Jungles of Chult
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Jungles of Chult A Campaign Supplement and Adventure for Characters Levels 5-8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ......................................... 2 Rural Tabaxi Life ........................... 21 Part 1: CAMPAIGN RESOURCES ............... 3 Village Design ................................. 22 Peoples of Chult .................................... 3 Politics .......................................... 22 The Land ............................................ 7 Clothing and Food .............................. 23 Terrain ............................................ 7 Weapons ......................................... 23 Water and Dehydration ....................... 7 Magic and Mage Kits ............................. 25 Disease ........................................... 8 Mage Hunters .................................. 25 Plants and Animals .............................. 9 Religion and Priest Kits ........................... 26 Undead ............................................. 9 Priests of Ubtao ................................ 27 Dinosaurs ................................... 10 Spiritlords ..................................... 27 The Lost City of Mezro .......................... 12 Jungle Druids ............................... 28 Origin ............................................ 12 Other Sites of Interest .......................... 29 Cityscape ...................................... 13 Part 2: THE HEART OF THE JUNGLE ...... 33 Barae ........................................... 16 New Monster: Pteraman ..................... 64 Adventures in Mezro .............................. 20 CREDITS: Design: James Lowder (Campaign Resources) and Jean Rabe (Adventure) Editing: Scott Haring Cover Art: Robh Ruppel Interior Art: Terry Dykstra Cartography: Steve Beck Typesetting: Angelika Lokotz Thanks to David Howery for material on Chultan terrain, diseases, flora, and fauna; Michael J. Varhola for details on weapons; and Jeff Grubb for rules on survival and dehydration. TSR, Inc. TSR LTD. POB 756120 Church End Lake Geneva Cherry Hinton WI 53147 Cambridge CB1 3LB USA United Kingdom ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS AD&D, DRAGON, FIEND FOLIO and FORGOTTEN REALMS are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. AL-QADIM. MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM, and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Copyright © 1993 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A. Random House and its affiliated companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for English language products of TSR, Inc. Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. This work is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written consent of TSR, Inc. 9389XXX1502 ISBN 1-56076-605-0 1 Introduction the late show, you know that trekking through Lord Onovan of the Dales stumbled jungles can be quite profitable, but its never through the underbrush, his clothes in tat- easy. The locals inevitably have a taste for ters, his body aching from a tenday in the explorer stew, the flora and fauna try to eat jungle. The food was gone; the water, too. your guide at every other turn, andif youre The last of the bearers had fled hours ago, in a fantasy frame of mindthe dinosaurs leaving him nothing but the tunic on his react badly to your intrusion upon their hack and the sword in his hand. turf.... Through the lush curtain of vines and In developing Chult for my Harpers novel, broad-leafed plants surrounding Onovan The Ring of Winter, I kept these adventure came the ominous sound of Batiri war stories in mind. So, while detail-oriented drums. He glanced up at the thick canopy research has gone into this product to make high overhead. The sun was going down. the Tabaxi society historically sound and the The goblins would be after him soon. The Chultan jungle ecologically logical, I spent howling packs would trail him like blood- more time trying to capture the feel of the hounds through the jungle until the sun Allan Quatermain tales of H. Rider Haggard drove them into hiding again. and the Professor Challenger stories by Arthur Panic closed around his heart like a Conan Doyle. After all, this is a fantasy cam- stone giants fist, crushing his dreams of paign guide. escape. The goblins had killed Kadir Silver- A number of people contributed to the axe and Ryn the Bold as if theyd been making of this product, directly and indi- stripling warriors, not experienced sell- rectly. Michael J. Varhola and David Howery swords. And if stout warriors like them published fine articles in DRAGON® magazine were no match for the Batiri, what hope (issue #189, Jan. 1993) at the same time I was did a gentleman explorer like Onovan writing this guide; their work on African cam- have? paign settings and weapons proved too good That grim thought flew from the ex- to pass up. Jeff Grubb codified survival rules plorers mind as he pushed through a tan- in the AL-QADIM adventures handbook that gle of saw-leafed vines. The creature applied to Chult, as well. Jean Rabe pitched in lurking there in wait for him was huge, at with a great adventure, and both Karen Boom- least as tall as a two-story building. Splashes garden and Bruce Heard proved patient be- of browns and greens covered the beasts yond belief when various and sundry explod- scaly hide, perfectly masking its bulk ing internal organs delayed my draft. May the against the jungle. Batiri never take a liking to any of you. A dinosaur! Onovan noted in fear- Jim Lowder numbed awe, just before the allosaurus December 23, 1992 snapped him in two with its powerful jaws and row after row of daggerlike teeth. The product you now hold in your hands will, hopefully, prepare both players and DMs for adventuring in Chults treasure-rich and dinosaur-filled jungles. From almost any adventure story youve ever read or seen on 2 Part One: Campaign Resources Peoples of Chult years ago, and lasting nearly 300 years, a bloody war between the Tabaxi and the The Tabaxi Eshowe raged across the entire country. In what proved to be the final large-scale Most humans native to Chult consider them- battle of the conflict, the Eshowe released a selves part of the great tribe known as the monstrous and ancient evil from a valley deep Tabaxi. This is not to say the scattered clan in the jungle. This creaturea shadow giant units recognize any central ruler; they most that devoured honor and courageattacked certainly do not. Yet the culture of the Tabaxi the great Tabaxi city of Mezro, nearly destroy- ancestors has remained so strongand dom- ing it. inated so many other less expansive cul- The cost of this assault proved absolute for turesthat the entire country finds itself the Eshowe. Most of the tribes warriors were peopled by men and women who share a annihilated by the shadow giant, who turned common language and a somewhat uniform on them once repulsed from Mezro. The rest social structure. of the Eshowe were hunted down and slaugh- While this presents some obvious benefits tered by Ras Nsi, a powerful and amoral pro- for the Tabaxi, it also makes them relatively tector of Mezro. suspicious of strangers and intolerant of peo- Legends of an enclave of Eshowe warriors, ple unfamiliar with their customs. This un- hidden somehow from Ras Nsis murderous friendliness is even more noticeable in villages rampage, still circulate among the Tabaxi, near the coast, where slave traders often and many fear the long-ago conquered tribe descend upon unwary Tabaxi and carry them will rise up from the jungle one day to seek its off to a life of servitude and captivity. Travelers revenge. hoping to win the cooperation of the Tabaxi would be well-advised to learn their language The Batiri and customs before visiting the jungle. The humans known as Tabaxi should not After the destruction of the Eshowe, the be confused with the cat-men that dwell in Tabaxi went on to subsume most of the other jungle settings such as Chult. It has been sug- human cultures in Chult. Yet the death of so gested that the baffling sameness of names many humans during the war opened the arose when a stripling Cormyrean explorer door for the Batiri, the bloodthirsty goblin mistook a human warrior wearing a war cos- tribes of Chult. tume made up of the tails of lions and pan- The Batiri live in clans of 25 to 200 mem- thers for one of the cat-men. Upon learning bers. They hunt and travel at night, moving from a guide that the mysterious figure was a from campsite to campsite throughout the Tabaxi, the explorer mistakenly concluded jungle. In a few places, the goblins have con- that such was the name for the legendary cat- structed permanent buildings-ramshackle men. huts poised over shallow pits that serve mostly to shield them from the sun. These belong to The Eshowe no clan in particular; arguments over use of a site are always settled by violence. Two thousand years ago, there were many A queen rules over the Batiri, holding her tribes in Chult. The most influential of these crown only so long as she can defend herself was the Tabaxi, but nearly as powerful and as in arena combat against any and all chal- numerous was the Eshowe. Beginning 1,800 lengers. Her court moves along with her clan, 3 4 Campaign Resources but some of the more powerful and long- Chultan Dwarves lived queens have set up capitals, complete with