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Previously on Tomb of Annihilation
Starring:
Mannix, level 7 Human Inquisitive Rogue/Wizard
Khaless, level 7 Half-Drow Assassin Rogue
Gillian, level 7 Triton Bard of Whispers
George, level 7 Tortle Battle Master Fighter/Rogue
Therin, level 7 Hill Dwarf Druid of the Moon
The Forbidden City of Omu is not uninhabited. The sneaky Yuan-ti make their first move against our intrepid party while they’re at their weakest, then the party disrupt a ritual between Vegepygmy and Grung.
Following the nasty battle with the Frost Giants, the party was dangerously weakened and in bad need of a Long Rest. Due to their sneak-away-at-night strategy from the giants earlier, it would require them to rest in the middle of the day.
The party had become so confident in their ability to deter any danger with Leomund’s Tiny Hut, that they plopped it down right there in the guardhouse, and didn’t bother setting any guards.
The Yuan-ti are a sneaky, clever bunch. They’ve been watching the PCs since the moment they arrived, waiting for the right time to strike. By using their snake forms they could easily sneak into the area while Gillian was casting the spell.
With everyone passed out expecting a Long Rest, one of the Yuan-ti used its Suggestion ability on Gillian, claiming her adoring fans want to meet her, and to take down that pesky forcefield tent. I imposed disadvantage since she was asleep.
At the same time I let everyone roll a DC 14 Perception check with disadvantage to see if they wake up. Only George made it. Gillian woke up and took down the hut in a trance-like state, while George hilariously tackled the snake and threw it against the wall, while yelling for everyone to awaken.
Fun fact – with no one wearing heavy or even medium armor, this party is weirdly good at springing into action from a dead sleep!
Two polymorphed Yuan-ti snakes were there in the hut, and the party quickly woke up and took them out before they could even switch back (I rolled a 3 on Initiative, oye). However, with the hut down the rest of their strike force could attack, which consisted of three Yuan-ti Malisons, one of each of the three types found in the Monster Manual.
This ended up being a dangerous fight as most of the PCs were still hovering around 10-20% hit points, and I ended up rolling no less than three crits (two of them against Dragonbait, however). Gillian would go down from a poisoned arrow, while George used a party against the snake-armed Yuan-ti to stay up at 1 hit point!
Given the fairly mean way I pulled the hut out from under them, I took pity by spreading out the damage and using the far healthier Artus and Dragonbait to absorb many of the attacks. Dragonbait in particularly would take like 60-some damage in this fight, with nary a complaint.
Eventually there was just the one Yuan-ti remaining. It made some pithy remarks about Ras Nsi, and Omu being their home, then transformed into a snake and slithered away. The party was very careful to check for snakes before setting their hut up a second time. It’s not a tactic I plan on using again, but I think it was a satisfying way to introduce the Yuan-ti of Omu, and the fact that the PCs need to be a lot more careful while they’re here.
After the Long Rest the party deliberated on what exactly they need to do in Omu. The clues they had received only pointed them here, but not to what specifically. Time to explore! They traveled north towards the Amphitheater, but saw a procession of Vegepygmies carrying a captive Grung over the bridge toward the island in the Great Rift – a 1o0-ft drop off into lava.
Curious George was curious. His hatred for Grung is infamous and he wanted to see how things played out, while instantly seeing the small plant folk as kindred spirits. As they approached the bridge, the party could see a primitive ritual playing out between the dozen or so Vegepygmies and the captive Grung.
Mannix cast Comprehend Languages, confirming the primitive ritual. But the surprise came when the Grung spoke. He pleaded to his captives that he was a prince, and that his father, Chief Yorb, would pay handsomely for his return.
This peaked the PCs’ interest, or at least George’s, who responded by running forward with his Vine Whip Sword, ready to save the Grung before the Vegepygmies hurled it over the side. Mannix also ran up trying to use his words, but Comprehend Languages only works one way, so he cast Unseen Servant to help with grabbing the Grung.
The Vegepygmies were caught by surprise, but it was Gillian who was instrumental in what would become a non-fight. She cast Hypnotic Pattern in the middle of the group (including George), and we watched as a they failed almost every single WIS save on the ten or so enemies. Completely shut down!
Khaless approached the few remaining and easily intimated them into submission. It was so effective (as was the sudden incapacitation of their entire group) that two of them turned and leapt into the lava pit!
The party had successfully rescued the Grung with almost no shots fired, and quickly high-tailed it out of there before the spell wore off.
Using a combination of Comprehend Languages and Artus’ rudimentary Grung understanding, the party learned that the Grung’s people lived at one of the shrines of Omu – the one with the Grung picture on the map, to the northeast of the royal palace. It’s on the other side of the city. For now the PCs kept him bound with Dragonbait watching over him.
With the lava rift cutting out a large chunk of the city, the main path is towards the northwest. As they marched past a destroyed walled compound they heard a voice cry out in help. We’ll have to see what this new crisis entails next time!
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