In Progress

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The following is a compilation of accounts from the residents of the Shipal
Shin region of Morrowind describing the dangers of the Argon Jungle.

The southern most region of Morrowind, Shipal Shin, neighbors the still wild
Jungle of Argon, bordering the province of Blackmarsh. The daylight gives
the jungle a bright edge, but deep within the jungle light barely survives.
Few animals can avoid the dangers of the jungle to find shelter.
Those that can have become the legends of adventurers.
There are more dangers than this though in the wilderness of
Argon Jungle. Adventurers who have made their way out have described plants
that come alive, some who carry fatal poisons, and some that can devour
a man in his sleep.

Travel at night should always be avoided as the jungle becomes pitch dark under
the thick canopy. Carrying a torch attracts the attention of the many thin
vines that can engulf a traveler in a matter of minutes. Walking blind in
the jungle means certain doom, as there may be hanging poison blooms in the
thick jungle air.

Arini Loth, a lowly apprentice for the mages guild in Narsis,
fiddled with his morter. He crushed saltrice into a fine powder
while contemplating a journal he found long before. He was to send
for a commission of the mages guild in Sadrith Mora for a particularly
large enchantment need. In route he was pushed off the main road by a
punishing storm. He wandered for shelter and found a hemlock with a thick
canopy. As he searched the ground for natural growing saltrice, abundant
in the area, he came across a worn book. He looked around to find if
another wanderer had set a camp nearby, he found no sign of life. It was
a strange site, the book could not have been there for more than a week,
as some of its pages seemed undamaged.
The young alchemist shifted through the journal, as two heavy bound pages
clutched together. His eyes naturally fell on the stuck pages, and as he
read his attention began to rise. He began mouthing the words to himself,
the last entry of the author. It was a book discussing a powerful potion
that could be made from the venom of an animal he did not know existed.
He put the journal away, and waited out the storm.
He returned from his travel's having read every page of the journal
repeatedly, and as he meandered the hallway to his quarters he bumped into
Mage Corinith. The old man looked down ready to scold the foolish
apprentice when the journal was risen to his wrinkled face. He shifted
through the pages and his only reply was of warning. Arini was told that
the creature indeed existed, but that no man would be foolish enough to
travel into Argon jungle to retrieve the venom. Even if someone were to
recover the venom, it would easily eat through any container it would be
placed in. Arini thought for a moment on what such a substance could do
to skin.
Here again in his quarters he pondered, years after his discovery. He had
conducted many experiments on scraps of metal from all around tamriel. He
discovered only that crushed saltrice, when melted into metals would rapidly
corrode the material, within an hour large gaps ate through. This was the
case in all but one metal, mithril. Mithril was very rare in Narsis, and
was sent from Cyrodil to Arini. He thought mithril, which withstood the
corrosion the other metals sustained was the key to retrieving the venom.
He read over the passage before the last, it was cryptic. The alchemist who
authored the journal obviously kept his information a secret from those
around him. Arini read it several times since the experiments, sure the
author made mention to mithril through his codes. Arini even believed the
word itself was the key to the author's codes.
Arini had sent for the mithril and it arrived a week later. He quickly
came to the realization that mithril was a very difficult metal to mold.
He worked hours alone on shaping his bottle. He left the night it was
complete. He had spent all of his years of savings to hire two mercenaries
to accompany him. In his possession he took the journal, his own notes,
and the bottle.
Days passed and the alchemist never returned. His possessions were
undoubtedly lost to the jungle. His death still undiscussed, and his
studies still unfulfilled. The concotion he attempted to create, and it's
ingredients lost.