Session 15 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 6, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 6, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 5, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 5, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
PC's Not Present:
Farout,
Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of
Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
NPC's:
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.
Itch, the kobold who introduced party to kobolds of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's.
Sembian Sam and Cormyran Kandy follow after the party, finding a pile of bodies (some headless) dumped beside a shrine dedicated to a zorbo diety. They also note from hiding a kamaran feasting on the bodies, a giant bloated snake that had already apparently consumed one or two, and a man with snakes for arms talking to another snake about how somebody had apparently killed the Red Wizards and taken their cubes. They waiting for the snakes and the cat to move along before approaching the shrine and reuniting with the party. Everyone then got in a long rest and they move on after the Yuan Ti who had apparently taken the zorbo puzzle cube, as the party now has the other eight. Itch shows up in the morning to comment on the damage done to the shrine, and the party denied responsibility, blaming the Red Wizards and Yuan Ti. Itch mentioned the Yuan Ti being dangerous, and mentioned again the nearby back entry into their lair when the party mentioned that they were looking for the last cube that appeared to have been taken by the Yuan Ti.
Entering the palace quarter through an opening in the wall Shummp, Sam, and Agatha led the way stealthily ahead of the rest of the party. To the left they noted an opening to a courtyard that appeared to have had some traffic into it, and they investigated, thinking it in the neighborhood of the secret entrance. They noted some large snakes hiding in the vegetation growing in the courtyard. Agatha immediately raged and charged to attack the nearest snake and the others followed as the two farther snakes turned into men with the heads of snakes and pulled out bows while the snake Agatha was attacking bit her. Shummp, Agatha, Sam, and Kandy combined to kill the one snake as the rest of the party moved up; Vorn charged in to smash a more regular size snake that came out of the bushes to bite Agatha as well. As the rest of the party closed in another snake man quickly fell and then they chased down and slayed the last before he had a chance to get away. In the fighting, Sam stumbled past and noted a hole behind some bushes leading into a passage into the earth.
They soon reorganized and made their way down through the passage, with Sam taking the lead using his blessing from Saja N'baza to see in the dark. The first few party members rolled high on their stealth roles and they noted lights ahead and closed in on four Yuan Ti broodguards, foul creatures transformed from regular humanoids to serve the snake men. In the surprise round and the two rounds immediately after the party dropped the broodguards, with a third level shatter from Adran being particularly effective (he rolled high damage while the broodguards rolled poor on their saves), though the party got a bit scattered and the shatter sunk a rowboat and caused some bells on the boats to ring... drawing the attention of the hydra living in the lake! It popped out of the water near Shaun and Varis, severely injuring the cleric. The half-orcs then charged it, doing a substantial amount of damage, killing a head and causing two more to appear. Varis then starting throwing firebolts to prevent the head growth, but switched to a lightning bolt one round and there was a seventh, and eventually an eighth head. As most of the party battled the hydra, several noticed someone open a door across the cavern and stare in surprise (with wide snake-like eyes) at the commotion. Soon Sam, Kandy, and Darius were on the Yuan Ti pureblood, with Darius grappling him to hold the snakeman in place while the others pummeled him and he called for help from his minions who started to shuffle forward from the room behind him. Darius then shoved him back and unleashed a burning hands spell to hit the zombies and inadvertently cause some explosions in the flammable poisons stored in the room as well, unleashing a cloud of toxic gas. The snakeman soon dropped and Shummp moved forward to engage the zombies after finally dropping the hydra (Varis eventually used a flaming sphere to pin it between the sphere and the party, which was an effective tactic though the monster had taken a substantial amount of damage by that point as well). Shummp took some poison damage from proximity to the toxins as he attacked the zombies but eventually the zombies fell and the gas cleared out. As the party checked out the room full of poisons to see what had survived Are noted a stopper in a brass jug and pulled it out, releasing another gas. Fortunately the party members in range made their saves and everyone retreated from the room again. Shaun used a prayer of healing to patch up the damaged members of the party, and both during and after the fight Are used most of her spell slots on cure wounds to help members of the party as well. They felt well enough restored to work their way back through the unworked cavern the last broodguard had started making a run toward and they closed to door to the poison lab behind them. Adran led this time, a bit ahead of the rest and he was quite stealthy, and came upon nine slaves (humans, albino dwarves, and goblins) holding sticks and shovels as they rested by a fire, watched by three broodguards and full fledged Yuan Ti with a human torso and head and a snake tail instead of legs. The party quickly dispatched the guards, looting the Yuan Ti, but it took some work for the party to convince the slaves to leave, but finally they talked them into leaving through the passage the party had entered. The vain Yuan Ti who was in charge had a key that opened the door leading out of the cave system into a worked stone room. Sam led the way in and was attacked by a talking snake who asked him who he was and what he was doing... Darius tried to have a conversation with the snake as it held Sam in his coils, but Sam yelling "Kill it!" led the half orcs to charge in with Kandy and between their efforts the snake was soon dead, with Sam injured. Shaun was able to help with Sam's injuries, and they hauled the dead snake back into the cave, locking the door behind them after looting a bit from the store room, locking it behind them; nobody was able to come up with a use for the crates of bronze bares, however... They then proceeded to have a snake roast for lunch, getting a short rest in.
After their break, they continued through the store into a more worked passage, following to the left as the passage started sloping up, and they found their way into a room full of relief carvings of Yuan Ti and Dendar the Night Serpant, and they didn't miss either the small holes in the walls or the button in the Yuan Ti's crown in one of the reliefs. Adran of course pressed the button, unleashing a gas that knocked out Sam, Kandy, Agatha, and Adran himself. The conscious party members quickly scrambled to pull the unconscious party members back down the hall way they had entered through. Then they heard a searcher above and some comments about how somebody had set off the gas. Slapping the unconscious party members and pouring water on them did not seem to help; Shaun, fearing for his life with more protection, cast a lesser restoration on Agatha, waking her. Shummp then decided that he would yell back at the searcher above, causing some further running and yelling. We left off as the party began to engage three broodguards backed up by a Yuan Ti and two basilisks, with a third of the party still unconscious and many spell slots expended, and then a gong sounded in the distance, somewhere further off in the Yuan Ti lair...
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Red Wizards Make Rough Day for Pets and Hirelings
Session 14 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 5, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 5, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 5, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
PC's Not Present:
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
NPC's:
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.
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.
Kakarol, chief of the kobolds of Omu, sleeps on a pile of treasure (mostly copper but PC's are contributing to upgrading his hoard in exchange for a place to stay and help in navigating their way through Omu). Hopes the "dead wizard" he serves will fulfill a promise to change him into a dragon in exchange for loyal service from the kobolds in maintaining the shrines of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's
After the battle with the Red Wizard and the apparently interloping Yuan Ti, the party sees their tortle companion Farout head into the swamp while the others confer with Kandy, who shares that the Red Wizards have retrieved three cubes from further south, they determine that they may have overlooked a shrine near where the wizards were attacked by a large force of Yuan Ti after setting up their first camp in the city. She also shares that there are at least three of the wizards remaining (a fourth has been lost for a couple days) along with a handful of thug hirelings. The party decides to press forward to retrieve the cube from the shrine they know about before the remaining Red Wizards find it.
On their way, they find an abandoned campsite with a letter left for someone with that expedition; apparently they were searching for the puzzle cubes as well and the letter shares some details of their use. After leaving the camp site, the part notes that Kandy and Sam have disappeared together, and the rest of the party rolls their eyes and continue marching along. Approaching from the north, they find the back of a shrine with relief carvings of a large tentacled frog like creature fronted by a pool of water on the other side of the building to the south. Agatha moves ahead of the party to scout and tosses a rock into the pool which immediately starts to churn as she charges forward to investigate. As she stands by the pool an enormous Froghemoth rises from the pool and begins slamming her with tentacles. Shummp rushes forward to assist; Are throws up a wall of wind to protect the rest of the party, which maneuvers to keep their distance and attack at range. Darius moves into thrown weapon range to attack with his handaxe that returns to his throwing hand via eldritch magic while Are drops her wall and turns into a crocodile and leaps into the pool to attack, but misses with her bite but is in turn bitten by the froghemoth, turning her back into her elf form treading water in the pool. Agatha and Shummp attack the tentacles as the only part of the beast within reach; as a result it stops grappling them, instead choosing to slam with its tentacles, the half orcs then jump into the pool to better engage the creature. Are summons crocodiles, while Darius gets swallowed by the froghemoth as it flicks its tongue out to draw him into its mouth. Adran unleashes his favorite spell, shatter, for a second time on the froghemoth, killing two of the four recently summoned crocodiles and injuring Shummp in the process. Fortunately the beast had little fight left in him, and Shummp landed a killing blow while hanging with one arm from a tentacle, allowing Darius to free himself from the now inert monster as it slowly submerged. Agatha climbed out next to a statue of a frog and found a stone key, which turned out to be what opened the shrine door. The challenge of jumping above the spike floor was solved by Are turning into a frog, and the party soon retrieved another puzzle cube and left to rejoin their kobold friends.
The next day started with the party correlating the information obtained from Kandy with that of the kobolds (who again warned the party to not use the puzzle cubes to enter what they learned is the Tomb of the Nine Gods but to instead stick around and keep paying the kobolds for lodging). They then determined the shrine that had probably not been looted yet by either the party or the Red Wizards, unfortunately the kobolds told them it was right next to Yuan Ti HQ. So they cautiously set out, hoping to cross over just before the swamp narrowed back into a river. They found crocodiles - lots of them relaxing on a rare sunny day. They used Vorn to mostly cross a 100' section of swamp holding a rope over his head that the party could secure to a building on the other side. Then they carefully crossed the rope, with the hadrosaur following the Are the druid, who was first to cross. The hadrosaur splooshing through the swamp attracted the attention of several crocodiles, and three chomps later it provided lunch to the crocs and a distraction allowing the rest of the party to cross without further issue. They then made their way to the last shrine.
There they walked right into the Red Wizards who were standing in front of the shrine! The half-orcs were in the lead, but Varis was first to react after the lead Red Wizard (who had a creepy half young/half old face, who cast something defensive on herself. Varis unleashed a lightning bolt that I was surprised by and forgot to have a Red Wizard counter. The half-orcs charged through the wizards' minions, taking some opportunity attack damage to engage two of the wizards. Shaun unleashed a fireball but I remembered to counter that one. Then one Red Wizard went invisible while another misty stepped away from the half orcs. Agatha got hit with a blight spell. Are summoned a pair of dire wolves and turned into one herself. The minions started dropping, as did the misty stepping wizard. Then a fireball exploded in the middle of the bulk of the party - the invisible wizard! (Greatly invisible, as he did not reappear). The cat guides and Darius were badly hurt, all managing to fail one of their best saving throws. Are's other pet, a young velociraptor, got broiled. She became very sad. Darius actually dropped to play dead. Shummp then had an incredible round whacking at the lead Red Wizard with his magical sword - negating the stoneskin the wizard cast at the start of the encounter! With his action surge he hit four times, rolling two critical hits, and the wizard crumpled before him, dropped to exactly zero hit points (probably should have cast false life instead!) Agatha then picked up the wizard and charged in the direction of the invisible one, who negated another fireball Shaun attempted to cast. Agatha threw the downed wizard in a direction she thought the remaining wizard might be but didn't hit anything. The wizard turned out to be standing right next to Agatha and she stabbed out blindly in reaction to the wizard trying to dash away and she connected, causing the wizard to drop the invisibility. The wizard then cast another fireball, hoping to drop the scary half orc but only managed to blow up Darius and the two cats who were seriously injured by the previous fireball. Darius would recover, the cats River Mist and Flask of Wine sadly were burned to a crisp. Varis finally finished off the wizard with another lightning bolt. On the wizards the party found some standard supplies, a couple healing potions, a bit of gold, and an invisibility scroll along with three puzzle cubes.
The party then found the shrine had been cleared out but not by the Red Wizards. It looked like the path taken by several large snakes from the shrine led to the north - the direction of the Yuan Ti lair.
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 5, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 5, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 5, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
PC's Not Present:
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
NPC's:
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.
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.
Kakarol, chief of the kobolds of Omu, sleeps on a pile of treasure (mostly copper but PC's are contributing to upgrading his hoard in exchange for a place to stay and help in navigating their way through Omu). Hopes the "dead wizard" he serves will fulfill a promise to change him into a dragon in exchange for loyal service from the kobolds in maintaining the shrines of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's
After the battle with the Red Wizard and the apparently interloping Yuan Ti, the party sees their tortle companion Farout head into the swamp while the others confer with Kandy, who shares that the Red Wizards have retrieved three cubes from further south, they determine that they may have overlooked a shrine near where the wizards were attacked by a large force of Yuan Ti after setting up their first camp in the city. She also shares that there are at least three of the wizards remaining (a fourth has been lost for a couple days) along with a handful of thug hirelings. The party decides to press forward to retrieve the cube from the shrine they know about before the remaining Red Wizards find it.
On their way, they find an abandoned campsite with a letter left for someone with that expedition; apparently they were searching for the puzzle cubes as well and the letter shares some details of their use. After leaving the camp site, the part notes that Kandy and Sam have disappeared together, and the rest of the party rolls their eyes and continue marching along. Approaching from the north, they find the back of a shrine with relief carvings of a large tentacled frog like creature fronted by a pool of water on the other side of the building to the south. Agatha moves ahead of the party to scout and tosses a rock into the pool which immediately starts to churn as she charges forward to investigate. As she stands by the pool an enormous Froghemoth rises from the pool and begins slamming her with tentacles. Shummp rushes forward to assist; Are throws up a wall of wind to protect the rest of the party, which maneuvers to keep their distance and attack at range. Darius moves into thrown weapon range to attack with his handaxe that returns to his throwing hand via eldritch magic while Are drops her wall and turns into a crocodile and leaps into the pool to attack, but misses with her bite but is in turn bitten by the froghemoth, turning her back into her elf form treading water in the pool. Agatha and Shummp attack the tentacles as the only part of the beast within reach; as a result it stops grappling them, instead choosing to slam with its tentacles, the half orcs then jump into the pool to better engage the creature. Are summons crocodiles, while Darius gets swallowed by the froghemoth as it flicks its tongue out to draw him into its mouth. Adran unleashes his favorite spell, shatter, for a second time on the froghemoth, killing two of the four recently summoned crocodiles and injuring Shummp in the process. Fortunately the beast had little fight left in him, and Shummp landed a killing blow while hanging with one arm from a tentacle, allowing Darius to free himself from the now inert monster as it slowly submerged. Agatha climbed out next to a statue of a frog and found a stone key, which turned out to be what opened the shrine door. The challenge of jumping above the spike floor was solved by Are turning into a frog, and the party soon retrieved another puzzle cube and left to rejoin their kobold friends.
The next day started with the party correlating the information obtained from Kandy with that of the kobolds (who again warned the party to not use the puzzle cubes to enter what they learned is the Tomb of the Nine Gods but to instead stick around and keep paying the kobolds for lodging). They then determined the shrine that had probably not been looted yet by either the party or the Red Wizards, unfortunately the kobolds told them it was right next to Yuan Ti HQ. So they cautiously set out, hoping to cross over just before the swamp narrowed back into a river. They found crocodiles - lots of them relaxing on a rare sunny day. They used Vorn to mostly cross a 100' section of swamp holding a rope over his head that the party could secure to a building on the other side. Then they carefully crossed the rope, with the hadrosaur following the Are the druid, who was first to cross. The hadrosaur splooshing through the swamp attracted the attention of several crocodiles, and three chomps later it provided lunch to the crocs and a distraction allowing the rest of the party to cross without further issue. They then made their way to the last shrine.
There they walked right into the Red Wizards who were standing in front of the shrine! The half-orcs were in the lead, but Varis was first to react after the lead Red Wizard (who had a creepy half young/half old face, who cast something defensive on herself. Varis unleashed a lightning bolt that I was surprised by and forgot to have a Red Wizard counter. The half-orcs charged through the wizards' minions, taking some opportunity attack damage to engage two of the wizards. Shaun unleashed a fireball but I remembered to counter that one. Then one Red Wizard went invisible while another misty stepped away from the half orcs. Agatha got hit with a blight spell. Are summoned a pair of dire wolves and turned into one herself. The minions started dropping, as did the misty stepping wizard. Then a fireball exploded in the middle of the bulk of the party - the invisible wizard! (Greatly invisible, as he did not reappear). The cat guides and Darius were badly hurt, all managing to fail one of their best saving throws. Are's other pet, a young velociraptor, got broiled. She became very sad. Darius actually dropped to play dead. Shummp then had an incredible round whacking at the lead Red Wizard with his magical sword - negating the stoneskin the wizard cast at the start of the encounter! With his action surge he hit four times, rolling two critical hits, and the wizard crumpled before him, dropped to exactly zero hit points (probably should have cast false life instead!) Agatha then picked up the wizard and charged in the direction of the invisible one, who negated another fireball Shaun attempted to cast. Agatha threw the downed wizard in a direction she thought the remaining wizard might be but didn't hit anything. The wizard turned out to be standing right next to Agatha and she stabbed out blindly in reaction to the wizard trying to dash away and she connected, causing the wizard to drop the invisibility. The wizard then cast another fireball, hoping to drop the scary half orc but only managed to blow up Darius and the two cats who were seriously injured by the previous fireball. Darius would recover, the cats River Mist and Flask of Wine sadly were burned to a crisp. Varis finally finished off the wizard with another lightning bolt. On the wizards the party found some standard supplies, a couple healing potions, a bit of gold, and an invisibility scroll along with three puzzle cubes.
The party then found the shrine had been cleared out but not by the Red Wizards. It looked like the path taken by several large snakes from the shrine led to the north - the direction of the Yuan Ti lair.
Monday, June 11, 2018
Cubes and Kandy
Session 13 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 5, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 3, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 3, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
PC's Not Present:
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
NPC's:
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.
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.
Kakarol, chief of the kobolds of Omu, sleeps on a pile of treasure (mostly copper but PC's are contributing to upgrading his hoard in exchange for a place to stay and help in navigating their way through Omu). Hopes the "dead wizard" he serves will fulfill a promise to change him into a dragon in exchange for loyal service from the kobolds in maintaining the shrines of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, now in league with the Red Wizards?
It starts with the kobolds very upset with the damage done to Wongo's Shrine last session; there was a rather unnecessary use of a shatter spell that knocked over a statue. Varis, Adran, and Vorn head off to help the kobold's restore the shrine. The rest of the party agrees to clear our some Grungs from the shrine of the Grung diety to help make the kobolds' work easier. Farout, the new druid, makes their travel through the swamp go easy by ritually casting water walk over the party and they take the long way around the perimeter of the swamp near the cliffs on the east side of the city. While moving through a flooded and somewhat overgrown section of the city they note a vine with pretty yellow flowers as Sam's whip starts screeching out a warning in his head. The party stops to figure out what the danger is and Are realizes the yellow flowering vine is a dangerous predatory plant, a yellow musk creeper! Agatha charges ahead to get clear, then two decaying yellow musk zombies erupt out of the swamp beneath the party as the flower spews out a pollen causing the cats, Farout, and Darius to desire nothing more than to move as close as possible to the pretty, sweet smelling flowers. Shmoop starts desperately whacking at the plant while others attack the zombies. The plant lashes out at one of the cats but misses, Sam and Agatha start to target the plant, while River Mist and Darius recover. The plant then blasts out another shot of pollen but it has less effect this time, and the zombies are quickly dispatched, before Shaun finishes off the plant with a blast of holy light it gets a pretty good lash into Flask of Wine.
The party then notes a little bit further along across a wide open expanse of water what appears to be a shrine covered in frescoes of frog like creatures. As they approach, the heads of several green and one red frog creature pop up on the roof while a gold frog creature riding a hadrosaur and several more green ones start advancing from around the other side of the shrine. Are casts animal friendship quickly on the hardrosaur while Agatha rages and charges forward, leaping onto the back of the dinosaur to start grappling the Grung leader; several other Grungs then start stabbing at Agatha who has advanced far ahead of the rest of the party. The red Grung on the roof casts some sort of spell, Sam discovers it was spike growth as he attempts to move up and jams his foot on a spike growing out of the swamp. Shaun then clears the growth and most of the Grungs on the roof who are firing at the party with bows with a fireball; Farout follows that with an animal summoning of two bears on the roof and two crocodiles in the swamp. The tide rapidly turns in the party's favor despite a couple more waves of Grung reinforcements; eventually the remaining Grungs decide to retreat after their chief dies at Agatha's hands. The party then moves into the shrine, finding piles of treasure stacked in corners throughout and writings telling the story of the trickster god Nangnang the Grung which Are is able to decipher with Sam's help. The doors further into shrine are locked, and a message says to Darius finds a fine looking spear and takes it outside to discover that is is merely a crude stick, then he returns into the shrine and notes the instruction to bring Nangnang his gifts so he takes the spear forward and the door opens for him, revealing Nangnang's puzzle cube beyond, which Sam grabs after checking for traps.
The party then makes their way back to the kobold lair, with the hadrosaur still following Are. The next day, they start working their way south down the causeway to find another shrine, worrying a bit about running into the Red Wizards who they know are clearing shrines on the south side of the city. They solve the puzzle and maze (somewhat and not without multiple party members taking damage from the dart trap) to find I'Jin's puzzle cube; Are, the cats, and the hadrosaur are all hanging out in front of the temple while the rest of the party is inside retrieving the cube and getting shot up by poisoned darts; as they finally get the cube Farout misty steps through a small hole in the ceiling of the shrine and notes a Red Wizard and several accomplices moving toward the shrine, he calls a warning back down into the shrine and hides on the roof; Are and the cats remain unaware and run in fear when the Red Wizard and his party arrive and order them to leave the shrine. It turns out Cormyran Kandy is one the accomplices with the Red Wizard! She and Sam go back and forth a bit over who needs to turn over the puzzle cubes to whom and Kandy makes a threat about a fireball to smoke the party out and Shaun then fires one off at the Red Wizard entourage, surprising everybody! The tortle on the roof follows that up with a wall of water attack and the others advance (though Darius falls to darts in trying to cross the trapped puzzle floor, but Shaun patches him up again while moving through). Kandy takes a potion of invisibility and dashes away toward the swamp, with most of the party following that way, while Shummp charges after the retreating thugs south along the causeway; the Red Wizard himself falls quickly as everyone's preferred target. Just as Shummp closes with the last thug a creature with the body of a man and the head of a snake appears beside him and tries to cast a magical charm on Shummp, but he resists! Are then comes back into action atop her new hadrosaur pet along with River Mist and Flask of Wine and between them they take down the snake man and the thug. Sam and Kandy then arrange a truce as she appears by his side next to the swamp, and we leave off here until next time.
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 5, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 3, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 3, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
PC's Not Present:
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
NPC's:
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.
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.
Kakarol, chief of the kobolds of Omu, sleeps on a pile of treasure (mostly copper but PC's are contributing to upgrading his hoard in exchange for a place to stay and help in navigating their way through Omu). Hopes the "dead wizard" he serves will fulfill a promise to change him into a dragon in exchange for loyal service from the kobolds in maintaining the shrines of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, now in league with the Red Wizards?
It starts with the kobolds very upset with the damage done to Wongo's Shrine last session; there was a rather unnecessary use of a shatter spell that knocked over a statue. Varis, Adran, and Vorn head off to help the kobold's restore the shrine. The rest of the party agrees to clear our some Grungs from the shrine of the Grung diety to help make the kobolds' work easier. Farout, the new druid, makes their travel through the swamp go easy by ritually casting water walk over the party and they take the long way around the perimeter of the swamp near the cliffs on the east side of the city. While moving through a flooded and somewhat overgrown section of the city they note a vine with pretty yellow flowers as Sam's whip starts screeching out a warning in his head. The party stops to figure out what the danger is and Are realizes the yellow flowering vine is a dangerous predatory plant, a yellow musk creeper! Agatha charges ahead to get clear, then two decaying yellow musk zombies erupt out of the swamp beneath the party as the flower spews out a pollen causing the cats, Farout, and Darius to desire nothing more than to move as close as possible to the pretty, sweet smelling flowers. Shmoop starts desperately whacking at the plant while others attack the zombies. The plant lashes out at one of the cats but misses, Sam and Agatha start to target the plant, while River Mist and Darius recover. The plant then blasts out another shot of pollen but it has less effect this time, and the zombies are quickly dispatched, before Shaun finishes off the plant with a blast of holy light it gets a pretty good lash into Flask of Wine.
The party then notes a little bit further along across a wide open expanse of water what appears to be a shrine covered in frescoes of frog like creatures. As they approach, the heads of several green and one red frog creature pop up on the roof while a gold frog creature riding a hadrosaur and several more green ones start advancing from around the other side of the shrine. Are casts animal friendship quickly on the hardrosaur while Agatha rages and charges forward, leaping onto the back of the dinosaur to start grappling the Grung leader; several other Grungs then start stabbing at Agatha who has advanced far ahead of the rest of the party. The red Grung on the roof casts some sort of spell, Sam discovers it was spike growth as he attempts to move up and jams his foot on a spike growing out of the swamp. Shaun then clears the growth and most of the Grungs on the roof who are firing at the party with bows with a fireball; Farout follows that with an animal summoning of two bears on the roof and two crocodiles in the swamp. The tide rapidly turns in the party's favor despite a couple more waves of Grung reinforcements; eventually the remaining Grungs decide to retreat after their chief dies at Agatha's hands. The party then moves into the shrine, finding piles of treasure stacked in corners throughout and writings telling the story of the trickster god Nangnang the Grung which Are is able to decipher with Sam's help. The doors further into shrine are locked, and a message says to Darius finds a fine looking spear and takes it outside to discover that is is merely a crude stick, then he returns into the shrine and notes the instruction to bring Nangnang his gifts so he takes the spear forward and the door opens for him, revealing Nangnang's puzzle cube beyond, which Sam grabs after checking for traps.
The party then makes their way back to the kobold lair, with the hadrosaur still following Are. The next day, they start working their way south down the causeway to find another shrine, worrying a bit about running into the Red Wizards who they know are clearing shrines on the south side of the city. They solve the puzzle and maze (somewhat and not without multiple party members taking damage from the dart trap) to find I'Jin's puzzle cube; Are, the cats, and the hadrosaur are all hanging out in front of the temple while the rest of the party is inside retrieving the cube and getting shot up by poisoned darts; as they finally get the cube Farout misty steps through a small hole in the ceiling of the shrine and notes a Red Wizard and several accomplices moving toward the shrine, he calls a warning back down into the shrine and hides on the roof; Are and the cats remain unaware and run in fear when the Red Wizard and his party arrive and order them to leave the shrine. It turns out Cormyran Kandy is one the accomplices with the Red Wizard! She and Sam go back and forth a bit over who needs to turn over the puzzle cubes to whom and Kandy makes a threat about a fireball to smoke the party out and Shaun then fires one off at the Red Wizard entourage, surprising everybody! The tortle on the roof follows that up with a wall of water attack and the others advance (though Darius falls to darts in trying to cross the trapped puzzle floor, but Shaun patches him up again while moving through). Kandy takes a potion of invisibility and dashes away toward the swamp, with most of the party following that way, while Shummp charges after the retreating thugs south along the causeway; the Red Wizard himself falls quickly as everyone's preferred target. Just as Shummp closes with the last thug a creature with the body of a man and the head of a snake appears beside him and tries to cast a magical charm on Shummp, but he resists! Are then comes back into action atop her new hadrosaur pet along with River Mist and Flask of Wine and between them they take down the snake man and the thug. Sam and Kandy then arrange a truce as she appears by his side next to the swamp, and we leave off here until next time.
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Dead Cats
Session 12 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk (Open Hand) 5, Chultan native
A New Arrival:
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse and in company of Hooded Lantern, intrigued by tales of unusually powerful T-Rex in Omu.
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 5, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 3, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter 3, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
NPC's:
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.
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.
Hooded Lantern, cat person hunter seeking to cap life of hunting wild beasts of Chult by taking down the King of Feathers, a mighty T-Rex that stalks Omu.
Kakarol, chief of the kobolds of Omu, sleeps on a pile of treasure (mostly copper but PC's are contributing to upgrading his hoard in exchange for a place to stay and help in navigating their way through Omu). Hopes the "dead wizard" he serves will fulfill a promise to change him into a dragon in exchange for loyal service from the kobolds in maintaining the shrines of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, now in league with the Red Wizards.
Waking in the kobold's lair beneath the old trading hall in Omu, Adran, Rainy Day, Shaun, Varis, River Mist, and Flask of Wine discuss the challenges the kobolds face in Omu with Kakarol. He describes a problem with the smaller dinosaurs that live beneath the nearby amphitheater that eat the occasional kobold and that the PC's would do him a great service by eliminating the pack of smaller dinosaurs (which turn out to be deinonychuses) found there. But they are advised to avoid the mighty King of Feathers, an unusually powerful T-Rex that also bases himself there but rarely bothers with eating a kobold, seeking larger prey; on balance the kobolds feel they may be better off with the King around and they can't imagine anyone actually managing to slay the King. So the kobold, two elves, three cats, and one automaton make their way toward the amphitheater, the others are left either scouting the city or watching out from a high point near the roof of the market hall.
The party maneuvers their way around the north side of Omu hoping to come at the amphitheater stealthily from an unexpected direction. On the way they note a black obelisk and a couple passages in the cliff side that they understand from the kobolds to probably be the entrance to the dungeon opened by the puzzle cubes from which it is said none of the adventurers who have entered have ever returned. They give it a wide berth on this outing and do not investigate more closely. Closing in on the amphitheater they spot a dinosaur eyeing them from a tunnel under the "grandstand." Battle is soon joined and the party emerges victorious, though River Mist is badly mauled and Shaun spends some spell slots getting her back to somewhat better health. No sign is found of the larger dinosaur other than massive piles of dung (which obscured the approach of one of the smaller dinosaurs) and massive footprints throughout the area. The party then descended into the tunnels beneath the amphitheater, smashing a few dinosaur eggs and finding a bit of treasure, including what turns out later to be a Helm of Telepathy that Adran claims. Exiting the far end of the amphitheater, the party spots the massive feathered T-Rex that can only be the King of Feathers eating the dinosaurs they had killed on the other side of the amphitheater. It also notices them and charges, blinking to close the distance through a misty step ability. The party feels somewhat safe hiding in the tunnel the King can't fit into until it spits a swarm of wasps at them that fly into the tunnel. The mobile monk Rainy Day moves out into the open to strike at the T-Rex then rapidly dashing away, Vorn and Adran also move out to battle, others pop out briefly or struggle with the wasps, River Mist and Flask of Wine are held up in back of the line in the narrow corridor and not eager to engage after getting pretty beat up in the previous fight. From fireballs, other spells, Vorn, and Rainy Day, the King takes a fair amount of damage and blinks away from Vorn (the others had all retreated into the tunnel) and appears near enough to charge at Rainy Day who stands by herself some distance to the north on the courtyard in front of the amphitheater. One bite drops the cat, who the T-Rex then swallows. Some of the party then start working their way back to the south side of the amphitheater but none saw Rainy Day fall (except Vorn, but the Shield Guardian is not very good at expressing himself). The King then retreats away to the north, the party glimpses him running behind some buildings while they stop to look for Rainy Day, most have taken some damage from the earlier fight or the wasps at this point and they have spent a fair number of spell slots.
While in the T-Rex's gullet, Rainy day makes two death saves, then fails one, then roles a one! She dies and begins to be digested by the King of Feathers. Rainy Day is the first party member to die since we started months ago. The player starts putting together a new PC. Felt kind of bad as Rainy Day wasn't acting foolishly, other than to be the only flesh and blood member of the party out facing the King of Feathers, and the exceptional mobility of the cat monk was countered in this instance by the equally exceptional mobility of the magical T-Rex.
The remainder of the party gathered, discovered a bloody patch where Rainy Day fell, and quickly made their way back to shelter with the kobolds, sharing that the smaller dinosaurs had been eliminated. The rested and licked their wounds the rest of that day; their watchers shared that there had also been some fireball explosions noted somewhere on the south side of the city that they assumed announced the activity of the Red Wizards of Thay searching for puzzle cubes.
The next day, upon stepping out of the kobolds' market hall on the way to checking out the nearest shrine, they stumbled into a Tortle, a being the kobold and elves had never seen before. "Hey, bro, it's all right, they look like adventurers," it said to Hooded Lantern the cat person hunter who was monitoring the party from cover with his short bow. trained on them The Tortle was a humanoid turtle man in tune with nature, but missing his beach now that he was deep in the jungle. The hunter he accompanied was on a quest to slay the King of Feathers, the mightiest Tyrannosaurus Rex in Chult. (Wanted to get the player back in as quickly as possible, figured this worked). They had also recently made their way down the waterfall and were on their way to the amphitheater to find the King. The party decided they could work together, and perhaps discover if Rainy Day still lived (though they feared she did not). The cat person hunter was quite sure of himself and insistent on tracking down the beast and he led the way as the party followed.
They made their way back stealthily to the amphitheater and peering around the northern corner it was spotted resting. Hooded Lantern climber to the top of the amphitheater to get a good shot while Varis, Vorn, and Adran started moving through the tunnel to engage it from the south side. As this was happening, Farout the Tortle cast speak with animals and stepped out to tell the King not to worry, he'd be attacked but the Tortle would help him if it started going bad for him, the T-Rex stood up, flicked its tongue and looked around, and the cat hunter shot at him twice. At this point the party within the amphitheater tunnel was just halfway through, Shaun tried casting faerie fire but the King shook it off, then the King blinked away again and appeared up on top of the amphitheater near Hooded Lantern and took a bite, spilling the cat person's blood across the seats. The other cat people were quite irate about the loss of Rainy Day and the brother and sister landed many hit with their arrows. Adran tried to attack from below, hitting the bottom of the grandstand with shatter, causing a cave in the collapsed the north end of the tunnel but also pinning the dinosaur in a bit of a pit. The cat person hunter took advantage of the T-Rex's distraction hitting it a couple times with his short sword. Then the King bit again, and another cat person dropped. The King again misty stepped away from where he had been pinned while Varis and Vorn came out from the south end of the amphitheater. The turtle man then summoned lightning and warned the dinosaur to leave if it wanted to live, and it responded by telling the Tortle to leave it alone and spat another swarm of wasps at Varis as he moved in closer through the steady rain (it was hard to get an accurate shot from the far end of the amphitheater in the rain - it is often raining in Chult). As it steadily continued taking damage from the remaining members of the party (including the Tortle, who now started throwing lightning bolts at it, something about it's teleportation ability and wasp spitting did not seem entirely natural) it tried shifting away again, moving against Varis the evoker and Shaun the Kobold who had drifted in the fight a bit to the south. This time there were too many weapons and spells trained on it, however, and the King fell. Adran immediately started cutting into it to see if it held the remains of their friend, and after pulling out the half of a cat person that was the all too briefly known Hooded Lantern they found the partially digested remains of their friend in its stomach. In sadness they buried their friend nearby and made their way back to the kobold lair.
After a short rest, they then continued on to find the nearest shrine, which they were told was to a monkey god of some kind and that they shouldn't be troubled by the monkey shrieking.They did indeed hear (only in their heads) monkey shrieking as they passed two obelisks with monkey carvings on them that looked a lot like the psychic monkey creatures some of them had previously been ambushed by during a rest in the jungle. The one the shrine was dedicated to was apparently named Wongo. Going though the middle passage of the five entrances they discovered a statue of Wongo snarling, cupping both his hands and feet. The carvings told of Wongo's battle with Moa the jaculi after Moa revealed to Ubtao that Wongo was the one who had stolen his water for the thirsty people of Omu. It was clear that water should be poured into one or more of the statue's hands, and Varis picked the statue's left hand. And it turned out that was the correct decision, and a puzzle cube appeared! At the same time, a snarling voice called out for him to choose to fight or curse his friends, and Varis chose to fight. Then four su-monster monkey creatures appeared, and Varis and Vorn were both quickly stunned after doing quite a bit of damage to one of the creatures. Shaun then dropped that while damaging the others with a blast of radiance of the dawn. Adran followed up dropping another and the statue with another shatter spell, and the remaining two were also picked off before having a chance to recharge their psychic crush abilities. Now the party had two puzzle cubes; the Red Wizards likely also have at least two. And the party left off by once again returning to the kobold lair with some more bribes and apologies for the mess they had left in the shrine for the kobolds to clean up.
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk (Open Hand) 5, Chultan native
A New Arrival:
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse and in company of Hooded Lantern, intrigued by tales of unusually powerful T-Rex in Omu.
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 5, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 3, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter 3, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
NPC's:
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.
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.
Hooded Lantern, cat person hunter seeking to cap life of hunting wild beasts of Chult by taking down the King of Feathers, a mighty T-Rex that stalks Omu.
Kakarol, chief of the kobolds of Omu, sleeps on a pile of treasure (mostly copper but PC's are contributing to upgrading his hoard in exchange for a place to stay and help in navigating their way through Omu). Hopes the "dead wizard" he serves will fulfill a promise to change him into a dragon in exchange for loyal service from the kobolds in maintaining the shrines of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, now in league with the Red Wizards.
Waking in the kobold's lair beneath the old trading hall in Omu, Adran, Rainy Day, Shaun, Varis, River Mist, and Flask of Wine discuss the challenges the kobolds face in Omu with Kakarol. He describes a problem with the smaller dinosaurs that live beneath the nearby amphitheater that eat the occasional kobold and that the PC's would do him a great service by eliminating the pack of smaller dinosaurs (which turn out to be deinonychuses) found there. But they are advised to avoid the mighty King of Feathers, an unusually powerful T-Rex that also bases himself there but rarely bothers with eating a kobold, seeking larger prey; on balance the kobolds feel they may be better off with the King around and they can't imagine anyone actually managing to slay the King. So the kobold, two elves, three cats, and one automaton make their way toward the amphitheater, the others are left either scouting the city or watching out from a high point near the roof of the market hall.
The party maneuvers their way around the north side of Omu hoping to come at the amphitheater stealthily from an unexpected direction. On the way they note a black obelisk and a couple passages in the cliff side that they understand from the kobolds to probably be the entrance to the dungeon opened by the puzzle cubes from which it is said none of the adventurers who have entered have ever returned. They give it a wide berth on this outing and do not investigate more closely. Closing in on the amphitheater they spot a dinosaur eyeing them from a tunnel under the "grandstand." Battle is soon joined and the party emerges victorious, though River Mist is badly mauled and Shaun spends some spell slots getting her back to somewhat better health. No sign is found of the larger dinosaur other than massive piles of dung (which obscured the approach of one of the smaller dinosaurs) and massive footprints throughout the area. The party then descended into the tunnels beneath the amphitheater, smashing a few dinosaur eggs and finding a bit of treasure, including what turns out later to be a Helm of Telepathy that Adran claims. Exiting the far end of the amphitheater, the party spots the massive feathered T-Rex that can only be the King of Feathers eating the dinosaurs they had killed on the other side of the amphitheater. It also notices them and charges, blinking to close the distance through a misty step ability. The party feels somewhat safe hiding in the tunnel the King can't fit into until it spits a swarm of wasps at them that fly into the tunnel. The mobile monk Rainy Day moves out into the open to strike at the T-Rex then rapidly dashing away, Vorn and Adran also move out to battle, others pop out briefly or struggle with the wasps, River Mist and Flask of Wine are held up in back of the line in the narrow corridor and not eager to engage after getting pretty beat up in the previous fight. From fireballs, other spells, Vorn, and Rainy Day, the King takes a fair amount of damage and blinks away from Vorn (the others had all retreated into the tunnel) and appears near enough to charge at Rainy Day who stands by herself some distance to the north on the courtyard in front of the amphitheater. One bite drops the cat, who the T-Rex then swallows. Some of the party then start working their way back to the south side of the amphitheater but none saw Rainy Day fall (except Vorn, but the Shield Guardian is not very good at expressing himself). The King then retreats away to the north, the party glimpses him running behind some buildings while they stop to look for Rainy Day, most have taken some damage from the earlier fight or the wasps at this point and they have spent a fair number of spell slots.
While in the T-Rex's gullet, Rainy day makes two death saves, then fails one, then roles a one! She dies and begins to be digested by the King of Feathers. Rainy Day is the first party member to die since we started months ago. The player starts putting together a new PC. Felt kind of bad as Rainy Day wasn't acting foolishly, other than to be the only flesh and blood member of the party out facing the King of Feathers, and the exceptional mobility of the cat monk was countered in this instance by the equally exceptional mobility of the magical T-Rex.
The remainder of the party gathered, discovered a bloody patch where Rainy Day fell, and quickly made their way back to shelter with the kobolds, sharing that the smaller dinosaurs had been eliminated. The rested and licked their wounds the rest of that day; their watchers shared that there had also been some fireball explosions noted somewhere on the south side of the city that they assumed announced the activity of the Red Wizards of Thay searching for puzzle cubes.
The next day, upon stepping out of the kobolds' market hall on the way to checking out the nearest shrine, they stumbled into a Tortle, a being the kobold and elves had never seen before. "Hey, bro, it's all right, they look like adventurers," it said to Hooded Lantern the cat person hunter who was monitoring the party from cover with his short bow. trained on them The Tortle was a humanoid turtle man in tune with nature, but missing his beach now that he was deep in the jungle. The hunter he accompanied was on a quest to slay the King of Feathers, the mightiest Tyrannosaurus Rex in Chult. (Wanted to get the player back in as quickly as possible, figured this worked). They had also recently made their way down the waterfall and were on their way to the amphitheater to find the King. The party decided they could work together, and perhaps discover if Rainy Day still lived (though they feared she did not). The cat person hunter was quite sure of himself and insistent on tracking down the beast and he led the way as the party followed.
They made their way back stealthily to the amphitheater and peering around the northern corner it was spotted resting. Hooded Lantern climber to the top of the amphitheater to get a good shot while Varis, Vorn, and Adran started moving through the tunnel to engage it from the south side. As this was happening, Farout the Tortle cast speak with animals and stepped out to tell the King not to worry, he'd be attacked but the Tortle would help him if it started going bad for him, the T-Rex stood up, flicked its tongue and looked around, and the cat hunter shot at him twice. At this point the party within the amphitheater tunnel was just halfway through, Shaun tried casting faerie fire but the King shook it off, then the King blinked away again and appeared up on top of the amphitheater near Hooded Lantern and took a bite, spilling the cat person's blood across the seats. The other cat people were quite irate about the loss of Rainy Day and the brother and sister landed many hit with their arrows. Adran tried to attack from below, hitting the bottom of the grandstand with shatter, causing a cave in the collapsed the north end of the tunnel but also pinning the dinosaur in a bit of a pit. The cat person hunter took advantage of the T-Rex's distraction hitting it a couple times with his short sword. Then the King bit again, and another cat person dropped. The King again misty stepped away from where he had been pinned while Varis and Vorn came out from the south end of the amphitheater. The turtle man then summoned lightning and warned the dinosaur to leave if it wanted to live, and it responded by telling the Tortle to leave it alone and spat another swarm of wasps at Varis as he moved in closer through the steady rain (it was hard to get an accurate shot from the far end of the amphitheater in the rain - it is often raining in Chult). As it steadily continued taking damage from the remaining members of the party (including the Tortle, who now started throwing lightning bolts at it, something about it's teleportation ability and wasp spitting did not seem entirely natural) it tried shifting away again, moving against Varis the evoker and Shaun the Kobold who had drifted in the fight a bit to the south. This time there were too many weapons and spells trained on it, however, and the King fell. Adran immediately started cutting into it to see if it held the remains of their friend, and after pulling out the half of a cat person that was the all too briefly known Hooded Lantern they found the partially digested remains of their friend in its stomach. In sadness they buried their friend nearby and made their way back to the kobold lair.
After a short rest, they then continued on to find the nearest shrine, which they were told was to a monkey god of some kind and that they shouldn't be troubled by the monkey shrieking.They did indeed hear (only in their heads) monkey shrieking as they passed two obelisks with monkey carvings on them that looked a lot like the psychic monkey creatures some of them had previously been ambushed by during a rest in the jungle. The one the shrine was dedicated to was apparently named Wongo. Going though the middle passage of the five entrances they discovered a statue of Wongo snarling, cupping both his hands and feet. The carvings told of Wongo's battle with Moa the jaculi after Moa revealed to Ubtao that Wongo was the one who had stolen his water for the thirsty people of Omu. It was clear that water should be poured into one or more of the statue's hands, and Varis picked the statue's left hand. And it turned out that was the correct decision, and a puzzle cube appeared! At the same time, a snarling voice called out for him to choose to fight or curse his friends, and Varis chose to fight. Then four su-monster monkey creatures appeared, and Varis and Vorn were both quickly stunned after doing quite a bit of damage to one of the creatures. Shaun then dropped that while damaging the others with a blast of radiance of the dawn. Adran followed up dropping another and the statue with another shatter spell, and the remaining two were also picked off before having a chance to recharge their psychic crush abilities. Now the party had two puzzle cubes; the Red Wizards likely also have at least two. And the party left off by once again returning to the kobold lair with some more bribes and apologies for the mess they had left in the shrine for the kobolds to clean up.
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