Tomb of Annihilation - Session 05
General Summary
Over the next three days the expedition prepares for departure. Nera secures their equipment for jungle travel, while General Voss hires some local Nizamish and Marakurans to supplement the Asturians (and the lone Odakota) he brought from Rabanastra. When fully assembled, their party consists of Chibuzo, Dolan, Dunch, Ixtli, Akachi, General Voss, Gero, ten porters, and six guards.
The expedition's plan is to sail by canoe up the Soshenstar river to Camp Righteous, resupply, continue upriver to the Aldani Basin, and then travel overland to Orolunga. The Soshenstar empties into the Bay of Marakuru about half a day's sail southwest of Port Nyanzaru. The general decides it will be fastest to sail to the river mouth onboard their ship from Asturia, the Red Victory, then unload the canoes and supplies and paddle upriver from there.
Akachi is not on board with this plan. "Now YOU want me to get on a boat?!? I'll meet you at the river mouth." She and Chibuzo depart ahead of the ship in order to travel overland. She counsels the general to disembark on the west side of the river, as the eastern side is more heavily infested with the undead.
The Red Victory departs from Port Nyanzaru in the early morning and arrives without incident at the mouth of the Soshenstar a few hours later. The brilliant white sand of the river mouth contrasts sharply with the lush green foliage beyond. Akachi and Chibuzo are waiting for them; Chibuzo has acquired an animal companion enroute, a female leopard named Ndidi.
The expedition and its supplies are ferried to the shore by rowboat. The last to leave the Red Victory are Dunch and Ixtli, each in a separate rowboat with a sailor.
When the boats are still 100 yards from shore, Ixtli calls out a warning: there are large shapes circling in the water under the boats. Abruptly an elongated reptilian head on a long neck emerges from between the two boats: a plesiosaur! The sailor in Dunch's boat screams as its jaws close around him and lift him into the air. After a crunching sound, the man falls silent. The creature descends below the surface with its prey even as another surfaces next to Ixtli's boat, biting him in the shoulder.
The half-orc, the lizardman, and the surviving sailor row towards the shore with all speed, while the guards and party members on land begin to attack the giant reptile with missile fire. Dolan hits it with a burst of magic missiles, and Chibuzo with an arrow from his longbow, but the creature only seems enraged, ramming the boat from underneath and heaving it out of the water. Ixtli barely manages to keep his balance as the boat spins out of control.
Dunch's skill with watercraft soon propels his boat onto the beach and safety, while Dolan, Chibuzo, and the other continue their missile attacks. The sailor accompanying Ixtli manages to get their boat pointed at the shore again, but they have just begun to row when the plesiosaur seizes the man in its jaws and drags him underneath the waves.
The water calms, and there is no sign of any more of the creatures. Ixtli rows the remaining distance until some of the porters are able to haul the boat ashore. Chibuzo heals Ixtli's injury.
On a sombre note, the expedition makes ready to depart upriver. After a short pep talk from General Voss, the remaining sailors on the beach row back to the Red Victory. The vessel weighs anchor and sets sail for Port Nyanzaru as the expedition launches its canoes and heads upriver.
The Soshenstar is a broad and slow-moving river, murky green in colour. Before long the bay disappears from view and they are surrounded on all sides by the humid jungle and the cries of birds—interrupted by the occasional piercing shriek of some animal unfamiliar to the Asturians among them. Eventually the Marakurans break into a traditional song to set the paddling rhythm.
After a few hours, the expedition makes camp for the night. Following Akachi's guidance, they find a spot on the western bank. The porters clear a space for their tents and supplies. Most of the guards pitch in to assist, but one notably does not: Bellin Linster, a female Asturian knight in service to duke Ravengard. She is accompanied by her squire, Ivan Martikov, also serving as a guard.
The general sets a nightly watch over the camp. Dunch, Dolan, and Chibuzo all decide to participate, with Dunch taking part in the evening watch and Dolan and Chibuzo the morning. Ixtli declines, as a gesture of confidence in the human (and other) members of the expedition.
The first night in the jungle passes uneventfully, and the expedition breaks camp and returns to the river shortly after daybreak. In late afternoon, the sound of falling water can be heard in the distance. The twisting course of the Soshenstar soon reveals a 40-foot waterfall ahead: the Magawa Falls, the first of several they will encounter in their journey upriver. They beach their canoes at the misty pool at the base of the falls and prepare to portage.
A trail leads to the top, though it's been partially covered by new growth since the last time it was used. Chibuzo and Akachi take the task of scouting ahead and clearing the path. After a while, Ixtli decides to follow them, hoping for a few moments of relative solitude to take in the lush, humid surroundings—so different from the desert climate of his birthplace.
Chibuzo and Akachi are about halfway up the path when Akachi stops. "There's something out there. I can smell it." Scanning the jungle, Chibuzo spots a colourful wooden mask that seems to stare back at him through the trees from some 30 feet away. He immediately realizes that they have encountered Batiri, goblins common throughout the jungle. Even as he watches, eight of the small humanoids, all wearing masks carved to resemble different types of ape, form up into their characteristic fighting formation, the "battle stack" of four goblins apiece. One goblin sits or kneels atop the one below until the four of them reach a height of ten feet or more.
The stacks move aggressively forward. "Goblins!" Chibuzo cries at the top of his lungs, hoping that the expedition below will hear him above the waterfall's roar. He and Akachi prepare for battle as Ixtli advances to aid them.
The Batiri fire slings as they advance; Chibuzo, Akachi, and Ixtli respond with missile fire of their own, though nothing hits on either side. "Ndidi! Attack!" Chibuzo commands his leopard; the great cat dashes forward and claws the goblin at the base of one of the stacks. The whole stack wavers but manages to stay upright.
Dropping his bow, Ixtli advances on the second stack, biting the lowest goblin in the leg. The stack thrashes about for a moment, then collapses. Ixtli spears one of the goblins, killing it, then finishes another with a brutal kick.
Chibuzo fires his longbow at the goblin at the base of the first stack. His arrow passes through its neck; as it falls back, dead, the next goblin jumps down to form the new base of the stack. It dies to Ndidi's claws; the next one jumps down, now at the base of a stack of two. The goblins attack Ndidi with short spears but miss. Akachi similarly fires more arrows into the trees.
Chibuzo's next longbow shot injures but does not kill the Batiri at the base of the stack; Ndidi's teeth only find the edge of the wooden mask. In a blur of motion, Ixtli stabs one of the "unstacked" goblins through the heart, kills the next with his teeth, then finishes Chibuzo's injured foe with a blow from his fist. The last goblin tumbles off the shoulders of his dead companion and scampers into the trees, seeking cover. He finds only partial concealment, not enough to protect him from Akachi's deadly arrow.
Meanwhile, back at the falls, one of the guards, Rahima, heard Chibuzo's shout and alerted Dunch and Dolan, who have hurried up the trail to assist. But they come upon the scene just as the combat ends.
The party finishes clearing the path to the river above, then descends to aid with the portage. It takes a couple of hours to haul everything to the top of the falls and set up camp for the night. The last of their burdens are carried by torchlight.
In the morning, Ixtli finds a suitable tree and climbs to the top, some 50' or 60' above ground. He sees the jungle canopy stretching out in every direction. To the west a flock of pteranodons wheels and turns in front of a chain of mountains stretching across the horizon. Far to the north he can see a storm sitting out in the bay.
But the skies are still clear when the expedition embarks upriver. In mid-afternoon Dolan—riding in a canoe near the rear of the group—is suddenly struck in the side of the head by a fist-sized rock from the riverbank. In a cacophony of sound, a band of gorillas emerge from the jungle, screaming and howling. Their apparent leader stands at the front, baring its teeth at Dolan and thumping its chest.
Without hesitation, Dolan blasts the ape with four magic missiles. The glowing bolts smash into its torso one after another, and the gorilla topples over without a sound. Its fur still smouldering, the corpse slides down the embankment and into the river.
The other gorillas take a few steps backward. Dolan beats his chest and screams at them, and they turn and flee back into the jungle.
There are no further incidents that day. The expedition camps after making good time.
Early the next morning, Chibuzo and Dolan are on watch. In the relative quiet of the pre-dawn hours, Chibuzo hears a recurring sound of something falling through the foliage onto the soft earth. He alerts Dolan and the two advance cautiously toward the sounds. Chibuzo raises the dreamcryst they recovered in the buried ziggurat under the Temple of Zann, which he has dubbed the Gem of Brightness, and summons its light. Just as he does so, Dolan feels something bounce off his head. The gem's light reveals a monkey, high up in the trees, eating nuts and throwing the shells below.
Dolan raises his hand. A barrage of magic missiles erupts from his palm and blasts the monkey out of the tree. Chibuzo feeds the singed remnants to Ndidi.
A light but steady rain begins to fall as the expedition starts to break camp. General Voss decides to delay their departure for a couple of hours so that they can use the raincatchers to replenish their water supplies.
Eventually they take to the river once more. After some hours of rowing under the steady rain, another waterfall—much higher than the last—comes into view. These are the Kalambu Falls, some 150 or 160 feet high.
As before, the adventurers set out to clear the long portage trail to the top. Partway up the cliff, Ixtli notices something out of place a short distance off the trail: a flap of cloth sticking out of a crack in a dead tree. Investigating, they find a bundled-up two-person tent that looks to have been exposed to the elements for some time. They also find two leather pouches containing bandages, salves, and other supplies for first aid treatment, which Ixtli takes.
The party camps overnight at the base of the falls. The next morning, they begin the dreary, back-breaking task of hauling their canoes and supplies to the top under an unrelenting rain. By the time they finish, it is too late to make any further progress, and they make camp again. General Voss sends some of the crew to hunt and forage for food supplies.
That evening, as the expedition settles in for the night, Dunch is patrolling the perimeter when he smells something tantalizingly sweet. Following his nose a short distance into the jungle, he finds a tree bearing some bright yellow fruits he doesn't recognize. Some of the ripened fruits have fallen and broken open on the ground.
He plucks a fruit from the tree and bites deep. The taste is delicious, but as he savours the sweet mouthful, he feels his muscles begin to twitch. Before long, he finds himself losing control of his body and performing an awkward, stuttering dance. His eyes roll back in his head as he begins to hallucinate.
One of the guards, Mokomoko, notices what Dunch has been up to and face-palms. He rushes up, slaps Dunch in the face, then grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him vigorously until he returns to his senses.
Mokomoko points at the fruit. "Dancing monkey fruit. Don't eat." He walks off, shaking his head.
That night, at the change of the guard, Dunch is a little embarrassed when both Chibuzo and Akachi emerge from Chibuzo's tent. Mokomoko takes no notice, however, instead taking the first available chance to relate the story of Dunch and the fruit: "Do these Asturians just eat anything?!?" Chibuzo seems relaxed about the event: "The fruits of their land tend to be a little more... mundane."
The expedition resumes its journey the next day. At midday the rain picks up, and their progress is slowed by the need to spend more effort bailing out the canoes. The Asturian crewmembers have a particularly miserable time of it. Bailey, the porter in Chibuzo's boat, asks him plaintively: "Is it like this all the time?!?" Chibuzo shrugs: "Only when it rains." The rain is still falling when they camp for the night.
The seventh day of their journey dawns under a clearing sky. Shortly after midday they arrive at the last waterfall before Camp Righteous. The Mumbulumba Falls consist of an upper falls about 40' high and a lower falls about 30' high, with an intervening pool about 30' wide. The portage trail runs on the east side of the falls, as there is a steep cliff to the west.
Accompanied by Akachi, the four adventurers scout the portage trail and clear away any impeding jungle growth. As they slowly make their way up the trail, Akachi points towards the falls: "There's a boat up there." In the pool between the two halves of the falls, a canoe is just visible, wedged in the rocks.
Chibuzo cuts a path through the brush to the edge of the pool. The canoe is flipped over, but at least one body is visible underneath it. Chibuzo wades cautiously forward and prods the corpse with his yklwa, but it shows no sign of life.
Ixtli manages to snag onto the canoe with a rope and grappling hook, and they haul it to land. Once freed from the canoe, the body reveals itself as a human male—an Asturian. Chibuzo pulls out the arrow stuck in him, identifying it as Batiri. The man wears a necklace with a silver disc pendant that Ixtli and Dolan both recognize as a symbol of the Maker, the god of the Gazel Ministry and its Azrinath sect that founded Camp Righteous. On the back of the pendant is a name, "Andren Hardy," and an inscription: "May he always walk in the Maker's light." Dolan takes the pendant.
Inside a satchel tied around the body, they find a crumpled but still legible note:
Orwen, Camp ambushed. Under attack by undead from jungle. Hundreds. Lured by nearby tribe of Batiri. They're shooting those attempting to flee down river. No option but to retreat south. Andren can provide details. Beseech Princes for aid. Maker protect us. StantonSuddenly arrows fly at them from the falls, and Chibuzo and Dunch are both hit. Seven skeletons emerge from behind the curtain of the upper falls. The two archers remain at a distance while the other five advance through the pool, wielding rusty spears or scimitars. Their initial attack injures Ixtli, Chibuzo, and Ndidi. Then Chibuzo infuses his yklwa with magical force, stabs a skeleton, and slashes it to pieces with his short sword. Enraged by these undead foes, Dunch swings his battleaxe, while Akachi attacks with her scimitar and Dolan fires magic missiles at one of the archers. A strike from Ixtli's foot crushes a skeleton's rib cage; as it crumbles into the water, he launches a flying kick at the next, shattering its skull under his heel. Moving like the wind, Chibuzo demolishes the skeleton that injured his leopard companion with a dual attack. Akachi's scimitar finishes another. Dunch slashes a skeleton, blocking its return blow with the haft of his axe, but is struck by another arrow from one of the archers. Ixtli spears Dunch's opponent, then kicks it into the rushing water; its bones are launched over the falls. Raising his scaled hand, Dolan finishes the last foe with a burst of magic missiles. In the aftermath, Chibuzo remarks in passing upon the skeleton's vulnerability to the blunt force of Ixtli's hand-to-hand attacks and wishes that he had a bludgeoning weapon. Seeing an opportunity to practice his artisan skills, Ixtli stashes a few skeleton bones in his pack for later use. While the others continue clearing the path to the top, Ixtli bears Andren's body down the slope to the rest of the expedition and describes the encounter to General Voss. The bearded man frowns upon reading the note, which must be from Niles Stanton, the camp's commander. "This does not bode well." As for the intended recipient, the priest in charge of the Temple of the Maker in Port Nyanzaru is named Orwen Baelish. When the others return, they discuss their course of action. Camp Righteous is nearly a day's travel from the top of the falls. The general is adamant that they should see if there are any other survivors before making a decision on whether to return to Port Nyanzaru with the news. The party suggests the best approach would be for the expedition as a whole to move closer, and then for the adventurers to move in to scout. General Voss agrees: "A perfect mission for you lot." The rest of the afternoon is spent portaging to the top of the falls. Enroute, a gust of wind slams a carried canoe against the cliff face, puncturing it. It takes Dunch about an hour to repair the damage, at which point the day is too far spent for any further travel. The expedition makes camp for the night. That evening, Ixtli fashions the harvested skeleton bones into a club, etched with a geometric pattern along the haft. He presents it to Chibuzo, who accepts with thanks and asks: "Does this weapon have a name?" Ixtli answers: "Deathbone." The next day they travel upriver for about seven hours, to the point where Chibuzo and Akachi estimate they are about an hour's walk from Camp Righteous. The cliff that rises above the camp is just visible downriver. Rather than try to scout the area at dusk, they decide to camp (on the east side of the river this time, the same as the camp) and set foot in the morning. That night they lay out their plans. The adventurers arrange with General Voss to keep watch on the cliff in the distance. If their scouting trip finds that it's safe to proceed, they'll signal the expedition from atop the cliff. If they fail to do so, or if they fail to return, they ask the General to wait for them at least a full day. Akachi will remain behind to help guard the expedition from any ambush. The next day, the ninth of their jungle sojourn, dawns under cloudy skies and light rain. In the early morning light the four make their way through the jungle towards their destination. They advance cautiously as the camp comes into view. Other than two intact rowboats tied up at the dock, the camp is largely in ruins, with debris scattered among the charred remains of buildings that have been burned to the ground. Looming over the camp is the cliff face, into which is carved an old Marakuran statue that long predates the camp: an 80' stone figure of a seated man carrying a crocodile on his back. Between the statue's feet is a dark tunnel leading into the cliffside. An intact animal pen nearby holds a tall flightless bird with strong legs and a heavy wedge-shaped beak. Its agitated movements are the only visible sign of life.