Tomb of Annihilation - Session 12
General Summary
A sense of calm pervades the chamber atop the ziggurat. A fragrant aroma rises from an incense burner, and small birds flit between the flowers in the many planters throughout the room. From time to time, a drop of yellowish liquid falls from the suspended Tear of Ubtao into the pool below.
Saja N'baza rises to her full height. "Again I must thank you for coming to my aid," she declares. "There is more to be done. Much more. But now I must inspect my wards before I can rest." A secret door opens in one of the stone walls and she passes through, the door closing behind her.
After she departs, Ixtli speaks to his companions, feeling compelled to clarify the "Legacy of Gol" that he mentioned to the naga. He explains that this has been a journey of self-discovery for him. The voices and visions that have haunted him his whole life have become stronger and more clear.
"They have revealed to me the legacy I bear, the Legacy of Gol—a loa of death. I bear a fragment of its power, and that power demands to be fed.
"The shadow that attacked us... is a manifestation of that power. I knew nothing of this before we started our journey, and sought to resist it when it appeared in my nightmares. But my defiance was futile. I could not stop it from appearing, or prevent it from attacking you, Gero, or killing your family's household servants. I am sorry for their deaths, but I know of no way to have prevented them.
"If the voices I hear are to be believed—and I do believe them—the shadow within me cannot be stopped, only satiated. But by feeding it, I will grow stronger—strong enough to withstand the power of the Black Opal Crown when we recover it.
"That's why, if we now return to Port Nyanzaru, I would not wish to spend too long a time before resuming our quest. I can no longer live without conflict, and death.
"My only path is forward."
Turning the conversation to his decision to serve Saja N'baza, Dolan explains to them some of the history of the Kimbala. The order maintained six shrines in the great cities of Marakuru, each led by a priest known as the Hand of the Oracle. The high priest was the Voice of the Oracle—a position Dolan now holds. Saja N'baza, he tells them, is benevolent, a guardian naga dedicated to maintaining the Cycle of life and death, and helping creatures live free of pain and suffering. The Cycle is threatened by creatures from the Outside, especially those known as the Great Profanities, who seek to disturb the Cycle. The Aldani once served such a creature by the name of Pachakutek here in Orolunga, until the Kimbala defeated it. A key goal of the Kimbala is to restore the royal family of Marakuru. A descendant of the last king of Omu still lives, the Oracle has revealed to him, but she does not know where.
For his part, Chibuzo believes that the Kimbala will return Marakuru to glory. His enthusiasm surprises Gero ("how will you explain this to Dad?"), though he himself is obviously enthused at the prospect of learning from a living figure of history such as the naga.
"But how will this Legacy of Gol help you bear the Crown?" Gero asks Ixtli. The monk admits that he is still unsure at this point, but hopes that he will learn more from his visions, the naga, or the black dragon Kurat. One thing seems clear to him: everything the Crown touches turns to evil.
If the Crown is as bad as it sounds, Gero says, then he is not eager to send it back to duke Ravengard. Ixtli agrees. If it were taken to Asturia, it would only lead to the realm's destruction. But for his part, he expects to destroy the Crown, or perish in the attempt.
In any event, the members of the expedition never signed up for what this quest has become. The party agrees that their first order of business is to return to the survivors in the lower city of Mbala, and bring them back to Port Nyanzaru. Once the new adherents of the Oracle are back in the city, there may be an opportunity to appeal to Grandfather Zitembe, and restore the shrine to Saja N'baza in the lower levels of the ziggurat.
As for Mokomoko, he wants most of all to find out if his brother Yemi is stil alive. Returning to Port Nyanzaru seems like the first step. He still has the luminous crystal he received from Rashaad, but it's been silent since the battle back at the camp.
As they converse, the quiet of the night is suddenly broken by the loud clink of metal on stone from outside the shrine. Ixtli rises and steps to the doorway. In the blood red light of the moon, he sees the dead ogre shambling up the stairs of the ziggurat, dragging its glaive behind it. Their other fallen foes similarly rise and advance.
Calling out a warning to the others, Ixtli moves to attack the zombie of one of the robed figures who had controlled the crystals imprisoning Saja N'baza. He spears the foe twice, finishing it with a kick—whereupon the hideous boils festooning the corpse erupt in a spray of acid. Ixtli dodges the worst of it but is nonetheless injured, as the twice-killed corpse falls motionless to the stone platform.
Chibuzo advances to the door of the shrine and calls upon the power of the Circlet of Blasting he wears. Three rays of fire stream forth to strike the ogre zombie; it groans but keeps advancing. The leopard Ndidi charges at a zombie, clawing it and knocking it down. It falls still under her fangs.
Gero casts a shard of ice at the ogre zombie; it explodes into fragments that damage the zombie next to it, while Mokomoko stands ready to defend Gero. Howling his rage to the heavens, Dunch leaps on the nearest zombie with his battleaxe, chopping at it until it falls. Dolan casts a blessing on Ndidi, Dunch, and Chibuzo.
The zombies swarm on Dunch and Ndidi. Two zombies claw futilely at the intricately carved scales of Dunch's armour, and two more fail to penetrate Ndidi's hide. But a fifth carves a deep wound into the leopard's side.
The ogre zombie lumbers forward to attack Chibuzo and Mokomoko. Chibuzo dodges two blows from its glaive but Mokomoko is less fortunate, taking a savage wound in his side. He withdraws, steadfast in his defense of Gero. Gero casts another Ice Knife spell at one of the zombies on Ndidi, damaging it and two adjacent foes.
Chibuzo and Ndidi attack their enemies, Chibuzo calling forth the lightning from Atsu's Lance on the ogre zombie while Ndidi strives to break free of the enemy grappling her. Chibuzo easily parries two strikes from the ogre zombie's glaive; Ndidi is not so fortunate, taking a deep bite wound from one of the zombies surrounding her, even as she avoids the attacks of the other two.
Still screaming in rage, Dunch kills one zombie with his battleaxe, then another. A zombie lurches forward to grab Dolan, but his draconic scales withstand its bite. Ixtli moves to fight alongside Dunch, killing one zombie with two blows from the Blood Spear, then finishing another with his feet and teeth.
Dolan pulls back from the claws of the foe attacking him and casts another spell. A flash of light streaks towards the zombie; some of the pustules on its decayed form burst but it stays on its feet, now glowing with an unearthly radiance.
Chibuzo persists in his attacks on the ogre zombie. Ignoring its swelling abdomen, he stabs it with his yklwa, then slashes it with his short sword, until the undead thing erupts in a fountain of acidic gore that showers himself, Dunch, and Ixtli. They all suffer damage, but the corpse topples to the earth, spilling its blue viscera across the stone.
Ndidi's jaws drain the life from the zombie grappling her, but she remains surrounded. Yet another zombie carves another wound in her side. The glowing zombie leaps on Dolan, clawing at him, the pus from its suppurating wounds oozing over him to cause yet more damage. Escaping its grapple, he casts another spell. Four magic missiles shoot forth from his outstretched palms, pummelling the zombie until it explodes in a shower of acid, scarring the sorcerer's flesh.
One of the remaining zombies grapples Chibuzo, biting his neck, while two others claw both him and his Anasazi comrade. Retaliating, Dunch severs the arm of the one who attacked Ixtli. The lizardfolk spears the same foe to lifelessness, then moves to aid Ndidi, killing one with the Blood Spear and finishing another with a flurry of kicks and bites. The last of them meets its second death under Dunch's battleaxe.
The battle over, Dolan heals Ndidi, while Chibuzo casts spells to cure himself. The party goes to sleep inside the shrine, and a soft rain begins to fall during the night. But then Chibuzo and Dunch wake up in the early morning hours, retching violently. Dolan uses the Sceptre of the Honored Voice to detect poison or disease in them, but finds nothing. After some confused discussion, it becomes clear that both have experienced the same vision: Nanny Pu'pu, leading the survivors of the expedition into the jungle, then turning to face the observer with an evil, hateful smile before walking away. "Not a nice old lady after all," Dunch summarizes. They determine to return to Mbala as soon as possible.
Morning comes under a cloudy sky, and Saja N'baza slithers forth from the secret door to greet them. She nods somberly at their description of the zombie attack: "the Death Curse." The ogre they battled was a fey creature, she tells them, named Verog. For it to be affected by the curse suggests that things may be worse than she thought.
She frowns upon hearing of Dunch's and Chibuzo's dream: "I had hoped that Nanny Pu'pu might have met her end before now." She also is a fey creature, the naga explains: a hag, thriving on the suffering of other creatures.
Dolan proffers the Potion of Eyes he received from Nanny Pu'pu. "So, I shouldn't drink this?"
Saja N'baza asks him to unstopper it. Her tongue flicks out to dip into the open flask. "There is both power and a curse in this," she says. "I taste your blood. You gave this to her willingly?" They admit that they did so. "That was most unwise," says the naga. "She may use it against you—to scry on you, perhaps."
Turning to other matters, Dunch asks what Rashaad was trying to accomplish last night. His servants were using dreamcrysts to imprison her, Saja N'baza explains, attacking her mental defenses in order to extract the location of the Crown. Thankfully, the party was able to stop them. The ones casting spells on the dream crysts were sha'ir, Nizamish casters of elemental magic also known to speak with genies.
Ixtli asks of the history of the Crown. Who was the stranger who brought it to Marakuru originally? The naga admits that she does not know. He introduced himself as "a humble servant of the people of Nizam," but avoided social contact. When Saja N'baza was able to speak to him for a few moments, he seemed somehow empty, like nothing more than a shell. At the coronation of the first king, when the man proffered the Crown, he claimed that it was a gift from Nephren-Ka, but this rang false to her, for the reign of Nephren-Ka was long in the past. The day after the coronation, the man had vanished, and the king of Marakuru began to refuse her counsel, until she was banished from Omu, the royal city. Eventually the Crown passed to Dengo Ch'gakare, the last king of Marakuru. The man who slew him, Bongani Mzuzi, turned his skull into a jewelled goblet but gave the Crown to the Oracle. Between the fall of the king, the loss of the Crown, and the death of Ubtao, the realm collapsed, and one city after another was abandoned and fell into ruin until only Nyanzaru remained.
"What is the Heart of Ubtao?" asks Dunch. A chunk of earth held aloft by magic, the naga explains. The priests of Ubtao used to travel there for visions, but abandoned it after Ubtao's death. An outcast from the Aldani now lives there. Although the Aldani once followed the wrong path, she says, under Kurat's care they have redeemed themselves.
With the Sceptre that Dolan now wields, they can use the Serpent's Way to move about Marakuru, she explains. The statues that guard the portals will not attack members of the Kimbala, and will obey one of the Hands or the Voice of the Oracle. When Dunch questions the presence of the undead in the buried shrine at Port Nyanzaru, she explains that not all such creatures are created by the will of another. Those who resist the Cycle, and are consumed by anger and hatred, may rise again.
Dolan shows her the ring that he removed from Verog's corpse. "This is very old," she says, examining it. "It has a kinship with the spirits of the earth. As it is now, it can grant you the power to dominate the will of an earth elemental—but if you were able to destroy an earth elemental while wielding the ring, you could unlock greater powers."
"As your follower, what is my purpose?" Chibuzo asks. "To restore glory to the Kimbala, and kill Ras Nsi," the naga answers. "And how can I serve you best?" the ranger asks. "Let Dolan observe and guide you," she answers. "You are strong and brave, Chibuzo. I have no doubt you will succeed."
Saja N'baza leads them through the secret door, down a flight of stairs, along one branch of a forking passageway, and into a room with the same circle of runes and black obelisk that they saw in the other shrines. "So long as our goals align, you are welcome to return here for sanctuary and wisdom," she tells them. "Good luck. I will see you again."
Dolan invokes the power of the Sceptre of the Honored Voice to return them to Mbala. Their surroundings vanish; the party has the disconcerting feeling of being squeezed, as if through the coils of a snake, before they find themselves in a dark room, surrounded by the glowing circle of runes. Chibuzo summons the power of the Gem of Brightness to light their way up and out of the shrine. The mist that permeated the rooms is lower than before, at ankle level.
They emerge from the ziggurat into a heavy rain. After a twenty-minute walk, they come to a road lined with dilapidated marble columns that brings them through the crumbling walls of upper Mbala. The overgrown ruins of the city are peaceful, with only the sounds of birds and small animals to be heard through the falling rain.
A large stone statue of a woman bearing a shield and holding an axe to the sky stands in front of one of the ruined buildings. Next to a stone bowl beneath the statue is an inscription: "Brave Ngozi. Honoured wife of King Mbalawa. Voice of the Oracle. May her spirit guide and protect you for all time."
The edge of the axe blade gleams metallically, and radiates slight magic when Dolan scans it with his Wand of Magic Detection. Dolan bows and puts some coins into the bowl: "Queen Ngozi, your axe is needed once more." He feels a faint pull on the Sceptre towards the southeast, the direction of Hisari.
Dolan and Dunch both notice that the the glittering edge seems to be of the same silvery-gold metal as Dunch's Mbalan armour, or the metallic veins in the Tears of Ubtao. Chibuzo climbs up the statue. Balancing precariously on the outstretched arm, he manages to use a dagger to pry the strip of metal from the edge of the axe.
Examining the ruins, Dolan notes that one tower in particular looks as if it were toppled by a spell similar to the one Rashaad used against them in Orolunga. The party pokes around the ruins for a time, but finds nothing of interest.
Leaving the upper city behind, they take the path down the side of the cliff. After some fifteen minutes, they arrive at the point where the path forks to the Tomb of the Sky Kings. Activating the lenses of Nyemba's Might, Dunch gazes down at the expedition's camp far below. The debris from the battle and the fireball have been cleaned up; inside a circle of tents, someone with blonde hair—likely Sophia, the porter who lost her left leg from the knee down—sits at a lit fire. There is no sign of anyone else.
He also scans the horizon for the Heart of Ubtao. Far out in the swamp he sees the vaguely heart-shaped rock, slowly rotating hundreds of feet in the air; a tree grows through it.
They continue down the path and advance cautiously towards the camp. Chibuzo casts a spell to see through Ndidi's eyes, and sends his leopard companion forward to scout. Only Sophia is to be seen, still sitting at the fire.
The party approaches more openly. Seeing them, Sophia picks up her crutch and hobbles towards them, her eyes swollen from crying. Once close enough, she grabs Dunch for support. "I'm sorry," she says. "She took them. They're gone."
Three days ago, she explains, Nanny Pu'pu took the others into the forest. She and General Kivan Voss are the only ones left. The general tried to stop them, but the stitched man—Hondo—hurt him badly. Sophia doesn't know why Waka, Nobanzi, Bellin, and Rahima followed Nanny Pu'pu. The hag didn't take Sophia—she said the blonde woman wasn't useful because of her leg.
They find Voss in one of the tents, breathing shallowly, his head bruised and swollen. The left side of his skull looks partially shattered.
Dolan casts a healing spell, and Voss breathes deeply, then groans. Briefly conscious, he explains haltingly: "she did something. Enchanted them somehow. Let us into the woods. There was this old tree carved with runes. Glowed with blue light. They walked into the tree and they were gone. I tried to stop them but her abomination overpowered me." He grabs Dolan's arm. "I tried... I tried...."
"You did good," Dolan tells him. "Now rest."
Knowing that spells can do little more at this point, Ixtli uses the medical training he acquired in earlier times to examine Voss more closely. Beyond his head injury, his left arm is broken, and a few of his ribs. Ixtli sets the broken bones and binds the wounds as best he can, and manages to brew up a simple painkiller
Meanwhile, Dunch and Chibuzo search for the tree. Chibuzo easily finds the trail left behind when the injured Voss dragged himself through the jungle back to the camp. Some ten or fifteen minutes away they find an enormous, ancient tree, 30 feet tall, with faintly glowing runes carved into it.
Dolan goes to explore Nanny Pu'pu's hut. His wand detects residual magic in the pot and something buried under a basket: a jawless human skull, with a blue triangle carved into it. Dolan takes it.
Back in the hut, Voss mutters to himself. "Nanny Pu'pu. She took them. I failed them. She took them to Omu, to give them as slaves to Ras Nsi. To convince Nsi to help her get back in the good graces of Lar'lenek, and her sisters."
A little later Dunch and Chibuzo lead Gero, Ixtli, and Dolan to the tree. Examining the runes, Dolan concludes that they signify transportation magic, and are not arcane, but divine: nature magic of some kind. Not his area of expertise, nor Gero's. They briefly discuss destroying the tree, but instead take Gero's suggestion that they should find someone in Port Nyanzaru to consult with first, someone who has more expertise with this branch of the mystic arts. Chibuzo spends some effort to position wooden stakes around the tree—hopefully to give an unpleasant surprise to Nanny Pu'pu and Hondo should they return by the same way. Stopping off at the tree where Akachi's belongings were stashed a few days ago, they find them undisturbed.
To return to Port Nyanzaru by the Serpent's Way, they construct a wooden frame to balance on the circular plane of force generated by one of Gero's spells, Tenser's Floating Disc. With both Sophia and the prone form of General Voss riding atop the disc, they start the climb back up to the upper city—after gathering the personal effects of the kidnapped members of the expedition, and burning down the hut of Nanny Pu'pu.
The sun has set by the time they reach the top of the plateau and make their way back to the ziggurat and the circle of runes. Dolan invokes the power of the Sceptre once more. After the same disconcerting squeeze, they find themselves in the runic chamber in the shrine to Saja N'baza beneath Port Nyanzaru. Dolan commands the statue at the door to let them pass. The corridors are now lit with oil lamps, and a wooden scaffold has been built to allow passage between the buried ruins and the Temple of Zann.
As they begin their ascent, two guards at the top peer down at the noise. "Who goes there? How did you get here?", one calls.
"Chibuzo O'tamu," the ranger answers back. "The Kimbala are back. We came by the Serpent's Way."
After a pause, the guard responds. "I'm not sure what that means, but we're glad to see you back." They call for aid. Help from the Temple soon arrives, with stretchers to carry the injured to the O'tamu villa.