The Thursday Game 10/17/19 – Enter the Lost City

Recap of October the 17^th in the year of our Lord 2019 –

The party scrambles up the chimney formation in the last room of Hrakhamar to the outside. We find Sythia Vinecutter, the leader of the albino dwarves. The two dwarves we rescued have already told her about our battles with the fire newts. She is extremely grateful, and we are compensated. With our help, our guide Musharib has completed his quest to reclaim Hrakhamar. He is reunited with his people and will be leaving our employment.

We ask about the location of the downed airship Sythia had previously described. She states It is about forty to fifty miles to the east. The party heads through the jungle and discovers the vessel impaled on trees. The Monk scrambles up to investigate. The Warlock flies the Paladin up to the deck. The Paladin sees eight undead in two groups milling around the corpses of what is presumably the dead crew. The Paladin ties a rope so the Warlock and Cleric can climb up to the ship while the Druid turns herself into a spider to climb. Once there, the Cleric and Paladin are ready to unleash the holy fury of Pelor and Bahamut on the foul creatures! Until the Warlock blasts one with a push and off it goes sailing over the side of the deck. A quick look down shows, yes, its days of undeath are over! We decide this is wildly efficient! We keep the undead busy until the Warlock can get to them. The Paladin kills one outright while the Warlock pushes the last one of the first group. The Paladin helps the Warlock get to the second group and soon that group has been launched into the wild blue yonder while the rest of the party chills. Disappointingly, our investigation shows that the airship is not repairable.

We continue through the dense jungle until the trees open into a vast valley containing the lost city of Omu, alleged location of the Soul Monger, the evil force affecting all Chult. The Warlock casts fly on the Paladin so he can scout the area. After about ten minutes of flying around trying to sense evil, gargoyles from the cliff walls fly to attack him. The Paladin quickly returns to the team; the gargoyles return to their posts. On closer observation, these gargoyle sentries are positioned about every hundred feet on the cliffs that encircle Omu.

An abandoned guardhouse stands at the entrance to the city. On its walls, previous explorers have written graffiti with clues to the secrets of the city:

Entering the city, we see most of Omu is in ruins. Far to the north, smoke drifts over the city. Upon entering a small plaza in the southwest, we see human corpses, some wearing red robes. The Druid hears a whimper from the direction of a collapsed wall, and we dig out an old man named Orvex Ocrammas. He says he has been trapped for three days after a band of Yuan-ti snake people attacked his party. He had been employed by the red robed wizards who were searching for the lost treasures of Omu. He believes four wizards either escaped or were made captive by the Yuan-ti. We bury the corpses and set up camp for a long rest.

At this point, we are told the Legend of the Nine Gods of Omu. Your humble cleric submits this text and has emphasized the names of the Nine Gods for easier tracking as we may encounter their presence or followers in the city .

Long ago, the god Ubtao hardened his heart and vowed to weep for the people of Omu no longer. The rains stopped, the jungle withered and died, and death swept through Omu.

One morning, a wise zorbo emerged from her hollow tree and spoke to the dying Omuans. To convince Ubtao of their worth, she decided to cook him a stew made from all their good qualities. Catching such virtues wouldn’t be easy, so she asked a wily almiraj to help her. The almiraj snuck recklessness in the pot, which she saw as a virtue, and Ubtao spat out the stew when he tasted it. From that day on, Obo’laka the zorbo and I’jin the almiraj became terrible enemies.

At noon, a brave kamadan hopped down from her rock. She saw the evil in the Omuans’ hearts and decided to lance it like a troublesome boil. The kamadan fashioned a holy spear, but she left it by the riverbank and a crafty grung stole it. In her rage, Shagambi the kamadan forgot all about the Omuans and chased Nangnangthe grung forever across the sky.

When evening came, a wily eblis stepped from his reed hut. He didn’t like the Omuans, but without them he’d have no one to play his tricks on. The eblis sent a marsh frog to reason with Ubtao, but the frog was angry and decided to wrestle the god instead. This amused Ubtao, 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 with his new tentacles.

That night, a su-monster broke into Ubtao’s palace and stole a pail of water for the Omuans. When the god came running to find it, the su-monster hid the pail in a jaculi’s burrow. Ubtao asked the jungle animals where his water was hidden, and Moa the jaculi was too honest to lie. When Wongo the su-monster found out how Moa had betrayed him, he vowed to catch the jaculi and eat him up.

All the while, Unkh the flail snail lived deep under the earth. The noise of the other animals fighting made her slither up to the surface, and when day dawned over her shell, the light blinded Ubtao and made his eyes water. Life returned to Omu, and the people built shrines to honor the animals who’d saved them.

Respectfully submitted,

Marigold Underbite, Cleric – May Pelor light your way!