Stream of Annihilation Preview - DINOSAURS!

Prakriti · May 25, 2017

briggart said:
According to the FR wiki: "The Spellplague destroyed the city of Mezro, leaving it an undead- and monster-infested site.". Also, the Chult map uploaded to the AL website shows "Ruins of Mezro", so I don't think the teaser is showing Mezro.

Good catch. In that case, I'd suggest Port Nyranzaru, a settlement established by Amn. In the image, we can clearly see ships on the left-hand side (suggesting a port city), and the dress and architecture are somewhat Amnian in nature. Of course, it could also be a settlement that's new to 5E. Either way, I'm sure it's somewhere in Chult.

Mr. Wilson · May 25, 2017

Disappointed it's not Halfling riding barbarians.

Here's hoping one day Eberron is opened up like Ravenloft (or that they do it justice with a setting book).

edit: Also, I agree with the speculation it's an adventure set in Chult.

lkj · May 25, 2017

Prakriti said:
So... Here's everything we know so far:

According to R.A. Salvatore's latest Drizzt book, Hero, Acererak and his Tomb are now located in Chult (a region of the Forgotten Realms). In Hero, the main villain reveals that Acererak is distributing mirrors with green-devil frames in order to harvest souls throughout Faerun.

The next adventure path will feature Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter, as revealed in Storm King's Thunder. Chris Perkins confirmed in a tweet that Artus and the Ring would feature in a 2017 product. Artus, coincidentally, first appeared in a Forgotten Realms novel set in Chult. Source: https://twitter.com/ChrisPerkinsDnD/status/799801288242262016

The last Acquisitions, Inc. game, hosted by Chris Perkins, ended with the party being guided to Chult. In answer to one of the party's questions, an Oracle told them to "Look for a lost city in a distant land. Let the children of Ubtao guide you." In the current storyline, something called the "soulmonger" is trapping souls (much like Acererak). "The evil that is trapping souls is drawing life from those who have been raised from the dead. They too will be consumed. The soulmonger must be destroyed."

Maps of Chult were recently uploaded to the Adventurers League media folder.

In the city of Mezro (in Chult), "Small dinosaurs are not uncommon in the city, as they are often used for beasts of burden and as mounts by some of Mezro's more adventurous folk" (The Jungles of Chult, p. 12). That could very well be Mezro in the teaser image.

Plus, the name of the stream, "Stream of Annihilation" is a reference to spheres of annihilation, and the image is a green-devil face, both of which feature heavily in Tomb of Horrors. So I think we can confirm at this point that the adventure is a Tomb of Horrors sequel set in Chult.

To quote myself in a previous thread, I "predict that Acererak and his dungeon will have less of a presence in the new adventure than Strahd had in Curse of Strahd. In other words, most of the adventure will feature new locations and dungeons, all leading up to an epic battle with the lich himself. I also predict that there will be some planar or dimensional travel involved, due to Artus's role as an Exarch of Auril and Acererak's journey between worlds."

So that's a pretty convincing argument. I suppose the question left is whether Chult is just one location or whether it is the location, or the main location. Like, say, Acererak is playing his schemes across multiple worlds and you have to hop around to thwart him.

AD

Quickleaf · May 25, 2017

Prakriti said:
Good catch. In that case, I'd suggest Port Nyranzaru, a settlement established by Amn. In the image, we can clearly see ships on the left-hand side (suggesting a port city), and the dress and architecture are somewhat Amnian in nature. Of course, it could also be a settlement that's new to 5E. Either way, I'm sure it's somewhere in Chult.

From Greg Tito's tone and focus, it sounds like this might be the beginning to exploring some new setting material

And rawr! You called it [MENTION=6855149]Prakriti[/MENTION]!

DEFCON 1 · May 25, 2017

The knowledge that WotC has been UA playtesting stuff from other settings for what we expect to be in their Midway product is a pretty strong indicator that said product will be multiversal. Which makes for a logical extension that the adventure path released to support it would also be multiversal, especially when it uses a multiversal prime plane antagonist.

I would not be surprised if the adventure starts in Chult to take on Acererak, but then requires PCs to planehop in order to finally hunt him down for good (in whatever planes his various tombs appear.)

Narl · May 25, 2017

"I had heard of the great demolish Acererack in my travels . . . he and his legendary Tomb of Horrors . . . have somehow appeared in Faerûn." - Volo's Guide the the Forgotten Realms

I believe Dungeonology has clues to other story lines as well.

Demetrios1453 · May 25, 2017

briggart said:
According to the FR wiki: "The Spellplague destroyed the city of Mezro, leaving it an undead- and monster-infested site.". Also, the Chult map uploaded to the AL website shows "Ruins of Mezro", so I don't think the teaser is showing Mezro.

The Sundering brought back lots of places that were thought destroyed in the Spellplague (Halruaa, Lantan, etc.), so Mezro may be among their number (or not). We haven't had any updates for the current state of Chult to know for sure - so if we are going to Chult, we'll have that question answered.

Sent from my VS987 using EN World mobile app

happyhermit · May 25, 2017

Mr. Wilson said:
Disappointed it's not Halfling riding barbarians.
...

Sorry but that has never made sense to me. I understand that it's possible but I just don't get WHY barbarians would ride halfings. So I prefer the dinosaurs, personally.

pukunui · May 25, 2017

briggart said:
Also, the Chult map uploaded to the AL website shows "Ruins of Mezro", so I don't think the teaser is showing Mezro.

What map is this?

Demetrios1453 said:
The Sundering brought back lots of places that were thought destroyed in the Spellplague (Halruaa, Lantan, etc.), so Mezro may be among their number (or not). We haven't had any updates for the current state of Chult to know for sure - so if we are going to Chult, we'll have that question answered.

From the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, page 10: "Ruined Mezro stands across the sea from Calimshan, waiting for explorers and its displaced people to cleanse the city of its undead inhabitants and uncover the treasures that lie hidden there."

Prakriti · May 25, 2017

pukunui said:
What map is this?

This map. It was linked in this post.

You will most likely need to copy-and-paste the link into a new browser tab, since the website doesn't allow hot-linking. In any case, it's a map of Chult (from 4th Edition, I believe), which includes the Ruins of Mezro on it.

If you go to the folder (http://dndadventurersleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05), you will see other media for the month of May, mostly related to Tales from the Yawning Portal.