Swamp

Session 9 of Tomb of Annihilation

The PC's:
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore - I was mistaken last week) 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 - Catches up again to party after trying to make a go of becoming an entrepreneur running a plantation but decided lack of customers nearby may be a problem and rejoins party, somehow missing Sam on way down from plateau to swamp
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native - Rejoined party after brief attempt with Agatha to rebuild an abandoned plantation
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper; Went back to find Rainy Day and Angry Agatha and currently absent
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:
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.
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.

The party spends a little over a week marching and canoeing in and around the swamps of the Aldani Basin in central Chult. They start at the foot of the bluffs near Mbala and make their way along the edge of the swamp to Camp Vengeance on the Soshenstar River without incident, other than finding some remains of a recently eaten dwarven explorer. They find Ord Firebeard in charge once again, saying the previous commander had been recalled after the disaster of his expedition to the Mistcliff Mountains. Ord is relieved to hear of the defeat of the necromancer and offers the party good values on replenishing their supplies. Overall the Camp seems in better shape than on their previous visit, with fewer problems with undead. Ord also shares that an archaeologist named Cormyran Kandy had recently passed by, apparently leading an expedition of red robed Thayan wizards to the south. The entourage had included the wizards, several goblins, and a dwarf. Kandy left a note for Sam warning him not to interfere with the Thayans, who were dangerous and would be first to uncover the lost treasures of Omu.
Agatha left her collection of goblin masks at the Camp, Varis added some of the spells he had discovered to his spellbook, and then the party set off again with their canoes up the river, portaging around a waterfall just upstream from the Camp. There they encountered a faerie dragon who shared some information on the red wizards and the path ahead; the faerie dragon found the Thayans less congenial than the PC's. Soon they were deep in the Aldani Basin, and finding the main channel of the river became difficult in the swamp. They camped afloat, lashing their canoes together by a large tree. That night, a plesiosaur attempted to eat River Mist but Adran hit it with faerie fire and Agatha dove in after it, and the amphibious dinosaur was soon defeated while Shaun patched up Agatha and River Mist, who had both taken a beating. The next day the party was ambushed by a group of lizard folk tribesmen led by a shaman who summoned another plesiosaur to attack from behind. However, the shaman had no way of realizing that Varis and Shaun both now have access to the fireball spell, and the two surviving lizard folk were soon running away into the swamp. The party was not seriously inconvenienced by the lizard folk, but then went on to lose most of the day after losing track of the main channel of the river.
As the party got back on track following the river upstream they seemed torn on whether to check out the Heart of Ubtao or to make their way further south toward Omu as fast as possible. Eventually they decided to cut and portage their way through the swamp southwest to follow the chain of lakes of the headwaters of the River Tath further south. There they encountered Lobsterfolk, who pointed out the party was being stalked by a pack of dimetrodons, which worried them since those dinosaurs also ate lobsterfolk. So to help out the lobster men and themselves the party laid out some bait for the hungry dinosaurs and then ambushed them, slaying 12. The lobsters then shared that the red wizards had recently passed through the area after coming from the direction of the Heart of Ubtao. So the party made their way south through the lakes until deciding when they were probably nearest to the Heart of Ubtao to cut their way overland that way, the lobsters agreed to guard their boats on the lake until they returned. During the walk an assassin vine nearly killed the bard. The second night out the party was awoken by a loud stomping noise as another T-Rex Zombie approached! This one was full strength, but the party still has Vorn. Though the wizard dropped during the battle the dinosaur zombie was eventually defeated. It spat out 4 zombies in the course of the battle, which added to the challenge. After this battle we took a break until next week.