We go on a jolly treasure hunt, all while hunted by ghouls, ghasts, ghosts, and an very angry blue dragon.

When last we left our heroes, we made it back to Port Nyanzaru after a very unlikely encounter with Feron Silvermace, a pudgy noble from Cormyr, who has managed to survive, lost in the jungle, for over a month with no skills and no training and just a rock to defend himself. Yes, he is Newt from “Aliens”. Unfortunately, our heroes and Feron are on different paths, so they abandoned Feron to discover his fate, alone. At least they equipped the doomed noble with weapons, food, and directions. Hooray for our heroes!

In Port, Syndra Silvane, the “official” quest giver of the adventure, finally teleports into town. Right into the middle of a rampaging dino race. She is saved by our heroes, but the same cannot be said about the army of hardened warriors that came with her. They were trampled to death by the galloping dinos. With her squad of seasoned soldiers squashed, she is forced to bequeath her quest to the next best thing; our motley crew of “heroes”. Her quest? Head into the jungle and cure the Death Curse. No further information at this time. Good Luck.

After receiving a few more side quests, we finally do the thing we came back to Port for in the first place: Meet the Merchant Princes and Make Plans to eliminate their Pirate Problem. There are seven Merchant Princes, who are the kings and queens of this land. (Or at least, think they are.) There are three “good” Princes who are on our heroes’ side, but the other four will need to be persuaded. (Not threatened or accused, Thames!) It was fine at first; plans were made to set a trap, tricking the pirates to attack a ship filled with our heroes and other guards, who will capture the ship(s) and her pirate captain(s). If our heroes succeed, they will be paid 2000 gold for each captured ship plus 500 more for her captain. Then the meeting went all wrong.

Due to some poor word choices, (“What have you done to our friend? You bitch!” comes to mind) and not knowing when to just shut up, our heroes invoked the ire of the evilest of the evil Princes, Kwayothe. Using her succubus minion, she secretly charmed one of the players and had another thrown in jail for contempt. This was all during an attempted coup by another group of Yuan-ti Purebloods (the ones that look human) who had snake-charmed several of the Princes’ elite guards to fight for them. Our heroes prevailed, and they got Thames out of prison, but had to run back into the jungle before Kwayothe came up with a reason to have them executed for treason.

One of their new side quests was given by a young lady name Xandala, who wants the party to find her father who disappeared into the jungle recently. No, it’s not Feron Silvermace, though that would have been hilarious. (Oh yeah, we found your father; we sent him off to die in the jungle.) No, her father is Artus Cimber, the same man that the frost giants have been hunting. She even has a locket with the same image as the giants’ wanted posters, proving they are the same man. Our heroes did not tell Xandala about the dangers her father faces. They kept that secret from her.

But Xandala has secrets of her own. First, she is evil. Artus Cimber is not her father. And she is only hunting Artus to steal the ring he wears, the Ring of Winter. Initially, I planned to leave Xandala at Port Nyanzaru and thus any potential showdown between these two would occur here at Port. But if Artus Cimber doesn’t return then this will never happen. So, as the party is preparing to leave town, Xandala insists on tagging along. She says that she is merely assuring that the party doesn’t just skip town with the gold she has already given them. Now, when she ultimately betrays them, the party will be alone and isolated with no allies or pesky guards to help them.

The purpose of this third jungle expedition is threefold: Kill time waiting for the pirate plan to be ready; Seek out the ruined city of Mezro; and Find the buried treasure they first learned about back in Session 1. At the very start of the adventure, I gave my group a waterlogged journal of an ancient explorer who was lost at sea over one hundred years ago. The journal was written by Alucius Alphonse of Amn and details his doomed expeditions into the jungle of Chult. It was designed to stir the players’ curiosity and to help guide them when choosing their own expeditions. I included tantalizing clues to a number of locations hidden in the jungle; a snake filled temple, Crocodile Man, Mezro, and Nangalore to name a few. You can read a full account of the entire journal here: ToA Journal Alucius Alphonse

The most enticing details came on the last pages, where Alucius describes how he came to be shipwrecked and trapped in an area of Chult called the Phoenix Horn. He writes that he buried his treasure “…beneath the stone pyramid in the bear’s mouth.” The journal even provides a drawing of the area giving more clues where to find this buried treasure. It took a while for the players to learn that Phoenix Horn is a small mountain range in the northeast corner of Chult. The players have seen these mountains before, but their view at the time did not line up with the view in the drawing. They’ll have to travel further up the coast over rugged terrain to reach the right location. They are heading back there now, and this time they will not be deterred.

As our heroes heads out of town, their roster includes a number of hirelings, companions and excess baggage. There is their druid guide, Qawasha, and his vegepygmy companion, Kupalue, but everyone calls it Weed. There are four native warriors, Abebe, Gero, Paki, and Thabo, whom our heroes rescued in the Yuan-ti temple and have sworn to serve the party for a year as their life debt. Each one has a stat card that is run by a player. They use them as porters and to give each player an extra action in combat. Next are the two hirelings who were both pried away from the Flaming Fist under very different circumstances. First is Grum who is run by Ian, and despite the fact that Gwen has tried to get rid of him on numerous occasions, Grum has proven to be her most useful ally and even savior. Lastly is Benedict, who was hired as their animal wrangler but is terrified of wild beasts. He is run by Theo, though he assists in most fights by running away. And don’t forget Seppi, Thames’ beleaguered homunculus, who mostly carries Thames’ cannon. Artiticers, whatever.

This is to be a long overland expedition, so they loaded up two wagons with all their provisions. They are sick of having their oxen die, so this time, they chose to use the two dinosaurs they’ve acquired. Stu the rescued stegosaur, and Zongo the stolen triceratops. Because overland travel is so slow and tedious, I decreed that the party can travel 2 hexes (20 miles) per day instead of the usual one. I explained this by giving Martic the Ranger his next Favorite Terrain feature a level early. He chose jungle which means they can move faster, cannot get lost, and can track enemies like a boss. Even so, it will still take four days to reach the Horn and at least another two scrambling over difficult mountains to find where Alucius’ treasure is hopefully still buried.

There were of course random encounters, but even the players were anxious to get to the main adventure and they ran through them, so we’ll do the same. There was a pack of boars that they party ignored, leaving the cages they dragged with them still empty. They found Dead Explorer number 11: Lord Onovan IV of the Dales, half eaten by a dinosaur, but at least the beast left the upper half undigested so they found his electrum and malachite ring. Next was an Emerald Enclave lookout post, staffed with a fellow druid, Rodrick, who was observing a pride of lions, which the party also did not mess with. Before moving on, Rodrick warned them of recent sightings of a blue dragon flying over the Phoenix Horn. Ooh, Ominous.

The last encounter I wouldn’t let them run from. It was another pack of ghouls, this time led by a ghast. They were mostly here to give the players some more heads to give to Blaze Portyr at Fort Belaurian for their bounty. But there was another reason. I want to introduce the presence of another necromancer stalking these lands. Until now, every undead they’ve encountered has had a blue triangle marked on their forehead. The party knows this is the symbol of Ras Nsi, whom the players already want to kill. But these ghouls have a new mark. These ghouls have a black circle emblazoned on their heads. This black is the blackest black they ever seen, like an empty void piercing their skull. The party does not know (though most of the players do) that this is the symbol of Acererak, the true villain of the story. They just know that there is a new enemy in play.

The best part about this fight was Xandala. For the entire journey, she has remained aloof, sitting on a chair in the back of the wagon like a princess. She has not engaged with any encounters and seems bored. The party has tried to talk to her and received only curt replies in return. “Shouldn’t you be staying alert for dangers and not gossiping?” Even during the fighting, she stayed in the wagon. The party was struggling initially and asked for a little help here. Her reply did not help, “I am paying you. You are in my employ. You do the fighting. Wake me when you’ve solved this problem.” This is going to be a long trip.

Ultimately, our heroes prevailed and journeyed on. The reached the base of the Phoenix Horn and the wagons could go no further. I modified my map so that these mountains rose right up out of the sea. A person on foot could scramble across this rocky hellscape, but there was no passage for the wagons. The party found a natural overhang and made a base camp under it’s protective cover. Our heroes would travel the rest of the way on foot while the remainder of the party would stay here. Xandala complained that this was not helping her find her father and we should abandon this foolish treasure hunt. Our heroes assured her that it should not take more than five days to get there and back, but Grum was given instructions that if they haven’t returned within ten, then he should leave our heroes behind and return the group back to Port.

Even in fair weather, the party could see that this is the most inhospitable shoreline in all of Chult. The waves were lethal, smashing against the very mountains, in a relentless explosion of sea and foam. And just off shore there were thousands of shoals and jagged rocks, waiting to tear apart any ship that dared to come near. If Alucius wrecked in this area, it’s a miracle he survived only to be doomed, since no rescue could ever arrive by sea and no one would ever travel this way on foot. It was a slow, treacherous crawl over the ragged rocks, but the group was making good time. Then the skies unleashed and the world turned into a tempestuous cauldron.

Wind howled, waves crashed, day turned to night, water poured like buckets, and the sky roared with lightning. Our soggy heroes trudged on, mile after miserable mile, until they came upon the cause of all this chaos. A man-sized eagle was fighting a huge Blue Dragon in the stormy skies above. But it wasn’t a man-sized eagle. It was an eagle-man, a fabled Aarakocra. And why is there a Blue Dragon here? He’s not in the book! No, but he should be. One thing Chult lacks is a proper dragon presence. Just one single young Red Dragon? Lame. Except for a White, I added in one of all the chromatic dragons. There’s an adult Green Dragon near the Peaks of Flame, an ancient (and dying) Black in the central swamp, plus this adult Blue right here in front of them. Good luck.

The fight in the skies seems to be at a stalemate. The dragon is far more deadly, but she can’t match the Aarakocra’s agility. But the birdman is clearly fatigued; it’s only a matter of time before he falters. Suddenly, the Blue Dragon spews forth a tremendous bolt of lightning that streaks across the skies. The Aarakocra swoops under it, barely dodging instant death, then he hurls his last spear, straight into the joint where the wing connects to the back. The dragon is sorely wounded but not nearly wounded enough. Even worse, the Aarakocra swooped too close, and the drake slashed him with his massive claw. The birdman was knocked unconscious and plummeted to the ground to be dashed upon the rocks below.

Thames cast feather fall, arresting the descent of the dying birdman, who floated gently to the ground. The dragon dove out of the sky and the ground shook as she landed; right in front of our heroes. “Who are you? Friends of this pathetic pigeon, I’m sure.”

Even Thames, who is always itching for a fight, knew they were no match for this truly terrible lizard. “No, your magnificence. We are merely explorers, travelling this tropical paradise.”

“There are no tropics here on my mountain, pup. Why are you really here? Looking to steal my treasure? What’s with the shovels?”

Roland took up the tale, “No sir…”

“Madam!”

“No sir, madam, my humblest apologies. We are not looking for treasure, a friend of ours was marooned just east of here. We seek to rescue him if able, or at least bury him, if not. That’s why we have shovels.” That’s a pretty good lie. Roll me a Deception check. Pass.

“An honorable goal. Never let it be said that the Blues are not honorable. You may pass, but be gone from my lands in three days or I will be less charitable. You may bury your bird friend too. He fought an honorable fight. But if I find you are lying to me, as my word of honor, I will flay the skin from your body and gnaw your bones into powder. Goodbye. I expect never to see you again.” The dragon flew off and disappeared behind a mountain peak. For now.

While the others were duping the dragon, Gwen managed to stabilize the Aarakocra and when the dragon flew away, she was able to heal the birdman’s wounds. This was actually a hilarious moment when Gwen cast her only remaining healing spell, life transferance. This spell swaps your hit points to another. Gwen took 30 points of damage, (knocking her to zero and now rolling death saves) to heal the wounded dove up 60 hit points. The funny part is that the Aarakocra only has 13 hit points max. The spell was a massive overkill and Gwen nearly died, yet every other member still had some minor healing on them. But still, it was a noble sacrifice. With a feathery flutter, the healed hawk opened his eyes. “Where am I? What happened?” The group retold the tale of his horrific battle with the dragon and how we were lucky enough to safe his life. The Aarakocra introduced himself as Baracka and thanked them for saving his life. He went on to explain that he is on a Visvi (pronounced Uh-ee-suh-ee) or what you might call a Vision Quest. When the Aarakocra come of age, they must fly a solo flight around the entire peninsula before they can truly call themselves part of the land and sky within. Had it not been for our heroes, his quest would have ended very quickly.

They asked where he came from and Baracka replied, “From the Vihara (monastery) at Kir Sabal, about 100 miles south of Mezro”. I am playing these birdfolk as a cross between Native American tribes and Tibetan monks. I’m using a mash up of terms and ideologies from both groups, to lend their unique flavor to my world. (I’m sure I ended up being disrespectful to both.) As for Kir Sabal, I like setting up the desire to visit a location before the players get there. Once the players do arrive, it feels like a real accomplishment. Also, I want them to have a positive encounter there, so Baracka gives them his totem, a medallion in the shape of wings with his unique feather patten on it. “Show this to Kir Sabal, and tell them what you did for me. They will welcome you with open wings. Farewell, my friends”

After bidding their adieus, Baracka flew off to continue his visui. The rest of our journey east was tedious but short and at the end of the second day they saw a small spit of land surrounded all around by mountains and tumultuous seas. This must be the spot. Getting down to the beach and looking back up at the mountains, the two views were identical and at the base of the mountain was a small cave that did resemble a bear’s open mouth, just like the drawing. Inside the cave, several rocks jutted out of the sand like the bear’s teeth. One in particular looked like a pyramid. The group broke out the shovels.

Just then, a solitary skeleton rose up out of the sand and began hopping toward our heroes wielding a rusty long sword. It was hopping because it was missing the lower half of its right leg, which it broke before it died. As it advanced, it said in an eloquent noble voice, “I’m so sorry. You must die for disturbing my eternal slumber or something. I can’t remember.” Every time it swung his sword, it said, “I’m so sorry,” or, “Please, end my misery, already.” This skeleton had the blue triangle mark of Ras Nsi.

The players tried to talk with this undead abomination, but it just kept swinging his sword apologetically. The party gave up on parlay, and with little effort, they dispatched the skeleton. It fell back on the sand, saying, “Thank you…” No sooner had the bones hit the beach when a ghost rose up out of the twice-dead corpse. The disembodied spirit gazed upon our heroes and said, “By the gods, I have been trapped in that husk for ages. What year is it? Forgive me if I can’t shake your hand for releasing me. But where are my manners?” With a transparent bow, he said, “I am Alucius Alphonse of Amn at your service. But who are you and how did you come to be trapped in this inhospitable hell?”

The players recounted the saga of how they came in possession of his journal which floated all the way to Waterdeep, and how they travelled to Chult and retraced the explorer’s expedition, including their success at the Yuan-ti Temple and Crocodile Man. They talked about Ras Nsi and the current state of Chult, to which Alucius replied, “Yes, he was the chap that trapped me in my corporal body. Said I would be a pleasant surprise for the next person to get marooned here. But he was a man then, not some snake beast.” These are my favorite bits of roleplay, when the players get to relive their exploits while I sit back and enjoy the tale, with a few interjections of my own. Lastly, the group explained how they tracked down his final resting place and his buried treasure.

“Yes, of course, the treasure. By all means it is your right to take, I have no need for such mundane shackles. But would you mind terribly if I tagged along? You’ll barely know I’m there. I can live in the chest and so greatly long to explore more of this wondrous land.” Of course, the party said yes, so we can add the specter of Alucius Alphonse of Amn to the party’s roster. I even have a mini for him.

As for the treasure, once they finally dug it up, it is a bona-fide bounty for all this effort: 700 copper, 6,000 silver, 2,200 gold and 100 pieces of platinum coin. Twelve gems worth 100 gold each, perfect for when Thames’ homunculus dies again; 3 jade, 3 amethyst, 2 sapphire, 2 tourmaline, 1 opal, and 1 coral. There are six art objects: A silver and gold brooch with the seal of Amn, a necklace of pink pearls, a bronze crown symbolizing Ubtao, a jade chalice, a silver pendant with a maze motif, and an ivory statue of a mermaid with six wolves protruding from her waist line. (Our players will meet her in a few weeks.)

Then there are the magic items. There are two of Quaal’s Feather Tokens, one of an anchor and another of a fan. These will come in handy against the pirates or maybe Aremag. There is a potion of bubbling blue ichor and a pouch containing clear sand. These are a Potion of Heroism and Dust of Disappearance but I don’t tell my players that. I love describing such items instead of just telling them what they are. It magnifies the sense of mystery. They don’t have Identify memorized. They’ll have to wait until they do, or start experimenting, which can always be fun. There is also a golden mace that shines with an inner light. It is a Mace of Disruption because Gwen doesn’t have any cool stuff yet. The last magic item is a strange wooden mask, similar to a Batiri war mask, but this one is carved and painted to look like a chimpanzee. This is another Mask of the Beast and is the item Alucius held clutched in his hands after he was found delirious in the jungle with no memory of how he got it.

I love this magic item, but there aren’t enough of them. In the book, there is only one of these. It is found at Firefinger and is the quest item for the guide, Azaka. And once you find that one (which is carved like a tiger), you are supposed to give it back to her. But there should be a whole set of these in existence. The one I created here is carved like a monkey, but I want to have one shaped like an eagle, a snake, a spider, a frog, a wolf, maybe even a dinosaur. And I want to make them more unique and useful.

In the book, the mask only has the ability to cast animal friendship. That’s good, but two of my players can cast this spell at will and don’t need this item. As written, the item has three charges. I added that if you expend all three charges (so, once per day), then you can cast dominate beast that will affect up five creatures but only of the type depicted on the mask. My monkey mask can be used to charm any type of monkey (and maybe apes, I haven’t decided yet.) Now the item is much cooler, and with a surprisingly useful ability that I have no idea how it will be applied. Also, the monkley mask will be integral to a King Kong storyline (where we also learn how Alucius came to possess it) that I want to include deep in the jungle if we ever get there.

Treasure like this are vital to D&D. Except for combat, this is the moment when your players are fully invested in the game. Think about it. Your players can’t remember the name of your carefully crafted NPC, but they can recall every single item of treasure they own. Treasure matters. But weirdly, this adventure doesn’t have much treasure until you get to the final two dungeons. So many locations literally have no treasure in them, or at best, one single not-terribly-useful item, like the alchemy jug at Crocodile Man. In fact, the two major hauls that my players have received both came from my homebrewed scenarios; the Yuan-ti slaver temple and this treasure hunt. Even if you don’t add these two situations into your game, be sure to add in way more treasure. Your group will appreciate it, and maybe made to feel sorry for asking.

Back to this treasure, there is one more piece de resistance at the bottom of the chest, wrapped in a red cloth. In real life, this is the biggest and heaviest prop I have ever dropped on my players, and it has sat in my basement for over ten years, just waiting for this moment. I gingerly place it on the table, (if I’d really dropped it, it would break the table,) and beam as my group unfurls an immense, 50-pound gemstone; a massive quartz crystal. Eons ago, I hauled this behemoth rock, by hand, out of Grafton Mines in New Hampshire with no idea what I was going to do with it. Now here it sits, a mammoth miracle of a millennia of metasomatic metamorphosis. Except I tell my group that this is not quartz, but rather a 50-pound diamond, the largest ever in existence, it’s value unimaginable.

In the real world, the largest diamond ever found weighs less than 1.5 pounds. At fifty pounds, good luck finding a buyer for this monstrosity. I hope to have all sorts of dramatic escapades come from this rock. Once word gets out that they own it, every thief under the sun will try and steal it. Nations will go to war over a rock like this. Plus, my players don’t know this, but the ghost of Alucius has bonded to the gem, so it can’t be broken or divided in any way. The possible problems for possessing such an item are endless. Let’s have one right now.

Our heroes are marveling at the fact that they are now the richest people in all of Chult, when a dreaded voice calls to them from outside the cave. The blue dragon is back and she bellows, “I knew you were lying. Nothing but filthy treasure seekers looking to steal what will soon be my treasure. Don’t ask how I know, I can smell the perfume of stolen gold on you. These mountains and everything in them is mine. As a lady of honor, I must keep my word and kill you. Bring my treasure to me now, and I’ll kill you quick. But make me chase you, and I’ll kill you slow. You will beg me for years to put you out of your misery. Bring me my treasure!”

Next week, Our choice is die by blue dragon or die by purple mold as we lose our minds in a mine.

As always, if players demand more treasure, give it to them and make them suffer for it, and Game On!

It is the gold. They are drawn to treasure like flies to dead meat – Smaug the Unassessably Wealthy, and fellow coveter

By the way, one other significant moment happened this session. Roland the paladin cast find steed to finally gain his bonded mount. I took a while to choose the appropriate creature to serve as Roland’s steed. I could think of nothing better than the very same kamadan they rescued back in the Yuan-ti temple and has repeatedly been observed trailing the party ever since being released. After the call, the noble creature approached the brave paladin and with a bow signaled his eternal fealty. My group, being who they are, named the spotted leopard Stripes.

And don’t forget to check out my Tomb of Annihilation Resources Page, filled with all the stuff I use to make this epic campaign even more epicier: My full Campaign Diary, plus Handouts, Maps, Charts, PDFs, Images, and more to use, abuse, or ignore at your peril.

And written specifically for this adventure, read my Explorer’s Guide to Chult to delve into all the legands, lore, history, religion, and culture that I used to bring even more life to this adventure.