*You come across a dirtied-up journal, near the mouth of the cave, it belongs to a woman by the name of Angeline*

Day One

We've taken a river boat from the west, where the rivers feed the jungle, east of our rendezvous point. The jungle of Meztliatl was the home of a long-extinguished group of tribal humans, called the Myan. Many artifacts reside there, from scrolls to these curious little clay statues that are just so visually appealing to my eyes. All of which rank very high in worth, due to their exclusive rarity, and the effort it took to retrieve them.

We had heard tales of danger and superstition from the villagers, about how the jungle is cursed. I keep asking myself, 'How could such a beautiful place be cursed?' As for my colleagues, some find the sense of danger the thrill to add onto out expedition. 

Speaking of my colleagues, our party consist of five: Rowan Bladesilver, a half-elf adventurer who you wouldn't believe was one at first glance (he has a beard, you see), Calumma, a Lizardwoman whose expertise is braving jungles such as this one, Charag Filthrot, a Hobgoblin assisting us as an act of self-servitude (we saved his life from a Dire Wolfpack attacking him and his now long-dead comrades, which he had soon after accumulated skill with a dagger and a Katar), Derrick (Human of course), our recent addition, who none of us fully trust since he tends to care more about himself than anything else, and myself, one of the few female ruin explorers in the Archaeology Guild.

I can't wait to find what adventures lay ahead after we make camp.

Day Two

After what I hoped to be a restful sleep, only to have nightmare upon nightmare, I brewed up some herbal tea to charge myself up, preparing for our first trek through this alleged "cursed jungle".

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As I trek into it, I feel this sudden cold breeze, which seems incredibly odd for a jungle. Also, me and Calumma both realized that no birds could be seen or heard. I've theorized that perhaps a breed of arboreal snake mowed down the bird population. Calumma says she senses something wrong in the air, and I told her that we've all got her back.

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Dreadful news, journal. As much as I distrusted him, Derrick has become a quick casualty as two Shamblers took him by surprise ambush by riverside, strangled him, and swam away up the river, most likely drowning him in the process, if they didn't already pull him apart to share the meal.

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So far, we've had no further misfortune further eastward, but I can't help feel like something, or someone is following us.

Day Three

Yet ANOTHER horrible night! I tried to talk to Rowan about these deranged nightmares, where I'm some sort of surging entity, finding dead bodies of what looked quite possibly of the ancient Myan, only to come to contact them, and have them dissovle, and...

Needless to say, he told me he had a similar nightmare as well: Although his was of him as a creature with tentacles that latched onto the head of a helpless victim, only to see his or her emptied, bloodied skull; scooped out like a melon from the rind.

As for poor Calumma, she's been starting to get twitchy, and Charag woke up violently ill, vomiting up all he had two days ago, and the rations we've sorted for each other. He said that he has such a horrid dream with some other surging entity, bigger and airborne, and capturing and killing multiple humanoids at once.

Maybe the villagers were right about this place being cursed. Still, we must carry on, for mission's sake.

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Of all things, we came across a Mind Flayer, garbling and hissing. I've hear tales about these "Illithids" as they colloquially call their ilk, about them fearing light, and being coldly rational. This "fellow" was in broad daylight, clearly crazed, and eyes bulging in hunger and manic upset. We tried to handicap it before it would kill one of us by slicing off all its mouth tentacles, the ones it obviously needs to latch onto one of our skulls to suck the brains out. It screamed in pain, as brackish green-black blood squirted all over the place, yet it still persisted to try and eat out brains by grabbing my own head with its hands, to which Rowan thankfully killed it at the last second by ramming his blade through its skull. It dropped to the floor, twitching and foaming at the maw. What other strange, out-of-place monstrosities shall we face? Also... how much longer can we last?

Day Four

WHEN WILL THESE NIGHTMARES STOP?! It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't the same one, OVER AND OVER AND OVER!!! My head pounds just THINKING about it. Out of all of us, Rowan is the only one holding strong. He such a leader; better than I am, at this moment. We should head back as before it gets bright, not that the sun's warmth will do anything for this chilled, breezy land.

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SOMEONE TOOK OUR BOAT AND RATIONS! If Derrick up and took it, IF he survived, I'll KILL HIM MYSELF!  Wait. No. Derrick died. How could he possibly steal the boat? That must mean someone else is out there. But the bigger question is how do we get back without a boat?

Am I going crazy? Who else would reside in this godforsaken place?

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It's 4 in the afternoon, and I almost became Greenvise food, it it wasn't for Charag's sudden violent streak, continuously hacking at the plant's stem until it spat me out and moved off, but not before it spewed out its death fog. The burns still pain me, but when I asked for Calumma to heal me, she became suspicious, as if I were to kill her afterword. How could that filthy, paranoid, horned bitch think I were to kill her, AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH?! After I confronted her again, she ran off far enough and used her natural blending capabilities to evade me. How could she run off like that? She'll be back; She wouldn't live long without us, whether her reptilian brain likes the idea or not.

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I was right: my best "friend" came back. She should know better, since me and Rowan single-handedly protected HER tribe from that filthy Gnoll clan encroaching her land, all those months ago. Never the less she healed me, hesitantly, but her twitchiness has gotten worse, almost to where I'm beginning to think that she's simply hearing and seeing things. Meztliatl's legendary influence is getting to her. Getting to us.

Day Five

Thankfully, nothing to report, but we were so exhausted from the constant nightmares that we had no choice but to take it easy. We're gambling with death with this break. As we ventured further, or outer, I can't even tell which way is which anymore from the lack of pleasant sleep. Charag is getting more aggressive. Really pushing it, as if he's tapping into some primitive portion of his mind to become the the Alpha male. He's at least threatened the three of us, one-at-a-time, with his Katar.

Afterward, we went uphill to get abetter view of our surroundings. That's when we saw two things; a temple further uphill, and the giant shimmering "dome" in the center of the jungle. We decided to go to neither. Neither would we go south, for that would go deeper. However, the more inward to moved, I've slowly begun to

to notice the colder it got, and how the plants began to look as if they were dying. What is it about this shiny dome-like apparition? Like I... like we are subconsciously drawn to it...

Day Six

I figured it'd be better to not sleep tonight. One more night of dreaming "flesh-eatting slug" dreams, and I was going to crack. We all feel more and more exhausted, and more at each other's throats as each day passes.

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Journal, something horrible happened... I... I killed Charag. It was early, not even dawn, when I trekked away form the camp to relieve myself. Charag came up behind me, grabbed me up, lifting me by my shirt collar, and said that since he saved me, and since we'll never survive this jungle, that I owed him... with my body! He was completely out of his mind, trying to rip my clothes off, so I kicked him in the the stomach, and grabbed the closest blunt object; a thick, half-rotted tree branch. He got up and tried again, to which I struck him down. I kept hitting him and hitting him, and the rest was all a blur, until Rowan yelled my name out. I saw Charag's body again, I bashed his head in, broke his arm in two places, and even collapsed his ribcage.

I... I didn't mean to kill him! He was going to force himself onto me! What else should I have done? LET him rape me?!

After the shaky, and brutal awakening we all accrued, we simply found it best forego exploring the ruins, and finding whatever artifacts there were inside to move northeast, past the broken stone bridge, and up to the clearing where a river-fed pond that was once an ancient crater from meteor impact would be located. It was beginning to rain hard when we made it, but I'd rather deal with the rain at the top of

of the hill than the floods at riverside, and the jungle's basin-laden valley. Calumma I fear is taking this the worst out of all of us; badly shaken, and muttering insane, made-up words like "Kerti", "Zor-ee-at", and "Daylkeer", and worse; cutting her own arm, and making crude protections circles using her blood as the paint for the seal. We should both keep an eye on her, to make sure she doesn't hurt us, or herself.

Anyways, once the rain clears up, we'll make the decision on whether we'll go north, up the source of the river, or southeast, to the cave where part of the river feeds into.

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THAT IDIOT! She found some arch-shaped marble-like structure on a small island in the middle of the lake, even when we told her that we should all stay close. We heard her screech as her body broke apart into a gaseous state, and headed toward the dome of light like inhaled smoke. Me and Rowan headed toward the

the island, and worked out from the glyphs on it that one simply needs to rub the glowing moss onto a part of their body to gain access. We must all stick together, even if it means risking both of our lives to save one of our own.

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I... I don't know what to make of this new place where we just made it to. Its red sky, and purple soil, if it could be called that... and gigantic fissures littering the "ground". Eyes darting and maws coughing and muttering all over the place. Ponds of a gelatin-like slime that curiously claw with a peculiar take on life. This honestly scares me, and I can feel as if something is clawing its way into my mind... like a white-hot fire...

Wait! There's Calumma!

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She's babbling, and disturbed worse than ever, but painfully pleased to see us again. She clutches onto us for dear life, and we now see why.

She accrued new wounds, which she healed up herself with her Druidic magic... and in the wounds place is a patch of glowing purple flagella, flagella that undulated and made a soft, screeching noise... a screech like a high-pitched wind... yet not. She kept saying 'This cursed place.' over and over again. her eyes darting nervously, and mouth gabbling. Her own fear hurts my head more and more; and

and Rowan grabs my wrist and sternly says 'Don't!', as if he thought I'd do to Calumma what I did to that bastard, Charag. Why must Rowan find it necessary to chastise me in a time like THIS?!

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From the distance, we see what looks like a young boy, near the pit in center of the the place, as it spews gasses of horrible, wondrous colors and shapes. I swear that I could see visions of tentacles, rugose skin, blinking eyes and maws from within the gas. Oh Goddess, I MUST be going insane. But wouldn't "going insane" mean that I'd no longer be aware of the fact? Oh forget it! This boy might need our help... so why is he just sitting still?

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That.... boy... THAT...THING... KILLED... ROWAN! Seeing the blood spill from his lips as that beastly child withdrew his creepy-looking dagger, and seeing him lick the very victim's blood from it, all the while cackling crazily filled me with so much sadness and rage that I was THIS close to snapping the little smug twerp's neck! I would have if I wasn't so terrified; That kid... he's human... and... yet he's not! Showing us such horrible, horrible secrets of his true form after we ran, and left Rowan's body for dead in this insane landscape. We ran far, almost back to the

the pillar, but close enough to see the beast-child lift up Rowan's limp body... and threw him into the pit.

He's gone... he's gone. I... I never told Rowan... I never told him that I loved him. And now, he's been taken from me, forever. How can I go on, knowing the untold love of my life no longer exists, and the only thing barely saving me from being defenseless, or eaten, or killed, or destroyed... is a half-insane Lizardwoman whose recently formed an obsession for creating blood seals using her OWN BLOOD AS THE PAINT?!?!?

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Calumma's injured again. She got snatched, burned and dropped up by some... purple, amorphous thing. Oozes don't fly... oozes DON'T FLY! SO WHAT FLEW UP, ALMOST SNATCHED CALUMMA IN ITS "GRASP", AND VANISHED BACK INTO THE FLESHY EARTH?!?!

She healed herself, but the burns didn't heal right. Her back and chest is covered in large, nauseating, uneven sores.

We made it out, and she muttered one last request:

'I wish to die.'

I couldn't torture her mind any longer, and had no other choice but to give into her request.

As I groggily rest, even with the knowledge of an unrestful, and horrific slumber, I

I still hear that boy's cackling as he killed my Rowan... my Rowan...

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I feel my sanity slowly slipping moreso, like some horrific fugue as I hear the pulsing in my own chest, and the piping, the alien piping of flutes... horrible horrible FLUTES!

Day Seven

*the following pages are nothing but scribbled gibberish, and bizarre glyphs and markings, almost unreadable to you*

Day Eight

*as you read the diary, you see many drops of blood*

As it turns out, I too need protection. As I write this, I too have cut into myself, and use the iron-laden water that is my own blood, to seal the horrid geometry of the

the world... I am alone. NO! I am NOT alone... There are many, and all are all out to eat me. I mustn't sleep, for that's when they'll come...

They come... yes... but I won't let them. Isn't that right, my journal?

They come with biting, and stingers, and pseudopods, and daggers, with manic cackling and soul-piercing eyes that scratches into my mind, like MILLIONS of ants! MILLIONS of BURNING... SCREECHING... ANTS!!

They won't take me! No! NEVER!! Not like they took Derrick, or Charag, or Calumma, or... ROWAN!!!

No... no... fear is the mind-killer... show no fear... show no emotion... welcome oblivion and at the same time wish its destruction...

But I'm safe in here, right, my journal?! We are VERY MUCH safe inside the entrance of the cave! Yes, we're in the cave! We're in the cave! We're in the cave! WE'RE IN THE CAVE!!! WE'RE IN THE CAVE!!!

*It continues on and on, page after page with those words, eventually being written in her own blood, until you come across one page splattered in her own blood... whether she ended her own life, or something else got to her you don't know... or want to*