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.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Arrival in the Lost City
Session 11 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 5 (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
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk (Open Hand) 5, Chultan native
New Arrivals:
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 2, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter 2, 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.
Adran, Agatha, Rainy Day, and the Cat siblings were told by the lobsterfolk of travelers like them lost in the swamp, and they find Shummp, Are, and Darius. Shummp turns out to be an acquaintance of Agatha's and they join the party. Traveling back to meet Sam, Shaun, and Varis they find the other party members have struck out into the jungle to the south and they follow, figuring themselves to be about a day behind. Pushing themselves, one morning they catch the scent of a large quantity of smoked meat and find the three have spent the previous afternoon and this morning butchering and preserving the meat from a T-Rex they had killed the day before. They figure they are about four days out from the Lost City of Omu at this point, and after joining back together and getting to know the newly arrived explorers they strike off again to the south.
One day passes without incident (other than Are finding some dubious looking mushrooms), and the next day a giant spider tries to ambush the rear of the party but is driven off. The party also notes mountains and volcanoes to the southeast, the Peaks of Fire. The next day Sam and Agatha from the front of the party hear a discussion ahead in the forest about hoping to find some fresher meat. Striding ahead through the jungle Agatha walks into the open, discovering a number of human tribal warriors with blue triangles painted on their foreheads. She says "Hey, what's up," and the tribal warriors turn in unison and shout "Food!" Sam shouts a warning and before the cannibals have a chance to swarm and overbear Agatha most have been dropped by fireballs from Varis and Shaun. Agatha drops the last with a mighty blow to the face. That night, more giant spiders attempt to ambush the party and this time nearly succeed in hauling off Shummp but Adran stops the spider retreating off into the trees with Shummp's web encased body with a thunderwave spell that also manages to hit Shummp and drop him from 20' in the air (but also destroys the webbing). Shummp is not especially grateful, but is restrained from tearing Adran in half by timely healing spells from Are.
After completing their rest and traveling the following day, the party hears a waterfall and notes large quantities of steam rising from ahead in the distance. Rainy Day climbs a tree and sees a sunken city ahead in a vast crater, with a river running through and flooding the northeastern quarter of the city. Steam rises from further to the south where the river seems to drop again. Gargoyle statues watch from the rim of the crater above the city. The party rests, intending to investigate further near the waterfall in the morning. Here several party members level up as we log some XP upon discovery of the city, including at least Are, Darius (who chooses the path of the Champion), and Varis.
The next day, they make their way to the waterfall, noting the nearest gargoyle. Shummp decides to poke it with his sword and it turns and attacks him! After a brief scuffle and a couple shatter spells the gargoyle crumbles; Varis notes other gargoyles have turned to look in the direction of the party but at this point make no other move. While Sam and Shaun discuss a strategy for moving into the city, whether to walk around the rim to the south or go into the ravine above the waterfall, Are turns into a flying squirrel (as her player points out, flying squirrels aren't truly a flying animal and thus fair game for a lower level druid shapeshifter) and launches herself down into the city, noting some crocodiles on her way down. Her guardian, Darius, decides he needs to follow and launches himself into the river and over the waterfall after her. Adran sees this and decides to be even more direct, leaping out from the cliff hoping to land in the pool of water 100' below. He takes a bit of damage but survives the fall, managing to actually hit the water. Are heals him when he swims to shore. The others follow more cautiously, with three cat people and Sam the rogue ably aiding the others in the climb down alongside the waterfall. They note a temple like building nearby in flooded part of the city on the way down and strike out for that after a lunch break on the shore by the waterfall. Sam leads the way but scampers back behind Agatha when he sees a giant crocodile in the water within the falling down walls of the temple enclosure. The giant crocodile then tries to bite Agatha but misses, and in the ensuing battle four additional regular crocodiles also attack the party but all are defeated and the party make their way to the front of the shrine, noting bird motifs and carvings. Adran recognizes the bird as an Eblis, a type of intelligent Chultan waterbird he had previously encountered. Making their way into the shrine, the party reads (thanks to Varis casting a comprehend languages ritual) a strange mythological account of Papazotl the Eblis' conflict with Nangnang the Grung. Both appear to be some kind of divine beings worshiped by the old Omuans. Solving a puzzle in the shrine the party recovers a small cube with the Eblis figure on it; the cube is magical but its purpose is not clear.
They decide to rest in the shrine and overnight nothing bothers the party, and the following day they move back to land, heading toward a large building to their west. They note T-Rex and Kobold tracks in the area near the building, and entering the building find a massive ruined market and a number of traps. Shaun sets one of releasing a swarm of wasps and runs outside and is face to face with another kobold! They talk a bit, Shaun relieves the kobold Itch's persistent itch and rash and he happily agrees to introduce the party to his boss, the mighty Kakarol, who sometimes thinks he is a dragon. Going into a cellar beneath the bazaar, the party finds a number of kobolds, including one resting atop a pile of treasure (Sam noting that it is mostly copper). They have an amicable exchange with the kobolds, who are happy to lodge the party in their lair in exchange for shiny coins, and the kobolds share information about the other factions in the city, notably the recently arrived Red Wizards, the Grungs near Nangnang's shrine, and the Yuan Ti in the ruined palace. They also note the back door to the Yuan Ti complex, and point out that the puzzle cubes are what gets people like the party into the dungeon set up by the dead wizard who says he will turn Kakarol into a dragon in the future for his service leading the kobolds in maintaining the shrines that house the puzzle cubes. Kakarol warns the party to not bother with them or the dungeon, as nobody has every come out of it but the puzzle cubes always return and more adventurers arrive only to also die within the dead wizard's dungeon. He also mentions that the Red Wizards have started collecting the cubes, but were set back a bit following a battle with some of the Yuan Ti. Rainy Day suggests hanging out with the kobolds and waiting for the Red Wizards to retrieve the remaining puzzle cubes.
And here we call it a day. Having a kobold in the party turns out to be very advantageous in Omu.
The PC's:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 5 (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
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk (Open Hand) 5, Chultan native
New Arrivals:
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 5, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 2, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter 2, 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.
Adran, Agatha, Rainy Day, and the Cat siblings were told by the lobsterfolk of travelers like them lost in the swamp, and they find Shummp, Are, and Darius. Shummp turns out to be an acquaintance of Agatha's and they join the party. Traveling back to meet Sam, Shaun, and Varis they find the other party members have struck out into the jungle to the south and they follow, figuring themselves to be about a day behind. Pushing themselves, one morning they catch the scent of a large quantity of smoked meat and find the three have spent the previous afternoon and this morning butchering and preserving the meat from a T-Rex they had killed the day before. They figure they are about four days out from the Lost City of Omu at this point, and after joining back together and getting to know the newly arrived explorers they strike off again to the south.
One day passes without incident (other than Are finding some dubious looking mushrooms), and the next day a giant spider tries to ambush the rear of the party but is driven off. The party also notes mountains and volcanoes to the southeast, the Peaks of Fire. The next day Sam and Agatha from the front of the party hear a discussion ahead in the forest about hoping to find some fresher meat. Striding ahead through the jungle Agatha walks into the open, discovering a number of human tribal warriors with blue triangles painted on their foreheads. She says "Hey, what's up," and the tribal warriors turn in unison and shout "Food!" Sam shouts a warning and before the cannibals have a chance to swarm and overbear Agatha most have been dropped by fireballs from Varis and Shaun. Agatha drops the last with a mighty blow to the face. That night, more giant spiders attempt to ambush the party and this time nearly succeed in hauling off Shummp but Adran stops the spider retreating off into the trees with Shummp's web encased body with a thunderwave spell that also manages to hit Shummp and drop him from 20' in the air (but also destroys the webbing). Shummp is not especially grateful, but is restrained from tearing Adran in half by timely healing spells from Are.
After completing their rest and traveling the following day, the party hears a waterfall and notes large quantities of steam rising from ahead in the distance. Rainy Day climbs a tree and sees a sunken city ahead in a vast crater, with a river running through and flooding the northeastern quarter of the city. Steam rises from further to the south where the river seems to drop again. Gargoyle statues watch from the rim of the crater above the city. The party rests, intending to investigate further near the waterfall in the morning. Here several party members level up as we log some XP upon discovery of the city, including at least Are, Darius (who chooses the path of the Champion), and Varis.
The next day, they make their way to the waterfall, noting the nearest gargoyle. Shummp decides to poke it with his sword and it turns and attacks him! After a brief scuffle and a couple shatter spells the gargoyle crumbles; Varis notes other gargoyles have turned to look in the direction of the party but at this point make no other move. While Sam and Shaun discuss a strategy for moving into the city, whether to walk around the rim to the south or go into the ravine above the waterfall, Are turns into a flying squirrel (as her player points out, flying squirrels aren't truly a flying animal and thus fair game for a lower level druid shapeshifter) and launches herself down into the city, noting some crocodiles on her way down. Her guardian, Darius, decides he needs to follow and launches himself into the river and over the waterfall after her. Adran sees this and decides to be even more direct, leaping out from the cliff hoping to land in the pool of water 100' below. He takes a bit of damage but survives the fall, managing to actually hit the water. Are heals him when he swims to shore. The others follow more cautiously, with three cat people and Sam the rogue ably aiding the others in the climb down alongside the waterfall. They note a temple like building nearby in flooded part of the city on the way down and strike out for that after a lunch break on the shore by the waterfall. Sam leads the way but scampers back behind Agatha when he sees a giant crocodile in the water within the falling down walls of the temple enclosure. The giant crocodile then tries to bite Agatha but misses, and in the ensuing battle four additional regular crocodiles also attack the party but all are defeated and the party make their way to the front of the shrine, noting bird motifs and carvings. Adran recognizes the bird as an Eblis, a type of intelligent Chultan waterbird he had previously encountered. Making their way into the shrine, the party reads (thanks to Varis casting a comprehend languages ritual) a strange mythological account of Papazotl the Eblis' conflict with Nangnang the Grung. Both appear to be some kind of divine beings worshiped by the old Omuans. Solving a puzzle in the shrine the party recovers a small cube with the Eblis figure on it; the cube is magical but its purpose is not clear.
They decide to rest in the shrine and overnight nothing bothers the party, and the following day they move back to land, heading toward a large building to their west. They note T-Rex and Kobold tracks in the area near the building, and entering the building find a massive ruined market and a number of traps. Shaun sets one of releasing a swarm of wasps and runs outside and is face to face with another kobold! They talk a bit, Shaun relieves the kobold Itch's persistent itch and rash and he happily agrees to introduce the party to his boss, the mighty Kakarol, who sometimes thinks he is a dragon. Going into a cellar beneath the bazaar, the party finds a number of kobolds, including one resting atop a pile of treasure (Sam noting that it is mostly copper). They have an amicable exchange with the kobolds, who are happy to lodge the party in their lair in exchange for shiny coins, and the kobolds share information about the other factions in the city, notably the recently arrived Red Wizards, the Grungs near Nangnang's shrine, and the Yuan Ti in the ruined palace. They also note the back door to the Yuan Ti complex, and point out that the puzzle cubes are what gets people like the party into the dungeon set up by the dead wizard who says he will turn Kakarol into a dragon in the future for his service leading the kobolds in maintaining the shrines that house the puzzle cubes. Kakarol warns the party to not bother with them or the dungeon, as nobody has every come out of it but the puzzle cubes always return and more adventurers arrive only to also die within the dead wizard's dungeon. He also mentions that the Red Wizards have started collecting the cubes, but were set back a bit following a battle with some of the Yuan Ti. Rainy Day suggests hanging out with the kobolds and waiting for the Red Wizards to retrieve the remaining puzzle cubes.
And here we call it a day. Having a kobold in the party turns out to be very advantageous in Omu.
Sunday, April 22, 2018
From Tyrannosaurus to Tyrannosaurus
Session 10 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 5, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 5 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Associates:
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.
Absent Characters:
The three PC's and the two guides below absent themselves after the battle with the t-rex zombie that ended the last session while Sembian Sam catches up, as the guides and some of the party worry about leaving their gear and watercraft under the protection of the lobsterfolk they recently met and decide to return to the lakeshore. It is felt that Sam can successfully guide some of the party to check out the Heart of Ubtao and rejoin the rest at the lake.
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native
NPC Guides:
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.
The Journey
Traveling one long day gets the remaining three party members to the Heart of Ubtao at dusk, they see it all day looming above them and rotating slowly, a heart shaped chunk of earth and rock with a large petrified tree on top and a flight of stairs from the top to a cave in the side. When they get right below the heart an elf appears in the cave and calls down to them, asking their business and noting an elf (Varis) in the party quickly invites them up to parley. She does not offer a way up, so Shaun pulls out the griffin figurine and they use it to fly up. The elf introduces herself as Valindra Shadowmantle, formerly of Luskan. She inquires into the party's business and discovering their interest in the death curse suggests they are looking for the Soulmonger, a magical device responsible for the death curse that some powerful entity hid in the ruins of Omu after killing all the former inhabitants of the once powerful city state. She also suggests that the device is hidden within a trap of sorts built to kill the adventurers who come looking for it. Valindra also tells the party that she is herself hoping to find the Soulmonger to study it and to hopefully deactivate it, and hopes the party may help her with it. She mentions that there are other interested parties seeking it as well, including the Red Wizards of Thay. She tells them all this in a dank cave full of books and maps whose most notable feature is a large iron cage that she casually mentions is for those she finds less forthcoming with their knowledge. Shaun, examining her closely, gets a very unpleasant feeling about Valindra and starts edging back toward the cave entrance. The party takes leave of Valindra, Sam somewhat reluctantly putting down some of the books and maps he has started poring over, noting they only have a few hours of flight left on the griffin and they fly back to the lake through the night after briefly checking out the petrified tree on top of the Heart that they surmise is full of bats.
After returning to the lake the party rests for a day fishing and waiting for Vorn (who is on foot but homing in on Varis' location) and the others. Vorn returns, but the others don't, eventually partway through the second day they decide to continue on, as Sam gets quite agitated about Cormyran Kandy's progress; they figure they can mark their path for the others to follow once they leave the river. While traveling upstream, they miss the southwest-most take out point and end up traveling further east than intended and turn around, finding a good takeout point at dusk. As Varis hops out to pull the canoe up onto the bank he is attacked by a swarm of quippers! Bleeding profusely, he struggles onto shore while Sam and Shaun desperately try to ram the canoe aground. They eventually succeed and all survive the encounter with the fish.
The next day they find the path left by Cormyran Kandy and the Red Wizard expedition. They follow in the footsteps of the Thayans, who appear to be about a week ahead. Over several days they close the distance by a day or two and find some remnants of the Thayans - occasional dead goblin porters and discarded food containers along with some blasted undead and dinosaur remains. They party also has encounters of their own with zombies, man eating plants, and dinosaurs. Notably, they also run into a pack of Su-Monsters who find then in camp one night, Sam's whip alerting him to one staring down at him from a tree directly above! Giving a warning to the party and attacking the Su-Monster with his bow the Su-Monsters attack back with their psychic crush abilities, most of the party brushing it off but Sam takes two hit and falls to the ground stunned and seriously hurt. Fortunately the fifth level casters are unharmed and they shoot down the Su-Monsters before their psychic crushes recharge to take out more party members. At another point, they party find an ankylosaurus and leave it alone only to immediately after stumble into a zombie ankylosaurus; Varis blasts it with a lightning bolt but it continues into the jungle, also hitting the living ankylosaurus which comes charging back at the party. Using Vorn as a blocker/soaker for the damage from tail swipes, the party emerges victorious, only to run into more trouble later as three allosauruses hunt them, nearly killing Varis who briefly separates from Vorn in a tactical decision that backfires as the allosauruses move much faster than anyone expects. Eventually they prevail, which is good as these are dinosaurs they definitely could not outrun.
Finally, after a couple more days of travel and a battle with a wight and its zombie pack they stumble across a living tyrannosaurus rex that seems to have their scent; the party tries to hide but it keeps moving their way, Sam and Varis start shooting as it moves into range and it charges forward, taking some fairly substantial damage from ranged spells and weapons as it advances. Finally it bites Varis, knocking him out and swallowing him while tail swatting Vorn for a fair amount of damage. Shaun and Sam keep up the fire, and the might t-rex eventually topples; Shaun then climbs into the dead dinosaurs gullet, finding Varis' foot and tying a rope on to yank him out. Then we leave off; with just three PC's dividing the experience this session it totals out fairly high, Shaun gets to sixth level while the other two are just short, and they are just days away from where the lost city of Omu appears on their map.
The PC's:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 5, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 5 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Associates:
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.
Absent Characters:
The three PC's and the two guides below absent themselves after the battle with the t-rex zombie that ended the last session while Sembian Sam catches up, as the guides and some of the party worry about leaving their gear and watercraft under the protection of the lobsterfolk they recently met and decide to return to the lakeshore. It is felt that Sam can successfully guide some of the party to check out the Heart of Ubtao and rejoin the rest at the lake.
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native
NPC Guides:
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.
The Journey
Traveling one long day gets the remaining three party members to the Heart of Ubtao at dusk, they see it all day looming above them and rotating slowly, a heart shaped chunk of earth and rock with a large petrified tree on top and a flight of stairs from the top to a cave in the side. When they get right below the heart an elf appears in the cave and calls down to them, asking their business and noting an elf (Varis) in the party quickly invites them up to parley. She does not offer a way up, so Shaun pulls out the griffin figurine and they use it to fly up. The elf introduces herself as Valindra Shadowmantle, formerly of Luskan. She inquires into the party's business and discovering their interest in the death curse suggests they are looking for the Soulmonger, a magical device responsible for the death curse that some powerful entity hid in the ruins of Omu after killing all the former inhabitants of the once powerful city state. She also suggests that the device is hidden within a trap of sorts built to kill the adventurers who come looking for it. Valindra also tells the party that she is herself hoping to find the Soulmonger to study it and to hopefully deactivate it, and hopes the party may help her with it. She mentions that there are other interested parties seeking it as well, including the Red Wizards of Thay. She tells them all this in a dank cave full of books and maps whose most notable feature is a large iron cage that she casually mentions is for those she finds less forthcoming with their knowledge. Shaun, examining her closely, gets a very unpleasant feeling about Valindra and starts edging back toward the cave entrance. The party takes leave of Valindra, Sam somewhat reluctantly putting down some of the books and maps he has started poring over, noting they only have a few hours of flight left on the griffin and they fly back to the lake through the night after briefly checking out the petrified tree on top of the Heart that they surmise is full of bats.
After returning to the lake the party rests for a day fishing and waiting for Vorn (who is on foot but homing in on Varis' location) and the others. Vorn returns, but the others don't, eventually partway through the second day they decide to continue on, as Sam gets quite agitated about Cormyran Kandy's progress; they figure they can mark their path for the others to follow once they leave the river. While traveling upstream, they miss the southwest-most take out point and end up traveling further east than intended and turn around, finding a good takeout point at dusk. As Varis hops out to pull the canoe up onto the bank he is attacked by a swarm of quippers! Bleeding profusely, he struggles onto shore while Sam and Shaun desperately try to ram the canoe aground. They eventually succeed and all survive the encounter with the fish.
The next day they find the path left by Cormyran Kandy and the Red Wizard expedition. They follow in the footsteps of the Thayans, who appear to be about a week ahead. Over several days they close the distance by a day or two and find some remnants of the Thayans - occasional dead goblin porters and discarded food containers along with some blasted undead and dinosaur remains. They party also has encounters of their own with zombies, man eating plants, and dinosaurs. Notably, they also run into a pack of Su-Monsters who find then in camp one night, Sam's whip alerting him to one staring down at him from a tree directly above! Giving a warning to the party and attacking the Su-Monster with his bow the Su-Monsters attack back with their psychic crush abilities, most of the party brushing it off but Sam takes two hit and falls to the ground stunned and seriously hurt. Fortunately the fifth level casters are unharmed and they shoot down the Su-Monsters before their psychic crushes recharge to take out more party members. At another point, they party find an ankylosaurus and leave it alone only to immediately after stumble into a zombie ankylosaurus; Varis blasts it with a lightning bolt but it continues into the jungle, also hitting the living ankylosaurus which comes charging back at the party. Using Vorn as a blocker/soaker for the damage from tail swipes, the party emerges victorious, only to run into more trouble later as three allosauruses hunt them, nearly killing Varis who briefly separates from Vorn in a tactical decision that backfires as the allosauruses move much faster than anyone expects. Eventually they prevail, which is good as these are dinosaurs they definitely could not outrun.
Finally, after a couple more days of travel and a battle with a wight and its zombie pack they stumble across a living tyrannosaurus rex that seems to have their scent; the party tries to hide but it keeps moving their way, Sam and Varis start shooting as it moves into range and it charges forward, taking some fairly substantial damage from ranged spells and weapons as it advances. Finally it bites Varis, knocking him out and swallowing him while tail swatting Vorn for a fair amount of damage. Shaun and Sam keep up the fire, and the might t-rex eventually topples; Shaun then climbs into the dead dinosaurs gullet, finding Varis' foot and tying a rope on to yank him out. Then we leave off; with just three PC's dividing the experience this session it totals out fairly high, Shaun gets to sixth level while the other two are just short, and they are just days away from where the lost city of Omu appears on their map.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Swamp
Session 9 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore - I was mistaken last week) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam - Catches up again to party after trying to make a go of becoming an entrepreneur running a plantation but decided lack of customers nearby may be a problem and rejoins party, somehow missing Sam on way down from plateau to swamp
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native - Rejoined party after brief attempt with Agatha to rebuild an abandoned plantation
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper; Went back to find Rainy Day and Angry Agatha and currently absent
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (light of Kossuth) 5, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 5 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Associates:
River Mist and Flask of Wine, quite capable cat person sister and brother who are associates of the Zhentarim, hired by party as guides for a share of treasure found on expedition.
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
The party spends a little over a week marching and canoeing in and around the swamps of the Aldani Basin in central Chult. They start at the foot of the bluffs near Mbala and make their way along the edge of the swamp to Camp Vengeance on the Soshenstar River without incident, other than finding some remains of a recently eaten dwarven explorer. They find Ord Firebeard in charge once again, saying the previous commander had been recalled after the disaster of his expedition to the Mistcliff Mountains. Ord is relieved to hear of the defeat of the necromancer and offers the party good values on replenishing their supplies. Overall the Camp seems in better shape than on their previous visit, with fewer problems with undead. Ord also shares that an archaeologist named Cormyran Kandy had recently passed by, apparently leading an expedition of red robed Thayan wizards to the south. The entourage had included the wizards, several goblins, and a dwarf. Kandy left a note for Sam warning him not to interfere with the Thayans, who were dangerous and would be first to uncover the lost treasures of Omu.
Agatha left her collection of goblin masks at the Camp, Varis added some of the spells he had discovered to his spellbook, and then the party set off again with their canoes up the river, portaging around a waterfall just upstream from the Camp. There they encountered a faerie dragon who shared some information on the red wizards and the path ahead; the faerie dragon found the Thayans less congenial than the PC's. Soon they were deep in the Aldani Basin, and finding the main channel of the river became difficult in the swamp. They camped afloat, lashing their canoes together by a large tree. That night, a plesiosaur attempted to eat River Mist but Adran hit it with faerie fire and Agatha dove in after it, and the amphibious dinosaur was soon defeated while Shaun patched up Agatha and River Mist, who had both taken a beating. The next day the party was ambushed by a group of lizard folk tribesmen led by a shaman who summoned another plesiosaur to attack from behind. However, the shaman had no way of realizing that Varis and Shaun both now have access to the fireball spell, and the two surviving lizard folk were soon running away into the swamp. The party was not seriously inconvenienced by the lizard folk, but then went on to lose most of the day after losing track of the main channel of the river.
As the party got back on track following the river upstream they seemed torn on whether to check out the Heart of Ubtao or to make their way further south toward Omu as fast as possible. Eventually they decided to cut and portage their way through the swamp southwest to follow the chain of lakes of the headwaters of the River Tath further south. There they encountered Lobsterfolk, who pointed out the party was being stalked by a pack of dimetrodons, which worried them since those dinosaurs also ate lobsterfolk. So to help out the lobster men and themselves the party laid out some bait for the hungry dinosaurs and then ambushed them, slaying 12. The lobsters then shared that the red wizards had recently passed through the area after coming from the direction of the Heart of Ubtao. So the party made their way south through the lakes until deciding when they were probably nearest to the Heart of Ubtao to cut their way overland that way, the lobsters agreed to guard their boats on the lake until they returned. During the walk an assassin vine nearly killed the bard. The second night out the party was awoken by a loud stomping noise as another T-Rex Zombie approached! This one was full strength, but the party still has Vorn. Though the wizard dropped during the battle the dinosaur zombie was eventually defeated. It spat out 4 zombies in the course of the battle, which added to the challenge. After this battle we took a break until next week.
The PC's:
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore - I was mistaken last week) 5, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian 4, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam - Catches up again to party after trying to make a go of becoming an entrepreneur running a plantation but decided lack of customers nearby may be a problem and rejoins party, somehow missing Sam on way down from plateau to swamp
Rainy Day, Cat Person Monk 4, Chultan native - Rejoined party after brief attempt with Agatha to rebuild an abandoned plantation
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 4 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper; Went back to find Rainy Day and Angry Agatha and currently absent
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (light of Kossuth) 5, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 5 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Associates:
River Mist and Flask of Wine, quite capable cat person sister and brother who are associates of the Zhentarim, hired by party as guides for a share of treasure found on expedition.
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
The party spends a little over a week marching and canoeing in and around the swamps of the Aldani Basin in central Chult. They start at the foot of the bluffs near Mbala and make their way along the edge of the swamp to Camp Vengeance on the Soshenstar River without incident, other than finding some remains of a recently eaten dwarven explorer. They find Ord Firebeard in charge once again, saying the previous commander had been recalled after the disaster of his expedition to the Mistcliff Mountains. Ord is relieved to hear of the defeat of the necromancer and offers the party good values on replenishing their supplies. Overall the Camp seems in better shape than on their previous visit, with fewer problems with undead. Ord also shares that an archaeologist named Cormyran Kandy had recently passed by, apparently leading an expedition of red robed Thayan wizards to the south. The entourage had included the wizards, several goblins, and a dwarf. Kandy left a note for Sam warning him not to interfere with the Thayans, who were dangerous and would be first to uncover the lost treasures of Omu.
Agatha left her collection of goblin masks at the Camp, Varis added some of the spells he had discovered to his spellbook, and then the party set off again with their canoes up the river, portaging around a waterfall just upstream from the Camp. There they encountered a faerie dragon who shared some information on the red wizards and the path ahead; the faerie dragon found the Thayans less congenial than the PC's. Soon they were deep in the Aldani Basin, and finding the main channel of the river became difficult in the swamp. They camped afloat, lashing their canoes together by a large tree. That night, a plesiosaur attempted to eat River Mist but Adran hit it with faerie fire and Agatha dove in after it, and the amphibious dinosaur was soon defeated while Shaun patched up Agatha and River Mist, who had both taken a beating. The next day the party was ambushed by a group of lizard folk tribesmen led by a shaman who summoned another plesiosaur to attack from behind. However, the shaman had no way of realizing that Varis and Shaun both now have access to the fireball spell, and the two surviving lizard folk were soon running away into the swamp. The party was not seriously inconvenienced by the lizard folk, but then went on to lose most of the day after losing track of the main channel of the river.
As the party got back on track following the river upstream they seemed torn on whether to check out the Heart of Ubtao or to make their way further south toward Omu as fast as possible. Eventually they decided to cut and portage their way through the swamp southwest to follow the chain of lakes of the headwaters of the River Tath further south. There they encountered Lobsterfolk, who pointed out the party was being stalked by a pack of dimetrodons, which worried them since those dinosaurs also ate lobsterfolk. So to help out the lobster men and themselves the party laid out some bait for the hungry dinosaurs and then ambushed them, slaying 12. The lobsters then shared that the red wizards had recently passed through the area after coming from the direction of the Heart of Ubtao. So the party made their way south through the lakes until deciding when they were probably nearest to the Heart of Ubtao to cut their way overland that way, the lobsters agreed to guard their boats on the lake until they returned. During the walk an assassin vine nearly killed the bard. The second night out the party was awoken by a loud stomping noise as another T-Rex Zombie approached! This one was full strength, but the party still has Vorn. Though the wizard dropped during the battle the dinosaur zombie was eventually defeated. It spat out 4 zombies in the course of the battle, which added to the challenge. After this battle we took a break until next week.
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