. The duke did not even look up as you are ushered into his office, leaving it to an aide to read from the scroll the duke just finished scribing. 

In a corner of the room stood a middle aged man, tall with just the beginning of a paunchy belly pushing against his robes,  Around his neck the man bears a long chain weaved from silver. Five pendants dangle from the necklace, each representing one of the five elements-Wind, Water, Earth, Fire and Primus. The man gazed out of the window, seemingly not even aware of your arrival.

Turns out the scroll is a proclamation outlawing the casting of fireballs within the city limits unless in defense of the king or the duke. The duke thens sends the party on their way.

Taking a speedy carriage procured by their new friend Slygo, Master of the House of Accounts, the party rode around the southern tip of the Black Barrow Mountains to the outlaw town of Mastwick. Securing passage to Blood Anchor Island with Racine and her rickety ship, the party dispatched the bugbear Gorn and his minions before heading off into the jungle. Getting waylaid by a gang of hungry apes barely slowed the party as they made their way toward toward the temple mound rising from the middle of the island.