Session 8 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Valor) 4, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam - Distracted in a ruined plantain plantation
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native - Distracted in a ruined plantain plantation
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 3 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (light of Kossuth) 4, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 4 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Associates:
River
Mist and Flask of Wine, quite capable cat person sister and brother
who are associates of the Zhentarim, hired by party as guides for a
share of treasure found on expedition.
Vorn, a Shield Guardian
found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to
eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a
spell book.
We were down to four players this week, missing the barbarian and the monk. Had been concerned with scaling the enemies in past weeks, fear I've had a bit of a light touch and not quite challenging the party when they came to blows with various denizens Chult. Reading the description of the green hag in Mbala with her flying monkeys and flesh golem, I decided that if the party ended up confronting the hag there would be 2 flesh golems and a whole flying horde of monkeys. As it turned out, the hag ended up confronting the party - the hag (and I) were somewhat overconfident that the party had run down their resources in a night battle with a tribe of pterafolk.
Vorn is a challenging addition. A party containing a wizard is pretty much going to be told where to find this mighty robot of destruction in the jungle, and fairly near to the goblin village where its control amulet is found. The wizard getting to let the guardian take half his damage and then the damage Vorn is able to do with two attacks per round, and then regeneration making up for taking the extra damage, means the wizard/robot duo is quite a force - much more powerful than the fourth level of the wizard would suggest. The kobold also picked up a griffin figurine of wondrous power in Matalo, so now the party has two magic construct minions to aid them in battle.
We had left off the previous week with the party climbing the Mbala plateau from the west as they returned from the Mistcliff Mountains on their way back to Camp Vengeance. With Rainy Day and Agatha's player's being absent, figured they had taken sick from spider poison in the last encounter and decided to hole up on an abandoned plantation while the rest of the party continued on to the ancient capital of the fallen kingdom of Mbala. Turned out it was quite fallen, little remaining but abandoned plantations and mounds where huts and wood and thatch buildings had once stood. No people, only occasional pterafolk spotted ominously flying about at a distance from the party. Eventually they made their way into what was clearly once a larger settlement, with only a hut near a collapsing gate next to the trail up the plateau from the east still standing. Outside the hut the party encountered a strange old woman, somewhat suspiciously existing as the last remaining resident of Mbala. She did offer the party soup, and suggested they help her with the pterafolk that kept eating her flying monkey friends (the party also noted a large tree full of the beasts near the hut). They agreed to help with the pterafolk, being themselves no friends of the creatures. They found they were still being observed by the pterafolk as they approached the cliff on the south side of the plateau where they were said to live. On the way, they noted a large swamp (the Aldani Basin) to the east, and across it a substantial floating earthmote the catfolk guides identified as a feature known as the "heart of Ubtao."
After stumbling around atop the cliff the party noted the pterafolk were flying out of a cave below them in the cliffside. They thought about returning at night, and then noted a cave chimney atop the bluff that led into the back of the pterafolk den. Sam quickly returned from his exploration, there was some concern that the tiny cave entrance would not admit passage to Vorn, which the party thought would very much limit their ability to take on the whole tribe of pterafolk. They hoped to catch them asleep and overwhelm them with surprise. Using a jar of magnificent pigments, Shaun the Kobold was able to create a pit directly into the back of the cave; however, the party was still being observed and the pterafolk in the cave received warning of the party's attempted ambush! So as Sam, Shaun, and Adran dropped into the cave to confront the pterafolk, Varis, Vorn, and the catfolk were attacked from above by pterafolk out of the sky. A battle on two levels then took place. In the course of it, both Adran and Varis dropped and all the party members took damage, Adran summoned wolves using a charm granted by Saja N'Baza which helped a great deal at the start of the fight, Shaun also brought out the griffin figurine to help in the fight, and the party narrowly prevailed over 20 pterafolk. Varis had the good fortune to roll a 20 on a death save and he was able to leap back into the fight at an opportune moment, and Shaun similarly healed Adran to give him a chance to get off a shatter spell. to severely disrupt the remaining pterafolk in the cave. The party then decided to take a short rest before heading back to the old woman's hut, which they arrived at just before dawn.
Since the woman was actually a green hag who hoped to eat at least a couple of the party members, and as she had been observing them invisibly during the fight, she thought they'd been battered enough that her two flesh golems would make short work of them. She was wrong - I think the party got at least two critical hits against one of the golems in the first round, and the monkey distractions - had two monkeys on all the PC's and a whole swarm on the cat folk - were quickly dispatched by a flare of divine radiance out from Shaun the Kobold (the fires of Kossuth incinerated the monkeys and damaged the flesh golems). Sam and Vorn had magic weapons to affect the golems, and Varis and Shaun still each had enough spells left to have an impact. Adran, unfortunately, fell quickly to a couple blows from the flesh golem that they party wasn't concentrating their initial fire against. In desperation, the hag tried to take out Shaun the Kobold but Shaun survived the hit and hit back; when the hag turned invisible and ran away Vorn charged after, found her with blindsense, and pummeled the remaining life out of her.
The party then rested, and in a thorough search of the ruined town the following day found the hag's small treasure stash hidden in a well.
They then proceeded down the trail to the east off the plateau, passing a pyramid of skulls just below the level of the town. Shortly thereafter, the party again fought off an attempted ambush by spiders, and finished their trek to the bottom of the bluff, where we left off until next time.
Monday, March 26, 2018
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Marching Through the Mistcliffs
Session 7 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Valor) 4, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 3 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (light of Kossuth) 4, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 4 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Associates:
River Mist and Flask of Wine, quite capable cat person brother and sister who are associates of the Zhentarim, hired by party as guides for a share of treasure found on expedition.
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
The party finds notes left by the bird man necromancer about some sort of snake being name Saja N'Baza found to the southwest near the Mistcliff Mountains in an ancient structure known as Orolunga. They determine that it will be their next destination, as it will allow them to continue traveling in the heights with some relief from the heat of the jungles below and connecting with an enemy of the snake men and evil necromancers seems like a decent idea. However, on the first day out the party gets lost in a box canyon and find themselves back where they started, in the ruined town of Matalo. As it starts to rain the party discovers the headless body of the necromancer they had left in the temple is missing, so they search the ruins for what may have happened, Sam's whip of warning alerting them as a horde of zombies come bursting out of a decrepit granary. Behind the zombies a decayed looking birdman and another snake person lob arrows at the party. Shaun's turn undead is effective on most of the zombies but it's effect is quickly negated by Adran's horn of blasting, which misses one zombie that runs off into the forest but the others that survive are back in the fight. Adnan takes damage from zombies and arrows and hides behind the two cat folk guides who fire their own arrows into the zombies. Shaun follows up with a flaming sphere, and begins torching zombies. Once the zombies are sufficiently cleared out, Agatha accepts opportunity attacks to engage in combat with the snake man, another with the lower body of a snake and top half of a human. The wizard Varis blasts the decayed looking birdman from a hole in the side of the granary with magic missiles while he sends Vorn in to smash zombies; the birdman notices and smacks the wizard with a painful necrotic touch. As the barbarian shrugs off blows from the snake creature and one of the last remaining zombies the snake creature disengages and attempts to escape through the melee but is noticed by Adnan who hits and kills it. Rainy Day, Agatha, Varis, and Shaun's flaming sphere coordinate to finish off the undead bird creature. The sphere also sets the granary ablaze, and the party escapes after briefly rifling through the possessions of the bird and snake creatures to find a handful of coins on the snake man.
The next day the party avoids getting lost, traveling along the eastern slopes of the Mistcliff Mountains. After a couple days of travel the party startles a troop of flying monkeys from a tree; in reaction Adnan hits them with his horn of blasting and monkey bits rain down on the party and the tree the monkeys were in topples over. Fortunately, the horn does not explode. Later that evening as the party makes camp they are approached by Aarakocra scouts from the other side of the mountains, who are impressed by their feat of killing Rhilleg the necromancer but distressed that Agatha is still carrying his skull. They think the party might be on to something with their trek to Orolunga but are uncertain of exactly what sort of being resides there. The party is also warned to watch out for pterafolk, the ancient enemy of the bird people. The also give the party advice on navigating their way over an upcoming river gorge.
As the party closes on where Rhilleg's notes indicate where Orolunga is located, the party notes they are being observed from a distance by pterafolk, who they are familiar with from an incident shortly after their arrival in Chult on the outskirts of Port Nyanzaru. Ominously they make camp, and the following day note that they continue to be shadowed. Just after the party reaches an observation point that reveals a large ziggurat rising out of the jungle below, they hear a great deal of screeching from above and behind and look to see a number of aarakocra diving into combat with several pterafolk. Agatha immediately starts climbing and grabbing a rock to engage in combat with any pterafolk she can reach, and as a result soon the whole party find themselves engaged against the pterafolk. Adnan again quickly puts his horn of blasting to use, not worrying that Varis and Vorn are both in the area of effect; these time his luck with the notoriously unpredictable magic item does not hold, and it explodes, dropping him immediately along with one of the pterafolk that had already taken damage. Shaun heals him once only to see him drop again after a solid hit from one of the pterafolk flying by; the second time Shaun just uses a spare the dying cantrip to stabilize him. After a bloody brawl in three dimensions the party helps the aarakocra prevail and win the gratitude of the remaining bird men. Each of the party members is given a red feather that they are told by the chief will provide some use if they visit the ziggurat below.
(Note: both the pterafolk and aarakocra were random encounters, rolling both in succession made for what I thought was a interesting encounter).
The next day the party makes their way through the jungle to the ziggurat. Agatha tries to press through brambles and jungle growth blocking passage up the side of the structure while Adnan notices some pretty purple and orange orchids growing in the nearby jungle. Vorn is shuts down each time he tries to take a step up the stairs. Sam tries to puzzle out a way up and then they are shown the way by an orchid carrying chwinga forest spirit. On the next level the party finds a set of stairs that crumble away each time they set foot on it but they figure out that carrying the feather and the orchid together allows passage. Then they get to the snake covered stairs; same is especially grossed out, not liking snakes at all. They are puzzled on the next step when again a chwinga appears and shows them the rather unusual and gross method of slithering through the snake swarms using their orchids and feathers to catch the attention of a snake they then swallow. Agatha and Varis find they are not able to pull of this odd maneuver and elect to stay behind; Adnan is struck unconscious after repeated failed attempts to swallow a snake but then Rainy Day does the maneuver for him and he returns to consciousness as he slithers up the steps. The rest of the party manages, even Sam who struggles mightily to overcome his distaste for snakes. At the top of the ziggurat, besides a great view of the surrounding jungle the party finds a shrine; inside they are transported to what may be another plane, place, or time. Saja N'Baza turns out be be a giant snake creature who warns the party that the source of the death curse lies in the ancient, now lost, city of Omu, which he is able to give an approximate location of on their map. He warns them that great evil is found there, both in whatever is stealing the souls of the people of Faerun through the death curse as well as Ras Nsi, now a Yuan Ti, who a hundred years ago raised an undead army to conquer Chult but failed, though the undead menace remains. They are told that the Yuan Ti of Chult serve Dendar the Night serpent, who seeks nothing less than the end of the world. They are charged with defeating Ras Nsi and the Yuan Ti as they seek to end the death curse, and to aid them Saja provides them with a number of magical charms. As the party leaves his presence, they find themselves rested and the sun rising at dawn.
The party decides to travel east to recover more of their gear from Camp Vengeance before going further south. On the way, they hope to investigate Mbala and whatever magic over life and death exists there that their guides have heard rumors of . They climb the hills and plateaus leading to Mbala from the west, finding some abandoned villages and farms on the way. In one, Agatha disturbs a nest of giant spiders that swarm out and attack. After the party defeats them we break until next time.
The PC's:
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Valor) 4, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 3 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (light of Kossuth) 4, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 4 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Associates:
River Mist and Flask of Wine, quite capable cat person brother and sister who are associates of the Zhentarim, hired by party as guides for a share of treasure found on expedition.
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
The party finds notes left by the bird man necromancer about some sort of snake being name Saja N'Baza found to the southwest near the Mistcliff Mountains in an ancient structure known as Orolunga. They determine that it will be their next destination, as it will allow them to continue traveling in the heights with some relief from the heat of the jungles below and connecting with an enemy of the snake men and evil necromancers seems like a decent idea. However, on the first day out the party gets lost in a box canyon and find themselves back where they started, in the ruined town of Matalo. As it starts to rain the party discovers the headless body of the necromancer they had left in the temple is missing, so they search the ruins for what may have happened, Sam's whip of warning alerting them as a horde of zombies come bursting out of a decrepit granary. Behind the zombies a decayed looking birdman and another snake person lob arrows at the party. Shaun's turn undead is effective on most of the zombies but it's effect is quickly negated by Adran's horn of blasting, which misses one zombie that runs off into the forest but the others that survive are back in the fight. Adnan takes damage from zombies and arrows and hides behind the two cat folk guides who fire their own arrows into the zombies. Shaun follows up with a flaming sphere, and begins torching zombies. Once the zombies are sufficiently cleared out, Agatha accepts opportunity attacks to engage in combat with the snake man, another with the lower body of a snake and top half of a human. The wizard Varis blasts the decayed looking birdman from a hole in the side of the granary with magic missiles while he sends Vorn in to smash zombies; the birdman notices and smacks the wizard with a painful necrotic touch. As the barbarian shrugs off blows from the snake creature and one of the last remaining zombies the snake creature disengages and attempts to escape through the melee but is noticed by Adnan who hits and kills it. Rainy Day, Agatha, Varis, and Shaun's flaming sphere coordinate to finish off the undead bird creature. The sphere also sets the granary ablaze, and the party escapes after briefly rifling through the possessions of the bird and snake creatures to find a handful of coins on the snake man.
The next day the party avoids getting lost, traveling along the eastern slopes of the Mistcliff Mountains. After a couple days of travel the party startles a troop of flying monkeys from a tree; in reaction Adnan hits them with his horn of blasting and monkey bits rain down on the party and the tree the monkeys were in topples over. Fortunately, the horn does not explode. Later that evening as the party makes camp they are approached by Aarakocra scouts from the other side of the mountains, who are impressed by their feat of killing Rhilleg the necromancer but distressed that Agatha is still carrying his skull. They think the party might be on to something with their trek to Orolunga but are uncertain of exactly what sort of being resides there. The party is also warned to watch out for pterafolk, the ancient enemy of the bird people. The also give the party advice on navigating their way over an upcoming river gorge.
As the party closes on where Rhilleg's notes indicate where Orolunga is located, the party notes they are being observed from a distance by pterafolk, who they are familiar with from an incident shortly after their arrival in Chult on the outskirts of Port Nyanzaru. Ominously they make camp, and the following day note that they continue to be shadowed. Just after the party reaches an observation point that reveals a large ziggurat rising out of the jungle below, they hear a great deal of screeching from above and behind and look to see a number of aarakocra diving into combat with several pterafolk. Agatha immediately starts climbing and grabbing a rock to engage in combat with any pterafolk she can reach, and as a result soon the whole party find themselves engaged against the pterafolk. Adnan again quickly puts his horn of blasting to use, not worrying that Varis and Vorn are both in the area of effect; these time his luck with the notoriously unpredictable magic item does not hold, and it explodes, dropping him immediately along with one of the pterafolk that had already taken damage. Shaun heals him once only to see him drop again after a solid hit from one of the pterafolk flying by; the second time Shaun just uses a spare the dying cantrip to stabilize him. After a bloody brawl in three dimensions the party helps the aarakocra prevail and win the gratitude of the remaining bird men. Each of the party members is given a red feather that they are told by the chief will provide some use if they visit the ziggurat below.
(Note: both the pterafolk and aarakocra were random encounters, rolling both in succession made for what I thought was a interesting encounter).
The next day the party makes their way through the jungle to the ziggurat. Agatha tries to press through brambles and jungle growth blocking passage up the side of the structure while Adnan notices some pretty purple and orange orchids growing in the nearby jungle. Vorn is shuts down each time he tries to take a step up the stairs. Sam tries to puzzle out a way up and then they are shown the way by an orchid carrying chwinga forest spirit. On the next level the party finds a set of stairs that crumble away each time they set foot on it but they figure out that carrying the feather and the orchid together allows passage. Then they get to the snake covered stairs; same is especially grossed out, not liking snakes at all. They are puzzled on the next step when again a chwinga appears and shows them the rather unusual and gross method of slithering through the snake swarms using their orchids and feathers to catch the attention of a snake they then swallow. Agatha and Varis find they are not able to pull of this odd maneuver and elect to stay behind; Adnan is struck unconscious after repeated failed attempts to swallow a snake but then Rainy Day does the maneuver for him and he returns to consciousness as he slithers up the steps. The rest of the party manages, even Sam who struggles mightily to overcome his distaste for snakes. At the top of the ziggurat, besides a great view of the surrounding jungle the party finds a shrine; inside they are transported to what may be another plane, place, or time. Saja N'Baza turns out be be a giant snake creature who warns the party that the source of the death curse lies in the ancient, now lost, city of Omu, which he is able to give an approximate location of on their map. He warns them that great evil is found there, both in whatever is stealing the souls of the people of Faerun through the death curse as well as Ras Nsi, now a Yuan Ti, who a hundred years ago raised an undead army to conquer Chult but failed, though the undead menace remains. They are told that the Yuan Ti of Chult serve Dendar the Night serpent, who seeks nothing less than the end of the world. They are charged with defeating Ras Nsi and the Yuan Ti as they seek to end the death curse, and to aid them Saja provides them with a number of magical charms. As the party leaves his presence, they find themselves rested and the sun rising at dawn.
The party decides to travel east to recover more of their gear from Camp Vengeance before going further south. On the way, they hope to investigate Mbala and whatever magic over life and death exists there that their guides have heard rumors of . They climb the hills and plateaus leading to Mbala from the west, finding some abandoned villages and farms on the way. In one, Agatha disturbs a nest of giant spiders that swarm out and attack. After the party defeats them we break until next time.
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