The Sacbe 10 (Cloak of the One Plume)

One day, Atl and Hamud went out to explore the abandoned village, with Hamud disguised not as a jaguar warrior, but as a beautiful woman. The disguise was very good, especially from a distance. While exploring, they met two men, dressed in rags, but carrying weapons. The men said that they also lived in the village and they had been watching them and promised that they were good people and thought they looked like good people too. There was a friendly conversation, but it soon became awkward and the meeting ended with an agreement to avoid each other.

Feeling confident, Hamud wanted to go into Tezat and Atl agreed. He wore the jaguar armor and presented Hamud as his slave, using him/her to begin negotiations with a merchant who gave them information about where the tabaxi was held captive and in return Hamud agreed to go with the merchant to his house. As they entered the dark street where the merchant lived, Hamud revealed his true nature and attacked. The merchant ran into his house and his guards came to his rescue.

Atl and Hamud killed the guards.

Hamud cast off his disguise and the pair joined the search party for the strange woman, while collecting more clues about the tabaxi. In time, as Hamud revealed his penchant for violent mischief, Atl persuaded him that they should instead return to their hiding place in the village.

A few days later, Tameme (one of the porters) showed up in the village with some important news. He had been lucky to escape Azatl alive. After going their separate ways on the causeway, Paal had tried to follow Zolin’s orders to lead the other back to the ridge. But Hoscotl had betrayed them, offering them as captive sacrifices or slaves to a group of jaguar warriors. Paal had fought to protect Tamema and the other porter and the three of them were captured, along with the local warrior that Atl had defeated. As far as Tameme could tell, Hocotl didn’t get more then a few quills of gold and a hunk of smoked meat.

At the slave pens, Tameme learned a lot of interesting information. There were stories about Atl and Hamud’s explots in Tezat and about the fact that they were looking for the captive tabaxi. Based on this, a large group of warriors were planning to raid Tezat and take the tabaxi themselves. Paal and the other porter helped Tameme to escape so that he could warn Atl. Atl and Zolin thanked Tameme and decided this was their last best chance to find the tabaxi. Together with Hamood and Divemoye, they went to Tezat.

The ruined city was quiet but tense. The few people out on the streets were hostile or fighting amongst themselves. As they reached the center of Tezat, they saw a group of larmed men striding purposefully down the street with smoldering torches. They enter a two-story building, climbed to the roof, and set it on fire. At Hamood’s urging, the travelers chased the arsonists. But then they heard sounds of a counter-attack and decided they would do better to hide and watch. The smoke of several more fires filled the air. The warriors of Tezat raised the alarm. Warriors were raiding the sacrifice pens!

Moving from house to house, the travelers approached the center of the commotion. From the midst from a large combat, a lone figure broke free. As the figure approached she showed herself to be a bipedal jaguar. Her arms were found, and she dragged a stone tied around her ankle. Zolin freed the tabaxi, who introduced herself as Chioptl and then took off running out of the city. Unhampered, Chioptl was much faster than the party, but every so often, she stopped for them. One they were out of the Tezat, Chioptl gratefully followed the travelers to the abandoned village where they had made their base and when asked told them everything she knew about the cloak of the plume.

The tabaxi elders had determined that humans were no longer worthy of the Cloak and had sent a party to take it and carry it back to Tabaxi-land. The tabaxais had determined that the cloak was guarded by a rain serpent on the slopes of Mt. Nexal. Together they could kill the rain serpent. It would be most helpful to find some cocoa beans and some jade and offer the rain serpent a gift.

Hamood had some cocoa beans, but no one had any jade. While inventorying their possessions, Zolin passed around the medallion that he’d taken from the jaguar that had attacked them in the jungle. Atl refused to return it, believing that it wad cursed; Atl and Zolin began to struggle. Hamood attacked Zolin with his maca. Zolin turned away in time and suffered no more than a glancing blow, but Chioptl attacked Hamood. Hamood refused to yield so Chioptl killed him and ate him.

The party decided that the next day they would go back to Tezat and try to buy some jade. These pans changed the next morning, and for the very best reasons. A warrior named Willy introduced himself to the party, explaining that he had been watching them for days, but had been hesitant to approach because of Hamood. Now that the strange man was dead, he hoped they would accept him as one of them. He had a good spear, and a few pieces of jade. The party welcomed him, offered him Hamood’s maca, and explained what they were trying to do.

The party followed a path up the slopes of Mt. Nexal, a forbidding landscape of black rock, noxious steam, and occasional spurts of lava. But among the many hellish caverns, the party found one that was cool and misty. The stone lintel was carved with the image of a rain servant.

Entering this cave, they found an altar, on which they placed their cocoa and jade. After a few moments, the ground began to shake, and the fog became thicker and warmer. Anticipating the approach of the rain serpent from a large pit in the floor, the party prepared their weapons.

The serpent was about thirty feet long with two heads, that of a snake and that of a jaguar. Greedily eying its alter, it was completely unprepared for the spear that Willy plunged into its belly. It recoiled in pain, pulling the spear out of Willy’s hands and breaking it off. The rest of the party rushed to attack. The serpent slithered deeper into its cavern. Only Chioptl was fast enough to catch it; she leaped onto the serpent, and raked it with her rear claws. The serpent seized Chioptl in both of its mouths and ripped her apart. Atl and Zolin shot it with arrows from a safe distance, while Willy and Divemoye pressed the attack, hacking through its scales and clubbing its enormous fanged heads. Atl and Zolin dropped their bows and charged with their own melee weapons, driving the serpent into a tight space in the cavern where it couldn’t bite them. The serpent likewise took a defensive posture, pulling itself into crevice there it was safe from their weapons. Divemoye approached the jaguar head and when it pounced, met it with the Axe of Justice, severing it with the fine metal blade. The other charged wit their knives and stabbed the serpent until dead.

Zolin and Atl led the charge deeper into the cavern while Willy inspected the serpent’s corpse. Zolin was the first to see the cloak while Atl was the one to seize it. Noticing the air was quickly becoming hot and sulfurous, Zolin did not protest and assisted Atl in collecting the other treasure in the serpent’s hoard—several gold quills, weapons, and an oddly-carved wooden box. The dragon-slayers rushed out of the cave and made their way back down from Mt. Zatal.

The travelers spent a day examining the treasure they'd discovered and planning their next move. Reflecting on their reasons for coming north to Nexal in the first place, they acknowledged the obvious, there was no food in the north, and if they were wanted there, it was not for any good reason.

Atl remembered his time with the old man from the pyramid who gave them gifts. The man had asked for the cloak of the one plume. Atl didn't know what it was at the time but now he did. And even though he liked the thought of keeping it for himself (it did give him a sense of confidence and authority, the others noticed it too) he proposed that rather than starving to death or being captured in Nexal, they should try to return to the pyramid and give the old man the cloak.

The first night out of Nexal, the travelers were pestered by two large feral cats. When the cats became vicious, they were killed, roasted, and eaten.

The Sacbe 9 (Another Day in the Nexal Valley)

After a few days on the ridge, Atl recovered from his sudden illness and wanted to join Zolin in another trip into the city. Divemoye would join him as would Hamud, another refugee, but from a less distant village. Paal, the porters, and Hoscotl would join them.

Hamud proved a useful ally. By strange arts, he was able to change his appearance to resemble a powerful jaguar warrior. As the party entered the city, he was saluted as a member of the aristocracy while the other party members were assumed to be his retainers, slave, or captives to be sacrificed. They made their way through Azatl and with a mixture of bluff, charm, bribe, and intimidation, discovered that the tabaxi was captive in another of the cities of the valley, Tezat. The most direct way to Tezat looked to be by way of causeway that connected Azatl to Grand Nexal, in the center of the lake, and then continued to the other side. Not until they reached the opposite side of Azatl did they discovered that the causeway was in disrepair. Here they met a jaguar warrior, both haughty and friendly who suggested to Hamud that they should each choose one of their bodyguards to fight each other. The loser would be sacrificed, and the winner would be promoted to elite warrior status. Plus, the jaguar warriors would bet a gold quill on the outcome. Hamud and Atl agreed that Atl would fight and that they would use the duel as an opportunity to kill the jaguar warrior.

As soon as the duel began, Atl attacked with savage efficiency; the jaguar warrior frowned, thinking that the duel would end in a quick death and no captive to be sacrificed. Atl’s solid blow to the other warrior’s head seemed to confirm this, but when the man fell to the ground, Atl knelt, and placing his hands on the man’s cracked skull, pushed it together and staunched the wound.

The man’s life was saved and his master, the jaguar warrior was completely unprepared for a surprise attack from Hamud. Though surprised, the jaguar warrior had remarkable instincts, and turned his body in time to avoid the worst of the blow. He was less well-ready for a stab of Atl’s knife, and Divemoye’s axe of justice. Zolin and Paal scared off his remaining bodyguards.

Atl took the jaguar warrior’s armor for himself. Zolin talked to their captive who revealed that there was a canoe hidden nearby. Divemoye discovered the canoe, and the party determined it could safely hold four people. Atl released his captive, telling him that he should tell no one what had happened. Zolin instructed Paal to lead the porters back to the hiding place on the ridge. The other four (Zolin, Divemoye, Atl, and Hamud) selected about two days of food and got into the canoe.

At first they made their way toward Grand Nexal, but as they drew closer to the once magnificent capital, they saw that it was in a state similar to Azatl. Sacrificial fires burned on the tops of the pyramids, but much of the rest of the city looked ravaged. As they drew close to the island, they saw a dozen men engaged in brawl. Hamud, for reasons of his own, shot an arrow and hit one of the brawlers. Zolin decided that they had no reason to visit Grand Nexal and should instead continue to Tezat.

It was close to dark by the time they reached Tezat, and the party decided it would be safer to approach it in daylight and by land. They noted an empty village outside Tezat and landed their canoe there. Though the village was deserted, there were several intact buildings. Choosing one, they made their beds for the night. The next morning, they discovered an intact granary and decided to rest and eat comfortable for a few days.

The Sacbe 8 (Arrival in the Nexal Valley)

The travelers reached the valley of Nexal. From a rocky outcrop, they surveyed the turgid brown lake, the listless fields, the swarms of desperate people approaching from all directions. Based on a map Zolin had recovered, they identified three cities—Nexal iself on an insland in the lake, and the subsidiary city-states of Tezat and Azatl. This was their destination, but what would they find? Several members of the party were sick with exhaustion. Zolin and Omechoka to go down for a closer look, taking with them Paal, Hoscotl and the two porters.

They crossed the dried-up fields and joined the procession of people making their way toward Azatl. Omechoka’s jaguar armor inspired immediate respect. The beleaguered families and haggard young man all gave them a wide berth. Until another, larger man, also wearing jaguar armor came along, accompanied by 10 strong-looking. This man challenged Omechoka with a cryptic greeting and, when Omechoka did not respond, accused him of not being a real jaguar warrior. As the two faced off, Omechoka insulted Tezcatlipoca and promised that he would fight to the death rather than be sacrificed to him or any of the other gods. He freely admitted that he had never captured a single prisoner and had stolen his jaguar armor from a warrior whom he had killed in ambush. Such sacrilege so distressed the larger man that he ordered one of retainers to fight the duel in his place, encouraging him to do his best to capture Omechoka and so proceed to the next warrior rank.

The other warrior fought with a maca, while Omechoka fought with a knife in each hand. They circled, Omechoka, constantly backing away from the wildly swung maca. As Omechoka retrated, the other warriors tightened the circle, and one of them pushed him into the way of his opponents weapon. The blade caught him above the ear and he was sent sprawling. He lay face down in the dirt. The jaguar warrior and his retainers cheered and the warrior brought out a rope to bind Omechoka. Omechoka let the warrior grab his arm, and then sprung into action. He kicked with his legs and stabbed the would-be captor in the armpit the warrior went down. His companions rushed into stop him from dying and the jaguar warrior ordered Omechoka to take his prisoner. “You have defeated him. Take him to the temple and give him the honor he has earned.” Omechoka, still bewildered by the ways of city people, bound the man.

Omechoka himself was badly weakened by his wounds, so Zolin took charge of the prisoner. As they proceeded toward Azatl, the other travelers were even more deferential than before.

Azatl did not seem to offer anything like what the travelers had expected when they left Otoch so many months before. There were many more people, but they were all hungry. Many of the houses were in ruins. From the tops of the tall pyramids, fires burned day and night, but the constant sacrifices seemed to have purchased little in the way of divine favor. In the market, those with money found little they wanted to buy—jewelry, feather clothing, and fine pottery were available. But food was scare, half-spoiled and still too expensive.

The travelers spent the night in an abandoned house and the next day returned to their place on the cliff.

After a few days, it was clear that the sick people weren’t getting better. Hoscotl thought that they should go back to Azatl to buy medicine and perhaps to find out something about the cloak of the one plume. If they could find it and bring it back to the Village of the Cetay, then they would be honored and welcomed for a long time. Omechoka, still nursing his injuries, and Divemoye took his place.

Divemoye was shocked at the desperation of the of families traveling to Azatl. He gave away all the food he carried and agreed to adopt a child from parents too poor to take care of him. As the travelers reached the city, other migrants noticed that they carried plenty of food and begged to trade something for some of it. Zolin firmly excluded Divemoye from these negotiations, and through shrewd trading, acquired a gold quill from a sunken-faced merchant. This merchant said he could get them medicine, too, and also knew something about the cloak of the one plume. He asked them to meet him that evening and told them where to find his house.

The travelers spent the rest of the days, looking for a safe place to rest. They stayed well away from the pyramids where priests were preparing sacrifices. The quiet parts of the city were barricaded and patrolled by jaguar warriors. In the other parts of the city, they couldn’t avoid deserving beggars.

At nightfall, they found the merchants house. They traded some more food for the promised medicine and listened to the merchant’s tale. In these strange times, the beast people, including half-human jaguar were showing themselves again. A group of tabaxi had come to Tezat recently, stating that they knew the location of the cloak of one-plume and intended to retrieve it. The jaguar warriros, not knowing what else to do, killed or captured the tabaxi. At least one was still waiting to be sacrificed. Zolin noted this with interest, intuiting that his face would be to seek the rescue the tabaxi.

And then there were some surprise visitors. Three men, with macas and spears, who demanded all the travelers’ food. The merchant seemed little surprised. Divemoye charged the leader of the thieves, striking at him with his bronze-headed axe. The man was a powerful warrior; he repelled Moye’s blows and pushed his way into the room. The other two thieves chased Hoscotl and the porters into the corner of the room, stabbing them with their spears. Paal stepped forward to defend Divemoye from the lead warrior while Zolin attacked and killed one of the spearmen. The powerful warrior struck Paal a grievous blow and demanded again that Zolin surrender his food. Instead, Zollin killed the second spearman with his stone axe. The powerful warrior did not like these odds. He fled, warning the travelers that they wouldn’t leave the city alive.

Zolin turned on the merchant. He tearfully apologized and promised both that the medicine was real and the information about the tabaxi was true. He returned some of the food that Zolin had traded.

It was now night but the travelers decided to flee immediately. They climbed up onto the merchant’s house and crossed the rooftops to leave the city.

The Sacbe 7 (Leaving the Cetay)

The travelers remained in the village of cetay for several days. When it was time to leave, two of the villagers, Hosa and Hoscotl, volunteered to come along on the journey to Nexal. The village had once been the guardian of a legendary feather-cloak and rumors suggested that the cloak was last seen in Nexal. The travelers showed little interest in the legends of another village but they were happy to have additional companion for their journey.

While waiting for the appointed day of departure, Zollin, Atl and Omechoka heard rumors that animals had been seen—or at least heard—in the forest outside the village. Reasoning that a few hours hunting could provide them with enough meat to sustain them in their journey and to leave a gift with their hosts in the village, Zollin, Atl and Omechoka asked their new friend Hosa to help them track the mysterious animals. After several hours hunting, they heard a strange and unbeautiful sound, a long, rhythmic shriek without pathos. They traced the sound to a pair of huge, many-armed creatures, with heads like men, but lacking features. Atl encouraged Omechoka and Hosa to attack the creatures.

Atl’s exhortation was irrelevant as the creatures were charging and the terrible sound that seemed to emanate from them reached a nearly deafening level. They resembled enormous ants or other insects. They were multicolored—gray on the bottom and reddish brown on top. Their mandibles were like knives and their arms were like spears. Theirs tails tapered to a sharp point. Omechoka and Hosa prepared their weapons.

Hosa’s first blow knocked off one of the creature’s arms. Without flinching, it lashed at him with its remaining arm and mandibles. The other creature attacked Omechoka. Attacking it with his knife, he found that it seemed to be made of a strange metal, much harder than gold or silver. Hosa struck his attacker another solid blow, knocking off its head, whereupon it began flailing wildly and running in circles. Omechoka, fighting with a knife, was forced to get much closer to his assailant, relying on his armor to protect him. The giant bug lodged its mandibles in a thick fold of Omechoka’s jaguar pelt. He used this opportunity to seize hold of its head and wrench it from its body. This did not incapacitate the creature, however. Instead, it thrashed at Omechoka with its arms, cutting him several times across his chest. Atl and Zolin rushed forward to club the monster to the ground. When its body ruptured, there was an explosion of cold vapor, but no blood or viscera. As the four companions in battle caught their breath and tended to each others’ wounds, they heard the sound of another creature approaching. This one moved much more quickly, especially with its stinging tail. Omechoka was struck and collapsed to the ground. The top of the creature’s back opened like the lid of a box. His friend’s, shocked and horrified, watched the creature lift Omachoka with its long, spindly arms and placed him in the box, and in the same motion turned and started to run. Hosa chased after it and knocked off one of the creature’s legs. In the same instant, he was felled by a quick dart of the tail and pulled inside the creature. Zolin and Atl, however, attacked it from the sides before it could run away and brought it to the ground. There was a sizzling sound like a strike of lightning and then the creature was still. Zolin and Atl pried open the creature and dragged their friends out of the cavity inside. They were cold and unresponsive, but alive. Zolin and Atl carried them back to the village, where Atl mixed a warming drink to revive his friends.

The next day they finally set out, no richer for meat, but with three weeks’ worth of beans and maize. They traveled for three days in the jungle and reached a cliff where they saw that next section of their journey would take them across dry plains. They rested here for the night, and found places to refill their waterskins. During the night they heard voices. Atl called out that those making the noises should show themselves. Silence. A restless night for all.

The travelers reached the plains. The grass was brown. And, as the days progressed the dry grass turned to cracked earth. The wind picked up and tossed clouds of sand into the air, obscuring the white stones of the sacbe. The travellers pressed on toward Nexal and the valley of Zatal.

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (collab with Rainbow Monkey Sock)

What happened inside the pyramid?

Bo Jing remembers it this way . . .

I Bo Jing was on the ship seeking adventure and new trade routes that would benefit my family.  I found many adventures, but as we reached Maztica, I wondered what new goods I would find. .But I really wanted adventure.

Inside the pyramid, I had many adventures.

There was a huge boulder that turned out to be a giant crab.  I leaped on top of it, drawing my fiery sword and with a great shout and a mighty blow, cleaved its shell in half and killed the monster.

Approaching another room, we heard singing.  We put wax in our ears to thwart any magical charm.  There was a woman swimming in a pool. I did my best to ignore her, telling myself she was an ugly siren, like a tadpole without a tail.  I knew that she wasn't really beautiful but just looked that way because of magic.

In another part of the pyramid, Bayan and I  got trapped behind iron bars that fell from the ceiling.  My friends noticed a painting of a sun and Shoji pressed it.  The bars opened and a secret passage was revealed behind the sun.

In that hall, there were four animal heads, one an eagle with a shiny thing in its beak.  When Kafka tried to get the shiny thing, the eagle's mouth shut and hurt him. Bayan unlocked the eagle's mouth with a tickle on the chin.

Continuing to explore the pyramid, we were alarmed when suddenly two iron doors slammed in front of us and behind us and sand began filling up the little space we had.  Singh got his axe and kept battering the door then he gave me the axe and I screamed my battle cry and smashed it down.

We came upon a room filled with giant beetles.  Bangqiu was a  coward. He floated up to scare the beetles and climb the mountain of trash and then he grabbed a shiny knife from inside the stinking pile of beetle excrement.


After the ball game (a tale for another day) my cowardly friend Bangqiu called out for help from Sardan. We got out of a hole in the roof that sardan made.

Play Report: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

Sometimes I write reviews of adventures that are five years old.  Sometimes I write reviews of reviews that are 5 years old.  In this case, Dungeon of Signs, reviewing The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan.  I'm doing this because I don't have much to add to what Mr. Lux wrote, except that I won't follow him to his bizarre conclusion that this is a really good module, but not good enough to play.  Because I did run the adventure, I have access to some additional insights, that I offer as tips on how to run the adventure.

As Lux notes, this one is hard to drop into a campaign, and I can't imagine re-skinning its Meso-American setting.  Its far from "accurate."  Mayan and Aztec pyramids were places for sacrifices, not burials, and didn't have much of an inside.  The Nereid (beautiful naked temptress) is from Greek mythology and feels really foreign to the Meso-American view of life as pain without pretense.  Despite this, the illustration booklet is very important to the adventure and everything in it looks Aztec  (or Chinese-- but only slightly and it's just one room.)  For me, the setting was easy.  My players wanted to leave their faux-Asian homeland to sail across an open ocean and discover a new world.

The illustration booklet is great and essential.  I very much agree with Lux that rather than try to describe the various trap-ridden rooms, it's great to have a picture to pass around.  My copy had no map booklet, but it's easy to find the illustrations online.

In the 70s, everything was foreign and foreign was always a license to weird.  Unlike Maztica, which tries, oh so earnestly tries, to respect other cultures (and makes them all sound like hippies), this module's authors have no embarrassment about their ignorance and rely on their imaginations to fill in the gaps.  Again, the Nereid makes no sense but provided a lot of laughs, even though none of the PCs wanted to play the straight man and instead went to great lengths to avoid looking at the cavorting nymph. (Shoji revealed that he was asexual.)

The monsters are good, though as Lux notes, PC will easily miss the most interesting ones. This could be fixed by coming up with a quest to retrieve a particular object rather than simply escape the pyramid.  He's also correct that all the monsters all seem attack-oriented.  (Except the Nereid, I keep coming back to the Nereid.)  I'm not sure this is a problem worth fixing.  The rooms are self-contained and the residents are so alien that it's believable that they wouldn't have knowledge or interest in other parts of the dungeon.  And the aggressiveness kind of fits with Aztec views of the world.  On another note, the monsters, while individually tough, are not numerous.  My party of 10 (PCs and henchman) was probably too large.

Lux disapproves of the poison gas, but it worked well for me.  We have limited time IRL so it was good to have an in-game reason for haste.  I didn't track the time closely, but the players had a sense of urgency about them. And they could not take a brute force approach to every problem ("Everyone stands guard and I individually press each block on the south wall.  Ok, now the west wall.  Ok, let's rest and heal and re-learn spells.") Lux is correct that this feeling of haste creates tension with all the weird objects begging for attention, but I think this helps preserve the wonder.  My PCs know they missed some things and are talking about going back.

Lux is correct about the clunky text and clunkier special mechanics.  I don't agree, however, that this necessitates hours of preparation.  Because the rooms are self-contained and because the residents are combat-oriented, you don't need to think too much about how it all fits together.  The adventure kind of runs itself so you can just pause and skim each room while your players look at the illustration.

Here's what I would do to prepare:

1. Look at the map.  Starting with a cave-in that lands the PCs in room 1 works well and the gas extends through to room 39.  Like Google maps, there are three routes that lead to the same destination.  The routes cross over each other, so there are probably 7 or 8 combinations that will get PCs through the maze.
2. Think about whether you want to move the cover star to a different room where the PCs are more likely to meet him.  Or if he has something that will cause them to seek him out.
3. Be ready to wing it on things like drowning or dodging boulders.  The mechanics are complicated and inconsistent and rather than study them it might make sense to use saving throws.  As with the poison gas, the threat of sand filling up a closed room is scary.  But the in-play emphasis should be on the atmosphere rather than the mechanics.  Rolling dice doesn't really enhance the suspense. 

Over the Waves Part 10 (Landfall)

And so the Binggongchang left the Island of Wisdom and after another day of smooth sailing reached a suitable place to land.  Bangqiu dropped anchor about one hundred yards off shore and the boat was lowered.  All passengers and sailors were ferried to shore, just to give everyone a chance to walk on dry land after their many weeks at sea. 

The landing place was a narrow beach surrounded by marshes and jungle.  Rhialle recognized a mountain range further inland and Bagqiu concluded that he had made good use of Sakatha's ring.  The sailors and sohei returned to the ship while Bangqiu organized an exploration party that would travel inland to find Rhialle's settlement.  Kafka argued that he should remain with the ship to maintain order among the sohei and sailors.  But Bangqiu insisted that he would need his help in this strange new land.  Kafka relented and placed Mai-Thi in charge.

Thus, the exploration party comprised:
Bangqiu, with Kafka, Damai, and Rhialle
Bo-Jing
Shoji and his bodyguard Singha
Bayan and her adviser Minh
Hyamsam

The Lucky Ten camped on the beach and then set off into the jungle the next morning.  By midday, they came upon a human settlement, one where the people spoke the same language as Rhialle.  They did not know him, but they knew the way to his home.

A few more days of travel brought them to the village of Tamoachitz.  Here Rhialle was recognized and the party was welcomed and honored-- but not in a manner that they recognized as friendly.  After a few nights, Rhialle heard the shrill piping that he recognized as the prelude to a special sacrifice.  He thanked Bangqiu for bringing him home and urged him to flee with his friends. Bangqiu agreed that he did not wish to be sacrificed but convinced Rhialle that he was ready to explore other paths to enlightenment.  And so the Lucky Ten left Tamoachitz in the middle of the night, setting up across the surrounding jungle.

A full moon guided their path, and they made their way toward a light that glowed in the trees.  This turned out to be the ruins of a towering pyramid.  They slept on the white stones of the deserted city.  In the morning, while planning their next move, the explorers heard the noise of the pursuers.  In controlled panic, they ran toward the pyramid.  Then the earth shuddered and gaped open beneath the party's feet.  They fell amidst a roar of collapsing masonry.  Dust filled the air and the sunlight disappeared as the darkness swallowed the,.