12 Jungle Dressings
While vast swaths of a fecund jungle may seem boring and unremarkable, travellers will—no doubt—encounter some things of minor interest.
A huge tree lies part-buried in the gloom of the jungle floor. Lichens, vines and smaller shrubs grow on the rotting trunk creating a living wall. The tree is over 100-foot long and over half its bulk has sunk into the earth.
Without warning, the party reach a deep gorge cutting across their path. A fast-flowing river fills the gorge. Nearby, the mouldering remains of a rope bridge span the gap. The bridge is not strong enough to support heavy travellers.
The ruin of a wooden hut stands in the gloom of a stand of trees atop a small rise. Deep shadows filled the tumbled and rotting hut. Rudimentary signs of agriculture suggest someone tried to make a (likely solitary) life here.
A pit—its floor laced with sharpened wooden stakes—straddles the trail. The corpse of a gorilla lies amid the splintered stakes. Investigation reveals the gorilla has been dead only a day or so. (Whoever dug the pit may lurk nearby and won’t take kindly to the characters making off with their catch.)
A tribal territory marker looms over the trail. Lurid and stylised cravings of nature spirits decorate the marker. Lichen and creepers obscure some of the carvings, suggesting it has been here for many years.
A rotting spear—of curious, but primitive design—lies tangled in a bush. The spear’s tip comprises sharp, fire-hardened obsidian of blackest hue.
The shattered bones of some long-ago traveller lie in the shadow of a large tree. The unfortunate’s equipment has long ago rusted or rotted away. Investigating the bones reveals, something powerful has feasted on the tasty marrow within.
A narrow, but deep, stream, flows from a rocky upland over a series of small waterfalls in a narrow gully. The stream is audible from some distance such away, and the gully provides an excellent place to rest.
With little warning, the dense undergrowth gives way to a small swath of savanna. The five-foot high grass undulates in the breeze and a faint susurration fills the air.
A pile of skulls, weathered and bleached, stand in a vine-choked pyramid about six-foot high. The grinning skulls watch over the trail, providing—perhaps—a warning or serving as a boundary marker.
A crumbling statue of a cruel-faced man has part-sunken into the soft jungle soil. Digging out the bottom half of the statue reveals the man to have a snake’s tail.
A huge ants’ nest towers astride the trail, and a multitude of large ants quest all about for food. If disturbed, the ants swarm from their nest to attack.
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This article is an extract from 20 Things #55: Fecund Jungle Add the book to your GM’s toolkit today! Alternatively, check out the 20 Things Archive for more handy, flavoursome and time-saving 20 Things articles ready for immediate use in your campaign.
Design Creighton Broadhurst Art William McAusland
