Wilderness & Travel

     For each day that the party travels through the wilderness, follow these steps:

• Using the map, identify the hex in which the party is currently located.
  Note: The hex is unknown if the party is lost
• Players determine what direction they want to go, and whether they plan to move at a normal pace, a fast pace, or a slow pace (see “Travel Distances” below).
• Players choose a navigator, who then makes a Wisdom (Survival) check to determine if the party becomes lost (see “Navigation” below).
• Check for random encounters each morning, afternoon, and evening or night..
• At the end of the day, check to see if any party members are dehydrated (see "Dehydration & Disease" below).

Travel Distances

     On the map of Chult, each hex measures 10 miles across. Characters moving at a normal pace can travel 1 hex per day on foot through coastal, jungle, mountain, swamp, or wasteland terrain. They can travel 2 hexes per day if they’re traveling by canoe on a river or lake. The rate of travel up or down river is the same; the rivers are so sluggish that current is almost imperceptible. Without canoes, the normal rate of travel along a river is the same as through the surrounding terrain. Canoes move 1 hex per day through swamp.
     If characters move at a fast pace, roll a d4. On a roll of 3 or 4, they advance 1 additional hex that day. Characters moving at a fast pace take a –5 penalty to their passive Wisdom (Perception) scores, making them more likely to miss clues and walk into ambushes.
     If characters set a slow pace, roll a d4. On a roll of 1 or 2, they advance 1 fewer hex that day (in other words, 1 hex by canoe or none by foot). On any other result, their caution is rewarded, and they travel the same distance as a group moving at a normal pace. Characters moving at a slow pace can move stealthily. As long as they’re not in the open, they can try to surprise or sneak by other creatures they encounter.
     A character with a flying speed of 30 feet can travel 4 miles per hour.

Navigation

     Have the players designate one party member as the navigator. The navigator might be an NPC, such as a guide, and the party can switch its navigator day to day.
     At the start of each new travel day, the DM makes a Wisdom (Survival) check on behalf of the navigator. The result of the check determines whether or not the party becomes lost over the course of the day. The DC of the check is based on the day’s most common terrain: DC 10 for coasts and lakes, or DC 15 for jungles, mountains, rivers, swamps, and wastelands. Apply a +5 bonus to the check if the group sets a slow pace for the day, or a –5 penalty if the group is moving at a fast pace. It’s possible to get lost on a river by following a tributary instead of the main branch.
     If the check succeeds, the navigator knows exactly where the party is on the players’ map of Chult throughout the day.
     If the check fails, the party becomes lost. Each hex on the map is surrounded by six other hexes; whenever a lost party moves 1 hex, roll a d6 to randomly determine which neighboring hex the party enters, and do not divulge the party’s location to the players. While the party is lost, players can’t pinpoint the group’s location on their map of Chult. The next time a navigator succeeds on a Wisdom (Survival) check made to navigate, the DM reveals the party’s actual location to the players.

     Note: Using the Fog of War via Fantasy Grounds, this means that as you explore the map, it will be revealed.  If you're lost, only the DM will know your location.  Once you're no longer lost, you'll know where you are on the map, but the hexes you traveled through will not be revealed.

Weather

     Chult is hot, humid, and rainy throughout the year. The temperature regularly climbs as high as 95 degrees F during the day and seldom falls below 70 degrees F even at night. A day without rain is rare, but rain varies from a steady mist to drenching downpours.
     Visibility in heavy rain is limited to 50 yards. Beyond that distance, only Huge or larger objects can be distinguished. Missile weapon ranges are halved during rain.
     On days that receive heavy rain, there’s a 25 percent chance of a full-blown tropical storm featuring sheets of rain, high wind, lightning, tall waves at sea, and immense surf along the coast.  Guides who know the conditions in Chult recommend hunkering down and staying put on these days. Travel by river is impossible (canoes are swamped by waves within 15 minutes of launching). If characters insist on traveling by foot, every character gains 1 level of exhaustion automatically and must make a successful DC 10 Constitution check or gain another. Skill checks to avoid becoming lost are made with disadvantage on storm days.

Welcome to Chult

     Chult is untamed tropical wilderness: dense jungles and snaky rivers ringed by mountains, volcanoes, and sheer escarpments. Walls of mountains to the west, south, and east shield the interior from the sea and from the view of sailors. The rivers are so sluggish that it can be difficult determining which direction is upstream and which is down. The rivers pick up speed only where they thunder down through steep-sided gorges.
     The safest entry points into this overgrown realm are on the north and east. The coast from the Bay of Chult to Refuge Bay offers beaches on which to embark into the uncharted jungle. Along the entire coast, the Bay of Chult is the only spot where travelers can find welcoming civilization. The rest of the peninsula is a breeding ground for bloodsucking, disease-bearing insects, monstrous reptiles, carnivorous birds and beasts of every variety, and murderous undead. The farther one moves from the coast, the more humid, hot, and inhospitable the land becomes. Chult is home to an immense variety of plants, beasts, monsters, and intelligent beings.
     Undead creatures have nearly pushed human civilization off the peninsula, except for a few isolated outposts where Chultans and their allies take refuge behind walls. Characters passing through undead territories can expect to encounter them. Most guides know these territories well. Where undead are concerned, traveling by river is safer than traveling by land, both because undead are poor swimmers at best and because it’s easier to pour on speed in canoes and escape across the water than to flee through tangled jungle.

Death Curse

     Tomb of Annihilation is a time-bomb adventure. The heroes are asked to find and end the curse as soon as possible.  Many lives depend on it.
     At the start of the adventure the death curse is 20 days old. While the curse remains active, the following effects are in play:

• Any humanoid on the planet that has been brought back from the dead begins to waste away. their hit point maximum is reduced by 1 for each day the curse has been active, occurring every midnight until the curse is lifted. If a humanoid’s hit point maximum drops to 0, they die. Traveling to another world or plane does nothing to halt the wasting effect once it has begun.
• A humanoid whose hit point maximum is reduced can’t increase or restore it. This is true whether the creature’s hit point maximum is reduced by the curse or by some other life-draining effect, such as the touch of a wight, wraith, or similar creature.
• Any spell that breathes life into the dead (including revivify, raise dead, resurrection, and true resurrection) automatically fails
• The curse does not affect the workings of speak with dead spells or similar magic, nor does it have any effect on preexisting ghosts or spirits.
• A death saving throw succeeds on a roll of 15 or higher (instead of 10 or higher).

Meat Grinder Option:
     *Players may choose to run this entire adventure as a Meat Grinder in which death saving throws must be made at a 15+ (instead of 10+).  However XP rewards increase by 10%

Syndra Silvane

Syndra Silvane, has asked that you seek out the Soul Monger!
     The Harpers have determined that a magical relic, called the Soul Monger, appears to be responsible for the Death Curse affecting Faerûn.  They believe it is located in the unexplored jungles of Chult.
     Syndra, offers to teleport you to the Port City of Nyanzaru, where you can begin searching for clues and set out into the jungle to search for the Soul Monger.
    

   Once she brings you all to Port Nyanzaru, she suggests take a room at either the Thundering Lizard or Kaya's House of Repose.  Should you need her, she can be found at the Merchant Prince Wakanga's home.

Masharib, discussions

(a record of player interactions with the guide Masharib)

     "The jungle is my home.  I know it well.  I can guide you anywhere in Chult for a fee of 5 gold pieces a day.
     "If adventure is what you seek, join my quest to reclaim Hrakhamar, my clan's ancestral forge.  A volcanic eruption forced us to abandon it many years ago.  The firenewts that have since taken over must be driven out or destroyed.  At the very least, we must sneak in and recover a relic known as Moradin's Gauntlet.  The fiewnewts must not be allowed to keep it!
     "If you love dwarvenkind, then hear my plea and join me in returning Hrakhamar to its rightful owners.  I will waive my fee for your promise of assistance.

ToA (part 1) - Arrival at Port Nyanzaru

     Heat, humidity and heavy armor to not mix!
     Once teleported to Port Nyanzaru, our heroes began the arduous task of finding their way through a new city, making new contacts, adjusting to the heat and learning to dodge throngs of dinosaurs walking the streets.
     Realizing they were indeed strangers in a strange land, they acquired the help of a guide, Masharib, an Albino Dwarf.

     With the help of Masharib, they soon will begin exploring the jungles of Chult for the Soul Monger!