LARGE HUMANOID HIPPOS!

The party eventually went to the village after meeting some of the locals and discovering that they are in fact descendants of the legendary Dweemer! There was an explorer from the Dwarven strongholds amongst the Dewmen they met and he elected to join with the party to find out what exactly is going on here.

    At the village the hippos or "Giff" as they are known seemed likely to accept a bribe to allow the party to pass by however a kind of warrior rivalry sprang up between Thraug and their leader. In the end a duel was agreed on!

 The two closed warily, the Giff drew the strange bent tube from his belt and pointed it at  Thraug, there followed a very loud bang and huge cloud of stinking black smoke erupted from the device (apparently called a pistol). However Thraug was not harmed nor deterred and with the wicked Urglen's Four raised high he lunged at the huge creature, what followed as brief as it was bloody, in just a few seconds the axe sliced through the hapless beast's neck and its hippo head fell to the floor with a thud.

  The remaining hippos simply melted away! The dwarven explorer , Flint picked up the strange tube weapon and after some experimentation he seemed confident enough to try to use it, pointing it away from anyone he took a breath and activated it, there was a huge bang and the usual cloud of smoke and sparks and Flint went flying backwards and landed with a thud on his backside!!
  After a discussion with the villagers the party headed to the Giff's office only to find they had fled, leaving little behind. They decided to chase down the other Giff which they managed in short order and another brief but violent encounter took place, the remaining Giff being taken care of the group decided to avoid the roads and traverse the jungle. Taking with them a strange mirrorlike device  that they understood was a means of communication.

                                                         THE JUNGLE

 As soon almost as they set off the strange device began to make odd noises when they looked at it they first of all saw a Giff asking Thraug where the sergeant was and then  a truly horrific creature that said in common and with a nasty rasping hissing voice: "We will find you!"

                                                   "We will Find You!"

    It was decided to leave the mirror behind, in case it was able to track them, After half a day of picking through narrow jungle tracks all expertly located by Andrena with a little help from Thraug they came upon their first encounter in the green hell.

  Serpopards are vile leopard/serpents that are voracious predators, and as the group quickly learned they can spray a vile smelling poison out of their anal glands.  This fight went on for a while before the monsters were defeated and the party had a chance to wash the vileness off their clothes and their bodies.

  Continuing in the jungle and having decided to try to navigate by the rivers they could place from their mental images of the vale as well as Hugin's invaluable aerial reconnaissances the party were once more assaulted the next day, this time by two huge white furred apes! These fiends attacked with terrible ferocity and were not at all dismayed when Flint used the long tubelike weapon he had taken from the Giff, however the shot went wild in any case and a desperate fight ensued, during which the monsters seemed to try to focus their energies on anyone they saw using magic. Poor Flint made a terrible blunder and actually spiked himself in the foot with his pick this and other mishaps aside the group eventually overcame the apes. Bloodied and perhaps a little more cautiously they continued to head towards the pyramid.