Saltbeard Decapitated, Party Escapes to Port Nyanzaru

“Six strangers woke up bound to stakes in a rainforest bandit camp with no equipment, piecing together their backstories before breaking free through a mix of cantrips, brute strength, and a sacred flame that vaporized a guard in one shot. The party cleared the camp of its two guards and a trained hound — which Fridge diplomatically convinced to flee rather than killing — before looting the tents and wagon for supplies, a mysterious note referencing 'the Soul Monger,' and a locked strongbox. When the bandit leader Grelt returned with two riders, Thrain opened fire with his pistol but was immediately cut down in a single longsword strike, forcing the party to finish the fight shorthanded while Carl quietly walked toward the tree line. After a long rest and a tense velociraptor encounter that Fridge defused through speak with animals, the group was intercepted on the trail by the wealthy and dying Syndra Sylvain, who revealed that resurrected souls across Faerun are being slowly consumed by a mysterious force deep in the southern jungle — and hired the party to find and destroy it for 100 gold each upfront.”