Turf War

Lizardfolk gave me the idea to incorporate a little turf war into the campaign between them and the slaad (I'm getting really tired of this *$%# blogger interface autocorrecting every monster I type to something else! If I can figure out how to turn it off, we'll both live longer...).
It's a microcosm of the ecology of this terrain - traditional swamp monsters vs. aberrant monstrosities. It brings up a couple of important points I need to start considering, namely how populated I want this area to be, and what type of village and organization I want. I think it is also time to bring more slaad (thank god, I found it...) into the mix. For now, isolated monsters are sufficient, especially with interspersed encounters with lizardfolk as well. In fact, I think its better to suggest the edge of lizardfolk territory by making their numbers more prominent for now, letting the number encountered shift toward the slaad as the players move forward.
I also think a great option for this part of the journey is to work up a bunch of challenges and traps that can be dropped in. It would work nicely with a turf war, since each side is likely to try setting barriers and triggered effects for the other.

Maybe I need to outline my needs here for a moment, then execute solutions.

• sketch out lizardfolk numbers and motivations.
• sketch out slaad numbers and motivations.
• sketch out slaad village and organization (especially color breakdowns - how many of each, how many evolutions are present)
• design a series of traps/challenges to set and use.

A Changing World

The morning breaks somewhere over the plain below, but here, there is only a thick, low-hanging fog.  The mist is depressing as well as obscuring. Continuing through the mists is more difficult with today's conditions. What had been a DC20 survival check to stay on the path. With 5 successful rolls, the party will be able to find their way out of the maze of trails and actually rise out of the oppressive fog.
The terrain is still similar, but this section is less active. The ground is firmer, the murk more confined to small pools and fens, and the path more defined. There are high ridges of hardened lava stretching down toward you from the hillside leading upward away from you. These spines vary greatly, with some close to five feet wide, and others less than a foot. The thicker ones generally are more rounded, while the thin ones have sharp peaks and brittle handholds.
Some of the ridges open to the northeast, while others open to the southwest. While it is easy to pick out the main route forward, the natural clefts make it easy to hole up out of sight, which is good for taking rests, and bad when hoping to avoid ambush!
This stretch is good for bandits, waiting in ambush to jump passersby. They hunt in packs of 3-5 lizard folk. Usually, they assess the strength of the party before jumping them, but when they are desperate, they attack more freely. With the increased monsters in the swamp, they are less cautious.

Night in the Swamp

Another quick point about wandering monsters in this area. Part of the point is that this isn't just a swamp, but a volcanic, geothermal quagmire. Therefore, some of the monsters should be heat or fire based. Perhaps a few like azers, fire salamanders, fire elementals and half-red dragon veterans. After checking, some of the ones mentioned already are better than I realized, having fire immunities as part of their makeup.
Ideally, the monsters would be mostly traditional to start, with rare instances of fire-based creatures becoming more common the closer the party get to the far side of the swamp and the volcano's slopes. I think elementals and even some demons would be better at the far edge, or after leaving the swamp.
After trying to find their way through the maze of paths, a number of delays forces the party to make camp in the middle of them. The night is particularly dark as a deep fog rises with the setting sun. Steam pours out of thermal vents, and fog rises from the pools of water.
I think a series of "trials" during the night might be fun. Three tests or challenges. First, the haunting of the swamp, with a few undead rising out of the dead pools surrounding the camp. Maybe some will-o'-wisps charm the guard and try drawing them off toward a nearby dead end where two wights come out of the fog to attack.
Secondly, a patrol of azers comes through with a message for a contact they're meant to connect with in the next major canyon, about a mile further along. They are on a mission, and will not stop or tolerate anything interfering with it. If they are defeated (or even if just one is killed with the others getting driven off), the bodies have papers for Sa-peras. There is a congratulatory note on defeating the invaders from the south, and a warning that a party of adventurers appear to have defeated Cragmin in his stronghold, and it appears they have the stone.
Thirdly, the party will be revisited by poor Nalen, now transformed into a blue slaad and rampaging through the swamp, fighting to come to terms with his new identity.
I think having the patrol come first, with the undead fog occurring after midnight, and Nalen arriving in the wee hours of the night if the best way to go.

Loose Ends

Wandering Monsters:
Poisonous Snakes
Stirges
Bullywugs
Trolls
Mud Mephits
Giant Crocodile
Wights
Will-o'-wisps
Ghouls
Winged Kobolds
Young Black Dragon

These are all good options to be used throughout the swamp. I've just randomly chosen several from the DMGs swamp monster list. It isn't meant to be thorough and exhaustive... it's just laziness and convenience. The point is that these are meant to be casual encounters with natural creatures in their environment. Sometimes they are small critters, and sometimes they are powerful creatures. These are suggestions for quick reference.

The monster that will grab careless adventurers in the night should be a shambling mound. It isn't really a slime, but it acts in the way I'm imagining, something that blends in completely with the surrounding backdrop, then lashes out at unsuspecting creatures that come within its reach. I would like to have some kind of slime creature (I'm picturing the watcher in the water outside Moria's gates), with lots of tentacles and no sense of size. There must be one somewhere, or something to adapt, but I haven't found it yet.

Finding Your Way

Yes, I am a slacker... I've been playing Catan and D&D and not updating this blog. Guilty as charged!
I think all I'll manage tonight is a quick interlude. After the encounter in the tower with Nalen and the two slaad, the party will make their way back to the trail and continue into the swamp, armed with the information (and some extra protection, possibly). The road forward is much the same as it has been, with more bare passages available for traveling.
While the footing has become more firm, the dangers are still present. There are pools of lava and murky slime all around, with clusters of rock jutting up among them sporadically. The way is narrow, and you begin to notice many paths winding through the pockets of swamp. Any reasonable passive perception (10-12) will realize the passage is quickly turning into a maze.
Have the party make periodic Survival (DC16) checks to keep on the correct path. The journey across this section will take five or six hours, but successive failed checks will delay the crossing by an hour each time. It will work nicely to plan 3 minor encounters for this area, with each delay allowing for an additional wandering monster encounter (1 in 6 chance). With the start of the day around the tower, any delay will also mean either making camp in the swampy maze, or trying to navigate the maze in the darkness.
This will require a DC22 Survival check not to get lost, with a 2 in 6 chance of a wandering monster, and a roll of "6" meaning someone gets too close to the edge of the slime in the dark, and either gets grabbed or steps in quicksand.
I need to work up some wandering encounter tables to use, as well as decide what lurks in the slime and how quicksand should work.

Nalen

Nalen is gracious in his way once you have succeeded in convincing him you are not in league with the demon slaad taking over the swamp. He is able to instruct the party on the life cycle of the slaad, and, in particular, what dangers to look out for when encountering the slaad. Of particular danger are the red slaad, which can implant an egg in an open wound, and the blue, which can infect you with a plague that can turn you into a slaad. This information can be important when encountering them in the wild.
Nalen also is in possession of a large number of spells, potions and scrolls that will help cope with the dangers the slaad bring. He is willing to part with some of them, but vascillates depending on his mood. If the party want a scroll or potion and offer a reasonable price or trade, he will trade. If the party acts greedy or asks too many questions, he begins to get antsy, and will demand high prices or refuse to deal outright.
While you are being entertained, two red slaad slip up the path outside. Since you tripped many of the alarms on your way through, and Nalen hasn't been able to reset them, the slaad are able to walk right up to the door. When they burst into the room, Nalen will freak out, believing you have conspired against him and brought the demons with you. Cursing you, he will hastily gather up his stuff and begin lashing out against the slaad. Occasionally, if anyone gets close to him, he will turn on party members as well. Once his hackles are raised, he will become distrustful of everyone, and be very difficult to calm again.
If matters start going badly for the slaad, one of them will rush at Nalen, wounding him and infecting him with an egg. Despite his understanding of the slaad and access to curatives, he will become hysterical and rush off into the swamp, leaving the party behind with the slaad. Once the slaad are defeated, you can gather some of the scrolls and potions - either taking them, or leaving some form of payment.
Unfortunately, Nalen doesn't return while you are there. He has been infected with a slaad egg, and thinks his life work has been for naught, and evil has consumed him. He will hide in the swamp.

Crossing the Upper Swamp

The change in terrain is noticeable climbing up out of the festering pools and meres were hills meet plain, as is the shift in senses mentioned yesterday. Whatever brief burst of hope that comes over the players quickly fades as they see the rising expanse before them. There is a high ridge running across the swamp, dividing upper and lower regions. Cresting it gives the players a view ahead of the valleys and spines of lava breaking up the festering pits and pockets of slime and ooze that are now mixing with hot mud and lava. It is a despairing view ahead that quickly envelops all thoughts as they descend the far side of the ridge back into the molten quagmire that is the hillside ahead.
Soon the path drops into a dark ravine running southwest in a mostly straight run. The rough lava walls have worn smooth with decades of erosion, but still jut out awkwardly in areas, making passage difficult at times. More than you've noticed through the swamp so far, you can move fairly quickly here for a couple of miles, weaving among the veins of hardened lava, occasionally jumping over swells or through breaks into a parallel vein.
After following along this way for another mile, you are struck by a formation rising up out of the surrounding terrain about a half mile away to the left of the direction your paths are leading you (perception DC15 will note movement near the pinnacle of the rock). If anyone pays particular attention, have them roll a perception check (DC12 to notice a very faint trace of smoke rising from near the top). Oddly, there seems to be some indication on the map you have been following in the same general area, but it is unclear on the map what is being referenced. Imogene initially took it to be a landmark symbol denoting the tower of rock.
Once they have noticed the oddities, the party can search for a route over to it (survival DC12 to find). After a few hundred yards out of the ravine, the path actually becomes more pronounced, rising out of the morass around it and hugging the far side of the rock out of sight of the main trails you have been following through the swamp.
As the party begin circling the rock, they can more clearly see a thin column of smoke rising from a pair of windows high in the tower. Clearly something is living inside some kind of chamber at the top of the tower (survival DC18 to notice the traces of passage are humanoid (human, in fact)).
At this point, have the players note their order of movement, and any special measures they are taking to approach (stealth, active perception, arcana checks or magical detection, etc.). The tower is held by a half-mad cleric, paranoid from years in his surroundings. He has many traps, alarms, etc. in place around the hillside to protect him from attack, and warn him of any approach.
Nalen Tassler is a loner and self-proclaimed bastion of defense against the evil breeding in the swamp. He has come here and remained to wage war on the spread of the disease via the slaad. He believes them to be abominations, and is trying to prevent them spreading any further out of the murk they inhabit. So far, they are content to remain where they are, finding little resistance to getting what they want within reach of their community. They largely ignore Nalen as a nuisance.
Nalen has studied slaadi culture for most of his adult life, and works to protect the world from them. He has scrolls and potions and spells at his disposal in addition to knowledge, and though mad, will share them if the players win his confidence in any way.

A Look Ahead

Leaving the lizardfolk behind, the paths before you start climbing up across the hilly swampland. While the terrain is a mix of swampy areas and thermal pits, it is also a hillside. The difficult pockets of terrain serve to turn the sprawling, broken hillside into a maze. Navigating it successfully is slow going, even with a map offering a general direction.
Making the trek more challenging is the shift you notice as the hillside rises. What had been humid, dank and filled with the noise of bugs and critters, has become more arid with a reek that sickens the nostrils, and an eerie silence punctuated by the gurgling explosions of mud and lava erupting randomly all around you. It makes for a disorienting effect that is unsettling and nerve-wracking.

I've added a closeup of the map for the region ahead. There is still a good 40-50 miles to the slaad village, and another 50 miles beyond that to get clear of the mire. This central part of the quagmire is controlled by the slaad. They don't venture far west of their village, but they control the viscous wastes east of it for around 50 miles.
From there, it is about 100 miles to the entrance into the mountain, and the dragon's lair. By crossing the swamp, the party will be able to approach the mountain by way of kobold trails.
There is a kobold lair in the tunnels under the volcano, and somewhere between there and the swamp, the cultists' main shrine. The characters are on their own after the slaad village, but finding evidence of the shrine (which they already suspect exists) will be easy. The challenge there will be dealing with the kobolds without alerting them all or the dragon of the party's presence.

Aftermath

Finding themselves locked in the caves, the party have the option of exploring the cave to defeat the monsters within, or they can try breaking out through the portcullis. The lizard folk view the party as a sacrifice, so they will actually guard the entrance and attempt to prevent the party from opening the gate, or escaping. They have six guards near the entrance, and will summon more if necessary.
If the party defeat the dragon, the guards seem to be aware and abandon the gate. When the party break out through the portcullis, they will find an abandoned village.
If the party are determined to locate the villagers, allow them to find evidence of their trail on a survival check (DC20). They clearly have an escape route, and are prepared to evacuate on short notice, so the evidence of their leaving is difficult to find. They have a concealed path that leads into a brackish stretch of mostly shallow water and small tufts of solid ground. They are adapted to the terrain, and willing to enter the water directly, which gives them advantage on any followers as far as escaping.
If the party are determined to find them, they can. Imogene will counsel against hunting them down, suggesting a better option is to escape the area and get clear of their reach while the sun lasts.
From here, I think we will start to see a shift in danger from scattered, sporadic encounters toward a more focused presence.

Black Dragon's Cave

Dinner and more...

Soon, the whole gathering is surrounded by musicians trying to carry a tune in some strange style, more food is brought out (your plates and cups are swapped out for more appetizing alternatives - small strips of meat that resemble greasy chicken in looks and taste, and a mildly intoxicating drink with a smooth, pale green thick drink). The party is quickly in full swing.
If anyone speaks draconic, they can overhear enough to pick out that they village seemed to have expected visitors, but they were surprised when you showed up two days early. They are scrambling to make you feel welcome as their honored guests. Have characters roll a perception check (DC24). If they fail their throw, they understand that they are being honored, and patch together that the lizardfolk feel threatened by a young, black dragon living nearby. They believe the party has been sent to enter the dragon's cave and vanquish the dragon.
If anyone exceeds the 24 on their perception check, they pick up on an important syntax in the lizardfolk's draconic. The party are expected as a sacrificial offering to the dragon. They are basically being fed and sedated in order to lock them in the cave with the dragon.
Once the frenzied dinner is over, their hosts will lead them to their lodgings for the night. They will try to bring them up a steep trail on one side of the bowl the village is in to an opening in the hillside. They insist it is a place of honor and has been prepared for their use. If the PCs protest too loudly, they will move them to the nearest hut, an abandoned hut, partially collapsed, as the only available option. If the PCs get too carried away with the festivities, and pass out, the lizardfolk will simply carry them into the cave and leave them in the space prepared.
The lizardfolk are not trying to be deceptive in any way. They tell the PCs they have been expected to go to the dragon. The perception check is key to understanding the difference between intent and understanding. If the characters actively suspect the situation, allow them to roll their perception check with advantage.
If the characters take shelter in the abandoned hut, the lizardfolk will try to move them into the cave in their sleep. They will use a Sleep powder on them to try keeping them restful while they move them. Once they are in the cave, the lizardfolk will close a portcullis they have constructed to lock the inside, leaving two guards at the gate to keep it shut.
If they are unable to move them into the cave during their sleep, they will greet them with spears in the morning, urging them to head into the cave. They will insist they are meant to go to the dragon, and that they must go now.
Tomorrow, we'll plot a mini dragon cave...

Lizardfolk village

After so many hours in the treacherous bleakness of the swamp, coming into a low valley of mostly firm terrain is oddly exhilarating. Before you lies a small village of patchwork huts, partly woven with some unfamiliar reed, and partly wadded with a reddish, black mud.
Initially, you are met with cold, almost frozen, stares from the scattered faces out in the village. After only a minute or so, the stares turn to guarded smiles, and you see dozens of increasingly eager villagers headed your way to surround you. They speak quickly in draconic, welcoming you to their town and urging you with them toward the center of town. They seem unanimous in their acceptance of you into their midst.
Before long, you find yourselves being hailed by the entire village as a hasty banquet is spread before you in what passes for a town square. Food and drink are brought before you (although it appears sketchy - the food is an assortment of bugs and the drink appears to be slightly filtered swamp water). A great pair of chairs is brought out and arranged at the head of the tables for the king and queen of the lizardfolk.

I'm getting some ideas for where to take this, but can't stay awake at the moment.

A Subtle Shift

After getting past the mud mephits and ghouls, the party is able to backtrack out of the dead end they were in, and after a couple of hours of investigating and studying the terrain, they can find a route of solid footing through the mire.
Before long, the landscape starts to change. What had been bog and sodden mire has started to rise into the hillside, mixing in spines of cooled lava and pits of molten earth with the soft earth. The challenge is starting to be one of picking out an open route, or a navigable one more than simply a firm path. With the flows of old lava and collapsed hillside, the way is difficult to see and predict even though it does seem to be steadily rising. Occasionally, there are large areas of mostly flat terrain that take on more of the aspects of a straight swamp again, but eventually the hill intrudes, and you are forced to scramble up and around more obstacles.
These pockets feature bog-like features, with large cassocks of land that may or may not be solid at every step. There is a thick floating swamp grass that clumps against the firm ground, and seems to exist in a constant state of flux between solid and liquid. There are grim, low, dark trees that have sparse vegetation on them, but are thick with stiff, nettled branches.
These pockets are useful bubbles of activity in the otherwise bleak environment. The fetid waters and vegetation harbor small groups of monsters. The beauty of this odd location is that there can be fire-based, elemental monsters encountered as easily as typical swamp dwelling creatures. Most of these encounters are with individuals, or small groups of 2 or 3, but occasionally the path you are following will touch on a more habitable section of the swamp that can feature a small village of lizard folk or similar creatures.
These villages are isolated and insular. They may be friendly to adventurers if approached with good intent, but they will always be cautious. Given their survival in extreme conditions, they are also tenacious once engaged in combat.

The Dangers of Going Astray...

Striking out in the morning, the path struggles forward slowly. This section of the swamp is more actual swamp than volcanic mess, so there are lots of soft, narrow cassocks of earth weaving between pools of stagnant, slimy water. There is a dense fog early in the morning that makes visibility partially obscured, and refuses to lift as the day grows in the east. Not even the sun seems to break through the gloom.
The trail you are following is particularly soft, with many area that have you sinking two or three inches in with each step. Soon, they reach a dead end. The ribbon of earth they have followed at Imogene's direction has led to a bleak, raised cassock of mud that is otherwise surrounded by the murky water. Discouraged, and reluctant to rush back out the way you came, you take a short break to recover your energy. The raised section you are on appears more firm than most you've been on lately. There are a large number of muddy mounds scattered around the small spit of land (survival DC20 to notice they are a creature, not just mud). Perception DC16 will also notice a unusual stillness, even for the swamp, almost a sense of foreboding.
As it turns out, the mud mounds are actually 8 Mud Mephits that will arouse and attack if they are poked, prodded, investigated too closely, or just stepped on or too closely passed. They prefer to wait until the party is at rest and their guard is down, especially if they position themselves close to more than one. Another danger are 2 ghouls that rise out of the murk near the pathway once the party have settled into their rest.

Resetting the Swamp

Having panicked, and let off some steam, we can continue with some clarification. The party is currently at the eastern edge of the quagmire, with a 200 mile trek through difficult terrain. After that, they will still be 100 miles from the dragon's lair at the volcano. The adventure is not nearly as close to completion as I was trying to force it.
With this cleared up, to have them emerge from the forest with a view across a barren stretch up the mountain is ludicrous. They are instead met with a despairing view across a seemingly endless landscape of wreck and ruin. The quagmire is a horrible mix of all the thermal elements that make Aron's Bowl an otherwise pleasant area in a hostile, northern mountain range. The thermal vents of lava and steam rise through swamp and ridge and earth to create a grim setting.
There are long ridges and spines of hardened lava running through the terrain like veins from the mountain peaks and volcanic ridge. There are tendrils of grass and forest threading their way up out of the plain of the valley like roots or branches of ivy looking for walls to climb. And the midst is a bubbling inferno of hot springs, stagnant, poisonous pools, and treacherous paths of crumbling earth.
The whole quagmire is like an open wound oozing and devouring the lower reaches of the mountains, and threatening to spread into the plain below. After gazing across it, the party can begin their journey by following the instructions on their map. The path cuts down into the steamy, molten mess, skirting pools and areas of quicksand and swamp, running up a ravine formed by a hollowed out lava tube. The scene described before with a stagnant pool and ravenous shambling mound occurs here.
After dealing with the shambling mound, the party continues into the bleakness of the terrain, while darkness begins to fall. They must find shelter in the nasty setting before dark. They are able to identify three potential spots - a sheltered clearing near a number of very small, foam covered pools (DC18 survival check to notice all the vegetation surrounding them is dead), a hollow opening about 15 feet above them in a cliffside that seems to run back into the cliff for several yards (DC16 survival or perception check to notice signs of passage by other creatures into the same area and opening), and a narrow shelf along an exposed ridge next to a constantly bubbling, oozing pool of heated mud running down the hillside (DC14 perception to notice a wider space just behind some thorn bushes that gives greater protection and cover).
If they choose the third option, they pass the night uneventfully. The first location is next to thermal vents that release poisonous gas every 3-4 hours, forcing everyone nearby to roll constitution saving throws against DC16 because of the gas. The effect causes 2d6 hp damage on a fail (half with a save), and the poisoned condition.
The second option places the characters in a small cave complex that is popular with multiple creatures of the swamp, which may move out (if already inside and not discovered), or in during the night. These can be chosen at random (I need to create a random monster encounter table for this area).

Travel in the Swamp

The trek through the swamp is an arduous one, and should offer many chances for random encounters along the lines of the those mentioned in the previous post. I'm not conveying the sense I want with this. I can't seem to get it to fit the image in my head.
I wanted this to be a difficult landscape to pass through, dark and close, danger at every step. Narrow pathways, uncertain direction, hazards everywhere. Dead ends, false turns, and all that kind of thing. What I see here is something too open and broad. It doesn't feel right. I wanted a nearly impenetrable location with a village cluster at its heart. There needs to be a hard-won passage to the village, a confrontation with the slaad at its heart, and then an escape through uncharted swamp to the back entry into the lair.
I think it needs to get darker and more difficult as it progresses. But how do you have lava flows and make them passable? I'm not sure.
I guess that getting closer to the peak can mean fog and mists. I think sinkholes and a mix of tunnels and cracks can help. But none of that plays up the swamp element. This approach to the mountain is meant to be "unguarded" in the sense that the natural terrain discourages it. The map is an invitation to try, and a chance to succeed. I want the whole area to be a brackish, oozing quagmire, flowing down a difficult slope.

Finding Your Way

The steppes falling down from the volcano's side are deceptive. They appear to be open and broad, easily accessible and crossed, but they are pockmarked with barriers and obstacles of many kinds.
Finding the orientation of the map you found turns out to be easier than expected, since it flows from the trail you are already following. The map indicates a path running south away from the main trail. Finding it requires a successful Survival roll (DC15), with a 1 in 6 chance of a random encounter for each failed attempt. Likely encounters in this area are a swarm of poisonous snakes, wights, a band of 4-6 troglodytes, a salamander, or 4-6 lizardfolk. A number of other creatures would fit well instead of these if desired, though swamp creatures or fire-based creatures are best. As the party gets nearer the dragon's lair, they will begin to encounter more and more fire-themed monsters (this is part of the dragon's lair effects).
Eventually, the party will find the hidden path. Once they are on it, they drop into a narrow ravine that slopes down into the hardened lava flows, winding back and forth as it snakes forward until it appears to actually dive beneath the lava in a dark tunnel. This tunnel stretches on for 400 yards or more before opening onto a flat shelf surrounded by steep walls, and dominated by a festering pool of bubbling mud and slime. The pool actually runs off the edge of a drop to the right, with a greater morass beneath it. There are rotting remnants of small trees and bushes against the high walls, most with signs of burning in places. There is a particularly dense mass of vegetation to your immediate left, about 20 feet away.
The pool is home to a shambling mound, which is the main part of the mass to your left. It can be perceived as malevolent on a DC18, otherwise it will wait to attack until someone is within 10 feet of it.

The Swamp

I wanted to provide some answers, but they aren't there. I could try to force something out, but that wouldn't work. I'm going to push on, and let the answers come later when my mind is in the right frame to provide them.
Leaving the monk's cabin, the journey back to the main trail seems to take mere minutes compared to the climb up, and if anyone glances back the way they came, there is no sign of cabin, monk or trail. They all appear to have vanished without trace. In truth, the monk was able to warp reality slightly to invite the party into an extraplanar space designed to fit in with their real surroundings.
Traveling west, the prominence of the volcano grows until it dominates the horizon before you. The last remnants of shrub fall away. The valley stretches out before you to the north, but the land revealed is unlike anything you have encountered elsewhere. There are long arms of rock and slag stretching out like snaking roots from the volcano itself, creating undulating valleys and large flat ledges stepping down away from the peak.
Oozing and seeping down, through and across this landscape is a foul, slow-moving sludge of lava mixed with water, earth and slime. This creates a nasty terrain that is tricky to navigate, with many swamp-like features. There are dead-end passages, oozing pools, and streams of slime everywhere. Coupled with the thermal veins running beneath the entire mountainside, erupting sporadically in plumes of steam or lava, the way forward is unpredictable.
With sinking hearts, the party looks out over the quagmire. They have little faith that their map holds any promise of value. Imogene steps forward with confidence and urges you to shrug off your hesitation and follow her lead. She insists that even though the terrain is open, there are definitely places to hide concealing watchers. You need to get out of sight quickly. She is also certain that the map is accurate and will be of use.
She has been studying it as much as she can, and believes that once you can locate the initial marker on the map, she can follow it from there. The trick will be finding the initial marker...

Monk Matters

The githzerai monk is a mysterious fellow. He contents himself with relaxing on his porch, inviting you all to join him for tea. The libations are unimportant, he can conjure what he needs, his intent is to question you. His method of questioning is to remain silent as much as possible and let the silence open your mouths.
When he is asked a question, he will respond promptly, although he may pause to consider on occasion. His answers are as mysterious as he appears to be, and are guided by his understanding of the questions asked more than by their phrasing.
Asked about the dragon, he might say "the terror spreads over the land like his unfolding wings." Asked about the cult, he offers "there is treachery afoot, beware the illusion." Similar cryptic things pour out of him. It's hard to define this here when much of what might be said depends on what is asked.

Possible topics:
The Swamp:
The Dragon:
The Cultists:
The Shrine:
The Dream:
Ference Trensal:
The Necklace:
The Axe:
The Green Gem:
The Map:
Aron's Bowl:
The Dragon's Lair:
The Volcano:

I'm going to stall again to work on the responses...

Minor Reset

Backtracking a little in order to bring this together a little tighter before continuing on, the party left the giant stronghold after an encounter with the dragon. They started across the ridge line trail, approaching a forest. As they passed through the forest, the sound of rending noises came to them from their left. Moving through the trees, they discovered a pair of manticores devouring a bear corpse.
Following this encounter, they rested in the forest. While resting, the ranger Everett, who they encountered in their first foray along this quest, appears to one of the party members in a dream. Everett relates his story about the dragon cult and the necklace they seek.
After this, they continued on their way. While traveling through the far edges of the forest, they were overcome by a strange mist, and a compulsion to leave the trail for a suggestion of a path up into a narrow, well-concealed pass. At the end of the path, they found a small cabin with a githzerai monk resting on its front porch. He offered you dinner and lodging for the night, as well as whatever insight his travels have accumulated.
The monk's responses are given without hesitation, but are often cryptic and muddled. Too many times they appear to answer totally different questions than those asked. The monk is oddly serene. He seems keen to answer questions, and will respond when asked, but he prefers not to volunteer information.
Some time after leaving, but before the party reaches the edge of the swamp, they will have an encounter with Ference Trensal. After this, the trail will lead into the swamp and beyond.
When we return, I think it will be time to consider in more detail the responses of the githzerai monk.

Trensal Redux

As Ference aged and took on more jobs, he began to question himself about who he was, what he wanted and where he expected to go in his life. He was forever grateful to the dwarves who took him in and raised him, but as a human there were many ways in which he could never fit into dwarf society. It was part of what drove him down out of the mountains to meet other humans.
Unfortunately, as an outsider, they considered him strange and untrustworthy, so that even when he looked like everyone else, he still couldn't fit in. So he found the cracks between the two societies and learned to live on the fringe.
He began to feel used and torn. The humans wanted him to loot and pillage his dwarven heritage for their profit, and yet the only acceptance he could find in society seemed to be tethered to his past. Gradually, he came to the conclusion that no one truly cared about him or the lost ruins other than him. He began taking jobs to pay for his journeys, then using the journeys to liberate everything he could for himself. The dwarves cared more for their legends than their lost treasures, and the men only wanted money and power, so he gave them a taste of what they sought, and kept as much as he could. But for him, he developed an attitude that he was the guardian of a past that only he believed in. He became a one man museum.
Museum house artifacts, and that takes up space. Trensal found an unknown dwarven ruin that wasn't in any of the legends he'd heard as a child, and secured it for himself as an elaborate residence, and a monument to the heritage of his adopted race. As he began acquiring items in earnest, he took fewer jobs and started to become obsessed with treasure hunting.
One man always treated Ference with respect and understanding, and Ference, in turn, remained open to him when he sought help from the ranger. About a year ago, the man had come to Ference asking for a special recovery. He was a member of an ancient, secret society that sought to understand and study dragons. There were long standing rumors within the society of a particular magic weapon created by the dwarves that they wished to recover. They said little to him of what the item was (claiming that info was lost to legend), and carefully steered away from saying why they valued it so highly. He told Ference it had some connection to a dragon in its creation, and they wished to study it and keep it safe.
Ference was nobody's fool and wondered what the real purpose for recovering the item was, but he felt a connection to the man, and was willing to accept his offer. It also piqued his interest. Here was another legendary dwarven item that he had not heard about. He spent two months scouring dwarven archives at scattered settlements, and started to piece together the Legend of Rain Thana. He didn't see the connection to dragons, other than the dragon heart used in its creation, but that was someone else's politics, so he put those thoughts aside.
When he encountered our party earlier in the story, he was making his way to a meeting with a local dragon cult connected to the society he was working for. He had located the axe and tracked it to the area. Only after meeting you and recovering the axe did he realize the kobold dragon cult were the movers behind the whole recovery. He was able to escape them, but without the weapon, so he followed you as quickly as he was able, eventually catching back up with you outside Aron's Bowl.
Unsure of where your loyalties lie, and worried about his own, as well as those of the cultists, he has been waiting for an opportunity to relieve the party of the item and take it to the cult headquarters, which he has learned are on the slopes of the volcano west of the murky path ahead. He plans to deliver the item as contracted, and then to liberate it to his personal collection.
There is an opportunity to subdue Ference and reason with him, either to assist you with your quest, or to use the item himself rather than turn it over to anyone else. Ference is not an enemy to their quest, but he is extremely independent and self-confident. This makes him unwilling or unable to trust many, and given that the one friend he thought he could trust might be behind the dragon cult increases his anxiety.

Ference Trensal

Ference Trensal was an orphan taken in by a tribe of dwarves who rescued him from the ruins of a wagon train ambushed in a remote mountain pass. Unable to learn his true identity, and with no interest in spending time or money looking, they took him back to their home and raised him as one of themselves. This gave Ference an unusual interest and insight into the history and traditions of dwarves. When he became an adult, he left the dwarven city for the valleys of men to learn about his own heritage and culture. He was somewhat disillusioned by what he found and spent his time learning the ways of the wild, training as a ranger and border guard.
His knowledge of the hills and mountains of the wilderness made him a popular choice as a guide. After several years of this, though, Ference felt his soul wearing thin, and left the guides to seek his own adventure. With his knowledge of dwarven history and legend, he became obsessed with researching and locating anything and everything he could of lost dwarven artifacts - cities, towns, weapons, magic items, musical instruments, and jewelry, among others. He realized that with his training as a guide, his intimate knowledge of the mountains, and his ability to enter and commingle with human society gave him a better opportunity than most to track items down and recover them.
His reputation spread, and soon he found his services being retained to search for and recover specific items of interest to the powers retaining him.

I need to go to sleep... my mind is starting to drift. I'll continue this in the morning.

Revised Battle Axe description

Frost Battle Axe of Rain Thana
Battle Axe, very rare (requires attunement), sentient item

When you hit with an attack using this magic sword, the target takes an extra 1d6 cold damage. In addition, while you hold the sword, you have resistance to fire damage.
In freezing temperatures, the blade sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.
When you draw this weapon, you can extinguish all nonmagical flames within 30 feet of you. This property can be used no more than once per hour.

Additional Special Abilities:
Heart of the Dragon: The axe grants advantage to the wielder against fire-based attacks.

Eye of the Wizard: It also has the ability to cast two spells, Charm Person (level 2), and Sleet Storm (level 3).

Voice of Command: The axe gives the wielder command over the battlefield. It has 6 charges that can be used to give inspiration dice to the wielder’s allies in combat (this is similar to a fighter’s superiority dice). The wielder can expend one charge as a bonus action by giving a command directing an ally’s action in combat. The charge grants +1d6 to that ally’s attack roll on the action suggested, and must be used within one round of the command. If the target chooses not to take the direction, they must make a saving throw (DC15) or take 1d6 psychic/cold damage from resisting the power of the suggestion. The wielder can also make a command directing the opponent’s action as well, with them making a saving throw (DC15) to shrug off the suggestion, taking the 1d6 psychic/cold damage on a successful save. The axe regains 1d6 expended charges each morning at dawn.

Dragon’s Curse: A curse was placed on the axe by its creators that makes it vulnerable to dragon breath. If the wielder is caught in the breath weapon of a dragon, have them make a saving throw for the weapon (DC10). If the weapon fails its save, the weapon explodes in a icy burst of 3d8 cold damage.

Back to Work

I want to start out by revisiting the abilities of the frost battle axe. I think that what is there works well, but want to add a feature. My thinking is this: what about this magic item makes it more useful in a fight, particularly what makes it a tangible threat to a dragon, and what makes it desirable for dragon cultists?
As it is, it's useful against a red dragon because it is a glorified frost brand weapon. I tweaked it with a pair of spells and hamstrung it with a threat of destruction. But there isn't anything in the description as it stands that makes it particularly useful in a dragon fight, or all that threatening to the dragon's allies. So I'm adding a feature similar to superiority dice. The battle axe has 6 charges, and can use them as a bonus action to give inspiration to an ally in the form of a 1d6 bonus that can be added to attack rolls or ability checks.
This feature will give the wielder command over the battlefield, with the ability to direct attacks and influence them beneficially. I think this answers the charges I made above, giving the item a useful power that would be effective against a powerful ally by allowing one creature to guide the fight for all of their allies, and, as a result, would be considered with distaste by the dragon and the dragon cult. The threat to the dragon is more subtle, but I think it is still effective. The power of the wielder to direct attacks can coordinate a party's action in a big way (provided they choose wisely and the dice reward them).
I know that these types of inspiration often apply to other rolls, such as saving throws and ability checks, but I think those are out of line with the intent here. The weapon is granting the wielder a leadership role, and the ability to direct the fight, to direct attacks. I don't see them being able to anticipate a saving throw. Ability checks can have more leeway since the direction can be to take an action that might require one, like, "jump that chasm and attack it from behind." In that case, using the inspiration to ensure the success of the ability check feels justified.
I think another aspect to this that is becoming clearer is that the inspiration needs to be used in the round that it is given, and I think should also involve a literal direction (like the example above). In that way, the inspiration becomes like a Command spell, carrying the power of compulsion with it. Perhaps, that should be literal as well, with the target having the option of automatic success for allies, and the option of making a saving throw to shrug off the suggestion and act on their own. Doing this would cause them to take 1d6 psychic/cold damage.
The item recovers 1d6 expended charges each morning at dawn.
Now, we have an item worthy of a group of dragon cultists hiring a ranger to track down and destroy...