Tomb of Annihilation - Session 03
General Summary
Exploring the hallway to the east, the party finds what appears to have been a storeroom, littered with broken crates and barrels. A rotting tapestry on one wall depicts Port Nyanzaru as it would have appeared decades ago, before the construction of the great city wall. A few intact containers contain black and red robes.
The back wall has an odd appearance. It looks as if there should be a portal to another room, but the entrance is sealed with stone—not greenish-tinged like the walls, but greyish stone with an unnatural look, as if smeared instead of quarried. Dunch taps the stone, but all is quiet.
Returning the way they came, they take the other corridor to the south, which shortly splits in a Y shape. The branch they choose begins to curve, following a circular path. A corridor on the concave side leads to a large domed chamber, some 35' in diameter, with a parallel corridor on the opposite side. Bas-relief carvings in the corridor walls depict humans prostrating themselves before an enormous, hooded serpent with a woman's face. Seated on the benches that fill the north side of the room are half a dozen black-and-red-robed human corpses facing south, where another, similarly clad corpse hangs suspended in chains from the ceiling. Its hands have been tied and its throat slit. An open portal lies beyond.
The party has only just stepped into the room to investigate further when there is a piercing shriek. The seated figures all turn their heads towards the group, then rise and start shuffling forward—zombies, like the dockworker. At the same time, a translucent, ghostly figure appears from the open portal and floats forward to attack, screeching. Its face resembles that of the chained corpse.
Dunch, Chibuzo, and Ixtli fight the horde of zombies, while Dolan focuses his spells on the spectre. At first, they are hard-pressed. Dunch is injured; the spectre's agonizing touch drains most of the life from Dolan; and Chibuzo is swarmed by three zombies, compelling him to withdraw.
But the party fights on. Summoning all the rage of his barbarian heritage, Dunch buries his battleaxe in a zombie's face with a mighty roar. Ixtli stabs another with his spear, then sweeps the leg with enough force to tear the bone from the rotting flesh. A golden glow emanating from his hands, Chibuzo employs his nascent spellcasting abilities to heal Dolan, who bombards the spectre with volleys of magic missiles. Finally, the spectre wails and dissipates into the darkness. As it vanishes, the remaining zombies collapse. In the aftermath, Dolan retrieves a ring shaped like a coiled serpent from the hanging corpse.
The portal to the south leads to an oblong room tiled in green and blue, filled with the remnants of shredded cushions and a slashed tapestry that seems to have depicted a city with a great black ziggurat surrounded by jungle and mountains. Atop a raised platform is a pile of ashes and the burnt fragments of books and other papers. Dolan finds one fragment of parchment that is still legible:
... so now Tariq al-Tahir sends his butcher, Verog, to claim our shrine. I can already hear the screams of my brethren. But the Oracle is safe, traversing the Serpent's Way to her refuge. Even though she foresaw this day, it still saddens my heart. With Her blessing, we will be reborn anew. All is one in the Cycle. Gitonga, Hand of the OracleThe group takes a short rest to recover from the battle. During their rest, Dolan becomes attuned to the powers of the serpent ring. Known as the Ring of the Oracle, it gives its wielder the power to cure wounds, shield from harm, and command the weak-willed. The party continues its explorations to the east of the domed sanctuary. They find a huge circular room, with a large central pit some 4 feet deep and 25 feet across. Three alcoves in the walls contains statues of robed human figures holding basins or bowls, tilted forwards. Channels carved in the floor below lead to the pit, suggesting that water once flowed from the basins into a pool, perhaps for bathing or some other occult purpose. But now the pit is filled with a writhing mass of hundreds of snakes. An inscription in Marakuran atop one of the alcoves reads: "In these waters cast off your burdens. Ponder your beginning, your end, and what comes after. All is one in the Cycle." The statues are carved with an emblem: an oval surrounded by a halo of blade-like shapes. Ixtli notices their torchlight reflecting from something metallic in the midst of the snakes. With a word and a gesture, Dolan summons a spectral floating hand to retrieve the item. From the mass of snakes, the disembodied hand pulls out a leather scroll tube attached to a skeletal arm with a shoulder strap. The tube contains three arcane scrolls: Detect Magic, Shatter, and Melf's Minute Meteors. To the west of the sanctuary, the party finds a large room, a gallery whose wall is covered by a large mural. The mural has six scenes, each depicting a city. The first shows a city with a squat ziggurat on a hill overlooking a bay—easily recognizable as the site of Port Nyanzaru, and presumably representing the very building they are currently exploring. The second shows a city surrounded by jungle. A serpentine figure can be seen atop a black ziggurat at the heart of the city. Chibuzo identifies this as a representation of the city of Orolunga. The third shows a stately ziggurat in a grand city, surrounded by sheer mist-shrouded cliffs. Some of the architectural details put Chibuzo in mind of royalty; this could represent Omu, the long-time seat of the Marakuran royal family. The fourth portrays a city with a small ziggurat atop a high plateau, overlooking a river basin. The fifth shows a city at the foot of a volcano, with a great golden dome at its centre. Dolan recognizes the sixth, which depicts a red ziggurat near the walls of a splendid circular city. This can only be the city of Mezro, whose ruins he visited in the past. A ramp in the gallery leads to a lower level lined with stone columns carved in geometric patterns. A plain door to the south leads to a small room with yet another door, this one of rich dark wood bound in iron. In front of the door stands the statue of a warrior bearing an yklwa and shield. When Chibuzo approaches, the statue assumes a fighting stance, then resumes its previous position when he retreats. But it allows Dolan to pass unmolested. The ironbound door opens when Dolan touches it with the Ring of the Oracle. Beyond is a room some 15' square, with a glowing circle of sigils carved into the floor surrounding a 5' tall black obelisk of volcanic rock. The obelisk is carved with four symbols, one atop the other: an old Marakuran symbol representing Port Nyanzaru; a stylized representation of a hooded serpent with a woman's face; a sceptre with six snake heads; and the figure of a man whose hands reach up towards the sceptre. From his sorcerous background, Dolan recognizes the glyphs in the floor as a permanent teleportation circle. He spends some time memorizing the pattern for possible future use. The party leaves the teleportation chamber and the gallery, returning to the storeroom that they first explored. Standing before the sealed doorway, Dolan raises his scaled arms and speaks an incantation. With a hissing sound acid spews from his palms onto the smeared stone, dissolving about an inch of the rock. Withstanding the acrid smell, he repeats the procedure until a hole opens. An atrocious smell of rot and decay emerges from the darkness beyond the stone barrier, and the sounds of slow movement can be heard. The group climbs back up to the temple. Waiting at the top of the shaft for their return is a boy of some 16 years, dressed in a leather-trimmed robe similar to Zitembe's. Dunch sends him to get the high priest. After some 20 minutes, Grandfather Zitembe appears. He is intrigued and horrified by their initial report and asks them to come to his study for a full account. He leads them to a small room packed with books and scrolls on the second floor of one of the temple's towers, where he offers them refreshment while the boy, Nikito, transcribes their description of events. Zitembe is relieved that there appears to be no immediate dangers below and promises to send the temple guards to investigate. He recognizes the name of Tariq al-Tahir mentioned in the note. He was a Nizamish noble at the height of the occupation, some 70 years ago, and a well-known architect who built this temple. The al-Tahirs remain the most prominent Nizamish family in Marakuru. The head of the family, Rashaad, resides in Fort Tajar. Nizam was one of the first foreign nations to come to Marakuru in large numbers. They tried and failed to cleanse the jungle of the undead but were more successful in controlling Port Nyanzaru—at first economically, through trade, and then militarily. They had the ears of the last king. Their rule ended when the then-Caliph of Nizam died. His expansionist policies largely ended, and the merchant princes and the people of Marakuru expelled the Nizamish from the rulership. Regarding the murals, he confirms the suppositions they have made so far. The city on the high plateau could be Mbala, north of the Aldani river basin. The golden-domed city is likely Hisari, located far to the southeast where the peninsula joins the mainland. It's said that the city fell to idol worship, and that the citizenry were transformed into hideous snakes, or snake-men. Before they depart, Zitembe thanks them for uncovering this lost history. In response to their questions about the Nizamish men he argued with earlier, all he knows is that they were looking for a woman whom they said had betrayed them. The party looks for Gero, hoping to share their findings with him, but he is nowhere to be found in the Temple of Zann. Nor is he in the O'tamu mansion. Wakanga is similarly absent, attending a meeting in the Goldenthrone building. They resolve to finish off whatever lurks beyond the sealed doorway in the ziggurat. After a short trip to the bazaar to purchase a lantern and a pair of pickaxes, they return to the Temple. Grandfather Zitembe is pleased that they have returned so quickly. Descending into the pit and returning to the storeroom, Dunch and Chibuzo set to work with the pickaxes. Once the hole in the stone is a little larger, Ixtli holds up the lantern and they peer inside, trying to ignore the stench. The remains of four or five bodies are scattered across the floor of the small room. Some of the remains look to have been gnawed upon. Abruptly a hand—scarred and partially decayed, with broken fingernails—snakes out of the hole to grab at the lantern. Ixtli just manages to pull it back in time. The hand withdraws. Guttural growls emerge from the hole—by the sounds of it, made by more than one of the creatures. Dolan lights a torch and throws it into the hole. Something skitters away. Dunch and Chibuzo continue to expand the hole. After a few more blows, a pallid, snarling, decaying creature scrambles through—a ghoul. The labourers swing their pickaxes at it and miss, Chibuzo wedging his pickaxe in the floor with a curse. Ixtli stabs the creature with his spear, but it's not enough to prevent the ghoul from leaping on Chibuzo and clawing him savagely. Dolan hits it with three bolts of magical force from his palms; a final kick from Ixtli propels the thing into the wall. It slumps to the ground and stops moving. The light of the lantern shows one more of the ghouls, crouching behind the remains of the stone door. With a great flourish, Chibuzo draws his weapons and attacks, stabbing it with his short sword. The creature lunches forward, biting at Chibuzo's face, but misses and falls back. After Dolan hits it with a salvo of magic missiles, Chibuzo spears it in its face and through the back of its skull. It twitches, then collapses. In the aftermath, all is quiet. Dolan invokes the power of the Ring of the Oracle to heal Chibuzo's wound. Searching the room, they identify four bodies in addition to the ghouls. All are wearing tattered remnants of the same black and red robes as those in the sanctuary. Amidst the broken shelves, they find some religious garments of cloth of gold, woven with the same oval, haloed symbol they saw on the statues surrounding the snake pit. They also find a silver ewer filigreed in copper, and a large, rough-cut gemstone that glows softly—a Dream Cryst. Climbing back up to the Temple, they inform Grandfather Zitembe, who expresses his thanks for all their efforts. They return to the mansion to find Wakanga having dinner. Joining him at the table, they tell their tale. Wakanga tells them that Tariq al-Tahir was Rashaad's grandfather, a man with a poor reputation, especially among the local labourers he used to construct his buildings. Verog was known as "the right hand of Tariq" who enforced his will. He is particularly intrigued by the teleportation portal. The sceptre, he suggests, could be a key that enabled non-magical creatures to teleport through the portal. As a naga, Saja N'baza would have no need of such a thing. Regarding the cities depicted in the mural, he tells them that stories place Orolunga east of the Aldani basin, near the mountains. As for Hisari, the domed city at the foot of a volcano, there are eight known active volcanoes in Marakuru. The majority are visible from the seas south of the peninsula, but the most famous are the three Peaks of Flame in the southern interior. "Is al-Tahir setting up an expedition into the jungle?" Chibuzo asks. "I've heard that," Wakanga answers. "I think he's looking for the same thing you boys are. He's mentioned the black crown but doesn't know where to find it. He's also using pieces of a tablet as a clue to its location—I believe with the aid of an archaeologist named Elmar." Before the party can react to this information, Gero enters and takes a seat at the table, asking why his brother and father are discussing Rashaad. Chibuzo quickly tells him of their discoveries underneath the Temple of Zann—as well as his suspicion that Rashaad has the other half of the Tablet of Ch'gakare. "I just learned myself earlier today that he has the tablet. I spent the day with him, and we went for dinner. Rashaad and I exchanged knowledge." He places his leatherbound journal on the table with a look of satisfaction. "Don't worry, brother, I've got everything well in hand." With an effort Chibuzo conceals his surprise and anger. Gero explains that Rashaad described the inscription on his half of the tablet in detail. It relates that the Crown was passed down to the descendants of the king for many generations. Through the power of the Crown, the kings of Marakuru destroyed any who resisted their decrees, even laying siege to their own people in the holy city of Mezro. The people of Marakuru feared the divine sight of the royal family, as they used the power of the crown to impose their will upon their subjects. The line of Ch'gakare was ended when Bongani Mzuzi slew Dengo Ch'gakare and took his head, turning the skull into a jewelled goblet. Upon the death of Dengo, the Crown was given to "the Oracle of..." something or other (the passage is damaged) "to watch over its power forevermore." Talk turns to their next steps. Chibuzo considers seeking out the guidance of his mentor, Akachi. Gero still has more research to conduct here in the Port. General Voss should arrive in the next day or two with their supplies. As for their destination, Ixtli cautiously reveals to the group that he has had a vision. Saja N'baza is to be found in Orolunga.