Page 73 - Tomb of Annihilation

is furnished for humans and belongs to Mwaxanare The plateau's sheer cliffs can be scaled, but only with
and Na. It is much finer than the others, as befits their a climbing kit, proficiency in the Athletics skill, and at
royal status. least 300 feet of rope.
Treasure. Mwaxanare has many beautiful trinkets: The path is a much easier route to the top. It begins
silver brushes and mirrors, crystal perfume bottles, on the north side of the plateau. Through many switch-
writing quills made from multicolored parrot feathers, backs, it winds across the cliff face for 3 miles before
jewels for braiding into her hair, necklaces and rings set reaching the top. The path width varies but averages 5
with fiery ChuJtan opals and amber. AJI together, these feet. Tumbled boulders and tangled roots block the path
are worth 330 gp, but to be caught in Kir Sabal with in many places, but as long as characters aren't being
items stolen from Mwaxanare means death-and since chased by anything, they can clear the obstructions
no one in Kir Sabal would ever steal, suspicion automat- safely. The first ascent takes 3 hours; once the road is
ically falls on the characters if anything disappears. cleared, it can be climbed or descended in half that time.
As the characters climb ever higher above the tree
KITCHER's INLET
line, they are treated to stunning views of the surround-
The River Olung pours into this shallow bay named af- ing wilderness. Across the Aldani Basin to the south-
ter Ilyber Kitcher, a pompous Cormyrean explorer who east, they can see the Heart of Ubtao, and nestled in
claimed to have discovered it a few centuries ago. He the jungle to the west is the ziggurat al Orolunga. Char-
did no such thing, of course; the inlet's existence and acters who succeed on a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception)
location were well known before Kitcher missed the check also spot some sort of shipwreck in the jungle,
Bay of Chult (he was a terrible navigator) and unknow- beyond the plateaus to the south (see "Wreck of the Star
ingly sailed down the peninsula's eastern coast before a Goddess," page 84).
storm blew him back within sight of land. There is noth- About a hundred feet below the lip of the plateau, the
ing remarkable about the inlet, other than it provides path (which is proceeding west across the cliff at that
access to the ruins of Port Castigliar and Mezro. point) veers directly into a natural cleft in the stone face.
Steps are cut into the 15-foot-wide crevice, and scenes
LAKE Luo of jungle predators, flying lizards, and erupting volca-
noes are carved in shallow relief onto the walls in ways
This lake sits above an immense geothermal sink,
where it's heated by volcanic vents and by lava stream- that make creative use of the natural shape of the rock.
ing down from the VaJley of Embers. Portions of the lake When the characters reach the top of the steps, read:
arc actually boiling, sending up clouds of steam that can
be seen for miles. The water is too hot and too alkaline The stone steps emerge onto the top of the plateau be·
for fish or any other type of aquatic life to survive in it, neath a once grand, but now decrepit wooden gateway.
and the shore around the lake is a dead wasteland of ash
and salt flats. Aside from mud mephits and steam me- The gates that sealed this entrance are rotted away; only
phits, few creatures thrive in the area. The water cools their rusted iron hinges and reinforcing bands remain. In
and loses most of its alkalinity as it flows north along their place are heaps of human skulls. Picked clean of all
the River Olung. flesh and bleached white by the sun, they grin up at you
from the roadway and down from atop towering mounds.
LAND OF ASH AND SMOKE
This hellish, smoky sea of black volcanic rock is traced
with streams of lava. The Land of Ash and Smoke is a The skulls are all that remain of Mbala's former resi-
playground for firenewts and for Tzindelor, a young red dents. The citizens were devoured by a hag posing as a
dragon (see "Wyrmheart Mine," page 85), who likes witch doctor. All the skulls show signs of having been
to bathe in the lava streams. This gray, barren valley is gnawed on. The hag is now Mbala's sole living resident.
typically 20 to 40 degrees hotter than anywhere else in To move off the steps, characters must either wade
Ch ult. It receives only a fraction of the rain that falls on through heaps of skulls or climb over the sides of the
the rest of the peninsula, and what rain does fall rapidly staircase and go around the gate. Evidence of a wooden
evaporates in the punishing heat. Several expeditions palisade can be seen, but it, too, is almost entirely gone
have tried to explore the area, but most of what's known or fallen over.
about it (and shown on Syndra Silvane's map) is based Mbala was once the seat of a small kingdom. Most of
on visual observations made from atop the coastal the structures were wood and thatch, and they're now
mountains. just crumbling compost heaps demolished by rain, wind,
and time. A few stone foundations and overgrown ramps
MBALA poke up through the debris, indicating this was more
than just a simple village.

A 1,800-foot-high plateau with sheer cliffs rises above
heaps of boulders as large as ships. A narrow path is
cut into the cliff face and seems to climb all the way to
the top.

t:H.\l'Tl::R 2 I THE I.AND OF CllULT
72