In short
The teleport drops four of the five into Port Nyanzaru; Quill is missing. Zindar welcomes them and sketches out how the port is run. At the Thundering Lizard, Elias takes a missing-person notice. At Nala’s Loom the party dress like locals and agree to find out why her dye supplier has gone silent. The Dye Works turn out to be fogged with indigo steam and home to a ghoul (the dye master himself) and two zombies.
Arrival
The circle drops the party into a crowded town square on an early, already sweltering morning. The air is close to 100% humidity, and everyone starts sweating at once. Around them:
- Locals wear loose, layered cotton in loud, clashing colours: odd sleeves snapped on, a blue arm and a green arm over a bright orange body.
- Buildings are heavy stonework reinforced and roofed with bamboo.
- Dinosaurs do the work of horses and oxen. Triceratopses pull wagons and dimetrodons carry packs.
- On one side is a food market; on the other, the harbour.
A large brass-and-gold dragonborn with a silk sash and a ledger under his arm bows to them. He is Harbourmaster Zindar, who answers directly to Prince Wakanga, one of the seven Merchant Princes. Syndra asked him to look out for them. He recommends the inn across the square and points out his office on the docks.
Quill is missing. Zindar says teleport accidents happen and promises to get in touch with Syndra.
What Zindar tells them
- Chult is mostly unexplored jungle. Port Nyanzaru, on the western tip of the peninsula, is its only real settlement. What history there is gets passed down by word of mouth.
- The Grand Coliseum to the north holds gladiatorial games. “If you’re feeling brave… easy money.”
- The jungle is full of undead and dinosaurs. Few who go in come back. Hire a licensed guide; about ten are registered with the guild. Guides advertise on the notice board at the inn.
- Wakanga is a dapper, eccentric mage and a long-time ally of Syndra’s. He is friendly but curt, and holds the monopoly on magic items, scrolls and potions. Don’t annoy him.
- The Merchant Princes each run their own monopoly and are never in the same room unless something is badly wrong.
- He won’t say which prince he likes least. He does suggest they visit Fort Beluarian, the Flaming Fist post outside the walls. The Fist run their own little harbour there and don’t pay his harbour tax, so he takes a small risk by saying it.
- Elias asks about “Kordris escaping to Chult”, which confuses everyone (the target is Acererak). Zindar wonders whether “Kordris” is a lost lover and mentions you can buy one in the Red Bazaar.
- Jungle supplies (rain catchers, insect repellent, rations, maps) are sold in the Red Bazaar.
The Thundering Lizard
The inn’s sign shows a giant lizard and a lightning bolt.
- Inside: low timber beams, fishing nets and mounted beast heads, a huge dinosaur skull over the bar, and sandstone walls yellowed by smoke.
- Furniture: iron-bound tables built to survive brawls.
- Food and noise: cheap earthenware bowls of spicy fish stew, alien drumming, and a very drunk lute player.
The barkeep is a huge tattooed human with gold hoops in his ears and a cudgel on his belt. He sells the house ale for 1 cp: honey-sweet, mead-like and ice-cold. He sends the round over with Gondolo, a little fellow he holds up by the shirt.
People-watching (Kale):
- Two very drunk tabaxi siblings swapping stories about their last trip into the jungle.
- A brooding dwarf in the shadow of the back stairs whose whole manner says stay away.
- A sweating northerner who grabs everyone who walks past and talks at them urgently. Nobody stays.
The notice board: lost pets, odd jobs, guide adverts, and one fresh sheet pinned over the rest:
Missing — lost my brother, went into the Velvet Serpent two nights ago. Please help. Will pay 20 gp. (with an address)
Elias takes it. The barkeep places the Velvet Serpent in Old Town and says to buy a map in the Red Bazaar. → Quests and Threads > The Velvet Serpent
The Red Bazaar
The Red Bazaar is a sprawling open-air market under long crimson canopies that turn all the light red. It is a flea market of every kind of stall: spices, rare woods, bone trinkets, feathers, iron tools.
- No weapons are sold in the bazaar. For those, try “the smithy just outside”.
- A bone carver works dinosaur teeth and bones into trinkets “because the voices in my head tell me to.” The party moves on.
Nala’s Loom
Behind a beaded curtain is a cramped shop stuffed with bolts of cloth: Nala’s Loom. Nala is an older woman with silver-streaked braids hung with rings and a necklace of polished jade. She dresses the party:
| Who | Outfit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Kale | Breathable local clothing in every colour at once | 5 sp |
| Kintergas | Pieced together from greens only, worn over his chainmail | 10 sp |
| Gimbal | Gnome-sized local clothes | 5 sp |
Elias flatters her (“never in my days have I seen such a fine haberdashery”) and she brings out her special stock:
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gravewearer’s Shroud | 35 gp | Shadowy cloth. Draped over a corpse, it stops it rising. |
| Mask of the Venom Eater | 50 gp | Woven reed coated in dried snake venom and a jungle herb. Advantage on saves, filters airborne toxins and the smell of the undead. |
| Red silk sash | 20 gp | Has a strange cross-dimensional fold. |
| Indigo poncho-cloak | (price not given) | Woven with bioluminescent Chultan moss. Glows on command or blends into darkness (advantage on Stealth at night). Took her three weeks. |
The deal. Nala doesn’t haggle, but she does trade. Her Dye Works contractor hasn’t been in touch for weeks and her pigments are running low. Find out what happened and restore contact, and she will part with two of the items.
- The dye works is in a large cave under the edge of the bazaar. Its air is vented outside the wall so the bazaar doesn’t smell of dye.
- It operates under Zindar’s nose and pays no harbour tax, so: keep quiet.
- The dye master wears a large bronze signet ring with the Dyer family crest.
- Directions: walk down to the flower stall selling long-stemmed roses and turn left. Look for a dinosaur paw with a small circle in the middle, and a hatch hidden under some barrels.
The Dye Works
The hatch is under a stack of fake barrels by the flower stall. Elias creates a distraction by busking. His lute turns into a white electric guitar (the “Feender”) with five dragon heads whose eyes light up: Tiamat. He sings about five heroes led astray by a false promise from a wicked god. He earns 25 cp and 3 sp, and the others slip down the ladder unseen.
Below, the cavern is full of hot indigo steam:
- You can see about 10 feet. Darkvision only shows the fog in more detail.
- Sound dies in the air, and it’s hard to breathe.
- The vats, presses and tables are in good order, but there is no one around.
Kale clears a 10-ft bubble with Prestidigitation. Gimbal casts Light on a hanging lantern, and something leaps out of the fog.
Fight: a ghoul and 2 zombies.
- The ghoul lands on Kale, bites him and pins him. Kintergas recognises it at once: “That’s a ghoul.”
- Elias throws a dagger: natural 20. It goes hilt-deep between one zombie’s eyes.
- Gimbal casts Sanctuary on Kale and Sacred Flame on the ghoul.
- Kintergas swings and misses; the ceiling is too low. His shoves don’t work either.
- Kale’s Eldritch Blast and Hex break the Sanctuary. A zombie claws him for 6. Gimbal heals him with Healing Word, using his Healer’s feat to reroll.
- Kale finishes the ghoul. Elias runs the last zombie through with his rapier.
What they found
- A vent fan at the far end is jammed with a rock. Kintergas follows the vent out beyond the city walls. Two sets of ragged undead footprints come from the jungle and slide down into the vent.
- The ghoul wears the bronze Dyer signet ring. It was the dye master.
- Clearing the vent clears the steam within minutes. Floor to ceiling, the cave is stacked with bolts of cloth.
- The zombies wear rags; one has 5 cp.
- The dye master’s ledger stops about a week and a half ago. It is mostly shipments, plus fond notes and some terrible poems about his wife.
- Gimbal prises out one of the ghoul’s canines as a trophy. It is a reagent for unpleasant magic.
The party briefly considers blackmailing Nala, then decides that fair is fair. They take the ring and ledger back to her.
Loot & items
New clothes · 25 cp 3 sp (busking) · 5 cp · Dyer Signet Ring and ledger (to return) · Ghoul Canine
People met
Zindar · Thundering Lizard Barkeep · Gondolo · Nala · the Dye Master (as a ghoul) · named: Wakanga O’tamu
Bestiary
Threads opened
- The Velvet Serpent missing brother (20 gp)
- The undead got into the city through a vent. What else can?
- Nala’s reward is still to be collected.