User:Lhynard/Projects/Imago Deorum/Campaign outline/Summary 6

Dates
Kythorn 26 – Flamerule 24, 1372 DR

Summary
The Daisy arrives in Port Nyanzaru after a pleasant sea journey. Most of the PCs suffer from the constant mosquitoes that first night, and the next day they all buy insect nets. They hire a guide with no arms named Losi and set off across the savannah. (Hakam notices that they were followed while in the city, but he keeps this to himself.) They see a wide assortment of wildlife, including dinosaurs, and arrive at the edge of the jungle at the village Binkwan. Losi tells them the legend of Uluu Thalongh. While passing through a dried-up stream bed, they are attacked by an allip, which drains the wisdom from Hakam, Mythlos, Nargroth, and Oma, before Jayce uses a countersong to stop its insanity-inducing babbling so that the others can destroy it with spells and magic weapons. As a result of the encounter, Hakam can no longer cast his most powerful spells, and Oma is permanently in an unconscious state. Their guide, Mim, ran off in fear during the fight. They continue traveling, and the party begin to suffer heat stroke. They spot a deer eating berries, and Leokas tries to shoot it for food, but it is scared off. A giant tiger then leaps in front of them and growls. Belvin used druid magic to speak with the beast, which then morphs and reveals itself to be a weretiger. He is angry that they scared off his meal, but eventually, he calms down and they ask about happenings in the jungle. He warns against tribes of Batiri and wild dwarves. As night falls, they arrive a a crater surrounded by statues of the same feathered lizards (deinonychi) Belvin and Kamil had seen in their dreams. While they wait for Belvin to return, Jayce explains his suspicions that this site originally belonged to the god Ubtao and not Thard Harr and proceeds to explain the mythology of Ubtao and how the other gods gave him free reign over Chult in exchange for his defending Toril from Dendar the Night Serpent. Belvin returns and discusses the cave painting with his companions. Then he takes time to pray. While he prays, Mythlos and Jayce request a gift for the Chosen One, and Roryn willingly hands over some gold ore, a diamond, and two green gems. Belvin is startled from his prayers by a commotion caused by his camel, Kamil, who has broken free. The camel runs over to the ancient altar in the center of the crater, and Belvin takes this as a sign from his god. The altar appears to be to Ubtao, not Thard Harr, as it is covered in grooves in a circular maze pattern. At the center of the maze is a hole. Belvin hops atop the altar and sliced his bicep, spilling his blood on the altar in large quantities, before having Mythlos use his sword to heal the wound. Belvin's blood flows around the maze and pours into the hole. Suddenly, darkness falls on the whole area, and Belvin is granted a vision that only he can see. A massive swarm of bats emerge from the cave and collectively take the shape of a giant dwarf with a crocodile head. This figure points to the west and shows Belvin a far-off island covered in snow. Then it points to the southwest, where a tyrannosaurus appeared. The giant dwarven form points into the open mouth of the dinosaur, and then all of the bats fly into its mouth, before Belvin is released from his waking vision. They also learn that Szordrin is a tiefling. He has been suspicious of Walker and has been following him since finding him on the outskirts of the Forest of Mir. Szordrin's old master was murdered by someone with an object bearing the same symbol of four interlocking rings found on the two crates.
 * Mick arrives in Teshburl, claiming his tattoo is causing pain again. Nargroth agrees to have the tattoo copied onto his own arm. Having done this, Mick's tattoo ceases hurting. They recognize that the tattoo is half a circular maze. Mick also delivers news of Mythlos' keep. He then departs for Calimport.
 * The next morning, they encounter a large band of lizardfolk, but they avoid conflict when they discover that they simply want assistance reading a map and journal they found. The lizardfolk also request some food, which the PCs share. Then they are allowed to continue. They reach the River Soshenstar and camp for the night.
 * The next morning, their guide Losi is killed when they are attacked by a giant constrictor snake. They learn that they must burn his body because of the zombie epidemic in Chult. Mythlos vows to return Losi's toe ring to his family.
 * They hire ferrymen to take them across the river to Nsibu, avoiding hippopotami and piranhas. They hire another guide named Mim, who will take them as far as TeeTee.
 * They place Oma's sleeping body over Cloud. Then they search for Mim and eventually find him.
 * That night, they are attacked by a pair of leopards, which they slay.
 * In the morning, Hakam finds that he has no magic with which to restore their weakened perception. Oma, having been asleep for a full day, wet herself, and they realize that she will die of thirst if they cannot wake her up to drink.
 * The day gets hotter, and they all grow weaker, excepting the camels, Mim, and Walker. As the weretiger had warned, they are ambushed by a band of wild dwarves and poisoned by blow gun darts. Belvin recognizes that they are wild dwarves and calls out to them the name of Thard Harr, his and their god. They stop their attack and seem in awe of Belvin. They wish to take the party to a sacred location blindfolded, and the PCs consent to this.
 * The next morning, the leader of this band of dwarves, Roryn, leads Belvin to a cave in the side of the crater. In the back of the cave, Roryn shows Belvin a large cave painting that inexplicably showed abstract images of three dwarves bowing down to an elf with a curved sword and a camel. The wild dwarves believe Belvin to be the Chosen One, because of this image which has been known to their tribe for centuries. Roryn does not understand why the Chosen One is an elf, nor does he know what Thard Harr intends Belvin to do, though he suggests it might be to "wipe [ the ] Batiri from face of Toril."
 * Hakam uses his magic to restore Oma's sanity and return her to consciousness but only for a few minutes. She is terrified from nightmares, but they manage to force her to eat and clean herself in the brief time she has before the spell wears off and she falls back into nightmares.
 * Belvin orders the wild dwarves to return their guide Mim to his home. He promises to return and asks them to build him an army in his absence. They set out again, making south for the River Soshenstar. They pass through an abandoned Tabaxi village and enter a region of forest covered in large spider webs, but they make no contact with spiders. They learn that Walker has traveled to many of the elemental Planes and then are shocked to learn that Samber is the name of the customer to whom they are delivering the two crates. Walker, refuses to provide any further information.
 * They reach the Soshenstar and follow it west. They come to an isolated hut guarded by miniature versions of dinosaurs. Noting they were tied like dogs on leashes, Jayce fascinates them with his music, and they carefully pass by and knocked on the hut door. Within they find a wild-looking woman with strangely long fingers. The hut was decorated in Calishite fashion. They soon learn that the woman, named Yasheira, is an oracle and druidess. They pay her the diamond they had received from the dwarves, and she gives a prophecy to each of them individually using a talis deck.
 * For Leokas:
 * "Before eleven months pass,
 * The Queen of the Moon
 * Will meet the sun."
 * For Szordrin:
 * "The ninth emperor
 * Of the seventh dynasty
 * Is in your past."
 * For Hakam:
 * "There will be conflict in your group.
 * Before the eighth bowl,
 * You will have to choose between the two."
 * For Mythlos:
 * "The sword of the fool
 * Will slay the baatezu."
 * For Belvin:
 * "Nine sisters of magic —
 * One of them will bear your child."
 * For Nargroth:
 * "The young warrior
 * Shall travel among the stars,
 * There to find death."
 * For Jayce:
 * "When the Seven Swords can go no further,
 * Remember the rods,
 * Remember the time;
 * It is five o'clock."
 * After, she gives a prophecy to the whole group:
 * "I see an ancient temple.
 * I see a door blocking your way.
 * I see a white island.
 * I see a flaming skull.
 * I see a blood-stained cave.
 * I see pools, or perhaps mirrors.
 * "The gods are watching,
 * But their eyes are blocked.
 * I see more than even they,
 * For they made promises out of fear,
 * Fear of the one who consumes nightmares.
 * Strange alliances are being made.
 * There is jealousy.
 * There is wonder.
 * There is fear of the unknown.
 * "As for you,
 * Follow the chosen one on his difficult path;
 * The sea you will gaze upon once again.
 * As for you,
 * Follow the rejected one on his wandering path;
 * The world you might not gaze upon again,
 * But then the two will meet."
 * Yasheira then requests a private discussion with Belvin. When he returns outside to the others, he shows that she has returned the diamond to him. They set off again.
 * But then the two will meet."
 * Yasheira then requests a private discussion with Belvin. When he returns outside to the others, he shows that she has returned the diamond to him. They set off again.

After this respite, they reach the village and tell ghost stories until the sun sets. After dark, the spectre appears and attacks them. They defeat it, but in the battle, it nearly slays Mythlos by draining most of his life force away, leaving him gravely weakened. Hakam realizes that he cannot cure Mythlos without more diamond dust, and they worry about this. Fipya had mentioned dwarves, but she only knew of dwarven mines on the west coast. They continue to follow the river and come to a camp and find a woman's footprints and the tracks of a large snake. In a private chest they find some money and items. One of the coins was covered with poison and sickens Jayce, but Belvin heals him. Under a pillow on a bedroll under a tarp, they find an amulet and a map. The map shows their current region and is written in Draconic script with several X marks and symbols. Oma can make out some of the words, but she doesn't believe the language is actually Draconic. The map appears to include a location labelled "secret" as well as the site of a dwarven cave, which encourages the adventurers. They hear a woman's scream, and Nargroth rushes off to the river bank. He reports that a woman is drowning and goes to rescue her, but then the region is filled with darkness, and the grasses become animate and begin to grab at them. After struggling to find their assailants, they defeat two yuan-ti, a pureblood female and a halfblood male. The bathing woman had simply been a trap.
 * The next day, they encounter a hunter's pit trap, and the three elves fall into it. Just when they manage to climb back out, a ceratosaur bursts from the jungle and takes Belvin in its jaws, nearly biting him in half. A bloody, vicious fight follows, but the adventurers slay the giant lizard and heal their severe and otherwise fatal wounds with magic.
 * That night, they feast on dinosaur steaks. After dark, they scare of some unknown jungle animal. When morning comes, they suspect it was a tiger.
 * The next day, they enter another web-infested region of jungle. This time, they encounter a giant spider, but they slay it with their collective attacks before it can harm any of them.
 * Hakam spends the next morning in prayer, requesting Anachtyr for greater power to restore Oma, who had been unconscious now for many days, save for the five minutes Hakam could give her each morning. This morning, he uses magic to crush Belvin's diamond into powder. Sprinkling it over her, he is able to restore her to her normal state.
 * They come to a village called Tunji and spend the night. In the morning, however, they are surrounded by the entire village and brought before the elders to stand trial. It is believed that Walker's packages bring a great evil into the jungle, and they learn that they have been followed by members of the Triceratops Society since Port Nyanzaru, who claim that two of their guides have either died or gone missing, which is taken as evidence against them by the village elders. The elders force Walker to open one of the crates, and he does so. The party catches a quick glimpse of stacks of arcs of a strange black metal. The village wise woman and priest each examine the pieces and find them neither evil nor magical. Even so, the elders decide to give the party a test to prove their innocence. They must destroy a spirit who has haunted the nearby abandoned village of Nyan. The village populace had been slaughtered by Ras Nsi after one man refused to pay taxes to his zombie servants. So violently were the villagers slaughtered, that one of their members became a spectre, and it had been impossible to rebuild the village since, because of its haunting.
 * With one of the Ytepka, a woman named Fipya, they set out for Nyan, a day's journey away, while Walker remains at Tunji. On the way, they stop at a high waterfall, and elves swim at its base.
 * The next day, as they prepare to head back to Tunji, Walker appears, riding the carpets with the two crates. He had been shot with arrows escaping from his confinement at Tunji, and they heal him magically. Since they had passed the trial, Fipya permits them to continue without returning to the village, so they do not lose more time. She promises the Triceratops Society will continue watching them, however, and departs.