Journey to Highscape (Eraddan)

After the fiasco at the ball with the Queen, we decided to journey to Highscape ourselves. We hired a boat on the river to take us most of the way. Gina has decided to part ways with us. She thinks that she will not be welcome in Highscape and says she would like to study with Salazar. I will miss her. While she was crazy, she was very smart. We could always rely on her to teach us about Centrelis. She will be missed.
 
Blue Dragon
Most of the journey was uneventful. Once we got as far as we could on the boat we traveled North by foot. While traveling, we had a few interesting encounters. A large blue dragon flew down from the sky to meet us. Everyone freaked out. I haven't personally fought any Dragons, but I know that they are intelligent, cruel, and extremely dangerous. Especially the chromatic ones. I was expecting a fight. The dragon was not. He merely flew down to get a closer look because he found us "interesting".
 
Efreeti
A few days later we fought some Efreeti's. We fended them off easily enough. Some of Gianni's followers died though. I did not think they would survive the journey, but they insisted. It must be the magic of those cards...
 
Warriors
Several days later we encountered some warriors. I forget their race, but they were very large. Around 10 feet tall, dark skinned, red of hair, and very tough looking. Only Slate could understand them because they spoke a dialect of Sylvan. They wanted to spar with us. The Jaws of the Lion was a bit disappointed with our skirmish with the Efreeti, so we agreed. They allowed us to position ourselves and we did the same for them. We where worried about grouping up, because spells like fireball exist. So while we were forming up we asked rose the distance for fireball. We thought we got just out of range with his guidance, but of course Rose being Rose, we didn't. The warriors had very quick reflexes and threw several fireballs at us before we could react. Since we trusted Rose, all of us where in the radius for fireball. Most of our members were downed very quickly. I was feeling weak myself but I wanted at least one hit in. I got close to one of them and attempted to strike them with my sword. They easily dodged out of the way and punched me. I have been involved in hand-to-hand combat many times. I have taken punches before, so when I write this down, it is from a place of knowledge. That punch felt like I had taken a maul to the face wielded by a giant. While I was down, the warriors stopped their assault. Slate claimed that it "wasn't fun for them".
 
The Mountain
Once we made it to the mountain near Highscape we began to climb. Most of the other members struggled with overcoming the mountain. Their first idea was to fly over it with spells and such. But there was a thunderstorm, so that idea was not an option. We had to do old-fashioned climbing. After climbing for a while, there was a rockslide. we fell into a cave of sorts, then the cave collapsed. Several of us were buried under rock. That is when the rest of Gianni's group died (save for the knight). I had to use a bit of magic to escape. Slate began using some magic to move the rocks, but it was taking a while. After a bit Gianni ordered his knight to use the Deck of Many things. His knight did as instructed and found a way out deeper in the cave. For the next several days the knight guided us. We eventually found the exit/entrance to Highscape.
 
Our cave exit led us to a very large crater that is filled with a jungle. Right in the middle is a pyramid. I could sense that was our entrance into Highscape.
 
I still have the same doubts about my capabilities. Especially after our sparring match with those warriors. They defeated us very quickly. We definitely could have planned that better. I bet Gina would have been very helpful. I don't consider myself to be much of a tactician, but perhaps that is something the group needs.
 
There was something I had been meaning to ask Gina, but I never got around to it. She is very intelligent and I figured she would be the best person to know the answer. I wanted to ask her what she thinks makes a good monster hunter. I would have liked to compare my own qualities to her answer. I guess I won't get the chance now...