Players Present: Zyldi, Seraphina, Elgard, Nor, Kanye, Kulu,

Players Missing: Galliard, Rahn

The party begins their descent into the cave. The lizard man is scurrying ahead of them, and without much hesitation, Elgard releases a firebolt and fries the little Kobold to a crisp.

Once further in, the party encounters a shallow stream that crosses the entire path. Looking beyond the stream in the fire-lit cave, they see circular steps that go to a dias with a hallway that continues further on.

Zyldi and Kulu enter the shallow water and walk a few steps without issue. Nor follows as well, and as soon as he steps foot, his foot is caught in a bear trap. He lets out a manly yell. More kobolds come forward, three of them with shields, and then a few more scurry out from hidden passages in the walls.

ENCOUNTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Kanye throws a kobold into one of the bear traps
• Kulu quickly identifies all the bear traps and keeps the party from stepping in any more
• Zyldi sprints for the dias, skillfully dodges falling into the collapsing staircase, and artfully takes out 2 of the 3 kobolds operating levers
• Seraphina eventually joins Zyldi at the top and takes out the remaining kobold, securing the dias
• Nor misses everything
• Kanye wedges himself into one of the side passages and starts to crawl through the tiny tunnels, murdering kobolds as he goes
• Elgard is covered in sticky ichor that is slowly sapping his health. He throws a firebolt at himself to rid himself of the filth. It is successful.
• Kulu is also covered in the ichor and trusts Elgard enough to have him also firebolt her.

Having successfully taken out the little kobolds, [title redacted] peaks into the hallway that is at the top of the dias. Inside is a giant circular room. Most notably in the room is a giant horde of treasure, atop which stands a more formidable (comparatively) kobold sorcerer. He calls out the party and introduces himself as Kakerol, the Kobold Sorcerer.

He calls out: “Bow before the Wyrm!”

The party bluffs: “Oh, you mean George.”

The kobold is aghast, “His name is not George.”

They share some dialogue where Kakerol says he serves the Wyrm and also some skeletal type dude. He will one day turn Kakerol into (something cool? Was a dragon? Or a Wyrm?) as long as he serves his bidding. And his bidding is that he and his kobold fiends reset all the shrines as explorers come to try and find the 9 cubes.

Elgard casts Charm Person on Kakerol, and it is a success. Kakerol offers them advice on the various shrines and their traps. The party asks if they will be given a kobold guide, who will obviously be able to reset the traps right away after they are done, so it will save time for all involved. Kakerol agrees. But before they leave, they are given the honor of meeting the “death cat”. Or, as others would call it, a skunk.

A kobold accompanies them to the shrine of Papazotl. Orvex translates for them the writing above the shrine, “Papazotl bows before no one.” After gaining some more pointless history of the Ubtao shrines (Papazotl, the crane, sent the froghemonth to do his dirty work to talk to Ubtao, etc etc etc), the party ignores the 4 crocodiles in the water that surrounds the temple and walk right on in.

A team effort to push open the temple door reveals a room that has 6 bare chested dude statues on the wall. They each have heads of various animals. A pedastool in the central part of the room has a riddle upon it.

“Comes in the sunshine; leaves in the night; Hides in the darkness; does not bite; Always joined to its caster; never strays from its master.” They answered shadow pretty quickly.

The kobold points to the bat statue, and Elgard casts light on it. A secret passageway is revealed. In this passage is a etching on the walls of a lot of dashes and specific dashes are highlighted. The party determines that once they insert the riddle into this cypher, the following phrase is revealed. “Cover eyes”

After a few general attempts, the party covers the eyes of all the statues in the main room, and the cube reveals itself. Kanye grabs it, and the 5th cube is recovered.

The party rests in the shrine that night. In the morning a knock is heard, and a man saying he knows Galliard is hawking a bunch of his wares in a magnificent coat that stores many items. The party buys some useful, and some questionable useful things.

Players Present: Galliard, Kanye, Nor, Seraphina, Rahn, Elgard, Kulu

Players Missing: Zyldi

[title redacted] watched as the vegepygmies sacrificed a Grung, the 18th Prince of somewhere, to the lava gods. Galliard dances along to the sacrificial beat, Seraphina furiously debates whether she should save the creature, but most of the party realize that saving all the things just isn’t gonna happen. “He’s an 18th Prince. He had a lot of family that could have saved him.” They move on.

As they travel along the road in Omu, they discover an abandoned campsite. A helpful letter is found talking of an obelisk to the north that marks the entrance to the Tomb of the Nine Gods. There is also mention of the Eye of Zaltec. The door to the tomb is magically locked.

The party continues onward and find yet another shrine. There is a bunny with a unicorn horn marking the entrance.

“I’Jin teaches us to take the path least expected.” (Which if you think about it, what is “expected” really differs fairly widely between people. But you know, riddles and stuff.)

The path before the party is full of animal visages on individual tiles. Kanye goes first, stepping on one tile at a time. After stepping on the Tiger for a second time, arrows shoot out at him. A second time of landing on the I’Jin, he is once more wounded. It is decided that stepping on the same faces is what is “expected”. Meaning, the least expected, is to step on all different animals…which is consequently a straight line. Also unexpected. The riddle proves true.

Once insides the shrine, a maze presents itself. The party wanders for a bit, but no real challenges present itself – a blade swings down from the ceiling at one point, but it is no big deal. They find the cube sitting on a pedestal in a room. Other than that, the room is barren. The party ties a rope around the cube, exits the room, and pulls the cube out with them. They exit the shrine, and decide that the shrine was broken.

3 cubes have now been aquired.

[title redacted] moves on and finds a chwinga paradise. The chwinga likes Rahn the best. There is a heavy stone disk in the ground that has writing that summarizes to: Queen Napaka says the Omuans fear nothing. Brave new Gods protect them, as Ubtao has abandoned them. Queen Napaka will help the Omuans rise again.

The next stop on their journey brings them to an ampitheater. It is earily silent. No animals or insects speak. Galliard reaches down and finds some very large feathers…the King of the Trex lives here. After talking Galliard down from fighting the beast, they leave.

The night proves fruitful as the party encounters yet another shrine. It has images of a slightly deranged monkey carvings on the obelisk. This is Wongo’s shrine.

A stone plaque above the shrine reads: “Better to be Wongo’s friend than his enemy.” Sure. The legend of Wongo is that he stole water from the palace, and Ubtao was pissed at him. This was the first of many questions that arose from this shrine. Why is Wongo steal water? Doesn’t he live in a humid, rainy jungle? Is palace water somehow more special than normal water? Was there a water shortage?

Regardless, the hints to this shrine continue. The entrance to the shrine contains five openings. One leads to the center of the shrine where a statue of wongo stands, his hands and legs outstretched as though cupped to catch something. On his pedastool reads: “Wongo’s friend knows where to pour the water.” Because clearly this monkey didn’t learn his lesson, and is still greedy for more water.

The other entrances lead down to a mask of an animal carved into the wall. The party members notice that there are eye holes in the mask, and when looked through they focus on one of the limbs that Wongo has outstretched. There is yet more writing next to each of the masks.

• Zebra: “My only friend starved to death.”
• Vulture: “One of the others has no friends.”
• Boar: “The vulture is lucky to be alive.”
• Lion: “I ate one of the boar’s friends.”

After some more assumptions (like, were any of these creatures Wongo’s friends at all?), the party correctly guesses that the Vulture shows the correct limb. Kanye pours the water into the lefthand. Inside his head he hears the psychic voice of Wongo asking him to choose to fight or curse his friends. Kanye is cool and chooses fight.

Four su-monkey’s come out and attacks the party. The battle is decisive and quick as the party takes down all four monkeys.

They move on and continue their journey north. They encounter yet another obelisk, but this one seems different. It is covered in black moss and has the face of a bearded devil on it. There is a place where it is evident that you can place the shrine cubes. The place is filled with obvious traps, and there is a cave network that goes deeper in the cliff face. Seraphina can feel that there is a definite demonic presence in the obelisk. Galliard wants to attack it really, really badly. The rest of the party says no.

The party continues on their journey yet again. While traveling, Seraphina reveals to the party that her dreams are being invaded at night ever since she has come to Omu. She is high above the city, and there is a skeletal figure that keeps moving its way closer to her each night. No one is sure what to make of this, but it is disturbing.

They party makes their way to an abandoned bazaar. As they are exploring, Seraphina triggers a pressure plate trap and goes flying through the air. Galliard and Nor then go through and begin safely triggering all the plate to keep the party from more catapult adventures. As Elgard is exploring, he sees a very large lizard tail disappear around a corner. Kanye chases after it, and it leads him to a cave with a scaly, poopy, earthy smell. Gonna be fun.

Written by the Almighty DM

Players Present: Galliard, Seraphina, Elgard, Zyldi, Kulu

Players Missing: Nor, Kanye, Rahn, Eridor

After a day of rest ‘neath the Tiny Hut our intrepid explorers move carefully toward the next shrine. As they move past the raised walkway an arrow sinks into the stone next to Elgard and the party comes face to face with the Yuan-Ti for the first time. A muscular man with the head of a snake fires additional arrows laced with poison and hits Elgard. The party is rushed by additional Yuan-Ti Malisons: two with snakes for arms, and two that are snakes from the waist down. Seraphina hits one for 60 damage from a critical smite, and it survives the holy onslaught. She is able to fell it with an additional blow, but this gives the party an idea of how tough these guys are. Each hit from either a snake bite or an arrow is laced with deadly poison. As other arrows fly his way Elgard throws up a SHIELD spell that saves his life. After a second Yuan-Ti falls the leader yells out in Draconic “These guys are tougher than we thought, pull back!” Kulu downs a third enemy. 

The remaining foes begin to flee. Seraphina is having none of it, and rushes forward to stop the one that is a snake from the waist down. Seraphina gets constricted by his snake tail and begins to fear for her life, as the leader takes shots at the party from a distance. Suddenly a crossbow bolt shoots out from the distance and kills the one attacking Seraphina, and another bolt fells the remaining enemy. Two human-sized figures emerge from the darkness and Zyldi motions for them to rush to the shrine. They disappear and meet back up with the party once they find Shagambi’s Shrine entrance.

The two figures are elderly Tabaxi Assassins. Kulu is familiar with the pair and lets the party know that Tabaxi prefer to die in battle rather than succumb to old age. The old man is Hooded Lantern and reveals that his destiny is to fall in battle against the King of Feathers. The King of Feathers is the most dangerous T-Rex known to exist and is the undisputed apex predator of Omu. Zyldi asks him why he wants to fight this beast in single combat and he replies that it is simply his destiny. It is not the most productive conversation. 

The elderly Tabaxi woman is named Copper Bell and she is on the hunt for a magic artifact called the Navel of the Moon. She wears a tattered old blanket that she used to comfort her cubs with long ago, and the Navel of the Moon will let her speak with her fallen cubs once again. Elgard and Galliard assure her that if they come upon this item they will get it to her somehow.

They warn [title redacted] that they came to Omu with a third companion – Bag of Nails. Kulu knows of him as the most legendary Tabaxi assassin to have ever lived. Senility has taken hold, and Bag sees everyone as his prey. When asked what to look out for or how to avoid him, Hooded Lantern replies “He comes with Death. You’ll know he’s there when you start dying”. The party thanks the Tabaxi for their help and the info, and they are on their way.

The walled shrine is decorated with images of a jaguar with six snakes sprouting from its shoulders. Above the door reads “Shagambi teaches us to fight evil with honor”. Seraphina and Zyldi get the door open, and descend the steps into a large open room. There are four statues of Omuan warriors that look like they were meant to hold spears. There is a bare pedestal in the back of the room in front of a large relief on the wall that shows Shagambi fighting a squat humanoid frog holding a spear. These statues flank a grate in the floor over a gladiatorial pit in the level below. There is a staircase that winds down to the fighting pit below. 

Orvex tells the tale of Shagambi: “Shagambi the brave kamadan hopped down from her rock and, seeing the evil in the hearts of the Omuans, decided to lance it like a boil. She made a holy spear, but she left it by the riverbank where a crafty grung stole it. Shagambi forgot all about the Omuans in her rage, and chased Nangnang the grung forever across the sky”. Elgard says “Well she shouldn’t have left it by the river! What was she doing leaving her spear unattended?” Orvex tells them he doesn’t write these things, he just knows them. 

Galliard and Seraphina decide that they should go to the fighting pit and stage a play fight to honor this trickster god. Elgard and Orvex hang out up top, and Zyldi and Kulu go in as backup. When Galliard steps on the floor of the room they hear metallic clanking in the room beyond and hear many heavy footsteps. Four Clay Golems begin to enter the room as [title redacted] unleash a torrent of readied actions and spells. Despite this, the constructs keep coming. Each one is seven feet tall and has a bronze spear and a large wooden shield. They bash our heroes with their shields, and when they fall the golems stab their prone victims with the spears. Zyldi turns into a bear and begins a furry furious assault, Seraphina begins a smite fest, Elgard lights the room on fire, Kulu retreats up to the upper room to sneak attack through the grate. 

Seraphina tries to disarm one of the golems, and despite getting a great grip on the spear she is unable to even budge it out of the unfeeling hands. She is knocked down and stabbed for her troubles. Dragle begins to take an alarming amount of damage as well. Finally, one of the golems is dealt a killing blow, and his body crumbles to dust leaving the bronze spear on the ground. Zyldi passes the spear up through the grate to Elgard. Elgard ignores Zyldi, walks away from where she is passing the spear to him, and casts FIREBALL instead. Zyldi is annoyed, but is able to pass it to Orvex who puts it in the hands of one of the statues up top. It clicks into place, but nothing else happens. 

After a second golem falls Zyldi is knocked out of bear form. She places a moonbeam right in front of another golem, waiting for it to pass through and take damage on its next turn. Elgard THUNDERWAVEs that golem out of harm’s way, further annoying Zyldi. Seraphina gets knocked out of the fight. Dragle also gets knocked down and stabbed hard enough that the necromantic energy that holds him together breaks. Dragle crumbles into a pile of dead bones. Galliard lets out a resounding “NOOOO!!!” Zyldi’s Moonbeam is fortunately able to destroy a third golem despite Elgard’s meddling, and she uses her Healing Word to bring Seraphina back up. Seraphina looks at the remaining golem, grabs a bronze spear off the ground and heaves it through him, crumbling him into dust. 

The battered party gathers the remaining three spears and slowly trudges up to the main room. Galliard gathers the bones of his faithful servant, vows that he will never forget Dragle, and immediately begins making plans for his next dark ritual. 

Once the last of the spears is in the hands of the statues the pedestal opens up and Shagambi’s Puzzle Cube emerges. There is much rejoicing in their victory. However, they are racing against formidable new foes to try to be the first to enter the Tomb of the Nine Gods. While they have a good start with the two cubes, will it be enough? Find out next time!

Written by the Almighty DM

Players Present: Nor, Kanye, Seraphina, Rahn, Galliard,

Players Missing: Kulu, Eridor, Elgard, Zyldi

Our intrepid adventurers weigh their options for getting into the Forbidden City. Once Galliard finishes with his hand-drawn map, he shows two promising infiltration points: Go over the waterfall in the north, or go down the stairs to the south. After night falls they decide to head north and check out the waterfall. 

The waterfall plunges violently down into a river that runs through the city streets. Rhan fells a tree and throws it over to see what happens to it. They determine that the pool at the base of the waterfall is deep enough, but the current is very swift and that there is a chance that they will be swept away toward the lava. They decide it would be safest to lower down on a rope-pulley-platform system next to the river. Rhan and Galliard quickly craft a basic platform, attach it to a rope, and lever it against something using engineering and science. They load Kanye into this totally-safe contraption and begin to lower him down the side of the cliff. 

Once Kanye has descended about 20 feet, Rhan’s Dwarven darkvision detects movement off in the distance: a gargoyle headed straight toward their position! It is coming fast, so Rhan and Galliard quickly hoist Kanye back up to the top. The gargoyle flies right to where Kanye was, looks around at the top of the cliff, and flies off. Our heroes breathe a sigh of relief from under the dense foliage and decide to head towards the stairs to the south.

(It should be noted that while Galliard did “help” lower and raise Kanye on the rope platform, Rhan did all of the actual work. Rhan is aware of this, it is not clear if Galliard is)

There is an old abandoned Guardhouse that watches over this entrance to the city. There is graffiti covering one of the walls of this ruined building, some words painted, others etched in:

• “Fear the fangs of Ras Nsi!”
• “Erik, I’ve gone in search of the Nine Shrines. V”
• “The puzzle cubes are the key”
• “Beware the frog monster!” 
• “Who is Unkh?”
• “All hail the King of Feathers!”
• “The snakes are not what they seem”
• “Kubazan=bravery. Shagambi=wisdom. Moa=?”

Reading these words and seeing the remains of long dead campfires, they steel themselves for the challenges that lay ahead. 

Smoke drifts lazily from a walled compound to the north. Upon entering it is clear a large battle has taken place here between the Red Wizards of Thay and the Yuan-Ti. The pungent smell of burning flesh comes from the pile of Yuan-Ti corpses burning in the plaza. A glaive is stuck in the ground to mark the burning pile, and a flag with the symbol of Dendar the Night Serpent flaps in the wind above the pile. Dead wizards and mercenaries are strewn about this plaza, and everything is looted and picked clean.

As they search the ruins Seraphina, Nor, and Kanye hear moaning from beneath a pile of rubble. They uncover a barely conscious man in his early 40s covered in dust, blood, and burn marks. His name is Orvex Orcammus and he is a highly distinguished scholar of Omuan language and history. The Red Wizards of Thay hired him for their expedition and paid him VERY well (“My kid’s education is all paid up!”), but he is not particularly loyal to the Wizards. After giving him some food and tending to his wounds he tells of a terrible Yuan-Ti ambush that happened here a few days ago. The full Thayan expedition had broken up into a few groups to explore the city, but everyone from his group appears to have died in the ambush. The victorious Yuan-Ti burned their honored dead as an offering to their vicious god. 

Orvex fills them in on the Red Wizard activity in Omu: “The Soul Monger is definitely here, and is located within the Tomb of the Nine Gods. Anyone hoping to enter this Tomb must have all 9 of the puzzle cubes from the shrines of the Nine Trickster Gods of Omu. The remaining Wizards are trying to gain entrance even as we speak. From this compound there is easy access to 2 of the shrines that my group was hoping to explore: the shrine of Kubazan the Froghemoth, and Shagambi the Kamadan”

Since it is the closest [title redacted] decide to go after Kubazan’s shrine first. They approach the shrine cautiously: it is a small stone building with a wall surrounding it, and there is a pond out front. Orvex translates the inscription over the locked gate: “Kubazan urges us to tread without fear and to give back as much as we take”. They explore the pond a little bit and Galliard thinks the pond is about 6ft deep. There is a huge statue of a stone frog in the middle of the water and some collapsed docks that float in the murky water. 

As they begin to inspect the door to the shrine something BIG emerges from the water. Tentacles grab Kanye and Dragle, and a giant tongue shoots out, grabs Rhan, and pulls him into the giant maw of a huge Froghemoth! Stomach acid begins to eat away at Rhan, Kanye hacks at the tentacle that holds him, Seraphina and Nor rush forward to face the beast head on. The oversized amphibian sinks its massive teeth into Seraphina, Dragle gets free, Kanye does a giant leap onto the monster and pummels away with his hammer. Nor then jumps to the side and sinks his blade into its side, spilling the Froghemoth’s guts and freeing Rhan. Black ichor shoots out of the wound as the creature writhes in its death throes, covering Nor’s armor in foul smelling goo. Nor is annoyed at the mess but reveling in his victorious killing blow.

They decide to try unlocking the door. They try the lock and BOOM! a glyph of Fear goes off, affecting Galliard, Rhan, and Kanye. Galliard gets the overwhelming sense of frustration and failure that comes from bombing on stage during a performance, Rhan suddenly believes that there is no more meat left in the world, and Kanye was a scared little kid again being left behind by his village. Rhan and Gal quickly were able to shake off the fearful feelings, but Kanye stays scared for an awkwardly long time. Once he comes back Galliard casts KNOCK and the door comes open. 

Orvex is excited to see the inside of a shrine in person. They descend the steps and come to a ledge overlooking a pit of sharpened stakes. An alcove on the far wall holds a pedestal with a stone cube resting on it. Kanye assumes that there is an invisible floor and begins to “Tread Without Fear”, walking right out into the pit….and falls down 30 feet, somehow narrowly avoiding getting impaled by the stakes.

Kanye: “Huh, well that didn’t work” Rest of Party “HOLY SHIT KANYE ALMOST DIED”

They use a rope and hoist Kanye back up to the ledge.

A relief carved onto the wall of the alcove shows a monstrous frog with tentacles fighting a crane. Orvex tells the legend of how Papazotl the eblis, sad that he didn’t have Omuans to play tricks on, sent a marsh frog to reason with Ubtao. The frog decided to wrestle Ubtao instead, which amused him, so he gave the frog tentacles to make it stronger. When Kubazan the froghemoth returned to Papazotl the eblis, he chased Papazotl into the swamp, and the two have been enemies ever since. 

 Wooden beams stick out from the wall at floor height every 4 feet. Carved frog heads come out from the walls high above the beams. Nor decides that he will jump across the beams to the other side, and with some inspiration from Galliard, is able to make the perilous journey. Remembering the words carved into the entrance “Tread without fear and give back as much as you take”, Nor places a bag of gold on the pedestal as he takes the puzzle cube off of it…and nothing happens. He makes it safely back to the ledge and the party returns to the walled compound. 

The puzzle cube has carvings of a froghemoth on it and has a strong aura of Abjuration magic on it. Feeling victorious for their accomplishments, they take a rest beneath Leomund’s Tiny Hut and prepare to take on Shagambi’s shrine the next day.

Players Present: Zyldi, Elgard, Seraphina, Nor, Galliard, Rahn, Eridor, Kanye

Players Missing: Kulu

Written by the Almighty DM

Chester leads Zyldi to a tree that has enough bananas on it to provide the whole party with a nutritious breakfast, cementing his place as Such a Good Boy. As the party is finishing up their meal a familiar woman is suddenly in their midst. She hands Galliard a scroll and tells him “Once you know how to get to the Soulmonger, tell me immediately”. She then thanks him for his hard work and vanishes, and a few things happen at once:

• Seraphina uses her Divine Sense and knows that this woman is a powerful undead
• Divine Sense also tells her that Chester is a fiend

The party then launches into a huge debate over the following topics:

• What the hell just happened? Who was that?
• What did she give Galliard?
• Chester is a fiend? but I thought he was a good boy?
• Kanye, looking for more of Galliard’s scrolls, discovered that Galliard and Rhan have been carrying around the slowly decomposing bodies of Kilgore and YikYak in their cart.
• What do we do with these bodies?

After some spirited conversation the following things come to light, and decisions are made:

• The lady was none other than Zaldara, the Duchess of Rot, from the beginning of the parties adventure. Galliard has been in constant contact with her since the raid on her tower, and she gave him a scroll to teach him the spell “Animate Dead”. Galliard is convinced that she can help him make his undead Death Metal band the best it can be, and has been accepting her sporadic and maybe-eventually-harmful tutelage
• Galliard acquired Kilgore’s body legally and within the bounds of Kilgore’s own will, and therefore should be allowed to keep her. YikYak’s body was destroyed as compromise
• Chester may be a Good Boy, but he is a fiend, so we can’t trust him. Zyldi tells him that he can no longer travel with them and has him leave the party. Sad music plays as he tearfully walks away

What a day! But wait, it is only the morning. Right before midday the group comes upon an area where the branches are thick and overgrown. As they begin to hack away at the branches, a woman made of vines and leaves appears from the jungle and implores them not to harm her forest any more. She introduces herself as the Wimba Bride, and is saddened over the damage that the undead have done to her forest. She retracts the vines and gives the party passage and begs them not to hurt the forest any more. They agree, and she disappears. 

That evening as the party is setting up camp the Wimba Bride reappears and thanks them for respecting her forest. She offers them a soup made from Tonga Leaves as thanks. The Tonga Leaf is not anything that Zyldi has heard of from talking to the locals or from Q’Washa, but nevertheless Nor and Eridor give it a try. After a few sips they begin convulsing and seizing, and the Wimba Bride’s face twists up in an unnatural grin, and gold coins appear over her eye-sockets. Ants begin to pour out of her skull and begin to bite Nor and Eridor. As the party begins to mount an offensive against this threat she vanishes into the Ethereal Plane, leaving behind only a cackling laughter. Nor and Eridor have some slightly bloody bite marks but are no worse for the wear. 

That night Nor and Eridor experience terrible dreams. Whenever Nor falls asleep, all he can see is the terrifying Hag’s face as she drills a hole into his head and ants pour into the hole. Kanye sits with his friend through the night, comforting him through the fitful nightmares. When morning comes, Nor feels worse than the day before. 

Disheartened by the events of the previous night, they press onward. Chester bursts back into view and begs Zyldi to follow. Zyldi, knowing it is probably a trap, decides to go anyway. She sees a tall tree stump that wiggles. She decides not to approach and calls out. As the party comes upon the sight, the stump transforms into a withered old woman with a bag sewn around her neck. The bag looks like an old black sack, and there are things moving around inside it. This old woman (…ok, it’s another Hag) lunges forward and rakes her nails across Zyldi’s face, doing minimal damage but drawing blood. She then vanishes into the Ethereal Plane. Elgard notices as he comes upon this scene that Chester vanishes at the same time, like he is somehow a part of or tied to this Hag woman. 

That night Zyldi has fitful dreams where she is in a sack that is thrown into the ocean. There are other creatures in the sack with her – a bird, a snake, and a vicious canine – and she is torn to shreds as the wakes up. Nor, however, is able to finally sleep through the night and begin his recovery from his previous ordeal. 

Zyldi, like Nor, feels worse after her night of nightmares, but takes heart that it may be a temporary condition. 

The party travels for a few more days, fights a few more battles with some undead off camera, and finally arrive at OMU: THE FORBIDDEN CITY. 

The city is enclosed by sheer cliffs 100 feet high. Ruined buildings and stone boulevards sit in the overgrown basin underneath colorful birds that glide overhead. A waterfall plunges down one corner of the cliffs, forming a thick river that rushes its way through the eastern half of the city before dropping down even further into a lava pit down in the southeastern corner of the city. Steam rises ominously over the ruined palace near this molten pit. 

Galliard takes out a pen and paper and sits down to study and sketch out this scene. The first thing he notices is that every 100 feet or so along the cliff there is a Gargoyle keeping watch over the city. However, there are two spots where the Gargoyles have a gap in their line: in the northeast corner where the waterfall goes over the cliff, and in the southwestern corner where there is a gap in the wall that leads to some natural stairs and a path into the city. 

Which path will they choose? 

Players Present: Zyldi, Elgard, Seraphina, Kanye, Nor, Eridor,

Players Missing: Galliard, Rahn, Kulu

Written by the Almighty DM

Our heroes are journeying through the deepest, darkest parts of the jungle on their way to the Forbidden City of Omu. As they begin to trek, they hear a tiny bark and a little yorkshire terrier comes into the clearing. This pitiful (and cute!) little dog is what Seraphina saw the previous night: he has dirty fur, is starving, and gives those puppy dog eyes to the party. Zyldi immediately fills out the paperwork, pays the adoption fee, and names her new dog Chester. He leads the party to some Ryath Root, and is dubbed a Good Boy.

Kanye stops the party’s journey and begins the 10 minute process of casting his “Speak with Animals” ritual. He asks Chester why he is here: “Master brought me here” Where is master: “Master is gone” What happened to master: “Master is…gone” and Who is master: “Man in nice clothes”. The party assumes Chester was an unprepared tourist’s purse dog. Zyldi has Chester ride in her pack so he can see up high, and he is a good boy and loves it. They are now best friends.

Boom……Boom……BOOM…..BOOOM the sound is getting closer, something HUGE is approaching. Everyone hides as a Zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex bursts into the clearing. It takes a few steps and stops…sniffs…and convulses, shudders, and vomits up a zombie. It lifts its head, sniffs again, and locks in on Elgard’s position. Elgard takes this moment to cast a new spell he’s been cooking up: the oxygen escapes everyone’s lungs as a giant Fireball erupts around the TRex, blowing the human zombie to smithereens and setting the local plant life ablaze. Kanye rushes in to protect his wizard friend and is able to fend off multiple deadly bites with his shield. The party goes nova on the poor undead dino, causing it to vomit up more zombies. A wild tail swing knocks Seraphina and Nor down, which only makes them mad. Elgard continues to set the world on fire, burning up the extra zombies, while Kanye finally gets snatched up into the jaws of the beast. The bite would have killed most mortals, but Kanye’s iron resolve is able to keep him in the fight. Nor is able to use his superior battlefield leadership to help turn the tide of battle, while Seraphina uses her Celestial powers to fly into the air and bring down a Radiant blow upon the neck of the TRex, severing the head. The remaining zombies in the gut of the great TRex are quickly dispatched, and several TRex teeth are looted. 

Later that same day, an organized platoon of undead descends upon the party: an Ogre Zombie, four Skeleton Archers firing from cover, Three Ghouls with a Ghast leader, all led by an evil Wight in Black Armor, wielding a black spiked sword. 

Kanye, Nor, and Seraphina all rush the Wight and begin putting the pressure on. His Ogre acts as a bodyguard, but the two are no match for the ferocity of the attacks that are dealt upon them. 
Zyldi calls upon the power of the jungle and stops the Ghouls and Ghast dead (ha!) in their tracks with some grasping vines. Elgard and Zyldi are then able to fight off these undead foes from safety while the archers miss with their arrows. 

Once the Wight is dealt with, Kanye runs over to the Skeleton Archers and hits them like a bowling ball. After some intense bone-crunching work the party declares victory and sets up camp for the night. Nor recovers the wicked looking blade that the Wight was using and it is later identified as a Sword of Life Stealing.

What new horrors await [title redacted] as they get closer to Omu?

Players Present: Galliard, Rahn, Nor, Zyldi, Eridor, Seraphina, Elgard, Kanye, Kulu

Players Missing: None

Written by the Almighty DM

Having successfully acquired the Black Orchid from Queen Zaklore, the party departs Nangalore with a young woman named Kwani and her still-petrified friend Shabarra. After a lengthy debate about what to do about this situation, Rhan sighs and (with great annoyance in his heart) uses his Chwinga blessing to un-petrify Shabarra. The two young thieves repay the kindness by attempting to steal a ruby from the party and fleeing into the jungle. “Well, I guess we’ll be fighting them later as undead” quipped Nor.

The party makes it back to the base of Kir Sabal where some Aarakocra monks are waiting to fly them up to the monastery. Azaka Stormfang also rejoins the party, and offers to wait with Q’Washa and Bill down below while the party takes care of business. 

The party tells the tale of recovering the Black Orchid from the Mad Queen of Nangalore to Asharra and the other monks over dinner. Asharra tells the party that the next day might not be so good for doing the ritual because of a storm rolling in, but they would stay flexible and see what the weather did. 

Sure enough, the next day saw a raging tropical storm. During the day of downtime, the party rested up, chatted with some monks, bought a few mundane items, and ate some simple but satisfying food. Prince Na continued being precious, while Princess Mxawanare was absent for most of the day. In the early evening, she was able to corner Elgard and began seductively imploring him to find a relic for her in Omu: “I need you to find the Skull Chalice of Ch’k’gare! This symbol will legitimize my rule and cement my place as Queen of Omu and Chult!” Elgard immediately forgets all of the details and pretends this awkward encounter never happened.

The next morning finds our heroes gathered at the base of the plateau ready for the Dance of the Seven Winds. Asharra looks at the party solemnly and asks “Which of the 4 of you wishes to gain the git of flight?” The party stops. They look at each other. Only 4 of us? What did we sign up for? Did we remember something wrong? As the group begins to discuss among themselves Asharra and the monks begin to laugh. “Just kidding. How ever many of you can fit inside this huge circle. Should be big enough even for the triceratops”. 

Asharra holds the Black Orchid as seven monks begin to dance around the party. As they begin to move faster, a strange wind begins to flow upwards within the circle. Petals fly off of the Orchid and Asharra’s eyes begin to glow white. Faster and faster, the monks chanting grows louder, the wind gets stronger, the air filled with Orchid petals until…..

The ritual stops and Asharra, feathers gone, wings gone, collapses into the arms of the nearest monk. Nephyr assures the party that Asharra will be alright, that her giving up her ability to fly is what allows the Wind Dukes of Aaqa to grant temporary flight to the party. Once the three day power wears off, her wings and feathers will begin to grow back. He urges the party to fly with haste so as to not squander her gift.

The party is able to coax Bill off the ground and they are off! They are able to see the stunning vistas of Chult like never before. The entire first day goes uneventfully, and at night the party is able to find a safe space to rest. 

Early the second day they come upon an unusual sight: a floating earthmote shaped like a heart. This is known to the locals as The Heart of Ubtao, blasted from the land after the god abandoned his people. They see stairs carved into the side that lead into the heart, and there on a ledge a pretty blonde Elven lady waving to them. The party is intrigued and approaches.

The Elven woman introduces herself as Valindra and says that she has been studying the Soulmonger. Scattered about the dank and wet-smelling cave are bookshelves containing old books about Chult, and maps scattered on the desk that look old and inaccurate. She believes the Soulmonger is in the Forbidden City of Omu and is hoping the party can make contact with the Red Wizards that have already entered the city. 

Making note of the gross smell and the lack of any creature comforts or food, Zyldi asks what she eats or where she sleeps: “I am a Wizard and can conjure whatever food I need, and as an Elf I can simply meditate at my desk, no need for a bed”  Seraphina queitly uses her Divine Sense and senses an overwhelming Undead presence coming from Valindra. 

Valindra thanks the party for visiting her, and gives them some parting gifts on their way to Omu: a scroll of Arcane Gate, and a red token that they can present to the Red Wizards of Thay to show their alliance with their cause. 

As they are flying away Seraphina hits the party with a bombshell “Guys, I think she was a lich!” The party is left to wonder why a powerful Lich was so helpful in their quest for the Soumonger…

As evening approaches on the third day, and their powers of flight are waning, [title redacted] come upon a curious sight: a wrecked boat caught in the tops of the trees high above the jungle floor. Pitiful looking survivors hail the party and beg for rescue. The “Star Goddess” was a Halruaan airship bound for Port Nyanzaru when it got caught in the tropical storm that blew in a few days ago. Most of their supplies were scattered, and the survivors have been hiding in the ship from the Ghouls below. Thesselandra, the captain of the ship, asks the party for whatever aid they can provide, because they will surely die soon. Zyldi conjures food for them and they begin to eat. Suddenly a loud crashing noise comes through the upper branches of the trees. The party readies themselves as five Girallon Zombies burst forth onto the ship. These Girallons resemble large albino gorillas with four arms and a bad case of zombification, and they are ready to eat the flesh of the living.

These Girallon Zombies hit hard and fast. In the first round of combat, one of the Zombies goes over to an unnamed airship extra and throws him off the boat to be eaten by the Ghouls below, just to show that they mean business. The party takes some damage but in the end are able to kill these undead apes for good. The battered group decides to rest aboard the ship for the night as this seems like the safest place to be (undead gorilla monsters notwithstanding). During the night Seraphina thinks she sees a tiny dog below on the jungle floor but cannot confirm. Otherwise, the night passes uneventfully.

The next morning Eridor sends Larry the Flying Snake back to Kir Sabal with a message tied around his…neck? waist? Whatever flying snakes have. It reads “Send help to these shipwreck survivors, they are trapped in the trees in undead territory. Three days flight from Kir Sabal, directly between Heart of Ubtao and Omu, can’t miss it”. Q’Washa and Kupalue offer to stay with the survivors to protect them and provide them food, which brings up the matter of payment. Now that Q’Washa is going to split with the party, per their original agreement, he is owed 150gp, with all discounts and per-diems applied. The party begins to debate about this when Nor shouts above the rabble “JUST PAY THE MAN!” and throws his share in. The rest follow. 

Now our heroes journey through the deepest, darkest parts of the jungle on their way to the Forbidden City.

Players present: Galliard, Seraphina, Rahn, Kanye, Nor, Zyldi, Elgard, Kulu

[title redacted] arrives at the gardens of Nangalore. A fantastic ediface rises out from the middle of the gardens, and water streams down the middle to make a wet walkway. 2 large elephants guard the entrance to the gardens. There is still a lot of foliage, though the gardens have clearly been untended for decades.

The party splits off into various groups and goes off into the gardens to explore. Q’washa sees some writing on the wall in the waterway and translates for the group. There are four faces: Stern, Bemused, Serene, and Condescending. Each had a small saying about the prior Queen of Omu, Zalkore. These gardens were made for her, and she was worshipped by her and people and loved betrayed by Therutara.

Galliard casts detects magic, and goes where the smell of magic sends him. He finds a rotting mage corpse. He somehow defies the temptation to reanimate it, and simply loots the body. He finds a small box that further inspection reveals is a folding boat.

Meanwhile, Seraphina and Nor are being seduced by a fly trap. But these two know better than to fall for some luscious leaves. The plant does manage to knock Seraphina unconscious, and Nor murders it as swiftly as he can. Seraphina recovers.

Also meanwhile, Eridor and Kanye are attacked by 6 dwarf zombies. Eridor is also seduced by a plant, and he succumbs to the lovely limbs. They manage to take down the zombies and the charming plant is stabbed and stomped on by Kanye until death beckons it home.

Eridor sneaks into the giant structure that is the central point of the gardens, and he let’s the rest of the party in. There is something written in chultan within the temple that sums up to “It’s not cool to steal. So don’t do it. Seriously, you’ll probably die.” Eridor considers stealing what the statue is holding, but he doesn’t.

They poke their head out the back of this building, and 10 feet below them is a pool of water. Nor decides to don his water breathing cloak, and taking one for the team, he jumps into the water below. After a very quick search, he sees a layer of petrified turtles and fish. In addition, there are two stone humans in the water. Nor makes his way out of that pool of stone death as soon as possible.

Kanye dives in and rescues one of the petrified humans and uses the potion of greater restoration on her. She comes to, and reveals that she stole some things, saw a lady descending from the stairs that Nor is standing (he immediately bolts to a different dry spot), and the next thing she knew, she is waking up here.

The party assumes this lady is Zalkore, and they respectfully make their way to the dome where she had descended. The queen is sitting on a throne in the center of the room. She is completely stoned herself (medicinally), and she is curious about the party. It is clear that she has the upper hand and is not threatened by the party. Her army of cranes drives home this point.

She speaks cordially to the group, and the group is extremely polite in return. They inquire about the orchid that they need. The queen responds that she will take Galliard and Seraphina as her slaves in return. [title redacted] manages to not trade their party members and instead parts with some gemstones and the cloak of underwater breathing in exchange for the orchid.

Before they leave, they tell the queen about the current state of affairs in the Chult area, how Omu is overrun by Raz N’si. She acts as though she is fully aware of everything. However, she does offer some advice saying that it is best to approach the city from the skies, and it is too difficult to determine where you are in the terrain from the ground.

The party leaves, no worse for wear. Not super sure what happened with the lady they unpetrified and her friend? The party leaves in their folding boat.

Players Present: Seraphina, Nor, Kanye, Eridor, Galliard, Rahn, Elgard

Players Present by Proxy: Zyldi

Players Missing: Kulu

10 gargoyles fly around Kir Sabal. [title redacted] readies themselves for battle along with the Aarakocra warriors. The warriors prove extremely ineffective. They aren’t helpful at all. However, from the temple, Ashara comes and begins to ready a spell. Inside the temple, the other Aarakocra monks start to dance and chant. It’s clearly the perfect time for a party.

The battle against the gargoyles is slow going. Pretty much every one in the party uses nonmagical physical damage, and the gargoyles are particularly resistance to this. Elgard uses his magic wisely and casts Shatter multiple times to greatly injure them – he is the definite MVP of the battle.

Second MVP is Seraphina. The party hasn’t had the chance to rest since their ascent into Kir Sabal, and most are damaged fairly extensively. However, Seraphina keeps a watchful eye on the party and ensures everyone stays in fighting shape. Additionally, she sees this as the perfect opportunity to use her celestial powers. She summons forth her wings and flies to meet the gargoyles for battle in the air. She kills many gargoyles (at least 3).

Kanye gets the award for zeal. He jumps onto one of the gargoyles and ends up surfing on it down to the lowest walkway. He is eventually knocked off the edge, but is saved by an Aarakocra. (He is almost saved by a charmed gargoyle, compliments of Galliard, who believes that Kanye is his most prized possession of the Gargoyle series.)

Nor spends his time trying to protect Ashara as she brings down a storm to try and distract the gargoyles. His efforts are valiant, but the flying power of the gargoyles prevents him from achieving his goal as he would prefer. Ashara is greatly damaged and is unable to maintain her storm.

However, Ashara’s efforts to distract the gargoyles proves fruitful. As it turns out, the dancing monks are not having a party but summoning an air elemental to fight off the gargoyles. The elemental proves to be an extremely helpful ally.

Rahn, Galliard, and Dragle are just arriving to Kir Sabal when the battle begins. They are separated from the rest of the party, but jump into battle without question. Zyldi also fights hard in her bear form. Together, they continue to make (literal) dents in the gargoyles constitution.

After 7 gargoyles are defeated, the final 3 retreat like pansies. The party has saved Kir Sabal, but they are concerned that it is their presence that has brought forth this particularly vicious attack upon the city.

Everyone returns to the monastery to have a celebratory dinner. Everyone, that is, except Kanye, who retreats into the first house he sees and lies down for a long rest.

Waxanara joins us for dinner, and we learn that she is trying to use her magic to learn how to fly. Ashara does not look pleased at this. Conversation is tense, but civil. Nara is still a little diva jerk face.

Afterwards, most go to the library to see the books. Along the way, Galliard buys a pearl and gives it to Elgard. He uses it to identify the wand they found at the dragon lair (it is a wand of fear).

At the library, they finally meet the young prince, Na. He is reading and is eager to share his knowledge. The small boy is absolutely precious, and the glances between the party indicate that they think maybe Na needs to be the next ruler. Galliard offers to raise his parents from the dead, but Elgard and Seraphina deflect the offer so as to not give the boy false hope.

Na is learning how to grow Avocados (from a book ‘It’s The Pits’). Rahn suggest that he grow cows and offers him some jerky.

Before they say their farewells, Elgard creates a James the Giant Peach book for the boy.

Later that evening, Nor and Seraphina meet up to try and determine the purpose of the cloak that Nor looted from the dragon’s lair. They try multiple physical feats and different fighting techniques, but nothing seems any different. They give up for the evening thinking they’ll need magical assistance the next day.

The party leaves Kir Sabal the next day and begins their journey to the Lost Dreams garden of Mangalor for the flower that will allow them to fly. Along the way, they continue to try and determine the use of the cloak. Nor asks Elgard to hit him with a fireball (he happily obliges). No difference in effect. Finally, Kanye suggests it will allow you to breath underwater. Not wanting to get throat leeches in case it doesn’t work, Nor dips his head in one of the barrels of drinking water. Success! The cloak (with hood raised) allows the wearer to breath and see underwater. Who knows how this may prove useful in the future?

Players Present: Zyldi, Elgard, Kanye, Seraphina, Kulu, Eridor, Nor

Players Missing: Gallliard, Rahn

The ascent up the plateau is fraught with danger. Old pathways and rotting planks cause several party members to fall and take damage or suffer from exhaustion.

As they reach the edge of the village they are greeted by their friend Nephyr and his friend Cirrus. Nephyr has told the tale of [title redacted]’s heroism atop Firefinger, and how that group of Pterafolk with harass the jungle no more. The birdfolk are friendly and welcome [title redacted] to their village as long as they abide by a few rules:

• Don’t Harm
• Don’t Steal
• Don’t Lie
• Don’t Disrupt Traditions
• Be Helpful with Chores

The dwellings in Kir Sabal are simple structures carved out of the rock face, all joined by a wooden walkway. As they make their way through the village, they notice many children and families. One cute little kid (boy? girl? how do you tell?) named Airy catches Zyldi’s eye. Zyldi asks her (I guess it’s a her? Yeah, Airy is a her) if she can teach her how to make some of the pretty bone jewelry that they are wearing – Zyldi wants some souvenirs for her grandkids. After speaking with Airy’s parents (Talon and Beaker), they gift Zyldi a very pretty necklace as a welcome to their village, as well as a thank you for saving Nephyr.

After ritually cleansing themselves according to the traditions, the party is invited into the Monastery to meet with Teacher. The Monastery is the largest building in the village, and the front room is a dining/meeting room. As the party helps get lunch ready for their meeting, Teacher enters the room. Asharra, Teacher of Tradition, Elder of the Aarakocra at Kir Sabal greets the party warmly and they eat lunch together.

Asharra is old and wise and has seen much. She gives the party the following information:

• She does not know of the Death Curse or the Soulmonger, but knows there is concentrated evil in the lost city of Omu to the south
• Omu is where Ras Nsi currently resides with his army of Yuan-Ti. They want to summon Dendar the Night Serpent and bring about the end of the worldAarakocra scouts keep an eye on Omu but it is well defended
• Tells of the princess and prince that are being sheltered in Kir Sabal: Princess Mwaxanare N’Buso, lost heir to the throne of Omu, Queen of Chult, last of her line, and her little brother Prince Na. Their parents are dead (killed by pterafolk and gravity)
• Mawaxanare is 17 and Na is 6
• The Dance of the Seven Winds can grant the party the ability to fly for 3 days, but in order to perform it Asharra needs a Black Orchid from Nangalore, two days west of Kir Sabal near the River Olung- Nangalore
• “The Garden of Lost Dreams” – is home to many exotic plants. A human queen from Omu also lives there, and has for centuries – what’s up with that? Her name is Zaklore and she knows much
• Asharra does not let her  people near the garden due to the Eblis – Evil intelligent cranes – that live there.

As the conversation is wrapping up, Mwaxanare enters the room. She is dressed in fine clothes and wears a colorful feathered cloak. She is charismatic and beautiful, and immediately lets the party know that they are there to serve her. Seraphina tells her that she needs to be more respectful and is immediately slapped in the face by ‘Nare’s “MageHand”. “You will not speak to me this way” she tells the party.

She takes an immediate liking to Elgard. He impresses her by casually playing with a Firebolt, and they hit it off. The rest of the party’s collective eyes roll out of their heads.

Mwaxanare needs the party to clear the evil out of Omu so that she can restore it to its former glory and take up her “Rightful place as the queen of Chult”. The party needs to have a pow-wow about these developments. Kanye tells the story of how when he was younger his tribe had to team up with an enemy Ogre tribe to take out a rogue Storm Giant. Even though the Ogres were evil and smelled like shit, they were helpful in helping take down this greater evil. Kanye says that now is the time for them to endure some Ogre shit and help this girl so they can destroy the Soul Monger.

As this discussion is winding down, some harried looking scouts return to the village, and hot on their heels are flying stone monsters with the faces of devils – gargoyles! We leave our heroes as they begin the defense of Kir Sabal against this menace from Omu.