Tomb of Annihilation - Session 24
General Summary
In a solemn and somewhat deflated mood, the party travels via the Serpent's Way to the Shrine of the Kimbala below the Temple of Zann in Port Nyanzaru. The near-total darkness of the teleportation room is broken only by its faintly glowing circle of runes. Startled by the experience, Akachi shouts, "what the hell was that?!?" Dolan quickly explains to her where they have arrived at, and how.
Chibuzo and Dunch summon the magical light of the Gem of Brightness and Maul of Disruption respectively. Exiting the room, they find the other halls of the shrine equally quiet and dark. On their departure from Port Nyanzaru six days ago, the place was bustling with energy, as Dolan's workers laboured to restore the shrine. But while more work has clearly been done since then, the party sees tools and building materials scattered about, as if hurriedly abandoned.
They reach the scaffolding and climb the stairs. The room at the top is lit with torches, and—unlike when they left—a table has been placed in the room, with a pair of stools. The table holds the remnants of a fresh meal that looks to have been abandoned while someone was eating it.
They pass through corridors into the Temple of Zann proper. In the distance, they can faintly hear a disturbance of some kind: people yelling and pottery breaking. While heading in that direction, they run into someone sweeping: Nikito, the teenaged junior priest who helped them previously. He smiles in recognition, but then looks around quickly. "Zann be praised!" he exclaims. "I'm glad to see you. Come with me. Things have changed since you left." Bad things have happened in the city recently, he swiftly relates, blamed on the Kimbala. Merchant Prince Ekene-Afa has arrested Grandfather Zitembe and Fenuku.
He leads them down another corridor in the lower levels of the temple and into a secluded storeroom containing tools and building materials. Once they are all inside, he tells them that these events started five days ago, when two Asturian ships at harbour were attacked by people claiming to be the Kimbala. One of the ships, the Twilight Sabre, was set afire and sank.
Then, two days later, canisters of poison gas exploded at the Grand Souk, killing many, including Merchant Prince Jessamine. Many of those killed rose again as zombies, and their victims rose again in turn. It was a long battle before order was restored to the city. Leaflets were left behind, claiming responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Kimbala. Grandfather Zitembe and Fenuku were arrested afterwards. The Dore Kvanga, the elite guard of the Merchant Princes, have also been ordered to bring Dolan and Chibuzo in for questioning.
The sounds the party heard earlier were from the angry mob gathered outside the Temple, demanding retribution. They had gathered at first outside the O'tamu estate, but the merchant prince's personal guards and the Dore Kvanga forced them away, so now they protest at the temple. Today's demonstration has taken a violent turn, and the guards who were stationed above the buried shrine were called out to help handle the mob.
They can get out of the temple through a drainage pipe under this storeroom, Nikito tells them. He shows them a metal grate in the floor that opens on a three-foot-wide stone pipe. After thanking Nikito for his help, they crawl into the pipe, with Dunch leading the way. After some two hundred and fifty feet, the pipe ends at a metal grate about four feet above the ground, in a quiet back street in the Merchants' Ward below Temple Hill. Dunch forces open the grate and the party scrambles through.
Yollotl is the last one out of the pipe, the red scales of his new body almost glowing in the sunlight. Squinting up at the sun, he remarks that it doesn't burn like it used to. Ixtli notes to himself that the other party members have accepted Yollotl's transformation with surprising equanimity, though Mokomoko is clearly relieved at no longer having to interact with an uncanny shadow.
Dolan and Chibuzo cover themselves up, while Ixtli improvises a robe for the naked Yollotl with a blanket. The main group decides to head for Nkansu House, but Elmar departs to see what he can learn from his own contacts in the city, while Mokomoko goes to check on his brother Yemi. Both say they will join the others at Nkansu House later.
The party isn't molested on their trip through the city, but their route takes them past the Grand Souk. The area is cordoned off, with members of the city watch stationed at the perimeter. Bodies have been removed, but the building is still strewn with wreckage and evidence of the fight. When they pause to look, one of the guard orders them to keep their distance, by order of the Merchant Princes.
Arriving at Nkansu House, Akachi goes first to scout for any observers, but sees nothing unusual, and they make their way inside. The house seems clean and orderly, just as they left it.
Akachi immediately demands answers from Chibuzo about the events leading up to this turmoil in the city. He relates meeting Saja N'baza in Orolunga and joining the Kimbala, and owns up to his mistake in publishing the 'Marakuru for Marakurans' posters. He goes on to describe their infiltration of Fort Tajar, and Rashaad's subsequent banishment from the city. At the end of his tale, Akachi shakes her head. "I'm disappointed in you, Chibuzo. How did you not manage to kill that snake?!?"
The conversation turns to the party's questions about what happened on the day that Akachi disappeared. When she denies making the cries for help that drew General Voss and the others into the jungle, Chibuzo is struck by the thought that Nanny Pu'pu could have been responsible. After he relates her nefarious deeds, Akachi agrees that the hag would have been capable of conjuring illusory sounds and images to lure the hapless Shale to his doom.
But Akachi refuses to be drawn on the subject of her "pride" that is bound in friendship to the village of Tal'mayu, or to explain why they found her belongings stashed in a tree trunk after she vanished. Chibuzo finally stops the questioning, to Akachi's evident relief. She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek: "I appreciate your confidence."
For their next move, Chibuzo writes a letter to the paladin Nera Blacktyde declaring the party's innocence of recent events in Port Nyanzaru, explaining that they have just returned to the city with information on the Death Curse, and asking to meet—discreetly. Akachi departs to take the letter to the Temple of the Maker in Malar's Throat.
While they wait for her to return, they set about cooking a simple meal, and Yollotl looks through the house for something to wear. He returns clad in a variety of ill-fitting and mismatched garments, and he and Ixtli speak about his transfiguration under the breath of Kurat. The crystal that surrounded him came from inside him, Yollotl says. Kurat drew out his life energy; it hurt at first, but then he felt warmth. It dawns on Ixtli that Yollotl was not encased in any mundane crystal; could it have been dreamcryst?
"After I was released," Yollotl continues, "I felt this... fire unlike anything I had felt before. If they say this was the spirit of Bahamut, it might have always been there—but intentionally concealed from us somehow. Perhaps by the Elsecaller and his lies?"
Ixtli says that he too has become aware of a change in himself. All his life, since he was young, he has been haunted by whispers of darkness, chaos, and fear—a constant background noise urging dark and bloodthirsty thoughts. But since their encounter with Kurat, the whispers have stopped. He'd never imagined that such peace was possible.
"In hindsight," Yollotl continues, "it was arrogant to think that I could have hidden my presence from Kurat. Maybe I should have warned you of what he might do. But it seems that, while Kurat's methods may have been harsh, the outcome was not unwelcome.
"I still want to stop the Death Curse," he concludes. "Before, I was compelled to do so—but now, it is by my choice."
It's not until after sundown that Akachi returns—and with her, Nera Blacktyde. After the paladin thanks the party for trusting her, they relate quickly the events they have experienced since they all last met, from the battle with Iskawari to the liberation of Tal'mayu and their encounters in the Temple of Val'Kurat. Nera is disbelieving that the zombie tyrannosaur Niles Stanton described in his journal was real, until Dunch shows her the teeth they took from its maw. She is similarly skeptical at first of Kurat's vision of the Soulmonger, but finally they are able to convince her. She asks why Kurat himself is not dealing with the Death Curse, but Dolan recalls their own brief journey to the spirit world in the Tomb of the Sky Kings, and how dramatically affected the four of them were by a mere quarter-hour of exposure. Kurat was in the Dreamlands for weeks. It is unsurprising that he will need time to recover.
"How can I help you?" Nera asks them.
Their first priority, they agree, is to resolve the situation in Port Nyanzaru. The Twilight Sabre was the Order's ship, she tells them, and had arrived the day prior to the nighttime attack. Only sailors were still aboard, and they were killed—stabbed—and then the ship was set afire. The ship had been carrying 64 templars, led by High Templar Whitehill, who are now trying to determine their next steps after the loss of their ship. Some of these knights still need to be dispatched to Camp Virtuous, on the Olung river, to rotate out the troops stationed there—but now they need another ship to carry them. The remaining troops were originally planned to be dispatched to Camp Righteous, before it was lost. Nera believes Whitehill would be willing to meet with the adventurers to plan a course of action against the Death Curse, but a ship would again be needed for any plan involving Camp Forbearance on the southwest coast.
Nera has her own disquieting news about the Death Curse. The research of Father Tobias Elian, another leader of the Gazel Ministry here in Port Nyanzaru and a member of the Khir-Adun, has found that the Death Curse is strengthening to the point that it has begun to affect even those who have been revived from death. Sophia, their erstwhile companion on the Ravengard expedition who died on an assassin's blade before Dolan revived her, has a growing blemish on her skin around the point where she was stabbed. Chibuzo is struck with a pang of concern for his similarly revived leopard companion, Ndidi. Father Elian is unsure when or how this effect will manifest further.
The templar departs to take their information back to her fellows. But because of the pamphlets distributed during the recent attacks, and their messaging about foreign invasion, the templars are camped outside the city walls, on the hill between Malar's Throat and the Tiryki Anchorage. The adventurers will need to seek her out there, rather than at the Temple of the Maker. "That's why it took so long to deliver the letter," Akachi adds. Nera takes her leave, promising to keep quiet about their presence in the city.
It's still early evening, and Dunch, Ixtli, and Yollotl head out to the Tiryki Anchorage to pay Uda a visit. En route, they spot the Brazen Pegasus, docked close to Uda's shop.
A pair of armed men stand guard outside the shop, but let them pass after recognizing Dunch, and at his confirmation that "the lizards" are with him. Inside, fabrics and other goods are in the process of being packaged for shipment. After being led to Uda's rooms in the upper floors, they find her drinking tea with Captain Radovich.
After an exchange of greetings, Uda brusquely asks Dunch what he needs. "You only come here when you need things."
"Maybe some clothes for him, to start?" Dunch asks, indicating Yollotl. While Uda leads the lizardman away, Dunch and Radovich catch up. The captain has found replacement crew, and will be departing for Asturia in the next few days with a load of Uda's cargo as well as two passengers—General Voss and Sophia.
Uda eventually returns with Yollotl, now clad in a simple robe of dark red fabric. Dunch gets to the point: he'd like to meet with Mtoto, one of the beggar princes who was said to be an associate of Dalia—and by extension, of Rashaad and Sayid. Uda was previously reluctant to put her relationship with Mtoto at risk, but the recent events in the city have changed things. Mass murder is bad for business.
To contact Mtoto, they will need to go to the Old City. On the southeast side of Executioner's Run, a rope bridge leads up to the second level of the ziggurat Ndulu's Rise, and then another bridge leads across to Sokoro's Ziggurat, where Mtoto resides. Uda gives Dunch a bright red kerchief. One of Mtoto's men will be at the foot of the rope bridge, she says; he'll have a green fang tattoo just above the thumb of his left hand. If they show him the kerchief, and tell him it's 'fit for a queen,' he'll know that Uda sent them and will bring them to Mtoto.
Uda tells them that one of Rashaad's men is rumoured to have been behind the attacks. The Nizamish merchant's exile has had a major impact across the city, as he had his fingers in a lot of business. His sister Saadia was originally a suspect as well, but has been working closely with the Merchant Princes and has taken over some of Rashaad's enterprises. She resides now in her brother's old townhouse, Daha Shabai.
Dunch also raises the prospect of hiring a ship in the near future, to carry passengers around the west coast of Marakuru. The Brazen Pegasus could do so, Anton tells him, though normally the ship stays away from the coast to avoid pirates. But this next voyage won't have much room left for additional cargo or passengers. Uda wonders whether the businesses Saadia acquired from Rashaad may have included a boat.
In parting, Dunch thanks them both, and wishes Anton good luck on the voyage if they don't see each other before the ship sails. Ixtli pays Uda for Yollotl's new robe.
Dunch, Ixtli, and Yollotl go straight to the Old City, where they find a tattooed man at the foot of the rope bridge just as Uda said. After Dunch shows him the kerchief, the man leads them into Sokoro's Ziggurat, through the maze of tunnels inside, and finally to Mtoto. "Associates of Uda? You have something for me?" the beggar king asks. After Dunch gives him the scarf, Mtoto calls in his daughter, Aliya, perhaps seven or eight years old, and gives her the scarf. She puts it on, thanks them, and leaves.
When Dunch tells Mtoto that they are looking for information, the beggar prince says that while he could care less about the Asturians and their ships, what happened at the Souk was a terrible business. Sayid al-Qaar is responsible, he tells them. While Mtoto has had business dealings with him before, he cannot countenance such actions against innocents. But it seems as if fortune has smiled on him, he says, by sending him a way to deal with Sayid. He looks expectantly at the three of them.
"We would be happy to help," Dunch answers.
Mtoto smiles. Sayid is holed up with his accomplices outside of the city, he tells them, in a cave along the shore, perhaps a mile to the west of the trash pits outside the Old City. He's been there at least a week, perhaps longer. His motives for the attacks remain unclear. Perhaps this is at the command of his master Rashaad?
"Normally such information comes at a cost," Mtoto tells them. "But this situation cannot stand."
Dunch also asks who is leading the city's investigation into this affair. Normally, it would be the Dore Kvanga, Mtoto tells them, especially with a Merchant Prince among those killed at the Souk. But the situation has become more complicated. Merchant Prince Jessamine's family has paid enormous sums to the church of the Nizamish god of wealth, Jauhar, to have her resurrected by the High Priestess, Mother Sibonseni. This isn't yet common knowledge; Mtoto speculates that the Merchant Princes must be concerned about how to communicate her return to life, when so many in the city were killed.
Dunch asks whether Mtoto's previous business dealings with Sayid included an offer of help against Ifan Talro'a, the Merchant Prince who seized the assets of Mtoto's family. But Mtoto refuses to be drawn on the question.
Mtoto also gives them one of the many pamphlets that were scattered about at the Souk and the harbour. It reads:
HEAR THE VOICE OF THE ORACLEForeigners continue to invade our land to claim its bounty for themselves! They must be stopped!The Merchant Princes do nothing but line their own pockets by betraying our Great Nation!
Rise Up People of Marakuru!
Marakuru For Marakurans! End foreign domination of our trade and their meddling in our Affairs once and for all!Beware the lies of the Merchant Princes! They conspire with foreign powers to steal what is rightfully yours!Embrace Saja N'baza and the Kimbala! The Great Oracle has returned in our hour of need. Heed Her Call to Action!!Now is the moment for Marakurans to seize their Future!
For Marakuru, for our Children, and their Children's Children's Children!
WE ARE THE KIMBALA!JOIN OUR STRUGGLEAll are one in the Cycle!!
"I anticipate hearing of your success," Mtoto finally tells them, and their meeting concludes.
A light rain falls as Dunch, Ixtli, and Yollotl return to Nkansu House. It is mid-evening by the time they return. After they inform Chibuzo and Dolan of what they have learned, Chibuzo is filled with an even more burning hatred of Sayid, and the party resolves to seek him out immediately.