Tomb of Annihilation - Session 02
General Summary
As the Brazen Pegasus pulls into the harbour, Chibuzo, Dolan, and Ixtli take in the sights, sounds, and smells of Port Nyanzaru under a blazing sun. The air is redolent with the smell of fish, spices, tar, and canvas. At the busy docks, merchant ships load or unload their cargoes, the labourers aided by enormous lizards driven by animal handlers.
Captain Radovich ignores the wharves bustling with merchant traffic and pulls the ship into a more exclusive anchorage in the royal docks. An adjacent ship is being unloaded with the help of a beast with a great armoured carapace, an ankylosaur. A rope harness connects the animal to a wooden crane overhead.
When the Pegasus lets down its gangplank, the dockmaster is already at the bottom, questioning their right to anchor here. Chibuzo descends to take matters in hand: "We are on an important mission on my father's business," he declares. The dockmaster looks nonplussed: "And your father is?" Chibuzo raises his eyebrow: "My name is Chibuzo O'tamu?" The man's demeanour changes immediately: "Sorry, I didn't recognize you, Master." Chibuzo pats him on the shoulder. "Quite all right. You were only doing your job."
The dockmaster turns to the handler riding the ankylosaur. "Get that beast over here and help them unload. Immediately!" he commands. The handler whips the animal once, and then again. Abruptly it roars and rises briefly on two legs, swinging its tail wildly. The tail connects with a dockworker, who goes flying into a stack of crates and lies still.
Commotion ensues. Despite the best efforts of its handler, the beast continues its agitated thrashing as workers scramble away from it. "Get that beast under control!" the dockmaster shouts.
Trying to remember the last time he did this, Chibuzo approaches the animal cautiously, speaking soothingly and trying to calm it. His only reward is a massive blow from the beast's tail that hurls him back ten feet. Dolan tries to placate the creature in the same manner—from a safer distance—but without effect. Ixtli attempts to vault from the ship's deck onto the ankylosaur's back but catches his foot in the rail and plummets into the water below. He quickly climbs back up the side of the ship, the damaged timbers from their pirate battle providing convenient handholds.
After the ankylosaur's handler is thrown from his saddle onto the dock, Chibuzo manages to take a running jump onto the creature's back, seizing the harness. But his efforts to calm the beast have no effect. Staying out of the creature's way, the dockmaster boards the Brazen Pegasus, shouting commands shoreward from the deck.
"What should we do?" Ixtli asks him. "Should we kill this thing?" The dockmaster hesitates before replying, "do what you have to." Even as he speaks, the creature turns on its former handler, smashing him in the skull with a swing of its tail. The man crumples lifelessly to the dock.
Abandoning his effort to bring the creature under control, Chibuzo climbs up the attached rope about 15 feet. Dolan fires magical bolts at the beast from the ship's deck, while Ixtli attacks it with darts.
The commotion finally brings Dunch out of the ship's hold. Sizing up the situation at a glance, he arms himself and heads down the gangplank—only to be brought up short when the seemingly lifeless form of the animal handler rises from the wharf with the unnatural motion of the undead. Enraged, Dunch attacks, cleaving the thing with his axe.
Meanwhile, Chibuzo slides back down the rope, trying to spear the creature. The ankylosaur continues to thrash wildly; a swing of its tail strikes the zombie, smashing it into the side of the ship. Its remains slide into the water below.
Dunch defends himself with his shield while Chibuzo stabs the creature from above. Dolan and Ixtli continue their missile attacks. Seeing the creature weakening, Ixtli vaults down to the docks, spears it, then spins and kicks it in the head. The beast collapses with a crash.
In the aftermath, Nera emerges from the ship to heal Chibuzo and Dunch's injuries, and the unloading resumes. The supplies are being transported to a warehouse that Duke Ravengard has arranged for the expedition.
The dockmaster thanks them for intervening. "Does the zombie thing happen a lot?" Dunch asks. The man seems disconcerted by the topic. "There's been stories about this happening, but I thought it was just hearsay. I don't even know what this is. We know the undead own the jungle, but this is not normal." Nera decides to remain with the ship to observe the unloading—and to keep watch for any further undead risings.
Leaving the docks, Chibuzo and Gero lead the other adventurers to the O'tamu villa, found in the Merchant's Ward atop one of the city's four hills. The bustling city streets explode with colour; murals, flowers, and vines decorate the walls of buildings; minstrels play in the streets; the spray of water from decorative fountains glitters in the sunlight. Chibuzo looks about him appreciatively. "It's good to be home." His brother agrees.
Ixtli notes that almost all of the people in the city are human, though he sees a few dwarves and catlike Tabaxi. Some passers-by stop and stare at him, apparently unused to the sight of an Anasazi.
The villa is guarded by two large men, Osogo and Manu, who are delighted at the return of the "young masters." The party is escorted to the garden, where Chibuzo and Gero's father, Wakanga, is entertaining a guest.
Wakanga is a short, middle-aged man, with a beard braided with gold rings and wearing a yellow turban. He smiles in delight to see them. "Ha ha! My sons, you've returned! Welcome home, welcome home!" He hugs them both warmly.
Gero introduces Dunch, Dolan, and Ixtli as representing Duke Ravengard. Wakanga in turn introduces his own guest: Rashaad ibn Karim al-Tahir, a traveller from the distant desert realm of Nizam. Nizam once ruled in Port Nyanzaru, but a revolt by the native Marakurans some 40 years ago reduced their influence to that of a trading partner.
Rashaad bows to them in greeting. He is a tall, thin man, with bright blue eyes, wearing robes embroidered with runes.
"This calls for a feast!" Wakanga proclaims. "Rashaad, you are welcome, of course"; but the Nizamish politely declines and takes his leave.
Wakanga is somewhat nonplussed when Chibuzo asks for quarters for his companions but relents after Gero explains that the bulk of their expedition will be housed elsewhere.
The new arrivals are shown to guest quarters, while Chibuzo and Gero return to their own rooms. The spacious villa is a wondrous place, its brilliantly decorated rooms lit by magical fires and filled with music from some mystic source. After they cleanse themselves from their dockside combat, Chibuzo takes Ixtli and Dunch on a short tour of the city, including the large building across the street: the Temple of Zann, the Nizamish god of knowledge. Dolan remains behind to investigate the villa's library. He finds it filled with myths, adventures, romances, and tales of legendary heroes, but little in the way of mystical knowledge.
Soon they are summoned to the feast. In the dining hall, a vast array of dishes is laid out on a low table, with other guests already seated on cushions. From the head of the table, Wakanga beams at his sons. "Come, sit," he says, "tell me of your time across the sea." As they eat, he listens avidly as Gero speaks of the libraries in Rabanastra, while Chibuzo relates the tours that he took across the Asturian countryside.
Talk turns towards their future plans. Wakanga knows of the Tablet of Ch'gakare and the story of the crown, and their plans to retrieve it. Nera also explains that she has new orders to deliver to the templars at Camp Righteous. Before going inland, the party must await General Voss and the supplies he is transporting. In the meantime, Gero wants to corroborate some of the information he found in Asturia at the Temple of Zann. He suggests that Chibuzo and the others visit as well to speak with Grandfather Zitembe, the high priest, whom he believes can provide some information on Saja N'baza.
Of the dead rising spontaneously, like they saw on the docks, Wakanga says that little is known with certainty, though there have been stories and rumours in the past few weeks. Nera relates that there were no further incidents after the party's departure. The body of the dead dockworker remained still. Divers searched for the body of the zombie swept into the water but found nothing.
Wakanga listens to Nera speak with particular interest—perhaps of a more personal nature. He also asks Ixtli whether he is related to the Aldani, the lizardfolk who once lived in the interior of Marakuru, in the river basin that bears their name. Once they had an active trade with the Marakuran cities, but no-one has seen them in generations. Travelling upriver leads to their traditional lands.
After the banquet ends, Dunch resolves to visit a contact of his, a merchant named Uda whom he and Captain Radovich have dealt with in the past—both legitimately, as a dealer in dyes, and as a black market contact for products whose trade is regulated by the seven merchant princes.
The others decide to accompany him. They make their way out of the Merchants' Ward, past the harbour, and outside the city gates to the Tiryki Anchorage, home to common labourers, docks for fishing vessels, and the city's dinosaur pens. The district is named for the river on which it is located, one of the two great rivers that empty into the bay on either side of Port Nyanzaru.
After threading a path through the narrow streets, they find her waterfront shop. A pair of young men loiter on the stoop. Wishing to keep a low profile, Chibuzo remains in the street while the others enter the shop.
They find Uda, a woman in her 50s or early 60s, playing with a young child in a back room. Greeting Dunch, she ushers the child upstairs and invites them to sit for tea and conversation.
She is surprised by Dunch's account of the dinosaur handler rising from the dead on the docks. There have been rumours of people and animals rising again, but little authoritative information. The last undead attack on the city took place about a month ago, but there was nothing unusual about it. She promises to ask around for those who might know something.
Dunch asks as well if she has heard anything about an expedition going inland, or a woman named Dalia. One of Uda's boys has reported a Nizamish woman of that name hanging around with Mtoto, one of the beggar princes.
"Beggar princes?" Ixtli asks. Uda shoots him a look. "You're not from around here, are you? Are you Aldani?" Ixtli shakes his head in the human gesture. Outside the city walls, she explains, the Old City and other poorer districts are largely run by the self-styled "beggar princes"—a mocking parallel to the seven merchant princes who rule Port Nyanzaru.
There has been talk that the Nizamish are putting together an expedition inland, based out of Fort Tajar, a stronghold that they maintain elsewhere on the bay. A man named al-Tahir has been buying supplies and making preparations. The expedition's purpose isn't known, but there are many ruins in the jungle, filled with riches for those foolish enough to seek them.
Finally Dunch asks of Elmar. A name she hasn't heard recently, Uda answers, but she can ask around—for a fee, of course.
Taking their leave, the party returns to the O'tamu residence, passing through the busy Red Bazaar in the Market District. A cool evening breeze blows off the bay. Chibuzo points out the glyph-marked pillars that line certain streets and mark the route of the weekly dinosaur races.
The next morning, the party visits the nearby Temple of Zann. The great dome of the temple is tiled in blue and black, in the image of a great unblinking eye staring upward. They make their way through the building to the large central space, some 40' across and filled with bookshelves, where they find Grandfather Zitembe seated at one of the reading tables, in heated conversation with two other men.
Zitembe is an older Marakuran man with a shaved head and a trim beard, wearing a leather-trimmed robe. The other, younger men are Nizamish. One has the rough look of a soldier or bodyguard, while the other, in a white turban, is immaculately groomed.
Grandfather Zitembe stands with the aid of his wooden walking staff. "No. Enough. Be gone from this place." Showing little emotion, the two men rise, turn, and depart.
The party approaches. "I hope we are not intruding," Chibuzo says. "Is everything all right, Grandfather?" The old man smiles in recognition. "Your presence is most welcome." In response to Dunch's question about the dispute, he explains: "those men asked me to beseech Zann to help them locate someone. They offered substantial sums, but there was something about their demeanour that I did not like."
He listens intently to their request for information about Saja N'baza. "I would be glad to answer any of your questions. Knowledge is the key to everything."
Saja N'baza, he explains, was an oracle, an adviser to the kings of Marakuru. The stories tell that she disappeared after the last of the royal line was killed over a century ago, "although I would not be surprised if she were still alive." At their puzzled looks, he explains that the tales report that she was a Naga, an immortal snakelike creature. It's said that there were shrines devoted to her in many of the cities of old: Orolunga, Mezro, Mbala, and Omu. A shrine to her once stood on this very spot.
"Do the remnants of that shrine still exist?" Chibuzo asks. The Nizamish builders of this place razed the ziggurat that once stood here, Zitembe answers. But the lower levels still remain. He offers to show them the entrance.
The party follows him down several stairs to the lower levels. In truth, Zitembe says, he has always been surprised that a temple to Zann would be dedicated atop ancient ruins. Zann is dedicated to the preservation of knowledge; if the god's teachings had been honoured, the old shrine would never have been destroyed. "But I hope, through my service, to redeem those who committed the error of destroying the ancient site."
He leads the group to a large room deep below the centre of the temple. A massive metal plate sits atop the stone floor, held in place with pins.
They push the cover to the side, revealing a dark pit that extends as far as they can see. Sockets in all four walls show that a staircase must have been attached at some point, but nothing of it remains.
"Why was this sealed off?" Dunch asks. This was not a temple originally, Grandfather Zitembe explains, but the palace of a Nizamish prince who sought to rule here. When the site was dedicated to Zann, the temple authorities decided to seal it rather than fill the hole.
The adventurers quickly determine that the way forward is to investigate these ruins more thoroughly. They retrieve what equipment they need from the villa and prepare to descend. Chibuzo pauses in the library to inform Gero of their discovery and their expedition, asking him to seek aid if they fail to return by evening.
Soon the four of them are gathered around the pit. Dolan drops a lit torch; it falls some 70 or 80 feet and lies sputtering in the dark below. After spiking a rope into the stone, the party rappels downwards.
They find themselves in the corner of a damp hallway of greenish-tinged stone surrounded by rubble, evidently the remnants of the collapsed staircase. Empty sconces are set in the walls every twenty feet. The hallway extends to the south and east into darkness.