The Circle of Death: Tropic Thunder

General Summary

• Party arrives in Wuestwin, a Langite outpost city in Embereki territory. Once there, they part ways with Captain Van Helsing and go to learn about the local situation at the 4 Bits, a Halfling-run tavern. 
• That's where the gang met Rhyx, an Embereki of the Night Claw tribe. He's investigating the strange behavior of Syril's clan, and the party recruits his help as their goals are aligned. Rhyx warned the party that the other tribes are considering war against Syril's, on the grounds of they have abandoned the old ways and that presents a threat to what little territory the Embereki still hold. He gave them the use of his room at the tavern and took off immediately to warn his clan that the party, mostly outsiders, would be arriving and that they were there to help. 
• The party decided to leave the city and get traveling immediately, which turned out to be a good thing. As they left, they passed a company of soldiers on their way to arrest "foreign spies", which probably meant them. Luckily, the troop was going to that tavern, so the gang was able to escape into the wilderness. 
• With Syril's expertise, they were able to navigate the jungle without much difficulty. Over the first night, the lookouts kept seeing Deathspikes, hyena-like creatures that might have been hunting them. The next day, they found a single one in their path and agreed to ambush it. Thorin noticed invisible crocodiles in the water and came up with a genius plan. He yeeted a stick of beef jerky in front of the creature to entice it into the water. It didn't work that well. Luckily the rest of the party dispatched it quickly, and it's corpse attracted the attention of dozens of previously-invisible pirhannadiles, which the party wisely chose to not fight. That night though, they were attacked by a carnivorous triceratops and defeated it in battle, partially thanks to Thorin's untouchability, Jack's forceful spells, Syril's steady barrage of arrows, and Gunt's righteous fury. 
• Upon defeat, the creature melted into a pile of arcane goo, revealing a female Embereki by the name of Cael of the Spearhead tribe. She revealed that the battle was a test to make sure they were the correct outsiders, as Rhyx had not been able to relay the full story before succumbing to a tropical brain fever due to a nasty bug bite. 
• She brought them to a hidden encampment full of Embereki of different tribes "here to fight a great evil". Syril noted that none of them had actually passed their Tel'Semka, meaning that they were not considered full adults of their individual tribes and most importantly that they were basically exiles. The one exception was an old shaman who revealed himself to the group...

Lore Context

The Tel'Semka is the Embereki coming of age ritual. It is a trial that involves a spiritual quest. The fact that there are so many Somk (untried) in one place indicates that their quests align in some fashion. Syril can recognize that they are undergoing a trial because of magical markings left on their skin. Rhyx is one of them, but took efforts to hide his markings while he was in Wuestwin. Basically, if his marks had been visible, Syril would have been honor-bound to ignore him, as interfering in a Tel'Semka quest is actively forbidden and basically could ruin the kid's chance of being welcomed back into his tribe. 
Embereki tribes are named after an individual creature that the specific tribe considers sacred. Night Claw are panthers, Spearhead are triceratops, Tyrant Skull are t-rex, etc. The reason the names are written like this is because tribal names are literal, and can be directly translated into Common. In other words, calling the Treestriders the Elg Irana'a is correct in Elvish, but a comprehend languages spell would translate it as written into Common. The meta reason for this is that I am not fixing to invent dozens of fictional names. 
Both Van Helsing and the bartender noted that Syril's tribe was being "unusually friendly". The other Embereki consider this a problem. To clarify for those not up to date, the Embereki have always been fiercely territorial, to the point where before the formation of the Confederacy, anyone stepping foot on their land would become a pincushion before they could realize what happened. In the modern day, the tribes are standoffish and hesitant to work with outsiders because the one act of trust they have shown, inviting the Langites into their land, backfired horribly. This is why the cult-affected tribe being "unusually friendly" is considered a genuine and serious threat by the other jungle elves. 

Report Date

29 Jul 2022