Tomb of Annihlation

​Something evil is trapping the souls of the dead and draining life from all who have been raised from death by magic. This worldwide "death curse" not only prevents the raising of the dead but also causes creatures that were previously raised from the dead to wither and die. The source of this death curse lies in a trap-riddled tomb hidden beneath a lost city in the depths of a vast jungle.​ ​Tomb of Annihilation is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure that takes place on the peninsula of Chult in the Forgotten Realms. Chult is a tropical wilderness composed mostly of jungles, plateaus, impassable mountains, and belching volcanoes. You can substitute a different jungle setting, changing location names as needed. Alternative D&D settings include the Amedio Jungle of Oerth, the Savage Coast of Mystara, the jungles of Xen'drik on Eberron, or a comparable setting on your home campaign world.​ This adventure is designed to begin with a party of four to six 1st-level characters, who should advance to 11th level or higher by the adventure's conclusion.​ The characters are drawn into the story by Syndra Silvane, a retired adventurer and merchant who, years ago, was raised from the dead. Now, she's withering away. When she consulted priests, Syndra learned that the affliction was widespread and that no spell could cure it. She spoke to her friends among the Harpers, who determined the source of the affliction: an ungodly necromantic device called the Soulmonger. The Harpers received their intelligence from a lich, but they don't know much about the Soulmonger other than its name and general whereabouts. Adventurers willing to help Syndra must travel to Chult, a land of jungles and monsters, to find the Soulmonger and destroy it. Unknown to Syndra and her allies, the Soulmonger is trapping the souls of the dead and depriving liches of the means to trap souls in their phylacteries. (The Soulmonger snatches up the souls before they can be trapped elsewhere.) Szass Tam, the most powerful lich among the Red Wizards of Thay, has sent operatives to Chult to steal the Soulmonger or, failing that, destroy it. Leading the Thayan expedition is Szass Tam's devoted lieutenant, Valindra Shadowmantle. Valindra has been warned that adventurers might cross her path, so she's prepared for them. Also lurking in the heart of Chult is Ras Nsi, a mythic, villainous figure among Chultans. Ras Nsi was a human paladin and a sworn protector of the city of Mezro. He betrayed his oaths and was banished. Rather than redeem himself, he raised an undead army to conquer Mezro. The would-be tyrant was defeated and banished once more. Mezro was later destroyed by the Spellplague (or so it seemed), during which Ras Nsi lost his power to create and command undead. He withdrew to the city of Omu, leaving the vestiges of his undead army to roam unchecked throughout the jungle. That was not the end of Ras Nsi, however. Bitter over his loss of power, he forged an alliance with the yuan-ti lurking in the ruins of Omu and underwent a ritual of transformation, becoming a yuan-ti malison. As a yuan-ti, Ras Nsi imposed his terrible will on the evil snake people and became their leader. Beneath the cracked and broken streets of Omu lies a secret yuan-ti temple called the Fane of the Night Serpent, where Ras Nsi holds sway and plots to bring about the end of the world. Omu is also home to the Tomb of the Nine Gods. As the characters explore this multilevel dungeon, they encounter the spirits of Omu's trickster gods and are potentially inhabited by them. Each god embodies a different alignment, and any character inhabited by one gains a special power as well as a flaw. The nine trickster gods don't get along, and they try to push one another out of the characters' bodies. As the gods fight over their living hosts, the characters must deal with the deadly traps and monsters that guard the Soulmonger. Venturing deeper into the tomb, they uncover clues about the dungeon's evil architect-the archlich Acererak-and learn that the Soulmonger is feeding souls to an undead horror called an atropal. Once it consumes enough souls, the atropal will transform into an evil god. Destroying the Soulmonger ends the death curse affecting the world, while killing the atropal incurs the wrath of Acererak. Under normal circumstances, the enraged archlich would be far too great a foe for mortal adventurers to overcome, but with the trickster gods of Omu on their side, the heroes have a fighting chance.​