My regular Dungeons & Dragons group is playing through Tomb of Annihilation and I am very excited to be doing so. For this campaign, I am playing a Fallen Aasimar Cleric of the Grave Domain named Wyfingrem. Her family are renowned among her people as Resurrectionists. With the world stricken by a Death Curse that has prevented resurrection, Wyfingrem and an odd assortment of adventurers, have answered the call from a mysterious benefactor to find the root cause of the curse and destroy it. Each day, Wyfingrem journals her experiences as a way to feel close to people, especially those closest to her heart.

Day 10

The perils of our journey have never been made more evident than they were last night, my dearest love. I share this story with you not to frighten you or cause you undue worry for my well-being. Rather, I hope to only underscore the risks I would gladly face if it means returning you to my embrace that much sooner.

All things considered, however, I would ask that you refrain from ever sharing my father of the imminent threat that will likely hover over us for the rest of this quest. He was against my going in the first place. He need never know who close to reality his fears were.

You, on the other hand, were different from father. It took but one look in your eyes and I knew without reservation that the risks were worth it and that you supported me with all your spirit.

We were awoken in the middle of the night to find our camp under assault from creatures most foul and unnatural. Soulless vessels had returned from their eternal slumber in defiance of the just Adjudication of the Life Givers and in an affront to the Embrace of the Death Dealers.

Dimo’s cries brought me out of my slumber to find poor Zilditch already surrounded by the beasts. Before I could react, I would myself in similar dire circumstances. By the grace of the Gods, Sir McManly was at my side, beating back the monsters.

His bravery provided me the time and space to ask the Gods to cast new Adjudication upon the zombified men. My faith has always been strong, my dearest love, and the Gods rewarded me for such devotion. I felt their awesome power fill my soul before bursting forth in righteous rebuke, scattering the sacrilegious constructs hither and yon.

As those who somehow persisted through the rebuke continued their advance, I backed toward the fire, thinking it shielded my unguarded side. There I found the Ginger abomination in sad shape indeed. I breathed a quick prayer to the Gods of Life and Death for their infinite perspicacity and they decided she be shown mercy. And so, I pushed the gifts of their will into her.

The creature named Toni then produced another of those balls of acid as if from another plane and cast it at one of the zombies, completely annihilating it. 

I must know how she manifests these supernatural creations. As One Without a Soul, she clearly has no God whose will she embodies, and she is without a single reagent or spellbook. I shall investigate this further if for no other reason than to figure out how to put her down if she is under the influence of dark powers.

With the judgment of the Gods on our side and the brawn of our brave warriors all around us, we eventually defeat the creatures. However, it is plainly evident a force greater than any our people have before encountered compels these abominations to perform their nefarious deeds. The way so many defied the Just Rebuke of the Gods of Light and Death? The way they seemed to fight on beyond their dismemberment and toward their utter destruction? 

At first, I thought it a byproduct of this foreign land but now I possess doubts, thinking perhaps a great and ignoble practitioner of the occult spins his web of desecration far and wide throughout this jungle. In support of this theory, Sir McManly has found a glowing blue tattoo on the head of the zombies that attacked us. They match those found on the ghouls who had previously assaulted us.

Immo possesses a commendable degree of knowledge about this land and its gods. He tells us this particular tattoo is the symbol of a necromancer named Ras Nsi who once raised an army of the undead that he sent forth to destroy the city of Mezro, the very place we are heading.

It raises for me a plethora of questions, my dearest love. Does this pernicious purveyor of magic most dark and profane still live? If so, it is my duty as a Scion of the Gods of Life and Death to find and destroy it. If this necromancer has died, are these mere remnants of his army of undead? If so, I must cleanse this land of their stain. And then there is Toni, the Soulless Ginger. She seems to control magic outside the boundaries of the natural order. Is her placement among us as a spy? Is she a disciple of the necromancer? I have much to investigate and understand.

For now, we have doubled the watch to ensure everyone gets at least some rest during what is left of this night. My turn is coming to its end and so I wish you the sweetest of dreams, my dearest love. I go now to pledge my nightly devotions to our Gods.

All my love.

Day 11

I am both relieved and disappointed to tell you we have arrived at Mezro.

My companions and I entered to investigate the source of the Death Curse. Something about the entire abandoned city feels off. What exactly it is about this cursed ground that is so wrong however I cannot discern. Every time I think I am close to unlocking part of the puzzle, it slips away from my grasp. I sense Sir McManly has shared in this experience by some of the expressions he has made, a brief moment of clarity followed by abject frustration, but I have not spoken with him on this.

We ventured deeper into the city, looking for more signs of the curse’s origin but finding nothing of significance. Eventually, we did reach the remains of what was once the city center only to be confronted by a band of undead. One particular fiend had the audacity to address us in our tongue, the most severe mockery of the Gods yet, warning us that we were trespassing. 

These creatures and the nefarious hand that guides them know no limit to their offense against life and death and Gods who maintain their balance. While they accused us of trespassing in this dead city, they failed to recognize their very presence on this plane is the most egregious act of trespassing one can imagine!

The speaking creature was aided by multiple skeletal constructs bearing bow and arrow, and a mighty and massive four-armed creature I cannot name but moves with such power and a grace and speed that defies its size.

Immo called upon his divine searing light that seems to flay these undead creatures, and Rhyaex morphed into his mighty bear form to engage the many-armed undead beast.

Not to worry, my dearest love, I used the terrain to my advantage as father has taught me, and sought refuge behind a crumbled wall. From there I beseeched the Gods to channel their protective energies into me. They answered my call, and not only filled me with their blessings but allowed me to in turn channel it into Rhyaex, Dimo and Immo to aid them as they confronted the creatures head-on. Through the blessings of our great and just Gods, these evil creatures would find it most difficult to bring them harm.

I saw Sir McManly fall today, far from where I could aid him too, but Immo rushed in and infused the fallen warrior with some sort of spores he produced from within himself. They did their work though and brought Sir McManly back to his feet and back into the fight. Nonetheless, the Gods of Life and Death judged it not Sir McManly’s time and pushed through me their healing energies as well to further support him.

Renewed by the light and fury of our Gods, Sir McManly leaped into the air and brought his mighty ax down, felling the unholy leader of this band of abominations. Leaderless, the remaining creatures quickly fell to our might.

While we rested and recovered, Immo tells us the tactics and behavior of this group remind him of a regimented army and not a mindless pack of monsters. He posited that these creatures had perhaps been practicing to defend this city center for decades.

We did then spend time investigating more of Mezro. I am crestfallen to say we found no evidence of the Death Curse here and have mutually come to the conclusion that Mezro, despite being a city covered in vines, is not the one from Zitembe’s vision.

That said, my dearest love, I maintain this city, or at least what remains of it, still holds a great mystery that we could not solve. Alas, it is not part of my quest and therefore I must move on.

While it is somewhat unclear where to go from here, Salida claims there is a sage in the jungle who predates Mezro itself and who may have answers. I am highly skeptical of this as I remain highly skeptical of Salida. That a man could be that old and still living is unrealistic, less he was sustained by the very forces or order seeks to eliminate. We shall see.

For now, we have headed back to the boats with the intent to travel back down the river to its end and then traverse by foot from there. We still owe Inete a debt as well and I intend to honor my word in this.

I go now to commune with the Life Giver and the Death Dealer, and then I hope to dream of you.

All my love.

Day 14

Hello, my dearest love.

We have traversed the jungle, without further threat, thank the Gods, and arrived back at the boats. 

While journeying down the river, we see something quite intriguing off in the distance. A pyre seemingly formed naturally of rock rises high above the jungle ceiling. It spews smoke and gouts of fire from time to time, and I am stunned by its awesome presence.

Salida tells us the people of this land call it Fire Finger. Local legends say the Pterra Folk, a tribe of mysterious individuals who perhaps worship at this flaming mountain, take people to the top of it and do something to them - possibly eat them This all sounds implausible to me but I know too little of this land and its people to dispute her. This is Salida though, so I am careful to assign much weight to her claims.

While the Fire Finger and the journey to it would no doubt fill many pages of this journal with interesting discoveries and observations to share with our people, it is yet another distraction from what it is I am here to do, my dearest love. I am here in service to our people, our Gods, and the entirety of mortalkind itself. I cannot let myself be distracted.

We are setting camp for the night so I must go through my nightly devotions now. I long to see you again. This has been a setback but while I am frustrated I am not defeated! We shall be in one another’s lives soon, the Gods grant it so!

All my love.