1.
The adventure begins with a mysterious summons from a powerful lord in Baldur’s Gate.
The party is brought before Syndra Silvane, a famous wizard and member of the legendary adventuring party that once defeated Strahd von Zarovich, the dreaded vampire lord of Barovia.
Syndra has called upon the adventurers because a terrible affliction known as the Death Curse has begun spreading across the land. Like a magical plague, the curse has disrupted the natural boundaries between life and death. Those who die can no longer be resurrected, while those who have previously been returned from death are slowly beginning to wither away.
Syndra has spent considerable time investigating the source of the curse and believes it originates somewhere on the distant jungle continent of Chult.
More troubling, she believes an ancient and powerful lich is responsible:
Acererak.
Syndra tasks the party with traveling to Chult, uncovering the source of the Death Curse, and discovering what Acererak has unleashed upon the world.
Their journey will take them far from the safety of the Sword Coast and into an untamed land of ancient ruins, lost civilizations, undead horrors, and secrets that have remained buried for centuries.
Their destination is Chult.
Their enemy is Acererak.
And until the Death Curse is stopped…
Death is final.
2.
After negotiating with Lady Clarin and Captain Tarus, the party finally reaches Port Nyanzaru, where they unload their questionable cargo and meet with the Merchant Prince Wakanga.
Wakanga provides the party with canoes for their expedition into the jungles of Chult.
While preparing for the journey, they meet Undril Silvertusk, a female Half-Orc Cleric of Helm who has been tasked with reaching Camp Vengeance and meeting with Sister Cyas.
The party also hires Azaka Stormfang, a Chultan gladiator, to serve as their guide through the jungle. Azaka asks for no payment. Instead, she requests the party’s help recovering an item stolen from her by the Pterafolk of Firefinger.
As the party prepares to leave Port Nyanzaru, they are confronted by K’lahu, a local bookie they had previously angered.
After settling their disagreement through considerably less diplomatic means, the party boards its canoes and begins traveling down the River Soshenstar.
Along the way, they discover an abandoned campsite known as Camp Righteous and decide to stop there for the night.
The following morning, however, their canoes are gone.
With no immediate means of continuing downriver, the party begins investigating the strange ruins surrounding the camp.
North of the campsite stands an enormous eighty-foot stone statue depicting a man carrying a crocodile on his back. Between the statue’s feet is an archway leading into a dark tunnel.
At the entrance, the party discovers an inscription telling an ancient story.
A Man once feared crossing a river filled with crocodiles. Crocodile offered to carry him safely across, asking only that Man someday return the favor. Once across, Crocodile demanded that Man carry him through the realm of Humans.
Though he realized he had been tricked, Man honored his promise.
The journey lasted many years, and afterward Man swore that Humans and Crocodiles would never again be friends.
With the meaning of the story still unclear, the party enters the ruins.
After navigating a series of trap-filled passages, they finally reach a mysterious door.
3.
After escaping the abandoned temple beneath Camp Righteous, the party is ambushed by a group of Goblins.
The battle quickly becomes more complicated when the fighting attracts a wandering horde of Zombies and Skeletons.
Following a brief parley with the Goblin Chief, the party continues its journey and finally reaches Camp Vengeance.
The camp is little more than a crude timber fortress surrounded by sharpened stakes. Inside, tents and watchtowers crowd the compound, while outside lie piles of burned Human corpses and flayed animal carcasses swarming with flies.
There, the party is introduced to Commander Niles, the senior officer responsible for a garrison dangerously low on both soldiers and supplies.
After negotiating with Niles, the party learns that the Soulmonger may be connected to the lost city of Bulobo.
The party agrees to investigate and return whatever they find so the Order can destroy it.
During their stay at Camp Vengeance, the party also meets Toshiro, a Ronin and survivor of Syndra Silvane’s previous expedition.
The group eventually leaves the camp and ventures deeper into Chult.
After surviving an attack by a resting Gargoyle, they finally reach the ruins of Bulobo.
In the courtyard, they are attacked by a Yellow Musk Creeper and a massive horde of Zombies and Skeletons. The party escapes underground, where they discover an ancient cavern containing the tomb of Shasskatar, the Venom Queen.
Shasskatar has been entombed beneath the ruins for centuries.
The party defeats the Venom Queen and recovers a mysterious Black Amulet from her remains.
But almost immediately, the cavern begins collapsing around them.
The party squeezes through a narrow crawlspace just before the tomb caves in.
They emerge unexpectedly into a small lake somewhere deep within the Chultan jungle.
4.
After defeating the Venom Queen and narrowly escaping her collapsing tomb, the party finds itself stranded deep within the jungles of Chult.
During their journey, they encounter another group of Gargoyles.
This time, the battle costs them dearly.
Azaka Stormfang is lost during the encounter.
Later, while crossing a mysterious bridge, the party meets Grimnear, who agrees to join them and help find a route back toward Camp Vengeance.
Their journey brings them into contact with a scouting party of warrior gorillas. Rather than attacking, the gorillas offer the party shelter for the evening and explain that their tribe is currently fighting the Red Wizards of Thay.
That night, the party experiences a terrifying shared dream.
Acererak, creator of the Soulmonger, appears before them.
At his side is a Pit Fiend under the lich’s control—a creature that, for reasons unknown, appears particularly interested in hunting Emo.
Emo is killed.
Then the party awakens.
It was only a dream.
The following morning, the party agrees to help the warrior gorillas. The tribe has recently laid siege to the Crimson Citadel, forcing most of its defenders into the surrounding jungle.
The attack has created an opportunity.
While the Red Wizards are distracted, the party will infiltrate the Citadel, free its slaves, and destroy whatever forces remain inside.
When the party reaches the fortress, they encounter almost no resistance.
But once inside, they awaken something that should have remained asleep:
A former Red Wizard transformed into a Troll.
5.
After defeating the Red Wizard-turned-Troll, the party begins retracing its steps toward the entrance of the Crimson Citadel.
Before they can escape, they are attacked by a pair of Hell Hounds and a Helmed Horror.
When the battle ends, green magical flames suddenly surround the chamber.
With their escape cut off, the party continues deeper into the Citadel.
They eventually capture one of the Red Wizards and learn something extraordinary:
The Crimson Citadel has traveled backward through time.
During the interrogation, Drim accidentally triggers a trap and is teleported into a prison cell somewhere else inside the fortress.
The party manages to locate and free him.
But Drim is not the only prisoner.
In another cell, they discover Lyndon, a member of the legendary Blackwing Assassins.
Lyndon offers the party a chest filled with mysterious black coins if they help him defeat Narri, leader of the Red Wizards occupying the Citadel.
The party continues through the fortress, eventually encountering a chamber filled with Zombies—and several Mimics disguised as carpets, tables, and treasure chests.
Finally, they reach the War Room.
Inside, they discover Lyndon already at work.
Several Red Wizards lie dead around him as the Blackwing Assassin battles a heavily armed red Dragonborn guard.
6.
After clearing the War Room, the party enters the main chamber of the Crimson Citadel—a massive, cathedral-like hall.
Waiting inside is Baroness Narri, accompanied by her Half-Dragon bodyguard.
The party attacks without hesitation.
During the battle, one of the adventurers releases the Instant Forest, causing an entire woodland to erupt inside the enormous chamber.
Fearing for her life, Narri escapes.
The party continues exploring the Citadel.
In the stables, they discover five domesticated Allosauruses.
Elsewhere, two Minotaurs guard an underground chamber containing a mysterious blue force field that appears to lead into the Underdark. After a brief encounter with a Drider, the party moves on.
Eventually, they reach the Citadel’s living quarters and treasury.
The Red Wizards’ vault has already been opened.
The evidence suggests Lyndon got there first.
Finally, the party reaches Baroness Narri’s private chamber.
Narri stands before a massive floating purple gemstone, channeling magical energy into it.
The final battle begins.
The party defeats Narri.
But afterward, Emo touches the floating gemstone.
Green magical fire engulfs the entire Crimson Citadel.
When the flames finally disappear, it appears that the Citadel has returned to its proper place in time.
And Emo has somehow been branded as the new:
Baron of the Crimson Citadel.
7.
With Baroness Narri defeated, the party liberates the slaves imprisoned within the Crimson Citadel.
They then leave the fortress and begin traveling back toward Stairs at Moon and his tribe.
That night, Acererak appears once again, accompanied by his Pit Fiend servant.
The lich seems strangely pleased to learn that Narri is dead, but hints that something much larger is happening. He cryptically refers to an unnamed “Organization.”
Acererak attempts to claim the Crimson Citadel for himself.
The party refuses.
After noticing a Bone Devil emerging from a nearby lake, Acererak departs.
The party continues to the gorilla settlement and offers the tribe sanctuary within the newly liberated Citadel.
Stairs at Moon accepts.
The party then returns to Camp Vengeance, only to discover that the fortress has been heavily reinforced since their last visit.
They hand Commander Niles the mysterious Black Gem recovered from the Venom Queen beneath Bulobo.
Niles takes the artifact.
Then he snaps it in half.
In the distance, an enormous black pillar of light erupts into the sky.
Commander Niles immediately orders the party arrested.
Chaos erupts throughout the camp.
During the fighting, Kinmuan escapes into the jungle.
The rest of the party is taken prisoner.
8.
The captured party is transported deep into the Underdark to the Drow city of Oldonnar, where Commander Niles hopes the Cormrael sisters will deal with them.
The party is brought before Ildax Cormrael.
After a brief conversation, Ildax promises to help them escape the city safely.
She is lying.
Instead, the party is led directly into Oldonnar’s fighting pits.
After surviving the monsters waiting below, the party emerges victorious.
Ildax immediately changes her story.
Before the citizens of Oldonnar, she proudly proclaims the adventurers the city’s newest heroes—as though that had been her intention from the beginning.
The party soon learns that Oldonnar is controlled by the mysterious Organization of the Zodiac, with sisters Ildax and Gelerin Cormrael serving as the city’s co-governors.
Ildax also reveals that she believes a Blackwing spy has infiltrated Oldonnar.
She asks the party to find the agent.
Now celebrated as Heroes of Oldonnar, the party secures rooms at the Tasty Wolf and considers whether accepting another job from Ildax is a particularly good idea.
9.
After a night’s rest at the Tasty Wolf, the party is visited by Gelerin Cormrael.
She recommends that they investigate the Juta Tavern, believing that if anyone knows the identity of the Blackwing spy operating within Oldonnar, someone there will have answers.
After providing the secret password, the party gains access to the tavern’s underground fighting pits.
There they discover a familiar face.
K’lahu, the Halfling bookie they encountered before leaving Port Nyanzaru, now runs the establishment.
Hoping to make amends, K’lahu gives the party the location of a forgotten Dwarven vault—the same vault where he once discovered the Deck of Many Things.
But the party finds someone even more surprising in the fighting pits.
Azaka Stormfang.
Their supposedly lost guide is alive.
And she is a Weretiger.
Azaka reveals that she is also a member of Blackwing and was assigned to infiltrate Oldonnar.
She asks the party to break into a Red Wizard safe house elsewhere in the city.
Before they leave, Azaka reveals one more secret:
Syndra Silvane is the leader of the Organization of the Zodiac.
Drim is not pleased.
The party first investigates the forgotten Dwarven vault.
Inside, they discover several chests of gold and a stone statue depicting an Elf named Braven, someone from Drim’s past.
The statue sits above a pool filled with thick black liquid. The party discovers that drinking the substance slowly transforms a person’s skin until they resemble a Drow.
While leaving the vault, the party overhears two Drow discussing Kilgore’s plans to take control of the city.
A fight follows, but one of the Drow escapes.
With few other leads, the party investigates the Red Wizard safe house.
There they discover letters from Valindra Shadowmantle, who appears to have taken command of the remaining Red Wizards in Chult.
Valindra orders the surviving Wizards to regroup before Szass Tam learns how badly the situation has deteriorated. If necessary, they are instructed to reestablish contact with someone named Dargoth.
Before the party can investigate further, a group of Githyanki Knights attacks the safe house, apparently searching for something themselves.
The party eventually returns to the Juta Tavern and reports everything to Azaka.
Azaka offers them a guide who can help them escape Oldonnar.
Their guide arrives.
He is older now.
But the party recognizes him immediately.
Lyndon.
10.
The morning after meeting Lyndon, the party learns that he can smuggle them out of Oldonnar—but he needs two days to make the necessary preparations.
While staying at the Juta Tavern, the party receives an invitation from one of Oldonnar’s oldest houses.
House Crestwood wishes to host the newly celebrated heroes.
Such invitations are customary among Drow nobility, and the party accepts.
While exploring Oldonnar before the dinner, they witness the public execution of the female Drow warrior they encountered near the Dwarven vault.
That evening, they arrive at Crestwood Manor.
They are greeted by the household servant, a Duodrone, before being presented to Lady Cazna Crestwood.
The party learns that Cazna is a former Priestess of Lolth.
Drim also learns more about Braven Kilgore.
Cazna reveals that she has effectively been under house arrest since House Cormrael seized control of Oldonnar.
Despite her unsettling mannerisms and unnaturally pale skin, the party accepts her invitation to spend the night.
That proves to be a mistake.
During the night, the apparently malfunctioning Duodrone warns the party that they must leave the manor immediately.
Instead, they investigate.
Their search eventually leads them into the basement.
There, they discover Lady Cazna feeding on the flesh of a dead Drow.
The party battles Cazna and an enchanted statue of Lolth, eventually destroying both.
Searching the manor afterward, they discover its deed.
The Duodrone suddenly begins functioning normally.
It looks toward Drim.
And addresses him as:
“Lord Crestwood.”
The following morning, the party travels to the city center to meet with the Cormrael sisters.
Upon entering Ildax’s chamber, they find Ildax dead on the floor.
Gelerin stands over her sister’s body holding a bloody axe.
A nervous male Drow guard stands nearby.
Gelerin reveals that her true bloodline belongs to House Kilgore.
She claims her coup was necessary because Ildax had begun abandoning their core beliefs and disobeying the Organization of the Zodiac.
Gelerin offers the party a deal.
If they support the official story—that the guard murdered Ildax and attempted to kill Gelerin before the party intervened—she will provide them safe passage from Oldonnar.
More importantly, as Oldonnar’s new Head of State, she will officially recognize the Crimson Citadel as an independent territory.
Unsure whether they are allies, witnesses, or simply convenient scapegoats, the party accepts.
With the help of a Minotaur guide, they leave Oldonnar and return to the Citadel.
There, they spend the next week resting alongside the Emberpaw Tribe.
11.
Back at the Cragshadow Citadel, the party spends several days resting and deciding how best to continue its quest to destroy the Soulmonger.
During this time, they are introduced to Lord Serlo, the newly appointed ambassador to the Citadel from Port Nyanzaru.
Serlo brings troubling news.
The Order of the Gauntlet recently laid siege to Port Nyanzaru with a small force before retreating into a region known as the Deep Jungle.
Unofficially, Serlo asks the party to hunt down and kill Commander Niles, leader of the Order of the Gauntlet in Chult.
The party also learns that the pirate Jamus has been helping the Merchant Princes hunt the Order’s fleet around the island.
While speaking with the Emberpaw Tribe, the party discovers that Jamus was also responsible for rescuing them after they escaped from Acererak’s tomb.
During the party’s days of rest, Toshiro is formally inducted into the Blackwing Assassins.
After weighing their options, the party decides to find Jamus and secure passage to the other side of Chult, hoping to locate the place where he originally discovered the Emberpaw Tribe.
They eventually find Jamus’s hideout and receive a surprisingly warm welcome.
Jamus confirms that Blackwing hired him to transport the Emberpaw Tribe to safety.
He agrees to take the party back to the location where he found them—but first asks for a favor.
A mysterious floating tower has appeared above a small island off the coast.
Jamus wants it investigated.
When the party reaches the island, they are attacked by several Yuan-ti Abominations.
Inside the tower, however, they discover almost nothing.
Only an enormous floating anchor.
Emo touches it.
Instantly, he receives a vision of the past.
Even more remarkably, Emo discovers that he can manipulate events within these visions.
And through that manipulation, he accomplishes something impossible.
He pulls Commander Niles out of the past…
…and into the tower.
12.
The moment Commander Niles is pulled from the past, he attacks.
During the battle, a group of soldiers wearing the colors of the Order of the Gauntlet enters the floating tower.
Something is wrong.
The party soon notices that the bodies of the Yuan-ti Abominations they killed earlier have disappeared.
Then the truth becomes clear.
By removing Commander Niles from the past and killing him in the present, Emo has altered the timeline.
When the party returns to Jamus’s hideout, they discover that it is now heavily fortified.
In this version of events, Jamus never sent them to investigate a mysterious floating tower.
He sent them to destroy a group of former Order of the Gauntlet soldiers who had become raiders.
Despite the altered timeline, Jamus honors his agreement and transports the party to the opposite side of Chult, where he originally discovered the Emberpaw Tribe.
Along the journey, they pass a seaside cliff believed to conceal Dargoth’s lair.
The party now faces a choice.
Investigate Dargoth…
Or enter the Deep Jungle and follow the enormous Black Smoke Pillar rising into the sky—the suspected location of Acererak’s temple.
They choose the pillar.
Jamus agrees to return in two days, or sooner if the Black Pillar disappears.
Deep within the jungle, the party reaches a river crossing dominated by an enormous stone statue.
As they cross, Emo could swear he sees the statue move.
The party continues until they discover a strange village with no walls, guards, or visible defenses.
There they visit the Night Crawlers Inn, operated by an Elf-like woman named Matilda.
Matilda claims she arrived in the village as a child and has lived there ever since.
Something about the settlement feels wrong.
Rather than stay inside the village, the party deploys its tower in an open field near the tree line, inviting the villagers to visit.
That night, they discover a strange mist hovering over Kinmuan.
The mist takes form.
A Vampire.
Once discovered, the creature flees.
The party wisely decides not to chase a Vampire through the jungle at night.
The following morning, they return to the village and question Matilda.
She attacks.
During the battle, the sounds of chaos erupt outside.
Through the windows, the party sees Orcs wearing Order of the Gauntlet tabards moving through the streets with torches.
The village is burning.
13.
After defeating Matilda inside the tavern, the party heads upstairs.
There they discover something impossible.
Another woman who looks exactly like Matilda is bound to a chair.
Toshiro attempts to free her.
She immediately attacks.
After defeating the second Matilda, the party searches the tavern and discovers a hidden chamber beneath the storeroom.
Inside is the lair of the Vampire from the previous night.
But the creature is no longer threatening.
He is hiding in a corner, starving and terrified.
His name is Raphael.
Raphael explains that both women called Matilda belonged to a coven of Shadow Dancers known as the Forgotten Sisters. They were assigned to protect Acererak’s Vault and used the village as an outpost after the Beholder Zirthri was executed following the Emberpaw Tribe’s escape.
Raphael also reveals that he is the reason the village has survived.
His presence keeps the surrounding undead away.
Learning that the party intends to stop Acererak, Raphael sees an opportunity for freedom and provides them with the location of Acererak’s Vault.
The party allows Raphael to remain, realizing that without him the village would quickly be overrun.
Before they leave, Raphael provides one more piece of information.
Ras Nsi, lord of the Yuan-ti, has been creating the undead hordes of Chult for centuries from the lost city of Omu.
The party then confronts the Order of the Gauntlet soldiers attacking the village and manages to convince them that the settlement is peaceful and contains none of Acererak’s servants.
From the commanding officer, they learn that the Order’s main force is searching for Commander Niles and preparing to assault Omu, where the Black Smoke Spire is believed to originate.
The party travels to the lost city.
Abandoned encampments litter its streets.
On the eastern side of Omu, the Yuan-ti are engaged in open battle with the Order of the Gauntlet.
The party takes advantage of the chaos and slips deeper into the city.
There, they discover the corpse of Zirthri the Beholder, impaled upon a spike.
After eliminating a Yuan-ti patrol, the party reaches the Temple of the Nine Gods.
They are attacked by a Nightveil Specter and its Gloomwing.
The party is overwhelmed.
When they awaken, they are prisoners inside Acererak’s Vault.
The surrounding cells contain strange and dangerous creatures collected from across the multiverse.
Acererak requests an audience.
The Forgotten Sisters prepare to move the prisoners, but Emo refuses to cooperate.
To force him from his cell, they activate a magical bead that fills the chamber with gelatinous ooze.
Emo fights.
He rages.
And eventually…
He drowns.
Drim and Toshiro are brought before Acererak.
The lich offers them a bargain.
He will allow them to leave and will even help restore Emo to life.
In return, they must kill:
Syndra Silvane.
Acererak explains why.
Syndra first gained his attention after defeating Strahd and escaping Barovia. Acererak had intended to add Strahd—the original and most powerful Vampire—to his collection.
But Syndra accomplished something even Acererak could not.
She escaped the Plane of Dread.
The experience changed her.
Leaving Barovia killed Syndra, though a powerful Cleric eventually restored her to life.
Afterward, she became obsessed with immortality.
Syndra began preparing to become a Lich.
She created the Organization of the Zodiac to gather the power and materials necessary for her transformation, while allowing its members to believe their purpose was the conquest of the Sword Coast.
Acererak eventually discovered her plan.
Fearing that Syndra might become an even more powerful lich than himself—and seeking revenge for Strahd—Acererak turned against his own Soulmonger.
Drim and Toshiro accept his bargain.
Acererak gives Drim a massive red gemstone.
It can help restore Emo.
But Acererak gives them one very specific warning:
Do not break the gem inside his Vault.
The party reaches the surface.
Drim immediately breaks it.
A Djinn named Calim emerges.
Calim reveals that he was once the ruler of Calimshan.
Grateful for his freedom, he removes Drim’s curse from the Kilgore poison and agrees to help restore Emo to life.
There are only two requirements.
They need a cadaver.
And Emo must be willing to return.
14.
The party heads toward the battlefield surrounding Omu, hoping to find a suitable body that Calim can use to restore Emo.
Along the way, they encounter Lepacious Rikken, one of the original members of Toshiro’s expedition to Chult.
Lepacious explains that he has been held prisoner by the Yuan-ti.
A female Yuan-ti priestess eventually helped him escape, but demanded a price for his freedom:
Lepacious must kill Ras Nsi, leader of the Yuan-ti in Chult.
The party eventually reaches the Order of the Gauntlet’s encampment on the outskirts of Omu.
There they meet the Order’s newly battlefield-commissioned commander, a Lizardfolk named Vigru.
Desperate to break the siege, Vigru asks the party to infiltrate the Yuan-ti temple and assassinate Ras Nsi.
The party also learns that the Order has established contact with Oldonnar.
Using magical bracers recovered from the corpse of a Yuan-ti guard, the party gains access through the temple’s main gate.
Deep inside, they eventually discover what appears to be Ras Nsi’s private harem.
There they encounter a Doppelganger spy from Oldonnar.
She explains that she has been assigned to monitor Ras Nsi.
More importantly, she reveals that Ras Nsi possesses a magical crown allowing him to teleport throughout the island of Chult.
Reaching his throne room will not be simple.
The only way inside is through a network of teleportation disks scattered throughout the temple.
Lepacious is the first to step onto one.
The magic activates.
He disappears.
And when his vision clears, Lepacious finds himself standing inside the throne room…
Face-to-face with Ras Nsi and his guards.