From the notebooks of Cepheus the Sage of the Feanese Royal Magocratic Society, Nishima Chapter
PART I
In the Jungles of Chult
Almost everyone was baffled by the weird behavior of the bugbear couple. As they drifted farther up and towards the horizon, a babble of conversation broke out. Eventually, Cepheus was able to get everyone’s attention and explain who Murgyss was — a shapeshifting oni who had betrayed his geshtai teacher in order to drain its power and become a demigod. Cepheus also explained that shortly after stopping Murgyss, he and his friends were teleported to Port Nyanzaru by their gnome patron Lady Atraxas. They were some of the earliest operatives sent to end the Death Curse. Cepheus has already told them all this a million times, but they listened anyway.
As the sun set, camp was made in the open air for the first time in more than a week. Packs bulging with jewelry, statues and other artifacts of the hidden temple as you made their way deeper into the jungle. The only guide you had were leather maps drawn by Cepheus and Lady Atraxas showing their best guess about the location of Omu and the Assassin’s Vine Company. You headed south.
A few nights later, a pack of su monsters ambushed you and you almost lost LaDuke as he was dragged away into the night, only to be rescued by Wozzledrag and his ghost as they appeared out of the undergrowth. Wozzledrag was haggard and jumpy after getting lost in the jungle for several days. He recovered quickly, though, once he was with others who could also stay up on watch.
Traveling south, you fought packs of undead (including three zombie triceratops) as well as attacks by four-armed, white furred gorillas, a pack of hungry velociraptors and a small poisonous spider. The spider would not normally have been a threat, but it stung Darien, causing him to go berserk. He was quickly beaten senseless by the rest of you, so you made camp early to recover.
At a rare crossroads, you met a party of heavily tattooed local goblins wearing elaborate body paint. They called themselves the “Batiri” and after an initially tense exchange, they invited you to share their fire to sit and talk and trade. They spoke goblin with traces of Olman and their young high priestess Ora recognized Darien’s axe from the way it was described in old stories. Ora’s reaction to it being taken from the lost Shrine of Tamoachan was hard to gauge, but the Batiri remained friendly. After dinner, she offers to tell you the story of Tamoachan the Great [send separately].
In the morning, High Priestess Ora invites you to travel with them for safety. They, too, are going south — to Mossoth, the village of the aldani lobster-folk. The Batiri are on their way to a great Conclave.
PART II
The Conclave of Mossoth
After making your way past the customs agents, you found yourself in a village built partly aboveground, partly submerged among deep ponds and small lakes densely packed together and separated by narrow land bridges or scattered islands.
In the center of the village, the largest island is home to a dozen aldani families, a young warrior treant named Sparrowcrown, and an elderly minotaur cleric-smith named Rhanna Cor.
It’s been six weeks since the Battle of Mossoth and the aldani are full of war stories, several of them about the Assassin’s Vine riding to their rescue out of the darkness. The aldani were still rebuilding after the Wraith King’s attack, focusing on defenses before rebuilding their homes.
Soon after the Assassin’s Vine departed south, the aldani elders decided they were too weak and vulnerable. They needed alliances. They needed soldiers. They needed an army big enough to defeat the Wraith King once and for all. So the leader of the aldani — Cien’r, “He Who Speaks for the Living” — sent messengers to all the people they traded with, asking them to send soldiers to join a grand army strong enough to drive the Wraith King from the land for good. The undead had been making a dangerous jungle unlivable for more than sixty years. It was time they were destroyed.
So Cien’r and the aldani had welcomed albino dwarves from the forges of Hrackamar, aarakocra warriors from the heights of Kir Sabal, various human, firbolg, and goblin tribesfolk and tabaxi hunters riding deinonychuses. Findrasi soldiers from Camp Vengeance and adventurers from Port Nyanzaru arrived together while the airship ‘Godseeker’ - which stumbled on Mossoth while surveying Chult - was moored overhead.
Arriving with High Priestess Ora and a contingent of Batiri goblins, you were welcomed with open arms. Your reputation only grew when the aldani learned that Cepheus was in fact one of the Assassin’s Vine Company. The aldani children were especially insistent that Cepheus tell stories of the group, and his reminiscences were much in demand as bedtime approached.
You were introduced to the guide Eku (deeply respected by your goblin friends) who told you of the Assassin’s Vine’s adventures in detail, as well as the elf Valindra Shadowmantle, who left the village shortly after you arrived.
While you didn’t keep your mission to find the Assassin’s Vine Company a secret — or keep secret the possible location of Omu as the source of the Death Curse — your mission was widely regarded as just one possibility among many. Even the foreigners were focused on the Wraith King as the likely origin of the Curse and were deeply involved in planning the war to destroy him.
Three people in Mossoth took you seriously, and you quickly became friendly. The first time you met the otter-folk Ingólfur, the silver-skinned, white-eyed aasimar Elaria and Yaphet Koto a minotaur in full plate who never seemed to take off his helmet were relaxing on their boat the first time you met them. Ingólfur, his wide-brimmed hat cocked at an angle, softly played a concertina. Elaria waved you over with a confident eladrin smile. Yaphet simply watched, a small metal sphere orbiting him lazily.
Having made it this far upriver, even a small craft could follow the Soshenstar River no longer. You learn that the three of them had been hired by the Port Nyanzaru merchant princes to find and destroy the source of the Death Curse. They got this far a few days ago. “All we know is that they headed south on foot from here” explained Ingólfur, putting down his concertina and shaking hands. After a few days, Elaria asked if they could join you. When you agreed, Ingólfur sent the boat and its crew back down the Soshenstar to Port Nyanzaru with news and trade goods from the aldani.
It was only much later that you realized Yaphet wasn’t wearing armor - he was, in fact, made of metal.
PART III
To Omu
The journey south out of Mossoth was less eventful.
You came to the stone Heart of Ubtao slowly turning as it floated serenely in the air. Flying up to investigate, you found only solid rock.
Days later, you came upon the wreck of the Star Goddess, whose remaining crew you had met in Mossoth. A group of large grey trolls in elaborately beaded loincloths and triangle brands on their foreheads was busily dismantling the wreck, but they retreated into the jungle as soon as they noticed you. You spent the next few days worried about a troll ambush but none appeared.
Working your way south, you discovered the lava fields where Cepheus’ companions encountered fiery salamander knights and the young red dragon they serve. Wary of the dragon, you skirted the area, keeping out of sight.
It was about here that Lady Atraxas last spoke to the Assassin’s Vine Company. After this, your maps are blank, but you knew the rough direction the others were headed. After exploring several dead ends and getting lost more than once, you finally stumbled on what must be the Lost City of Omu.
PART IV
The Assassin’s Vine
Wary of traps and paranoid about monsters in the underbrush, you snuck down a wide stairway that was obviously once a grand entrance to the city. As twilight falls, and you begin to look for shelter, you see a soft red glow begin to illuminate the sky in the near distance. As you get closer you look through the trees and see a large stone building crowned with interlocking trees. Draped in graceful vines, powerful roots flowing down around the stone, the building is woven into the surrounding jungle. Flocks of brightly colored birds loudly sing from their nests, while lizards perch and monkeys dart among the branches.
While there are no windows on the ground floor, from where you are standing half hidden by the jungle you can see warm yellow firelight coming from the second floor, living roots forming natural bars over the stone window. As you watch a lone kenku looks out, then retreats, pulling a woven grass mat over the window and blocking both the light and your view.
EPILOGUE
At The Assassin’s Vine, LLC
For the members of the Assassin’s Vine Company, it has been two days of rest and healing since your last excursion into Omu. Having defeated the traps and guardians at the shrine of the su monster trickster god Wongo, you carefully made your way back to your fortress slash day spa. Jesik has been busy lately, adding a third floor made entirely of interwoven branches grown together tightly enough to form secure walls.
As evening descends on Chult, you set your watch and retreat to the safety of the second floor. The warm flickering light of half a dozen Continual Flames dances on the walls of your compound. Pop makes the rounds, lowering the woven grass window coverings to block the light as Gnaasha walks upstairs to the empty third floor and its better view. Not long into her watch, she calls down to the rest of you, “Strangers! Everyone up!”
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