Session 19 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran,
Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern
forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward
end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 6, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 6, Mercenary from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 6, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 6, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - missing this session, slips away again during the night, this time without Kandy
Farout,
Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 6, Traveling up from Snout of
Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
NPC's:
Vorn,
a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis,
who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu
in exchange for a spell book.
Cormyran Kandy,
a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired
by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's.
Ras Nsi, ruler of the Yuan Ti of Omu, wasting away from death curse but with spells and minions still quite powerful.
Sometimes players will surprise you. After messing about in front of the Tomb of the Nine Gods last session, summoning a demon and fighting with gargoyles watching over the obelisk near what appears to be the entrance (it still hasn't been investigated all that closely by the party) they returned to the kobold hall to lick their wounds and get in another long rest with the reptilian allies. Sam disappeared over night, and the rest of the party after breakfast discussed their options, and the decision was made, in light of the Yuan Ti ambush two days before, to dispense with Ras Nsi and the rest of the Yuan Ti rather than leaving them behind as they entered the Tomb, despite their apparent deal with Ras Nsi. I really hadn't expected this, but still had my Yuan Ti note cards ready to go so was reasonably prepared.
Since they had to cross the swamp Farout enacted the water walking ritual again. At about the point where they would leave the swamp they noted a mount of vegetation they had not noticed before. Going closer to investigate, the druids Farout and Are discovered it was shambling mound that began to attack! The single CR 5 monster was swiftly dispatched by the party, however, and they continued on their way, this time to the rear of the Yuan Ti complex. As they entered the courtyard with the tunnel they noted a snake moving rapidly down into it. They let it go, but Farout then cast pass without trace to make the party sneakier than usual. They moved quietly through the tunnel, using darkvision spells for the Tortle and the human to avoid using a light source (and I forgot about Kandy, she must have been holding onto whoever was in front of her). They then took a right turn, with water walking still being active they made their way across the underground lake. They found a cave along the way with a body in it that was covered in some kind of mold, and Varis retrieved a key from the body using mage hand to avoid disturbing the mold. They then came to a shore area with a door that they checked out, opening the door to encounter a room with several nests for Yuan Ti and at least a couple Yuan Ti watching the door from around corners to the north and south. There was some shouting for reinforcements heard among the Yuan Ti.
So the party left Vorn to hold the door closed and the rest of the party then continued quietly back over the lake to the throne room, noting a boat again parked there. Agatha pushed ahead, glancing in to note four ghouls hanging out around the throne. She signaled Varis to come forward and made and exploding motion and he let loose with a fireball that instantly dropped two of the ghouls, and Agatha charged in and quickly chopped down the other two and managed to sit on the throne before the rest of the party entered the room. Their attention was drawn to the long hallway across the throne room with closed double doors at the other end of it that Are, Darius, and Adran knew led to what had appeared to be a large assembly area and ritual space. Agatha and Shummp led the way down the hall, while Shaun, Adran, Varis and Kandy hung back a bit watching down the hall from the throne room. While Agatha led a charge into the Yuan Ti assembly area a door opened behind Shaun in the throne room through which appeared Ras Nsi. They had a few words before Shaun summoned spirit guardians that singed Ras Nsi but they dropped after Ras Nsi blasted Shaun with a blight spell. Shaun survived and used his next action to run away.
Again they party found themselves split fighting enemies on two sides. Vorn soon arrived but so did a couple Yuan Ti malisons in snake form who had followed through the lake. Several remaining malisons, purebloods, and a broodguard fought the party from the big central room with the blood pool and snake statues. Magic used was interesting, Farout summoned a giant snake but it was made into a friend by the Yuan Ti so he dismissed it. Ras Nsi countered a wall of fire from Varis and a fireball from Shaun, and polymorphed Vorn into a rabbit. Adran used vicious mockery to kill the rabbit and bring Vorn back and Vorn got turned into a rat next. Adran was himself hit by a fireball and bit by a yuan ti in snake form and fell, and nobody could stabilize him before he died, only the second PC to die so far in this party. Are put up a good fight with the snakes while most of the party was engaged down the hall. When Agatha came charging back after Ras Nsi he retreated back into his chamber to teleport to the large room where there was still a battle going with some Yuan Ti and he was able to start unleashing magic at the party from 30' up on a platform overlooking the room. After the snake failure Farout had summoned a couple dire wolves who were more helpful but they were eventually overwhelmed. A fireball took out Shaun and Farout but the snakes in the throne room were killed in time for Are to reach them to revive the other healers. Agatha made her way back after Ras Nsi, climbing up after him and he teleported away again as the last of his minions in the fight were dispatched. The party then decided to use Leomund's Tiny Hut to hopefully get an hour's rest before pursuing any remaining Yuan Ti further and we stopped for the day. Ras Nsi might use discretion and the respite given to slip away with any remaining followers, but on the other hand Are found and took his spell book while digging through the pillows in his chamber, and it's probably kind of important to him to have a spell book...
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Misadventure in Front of the Tomb of the Nine Gods
Session 18 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 6, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 6, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 6, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 6, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
NPC's:
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's.
This will be a short post, as we took the regular amount of time but the party triggered a couple optional encounters that made this a little more combat heavy than anticipated, although I basically opened the session with them being ambushed by Fenthaza of the Yuan Ti, so we did have a combat I expected take up the first hour and a half or so. I was a little concerned they were behind in XP and they ended the previous session telling Ras Nsi how Fenthaza was trying to usurp him, so it made sense she would gather her supporters to prevent the PC's from entering the Tomb of the Nine Gods. I also decided she had figured out they were the ones responsible for the loss of the Amulet of the Night Serpent just over a month ago back in Port Nyanzaru and she did not want them also stealing away with the Black Opal Crown.
This time the party was attacked out in the open with several Yuan Ti (including Fenthaza) firing on them from higher ground in a building and on a causeway while other Yuan Ti and Broodguards (and a Girallon Zombie - I realized I hadn't had one of these appear yet and I hadn't used my Girallon mini yet either so it had to happen!) moved into melee range at ground level. Heavy rain did interfere with the effectiveness of ranged weapons on both sides, however. The two half-orcs' players arrived a few minutes late after the party's response to a request they surrender and turn over the cubes was a fireball from Shaun and combat had begun, so their arrival was simultaneous with that of a Yuan Ti Abomination that showed up in support of Fenthaza.
Fenthaza's plan to snipe at the party from afar was countered when Are turned invisible and changed into a dire wolf to seek out Fenthaza. Soon they were engaged in combat and Fenthaza was backed up by Sev who the party had recently found chained in a Yuan Ti slave pen only to discover he was both mad and a Yuan Ti himself. Are was close to falling when the other party members had overcome the other Yuan Ti and were finally able to come to her assistance. After this fight, the party decided their best course of action was to spend the rest of this day hanging out with their kobold friends and try the Tomb again the next day. They briefly considered taking out Ras Nsi now that he probably had very few followers left but the sense that they had made a deal with him that they were bound to honor won out, and they were themselves still uncertain of their ability to take on Ras Nsi in his lair.
The next day they made their way to the black obelisk in front of the tomb, noting some gargoyles above a somewhat more gradually ascending cliff face above what appeared to be an entrance to the tomb, a smaller passage to the east and an overgrown area to the west by the side of the cliff. The obelisk had a message from Acererak on it, and Agatha couldn't help but poke it with her axe. As she did so she noted some shifting about by the gargoyles above. So she poked it again, and the gargoyles swooped down to attack. After the party dispatched the gargoyles, the two half orcs enlisted Vorn and Are in helping them knock down the obelisk... they were successfully, though it ended up falling on top of Are. Then a Nalfeshnee demon appeared where the obelisk had just stood!
This was an interesting fight. This was a CR 13 monster and the average party level was about 6, with Vorn a CR 7. I knew the number of PC's with everyone there (plus Vorn and Kandy) gave them a chance, but it was actually a rout, the demon fell quite swiftly. Other than on his saving throws the demon rolled poorly (and it had three attacks per round at +10!), and despite being disadvantaged due to fear Shummp hit the demon several times with his magic sword for substantial amounts of damage while he was himself missed at least five times. He definitely felt the demon's bite when one got through, though. Probably one more hit from the demon would have dropped the half-orc and nobody else was doing nearly as much damage so perhaps it was not quite so one sided as it felt (although Darius and Are basically spent the entire fight trying to get her out from under the obelisk so here the demon was helped a bit by an environmental obstacle as well), but it still seemed kind of weak, considering the challenge rating and how tough these things are in the earlier editions. After running several fights with the Yuan Ti this season, I'm finding magic resistance in this edition is usually not providing all that much of a benefit - spells like magic missile or that require a to hit roll get through despite the resistance, and here the lightning resistance turned out to be much more helpful to the demon than did the magic resistance.
Next session (not for a couple weeks though) will probably feature actually entering the Tomb!
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 6, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 6, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 6, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 6, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
NPC's:
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's.
This will be a short post, as we took the regular amount of time but the party triggered a couple optional encounters that made this a little more combat heavy than anticipated, although I basically opened the session with them being ambushed by Fenthaza of the Yuan Ti, so we did have a combat I expected take up the first hour and a half or so. I was a little concerned they were behind in XP and they ended the previous session telling Ras Nsi how Fenthaza was trying to usurp him, so it made sense she would gather her supporters to prevent the PC's from entering the Tomb of the Nine Gods. I also decided she had figured out they were the ones responsible for the loss of the Amulet of the Night Serpent just over a month ago back in Port Nyanzaru and she did not want them also stealing away with the Black Opal Crown.
This time the party was attacked out in the open with several Yuan Ti (including Fenthaza) firing on them from higher ground in a building and on a causeway while other Yuan Ti and Broodguards (and a Girallon Zombie - I realized I hadn't had one of these appear yet and I hadn't used my Girallon mini yet either so it had to happen!) moved into melee range at ground level. Heavy rain did interfere with the effectiveness of ranged weapons on both sides, however. The two half-orcs' players arrived a few minutes late after the party's response to a request they surrender and turn over the cubes was a fireball from Shaun and combat had begun, so their arrival was simultaneous with that of a Yuan Ti Abomination that showed up in support of Fenthaza.
Fenthaza's plan to snipe at the party from afar was countered when Are turned invisible and changed into a dire wolf to seek out Fenthaza. Soon they were engaged in combat and Fenthaza was backed up by Sev who the party had recently found chained in a Yuan Ti slave pen only to discover he was both mad and a Yuan Ti himself. Are was close to falling when the other party members had overcome the other Yuan Ti and were finally able to come to her assistance. After this fight, the party decided their best course of action was to spend the rest of this day hanging out with their kobold friends and try the Tomb again the next day. They briefly considered taking out Ras Nsi now that he probably had very few followers left but the sense that they had made a deal with him that they were bound to honor won out, and they were themselves still uncertain of their ability to take on Ras Nsi in his lair.
The next day they made their way to the black obelisk in front of the tomb, noting some gargoyles above a somewhat more gradually ascending cliff face above what appeared to be an entrance to the tomb, a smaller passage to the east and an overgrown area to the west by the side of the cliff. The obelisk had a message from Acererak on it, and Agatha couldn't help but poke it with her axe. As she did so she noted some shifting about by the gargoyles above. So she poked it again, and the gargoyles swooped down to attack. After the party dispatched the gargoyles, the two half orcs enlisted Vorn and Are in helping them knock down the obelisk... they were successfully, though it ended up falling on top of Are. Then a Nalfeshnee demon appeared where the obelisk had just stood!
This was an interesting fight. This was a CR 13 monster and the average party level was about 6, with Vorn a CR 7. I knew the number of PC's with everyone there (plus Vorn and Kandy) gave them a chance, but it was actually a rout, the demon fell quite swiftly. Other than on his saving throws the demon rolled poorly (and it had three attacks per round at +10!), and despite being disadvantaged due to fear Shummp hit the demon several times with his magic sword for substantial amounts of damage while he was himself missed at least five times. He definitely felt the demon's bite when one got through, though. Probably one more hit from the demon would have dropped the half-orc and nobody else was doing nearly as much damage so perhaps it was not quite so one sided as it felt (although Darius and Are basically spent the entire fight trying to get her out from under the obelisk so here the demon was helped a bit by an environmental obstacle as well), but it still seemed kind of weak, considering the challenge rating and how tough these things are in the earlier editions. After running several fights with the Yuan Ti this season, I'm finding magic resistance in this edition is usually not providing all that much of a benefit - spells like magic missile or that require a to hit roll get through despite the resistance, and here the lightning resistance turned out to be much more helpful to the demon than did the magic resistance.
Next session (not for a couple weeks though) will probably feature actually entering the Tomb!
Monday, July 9, 2018
Puzzle Cube Retrieval
Session 17 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 7, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 7, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 5, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 5, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
NPC's:
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
Ras Nsi, Chief of the Yuan Ti of Omu
Messengers kept running to Ras Nsi as he awaited developments on the apparent invasion of the Fane of the Night Serpent, home of the Yuan Ti of Omu. They were increasingly distressed, Yahru, his wiliest advisor was missing, and the latest report suggested his champion, Sekelok, had fallen to the intruders. They reported a golem of some kind wreaking havoc, along with a great deal of magical destruction and multiple orcish or half-orcish warriors. It was time for Ras Nsi to take personal command - he could already sense Fenthaza whispering to others of his failure to defend the Fane. With two of his personal ghoul attendants accompanying him, he slithered through the complex to the hall near the storeroom where the fighting had been heaviest. Dead snake men and broodguards lay all around. Of the intruders the only sign were a human and an elf - and they were still inside. Snaru, one of his loyal snake headed followers, suggested that the back door to the store room had slammed shut, but after that they had noted movement in the storeroom; perhaps one of more of the intruders had been left behind. Of the flanking party sent through the other entrance to the cavern leading to the back entry to their complex, nothing had been heard - Fenthaza, who just showed up full of criticism for the disaster, could be entrusted with investigating their fate and the disappearance of the golem in that direction. Ras Nsi would deal personally with whatever was left in the storeroom. Sending his ghouls in the lead, he followed after nothing immediately attacked them. They flanked the exit behind Ras Nsi as he activated his flame-tongued sword and slithered around the store room, eventually running into an elf trying to hide behind some crates. He tried talking to the elf about surrender, but the elf began chanting words of magic but Ras Nsi was quicker, slashing the elf twice before getting hit by a blast of thunderwave. A rather weak attempt, Ras Nsi could sneer, slashing again at the elf and dropping him. This elf, too, appeared to have survived, and was hauled along with the others to his throne room. On the other elf, the snakemen discovered the eight cubes - Ras had just recently grabbed the other to keep it out of the hands of a band of Red Wizards that appeared to be heading toward interfering with whatever Acererak was using the Tomb of the Nine Gods for, and Ras was charged with preventing that from happening. It also appeared that these intruders were not Red Wizards - had they taken the cubes from the Wizards? That would make for a formidable force. Questioning would have to wait until the intruders had recovered enough to provide answers, in the meantime, now that Fenthaza had confirmed the deaths of the flanking party and Ras Nsi's pet hydra in the cavern, they would retreat their forces back from the cavern, and collapse the tunnel connecting the store room to the lake. Then they would conduct the ritual, they needed more snake men, the tribal delegation who had just brought tribute would serve that purpose, though they would have to sacrifice their remaining slaves.
Oddly, when they awakened the next day and Ras Nsi questioned them, it was the human who spoke for them, not one of the elves. He was full of arrogance and bluster - and claimed they were essentially a band of treasure seekers. In that case they could serve as slaves until the next sacrifice - which should be soon, these three might be too dangerous to keep around for long. They were chained in the slave pits to await their fate.
Soon after, the alarm gong began ringing again. The rest of the intruders had returned, including the golem that had caused so much trouble; Ras Nsi again slithered out of the throne room to face them - they would first send in their new batch of purebloods along with some of their few remaining broodguards. After lobbing some fireballs and other magic back and forth through what remained of the poison distillery, the intruders eventually retreated behind a magical wall of fire that incinerated four purebloods. They had already lost another four along with four broodguards in the fighting, the metal and wood golem took a massive beating but retreated out before the wall of flame was cast. Two half-orcs were again in the thick of the fighting, it was unclear exactly how many were further back in the cavers, apparently another elf, and could that be a kobold tossing fireballs? As one of the last remaining snake headed Yuan Ti retreated from the flames, one of the half-orcs charged out from the flames as well, chopping him down. Ras Nsi attempted to knock that half orc out of the fight with a powerful casting of blight, but was dismayed to see the half orc take it and remain standing. The half orc then dove back into the flames, and when the flames dropped the enemies had again disappeared.
Returning to the throne room, he discovered the other intruders had also escaped, seizing the eight cubes they had brought with them along with their gear and the tribute recently arrived from the tribal delegation - and there was some good stuff in there! Still, they had not taken the last cube - Ras Nsi still had that one. The boat in the underground lake was gone as well - at least they knew how they had escaped. His forces, however, were getting dangerously low. Sending a party out to pursue might only weaken him further - waiting for them to return for the last cube might be the best option. Perhaps they might even be willing to bargain for it, if they were indeed the mercenary force described by the human warrior and not actually seeking the death of Ras Nsi (most of Chult would rejoice at his death, he well knew).
The next day the female half orc who had been blasted by the blight spell the previous day came knocking at their front door looking hardly worse off for it, offering to meet Ras Nsi and cut a deal. The human had returned as well. One of the Yuan Ti scouts stationed outside the entrance called out a warning that there was an invisible member of the treasure hunting band nearby. Fenthaza and Snaru accompanied Ras Nsi out, and the human pointed out that Fenthaza had helped them escape and asked them to kill Ras Nsi! Fenthaza cursed at the foreigners and slithered away in protest, but Ras Nsi knew the intruders were being truthful. The kobold then arrived, and suggested Ras Nsi disease was caused by the death curse, which was itself apparently caused by a device Acererak had hidden in the Tomb of the Nine Gods. As they were entering the Tomb to turn off or destroy this device, Ras Nsi would benefit from them doing so. If they were not successful, Ras Nsi would eventually succumb to the magical disease. If they agreed to enter the Tomb, stop the death curse, and no longer disturb the Yuan Ti, Ras Nsi was willing to give them the last remaining cube. The bargain struck, the outlanders left for the Tomb and Ras Nsi went to deal with Fenthaza...
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 7, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 7 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 7, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 7, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 5, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 5, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
NPC's:
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
Ras Nsi, Chief of the Yuan Ti of Omu
Messengers kept running to Ras Nsi as he awaited developments on the apparent invasion of the Fane of the Night Serpent, home of the Yuan Ti of Omu. They were increasingly distressed, Yahru, his wiliest advisor was missing, and the latest report suggested his champion, Sekelok, had fallen to the intruders. They reported a golem of some kind wreaking havoc, along with a great deal of magical destruction and multiple orcish or half-orcish warriors. It was time for Ras Nsi to take personal command - he could already sense Fenthaza whispering to others of his failure to defend the Fane. With two of his personal ghoul attendants accompanying him, he slithered through the complex to the hall near the storeroom where the fighting had been heaviest. Dead snake men and broodguards lay all around. Of the intruders the only sign were a human and an elf - and they were still inside. Snaru, one of his loyal snake headed followers, suggested that the back door to the store room had slammed shut, but after that they had noted movement in the storeroom; perhaps one of more of the intruders had been left behind. Of the flanking party sent through the other entrance to the cavern leading to the back entry to their complex, nothing had been heard - Fenthaza, who just showed up full of criticism for the disaster, could be entrusted with investigating their fate and the disappearance of the golem in that direction. Ras Nsi would deal personally with whatever was left in the storeroom. Sending his ghouls in the lead, he followed after nothing immediately attacked them. They flanked the exit behind Ras Nsi as he activated his flame-tongued sword and slithered around the store room, eventually running into an elf trying to hide behind some crates. He tried talking to the elf about surrender, but the elf began chanting words of magic but Ras Nsi was quicker, slashing the elf twice before getting hit by a blast of thunderwave. A rather weak attempt, Ras Nsi could sneer, slashing again at the elf and dropping him. This elf, too, appeared to have survived, and was hauled along with the others to his throne room. On the other elf, the snakemen discovered the eight cubes - Ras had just recently grabbed the other to keep it out of the hands of a band of Red Wizards that appeared to be heading toward interfering with whatever Acererak was using the Tomb of the Nine Gods for, and Ras was charged with preventing that from happening. It also appeared that these intruders were not Red Wizards - had they taken the cubes from the Wizards? That would make for a formidable force. Questioning would have to wait until the intruders had recovered enough to provide answers, in the meantime, now that Fenthaza had confirmed the deaths of the flanking party and Ras Nsi's pet hydra in the cavern, they would retreat their forces back from the cavern, and collapse the tunnel connecting the store room to the lake. Then they would conduct the ritual, they needed more snake men, the tribal delegation who had just brought tribute would serve that purpose, though they would have to sacrifice their remaining slaves.
Oddly, when they awakened the next day and Ras Nsi questioned them, it was the human who spoke for them, not one of the elves. He was full of arrogance and bluster - and claimed they were essentially a band of treasure seekers. In that case they could serve as slaves until the next sacrifice - which should be soon, these three might be too dangerous to keep around for long. They were chained in the slave pits to await their fate.
Soon after, the alarm gong began ringing again. The rest of the intruders had returned, including the golem that had caused so much trouble; Ras Nsi again slithered out of the throne room to face them - they would first send in their new batch of purebloods along with some of their few remaining broodguards. After lobbing some fireballs and other magic back and forth through what remained of the poison distillery, the intruders eventually retreated behind a magical wall of fire that incinerated four purebloods. They had already lost another four along with four broodguards in the fighting, the metal and wood golem took a massive beating but retreated out before the wall of flame was cast. Two half-orcs were again in the thick of the fighting, it was unclear exactly how many were further back in the cavers, apparently another elf, and could that be a kobold tossing fireballs? As one of the last remaining snake headed Yuan Ti retreated from the flames, one of the half-orcs charged out from the flames as well, chopping him down. Ras Nsi attempted to knock that half orc out of the fight with a powerful casting of blight, but was dismayed to see the half orc take it and remain standing. The half orc then dove back into the flames, and when the flames dropped the enemies had again disappeared.
Returning to the throne room, he discovered the other intruders had also escaped, seizing the eight cubes they had brought with them along with their gear and the tribute recently arrived from the tribal delegation - and there was some good stuff in there! Still, they had not taken the last cube - Ras Nsi still had that one. The boat in the underground lake was gone as well - at least they knew how they had escaped. His forces, however, were getting dangerously low. Sending a party out to pursue might only weaken him further - waiting for them to return for the last cube might be the best option. Perhaps they might even be willing to bargain for it, if they were indeed the mercenary force described by the human warrior and not actually seeking the death of Ras Nsi (most of Chult would rejoice at his death, he well knew).
The next day the female half orc who had been blasted by the blight spell the previous day came knocking at their front door looking hardly worse off for it, offering to meet Ras Nsi and cut a deal. The human had returned as well. One of the Yuan Ti scouts stationed outside the entrance called out a warning that there was an invisible member of the treasure hunting band nearby. Fenthaza and Snaru accompanied Ras Nsi out, and the human pointed out that Fenthaza had helped them escape and asked them to kill Ras Nsi! Fenthaza cursed at the foreigners and slithered away in protest, but Ras Nsi knew the intruders were being truthful. The kobold then arrived, and suggested Ras Nsi disease was caused by the death curse, which was itself apparently caused by a device Acererak had hidden in the Tomb of the Nine Gods. As they were entering the Tomb to turn off or destroy this device, Ras Nsi would benefit from them doing so. If they were not successful, Ras Nsi would eventually succumb to the magical disease. If they agreed to enter the Tomb, stop the death curse, and no longer disturb the Yuan Ti, Ras Nsi was willing to give them the last remaining cube. The bargain struck, the outlanders left for the Tomb and Ras Nsi went to deal with Fenthaza...
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Five Hour Fight
Session 16 of Tomb of Annihilation
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 6, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 6, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 5, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 5, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
NPC's:
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
Itch, the kobold who introduced party to kobolds of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
This is kind of a tough one to write up, as we had a pretty much continuous combat encounter that took place over five hours of real time, actually more as it was a continuation of the battle from last week as the Yuan Ti sounded the alert throughout their temple complex in response to Shummp's picking a fight with a Yuan Ti minion after half the party was immobilized by the sleeping gas. Shaun quickly brought Agatha out of it with a lesser restoration but he has only so many spell slots to go around. While Agatha shrugs off the near fatal pertrification from the basilisk, Shump, Vorn, Darius, and Varis are largely able to assist her in downing the basilisks, the broodguards, and their Yuan Ti minder before retreating back down the hall as they hear a commotion to their north of forces gathering and Shaun and Are note movement in the halls below as they hide with the unconscious party members down a side passage back toward the store room where they had defeated a giant talking snake last week. However, as the others retreat down the passage to join the others they are noticed by a snake headed Yuan Ti accompanied by two large muscular humans. He both threatens them (from afar) and suggests surrender as their most logical course of action. Shummp charges is intercepted by one of the humans, who turns out to be very tough. The other human is sent for reinforcements while the snake head retreats down the hall to fire his bow at Shummp, who soon retreats after taking massive damage and is replaced by Vorn, who chases the human and the snake headed Yuan Ti further down the hall way, past an intersection and he ends up cut off as reinforcements charge down through the intersection...
In the meantime, Farout the Tortle runs into a kobold (Itch) as he wanders around Omu, wondering where the magical T Rex killers he had lately been associating with had gone. The kobold showed him the secret tunnel they had disappeared into, suspecting that his friend Shaun may have run into some trouble down there. Farout then made is way through the wreckage from last week, making his way up the hallway the Yuan Ti were now running down from the other direction, but he had the presence of mind to cast pass without trace so he was hidden and could observe and choose his moment for getting involved, as does so as the reinforcements arrive, summoning a wall of water to smash them before they get into the passage. As they recover (still not noticing the hidden turtle creature) they split three ways, some going through the passage to the room where Farout was hiding to flank the party, while others go to face them head on, while the human minion goes after Vorn and the snake headed guy, who disappear through a door after Vorn finishes smashing the first human to pulp and continues after the next enemy in front of him.
Farout then changed into a spider and got ahead of the Yuan Ti flankers, joining the some of the party in the cave behind the store room. Are stood ready to close and lock the door behind them but much of the party was still scattered holding off enemies in the passage to the store room or the store room itself. Farout summoned a pack of eight wolves to help defend from the flankers a couple seconds before those Yuan Ti came into the cavern from the only other exit. The wolves proved very effective, with their pack tactics doing fairly massive amounts of damage per round. A few more enemies trickled in that way during the fight but the main action was down the hall way to the store room, as a massive scaly Yuan Ti with a big shield and a loud voice took command and dove through the door as Are was paralyzed with indecision about whether or not to close the door as Varis was still in the storeroom, now beset by two additional Yuan Ti (several others had died in front of these). Vorn was still cut off, attempting to fight his way back down the tunnel, fighting one or two enemies at a time in the close confines of these Yuan Ti tunnels was going fairly well for the construct, as the Yuan Ti damage per round was just barely exceeding Vorn's regeneration per round. Shaun attempted to revive Sam but ended up (perhaps it was the will of her diety, Kossuth?) reviving Adran instead.
Since the party had only had a short rest and a couple tough encounters prior to that they had already burned through most spells and Agatha was out of rage. Soon the fighters had burned through their action surges and second winds and other abilities and remaining healing potions were being burned through as well. The big scaly fighter guy eventually was dropped, but then more snakemen started to arrive. Are charged forward in dire wolf form, snapping at one, only to take a couple bites and slashes in return that not only knocked her back into her elf from but then dropped her as well. Adran used his new animate dead spell on a dead Yuan Ti and sent it shambling down the hall. Darius attempted to blast the Yuan Ti with a firebolt as he moved up next to the fallen Are and dropped one, but he was then dropped himself by a couple arrows from another Yuan Ti after the zombie was ripped apart by a broodguard who just arrived. And Vorn had nearly made it back when more enemies arrived! At this moment Agatha slammed the door shut and spiked it in place, and the remainder of the party retreated down the tunnel to the back entrance, leaving Adran to shove a crate in front of the entrance to the store room while he tried hiding behind another. Vorn then turned around as Varis seemed to be behind him and went out the other entrance; the snake men were at this point glad to let the construct go...
Thinking from the Yuan Ti perspective they kept feeding in more troops and losing them along with a couple senior leaders, they are feeling nearly as chewed up as the party with notably less intelligence on their enemy than they party does on the Yuan Ti... it will be interesting to see their attitude to the PC's going forward, but they do have prisoners now to pump for information... and one of Are's acts in the tunnel was to take the puzzle cubes off Sam for safe keeping (Sam is now the "safe" one, being carried out by Agatha). Now that the snake men have Are, they also have all the puzzle cubes...
The PC's:
Shaun the Kobold, Cleric (Light of Kossuth) 6, Criminal from streets of Port Nyanzaru, Zhent
Varis, High Elf Wizard 6 (evoker), acolyte of Oghma
Adran, Wood Elf Bard (Lore) 6, Entertainer and Bagpiper from the cold northern forests, Zhent - unconscious at start of session from sleep gas toward end of last session
Angry Agatha, Half-Orc Barbarian (Totem Bear) 6, Harper, bodyguard and long time associate of Sembian Sam
Shummp, Half-Orc Fighter (Champion) 6, Soldier from the North seeking wealth in Chult
Are, Moon Elf Druid (Circle of Moon) 5, Young refugee from overrun northern village, now travels in company of Darius Foreshot
Darius Foreshot, Human Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 5, Outlander/Hermit, Seeking fortune in Chult
Farout, Tortle Druid (Circle of Land - Beach) 5, Traveling up from Snout of Omgar in far southern Chult, following rumors of source of death curse.
PC's Not Present:
Sembian Sam, Human Rogue 5 (thief), Ranger 1, archaeologist, Harper - unconscious after inhaling sleep gas toward end of last session
NPC's:
Vorn, a Shield Guardian found in the jungle now under the command of Varis, who promised to eventually return the shield guardian to Wakanga O'Tamu in exchange for a spell book.
Itch, the kobold who introduced party to kobolds of Omu.
Cormyran Kandy, a rival archaeologist and former lover of Sembian Sam, had been hired by the Red Wizards but now working with the PC's - unconscious from inhaling sleep gas last session.
This is kind of a tough one to write up, as we had a pretty much continuous combat encounter that took place over five hours of real time, actually more as it was a continuation of the battle from last week as the Yuan Ti sounded the alert throughout their temple complex in response to Shummp's picking a fight with a Yuan Ti minion after half the party was immobilized by the sleeping gas. Shaun quickly brought Agatha out of it with a lesser restoration but he has only so many spell slots to go around. While Agatha shrugs off the near fatal pertrification from the basilisk, Shump, Vorn, Darius, and Varis are largely able to assist her in downing the basilisks, the broodguards, and their Yuan Ti minder before retreating back down the hall as they hear a commotion to their north of forces gathering and Shaun and Are note movement in the halls below as they hide with the unconscious party members down a side passage back toward the store room where they had defeated a giant talking snake last week. However, as the others retreat down the passage to join the others they are noticed by a snake headed Yuan Ti accompanied by two large muscular humans. He both threatens them (from afar) and suggests surrender as their most logical course of action. Shummp charges is intercepted by one of the humans, who turns out to be very tough. The other human is sent for reinforcements while the snake head retreats down the hall to fire his bow at Shummp, who soon retreats after taking massive damage and is replaced by Vorn, who chases the human and the snake headed Yuan Ti further down the hall way, past an intersection and he ends up cut off as reinforcements charge down through the intersection...
In the meantime, Farout the Tortle runs into a kobold (Itch) as he wanders around Omu, wondering where the magical T Rex killers he had lately been associating with had gone. The kobold showed him the secret tunnel they had disappeared into, suspecting that his friend Shaun may have run into some trouble down there. Farout then made is way through the wreckage from last week, making his way up the hallway the Yuan Ti were now running down from the other direction, but he had the presence of mind to cast pass without trace so he was hidden and could observe and choose his moment for getting involved, as does so as the reinforcements arrive, summoning a wall of water to smash them before they get into the passage. As they recover (still not noticing the hidden turtle creature) they split three ways, some going through the passage to the room where Farout was hiding to flank the party, while others go to face them head on, while the human minion goes after Vorn and the snake headed guy, who disappear through a door after Vorn finishes smashing the first human to pulp and continues after the next enemy in front of him.
Farout then changed into a spider and got ahead of the Yuan Ti flankers, joining the some of the party in the cave behind the store room. Are stood ready to close and lock the door behind them but much of the party was still scattered holding off enemies in the passage to the store room or the store room itself. Farout summoned a pack of eight wolves to help defend from the flankers a couple seconds before those Yuan Ti came into the cavern from the only other exit. The wolves proved very effective, with their pack tactics doing fairly massive amounts of damage per round. A few more enemies trickled in that way during the fight but the main action was down the hall way to the store room, as a massive scaly Yuan Ti with a big shield and a loud voice took command and dove through the door as Are was paralyzed with indecision about whether or not to close the door as Varis was still in the storeroom, now beset by two additional Yuan Ti (several others had died in front of these). Vorn was still cut off, attempting to fight his way back down the tunnel, fighting one or two enemies at a time in the close confines of these Yuan Ti tunnels was going fairly well for the construct, as the Yuan Ti damage per round was just barely exceeding Vorn's regeneration per round. Shaun attempted to revive Sam but ended up (perhaps it was the will of her diety, Kossuth?) reviving Adran instead.
Since the party had only had a short rest and a couple tough encounters prior to that they had already burned through most spells and Agatha was out of rage. Soon the fighters had burned through their action surges and second winds and other abilities and remaining healing potions were being burned through as well. The big scaly fighter guy eventually was dropped, but then more snakemen started to arrive. Are charged forward in dire wolf form, snapping at one, only to take a couple bites and slashes in return that not only knocked her back into her elf from but then dropped her as well. Adran used his new animate dead spell on a dead Yuan Ti and sent it shambling down the hall. Darius attempted to blast the Yuan Ti with a firebolt as he moved up next to the fallen Are and dropped one, but he was then dropped himself by a couple arrows from another Yuan Ti after the zombie was ripped apart by a broodguard who just arrived. And Vorn had nearly made it back when more enemies arrived! At this moment Agatha slammed the door shut and spiked it in place, and the remainder of the party retreated down the tunnel to the back entrance, leaving Adran to shove a crate in front of the entrance to the store room while he tried hiding behind another. Vorn then turned around as Varis seemed to be behind him and went out the other entrance; the snake men were at this point glad to let the construct go...
Thinking from the Yuan Ti perspective they kept feeding in more troops and losing them along with a couple senior leaders, they are feeling nearly as chewed up as the party with notably less intelligence on their enemy than they party does on the Yuan Ti... it will be interesting to see their attitude to the PC's going forward, but they do have prisoners now to pump for information... and one of Are's acts in the tunnel was to take the puzzle cubes off Sam for safe keeping (Sam is now the "safe" one, being carried out by Agatha). Now that the snake men have Are, they also have all the puzzle cubes...
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Under the Palace
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...
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 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.
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