Tricksy, Slick, Tatters, and Bizzle lounge in the warren getting to know new R&S agent transfer Shroom, a likeable, fun guy lurking somewhere in a druidic cloud of unbathed spores. Rooster emerges from his office with rotund Baron Flocculant Van Fostern after an hour of unsuccessful negotiations. Whatever Fostern has in mind, R&S can’t provide a fixed scope or basis of cost, but Rooster consents to allowing agents to contract independently with Fostern, completely off book and sans standard death benefits package R&S provides to its employees.
Fostern proposes a share of the legendary immeasurable treasure of the Chult jungles in exchange for any and all recovered artifacts. Shroom eagerly agrees, but Tricksy negotiates an additional 500 gp, each, mobilization fee just in case the treasure is immeasurably small. Fostern agrees to the 2500 gp cash front much too quickly through death rattling choking fits of coughing. It seems Fostern has one foot over a barrel and the other on a banana peel. Fostern provides maps to the legendary ruins from which no other adventurer has returned. A ship is arranged and the party sails to Fort Beluarian, a run-down outpost of Baldur’s Gate at the edge of the Chult jungles.
The party heads to the nearest tavern, named Thrice for the number of its rebuildings, for a reconnoiter of the whole lost treasure situation. Charismatic Slick chats up some Baldur’s Gate militia. The soldier recognizes yet another treasure hunter when he sees Slick, yet another victim for the brain flukes that invariably bore into the brains of treasure hunting adventurers. Still, a demoralized Baldur’s Gate militiaman could retire in luxury with one of those plate-size rubies the soldier has seen.
Tatters knows all about brain flukes, ingested from drinking tainted water. He fills his bag of holding with waterskins and rations for the journey. Sundry other provisioning is made and the group sets off into the jungle where they soon meet adventurer Mercer and his mule Bill coming the other way. Well into the conversation about ancient ruins, artifacts, and plate sized rubies, Mercer’s head explodes from excess brain fluke. The party invokes finders keepers acquiring Bill the mule. Slick helps himself to Mercer’s boots.
A few days into their journey the party comes across an abandoned pack, left as though its owner had tripped and then mysteriously vanished. Slick sees no traps or obvious danger so Tricksy opens it, revealing a large ruby, two gold nuggets, and a couple of hungry looking purple worms. Shroom hammers a worm into purple paste with his petrified mushroom warhammer. Slick axes up the other worm into purple julienne. Keen-sensed ranger Tricksy hears incoherent whispers and senses the party is being watched. Tatters checks out the abandoned loot, but notices nothing amiss. Bizzle claims the giant ruby as their first progress payment and notices the warm sensation of happiness that undoubtedly accompanies the sudden acquisition of great wealth. The whispers unnecessarily encourage Bizzle to acquire more treasure. Shroom is visibly disappointed that no fungus is among the treasure and swabs out his nostrils to purge any purple worm brain flukes that might be in there.
Tricksy is pretty sure the group is being followed. Tatters advances cautiously and sees eyes peering back. The eyes, and seven similar pairs, leap out at the party in the form of cute little grungs trying to stab and poison them.
Grungs surround isolated, stoneskinned Tatters and try to lasso him. Shroom begins spewing clouds of fungi from his mouth which grosses out his coworkers, but the grung actually seem to enjoy the poisonous scent. The party fights its way through to Tatters. Shroom bites into the head of a grung with primal savagery and the few remaining grungs leap into the jungle.
Shroom carefully harvests four jars of poison for Tricksy’s arsenal of mischief. Slick, Tatters, and Bizzle loot crude necklaces of gold nuggets and rough gemstones from each slain grung. They feel pretty good about being wealthier and try to ignore the sense that something is watchfully following. The incoherent whispers persist, but only when they aren’t thinking about it.
Hours later, the party finally arrives at the ruins indicated by Fostern’s maps. Slick notices three little green lumps on the trail. Tatters moves closer to investigate and notices they bite Shroom when Shroom recklessly runs through them. Shroom haloes spores back at them. Tricksy runs up a tree with her shortbow ready. She encounters a grung in the tree hiding with his shortbow ready. Tricksy gets the drop on the grung and knocks him out of the tree with a couple of quick arrows.
Grungs emerge from all around, this time accompanied by a jungle troll. Tatters thinks it’s pretty weird for grungs and trolls to socialize. Tatters and Shroom clean out the grungs while Slick, Tricksy, and Bizzle confront the troll. The troll, trying to reach for Tricksy in the tree, claws, bites, and shoves aside his assailants despite Bizzle’s galline tauntings. Attacks land on the troll, but it regenerates until Tatters hits it with a fireball. Tricksy’s arrows slay the troll, and the last of the grungs are finished off.
Tricksy examines a large gold ingot crudely embedded into the troll’s chest as though through self-mutilation. She pops the valuable treasure out. Others collect necklaces from the slain grungs. The party’s attention turns to the ruins.
Tatters figures the ruins weren’t taken by force or anything like that, just abandoned for no obvious reason. He wonders whether it is related to the strange interactions between grungs and the troll, and what that has to do with the commonality of their gold and gemstone treasures.