Tyranny of Dragons Session 3: Escaping from the Cultists' Camp, and Returning to the Camp

 Might be a little sparse on details, we played this session a week ago and meant to do the fourth session today, but had another COVID interruption. 

Again, this is a campaign of the Tyranny of Dragons Hardcover, so full spoilers ahead if you are planning to play it in the future. Sticking pretty close to the adventure as laid out in there so far. 

PC's:

Link, (maybe slightly derivative) Wood Elf Winter Soldier Bard 1/Paladin 2 - Using Winter Soldier background from Hack and Slash Blog Compendium to represent being from another dimension and recovering from a long sojourn in the astral plane, now serving the Harpers to infiltrate the Cult of the Dragon.

Haggatha Sweetwater, Half Elf Hermit Warlock 3, Pact of Chain with Pseudodragon familiar - Undying Patron - perhaps a fey ghost/undead, Haggatha an older half-elf woman who has recently made a pact, looking for Talis, a missing half-elven friend.

Exellence, Tiefling Wizard - Diviner, level 3 - missing background on this one, and I keep forgetting to write it down, note mentions being from Daggerford.

Damakos, Tiefling Hermit Warlock 3 Fiend Patron.  Pact of Tome.

Zumbruta, Leonin Outlander Barbarian 3 - From the Shaar plains in the distant South. Hates dragons, Blue ones especially. Probably ultimately going with Path of the Beast. 

Zumbruta the lion man finally woke up, and hearing his friends had once more gone following after the cultists went running after them. With the information they had left with the authorities in Greenest, Zumbruta had no trouble finding the camp and avoid the rear guard. He then started sneaking past the kobolds into the box canyon containing the camp after darkness fell. 

The others gathered around a campfire late at night and began to formulate a plan to free Leosin. They ultimately decided to take him up the rope ladder to past the watchtower overlooking the camp. Then Zumbruta found them, and they finalized the plan with a lot more confidence than they had when they started planning. Zumbruta was sent to sneak out of the camp again and to slip around to the plateau above near the watchtower while Haggatha, Exellence, and the halfling slave would make their way up the ladder. Meanwhile, Damakos and Link would free Leosin and take him to the ladder. 

In succession, both Haggatha and Damakos managed to bluff their way past guards and ascend the ladder without arousing too much suspicion. The guard at the top even allowed Haggatha to work on her protective "ritual" at the base of the tower, which turned out to be a silence spell that took effect just as Zumbruta leapt from the rocks above into the tower! Between the three of them they quickly dispatched the four guards, and used a cantrip to make a brief flash to alert Damakos and Link to move. They ascended the ladder with Leosin after a brief confrontation with guards at in the camp who fortunately did not take too close a look at Leosin. The party then engaged in a forced march back to Greenest before collapsing with exhaustion. when they arrived mid-day. 

After resting for a day, the Governor and Leosin approached them once more, suggesting they return to scout the cultists' camp and try to ascertain what the cultists were likely to do or go next. So the party returned, but took their time to approach stealthily, spending another day on the road. Upon arrival, they found clear signs of much traffic leaving the camp. When they returned to the guard tower, they found the dead guards and cut ladder as they had left them, and they only remaining inhabitants of the camp appeared to be a handful of mountain man hunters, who glanced up and waved at them when they were noticed peering into the canyon from above. Making their way back around into the camp, they talked with the gruff mountain men for a bit and learned that most of the cultists had left, other than a handful that remained with a larger number of kobolds in the cave at the end of the canyon. 

They party couldn't resist going into the cave, and they both noticed and were in turn noticed by a couple of guards with fairly large collars watching them from near the cave entrance. As they approached, the cultists retreated deeper into the cave, only to charge out at the when they rounded a bend in the cave. One of the cultists was dropping quickly, leading the other to attempt to escape into the darkness, but doing so merely revealed a passage that the party might otherwise have missed, as the cultist was slain one step into the tunnel. The party followed this passage, choosing a branch that led straight into the barracks for the human cultists. Another battle ensued, with the party fairly quickly overcoming the guards, aided by a darkness spell in particular that caused confusion for the guards, most of whom were hastily being wakened by their companions. They were noticed, however, by Frulam Mondath who came to check on the commotion but arrived just after the last of her guards had been slain, and she quickly followed them, chased back into her quarters where the party landed the final blow. Searching her belongings and writings, they found the marching orders for the cultists who had left. Making a very careful search of the room, the party eventually also found beneath a carpet a hole in the floor with a rope ladder leading to a level below. After healing up a bit, they descended, and at the end of a tunnel at the bottom of the ladder walked into a shrine to Tiamat, where Langdedrosa Cyanwrath the Blue Half-Dragon was waiting, with a couple of fanatical human followers. Langdedrosa wasted little time pitching into the party, who by good fortune were able to retreat into the narrow tunnel where he could only fight one at a time. Langdedrosa took a number of hits, especially from Zumbruta and Link at the front of the line. Then Langdedrosa used his breath weapon, and waved his minions forward to finish the job. Zumbruta fell, then Link fell to great-axe blows from the human followers after one of the berserkers was dropped. Then it was all warlocks and wizards left standing. Exellence fell, then Damakos, both tieflings however getting off blasts of hellish rebuke before falling, and the other berserker fell, leaving Langdedrosa facing Haggatha. Once more, Langdedrosa tossed aside his sword and moved forward to slay Haggatha with his spear. One blow landed, but didn't finish her, and she managed to drop him with a dagger in the end, and quickly administered first aid to Damakos before he managed to bleed out. Link was discovered to still be alive as well, though the wizard and the barbarian had both passed on. Enough healing potions were available to revive the two unconscious heros, and the party retreated, carrying the bodies of their companions after pausing to loot a chest in the shrine with some of the cultists' most valuable stolen items. They used some of these proceeds to buy horses from the mountain men outside, who also agreed to escort them back to Greenest (the party paid a lot better than the cultists did). So we ended back in Greenest, looking for the priest of Chauntea...

Tyranny of Dragons Hardcover, Session 2: Dragons Run Away, Half-Dragons Drop You in Two Rounds

 We finally got to our second session of Tyranny of Dragons, had planned for a week earlier but had to take a break due to me awaiting results of a COVID test. This week another player was out, also awaiting COVID results. This may be a long fall, we'll all be tired of having sticks stuck up our noses by the new year, I'm sure. 

There will be spoilers here, as we wrapped up the first chapter and dove deep into chapter two. 

Reprising PC's from Session 1:

Link, (maybe slightly derivative) Wood Elf Winter Soldier Bard 1/Paladin 1 (Takes another level of Paladin mid-session) - Using Winter Soldier background from Hack and Slash Blog Compendium to represent being from another dimension and recovering from a long sojourn in the astral plane, now serving the Harpers to infiltrate the Cult of the Dragon.

Haggatha Sweetwater, Half Elf Hermit Warlock 2 (Warlock 3 mid-session, Pact of Chain with Pseudodragon familiar) Undying Patron - perhaps a fey ghost/undead, an older half-elf woman who has recently made a pact, looking for Talis, a missing half-elven friend.

Exellence, Tiefling Wizard 2 (Diviner, level 3 mid-session) - missing background on this one, apparently, but note mentions being from Daggerford.

Damakos, Tiefling Hermit Warlock 2 (Fiend Patron. This was the player who had his warlock quickly killed the last time he made one and wanted to try one again. Level 3, Pact of Tome mid-session).

Zumbruta, Leonin Outlander Barbarian 2 (From the Shaar plains in the distant South. Player absent this week due to Covid testing). 

Picked up where we left off, with the PC's back in safety at the keep while the raiders continued looting the town. Zumbruta was noted falling hard asleep in a corner of the keep after the exertions of previous hours, perhaps the continuous exertion was overtaxing his feline frame. Then the blue dragon came back and blasted a couple guards off the wall. The PC's prepared to try and do as much damage as they could each time it closed distance on the keep, Link with arrows and the other three with eldritch blasts, cantrips, and the few first level spells the warlocks had back after their last short rest. Link hit it hard with an arrow and after blasting another guard off the wall of the keep the dragon turned and wing buffeted Link and Exellence, knocking both prone and Exellence unconscious, and in doing so flew back away from the walls once more. Damakos then popped up and punched through its hide with an eldritch blast (critical hit), and at that point the dragon decided it had had enough, and flew away. Haggatha stabilized Exellence and Link finally used his lay on hands to heal him. Then they got in another short rest, holing up and hoping the raiders would leave.

Then a blue half dragon claiming to be Langdedrosa Cyanbane and the son of the dragon they had chased off arrived before the keep with an entourage of blue kobolds and four human prisoners. He offered to trade the prisoners in exchange for an opportunity at single combat with one of the champions of the keep. Everybody of course turned and looked at Link, the paladin (with a side glance at the lionman, who still seemed to be sound asleep and nobody dared try to wake him). 

Link strode forth, three of the prisoners were released, Link got a hit on the half dragon who then proceeded to hit him another three times in 12 seconds with his spear, dropping Link. The kobolds released the last prisoner, and they and Langdedrosa turned and left town, following the rest of their band who already appeared to have left. Damakos stealthily followed them to the edge of town, noting which way they went as they left, and made his way back to the keep. Haggatha ensured Link wasn't dying and they all returned to the keep to rest. 

After resting and leveling up, the party met with the governor, the priest, and a wandering monk. The governor announced the treasury was still intact and hoped the party could act as scouts for the keep, and discover where the raiders had come from, what numbers they were in, and what their future intentions were. The monk announced that his fellow monk Leosin who was investigating cult of the dragon activities in the area had been captured by the cult and he hoped the party could rescue him. The priest took the party back to the temple where they had slaughtered the raiders and found none had returned to loot it, and they were given healing potions and a holy symbol lit up when Link approached it, and the priest insisted he take it as Chauntea appeared to be recognizing him as one of her champions. 

They then left in mid-afternoon, following the path of the cult raiders. About an hour before dusk, using their new Pseudodragon companion, Puddles (Haggatha's familiar), as a scout, they came across a band of kobolds and human mercenary stragglers. They had the pseudodragon bluff the kobolds into checking out what was over the ridge they were hiding behind and surprisingly it worked. Interestingly, nobody from the actual party scouted over the ridgeline and the pseudodragon was a little vague on things like numbers and species. So they prepared to ambush what they hoped would be one kobold, but 8 appeared in a skirmish line formation, noting Damakos and Haggatha who had managed to not hide very well at all. An interesting battle ensued, with the kobolds trying to maintain distance and use their slings, and retreating after a couple of them dropped and they noted it wasn't two enemies but four facing them, but the kobolds hadn't told the humans about what they were investigating so the human bandits were about 300 feet from the top of the ridge. So the kobolds retreated and the humans advanced as the kobold called out to them, but the kobolds were all killed before they could escape as the human bandits advanced, but once the humans starting dropping before they could close due to ranged fire from the party they then turned around and started running away as the party chased after them. One of the warlocks called out for the last human to surrender, and was convincing as the human stopped, dropping his weapons and raising his hands. Interrogating him, the party learned of a rear guard probably waiting a mile or so ahead, and the main camp of the raiders about 5 miles beyond that, a mix of Cult of the Dragon Cultists along with some mercenaries and kobolds promised a share of loot, a sack of which was found among the dead kobolds. The party made him promise them to return to Greenest and turn himself in and they sent him away back to the north. The next day the pseudragon noted him wandering off to the west after the party took an overnight rest. They decided to send Puddles ahead to scout in the direction described, and they ended up with a pretty good idea of where the rear guard was and where the main camp was.

Then the players surprised me. They decided to make a map and return to Greenest with their findings. They weren't super confident about facing either the rear guard or the main camp. The governor, however, upon their report was insistent on them at least laying eyes on the camp and getting a count, and the monk reminded the party of his concern for the fate of Leosin. So they turned around and once more camped out on the path toward the raider camp, after gathering up uniforms from dead cultists to use in infiltrating the camp.

The following day, the second after night of the raid, the party continued toward the encampment, dressing up as cultists. They walked right up to the rear guard, identifying it ahead of time and giving the signal of Tiamat, and talked to the officer in charge about how they had run into a farmstead with some fight in it on their return and been delayed. Then they continued to the encampment. Link was recognized as Knil the cultist who had disappeared shortly before the raid, but he bluffed his way through, giving an excuse of a stomach ailment, but was careful to avoid drawing the attention of the half-dragon Langdedrosa. He was put to work supervising prisoners by the mess tent. He also was detailed to secure the prisoner Leosin to a post in the open near the command tent. Haggatha took charge of a halfling prisoner she claimed she needed to prepare a meal for Langdedrosa. Not sure what to do, the party individually gathered information and then got together at nightfall, and we left off there.

New Campaign, Following Tyranny of Dragons Hardcover from WotC

Starting a new campaign with my Sunday group. We'd spent several months going through the Waterdeep campaign with one of the others running us through Dragon Heist and then Dungeon of the Mad Mage. We are just about at the bottom of Undermountain in that one and pausing to pull everyone back together as much as possible to wrap it up, think the characters are mostly 19th level at this point, and I'm confident that this is the furthest I've ever progressed a PC in a campaign, think I once played a one-shot with pregen 20th level characters but that is it, even playing old BECMI D&D with progression to 36th level and beyond never got that far. And I've been playing a bard (swords) which seemed perfect for Dragon Heist and maybe appearing slightly less so for Undermountain but it has actually been working quite well. Finding the melee bard is actually more of a caster in high level play, I've been surprised at the efficacy of taking Magnificent Mansion as his sole 7th level spell, we've been quite well rested after each adventuring day. Taking Unseen Servant and Magnificent Mansion also seems like a fine match for spells someone at the lower rungs of the Waterdhavian Nobility would find especially useful.

COVID definitely put us off stride with that one, as well as the AL campaign I was running for students at the school I work at which came to a sudden end in the early spring. That one I'd been running the AL campaign of .pdf releases for the last season, but I got tired of it after the third murder mystery got a little repetitive and moved them to Chult when they advanced to tier 2, at the behest of the Flaming Fist (apparently my favorite setting of late - also ran a side campaign using The Tortle Package and a couple other bits with the Sunday group during breaks from Mad Mage, they pretty thoroughly explored the Snout of Omgar and my son enjoyed playing his Lizard(man) Wizard Anthropologist in that one). Last few weeks as some of us have finally started getting together more frequently we've had the teen member of our group run us through a the first part of a third party campaign/adventure path to try out GMing, and I've actually forgotten the name of it, wasn't one I was at all familiar with though. We did lose a Warlock (played by his dad) in the first 15 minutes or so of play to a shambling mound. Also played a bit of Dominion and Quartermaster General (World War I version).

So I'm going to run Tyranny of Dragons for a bit, using the combined hardcover from WotC. Had some other ideas but my son likes the idea of ToD, maybe he likes the cool cover with the five chromatic dragon heads or something, and playing in the Realms is getting pretty comfortable for the group. We'll see how far we get, would be nice to at least get through the Hoard of the Dragon Queen half. I like the adventure, it seems to flow well, hadn't looked at it prior to the recent combined edition which it sounds like has cleaned it up a bit. We had our first session last Sunday, had good turn out with one of our players who has been out for months coming making it back. Our sessions are a little on the long side for my son (8 year old) unfortunately, clocking in at 4-5 hours typically. The younger kids we've had play have all struggled with that, I think. If I keep running this and want him there might have to chop the length of the sessions down a bit. 

PC's

Link, (maybe slightly derivative) Wood Elf Winter Soldier Bard 1/Paladin 1 - Using Winter Soldier background from Hack and Slash Blog Compendium to represent being from another dimension and recovering from a long sojourn in the astral plane, now serving the Harpers to infiltrate the Cult of the Dragon.

Haggatha Sweetwater, Half Elf Hermit Warlock 2 (Undying Patron - perhaps a fey ghost/undead, an older half-elf woman who has recently made a pact, looking for Talis, a missing half-elven friend)

Exellence, Tiefling Wizard 2 (Diviner) - missing background on this one, apparently, but note mentions being from Daggerford.

Damakos, Tiefling Hermit Warlock 2 (Fiend Patron - OG Bone Devil, if I remember right. This was the player who had his warlock quickly killed the last time he made one and wanted to try one again).

Zumbruta, Leonin Outlander Barbarian 2 (From the Shaar plains in the distant South). 

 It's an interesting party mix, I think, with two Warlocks and a Wizard. Amazing how much punishment even a 2nd level barbarian can stand up to with Rage, as he was doing his job taking the hits. Link is kind of an unusual Dex based Paladin build, sort of an archer with some bard spells and musical ability.

We didn't quite get through the first chapter, and it was pretty non-stop action and followed close to the layout in the book. They started in a village a days march to the East, some of those traveling West met a couple characters lately of Greenest who were out looking for some of the raiders who had recently been causing so much trouble in the area. They all traveled back to Greenest together to find the town under attack, by assailants that included a Blue Dragon flying above. And the party immediately split...

 The Tieflings Damakos and Exellence made for the cover near the stream and ran into some villagers who were hiding there as well. Excellence asked them to follow him downstream and out of danger while Damakos kept moving in toward the keep. 

Zumbruta immediately charged into town, followed by Haggatha and after her by Link who took a moment to don his Cult of the Dragon disguise, recognizing the uniforms of the cultists. After fighting through some initial cultists on the edge of town (leading Link, who was further back, to drop his disguise again before shooting at them as Zumbruta charged in and roared) and finding some more town folk to escort to the keep this main group of the party ran into some kobolds chasing down a family of five. Damakos also ran into them at the same time, but from the other direction. A fight ensued, and Haggatha saved the parents who had been cut down by the kobolds with her Spare the Dying cantrip. Then they chased off a couple other cultists while herding all the townspeople into the keep, at about which time a panting Exellence arrived after having spent a fair amount of time running up and down the creek. 

The party then came to the attention of the governor, who handed out some healing potions and put them to work, having them grab a prisoner - Link hoped to nab a cultist but all they returned with alive was a single kobold, who they pumped for as much information as possible. 

They were then sent to rescue a group of townsfolk who were being besieged in the Temple of Chauntea. This was a pretty epic battle, while the group successfully ambushed and quickly dispatched the cultists behind the temple Zumbruta's rage was up and he charged the cultists the party had seen moving toward the other side of the temple, and soon they were fighting all the cultists who had been sent to the temple. It was a close fight, they may have been saved late by the intervention of the Chauntean priest who popped his head out the back door to see what was happening and tossed out a couple healing words to aid the party and bring Link back into the fight. Pretty much all their resources were spent at the end, I think Link still had his Lay on Hands and a Bardic Inspiration, but otherwise spell slots and rages were used up. But we wrapped up after they escorted this group of villagers through the secret entry back into the keep, figuring it was getting to about 2 AM in-game time. 

With the big battle and incidental fights with cultists around town the party had over 50 kills of cultists, men at arms, kobolds, and ambush drakes so far. That has to be a pretty good thinning of this group of raiders, think they are drawing some attention to themselves, fortunately the only escapees of their wrath so far have been kobolds, and who knows what stories those survivors have been spreading...

Updated Sunday Campaign Report

Been awhile since we've been back into the Tomb of Annihilation. Hoping to get back into it and wrap it up eventually. Since ran two more sessions of my Innistrad adaptation and Mike's been running a campaign in his longstanding campaign world for D&D and we've all been having a great time playing in it, playing characters living on the borderlands of an expansive continental empire that is actively trying to conquer the disorganized remaining independent bits of the lands most of the PC's are from. I'm especially enjoying playing my Storm Sorcerer PC, finding it to be the most evocative and fun sorcerer subclass in 5e, and playing as kind of like the Flash, changed after being struck by lightning and "blessed by Thor".

Also agreed to co-advise a D&D club at school. We're mostly using various AL adventures to ease kids with various levels of experience with the game into it. They work well for our after school time frame and for the purpose of the club. Hoping some of the kids get into DMing and take the lead a bit more in the club but we all seem to be having a good time so far.

The Innistrad campaign was built around the second session, in which the failed saving throw from session one (the virtually impossible one) led to the transformation of the PC's into Kafkaesque bugs. Actually inspired by the Home Movies rock opera...

So they all turned into bugs. Then they had to escape their hometown by the Dark Sea as their friends and neighbors chased after them with brooms throwing rotten fruit and rocks while a wandering Knight attempted to slay the "monsters". The PC's staying in the cathedral got the bishop's support in helping them with the terrible curse and in rescuing the rest from fearful mob. They then decided to find the Archbishop of the Church of Avacyn in the capital city of Gavony. So they hit the road, making their way with a few minor encounters to Gavony, on the outskirts of which they discovered the Archbishop had left toward Stensia in the West in a crusade of sorts against some of the vampires found there. So they followed. As they passed a small village (the party mostly crept around settlements and by the sides of roads, trying to avoid contact with those who might misjudge them) they noticed the Knight from their town of Varno arriving. They decided to try to ambush him when he left. In the ensuing fight two of the PC's died as did the Knight, and a commotion ensued in the town where the sentries noticed the end of they battle and the death of the Knight and his horse.

We left off there and decided at the following session today that one of the PC's (Vaughn the Fighter) had actually only been maimed, losing a wing in the fight. The other player decided to make a new character - a bard, from the Gavony region, who decided she would investigate these creatures after calming down the scared villagers, and she ended up joining the bug party, leading them toward some mines she knew of to the south, but they quickly became lost. They then stumbled into a Kobold mining operation (used the Marrow Mines from Jon Sawatsky's Prepared! A dozen adventures for fifth edition, 2016). Eventually they negotiated a retreat out of the Kobold mines and fled back toward the Gavony River, running into the bounty hunters Heiko, Hank, Huck, and their faithful hound. They PC's slew the bounty hunters, discovering that they were themselves the monsters the hunters were seeking. They then made their way to the river ford to the town where the Archbishop was supposed to be staying, and surrendered themselves to the guards and (hopefully) into the Archbishop's protection, and we left off there.

Quick Summary Into the Tomb and Happy Days in Nephalia

Sessions 20 & 21 of Tomb of Annihilation

Managed to get a bit behind, here are three weeks of play over a little over a month or so, I think. The party managed to get Adran killed in their third (or was it fourth?) assault on the Yuan Ti temple complex. He ended up getting zombified by the Yuan Ti so the other party members had to kill him again to open up their escape route. They managed to hang onto Ras Nsi's spellbook but had little other loot with them as they fled once more through the underground lake, hiding to rest a bit in the poison fungus cave and within the lake itself. The Yuan Ti nearly killed Vorn but the construct survived with one hit point before getting to the bottom of the lake and regenerating. They in fact waited long enough that the Yuan Ti fled out the front at about the same time the party was fleeing out the back, Ras Nsi deciding his losses had been severe enough already that he did not want to sit around waiting to be attacked again. Shaun the kobold also decided he had had enough of risking his life with this mad band of explorers, and joined the kobold tribe, and began working to convert them to the faith of the fire god. Another elf wizard, following after his friends with the Company of the Yellow Banner, also joined forces with the party (replacing Adran).

They then decided to enter the tomb. I'll try to avoid spoilers here, but they did manage to clear out the zorbo god's tomb and obtain the magic item, and they also retrieved a skeleton key. They soon after found a passage to the second level through a secret door (Sembian Sam the ranger/rogue was back with the party for week 21) and they got into a battle with a good portion of the tomb's undead maintenance crew along with a tomb guardian construct, and the head of the undead maintenance crew was also there. By looting his office they discovered a substantial amount of lore on the history, design, and purpose of the tomb and the soulmonger. After some more battles with wights and tomb guardians they also found (and clouded/fouled with mayonnaise from the alchemy jug) the scrying pool used by the tomb dwarves to keep tabs on the Tomb, and prepared to continue their delve...

This past weekend tried something different, as we were missing a couple of regular players, notably including the player of the ranger/rogue. And I have not yet read the new AL rules, and I think we want to keep our ToA game AL legal (or if we don't we should all at least have a chance to weigh in on it). So I started running a mini-campaign I'd sort of sketched out, using the skeletal Innistrad setting released for free by Wizards of the Coast awhile back - mostly I wanted something human focused and I liked the human variants used there, and the Nephalia region seemed to work for what I had in mind. As the coastal trading region, I figured they also had ties to other places if player want to make characters from elsewhere and I imagined Innistrad being kind of like a Romania/Bulgaria type region on an inland coast with mountains along the other borders. Instead of a saltwater connection to the outer world like the Bosporus, I decided it would be a freshwater sea with a river passing through a land to the south that does border on a larger saltwater sea, controlled by what was known as the "Old Empire," a mash-up of Tokugawa Japan and the Byzantine Empire that had once dominated Innistrad (and still dominated international trade and contact with the outer world) but had pulled back after the rise to dominance of things like vampires, werewolves, and other monstrosities and left the people of the region largely to their own devices. The campaign would start in Varno, a trading town in coastal Nephalia of 4-5,000 or so. Creating PC's, half of the players made local clergy (two clerics and one acolyte who was actually a warlock), along with a fighter who was a wandering mercenary now protecting a rogue from a merchant family who were relatively recent arrivals in town, and a noble wizard with close ties all the local power brokers. Trying to simplify the world's religion, I said the official clergy basically served and worshiped various angels who seemed to have lately pulled back from the world, but there were cults following darker powers. They also all came up with an NPC each was tied to, following a suggestion I had read on shared world building that was indeed quite helpful for grounding everyone in the setting.

It turned out that a local magnate named Ikazizzle (perhaps Snoop will soon appear as well) with a substantial estate (including several honey producing bee colonies) outside of town had just revealed himself as the leader of a cult dedicated to a bee headed deity. This caused consternation amongst the official church leadership as several locals seemed swept up in it. There were also some missing people, including a merchant from the Old Empire, a child admirer of the warlock PC, and a beekeeper (who did not work for the cult leader, apparently).

Leaving town to investigate the Ikazizzle property, the several PC's were attacked by a pack of jackals. After killing several jackals, they retreated back to town, deciding to go to the manor the following day. The next day they ran into a jackalwere mourning the loss of his pack, and they had another fight on their way to the manor. The noble character had a long chat with the lord about religion and other topics while the clergy were directed to wait with the horses in the stables. Feigning interest in the new religion, the noble wizard was presented with a tract to take home. The party then returned toward town, and managed to follow the tracks left by the jackalwere they had killed, which led them to the body of the missing beekeeper. One mystery solved! Back in town, research in the church library led to the discovery of the bee headed god Beezleblix as a demon referred to in old texts, and the party decided they needed to find out just what might happen at the mystery rite of this "diety" happening the next night at midnight.

They didn't spend much time observing, and were soon attempting to interrupt the rites as they found the other two missing people tied to posts near where Lord Ikazzizzle was presiding. In the course of the ensuing battle they killed several cultists who turned out to be local citizens, along with a giant bee and two bee swarms. Ikazzizzle surrendered, and his quasit familiar disappeared. The bejeweled head of Beezleblix flashed during the ceremony and the party a felt a sense of unease as it did so, but nothing had appeared to happen, and they marched their captive with them back into town to turn over to authorities who could hopefully deal with him, while the merchant from the Old Empire was returned to his colleagues for a small reward. The great bee head was also stripped of jewels and precious metals before being burned. Then they bedded down for the night, gnawed by worries about whether the local authorities would actually take their side against Lord Ikazizzle, and about all the local citizens they had been forced to slay while rescuing the captives...

Snakes Again

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...

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!