Adventures in Chult - Session 5

(I am not happy with the game session recaps I have done to date. I want to tell the story, and I want to explain my design process, but combining the two goals has just made for long and hard to read posts. For this post, I am going to try posting the text I wrote for the in-game calendar in Foundry, which I will then supplement with my design notes. Hopefully this is a better solution.)

Session 5 - Making a Name - Mirtul 16-17:
The rest of Mirtul 16 was spent cleaning up after the battle with the undead. After a quick examination, Arco informed the party that the supposed human female was in fact a yuan-ti pureblood. This was evidenced by the scales on her arms and the slender, forked tongue. After setting up a tinker's display with a repeating message near the pile of undead corpses, the party returned to Malar's Throat. They talked briefly with Screaming Wind and the Tymoran priest, Lateef Heyns, and then Screaming Wind escorted the party and their journalist charges back to the city gates. 

Once in the city, the young scribe Kara, gave Strider a quick kiss on the cheek and ran off to Popnes to make sure the story would be included in tomorrow's edition of "The Port". They decided to spend the night at the Thundering Lizard, where Isa was greeted with great fanfare and appreciation. The crowded tavern was filled with locals, but the party was able to secure rooms. Before retiring for the night, the party looked for a suitable mark to extract a few coins from. Isa decided to challenge the reigning arm-wrestling champion to a match for 5 GP. After getting egged on by Arco and softened up by Burgell, the burly blacksmith heartily accepted the challenge. As they locked arms, Isa flew into his Barbarian rage and easily bested his opponent. Overall, the party was up 4 GP, with Isa up 5 and Burgell down the 1 GP to the loss that encouraged the blacksmith to accept Isa's challenge. 

The rest of the evening in the tavern was spent on a hero's feast, complete with steak, river eel, and greens. After the meal, Isa elected to spend extra money to have a room by himself; Del, Anemin, and Burgell shared a room; Arco elected to sleep outside where he could breathe the fresh air and see the stars. 
In the morning, Burgell was disappointed to see the news in "The Port". While it was clear that Zhanthi paid for the party to assist with the undead in Malar's Throat, the article still raised questions about why foreigners were paid instead of native Chultans. In addition, the story about saying the girl highlighted the damage that was done as much as the heroic feat that was performed. 

After breakfast, the party headed back to Zhanthi's. They were greeted by Kores, who was very happy with the news. Apparently the comment in The Port about not using Chultans was not troubling to him. He gladly paid the full 100 GP. The party elected to give 10 GP to Strider, keeping 18 GP for each of them. 

The next stop was Wakanga's. Wakanga's villa was similar in layout to Zhanthi's, but was filled with books on shelves and tapestries on the walls. Wakanga was happy to meet with them, evidently due to the recommendation from Zhanthi. As he enquired about their reason to be in Chult and to call on him, the party mentioned that their friend Nelison had contracted the Death Curse and that Remallia asked them to investigate. 
At the mention of Nelison, a round-faced bearded individual walks into the room. Questioning the party about Nelison, it is clear that this individual knows him, even if he did not know that Nelison was ill. After a few minutes of discussion, the new participant in the conversation introduces himself as the famed author and explorer, Volothamp Geddarm. Anemin quickly becomes ecstatic and giddy with the knowledge he is in the presence of someone so knowledgeable. 

The party shares with Volo the gifts from Nelison, including the stone etched with the maze that was gifted to Arco. Volo and Wakanga briefly conferred, and then escorted the party to a basement room with a large version of Arco's stone. They explain it as portal of some sort, and teleportation circle that can be activated by recreating a specific pattern in the stone's maze. The only problem is that they only know of the pattern for this particular stone.

After reviewing the stone, Wakanga asks the party to deliver a rug to Zhanthi. The party is completely suspicious of what is enclosed in the rug but has the professional courtesy to not examine it. 
​
Walking through the early morning streets of Port Nyanzaru, the party decides their next course of action is to head to Fort Beluarian. While planning their next steps at the Thundering Lizard, they are approached by a tall human male looking to discuss some assistance the party can provide him. 

Design Notes:
This was a fun session to run, but I was concerned how the players would react as it was completely role-play. Feedback was positive, which was a relief. 

The party's decision to not go back to Zhanthi to continue working for her presented me with some challenges. I was thinking of Zhanthi as a quest hub for Port Nyanzaru to help them gain experience and money, and to drop a few plot elements for them. However, even as deserting Zhanthi closes some avenues, others open including fostering some resentment with and towards Zhanthi. 

Another fun aspect was the ability to really introduce the broadsheet. I decided on the fly to call it "The Port". The copy the party bought during breakfast on Mirtul 17 had the following stories:

• Headlines
  • Undefeated Haddy confirmed for tomorrow's race, jockey still missing
  • Merchant Princes concerned Chult is origin of Death Curse
  • Continued danger to clients and guides forces Jobal's hand
  • Mainlanders save young girl, trash city street
  • Zhanthi's Forces Slaughter Undead
• Details in the stories
  • Crowd favorite is almost even odds to win her fourth straight race. Regular jockey still missing.
  • News from the mainland is that the "jungle sickness" has spread to the mainland. Several rumors point to Chult as source but no details are known. Article author suggests the rumors are "nothing more than the mainland's continued attempts to oppress and control Chult".
  • The interim measure enacted forcing any party wishing to hire a guide needs personal permission from Jobal has been extended indefinitely due to safety concerns. Jobal is quoted as saying, "We are experiencing an influx of foreigners unaware of the dangers of the jungles of Chult. This unfortunate measure must be extended to ensure we can keep everyone safe."
  • In the act of saving a young girl from being trampled by a startled ankylosaur, a group of mainlanders trashed vendor stalls, ran into city elders, and destroyed a vendor's cart. Luckily, representatives of Merchant Prince Zhanthi were close at hand to assist with clean up and restitution.
  • Zhanthi hired a group of mainland mercenaries to repel undead in Malar's Throat. It is unclear why strong, loyal Chultans were not suitable for the task. While the result is overall good, this is another case of Chultan money flowing to mainlanders.

The dinosaur races in Port Nyanzaru have a good reputation with player and GMs for being a fun experience, however my party was never interested. I even tried to tie in a bit of mystery with the missing jockey, but they were not interested in that either. The storyline about Jobal was suggested to give them a reason to visit another Merchant Prince and to force a decision regarding a guide. With Arco being a ranger with a Favored Terrain of Jungle, they decided a guide was not needed.

The last two stories were about their actions, and it was great to see their reaction. "Hey, why aren't we seen as heroes?" My intent was to show that actions have consequences, and that the characters would not be universally loved and lauded. Mission accomplished.

I really liked planting the element of the stone in Wakanga's villa. This idea of the "Webway of Ubtao" was taken from reddit just as I was preparing the campaign. This is perfect because the party can essentially teleport around Chult at low levels, and the slog of a jungle hex crawl is lessened if the party can quickly travel back to Port Nyanzaru. In addition, as a GM I can drop a webway maze into any location in Chult that make sense to the story, and it provides an avenue to explore the culture of Chult in greater detail. This will be something I will compare and contrast between Camp Righteous and Camp Vengeance later on.

The last point is about Volo. If you recall from the write-up for Session 0, 1, and 2, I had the common NPC Nelison provide Del with an autographed picture of Volo. Here is the specific wording of the gift Del received. 

• Del: A signed piece of parchment signed by Volo Geddarm that says, "Thanks, I owe you one!", and a reptilian eye preserved in varnish that still reacts to light. For the parchment: "If you are ever come across that traveling scamp, remind him he still owes me a favor! I'm sure you could use this and your considerable charm to extract something of value out of Volo."

Del is drawn to people of power and influence, but it was Anemin that jumped all over the opportunity to interact with Volo. In a classic "I'm your biggest fan!" moment, Anemin was completely focused on doing whatever Volo suggested. This was completely unexpected but completely wonderful because now Volo is not just a purveyor of knowledge before fading out of sight, but a major draw for one of the characters. We will hear more from Volo in future sessions.