"Aremag" - Tomb of Annihilation, Chapter 1

"I NEVER LOVED YOU"
The sailing ship Karanja sailed south along the northwest coast of Zazamanc towards the Chultan peninsula. Captain Abasi, an ancient mariner with the winkled leathery face from a lifetime at sea,

The Karanja was taking cargo and a handful of passengers from Akwa-Obio to Port Nyanzaru. The passengers included a male human scholar with a strange accent, a bestial theran druid, a human female from Akasa, a b'alam jaguar-man from Bres, and an aarokan noble from the sky-kingdom of Aarokar-Nasaris.

It was the morning of their final day. They would arrive that afternoon. The Bay of Chult lay just ahead. Captain Abasi stared sleepily at the horizon and sighed. He was tired and unusually pensive. Perhaps it was time to retire.

His first mate, Bartholomew, spoke, "Captain. The men and I would like to have a word with you."

Captain Abasi was shaken out of his reverie. He looked around to see his crew, armed with cutlasses and clubs. Bartholomew had drawn his own cutlass.

The first mate continued, "We don't want to pay Aramag's toll! We'd rather take the money and the ship and sail to Jahaka bay."

Captain Abasi stared back in disbelief, "You're speaking madness, Bartholomew! What will you do with these passengers?"

Bartholomew raised his voice to address the passengers, "If they're smart, they'll cooperate. They'll be sold into ransom or slavery. If they resist, then they'll be tossed to the sharks." One of the crewmen approached the b'alam with a pair of manacles, "If you please..."

"This is mutiny, Bartholomew!"

Bartholomew ran Captain Abasi through with his cutlass.

Captain Abasi staggered and stared at his first mate. Bartholomew leaned in and hissed, "I may be your first mate, but I never loved you!"

TOMB OF ANNIHILATION, CHAPTER 1

"AREMAG"

Five travelers journey to Chult

But first they must survive a mutiny

and a mysterious guardian of the sea...

THE PASSENGERS

Nova Scotia Blackman - a black Canadian archaeologist (Human Rogue) from 1920s Earth who was transported from Greenland to the strange continent of Zazamanc. He is searching for a way to return to Earth but has come to appreciate his new home. He is searching for a man named Artus Cimber.

Apparently Jones - a blue-skinned demijin caravan guide and animal trainer (Air Genasi Ranger) from Akasa, the land of sky mountains. She is traveling to Port Nyanzaru to find work as an animal handler.

Bramble Wolf - a theran barbarian wise-man (Razorclaw Shifter Druid) searching for the legendary origin of his tribe.

Qhallebbewk Zriri - an aarokan aristocrat (Aarocockra Ranger) from the sky-city of Aarokar-Nasaris, banished by his noble family for his boorish behavior. He is travelling to Port Nyanzaru hoping to win the approval of his family by accumulating glory and fame.

Xoc-Wik - a b'alam warrior (Tabaxi Fighter) from the jungles of Bres, searching for the person or people responsible for the destruction of his tribe.

THE MUTINY
A mutinous crewman approached Xoc-Wik with a pair of manacles, "Cooperate and no harm will come to you."

The jaguar-man stared incredulously at the crewman and replied in a thick Mazzanian accent, "Oh, I don't think so!" and drew his rapier.

A melee ensued as the passengers proved to be more capable of defending themselves than the mutineers anticipated.

Apparently Jones revealed herself to be no mere caravan master as she unfurled her leather whip and held several mutineers at bay

Nova Scotia Blackman, the strange visitor from another world and time, lashed several mutineers with his own whip before he was knocked unconscious by an opponent using a spyglass as a club.

The druid Bramble swung his staff which cracked upon the skulls of the mutineers with surprising force. After taking down two mutineers, Bramble was himself felled by a villain's cutlass. However, no sooner had he fallen to the deck unconscious than he sprang  back up, brushed himself off, and continued to fight. (DM Note - he rolled a twenty on his first death save)

The noble bird-man Qhallebbewk swooped down and clawed at a mutineer with his talons.

Meanwhile Xoc Wik pierced the hearts of several mutineers with his rapier in one hand and his claws in the other.

The captain fell unconscious and Xoc Wik sprang to the quarterdeck to confront Bartholomew.

The mutiny was ultimately put down and and the passengers took stock of the situation. Nova was wounded but stable. Bramble channeled the power of the nature spirits to heal Nova of his wounds and distributed magical healing berries to the others.

The captain was healed of his wounds and, with the crew dead or subdued, directed the passengers in sailing the ship into the Bay of Chult.

The passengers asked the captain why the crew mutinied. Captain Abasi replied that the crew had no wish to pay the toll to Aremag.

"Who is Aremag?" they asked.

At that moment, the sea heaved. A small island emerged from the waves and steam shot into the sky like a geyser as a massive gnarled head turned a milky eye towards the ship. The passengers held onto the railings as the ship bobbed in the thrashing seas now filled with hungry sharks.

"That," the captain replied, "is Aremag."

AREMAG
The massive dragon turtle settled next to the ship and the seas subsided. A voice that sounded like a geyser boomed in the ancient language of dragons, "TRIBUTE."

The passengers looked to Captain Abasi, "Aremag demands a toll to pass through the Bay of Chult. In exchange, he protects Port Nyanzaru from all pirates and raiders. We usually throw a few hundred gold overboard. That's why the crew mutinied. They figured they could take the ship and the gold toll. There's a chest of gold in my cabin below. Be a good kitty and bring it up, will you?"

Xoc grimaced at the insult but complied. However, he found the chest broken open and empty. He reported his findings to the captain who cursed, "Those fiends! They must have stolen it and hidden it somewhere in the ship. Find it quickly!"

At that, Aremag slapped the ship and caused it to list heavily to one side forcing everyone to grab the railing. "Quickly!" shouted the captain.

The passengers scurried below the decks and rifled through the belongings of the crew. Xoc returned above deck with a sack of 50 gold. The captain directed him to pour it onto the deck.

Aremag hissed, "MORE!!!" and slapped the ship again.

The passengers returned below deck and this time returned with several more sacks. Xoc declared, "I found one!" Apparently declared, "I found a sack!" Bramble declared, "I, uh, I didn't find anything!"

DM Note- I rolled randomly to determine how much gold Aremag required. Aremag demanded 150 gold. I had the players make Perception checks to search for the gold vs a DC of 12. Each successful check found 50 gp. Each round they'd have to make a DEX save vs 12 or be knocked overboard. It was super fairly easy but I didn't want them all killed on their first encounter. 

Meanwhile, Nova was entranced with Aremag, asking the mighty creature a series of probing questions about its history, its intention and motivations, etc. Aremag simply ignored the questions.

Once the new gold was added to the pile, Aremag seemed appeased. The captain ordered them to throw it overboard and Aremag submerged once more beneath the waves.

PORT NYANZARU
The Karanja limped into port late in the afternoon as heavy rains began to pour on the ship and the city. Without a proper crew the Karanja needed assistance pulling alongside the quay. The passengers asked  the captain where they might accommodation as they disembarked. The captain directed them to either Kaya's House of Repose or the Thundering Lizard. 

Nova, Bramble, Xoc, and Qhallebbewk chose to seek room at Kaya's while Apparently, short on funds, bid her farewell and stayed at the Thundering Lizard.

While at Kaya's, the group discussed their next steps. All seemed intent on mounting an expedition into the jungle interior. A young man named Rumble, a local, offered his services as a guide. The group was suspicious of the young man's dogged intentions and repeatedly turned him down.

A well dressed local man intervened and instructed Rumble to move along. The man introduced himself as Rokah and apologized that he couldn't help but overhear a bit of their conversation and their intent to mount an expedition into the interior. He explained that to do that they would need a charter of exploration from the Flaming Fist mercenaries at Fort Belurian.

Rokah explained further that the mercenaries claim dominion over all the jungle lands north of Kitcher's Inlet. They send regular patrols through the area with orders to arrest anyone not carrying a charter of exploration, a passport that costs fifty gold coins. He said that he represented several mercantile interests in Port Nyanzaru who disagree with the Flaming Fist's arrangement. Rokah offered to escort the group to Fort Belurian and cover the cost of the charter. All he asked for in return was for the group to occupy the Flaming Fists, keeping them distracted while he performed some- investigative work on his own elsewhere in the fort.

The group agreed to the terms and Rokah said that they would leave at dawn in two days.

TIRYKI ANCHORAGE
Meanwhile, the rains had stopped and Apparently Jones found her way outside of the city walls to the neighborhood known as Tiryki Anchorage. There she found many animal pens containing many dinosaurs used for riding and beasts of burden. She looked around for a likely place for employment when she saw a hadrosaurus rearing against its handler. The hadrosaurus broke free and began charging down the narrow street.

Apparently Jones rushed out in front of the wild hadrosaurus and managed to get the beast's attention. The hadrosaurus stopped in its tracks. Apparently maintained eye contact with the beast, calming it until she could grab its reins.

The animal's trainer ran up and took the reins, "That was incredible! How did you do that?"

Apparently said that she was a beast handler from Akasa and was looking for work. The trainer introduced himself as Coco and told her to come and talk with his boss.

Coco introduced Apparently to his boss Satebi. Satebi was a fat Chultan with a bald pate and long tight braids. Apparently asked about obtaining work.

Satebi said, "Ever raced a dinosaur before?"

She answered that she hadn't.

Satebi replied, "Doesn't matter. You ride in the race tomorrow. If you survive, you got yourself a job."

Apparently said, "Sounds good. Wait, did you say survive?"

TO BE CONTINUED...

DM Notes-
I'm starting without the main plot because I want the group to get to know Port Nyanzaru and Chult a little more. If we jumped right into the main plot, the group would ignore everything else and do everything they could to head straight towards the mission objective.

So I had everyone be from a foreign land and asked them three questions:

1) where are you from (in relation to my fantasy world)>

2) why can't you go back there?

3) why are you going to Port Nyanzaru?

Almost everyone gave good backstories and reaspms for being in Chult. Where I screwed up was that I allowed everyone to create their OWN reasons to go to Chult. So once they got there, they had a reason to split the party. So now I have to work extra hard on giving them a reason to work together as a team. I admit I didn't think that part all the way through.

Luckily, everyone but Apparently have motivations that conveniently coincide. Now I just need to get Apparently back with the team.

Next week: DINOSAUR RACES!!