Session 18 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran,
Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern
forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward
end of last session
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) 6, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 6, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
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.
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.
This will be a short post, as we took the regular amount of time but the party triggered a couple optional encounters that made this a little more combat heavy than anticipated, although I basically opened the session with them being ambushed by Fenthaza of the Yuan Ti, so we did have a combat I expected take up the first hour and a half or so. I was a little concerned they were behind in XP and they ended the previous session telling Ras Nsi how Fenthaza was trying to usurp him, so it made sense she would gather her supporters to prevent the PC's from entering the Tomb of the Nine Gods. I also decided she had figured out they were the ones responsible for the loss of the Amulet of the Night Serpent just over a month ago back in Port Nyanzaru and she did not want them also stealing away with the Black Opal Crown.
This time the party was attacked out in the open with several Yuan Ti (including Fenthaza) firing on them from higher ground in a building and on a causeway while other Yuan Ti and Broodguards (and a Girallon Zombie - I realized I hadn't had one of these appear yet and I hadn't used my Girallon mini yet either so it had to happen!) moved into melee range at ground level. Heavy rain did interfere with the effectiveness of ranged weapons on both sides, however. The two half-orcs' players arrived a few minutes late after the party's response to a request they surrender and turn over the cubes was a fireball from Shaun and combat had begun, so their arrival was simultaneous with that of a Yuan Ti Abomination that showed up in support of Fenthaza.
Fenthaza's plan to snipe at the party from afar was countered when Are turned invisible and changed into a dire wolf to seek out Fenthaza. Soon they were engaged in combat and Fenthaza was backed up by Sev who the party had recently found chained in a Yuan Ti slave pen only to discover he was both mad and a Yuan Ti himself. Are was close to falling when the other party members had overcome the other Yuan Ti and were finally able to come to her assistance. After this fight, the party decided their best course of action was to spend the rest of this day hanging out with their kobold friends and try the Tomb again the next day. They briefly considered taking out Ras Nsi now that he probably had very few followers left but the sense that they had made a deal with him that they were bound to honor won out, and they were themselves still uncertain of their ability to take on Ras Nsi in his lair.
The next day they made their way to the black obelisk in front of the tomb, noting some gargoyles above a somewhat more gradually ascending cliff face above what appeared to be an entrance to the tomb, a smaller passage to the east and an overgrown area to the west by the side of the cliff. The obelisk had a message from Acererak on it, and Agatha couldn't help but poke it with her axe. As she did so she noted some shifting about by the gargoyles above. So she poked it again, and the gargoyles swooped down to attack. After the party dispatched the gargoyles, the two half orcs enlisted Vorn and Are in helping them knock down the obelisk... they were successfully, though it ended up falling on top of Are. Then a Nalfeshnee demon appeared where the obelisk had just stood!
This was an interesting fight. This was a CR 13 monster and the average party level was about 6, with Vorn a CR 7. I knew the number of PC's with everyone there (plus Vorn and Kandy) gave them a chance, but it was actually a rout, the demon fell quite swiftly. Other than on his saving throws the demon rolled poorly (and it had three attacks per round at +10!), and despite being disadvantaged due to fear Shummp hit the demon several times with his magic sword for substantial amounts of damage while he was himself missed at least five times. He definitely felt the demon's bite when one got through, though. Probably one more hit from the demon would have dropped the half-orc and nobody else was doing nearly as much damage so perhaps it was not quite so one sided as it felt (although Darius and Are basically spent the entire fight trying to get her out from under the obelisk so here the demon was helped a bit by an environmental obstacle as well), but it still seemed kind of weak, considering the challenge rating and how tough these things are in the earlier editions. After running several fights with the Yuan Ti this season, I'm finding magic resistance in this edition is usually not providing all that much of a benefit - spells like magic missile or that require a to hit roll get through despite the resistance, and here the lightning resistance turned out to be much more helpful to the demon than did the magic resistance.
Next session (not for a couple weeks though) will probably feature actually entering the Tomb!
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Monday, July 9, 2018
Puzzle Cube Retrieval
Session 17 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 7, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 7, 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:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
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.
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 - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
Ras Nsi, Chief of the Yuan Ti of Omu
Messengers kept running to Ras Nsi as he awaited developments on the apparent invasion of the Fane of the Night Serpent, home of the Yuan Ti of Omu. They were increasingly distressed, Yahru, his wiliest advisor was missing, and the latest report suggested his champion, Sekelok, had fallen to the intruders. They reported a golem of some kind wreaking havoc, along with a great deal of magical destruction and multiple orcish or half-orcish warriors. It was time for Ras Nsi to take personal command - he could already sense Fenthaza whispering to others of his failure to defend the Fane. With two of his personal ghoul attendants accompanying him, he slithered through the complex to the hall near the storeroom where the fighting had been heaviest. Dead snake men and broodguards lay all around. Of the intruders the only sign were a human and an elf - and they were still inside. Snaru, one of his loyal snake headed followers, suggested that the back door to the store room had slammed shut, but after that they had noted movement in the storeroom; perhaps one of more of the intruders had been left behind. Of the flanking party sent through the other entrance to the cavern leading to the back entry to their complex, nothing had been heard - Fenthaza, who just showed up full of criticism for the disaster, could be entrusted with investigating their fate and the disappearance of the golem in that direction. Ras Nsi would deal personally with whatever was left in the storeroom. Sending his ghouls in the lead, he followed after nothing immediately attacked them. They flanked the exit behind Ras Nsi as he activated his flame-tongued sword and slithered around the store room, eventually running into an elf trying to hide behind some crates. He tried talking to the elf about surrender, but the elf began chanting words of magic but Ras Nsi was quicker, slashing the elf twice before getting hit by a blast of thunderwave. A rather weak attempt, Ras Nsi could sneer, slashing again at the elf and dropping him. This elf, too, appeared to have survived, and was hauled along with the others to his throne room. On the other elf, the snakemen discovered the eight cubes - Ras had just recently grabbed the other to keep it out of the hands of a band of Red Wizards that appeared to be heading toward interfering with whatever Acererak was using the Tomb of the Nine Gods for, and Ras was charged with preventing that from happening. It also appeared that these intruders were not Red Wizards - had they taken the cubes from the Wizards? That would make for a formidable force. Questioning would have to wait until the intruders had recovered enough to provide answers, in the meantime, now that Fenthaza had confirmed the deaths of the flanking party and Ras Nsi's pet hydra in the cavern, they would retreat their forces back from the cavern, and collapse the tunnel connecting the store room to the lake. Then they would conduct the ritual, they needed more snake men, the tribal delegation who had just brought tribute would serve that purpose, though they would have to sacrifice their remaining slaves.
Oddly, when they awakened the next day and Ras Nsi questioned them, it was the human who spoke for them, not one of the elves. He was full of arrogance and bluster - and claimed they were essentially a band of treasure seekers. In that case they could serve as slaves until the next sacrifice - which should be soon, these three might be too dangerous to keep around for long. They were chained in the slave pits to await their fate.
Soon after, the alarm gong began ringing again. The rest of the intruders had returned, including the golem that had caused so much trouble; Ras Nsi again slithered out of the throne room to face them - they would first send in their new batch of purebloods along with some of their few remaining broodguards. After lobbing some fireballs and other magic back and forth through what remained of the poison distillery, the intruders eventually retreated behind a magical wall of fire that incinerated four purebloods. They had already lost another four along with four broodguards in the fighting, the metal and wood golem took a massive beating but retreated out before the wall of flame was cast. Two half-orcs were again in the thick of the fighting, it was unclear exactly how many were further back in the cavers, apparently another elf, and could that be a kobold tossing fireballs? As one of the last remaining snake headed Yuan Ti retreated from the flames, one of the half-orcs charged out from the flames as well, chopping him down. Ras Nsi attempted to knock that half orc out of the fight with a powerful casting of blight, but was dismayed to see the half orc take it and remain standing. The half orc then dove back into the flames, and when the flames dropped the enemies had again disappeared.
Returning to the throne room, he discovered the other intruders had also escaped, seizing the eight cubes they had brought with them along with their gear and the tribute recently arrived from the tribal delegation - and there was some good stuff in there! Still, they had not taken the last cube - Ras Nsi still had that one. The boat in the underground lake was gone as well - at least they knew how they had escaped. His forces, however, were getting dangerously low. Sending a party out to pursue might only weaken him further - waiting for them to return for the last cube might be the best option. Perhaps they might even be willing to bargain for it, if they were indeed the mercenary force described by the human warrior and not actually seeking the death of Ras Nsi (most of Chult would rejoice at his death, he well knew).
The next day the female half orc who had been blasted by the blight spell the previous day came knocking at their front door looking hardly worse off for it, offering to meet Ras Nsi and cut a deal. The human had returned as well. One of the Yuan Ti scouts stationed outside the entrance called out a warning that there was an invisible member of the treasure hunting band nearby. Fenthaza and Snaru accompanied Ras Nsi out, and the human pointed out that Fenthaza had helped them escape and asked them to kill Ras Nsi! Fenthaza cursed at the foreigners and slithered away in protest, but Ras Nsi knew the intruders were being truthful. The kobold then arrived, and suggested Ras Nsi disease was caused by the death curse, which was itself apparently caused by a device Acererak had hidden in the Tomb of the Nine Gods. As they were entering the Tomb to turn off or destroy this device, Ras Nsi would benefit from them doing so. If they were not successful, Ras Nsi would eventually succumb to the magical disease. If they agreed to enter the Tomb, stop the death curse, and no longer disturb the Yuan Ti, Ras Nsi was willing to give them the last remaining cube. The bargain struck, the outlanders left for the Tomb and Ras Nsi went to deal with Fenthaza...
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 7, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 7, 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:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
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.
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 - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
Ras Nsi, Chief of the Yuan Ti of Omu
Messengers kept running to Ras Nsi as he awaited developments on the apparent invasion of the Fane of the Night Serpent, home of the Yuan Ti of Omu. They were increasingly distressed, Yahru, his wiliest advisor was missing, and the latest report suggested his champion, Sekelok, had fallen to the intruders. They reported a golem of some kind wreaking havoc, along with a great deal of magical destruction and multiple orcish or half-orcish warriors. It was time for Ras Nsi to take personal command - he could already sense Fenthaza whispering to others of his failure to defend the Fane. With two of his personal ghoul attendants accompanying him, he slithered through the complex to the hall near the storeroom where the fighting had been heaviest. Dead snake men and broodguards lay all around. Of the intruders the only sign were a human and an elf - and they were still inside. Snaru, one of his loyal snake headed followers, suggested that the back door to the store room had slammed shut, but after that they had noted movement in the storeroom; perhaps one of more of the intruders had been left behind. Of the flanking party sent through the other entrance to the cavern leading to the back entry to their complex, nothing had been heard - Fenthaza, who just showed up full of criticism for the disaster, could be entrusted with investigating their fate and the disappearance of the golem in that direction. Ras Nsi would deal personally with whatever was left in the storeroom. Sending his ghouls in the lead, he followed after nothing immediately attacked them. They flanked the exit behind Ras Nsi as he activated his flame-tongued sword and slithered around the store room, eventually running into an elf trying to hide behind some crates. He tried talking to the elf about surrender, but the elf began chanting words of magic but Ras Nsi was quicker, slashing the elf twice before getting hit by a blast of thunderwave. A rather weak attempt, Ras Nsi could sneer, slashing again at the elf and dropping him. This elf, too, appeared to have survived, and was hauled along with the others to his throne room. On the other elf, the snakemen discovered the eight cubes - Ras had just recently grabbed the other to keep it out of the hands of a band of Red Wizards that appeared to be heading toward interfering with whatever Acererak was using the Tomb of the Nine Gods for, and Ras was charged with preventing that from happening. It also appeared that these intruders were not Red Wizards - had they taken the cubes from the Wizards? That would make for a formidable force. Questioning would have to wait until the intruders had recovered enough to provide answers, in the meantime, now that Fenthaza had confirmed the deaths of the flanking party and Ras Nsi's pet hydra in the cavern, they would retreat their forces back from the cavern, and collapse the tunnel connecting the store room to the lake. Then they would conduct the ritual, they needed more snake men, the tribal delegation who had just brought tribute would serve that purpose, though they would have to sacrifice their remaining slaves.
Oddly, when they awakened the next day and Ras Nsi questioned them, it was the human who spoke for them, not one of the elves. He was full of arrogance and bluster - and claimed they were essentially a band of treasure seekers. In that case they could serve as slaves until the next sacrifice - which should be soon, these three might be too dangerous to keep around for long. They were chained in the slave pits to await their fate.
Soon after, the alarm gong began ringing again. The rest of the intruders had returned, including the golem that had caused so much trouble; Ras Nsi again slithered out of the throne room to face them - they would first send in their new batch of purebloods along with some of their few remaining broodguards. After lobbing some fireballs and other magic back and forth through what remained of the poison distillery, the intruders eventually retreated behind a magical wall of fire that incinerated four purebloods. They had already lost another four along with four broodguards in the fighting, the metal and wood golem took a massive beating but retreated out before the wall of flame was cast. Two half-orcs were again in the thick of the fighting, it was unclear exactly how many were further back in the cavers, apparently another elf, and could that be a kobold tossing fireballs? As one of the last remaining snake headed Yuan Ti retreated from the flames, one of the half-orcs charged out from the flames as well, chopping him down. Ras Nsi attempted to knock that half orc out of the fight with a powerful casting of blight, but was dismayed to see the half orc take it and remain standing. The half orc then dove back into the flames, and when the flames dropped the enemies had again disappeared.
Returning to the throne room, he discovered the other intruders had also escaped, seizing the eight cubes they had brought with them along with their gear and the tribute recently arrived from the tribal delegation - and there was some good stuff in there! Still, they had not taken the last cube - Ras Nsi still had that one. The boat in the underground lake was gone as well - at least they knew how they had escaped. His forces, however, were getting dangerously low. Sending a party out to pursue might only weaken him further - waiting for them to return for the last cube might be the best option. Perhaps they might even be willing to bargain for it, if they were indeed the mercenary force described by the human warrior and not actually seeking the death of Ras Nsi (most of Chult would rejoice at his death, he well knew).
The next day the female half orc who had been blasted by the blight spell the previous day came knocking at their front door looking hardly worse off for it, offering to meet Ras Nsi and cut a deal. The human had returned as well. One of the Yuan Ti scouts stationed outside the entrance called out a warning that there was an invisible member of the treasure hunting band nearby. Fenthaza and Snaru accompanied Ras Nsi out, and the human pointed out that Fenthaza had helped them escape and asked them to kill Ras Nsi! Fenthaza cursed at the foreigners and slithered away in protest, but Ras Nsi knew the intruders were being truthful. The kobold then arrived, and suggested Ras Nsi disease was caused by the death curse, which was itself apparently caused by a device Acererak had hidden in the Tomb of the Nine Gods. As they were entering the Tomb to turn off or destroy this device, Ras Nsi would benefit from them doing so. If they were not successful, Ras Nsi would eventually succumb to the magical disease. If they agreed to enter the Tomb, stop the death curse, and no longer disturb the Yuan Ti, Ras Nsi was willing to give them the last remaining cube. The bargain struck, the outlanders left for the Tomb and Ras Nsi went to deal with Fenthaza...
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Five Hour Fight
Session 16 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 - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
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
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.
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
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 - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
This is kind of a tough one to write up, as we had a pretty much continuous combat encounter that took place over five hours of real time, actually more as it was a continuation of the battle from last week as the Yuan Ti sounded the alert throughout their temple complex in response to Shummp's picking a fight with a Yuan Ti minion after half the party was immobilized by the sleeping gas. Shaun quickly brought Agatha out of it with a lesser restoration but he has only so many spell slots to go around. While Agatha shrugs off the near fatal pertrification from the basilisk, Shump, Vorn, Darius, and Varis are largely able to assist her in downing the basilisks, the broodguards, and their Yuan Ti minder before retreating back down the hall as they hear a commotion to their north of forces gathering and Shaun and Are note movement in the halls below as they hide with the unconscious party members down a side passage back toward the store room where they had defeated a giant talking snake last week. However, as the others retreat down the passage to join the others they are noticed by a snake headed Yuan Ti accompanied by two large muscular humans. He both threatens them (from afar) and suggests surrender as their most logical course of action. Shummp charges is intercepted by one of the humans, who turns out to be very tough. The other human is sent for reinforcements while the snake head retreats down the hall to fire his bow at Shummp, who soon retreats after taking massive damage and is replaced by Vorn, who chases the human and the snake headed Yuan Ti further down the hall way, past an intersection and he ends up cut off as reinforcements charge down through the intersection...
In the meantime, Farout the Tortle runs into a kobold (Itch) as he wanders around Omu, wondering where the magical T Rex killers he had lately been associating with had gone. The kobold showed him the secret tunnel they had disappeared into, suspecting that his friend Shaun may have run into some trouble down there. Farout then made is way through the wreckage from last week, making his way up the hallway the Yuan Ti were now running down from the other direction, but he had the presence of mind to cast pass without trace so he was hidden and could observe and choose his moment for getting involved, as does so as the reinforcements arrive, summoning a wall of water to smash them before they get into the passage. As they recover (still not noticing the hidden turtle creature) they split three ways, some going through the passage to the room where Farout was hiding to flank the party, while others go to face them head on, while the human minion goes after Vorn and the snake headed guy, who disappear through a door after Vorn finishes smashing the first human to pulp and continues after the next enemy in front of him.
Farout then changed into a spider and got ahead of the Yuan Ti flankers, joining the some of the party in the cave behind the store room. Are stood ready to close and lock the door behind them but much of the party was still scattered holding off enemies in the passage to the store room or the store room itself. Farout summoned a pack of eight wolves to help defend from the flankers a couple seconds before those Yuan Ti came into the cavern from the only other exit. The wolves proved very effective, with their pack tactics doing fairly massive amounts of damage per round. A few more enemies trickled in that way during the fight but the main action was down the hall way to the store room, as a massive scaly Yuan Ti with a big shield and a loud voice took command and dove through the door as Are was paralyzed with indecision about whether or not to close the door as Varis was still in the storeroom, now beset by two additional Yuan Ti (several others had died in front of these). Vorn was still cut off, attempting to fight his way back down the tunnel, fighting one or two enemies at a time in the close confines of these Yuan Ti tunnels was going fairly well for the construct, as the Yuan Ti damage per round was just barely exceeding Vorn's regeneration per round. Shaun attempted to revive Sam but ended up (perhaps it was the will of her diety, Kossuth?) reviving Adran instead.
Since the party had only had a short rest and a couple tough encounters prior to that they had already burned through most spells and Agatha was out of rage. Soon the fighters had burned through their action surges and second winds and other abilities and remaining healing potions were being burned through as well. The big scaly fighter guy eventually was dropped, but then more snakemen started to arrive. Are charged forward in dire wolf form, snapping at one, only to take a couple bites and slashes in return that not only knocked her back into her elf from but then dropped her as well. Adran used his new animate dead spell on a dead Yuan Ti and sent it shambling down the hall. Darius attempted to blast the Yuan Ti with a firebolt as he moved up next to the fallen Are and dropped one, but he was then dropped himself by a couple arrows from another Yuan Ti after the zombie was ripped apart by a broodguard who just arrived. And Vorn had nearly made it back when more enemies arrived! At this moment Agatha slammed the door shut and spiked it in place, and the remainder of the party retreated down the tunnel to the back entrance, leaving Adran to shove a crate in front of the entrance to the store room while he tried hiding behind another. Vorn then turned around as Varis seemed to be behind him and went out the other entrance; the snake men were at this point glad to let the construct go...
Thinking from the Yuan Ti perspective they kept feeding in more troops and losing them along with a couple senior leaders, they are feeling nearly as chewed up as the party with notably less intelligence on their enemy than they party does on the Yuan Ti... it will be interesting to see their attitude to the PC's going forward, but they do have prisoners now to pump for information... and one of Are's acts in the tunnel was to take the puzzle cubes off Sam for safe keeping (Sam is now the "safe" one, being carried out by Agatha). Now that the snake men have Are, they also have all the puzzle cubes...
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 - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
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
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.
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
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 - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
This is kind of a tough one to write up, as we had a pretty much continuous combat encounter that took place over five hours of real time, actually more as it was a continuation of the battle from last week as the Yuan Ti sounded the alert throughout their temple complex in response to Shummp's picking a fight with a Yuan Ti minion after half the party was immobilized by the sleeping gas. Shaun quickly brought Agatha out of it with a lesser restoration but he has only so many spell slots to go around. While Agatha shrugs off the near fatal pertrification from the basilisk, Shump, Vorn, Darius, and Varis are largely able to assist her in downing the basilisks, the broodguards, and their Yuan Ti minder before retreating back down the hall as they hear a commotion to their north of forces gathering and Shaun and Are note movement in the halls below as they hide with the unconscious party members down a side passage back toward the store room where they had defeated a giant talking snake last week. However, as the others retreat down the passage to join the others they are noticed by a snake headed Yuan Ti accompanied by two large muscular humans. He both threatens them (from afar) and suggests surrender as their most logical course of action. Shummp charges is intercepted by one of the humans, who turns out to be very tough. The other human is sent for reinforcements while the snake head retreats down the hall to fire his bow at Shummp, who soon retreats after taking massive damage and is replaced by Vorn, who chases the human and the snake headed Yuan Ti further down the hall way, past an intersection and he ends up cut off as reinforcements charge down through the intersection...
In the meantime, Farout the Tortle runs into a kobold (Itch) as he wanders around Omu, wondering where the magical T Rex killers he had lately been associating with had gone. The kobold showed him the secret tunnel they had disappeared into, suspecting that his friend Shaun may have run into some trouble down there. Farout then made is way through the wreckage from last week, making his way up the hallway the Yuan Ti were now running down from the other direction, but he had the presence of mind to cast pass without trace so he was hidden and could observe and choose his moment for getting involved, as does so as the reinforcements arrive, summoning a wall of water to smash them before they get into the passage. As they recover (still not noticing the hidden turtle creature) they split three ways, some going through the passage to the room where Farout was hiding to flank the party, while others go to face them head on, while the human minion goes after Vorn and the snake headed guy, who disappear through a door after Vorn finishes smashing the first human to pulp and continues after the next enemy in front of him.
Farout then changed into a spider and got ahead of the Yuan Ti flankers, joining the some of the party in the cave behind the store room. Are stood ready to close and lock the door behind them but much of the party was still scattered holding off enemies in the passage to the store room or the store room itself. Farout summoned a pack of eight wolves to help defend from the flankers a couple seconds before those Yuan Ti came into the cavern from the only other exit. The wolves proved very effective, with their pack tactics doing fairly massive amounts of damage per round. A few more enemies trickled in that way during the fight but the main action was down the hall way to the store room, as a massive scaly Yuan Ti with a big shield and a loud voice took command and dove through the door as Are was paralyzed with indecision about whether or not to close the door as Varis was still in the storeroom, now beset by two additional Yuan Ti (several others had died in front of these). Vorn was still cut off, attempting to fight his way back down the tunnel, fighting one or two enemies at a time in the close confines of these Yuan Ti tunnels was going fairly well for the construct, as the Yuan Ti damage per round was just barely exceeding Vorn's regeneration per round. Shaun attempted to revive Sam but ended up (perhaps it was the will of her diety, Kossuth?) reviving Adran instead.
Since the party had only had a short rest and a couple tough encounters prior to that they had already burned through most spells and Agatha was out of rage. Soon the fighters had burned through their action surges and second winds and other abilities and remaining healing potions were being burned through as well. The big scaly fighter guy eventually was dropped, but then more snakemen started to arrive. Are charged forward in dire wolf form, snapping at one, only to take a couple bites and slashes in return that not only knocked her back into her elf from but then dropped her as well. Adran used his new animate dead spell on a dead Yuan Ti and sent it shambling down the hall. Darius attempted to blast the Yuan Ti with a firebolt as he moved up next to the fallen Are and dropped one, but he was then dropped himself by a couple arrows from another Yuan Ti after the zombie was ripped apart by a broodguard who just arrived. And Vorn had nearly made it back when more enemies arrived! At this moment Agatha slammed the door shut and spiked it in place, and the remainder of the party retreated down the tunnel to the back entrance, leaving Adran to shove a crate in front of the entrance to the store room while he tried hiding behind another. Vorn then turned around as Varis seemed to be behind him and went out the other entrance; the snake men were at this point glad to let the construct go...
Thinking from the Yuan Ti perspective they kept feeding in more troops and losing them along with a couple senior leaders, they are feeling nearly as chewed up as the party with notably less intelligence on their enemy than they party does on the Yuan Ti... it will be interesting to see their attitude to the PC's going forward, but they do have prisoners now to pump for information... and one of Are's acts in the tunnel was to take the puzzle cubes off Sam for safe keeping (Sam is now the "safe" one, being carried out by Agatha). Now that the snake men have Are, they also have all the puzzle cubes...
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