Tomb of Annihilation - Session 10
General Summary
Shortly before sunrise the next morning, Chibuzo is preparing for their departure when he hears a shout from Bellin's squire Ivan, one of the guards on watch: "Who goes there?" He hurries to the edge of the camp, joined by Dolan, who was already on watch, and Dunch, roused from slumber by Ivan's cry. Another guard, Rahima, is nearby.
Standing in the path that leads out from the centre of the village is Rashaad's henchman, Sayid al-Qaar, flanked by a Nizamish woman and a massive Marakuran man whom Chibuzo recognizes as Shago, the only son of one of the other merchant princes. Sayid smirks as he holds up his empty hands: "You were far easier to find than I thought."
Thinking the Nizamish thug responsible for Akachi's disappearance, Chibuzo moves forward with a murderous look on his face, intending to punch him in the face. Sayid takes half a step backwards. "Oh, we're doing this right away?" he says with a sneer. He nods at the woman, who utters an incantation and points towards them. A tiny flame emerges from her fingertip and flies past Chibuzo and the others. When it reaches the circle of tents behind them, it explodes with a dull roar into a massive fireball forty feet wide. The guards and porters who were asleep in their tents scream in agony as they are caught in the inferno.
In the aftermath, Rahima calls out, "there's more of them! They're all around us!" Behind the low stone walls to left and right of the path—the remnants of the buildings that once stood there—four-armed men level heavy crossbows at the group.
Snarling in fury, Dunch readies his battle axe and advances, while at Chibuzo's command, Ndidi leaps on the Nizamish woman, clawing her. Chibuzo ensorcels himself with the speed of the wind, then fires his longbow at the woman before taking cover behind one of the walls. The woman teleports herself out of Ndidi's range, changing places with Shago, then casts a spell to summon a yellow cloud of gas that surrounds Chibuzo, Dolan, and Rahima. The nauseating stench of the obscuring gas leaves them unable to do anything but retch.
Shago and Sayid both advance to attack Dunch. The half-orc lands a savage hit on Sayid, who responds with scimitar and dagger, while Shago simply smashes Dunch in the face with his shield.
Three of the crossbow-wielding thugs fire at Ivan but only one manages to land a hit. The fourth tries to advance and attack Rahima, now obscured by the stinking cloud, but stumbles over the low wall. Ivan draws two swords—one long, one short—and stabs Shago twice.
Outside the perimeter of the fireball, Ixtli emerges from his tent and drains the Potion of Speed they recovered from the regent's house. In a blur of motion, he races forward 150 feet and tries to stab the wizard, who dodges the blow. She teleports some thirty feet away, then a gold circlet on her brow glows and three rays of fire shoot out. Ixtli and Ndidi are both badly burned.
Dunch manages to avoid the third blast. The barbarian hastily quaffs his Potion of Hill Giant Strength and deals another blow on Sayid, while Ndidi attacks Shago from behind. The Marakuran spears Dunch, while Sayid flanks the half-orc and slashes him with his scimitar.
Ixtli swiftly closes the gap with the wizard, stabbing her in the gut with the spear once, then again, then kicking her in the midsection. She falls to the ground, dead. As the noxious cloud of gas dissipates, the two closest thugs advance on Ixtli, whose magically enhanced reflexes help him easily dodge their attacks. The third thug joins the attack on Dunch, stabbing him in the back, while the fourth shoots Rahima with his crossbow.
Finally free of his nausea, Dolan casts Enlarge on Dunch, who doubles in size. Sayid moves away to target the spellcaster; Dunch cuts him in passing, but the Nizamish succeeds in slashing Dolan with his scimitar, then stabbing him with his dagger. Dolan is unable to maintain his concentration on his spell, and Dunch shrinks back to his normal size.
Chibuzo advances on Sayid. "I have had enough of you!" he cries and stabs him with Atsu's Lance. A bolt of lightning arcs along the blade to singe the enforcer. As Dunch and Shago parry each other's blows, Ndidi bites the Marakuran in the calf and Ivan stabs him again with both long- and short sword.
Rahima fires an arrow into one of the thugs. Ixtli parries the attacks of the two attacking him, then spears, bites, and kicks one of his assailants.
In the remnants of the camp, Waka a crawls out of his tent, his long hair half-burnt. Voss and Bellin, not caught in the explosion, move to aid him and other survivors. Mokomoko has also escaped the flames and joins Rahima in her battle against the thug.
Sayid fends off Chibuzo's next attacks, but then Dolan invokes the Command power of the Ring of the Oracle. "Flee," he orders. Compelled to obey, Sayid glares at him in hatred. "This isn't over," he snarls, then spins his cloak to cover himself. He disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving a faint odour of brimstone.
Dunch and Ivan fight on against Shago and one of the thugs. The thug stabs Dunch; Shago smashes Ivan in the face with his shield and then spears him, but the squire remains standing. Dunch retaliates with two blows from his axe, but Shago persists, bashing at Ivan again and again until the Asturian falls. Laughing, Shago blocks Dunch's next blow, and stays standing even when struck by four of Dolan's magic missiles.
In a blur of motion, Ixtli kills one, then the other of the thugs next to him. Screaming in rage, Rahima and Mokomoko assail their opponent with a flurry of blows, and Mokomoko finishes him with a spear thrust down his throat. Chibuzo kills the last of the thugs with his yklwa and short sword.
Only Shago remains. Dunch smashes him with his battle axe, but the wounded Marakuran only grins maniacally under bloodshot eyes. Finally, Dolan strikes him with another volley of magic missiles. His giant frame shudders under the barrage, then topples lifelessly to the ground. Concerned that the dead might rise again, Dunch swiftly decapitates the corpse as a precautionary measure.
In the battle's aftermath, they are finally able to take stock of who survived the attack. Seven of the expedition's ten porters died in the fireball: Abazu, Bailey, Cyrus, Jamal, Kotsi, Laisa, and Oleg. Two of the survivors, Nobanzi and Sophia, are badly injured. With Ivan's death in battle, only three of the guards remain: Bellin, Mokomoko, and Rahima. Most of the expedition's gear and food supplies have also been destroyed in the fire.
The adventurers take a short rest to recover before heading out in pursuit of Sayid, judging that he may have teleported himself back along the way he came. As the sun rises, Chibuzo calls upon all his tracking skill to locate the trail of their attackers. It leads past the central mound where Ras Nsi massacred the villagers years ago. Heaps of human skulls, bleached white by the sun, surround a low hill topped by the remnants of wooden posts that once supported a structure of some kind. Something metallic gleams from the mound, and atop another post is a skull with a triangle carved into its forehead. Resisting the impulse to investigate, the party continues to follow the trail. The rumble of distant thunder and the clouds on the horizon announce imminent rain.
The tracks run along the base of the plateau. After about half an hour, they find a few signs of a small camp that looks to have been used last night. There is no sign that anyone has passed this way since then, and they conclude that they won't find Sayid this way. They hasten back to camp, hoping to investigate Akachi's disappearance before the rains fall.
Mokomoko leads them to the spot where Akachi's gear was found, only a few hundred feet into the jungle. Searching the area, they find Akachi's footprints leading towards the tree and around it, as if she spent some time nearby. There are none of her footprints leading away from the tree, but they do find tiger prints. Could she be... a weretiger? Chibuzo recalls that, when he was learning the skills of a ranger, she would at times leave him on his own and disappear into the jungle for days at a time....
As they consider their next move, Dolan reveals to the others that Saja N'baza has been speaking to him in his dreams. Rashaad and his party are nearing the city; while she has been concealing it from them, they will find it in a few days. The adventurers must reach Orolunga before the Blood Moon, in five days' time.
Dunch follows this disclosure with one of his own: the amulet he wears bears witness to his tribe's kinship with a den of wolves. At times, in battle, a wolf spirit may appear to aid him by distracting his foes. Now that spirit has appeared to him and said, "Nyemba's Might is needed." Whatever it is, it will be found in the Tomb of the Sky Kings.
Ixtli also speaks of the visions and whispers he's been experiencing. The Crown is responsible for the Death Curse that inflicts this land. Saja N'baza has it in her ziggurat, and the party must obtain it to lift the curse.
Chibuzo is startled and impressed by these revelations. "Let's get this done," he tells them. "I believe you have been brought here to help my people and my land."
They return to the camp, where Gero has identified as magical some of the items recovered from their assailants. The golden circlet worn by the Nizamish woman is a Circlet of Blasting, capable of casting the spell Scorching Ray once per day, while a jewelled ring found on Shago is a Ring of Free Action, enabling easier passage through difficult terrain and warding against paralyzing or restraining magic. When they ask of "Nyemba's Might," the wizard and historian explain that Nyemba was an eagle spirit revered by the people of Mbala. Nyemba's Might was the name given to a suit of armour created by the city's first king, said to provide him with magical powers of vision and protection.
As for the rest of the expedition, Nobanzi, one of the surviving porters, has a festering wound that Ixtli is able to mend using his Hand of Healing, but she and the other survivors of the explosion remain badly burned. Another porter, Sophia, has lost her left leg from the knee down.
When the adventurers declare their wish to depart immediately for Orolunga, General Voss is taken aback. None of the wounded are in any shape to travel. Dolan, Dunch, and Ixtli explain their visions to Gero and Voss, but the general is skeptical of these mystical experiences, and feels a personal duty of care to the members of the expedition. Gero is much more interested; this journey represents the culmination of his life's work. Mokomoko also wants to go with them: "Rashaad and Sayid need to pay for what they've done."
In the end it's agreed that Gero and Mokomoko will both accompany the adventurers to Orolunga. Mokomoko is specially charged with guarding Chibuzo's brother. Before they depart, they gather supplies for their journey: ten days' worth of food and water, three tents, and one of the surviving raincatchers. Gero is also able to obtain some magical ink from Nanny Pu'pu and copy three spells from the Nizamish woman's spellbook into his own: Ice Knife, Mage Armour, and Invisibility. Chibuzo takes the Circlet of Blasting, while Dunch wears the Ring of Free Action. As they bid their farewells, Voss expresses his regret that he couldn't see the expedition through.
The adventurers climb up the side of the plateau and return to the Tomb of the Sky Kings. Gero is overcome with awe as they pass through the pillars and enter the room containing the multiple sarcophagi: the mausoleum of the first king. As usual the Gem of Brightness lights their way.
Examining the room, they find a pattern of scratches on the floor at the very back of the room, suggesting that some part of the wall opens here, but they cannot find a triggering mechanism. Deciding to focus on what they came for, they spike closed the dozen sarcophagi lining the room and try to lift the heavy stone lid of the central coffin. It takes the combined efforts of Chibuzo, Dunch, and Ixtli to shift it even slightly. As soon as they do so, the temperature in the room drops ten degrees and a booming voice speaks. "Who are you to disturb the rest of the greatest King of Mbala? Begone, or face the wrath of kings!"
"We seek Nyemba's Might," Dunch answers. "It's required again to heal this land."
"No," the voice answers curtly. "It is mine. And mine alone."
"Gero, wait outside," Chibuzo tells his brother.
Reluctantly, Gero returns to the central chamber, accompanied by Mokomoko. Temporarily abandoning Kwalu Mbalawa's coffin, the others re-examine the back of the room. Behind an adjacent sarcophagus, Dolan finds a handle; when Chibuzo pulls it, a stone door opens to reveal a short corridor ending in a wooden door.
Chibuzo knocks, but there is no answer. When they push open the door, they find a room lined with work benches surrounding a central table, and four covered barrels of mysterious fluids. The tools scattered about suggest that this was an embalming chamber. A door to the north leads to a small room containing three beds, and footlockers that hold incense and linen garments bearing the symbol of the Kimbala. Atop a desk are a few sheets of blank yellow paper, candlesticks, and other nondescript items. To the south of the embalming chamber is another small room containing a few open crates and shelves lined with clay containers. Some still hold a faint residue of fluids that have long since evaporated.
Returning to the embalming room, Ixtli senses a faint draft from the west wall. Close examination finds a tiny gap at the bottom. When Dolan approaches it with the Ring of the Oracle, the ring warms slightly, and he sees the symbol of the Kimbala appear on the wall. When he touches it with the ring, a door slides open, revealing a long, dark tunnel leading further into the mountain and up. They speculate that this enabled the Kimbala to travel quickly and safely between the Tomb and the upper city.
Gero's voice echoes plaintively from the pillared room: "Are you guys coming back?"
They return to the king's mausoleum, where Dolan announces, "Great king! Saja N'baza requires your aid." There is no response. He joins Gero and Mokomoko outside while the others heave off the lid of the sarcophagus. Within is the mummified body of a man dressed in scale armour. Each scale has been intricately carved to look like a feather.
Before they disturb the body, Dunch announces, "I know the dead are being brought back to life. And somehow this armour can stop it, and then the souls can return to the Eternal Hunting Grounds."
In response, two ghostly orbs appear in the eye sockets of the mummy, and it turns to look directly at Dunch. Overcome with fear, he flees from the room to the far side of a pillar. The mummy sits up, then stands.
Thrusting forward the Gem of Brightness, Chibuzo speaks one of its command words. A brilliant beam of light shines forth to strike the mummy in the face. It covers its eye sockets with one arm and shrieks, then swings blindly at Chibuzo but misses. Ixtli bites and kicks the undead thing, but its nature resists his physical attacks.
A banging sound rings out from one of the coffins lining the wall, and then from another. But the spiked lids hold fast.
Mokomoko and Gero retreat, but Dunch shakes off his fear and moves back into the room, striking with his axe, while Dolan hits the mummy with a volley of magic missiles, and Ixtli strikes it a more effective blow with the Blood Spear. The mummy's diseased limb misses its next target, and Dunch and Dolan resume their axe and missile attacks. Finally, Chibuzo stabs it in the face with his short sword, and it crumples back into its sarcophagus. The banging from the other coffins stops.
"Forgive us," Chibuzo tells the corpse, as they strip it of Nyemba's Might.