Chapter 3: Meeting The Natives

Auntie Zilla responds to Elspa's question:

"Oh but that's why you're all stuck here! That big ship the pirates got, what with all their thunder cannons, well it just won't get passed the dead things in the water. They are going to destroy the black pearl so all the dead things die. Didn't anyone tell you that yet? Maybe the villagers don't want you to know ... "

Auntie looks at Elspa with a shrug.

"Auntie collect secrets like pretty shells on the beach, and Auntie has been around for a long time."

JARVEENA and MOSS

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Trekking through the dense underbrush of the mountainous jungle island is a sweaty, time-consuming exertion. In the shadows of ancient trees, you encounter curiosities that you use as landmarks to anchor your journey, including vine-shrouded stone formations such as arches and pillars that you can't tell are natural or the remnants of ancient buildings.

Despite the noise of all the living things of the jungle, the dense foliage obscures everything. Your most promising lead is a set of tracks of some kind of man-sized bird or lizard. Stealthing through the jungle in its wake leads you a massive, hollow dead tree lying horizontally. The front of the tree is agape; a dark round, hole fifteen feet across. You can hear the sound of scraping coming from within the trunk.