Tomb of Annihilation - Session 20
General Summary
Chibuzo speaks hurriedly to the Aldani guard in Anasazi, gesturing to the lizardfolk and the horizon, then to the party and the undead tyrannosaur: "You—run away. We—will fight that." He leaps across a water channel to get a better view of the monstrosity the Aldani had called Iskawari.
Ixtli similarly advances, firing two arrows into the beast. With a closer view he can see three ghostly, intangible skulls floating above and orbiting its head. One is human, one a crocodile, and the third a jaguar or other big cat.
Then Iskawari moves with unnatural speed. Closing the distance to Ixtli and Chibuzo in moments, it bites Ixtli, picks him up between its teeth, and flings its head, tossing him thirty feet away deeper into the swamp. Then it swings its rotting tail, and Chibuzo is knocked back ten feet, landing on his back in a clump of grasses.
In answer, Dolan raises his recently-acquired Staff of Swarming Insects and summons a swarm of wasps that surround the monster, biting it. Still some distance away, Mokomoko and Elmar clamber into one of the canoes they were dragging and start paddling towards the others, while Dunch advances through the swamp as quickly as he can.
Iskawari strides out of the cloud of insects towards the half-orc, reaching towards him with its massive jaws, but the barbarian manages to dodge the bite. Ixtli quaffs a Potion of Greater Healing, stands up, and fires another arrow into the tyrannosaur. Chibuzo similarly jumps to his feet. Running towards the monster, he grabs hold and climbs onto its back, finding purchase for his feet in its rotting flesh and exposed ribs.
Dolan once more calls on the power of the Staff to enlarge five wasps in the cloud to giant size. They throng about the dinosaur, stinging, while the rest of the insects dissipate into the swamp.
Still seated in the canoe, Elmar loads his hand crossbow and fires a bolt at the monster. But the one-eyed archaeologist misfires and shoots Dunch in the back instead. As Dunch casts an angry glare at his companion, Iskawari's tail whips around to catch him in the side, flinging him ten feet away, but the agile half-orc manages to keep his feet—only for the tyrannosaur to seize him in its jaws, crunching Nyemba's Might between its teeth.
Standing atop the beast, Chibuzo spears it in the back, electrocuting it with the power of Atsu's Lance, then hurls the spear into the back of its head. Thunder booms across the swamp as the lance flies back into his hand, and Chibuzo feels a surge of his grandfather's pride from the weapon.
Iskawari flings Dunch into the swamp. As the barbarian lands face-down in the murky water, the creature roars mightily. From a gash in its side carved by Chibuzo's attacks, four physical skulls emerge and hover over the tyrannosaur. Three are the skulls of other animals, but one is human, still wearing a rotting skullcap bearing the symbol of the Maker.
The skulls attack the giant wasps, snapping and biting with their teeth and injuring two of them. Responding with their stingers, the wasps succeed in stopping one of their skulls. As it drops motionless into the swamp, Elmar fires a second bolt from his hand crossbow, this time narrowly missing Chibuzo. Dolan shoots a Guiding Bolt into the tyrannosaur, while Ixtli hits it with two more arrows.
Iskawari charges forward and bites down on Dolan, lifting him up in its teeth. The sorcerer loses his concentration on his Giant Insect spell, and the wasps shrink back to normal size and fly away.
Finally driven to rage, Dunch seizes a pair of hand axes from his belt and hurls them both at the tyrannosaur, embedding them in its skull. Mokomoko also fires a crossbow bolt into it.
Ignoring its wounds, Iskawari tosses Dolan into the air, then bites him again on his way down and swallows him. The sorcerer slides down its gullet and drops through the hole in its side to land in the water, unconscious and at risk of death.
The tyrannosaur misses Dunch with its tail but then sinks its teeth into him. As he struggles to break free, the remaining flying skulls attack Ixtli and Chibuzo. Both are bitten, taking additional necrotic damage from these undead foes. Ixtli spears one, shattering it, then jumps up and brings his heel down on another, smashing it against the ground. Chibuzo hits the third with his warhammer but it remains intact. He focuses his remaining attacks on Iskawari, spearing and shocking it with Atsu's Lance. The electricity coursing through it bursts its remaining eye.
Meanwhile, the guard has been trying to escort the other Aldani away from danger, to the protests of the young woman. She dodges his grasp and heads back towards the battle, yelling over her shoulder at the others.
Mokomoko fires another crossbow bolt into the tyrannosaur, who grinds Dunch again between its teeth as he struggles in vain to free himself. Only the barbarian's relentless endurance allows him to remain conscious. With a supreme effort, he drives his greatsword up through the roof of Iskawari's mouth with all of his strength, and finally the undead creature dies again. The ghostly skulls surrounding its head flicker out and disappear, while the last corporeal skull falls inanimate into the water. As the massive beast topples to earth, Chibuzo slides down its back, landing on his feet with catlike grace. He hastens to cast a healing spell on Dolan, returning him to consciousness.
The younger Aldani cheers, then yells at the guard, pointing at the creature. The elder approaches Ixtli: "You truly are agents of Saja N'baza." The guard points to the Blood Spear in Ixtli's hands, saying something unintelligible to the elder. "Where did you get that spear?" the elder asks. Aided by Yollotl, Ixtli haltingly relates retrieving the spear from the well at the ruined tower on the banks of the Soshenstar, about four weeks ago. The matriarch's son had a vision, the elder says, that a child of a lost tribe would visit us, bearing the weapon of our mightiest warrior.
The elder introduces himself as Oklo; the guard is named Taruka, and the young woman, Hala. Iskawari is a beast of myth and legend that has plagued the people of their land for generations, Oklo tells them. He is honoured to have witnessed its end. The Aldani set about harvesting the teeth of the fallen creature for future use, and Chibuzo, Dunch, and Ixtli each take some as well.
Hala asks a question of Ixtli in Aldani, which Oklo translates with some amusement: "Are you truly as mighty as Sumazhi?" He was the warrior who once bore the legendary Blood Spear. Ixtli answers that he does not know, but would like to learn more of Sumazhi and his great deeds.
After a short rest, the group sets out by canoe for the village of Tal'mayu. Ixtli talks with Oklo further en route, sharing what he learns with the others. The elder is forthcoming, though he cautions that his information is not complete; only the village matriarch knows all the details.
Some weeks ago, he relates, the village witch doctor, Nayarak, betrayed the village and their matriarch. He had been gathering followers by sharing visions he claimed to have received from an ancient loa of this land. He ignored the matriarch's warnings that his visions were too similar to their stories of old, and their people's enslavement to Pachakutek.
Nayarak left the village some weeks ago with those in his service, as well as allies he had recruited to his cause: monstrous humanoids, eaters of the dead with green, rubbery-skinned flesh. He left to lay siege to the temple where the dreamer Kurat rests, but his plan does not seem to have gone as he expected. He sent back to the village some of those who followed him, but now enlarged and deformed, and infected with what the matriarch calls the "soul sickness". To Ixtli's question, Oklo confirms that their eyes glow with an unnatural blue light. They have made demands of the matriarch that she has refused, and have been executing villagers until she complies. There are half a dozen of them in total, with two of them always watching the matriarch.
Oklo explains that they are the reason he and the others are here in the swamp. They came to gather a flower, the burruku, which has healing properties, hoping they might be able to use them to liberate those whom Nayarak has cursed.
As for Akachi, she was in the village a few weeks ago, before the cursed ones returned. After speaking to the matriarch, she departed for the Heart of Ubtao to seek the aid of the exile, Balan, against Nayarak.
It may not be possible to stop Nayarak's followers without killing them, Ixtli cautions the elder. He sees the conflicting emotions in Oklo, but the elder speaks clearly: "If it is necessary. They have killed many. I shudder to think of what they've done to Kurat. If they have killed his priests, I fear the worst."
Hala also speaks to Ixtli during her journey, relating her hope to travel and visit other lands, as her great grandfather once did when he visited a village by the side of the ocean. If she should sail across the ocean, Ixtli tells her, she would be welcome to visit the lands of his people—though she would find them much harsher and drier than her own.
The day is drawing to a close as they approach the lake where the village is located. They draw up their canoes on the shore and take council. When they ask Oklo what he wants them to do, he speaks with Taruka, then answers: "As much as we had hoped to help them, I doubt that it is possible. Given what they have done, saving the matriarch and preventing them from taking more lives is most important."
The matriarch's hut is in the centre of the village, on the edge of a large open area where the tribe gathers. Most of the other huts in the village rise above the swamp on stilts. There are typically two guards on the matriarch's hut, one of whom carries a horn to summon the other four, who patrol the village and keep the people in line.
The villagers will not be expecting outsiders of any sort—certainly not humans or Odakota. They agree that Oklo, Hala, and Taruka will sneak back into the village, just as they snuck out, and spread the word as best they can of the strangers who have come to their aid. Meanwhile the six travellers will rest, and attack the matriarch's guards just before dawn.
Nothing interferes with their plans, and shortly before sunrise the rested adventurers gather around the lip of the bowl-like space where the villagers gather. Dunch and Mokomoko are opposite the matriarch's hut, with the now-dark fire pit between them and the two guards who stand in torchlight near the hut. Dolan and the others approach from the guards' right. The guards themselves are still recognizably Aldani, but changed: seven and a half or eight feet tall, with thickened jaws and giant claws, as if their finger bones had been enlarged to protrude out of their hands. Their eyes gleam with a strange blue light.
Quaffing a Potion of Growth, Dunch transforms to twice his normal size and marches towards the guards, with Mokomoko coming up behind. Hearing the clank of armour from out of the darkness, one of the guards picks up a torch and they advance cautiously, finally spotting the giant half-orc at the edge of the torchlight.
Dunch immediately charges, taking on a wolflike appearance in his rage. His first swing glances off the thick scales of one of the guards, but his second blow carves a wound into the lizardfolk's flesh. Advancing more slowly, Mokomoko fires a crossbow bolt into the same foe with impressive accuracy.
From behind, Chibuzo and Elmar also fire their bows but their shots go wide. Ixtli charges at the wounded guard, stabbing him twice with the Blood Spear. A volley of magic missiles from Dolan finally finishes the foe.
The other guard claws Ixtli; Dunch slashes him in retaliation, but the giant Aldani remains fixated on the wounded monk, clawing him again and then lunging to bite with his heavy jaws. Ixtli spears, spin-kicks, and bites him in return, and the guard falls dead.
In the aftermath, Dolan heals Ixtli of the worst of his injuries. They decide to bring the other four enemies to them, and Chibuzo affixes the Gem of Brightness in the central fire pit to provide illumination. Dunch blows the warning horn after retrieving it from a guard's corpse.
After a few minutes of uneasy silence, the shadowy forms of their foes loom into view at the edge of the bowl, three from opposite the matriarch's hut and one from the right. Dolan casts Haste on the still giant-sized Dunch while Chibuzo, Elmar, and Mokomoko fire their missiles—to no effect. The feral Aldani rapidly close the distance. Two converge on Dunch, missing with their initial attacks while the barbarian slashes one of them repeatedly. A third claws at Dolan but Mokomoko intercepts the blow with his shield; Ixtli spears, kicks, and bites the Aldani in return, while Chibuzo stabs the fourth with Atsu's Lance, shocking him repeatedly while the lizardfolk claws him and Elmar. Ixtli's target strikes at Dolan again; Mokomoko's shield can only catch part of the attack, and Dolan is knocked prone by the blow. Crawling away, the sorcerer fires back a volley of magic missiles.
Dunch's greatsword bites into his wounded opponent twice more, but the enemy will not fall. The Aldani and his companion bite and claw the giant half-orc repeatedly.
Ixtli kills his foe with a strike from the Blood Spear; then, running to close the distance, the monk launches a jump kick that finishes Dunch's wounded adversary. Chibuzo drives his yklwa into his attacker's midsection, muttering "do it, grandpa" as he casts Shocking Grasp. Lightning courses through the spear and the outsized Aldani falls dead. Finally, Dunch unleashes one spinning attack after another to strike their last enemy again and again, until he too drops lifeless to the earth.
The sun is just coming up as Taruka, Hala, and Oklo appear from over the rise, and behold the carnage the adventurers have wrought in the early morning light. To Ixtli's eyes, Oklo seems satisfied but saddened.
While Dunch drags the bodies to the edge of the gathering place, Taruka forces his way into the matriarch's hut, followed by Oklo. They soon emerge with an ancient, hunched Aldani woman with dull white scales carrying a crooked staff and wearing a kind of hat made of a single leaf. She thanks them in draconic, Yollotl translating for Ixtli as before: "My son told me of your coming, and that you would aid our village. I am happy he was right." She speaks a few words to Taruka, who runs off towards the rest of the village. Then they sit down around the firepit to converse. Dunch retrieves an armful of wood and lights the fire.
The matriarch names herself as Koya. She relates that her son, Caprakan, had a vision of a lost tribe, and Ixtli speaks to her of the Anasazi and the Crimson Lowlands. After a few moments of slow conversation, she rises to her feet—to retrieve one of Kurat's gifts from her hut, she says. When she returns, a cloudy white stone orbits her head. "You may speak freely, and I will be able to understand it" she says to them, and the whole party can now comprehend her.
After a few more questions she turns her attention to Dunch: "Oklo sensed that you have a connection to the spirit world. Which spirits of this land have been speaking to you?" "Nyemba," Dunch answers, "a spirit of the sky" who took a special liking to the people of Mbala, and showed him Kurat's temple in a dream. Nyemba has been unable to contact her kindred spirits in Omu, and thinks that Kurat could help.
Kurat is in great danger, Koya tells them. She confirms Oklo's tale of Nayarak's treachery. He tricked her with his tales of a powerful loa trapped beneath Omu, and convinced her to send their strongest warriors to that lost city as an advance party, including her son Caprakan. Nayarak would follow them, he said, once he had finished forging a weapon that would be needed to free the captive loa. She names the loa: Taloc, a name Ixtli believes is another name for Glyh'rul.
Instead Nayarak took his Aldani followers and troll allies to sack the sunken temple and seize Kurat's crystal horn, the final item needed to complete his weapon. But when they attacked the temple, they found Kurat gone, his physical body still in the spirit world where he defends against threats from the old ones.
Also dwelling in the temple are the priests named the Dreamwatchers, who call Kurat home to this world using a special drum. But Balan, one of the priests, fled to the Heart of Ubtao with the drum. Now Nayarak remains in the temple, trying to find another way to summon Kurat back to this world, after sending six of his followers back to Tal'mayu to demand the location of the drum.
As for Akachi, she left the village over two weeks ago in search of Balan. When Chibuzo asks why was she honour-bound to aid the village, Koya answers that "her pride and our people have had a bond of friendship for many generations."
The adventurers debate their next move....