session-2026-01-21

Drow Betrayal and Dino Drama

Date: Jan 21st, 2026

Summary

The party awoke in their small cave refuge to a grim discovery. Urrilon had taken matters into his own hands during the night watch, slitting the throat of their Drow prisoner after the bound captive had nodded with gleeful excitement — a silent signal that his allies were closing in. With the body dealt with, Urrilon moved quietly through the cave, shaking each of his companions awake and warning them that enemies were approaching. Glint wasted no time, conjuring a slick sheet of ice at the cave’s front entrance to slow any charging attackers, while speaking in hushed tones with the rescued Drow noblewoman, Cylindra. She warned him plainly that her pursuers were not the kind of people who could be reasoned with.

Glint’s owl familiar, Jeremy, was sent deeper into the cave and returned with welcome news — there was a back exit. The party made the decision to slip out quietly rather than face whatever force was gathering at the front. Papa Jan used his healer’s kit to tend to Umbra’s wounds before they moved, helping her recover enough strength to travel. Together, the group crept toward the rear of the cave and carefully emerged into the cool jungle air beyond.

The moment of relief was short-lived. No sooner had Urrilon and Glint poked their heads out than an arrow was leveled directly at them, and a firm voice commanded them not to move. A Drow female stepped forward from the shadows, ordering the archer to stand down before the situation could escalate. Then Cylindra burst past the party and threw herself into the woman’s arms — it was Issa, her loyal handmaiden, who had come with a retinue of soldiers to find her. The reunion was emotional and immediate, the two women laughing and weeping in equal measure.

Cylindra took a moment to explain her situation more fully to the party. Her younger sister, ambitious and ruthless, had convinced their mother that Cylindra had committed some terrible act — that she intended to abandon her house and run off with a male Drow suitor. Every moment Cylindra spent away from home, her sister’s grip on power tightened. She needed to return, face her people, and set the record straight before it was too late. As a parting gift and a symbol of trust, Cylindra reached into her hair and removed a silver clip shaped like a spider — the crest of her royal house — and pressed it into the party’s hands. With that, she and Issa disappeared into the jungle with their soldiers, leaving the party to continue their original mission toward the temple.

The rest of the night passed in rotating watches, and it was during one of the later shifts that something enormous appeared at the cave entrance. It had three great horns, a massive bony frill at the back of its skull, and a beak like a bird. It was a triceratops — a living, breathing creature of ancient size — and it was hungry. Corneleus, drawing on his ability to speak with animals, reached out to the beast and quickly learned that it was not aggressive, merely starving. He named it Trevor on the spot, and Trevor, for her part, seemed entirely unbothered by the name and far more interested in the rations in Corneleus’s pack.

Trevor ate with an enthusiasm that bordered on catastrophic. Ration after ration disappeared into her beak, and no amount of pleading or persuasion could slow her down. The rest of the party scrambled to protect their own supplies — Urrilon tied his pack to a high branch, and Papa Jan encased his in a shell of ice. Corneleus, resigned to his fate, eventually guided Trevor to a corner of the cave and let her finish off what remained of his food before settling in beside her to sleep. By morning, the party had lost a significant portion of their provisions to their new companion, but Trevor seemed content, if still a little hungry.

In the morning, Corneleus and Papa Jan ventured out to find something more suitable for the large herbivore to eat. They returned with a bushel of jungle greenery, and Corneleus used a clever trick to make the bitter leaves taste like sweet fruit. Trevor ate eagerly — until, a few minutes later, she became visibly ill. The leaves, it turned out, were not edible, and the illusion of flavor had done nothing to change that. Corneleus apologized sincerely while Trevor made her displeasure known.

Through further conversation, Trevor revealed the reason she was so far from home. Her family lived in a great canyon below, accessible only through a cave passage. She had come up through that passage when it was clear, but on her return, she had found the way blocked by something enormous — a two-legged predator with tiny arms that had already eaten one of her friends, a creature that could fly. The party pieced together that a Tyrannosaurus Rex had taken up residence in or near the cave, cutting Trevor off from her home. Corneleus sent Jeremy soaring above the jungle canopy to search for signs of Trevor’s other companions, and the owl eventually spotted a group of dinosaurs sheltering in a corner of the wilderness below — a stegosaurus, a long-necked creature, and a few others. The party believed they had found Trevor’s friends.

They set out together toward the hilltop where the other dinosaurs had been spotted, Trevor lumbering alongside them. But as they crested the rise, the ground began to shake. Over the top of the hill came the Tyrannosaurus Rex — massive, scarred, and hungry — its nostrils flaring as it caught their scent. It turned one enormous eye toward the group and let out a roar that shook the trees. The party braced themselves. Trevor, despite being weakened and starving, lowered her horns.

What followed was a desperate and chaotic battle. Papa Jan called upon his god, Naki Uthai the Brave Climber, and unleashed a bolt of divine energy that struck the T-Rex hard, leaving it glowing with holy light. Umbra breathed a stream of acid directly into the predator’s face, burning one side of its head. Urrilon brought his great axe down in a devastating overhead swing that carved across the creature’s eye, leaving a permanent scar. And Trevor — brave, hungry, grieving Trevor — charged the beast with everything she had, driving her horns into its ribs and sending the massive predator crashing to the ground. In the chaos, Corneleus managed to fire his crossbow and struck Umbra squarely in the back, which was not his finest moment.

With the T-Rex prone and bleeding, Papa Jan stood over it and issued a firm ultimatum. The creature, wounded and humiliated, rose slowly to its feet. It looked the party over with its one good eye, and then it spoke — Corneleus translated for the others — a cold and simple promise: it would be back to kill them one day. The party watched it turn and limp away into the jungle. They let it go.

The victory felt hollow almost immediately. Trevor led them up the rest of the hill, and there they found the carcasses of her friends — the stegosaurus, the long-neck, all of them — already eaten. The T-Rex had been here before them. Trevor let out a long, mournful wail that echoed through the canyon. Corneleus translated Papa Jan’s words of sympathy as best he could, and Umbra laid a gentle hand on Trevor’s side and channeled what little healing energy she had left into the grieving creature. They gave her the last of their rations. Trevor accepted them quietly, and then declared, through Corneleus, that she was going to find the sharp-toothed predator and fight it alone. The party could not stop her. They said their goodbyes, and Trevor disappeared over the hill.

The descent through the cave passage was narrow and winding, smelling of earth and old bones, but the party emerged safely into the canyon below. The world that opened up before them was vast and alive — a dense, humid jungle filled with the calls of exotic birds, the chatter of monkeys, and the drone of insects the size of a man’s fist. Jeremy was sent aloft again to search for the temple, but the canopy was too thick and too vast to reveal anything useful. The party chose to hug the left canyon wall and press forward, hoping the temple would eventually make itself known.

It was not long before Urrilon, leading the march, noticed something in a nearby bush — a faint rustling, a sound like clicking. He struck at it with his glaive and felt the blade connect with something that bled. Papa Jan attempted to call down divine punishment on the hidden creature, but it resisted. Then Glint had an idea. He had Jeremy carry a burning piece of tinder and drop it directly into the bush. There was a terrible shriek, and a small Velociraptor — scorched and dying — leapt from the foliage and collapsed. The tactic had worked better than anyone expected.

The celebration was brief. Corneleus swept the surrounding jungle with a careful eye and realized, with growing dread, that they were surrounded. At least five more of the creatures were out there, hidden in the undergrowth on all sides, clicking softly to one another. The canyon wall at their backs was the only direction that offered any safety. Then the raptors attacked.

They came in fast and low, swarming Umbra with terrifying coordination. She fought back, but there were too many of them, and they were relentless. One after another they bit and clawed until Umbra collapsed, unconscious and bleeding on the jungle floor. The rest of the party fought furiously to drive them off — Glint sent bolts of magical force slamming into the creatures, knocking them away from Umbra’s body. Urrilon physically seized one of the raptors with his bare hands and ripped it away from her. Papa Jan swung his war hammer in a wide, powerful arc and caved in the skull of another. Corneleus stabbed at the grappled creature with his short sword.

Through it all, Papa Jan kept one eye on Umbra. The moment the last raptor was dealt with, he sprinted to her side and pressed his hands against her wounds, channeling just enough divine energy to pull her back from the edge of death. She was stable, barely, but alive. The jungle fell quiet around them, save for the distant calls of birds and the slow drip of rain beginning to fall through the canopy above. The party stood among the bodies of the raptors, battered and exhausted, but still standing. Somewhere ahead of them, the temple waited.

Short

The party’s night in their cave refuge was marked by swift, brutal decisions and unexpected encounters. Urrilon silently executed their Drow prisoner after the captive signaled that allies were closing in, then roused the group to flee through a back exit discovered by Glint’s owl familiar, Jeremy. Their escape led to an emotional reunion when the rescued Drow noblewoman Cylindra was met by her loyal handmaiden Issa and a retinue of soldiers. Cylindra revealed that her scheming younger sister had poisoned their mother against her, and that she needed to return home to reclaim her standing. As a gesture of trust, she gifted the party a silver spider-shaped hair clip bearing her house crest before disappearing into the jungle. The night’s final surprise came in the form of Trevor, a starving triceratops who wandered into the cave and devoured a catastrophic portion of the party’s rations before Corneleus, using his ability to speak with animals, befriended her. Morning brought further chaos when Corneleus fed Trevor magically disguised inedible leaves, making her ill, and she revealed that a Tyrannosaurus Rex had blocked her passage home and killed her companions.

The party set out with Trevor to confront the T-Rex, and the ensuing battle was fierce — Papa Jan struck it with divine energy, Umbra burned its face with acid, Urrilon scarred its eye with his great axe, and Trevor herself drove her horns into the beast’s ribs, bringing it down. The wounded T-Rex rose, delivered a cold promise to return and kill them, and limped away. The victory turned hollow when they crested the hill to find Trevor’s companions already dead, devoured by the predator. After a sorrowful farewell, Trevor declared she would hunt the T-Rex alone and disappeared over the hill. The party descended through a cave passage into a vast, humid canyon jungle below, pressing forward in search of the temple. They were soon ambushed by a coordinated pack of velociraptors that overwhelmed Umbra, leaving her unconscious and near death. The rest of the party fought desperately to drive the creatures off, and Papa Jan managed to stabilize Umbra just in time. Battered and exhausted, the group stood among the raptor bodies as rain began to fall — the temple still somewhere ahead of them.

Classic

Last we left off, our intrepid band of adventurers found themselves in a precarious refuge — a cave in the heart of a vast and ancient jungle. Urrilon, ever pragmatic, had silenced their Drow prisoner before the night could betray them, and the party slipped out through a rear exit just as enemies closed in on the front. What awaited them outside was not the ambush they feared, but a reunion — the rescued noblewoman Cylindra throwing herself into the arms of her loyal handmaiden Issa, soldiers at her back. Cylindra shared the truth of her plight: a scheming younger sister, a mother deceived, and a house on the verge of falling into the wrong hands. She pressed a silver spider-shaped clip — the crest of her royal house — into the party’s keeping as a token of trust, and then she was gone, swallowed by the jungle with her retinue. The party was left to press on toward the temple. But the night had one more surprise in store. A triceratops — enormous, ancient, and ravenously hungry — appeared at the cave entrance. Corneleus, ever the diplomat with creatures great and small, spoke with her, named her Trevor, and promptly lost most of his rations to her considerable appetite.

Morning brought fresh chaos. Trevor, it turned out, was stranded. A Tyrannosaurus Rex had taken up residence in the cave passage leading back to her canyon home, and had already made a meal of one of her companions. The party set out to help, and cresting a hill, came face to face with the beast itself — massive, scarred, and furious. What followed was a brutal and glorious fight. Papa Jan called down divine fire in the name of Naki Uthai the Brave Climber. Umbra breathed acid into the predator’s face. Urrilon carved a scar across its eye with his great axe. And Trevor, starving and grieving, lowered her horns and drove the monster into the dirt. When the dust settled, Papa Jan stood over the fallen predator and gave it a choice. It rose, fixed the party with its one remaining good eye, promised it would return to kill them, and limped away into the jungle. They let it go. The victory, however, was hollow — Trevor’s friends were already gone, their carcasses left behind by the very beast they had just driven off. Trevor mourned, accepted the party’s last rations and their sympathy, and then declared she would hunt the T-Rex alone. They could not stop her. They said their goodbyes, and she disappeared over the hill.

The descent into the canyon below opened into a world teeming with life — dense jungle, exotic calls, and insects the size of a man’s fist. The temple remained hidden beneath an impenetrable canopy, and the party pressed forward along the canyon wall. It was not long before the jungle pressed back. A velociraptor, flushed from the brush by Glint’s burning tinder, was only the first warning. The party was surrounded — five more of the creatures, clicking softly in the undergrowth, coordinating with terrifying intelligence. They swarmed Umbra with ruthless precision, and she fell, bleeding and unconscious on the jungle floor. The rest of the party fought with everything they had — Glint with bolts of arcane force, Urrilon tearing raptors away with his bare hands, Papa Jan caving in skulls with his war hammer. When the last creature was dealt with, Papa Jan sprinted to Umbra’s side and pulled her back from the edge of death with the last of his divine energy. She lives. They all do — battered, exhausted, and standing among the bodies of their enemies. Somewhere ahead, through the dripping canopy and the ancient dark, the temple still waits.

Middle English

Lythe and listin, gentilmen, Of brave souls in a cave so small; Urrilon slit the prisoner’s throat at dawn, Before the Drow could sound the call. Then Glint laid ice at the entrance wide, And Jeremy found a rear way out; They crept through jungle, cool and dark, And met brave Issa’s loyal rout.

Cylindra wept in Issa’s arms, Her sister’s treachery laid bare; She pressed a silver spider clip, A royal crest beyond compare. Then into jungle shadow deep, The noblewoman took her leave; The party turned to watch the night, And found great Trevor there to grieve.

Three horns and frill and beak of bone, Old Trevor ate their rations whole; Corneleus named her, spoke her tongue, And learned she’d lost her canyon home. A tyrant lizard blocked the pass, Had eaten all her dearest friends; So forth they marched to face the beast, And fight until the terror ends.

Papa Jan called holy fire down, And Umbra breathed her acid bright; Urrilon’s axe did scar the eye, And Trevor charged with all her might. The great beast fell and swore revenge, Then limped away into the green; But Trevor’s kin lay cold and still, The saddest sight they’d ever seen.

Down through the cave and canyon deep, The party pressed through jungle vast; The raptors came in clicking swarms, And Umbra fell and breathed her last. But Papa Jan did sprint to her side, And called her back from death’s cold door; They stood among the fallen beasts, And pressed toward the temple’s shore.

Snarky

Our intrepid band of adventurers kicked off the session by doing what any reasonable group would do upon waking in a cave: discovering their prisoner had been quietly murdered in the night, sneaking out the back exit, and immediately having a crossbow pointed at their faces. The emotional reunion between rescued noblewoman Cylindra and her handmaiden Issa was genuinely touching, right up until the party realized they’d been gifted a decorative spider hair clip as payment for nearly dying multiple times. They then spent the remainder of the night losing their entire food supply to a starving triceratops named Trevor — a creature Corneleus befriended, named, and subsequently poisoned with magically delicious-but-medically-catastrophic jungle leaves. Trevor made her feelings on this very clear. In a heroic turn, Trevor then charged a Tyrannosaurus Rex, drove her horns into its ribs, and sent it crashing to the ground — only to discover that the T-Rex had already eaten all of her friends. The party stood in respectful silence as Trevor wailed into the canyon, accepted their last rations, and then announced she was going to go fight the T-Rex alone. They let her go. Corneleus also shot Umbra in the back with a crossbow during the T-Rex fight, which everyone is pretending didn’t happen.

The descent into the canyon below delivered the party directly into a velociraptor ambush, because of course it did — and the raptors, operating with considerably more tactical intelligence than the adventurers, immediately swarmed Umbra into unconsciousness. To his credit, Glint solved the problem of a hidden raptor in a bush by having his owl drop a burning ember into it, which worked spectacularly and should probably become standard party protocol. Papa Jan caved in a raptor skull with his war hammer, Urrilon ripped one off Umbra with his bare hands, and then Papa Jan sprinted to Umbra’s side and dragged her back from death’s door with what can only be described as the last dregs of divine energy he had left. The party now stands in a raptor graveyard, soaking wet, out of food, and with a temple somewhere ahead of them that has given absolutely no indication it intends to be easy to find. Somewhere in the jungle, Trevor is probably already dead. Nobody say it out loud.

Limerick

The prisoner’s glee sealed his fate that night, Urrilon acted before dawn’s first light. They slipped out the back, Dodged the Drow attack, And Cylindra reunited with Issa in sight!

A triceratops, Trevor, appeared with a roar, Then ate every ration and begged for more. Urrilon climbed high, Jan’s pack froze — oh my! Corneleus just sighed and slept on the floor.

They battled the T-Rex with fury and might, Papa Jan’s holy bolt blazed burning bright. Umbra’s acid burned true, Urrilon’s axe flew, And Trevor drove horns in to end the fight!

But Trevor’s friends lay slain upon the hill, The canyon rang out with her mournful trill. She vowed to fight on, Then she was gone, The party descended with hearts heavy still.

The raptors swarmed Umbra and brought her down low, The party fought hard through the jungle’s dark woe. Jan’s hammer skull-cracked, Glint’s magic attacked, And Jan healed her back — onward to the temple they go!

Memorable Moments

“I’ll be back to kill you one day.” — Tyrannosaurus Rex

The wounded T-Rex, gored and scarred, rises from the ground and issues a chilling vow before retreating into the jungle.

Trevor the Triceratops charges the Tyrannosaurus Rex, goring it in the ribs and sending the massive predator crashing to the ground prone.

Hungry, weary, and grieving, Trevor throws herself into battle to protect her new companions against an apex predator.

Trevor discovers the carcasses of her friends atop the hill, all eaten by the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and lets out a mournful wail before vowing vengeance.

The party had hoped to reunite Trevor with her companions, only to find them already dead.

Corneleus accidentally shoots Umbra in the back with his crossbow during the chaotic opening moments of the T-Rex fight.

In the panic of the T-Rex’s charge, Corneleus fires wildly and hits his own ally instead of the massive predator directly in front of them.

Glint’s owl familiar drops a burning tinderbox into a bush, scorching a hidden Velociraptor to death — an improvised tactic that worked far better than expected.

After multiple failed attacks on an unseen creature in the bush, Glint devises a creative solution that instantly kills the raptor.

Scenes

A Grim Awakening in the Cave

The party wakes up in a small cave to find their Drow prisoner dead and enemies approaching from outside.

• Urrilon explains that he slit the throat of the captured Drow guard after the prisoner signaled that his allies were nearby by nodding excitedly.
• Urrilon quietly wakes the rest of the party to warn them of the approaching threat.
• Glint uses magic to create an ice puddle at the cave entrance to hinder any charging enemies.
• Glint speaks with the rescued Drow, Cylindra, who warns that her pursuers are unreasonable and cannot be bargained with.
• Glint’s familiar scouts deeper into the cave and discovers a back exit.
• Papa Jan uses a healer’s kit to tend to Umbra’s wounds, restoring some of her strength before they attempt to escape.

A Tense Reunion

The party exits the cave to find themselves held at arrow-point by Drow, only to discover they are allies of Cylindra.

• Urrilon and Glint scout the cave exit using stealth, but are immediately held at bay by a Drow archer who tells them not to move.
• A Drow female approaches and orders the archer to stand down.
• Cylindra recognizes the woman as her handmaiden, Issa, and the two share an emotional reunion.
• Cylindra explains the political turmoil of her house, revealing her younger sister is attempting to usurp her position by spreading lies to their mother.
• The party learns that the Drow who attacked them previously were sent by Cylindra’s sister.
• Cylindra gives the party a silver spider hair clip as a token of friendship and a symbol of her house.
• Cylindra and her retinue prepare to depart to reclaim her birthright, leaving the party to continue their original mission to the temple.

Night Watch and a Strange Visitor

As the party settles in for a long rest, the night watches pass with varying degrees of success until a massive creature appears at the cave entrance.

• Urrilon drags the body of the deceased Drow prisoner away from the cave entrance to avoid attracting predators.
• The party sets a watch rotation; various members take turns keeping watch through the night.
• During a later watch, a massive creature with pointy horns and a large head plate is spotted approaching the cave entrance.

An Unexpected Guest: Trevor the Triceratops

A large, three-horned dinosaur wanders into the cave, leading to a tense but ultimately peaceful encounter.

• A large, three-horned dinosaur enters the cave entrance while the party is on watch.
• Corneleus identifies the creature as a beast rather than a demon or a lizardfolk.
• Glint uses a minor illusion to create a rock wall to block the creature’s path.
• Corneleus uses a spell to speak with the animal and attempts to communicate with it.
• The creature, hungry and searching for food, begins eating Corneleus’s rations without hesitation.
• Corneleus feeds the dinosaur several rations and names it Trevor.
• Urrilon and Papa Jan take precautions to protect their own supplies by hanging their bags from a branch or encasing them in ice.
• Corneleus tries to persuade Trevor to stop eating all the party’s food, but the dinosaur continues to scavenge.
• Frustrated by the loss of his rations, Corneleus eventually leads Trevor out of the cave, though Trevor refuses to follow outside.

A Morning in the Cave

The party wakes up and attempts to care for the hungry triceratops they have befriended.

• Corneleus wakes up and rubs the triceratops’s belly, while Papa Jan offers some of his own rations to the creature.
• Corneleus and Papa Jan venture out to find suitable vegetation for the herbivorous dinosaur, returning with a bushel of greenery.
• Corneleus uses prestidigitation to make the bitter leaves taste like fruit to encourage the triceratops to eat.
• The triceratops becomes ill after eating the leaves.
• Corneleus uses Speak with Animals again to question Trevor about the surrounding area.
• Trevor describes a ‘big lizard’ with two legs and small arms that ate its flying friend and now blocks the path back to its home in the canyon.
• The party debates whether to travel through the cave or find an alternative route to avoid the predator.
• Trevor reveals that its family is in the canyon below, and that it came up through the cave when the big lizard was not present, but cannot return the same way.

Scouting the Canyon

The party discusses the geography of the canyon and sends a familiar to locate Trevor’s missing friends.

• Corneleus uses his owl familiar, Jeremy, to scout the dense jungle canopy from above.
• The party debates the best time to travel to avoid the ‘big lizard’ that patrols the area during the day.
• Jeremy discovers muddy footprints in the jungle below.
• Following the footprints, the party spots a group of diverse dinosaurs in a corner of the wilderness, including a stegosaurus and a long-necked dinosaur.
• The party believes this group may be Trevor’s lost companions.

Encounter with the Tyrant

The party leads Trevor toward his friends but is intercepted by a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex cresting the hill.

• The party travels up a hill toward the location of the other dinosaurs.
• A massive Tyrannosaurus Rex emerges over the crest of the hill, sniffing the air and spotting the group.
• The predator lets out a ferocious roar, challenging the party and Trevor.
• Glint conjures illusory shrubs to provide cover and concealment for the party as they prepare for a confrontation.
• The party readies themselves for combat as the massive beast looms over them.

Confrontation with the Tyrannosaurus Rex

The party faces off against a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex while their dinosaur companion, Trevor, prepares to defend them.

• The party debates whether to flee or stand their ground as the Tyrannosaurus Rex approaches.
• Trevor communicates her intent to sacrifice herself to fight the T-Rex alone, but Corneleus and the others decide to stay and fight alongside her.
• Papa Jan casts Guiding Bolt at the T-Rex, dealing significant damage and causing the creature to glow with divine light.
• Papa Jan identifies his deity as Naki Uthai, the Brave Climber.
• Glint attempts to throw a dagger at the beast from a distance but misses.
• Urrilon enters a rage and attempts to shoot the T-Rex with a short bow but critically fails.
• Corneleus accidentally shoots Umbra in the back during the chaotic start of combat.
• The Tyrannosaurus Rex closes the distance, dashing toward the party to engage them in close quarters.

The Battle of the Behemoths

The party and their triceratops companion, Trevor, engage in a life-or-death struggle against the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

• Trevor charges the Tyrannosaurus Rex, goring it in the ribs with her horns and knocking the massive predator prone.
• Papa Jan attempts to intimidate the fallen T-Rex, demanding it surrender while it is pinned to the ground.
• Papa Jan casts a healing spell on Trevor to mend the triceratops’s wounds during the fray.
• Papa Jan attempts to blast the T-Rex with another Guiding Bolt, but the shot narrowly misses the creature’s head.
• Umbra unleashes a breath of acid directly into the T-Rex’s face, successfully burning the predator.
• Urrilon delivers a devastating blow with his great axe, slashing the T-Rex across its eye and leaving a permanent scar.
• The T-Rex, severely wounded and intimidated, stands up and threatens to return for revenge before beginning to retreat.
• Corneleus uses Speak with Animals to communicate with the T-Rex, relaying its threat to the party.

Trevor’s Grief

The party follows Trevor up the hill only to discover the tragic fate of her dinosaur friends.

• Trevor discovers the carcasses of her friends, who were eaten by the Tyrannosaurus.
• Trevor lets out a mournful wail over the loss of her group.
• Corneleus translates a message of sympathy from Papa Jan to Trevor.
• Umbra uses her healing abilities to mend Trevor’s wounds and provides her with extra rations.
• Trevor declares a mission of vengeance against the ‘sharp teeth’ and prepares to hunt the predator alone.
• The party bids farewell to Trevor as she sets off on her quest.

Entering the Canyon

The party leaves Trevor behind and descends through a cave into a vast, humid jungle canyon.

• The party travels through a windy cave passage filled with signs of dinosaur habitation.
• They emerge into a massive, hot, and humid jungle filled with exotic birds, monkeys, and giant insects.
• Glint sends his owl familiar, Jeremy, to scout for the temple from the air, but finds nothing nearby.
• The party establishes a marching order and begins to navigate the canyon by hugging the left canyon wall.

The Bleeding Bush

While traveling through the dense jungle canyon, the party encounters a hidden predator lurking in the foliage.

• Urrilon notices something moving in a nearby bush and attacks with his glaive, drawing blood from an unseen creature.
• Papa Jan attempts to use divine magic to harm the creature with Toll the Dead, but it resists the effect.
• Glint uses his owl familiar, Jeremy, to drop a burning tinderbox into the bush to smoke out the occupant.
• A small Velociraptor, scorched by the flame, leaps from the bush and dies from its injuries.
• Corneleus performs a survival check and realizes the party is being surrounded by at least five more raptors hiding in the jungle growth.
• The party prepares for a coordinated ambush as clicking noises echo from all sides.

Ambush in the Jungle

The party is swarmed by a pack of velociraptors in the dense jungle, and Umbra is brought to the brink of death.

• Umbra attempts to flush out hidden enemies using an acidic breath attack in a cone toward the bushes, but the raptors are not in range.
• A velociraptor leaps from the foliage and is struck mid-air by Glint with a short sword.
• Multiple velociraptors swarm Umbra using pack tactics, biting and clawing until she is brought down and knocked unconscious.
• Papa Jan uses a divine bell-like sound to damage one of the creatures, successfully killing it.
• Glint casts Magic Missiles, striking three of the raptors and forcing them to drop off Umbra’s body.
• Urrilon swings his great axe at the scattered raptors, killing one and grazing another.
• Corneleus attempts to strike a raptor with his staff but misses as the creature dodges.
• The remaining raptors continue their assault on the fallen Umbra, causing her to suffer further injuries while unconscious.
• Papa Jan rushes to Umbra’s side and casts Spare the Dying to stabilize her, preventing her from succumbing to her wounds.
• Urrilon grapples one of the small dinosaurs, physically ripping it away from the unconscious Umbra.
• Papa Jan swings his war hammer in a powerful arc, crushing the skull of one of the predators.
• Glint attempts to blast the remaining creatures with a Ray of Frost, though the shot misses.
• The party successfully slays the last of the raptors, clearing the immediate threat in the jungle.

NPCs

Cylindra

A Drow of royal descent who was rescued by the party after being pushed off a cliff by her pursuers. She revealed that her younger sister is attempting to usurp her position by spreading lies to their mother, and that the Drow who attacked the party were sent by her sister. She departed with her handmaiden Issa and a retinue of loyal Drow soldiers, giving the party a silver spider hair clip as a token of friendship.

Issa

Cylindra’s loyal handmaiden who led a group of Drow soldiers to rescue her mistress. She greeted the party cautiously but warmly once Cylindra vouched for them.

Drow Guard

A male Drow prisoner captured after the cliff ambush. He was executed by Urrilon after he gleefully signaled that his brethren had arrived to kill the party.

Trevor

A large triceratops with three horns and a beak who wandered into the party’s cave seeking food. Hungry and separated from her family in the canyon below, she befriended the party — particularly Corneleus — after being fed rations. She showed immense bravery by charging and goring a Tyrannosaurus Rex to protect her new companions. After discovering her friends had been eaten by the T-Rex, she set off alone on a mission of vengeance.

Jeremy

Corneleus’s owl familiar, used throughout the session to scout the cave for exits, search the jungle canopy for the temple and Trevor’s friends, and deliver a burning tinderbox into a bush to flush out a hidden Velociraptor.

Tyrannosaurus Rex

A massive apex predator that hunted Trevor’s friends and confronted the party on the hilltop. It was knocked prone by Trevor’s charge, scarred across the eye by Urrilon’s great axe, and burned by Umbra’s acid breath before retreating with a vow to return and kill the party.

Velociraptors

Small, fast, and aggressive pack hunters that surrounded the party in the jungle canyon. They used pack tactics to swarm their prey, nearly killing Umbra before being fought off by the rest of the party.

Locations

Small Cave

A cramped refuge in the jungle where the party camped, dealt with a Drow prisoner, and later encountered Trevor the Triceratops. It has two entrances — a front and a hidden rear exit discovered by Glint’s familiar.

Cave Exit (Back Entrance)

A secondary opening to the cave discovered by Glint’s familiar. The party used it to escape and encountered Cylindra’s loyalist Drow forces just outside.

The Windy Cave

A narrow, twisting passage that serves as the primary path leading from the upper cliffs down into the floor of the canyon, filled with signs of dinosaur habitation.

The Jungle Hilltop

A high vantage point near the cave exit where the party was intercepted by a Tyrannosaurus Rex while searching for Trevor’s friends. The site of a brutal and dramatic combat.

The Canyon

A vast, hot, and humid jungle environment below the cliffs, filled with exotic birds, monkeys, giant insects, and dense overgrowth. Trevor’s home and the destination the party is navigating toward in search of the temple.

Items

Silver Spider Hair Clip

A silver hair clip shaped like a spider, serving as the symbol of Cylindra’s royal house. She removed it from her own hair and gave it to the party as a token of friendship and a means of identifying themselves to her people.

Healer’s Kit

A collection of bandages and salves used by Papa Jan to tend to Umbra’s injuries during their brief respite in the cave, allowing Umbra to spend a hit die and recover some health.

Rations

Standard travel food supplies carried by the party. Corneleus lost a significant portion of his stock to Trevor the Triceratops, and Papa Jan also donated some of his rations to the hungry dinosaur.

Tinderbox

A standard fire-starting kit used by Glint and his owl familiar Jeremy to ignite a bush and flush out a hidden Velociraptor, killing it in the process.

Glaive

Urrilon’s reach weapon, used to strike blindly into the foliage and wound the hidden Velociraptor before it was flushed out.

War Hammer

A heavy martial weapon wielded by Papa Jan, used to deliver a lethal blow to one of the raptors during the jungle ambush.

Short Sword

A light weapon used by Corneleus during the close-quarters struggle with the velociraptors, and also used to strike a raptor that Urrilon had grappled.

Spells

Shape Water

Used by Glint to create a patch of ice at the cave’s entrance, intended to serve as difficult terrain for any incoming attackers.

Find Familiar

Glint’s owl familiar was used throughout the session to scout the dark recesses of the cave for a secondary exit, search the jungle canopy for the temple and Trevor’s friends, and deliver a burning tinderbox into a bush to flush out a hidden Velociraptor.

Minor Illusion

Used by Glint twice: first to create a 5x5 rock wall at the cave entrance to hide the party and deter the approaching triceratops, and later to conjure illusory shrubs to provide cover for the party against the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Speak with Animals

Cast multiple times by Corneleus to communicate with Trevor the Triceratops, learning about her hunger, her fear of the ‘big lizard,’ her lost friends, and her intent to seek vengeance. Also used to briefly communicate with the Tyrannosaurus Rex during combat, relaying its threat to the party.

Prestidigitation

Employed by Corneleus to alter the flavor of bitter leaves to taste like sweet fruit for the triceratops. The ruse worked briefly before Trevor became ill from the inedible leaves.

Guiding Bolt

Cast twice by Papa Jan. The first casting struck the Tyrannosaurus Rex for heavy damage and left it glowing with divine light, granting the next attacker advantage. The second casting narrowly missed the prone T-Rex’s head.

Cure Wounds

Cast by Papa Jan to restore health to Trevor the Triceratops after the triceratops was injured in the clash with the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Toll the Dead

Cast by Papa Jan targeting the hidden creature in the bush, creating the sound of a dolorous bell to deal necrotic damage. The creature successfully resisted the effect.

Magic Missile

Cast by Glint to send three unerring darts of magical force at the velociraptors swarming Umbra, knocking them off her body and providing a critical moment of relief.

Spare the Dying

A cantrip used by Papa Jan to instantly stabilize Umbra after she was mauled by raptors and reduced to zero hit points, preventing her from dying.

Ray of Frost

A beam of blue-white frost conjured by Glint to chill and damage the velociraptors, though it missed its mark in the chaos of the melee.