Tomb of Annihilation Session 19 – Ruins of Mezro

Here’s the write up from our latest Tomb of Annihilation session, in which the adventurers explored the ruined city of Mezro. I used the excellent Ruins of Mezro adventure site by Will Doyle for this session.

Begin here with Session 0 – Caves of the Cockatrice

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17^th Uktar, 1495 DR

The party look out over the ruins of Mezro in an attempt get the lie of the land. As they observe the city, they spot a human-shaped figure flying above the ruins before abruptly falling from the sky. Nanna discovers an abandoned explorers’ camp with a canoe tied up close to the water. Eysleigh uses his tools to repair the hole in the bottom of the boat.

At dusk, Nanna guides the canoe as the others row past dozens of crocodiles to the ruins. After making a wrong turn in the gloom, the gnome orders a course correction, and the canoe enters the overgrown southeastern quarter. The group rows past a statue of King Osaw I who served as a bara of Mezro for 1,500 years and had the power to precisely remember every event he ever witnessed. After dropping the passengers off in the dense jungle, Nanna and Tharhul head back to collect Certes and Vorn. While the others wait for their return, they spot campfires through the trees to the northeast.

Once the party are back together, Eysleigh casts speak with plants and instructs the thick foliage to let them through. Unfortunately, the weight of so many adventurers (and one giant construct) is enough to cause the ground beneath their feet to collapse, and the characters tumble into a cellar filled with carnivorous mantraps. 

No one succumbs to the mantraps’ alluring pollen but Eku and Thunder in the Morning are engulfed by the deadly plants. Nanna decides to climb out of the cellar to safety but finds herself attacked by a pair of ravenous ghouls and is paralyzed. Rhamash stuns one mantrap to free Eku and kills another to free Thunder. Certes casts scorching ray, Eysleigh summons Birdie and sends the Green to distract the ghouls, and Tharhul uses his hunter’s mark to inflict extra damage on the mantraps. Tharhul and Tyke are both engulfed but are quickly freed when the plants are killed. 

With the mantraps dead, the characters are free to deal with the ghouls who have been joined by reinforcements. As the last ghoul is slain, a Flaming Fist patrol arrives on the scene, led by Sergeant Kes Valdro.

Brushing away Eysleigh’s concerns for her hacking cough, Sergeant Valdro insists on the characters accompanying her to Promise, the Flaming Fist headquarters outside Mezro, to speak with her commanding officer, Lieutenant Brokenbarrel.  The party are escorted through the ruins, past an amphitheatre and a marketplace swarming with zombies who have apparently been lured there by the city’s bells.

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When they reach Promise, the characters are taken to see Lieutenant Brokenbarrel, a goliath, whose large hut is full of treasure plundered from the ruins. After Valdro vouches for the party’s bravery against the ghouls, Brokenbarrel agrees the characters can stay overnight in Promise but forbids them from reentering the ruins.

Over drinks at the Fortune & Glory tavern, Sergeant Valdro explains that she was raised from the dead some time ago and her terrible cough and flaking skin are signs of the death curse. She believes there may be clues to ending the curse in the Library of Mezro but Brokenbarrel won’t let her search the building. Valdro thinks this is because the lieutenant has succumbed to gilded fever and is possessive of the riches that might be found in the library. The characters agree to go there with her and see if they can discover useful information.

Meanwhile, Nanna is starting to feel feverish and has an unnatural craving for raw, human flesh as she feels the effects of ghoul fever. Fortunately, Eysleigh has lesser restoration prepared and cures her disease.

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Later that night, Valdro leads the party back into the ruins. In the northwest Market Quarter, they are attacked by a trio of wights and Tharhul is drained 7 hp which he cannot recover until the death curse is ended! Once the undead have been dealt with the group crosses into the Scholar’s Quarter and reaches the three-storey Library of Mezro.

The characters split up and start searching the bookshelves for clues. Certes is an experienced library user and finds a promising tome but before he can peruse its contents, two swarms of books fly off the shelves and attacks him and Tharhul. To make matters worse, a beholder zombie floats into the chamber from an adjacent room and blasts the minotaur with its disintegration ray. 

The characters concentrate their attacks on the beholder zombie and for once Vorn is stirred into action. The construct pummels the beholder with its mighty fists, killing it, and the others finish off the swarms.

With their foes slain, Certes reads from the book he’s found:

“When the Soulmonger grinds,

and exiled Nsi wraps himself in serpents,

Death’s curse will grip the world,

From beneath the forbidden city.”

Eku suggests that the “forbidden city” might be the lost city of Omu, outlawed when Omu’s royal line fell from Ubtao’s favour. She doesn’t know where Omu can be found but suggests that the oracle at Orolunga might be able to help.

As the characters discuss their next move, they hear marching feet. Lieutenant Brokenbarrel has arrived on the scene with a group of Flaming Fist soldiers….

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