Campaign Diary (Warning: contains spoilers for ToA)

Our first full session of Shadowed Chult started with an incredible combat against a Girallon Zombie. For a party of 1st level Shadowdark characters, a Girallon hits hard, and its multiple attacks made sure everyone got a taste of the action.

Standout moments came hand-in-hand with many crit fails on the side of the party, and a few terrible Nat 20s on the side of the GM. Gloria the Priest lost no fewer than two spells right off the bat, but managed to heal up the downed Thief Gobtopher before being KO'd herself. Vush the Fighter and Grimm the Wizard rolled high to convince their NPC Guides Faroul and Gondolo to bring their triceratops into the fray, which could hit hard and absorb a few knocks. Gloria was stabilized by Faroul, who recognized her significance as a healer. Vush, feeling the whole situation had gone south, tried to escape with only the NPCs. Grimm had been downed, and managed to come back up with 1 HP on well-timed a Nat 20. And Gobtopher -- our little lad Gobtopher -- jammed a torch into the gut of the monster, putting it down for good.

It was a lot.

Later, the party would not be so lucky. They successfully avoided Swarms of Centipedes, but could not evade the interest of the Tyrannoraurus Rex Zombie - the Z-Rex, if you will. There were many attempts to trip it, and to hide from it, but only Gloria's distraction of banging her mace on her shield was truly effective at getting the brute to stay put. While the Z-Rex devoured the self-sacrificing Priest, the rest of the party escaped, opting to push themselves to make it to Camp Righteous.

The party groaned when I described the ruinous state of the camp, as they were counting on a safe place to resupply. They groaned once more when Rydre Dye, a foppish Elf Wizard (and T's new character), ran forth to greet them. Rydre told the party that the inhabitants of the camp "left when I showed up!" but next session they'll get to look into what really went on at Camp Righteous.