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Previously on Tomb of Annihilation
Starring:
Mannix, level 6 Human Inquisitive Rogue/Wizard
Khaless, level 6 Half-Drow Assassin Rogue
Gillian, level 6 Triton Bard of Whispers
George, level 6 Tortle Battle Master Fighter/Rogue
Therin, level 6 Hill Dwarf Druid of the Moon
The underground mine tunnel that links Wyrmheart Mine with the Dwarven forge Hrakhamar winds for 40 miles. As we soon discover, no underground area in the D&D universe is safe.
Tomb of Annihilation mentions the mine tunnels in a single paragraph in both the Wyrmheart Mine and Hrakhamar sections, but there are no maps or scripted encounters. I took the liberty of flexing my dungeon skills in creating a series of encounters that told a story about the albino dwarves fleeing from Hrakhamar – only to run afoul of the kobolds of Wyrmheart Mine.
Note: I used the Save Vs. Cave: Mines 1 map pack by Gabriel Pickard to build the mine tunnel maps.
After miles of dark, gloomy travel, the party, along with Musharib the albino dwarf from Port Nyanzaru, came across a large chamber with an underground river. The mine cart ran across the river in a sturdy bridge, but the area looked like a warzone with dried bloodstains and broken weapons.
The party immediately split up to investigate the side tunnels on either side of the main cart path, running afoul of several zombie kobolds, as several water-soaked skeletons emerged from the river. Gillian used her scroll of Hypnotic Pattern to lock down the skeletons, while the rest dealt with the zombies.
The zombies stuck around much longer than I anticipated thanks to an epic series of Undead Fortitude Con saves from a single zombie – 8 in a row!
With the dead clear the party could see the remains of the kobold campsite. Carefully crossing the bridge revealed more signs of fighting. A wooden staircase to the north lead to an upper level, which held another campsite, but his one looked dwarven. It also had a few zombies shuffling around, however.
Khaless crept up and assassinated one, but when the rest of the party approached the pile of squirming bodies, they were surprised to see the bodies explode as giant worm-like creatures emerged. Carrion Crawlers!
Even with a +8 to hit with their paralyzing tentacles, the dice were not with me on this fight, only managing to paralyze one of the PCs before they sliced, diced, and dino-bit their way to victory.
In the dwarf camp Musharib discovered an ornately carved bone earring that he claims belonged to his sister, Sithi, a warrior who had led some of their people into the tunnels when they were forced to flee the forge when the firenewts invaded. Though some of the zombies were definitely once dwarves, she was not among them, and he held out hope she was still alive.
The party camped down for the night, though only getting the benefits of a short rest in these cramped tunnels. The next day they traveled several more miles, seeing more evidence of the dwarves who had survived the apparent battle, and killing the occasional zombie.
They saw a side tunnel that was so infested with webs that they couldn’t see beyond it. The PCs were eager to explore the dangerous route, but Musharib urged them to stick to the mine cart path.
Unfortunately the path soon ended abruptly in a complete tunnel collapse. Therin was able to determine that this collapse was done with precision and purpose, and Musharib declared that it must have been his people, collapsing the tunnel behind them as they fled back toward the forge. Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The only way forward is the web-infested side tunnel, which we’ll tackle next week!
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