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Previously on Tomb of Annihilation
Starring:
Mannix, level 9 Yuan-ti Inquisitive Rogue/Divination Wizard
Khaless, level 9 Half-Drow Assassin Rogue
Gillian, level 9 Triton Bard of Whispers
George, level 9 Tortle Battle Master Fighter/Rogue
Therin, level 9 Hill Dwarf Druid of the Moon
After making it through most of the first level of the Tomb of the Nine Gods last week relatively unscathed, this week’s excursions prove much more painful with undead in Moa’s Tomb, a Mimic chest, and the cruel chests in Wongo’s Tomb.
George had been the first to duck inside the stone skull that served as the entrance into Moa’s Tomb, one of the nine primal gods of Omu buried in this dungeon. The tomb’s walls were broken into a small network of tunnels through which hundreds of insects crawled. Aside from the sarcophagus in the middle of the room, the tomb also held a crystal box with a small floating skull inside.
George heard the voice of a child in his head, asking who he was and why he was here. George was more confused and curious than deceptive. He wasn’t able to answer any of the voice’s questions and began opening the sarcophagus, thinking the child was trapped inside, just as Mannix ran into the room.
The sound of the sarcophagus opening sent the skull-child into a rage and it flew out of its crystal prison as swarms of undead spiders poured from the tunnels.
George was undeterred and focused on tearing into the flameskull. I forgot that flameskulls are immune to the prone condition (oops), so George was able to knock it down twice with his Trip Maneuver, unleashing a flurry of blows with 20+ hits (negating any use of the skull’s Shield spell), even with Blur granting disadvantage. The flameskull got exactly one turn off, firing magic missiles at Mannix and George before George destroyed it.
The swarms of spiders stuck around much longer, tearing into the party and resisting their weapon attacks. The rest of the party ducked inside the stone skull, with the jaws missing Khaless as the party realized every third person through the mouth caused the jaws to snap shut. Gillian would retreat back outside after taking a particularly nasty volley of bites, preferring to shoot from outside the skull-tunnel.
Finally the swarms were defeated and the party claimed their prize. George reached for the staff inside the sarcophagus, and was possessed by the spirit of Moa, a truthful and kind serpent. Moa forces its host to always tell the truth, which should be really funny the next time George tries to trick an opponent. Both he and Therin started hamming up their godly possessions, much to my enjoyment.
He also received a bonkers-powerful ability: at will invisibility! Not to mention the staff itself, a Staff of the Python that transforms into a giant constrictor snake. The primal gods are definitely worth finding.
They spotted the secret door to the north, leading to the water tunnel. They had momentarily left Gillian (and Orvex) behind, however. She still needed to re-enter the tomb, which meant going through the skull, whose fire-lights were currently turned off and jaws were primed for chompin’.
She risked it and the jaws snapped shut, finally finding prey. Gillian took a nasty blow and both she and Orvex were unable to free her as she began taking more damage from the grinding jaws. The rest of the party had to hurry back, with Khaless and George pulling her to safety.
Turning left down the water tunnel they realized it connected all the way around to the iron grate and toxic gas area that leads to Obo’laka’s tomb. They turned around and headed east, locating the waterfall and a chasm in the northeast corner. Mannix used his owl familiar to discover the 100-ft drop landed in water. With no way to get back up, no one wanted to jump down.
A chest lie on the other side of the ledge by the chasm. As the party deliberated on how to grab it, George walked up and saw the Mimic through his Truesight Bandana. He shot an arrow at it, and it began crawling along the precarious edge of the chasm. The PCs continued to shoot it while it crawled toward them, getting off a single Bite attack (miss) before succumbing to their assault.
Not wanting to jump down the chasm nor head back through the stone skull jaws, the party took the water tunnel around to the iron grate, emerging back at the entrance near the green devil face. They headed to the grand staircase with only one room unexplored on this first level.
The northeast corridor held a large adamantine fan in the middle, and Mannix saw that the entire hallway was one large pressure plate. He cast Gaseous Form to gently float to the other end, emerging in another god’s tomb with a sarcophagus at the bottom of a pit and three chests on raised daises.
Khaless drank a Potion of Climbing and attempted to wall-climb down the corridor, but failed the second DC 15 Athletics check, even with advantage and inspiration. The giant metal fan takes a round to wind up, however, and with a good enough Acrobatics check, she could leap through without getting sliced. She rolled a 30!
Gillian was inspired by Khaless and followed suit, using Enhance Ability and Cat’s Grace to give herself advantage on the Acrobatics check (29!). The two god-possessed party members, Therin and George, weren’t keen on following, however, and George’s spirit Moa identified Wongo as his hated enemy.
In Wongo’s Tomb the split party inspected the chests, recalling the last line of Acererak’s obelisk warning “The keys turn on the inside only.” Opening the chests revealed metal keys on the inside, but they weren’t turning. Khaless hopped inside the freezing chest, closed the lid, and turned the key. She was met with a flash freeze inside the chest, but her high CON save let her shrug off half of the scary 56 cold damage blast!
A button appeared on the sarcophagus that Mannix pushed, opening the chest. The party knew what they had to do, and Khaless was willing to do it, but Mannix thought of a better idea. His Unseen Servant could be commanded to crawl inside the other two chests and turn the keys. For only two level 1 spell slots, Mannix used his Servant to turn both keys (destroying it both times) and more buttons appeared.
With all three buttons pressed the stone sarcophagus turned into transparent crystal. They could see a monkey-like mummy lying inside, clutching a fearsome mace. Mannix shattered the lid and reached for the mace, and the mummy animated and attacked! Seems Wongo won’t give up his prize without a fight.
Voted MVPC – George
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