The nearby jungle is growing at a disturbing pace -- overnight, whole villages have been swallowed up by creeping vines. Rumors say the source is a corrupt and powerful temple deep in the jungle. In reality, the blight lords of Talona created a monstrous corpse flower and imbued it with the power of a cursed gem from an ancient temple of their goddess. After the blight lords released it into the forest, the corpse flower bent the surrounding jungle to its semi-sentient whims, recreating the temple out of plant life -- with an insatiable hunger for expansion.
The party seeks out Commodore Krux at the Happy Beholder. After speaking with the patrons, the party learns that Krux has disappeared and gets a lead to check out his ship, the Second Wind. At the ship, the party learns from Fel Ardra and Flinch that Krux is being held prisoner by the Amoebros in a cave on the underside of the Rock of Bral. The party infiltrates the Amoebros’ lair, gets past the guards, and learns of the animal experimentation performed by the gang. In a final climactic scene, the party rescues Krux from Ripples, the wicked boss of the plasmoid gang.
Genius rogue artificer Ichabod Russet hired ten of his most brilliant colleagues to collaborate and build the greatest automaton yet invented: a clockwork beholder. He dreamed their invention would catapult him into stardom and wealth. In a secret mountain laboratory under Ichabod's direction, each scientist devoted themself to developing one ray for the creature's mechanical eyes -- but when the mysterious tenth ray was added to the automaton, it became too powerful. The clockwork beholder broke free during QA testing and destroyed half the lab. Only a few of the artificers escaped to tell the tale, and for the most part, they're keeping their mouths shut.