There are two stories to the Cursed Cup of Immortality, the one that was fabricated and sold to adventurers upon return, and the real story.
The objective of Operation Flycatcher was to collect samples of aphasic lifeforms for study in a lab. The project was black listed as a failure, with a high rate of personnel loss, and cost overruns.
This was not the truth.
Also known as the Circle of Soul Stealing, a devious and powerful trap
"John. This is your final power. Precognition. Don't you see? The ability to know what is going to happen. And, if you know what is going to happen, then you can stop it."
Often considered only a vicious trap that preys on the fears of its victims, the Vattic Trap harbors an important secret.
Molk Peruda is encountered by the PCs on the second day of their journey west from the salt-choked port of Quyn, as they prepare to explore the jungle.
He appears a gaunt, wolfish man, with matted, dark hair that sprouts from his head in dreadlocks, contrasting with his well-oiled, blue-black, conical beard. His eyes are hidden ebon shards beneath thick arching brows, his nose, crooked, long, and reminiscent of a snout. His mouth is a thin, dark line, his teeth unseen even when he parts his lips to speak.
His skin is the color of tallow, surprising perhaps for a renowned jungle guide, yet his natural helm of dreads and the jungle's canopy keeps the sun from bronzing his originally pale flesh. On his back are tattooed three women from the waist up, side-by-side, each resembling the other but of different ages. This is a tattoo of Molk's mother, sister, and daughter. His wife (don't bring her up to him!) was killed by marauding Qullan years ago, and appears as her own tattoo on his broad but sunken chest.
His feet shockingly are turned around 180 degrees at the ankle, facing towards his back! A curse from a pernicious shaman. Molk walks feet backwards (he's used to it) and walks backwards, forwards. This can be very disconcerting and outright creepy to the PCs as he guides them through the rainforest.
Slung from his back is an archer's quarrel of treated wood carved to resemble a stalking leopard, in his hand a re-curved composite bow of horn and sinew, with a pair of vivid, red eyes, each one painted on the opposite side of the hand-grip. In a leather sheath at his belt, hangs a falchion, its pommel adorned with a curved bird's head and beak.
8xp
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That looks interesting, I make a search check for loot.
Wait... what comes at me?