From Tyrannosaurus to Tyrannosaurus

Session 10 of Tomb of Annihilation

The PC's:

Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 5, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 5 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma

Associates:
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.

Absent Characters:
The three PC's and the two guides below absent themselves after the battle with the t-rex zombie that ended the last session while Sembian Sam catches up, as the guides and some of the party worry about leaving their gear and watercraft under the protection of the lobsterfolk they recently met and decide to return to the lakeshore.  It is felt that Sam can successfully guide some of the party to check out the Heart of Ubtao and rejoin the rest at the lake.
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native

NPC Guides:
River Mist and Flask of Wine,  quite capable cat person sister  and brother who are associates of the Zhentarim, hired by party as guides for a share of treasure found on expedition.

 The Journey
Traveling one long day gets the remaining three party members to the Heart of Ubtao at dusk, they see it all day looming above them and rotating slowly, a heart shaped chunk of earth and rock with a large petrified tree on top and a flight of stairs from the top to a cave in the side. When they get right below the heart an elf appears in the cave and calls down to them, asking their business and noting an elf (Varis) in the party quickly invites them up to parley. She does not offer a way up, so Shaun pulls out the griffin figurine and they use it to fly up. The elf introduces herself as Valindra Shadowmantle, formerly of Luskan. She inquires into the party's business and discovering their interest in the death curse suggests they are looking for the Soulmonger, a magical device responsible for the death curse that some powerful entity hid in the ruins of Omu after killing all the former inhabitants of the once powerful city state. She also suggests that the device is hidden within a trap of sorts built to kill the adventurers who come looking for it. Valindra also tells the party that she is herself hoping to find the Soulmonger to study it and to hopefully deactivate it, and hopes the party may help her with it. She mentions that there are other interested parties seeking it as well, including the Red Wizards of Thay. She tells them all this in a dank cave full of books and maps whose most notable feature is a large iron cage that she casually mentions is for those she finds less forthcoming with their knowledge. Shaun, examining her closely, gets a very unpleasant feeling about Valindra and starts edging back toward the cave entrance. The party takes leave of Valindra, Sam somewhat reluctantly putting down some of the books and maps he has started poring over, noting they only have a few hours of flight left on the griffin and they fly back to the lake through the night after briefly checking out the petrified tree on top of the Heart that they surmise is full of bats.
 After returning to the lake the party rests for a day fishing and waiting for Vorn (who is on foot but homing in on Varis' location) and the others. Vorn returns, but the others don't, eventually partway through the second day they decide to continue on, as Sam gets quite agitated about Cormyran Kandy's progress; they figure they can mark their path for the others to follow once they leave the river. While traveling upstream, they miss the southwest-most take out point and end up traveling further east than intended and turn around, finding a good takeout point at dusk. As Varis hops out to pull the canoe up onto the bank he is attacked by a swarm of quippers! Bleeding profusely, he struggles onto shore while Sam and Shaun desperately try to ram the canoe aground. They eventually succeed and all survive the encounter with the fish.
The next day they find the path left by Cormyran Kandy and the Red Wizard expedition. They follow in the footsteps of the Thayans, who appear to be about a week ahead. Over several days they close the distance by a day or two and find some remnants of the Thayans - occasional dead goblin porters and discarded food containers along with some blasted undead and dinosaur remains. They party also has encounters of their own with zombies, man eating plants, and dinosaurs. Notably, they also run into a pack of Su-Monsters who find then in camp one night, Sam's whip alerting him to one staring down at him from a tree directly above! Giving a warning to the party and attacking the Su-Monster with his bow the Su-Monsters attack back with their psychic crush abilities, most of the party brushing it off but Sam takes two hit and falls to the ground stunned and seriously hurt. Fortunately the fifth level casters are unharmed and they shoot down the Su-Monsters before their psychic crushes recharge to take out more party members. At another point, they party find an ankylosaurus and leave it alone only to immediately after stumble into a zombie ankylosaurus; Varis blasts it with a lightning bolt but it continues into the jungle, also hitting the living ankylosaurus which comes charging back at the party. Using Vorn as a blocker/soaker for the damage from tail swipes, the party emerges victorious, only to run into more trouble later as three allosauruses hunt them, nearly killing Varis who briefly separates from Vorn in a tactical decision that backfires as the allosauruses move much faster than anyone expects. Eventually they prevail, which is good as these are dinosaurs they definitely could not outrun.
Finally, after a couple more days of travel and a battle with a wight and its zombie pack they stumble across a living tyrannosaurus rex that seems to have their scent; the party tries to hide but it keeps moving their way, Sam and Varis start shooting as it moves into range and it charges forward, taking some fairly substantial damage from ranged spells and weapons as it advances. Finally it bites Varis, knocking him out and swallowing him while tail swatting Vorn for a fair amount of damage. Shaun and Sam keep up the fire, and the might t-rex eventually topples; Shaun then climbs into the dead dinosaurs gullet, finding Varis' foot and tying a rope on to yank him out. Then we leave off; with just three PC's dividing the experience this session it totals out fairly high, Shaun gets to sixth level while the other two are just short, and they are just days away from where the lost city of Omu appears on their map.