Tomb of Annihilation - Session 25
General Summary
The rumble of an approaching storm echoes around Nkansu House as Dolan, Chibuzo, Dunch, Ixtli, and Yollotl prepare to depart. Elmar and Mokomoko have not yet returned, and Akachi left the group earlier to return to her own home in the city. The copy of the pamphlet received from Mtoto sits on a table; seeing it, Chibuzo is seized with an even more burning hatred of Sayid. Stabbing it with his dagger, he proclaims: "This ends tonight."
As the party heads out into the mostly empty streets of the city, a driving rain begins to fall. Only a few watchmen still remain on guard at the Grand Souk. At the exit to the Old City, the pair of guards sheltering from the storm under the gate only nod at the adventurers as they pass by.
They follow the road to the outskirts of the Old City and then head west, skirting the edge of the city's garbage pit back towards the sea. Through the darkness and the rain, they see two figures dumping a load of refuse from a cart drawn by a small hadrosaur. Then a lightning flash startles the hadrosaur. Rearing onto its hind legs, it loses its balance in the mud and slides down a long slope into the garbage pit, dragging with it both the cart and one of its handlers. The stormy night is pierced by a woman's scream.
Approaching the disturbance, the party finds a middle-aged Nizamish woman holding a lantern and peering into the murky depths of the depression below. "My husband Amir," she cries, "he fell into the pit!"
Chibuzo summons the light of the Gem of Brightness. Some fifty feet down the slope, the wagon lies flipped over in the pit of mud and garbage. Nearby the hadrosaur lies on its side, trying to get back on its feet.
Chibuzo ties himself to a rope and gingerly slides down the slope, while Dunch, Ixtli, and Yollotl hold the rope secure. As the ranger descends, through the wind and rain and the terrible stench he sees Amir waving at him from next to the wagon—and, emerging from the ground behind the man, a vine-like stalk surmounted by three eyeballs.
Chibuzo shouts out a warning. As Amir turns to look, a tentacle ending in a barbed, leaf-shaped appendage appears from below, wraps itself around him, and lifts him into the air. He screams.
Chibuzo swiftly slides down the rope the rest of the way, then advances to attack the tentacle with spear and warhammer. Below it he can see a great maw of teeth under the surface. Moving like the wind, Ixtli dashes into the pit and spears the creature. In response, the tentacle spasms and slams Amir into the ground. Chibuzo and Ixtli hear the sound of multiple bones breaking, and the man stops screaming.
The creature climbs out of the earth: an otyugh, a lumpy, three-legged monstrosity with two tentacles, an eyestalk, and a voracious mouthful of spiky teeth. Stepping over the prone Amir, it swings its tentacles at Ixtli and Chibuzo, and snaps its jaws at the lizardman, but the adventurers are able to evade its attacks. Visibly panicking, the hadrosaur scrambles to get away, finally getting to its feet and dragging the wagon away.
Above them, Dolan fires four magic missiles into the otyugh, while Dunch summons the powers of Nyemba's Might. A pair of spectral eagle wings materialize behind him and he glides into the pit, alighting next to the creature and swinging the glowing Maul of Disruption. But in the unsure, mucky footing, he strikes only a glancing blow.
Maintaining his composure despite the horrific stench of the creature's breath, Chibuzo rams Atsu's Lance down its throat, then crushes its eyestalk with an overhead swing of his warhammer. The otyugh's legs collapse, and it falls to the ground, dead. Its corpse quickly begins to emit a noxious stench.
Amir is still underneath it. Working together, Chibuzo and Dunch manage to raise the monster's body sufficiently for Ixtli to pull out the man's lifeless form. Taking the body in his arms, Dunch flies back to the top of the slope, where the woman drops the lantern and begins crying hysterically. The others climb slowly out of the pit.
Dolan kneels by the man's broken body, touches his brow, and casts a spell. With a sharp intake of breath, Amir returns to life—but then begins screaming in agony from his fragmented limbs. After Ixtli skilfully sets the man's broken arm and leg, and Dolan casts another healing spell, the man lapses into a restful sleep. The woman tearfully thanks them for her husband's life.
Yollotl runs back to the gate to fetch the guards for help, while Dolan and Chibuzo move out of sight behind a low hill towards the sea. After a few minutes, Yollotl returns with a pair of guards, followed ten minutes later by another squad that sets about helping the couple and doing something about the hadrosaur still in the pit. Dunch, Ixtli, and Yollotl take their leave and depart to rejoin the others.
As the storm continues, the party continues west through the scrubland at the top of the cliff, looking for a convenient spot to descend to the beach below. Finally Dunch spots a gnarled tree near the cliff edge that looks sturdy enough to support the weight of at least one person. After they tie two ropes together and secure them to the tree, Dunch leads the way in rappelling down the cliff face. Dolan and Ixtli follow without incident, but Yollotl loses his grip partway down and plummets fifty feet to the sand below, injured but without any broken limbs. Chibuzo brings up the rear.
They advance cautiously through the wind and rain along the twenty-foot-wide strip of beach between the sheer cliffs and the ocean. Dunch and Yollotl scout ahead of the others to take advantage of their darkvision. After about another quarter-mile, Dunch spots two figures in the distance near a crevice in the rock. Dim torchlight flickers from within.
After the party takes cover, Chibuzo casts a spell. A veil of shadows and silence radiates from the ranger, helping to mask the party from detection. While the others sneak towards the cave, Chibuzo dons his Cap of Water Breathing, dives into the surf, and swims further west, before coming ashore to approach the cave from the opposite side. He makes it within 30 feet before one of the guards calls out through the driving rain, "Who goes there? Identify yourself!"
"I'm just passing through," Chibuzo calls back, "a fisherman caught into the storm." In response both guards move towards him, one readying a bow, the other a scimitar and shield.
From behind them, Ixtli and Dunch dash forward to attack the archer and the scimitar-wielding guard respectively, while Dolan casts a Guiding Bolt on the latter. Chibuzo rushes forward in turn, spearing the same guard overtop his shield. After taking a retaliatory blow from his opponent's scimitar, Chibuzo finishes the guard with his warhammer, then hurls Atsu's Lance into the archer. The bowman retreats down the beach, firing a retaliatory arrow into Chibuzo and shouting an alarm, but his cries can barely be heard over the sound of the wind and waves. After envenoming two more arrows with some substance contained in his quiver, he fires them into Chibuzo, before Dunch's maul crushes his skull.
From inside the cave, Ixtli hears a voice asking, "did you hear that?" He motions the others to hide, and they conceal themselves against the cliff face. After a moment, two more guards emerge from the cave, looking for their fellows. One wields a scimitar two-handed, the other carries a short sword and shield. A fortuitous gust of wind and rain in their eyes prevents them from noticing the adventurers until they are almost on top of them.
Chibuzo hurls his spear to strike the scimitar-wielding guard, then charges forward with his warhammer. The guard parries the blow, but Atsu's Lance flies back to Chibuzo's hand and the ranger stabs him again. Dunch hammers the other guard in the back, Ixtli spears him twice and knees him in the chest, and Yollotl punches him twice. Dolan speaks a word of command: "Kneel!" The sword-and-shield wielding guard drops to his knees, while his companion retreats into the cave, calling out: "Intruders!"
Past the narrow entrance, the cave opens wider to the left, where a rowboat rests on the sandy floor of the cave and a fire burns atop a stone ledge rising some five feet in height. Straight ahead, another stone ledge holds another burning fire, a pile of crates and barrels, and two more guards: an archer and a crossbowman. Behind them the cave extends deeper in, with the passage partially blocked by a low wall of rubble.
The crossbowman lets off a hurried shot that goes wild, the bolt smacking into the wall of the cave. An explosion follows; did the errant shot set off a trap? Hoping to blind their foes, Chibuzo moves into the mouth of the cave and fires a cone of brilliant light from the Gem of Brightness, but all of the guards manage to avoid the beam. He throws his yklwa twice, but the archer also dodges these attacks.
Running forward to close with the enemy, Dunch triggers a tripwire. He stops short, allowing a weighted net to drop from the ceiling just in front of him, then resumes his attack, bashing the crossbowman. Ixtli joins him, killing the same foe with two strikes of the Blood Spear, while a punch from Yollotl knocks out the guard still kneeling outside.
After Dolan advances and casts Haste on Dunch, the half-orc attacks the archer, forcing the wounded guard to retreat further into the cave. From behind him appears Sayid al-Qaar, his face twisted in hate. "I am tired of your interference!", he cries, vaulting over the low stone wall to stab Ixtli with his poisoned short sword, then turning his head toward the back of the cave. "Szola! Gas them!" he commands. A figure appears from the depths of the cave, seemingly human in body but with the head of a hooded serpent. He pulls a glass sphere from the bandolier around his chest and lobs it into the midst of the party. A greenish-yellow cloud of poison gas erupts from the sphere as it breaks, poisoning Dunch, Chibuzo, and Yollotl.
After the archer fires two poisoned arrows into Dolan, the sorcerer raises the Staff of Swarming Insects, and a cloud of stinging wasps surrounds Szola and Sayid. Ixtli spears Sayid twice, causing the Nizamish to retreat and disappear from view behind the nearby pile of cargo. Ixtli continues his attack on the archer, kneeing him in the chest, then kicking him in the chin to snap his neck. The scimitar-wielding guard stands ready to meet Yollotl's attack, but the lizardman invokes Bahamut's Fury instead. Tendrils of flame stretch out from his fists and feet, allowing him to smite the guard from a distance.
Casting a spell, Chibuzo summons a blast of strong wind that dissipates the cloud of poison gas. After Dunch kills the scimitar-wielding guard with his maul, Dolan again invokes the power of the Staff of Swarming Insects to enlarge five of the wasps to giant-size, dispersing the rest. Three of the giant wasps buzz about the pile of cargo but fail to spot Sayid; the other two attack Szola, but their venom has little effect on the yuan-ti, who draws another glass orb from his belt and throws it at his own feet. The resulting cloud of poison gas kills the two wasps and injures Ixtli, who turns his attention towards Sayid instead. Spotting the Nizamish in the pile of cargo, he spears and kicks him, while Yollotl moves towards Szola and exhales a gout of flame that ignites the gas cloud in a sudden explosion.
When the flames clear, the burnt yuan-ti drinks a healing potion from his belt, then hurls another sphere of poison gas at the feet of Ixtli and Yollotl, who both collapse to the stone floor, unconscious and dying. Leaping out from behind the pile of cargo, Sayid advances through the swirling cloud of gas to level a heavy crossbow at Chibuzo. "Die, princeling!" he cries as he fires. The poisoned bolt strikes Chibuzo in the chest and he too crumples, insensible.
Dolan gestures, and a stroke of lightning bursts forth from him to smite both of their remaining foes. Sayid is killed instantly, and Szola survives only a few moments longer before the remaining giant wasps swarm around him and finish him off.
In the battle's aftermath, Dolan restores Chibuzo and Ixtli to consciousness, and the latter uses his own Hand of Healing to revive Yollotl. Once he revives, Chibuzo gives Sayid's corpse a contemptuous kick. Dunch hauls the unconscious guard into the cave and ties him up for later questioning, but in the process the guard's head lolls backward to expose his long, forked tongue. When the party examines the corpses of the other guards, they too show serpentine traits: snake scales, slit pupils, or a forked tongue.
In addition to the chain shirts, shields, crossbows, and other weapons carried by the guards, they find a number of vials of poison, while among Sayid's belongings are a key and three items that radiate magic: a red cape, a pair of goggles, and an elaborate gold necklace. Szola's bandolier holds seven more magical vials, and the yuan-ti also bears a mysterious golden amulet depicting an ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail.
Beyond the low wall the cave opens into a larger area, with bedrolls for sleeping, a heavy wooden chest, and a large table covered with an elaborate alchemy apparatus. Amidst the beakers, retorts, alembics, and other tools is a metal stand holding a brass-bound glass canister gradually filling up with a greenish-yellow gas. Five more of the canisters are stacked on the ground nearby. The table also holds a few crates containing more of the inflammatory pamphlets that were found after the attack on the Great Souk. In a stack of papers is a detailed map of Goldenthrone, the palace that serves as the seat of government for the Merchant Princes.
Dolan cautiously uses his Mage Hand to open the chest from a distance, using the key they retrieved from Sayid, but no traps are triggered. The chest holds several thousand gold, silver, and copper coins, as well as a wide variety of precious stones (onyx, amber, coral, pearls, and tourmalines), art objects (a bone scepter, an amber dice set, a malachite bowl, and a bone puzzle box), and fine clothing (a vest threaded in silver, a feathered leather cap). Also in the chest is a Sending Stone matching the one they took from Mokomoko a few weeks ago. More troubling are four sets of the distinctive gold-trimmed, red leather armour used by the Dore Kvanga, the elite guard of the Merchant Princes.
Next to the table is a large cage, inside of which a giant snake sleeps on a silk pillow. The cage door is open, and the bars of the cage wouldn't contain the snake in any case. Perhaps the snake was used as a source of venom for alchemy? Not wanting to fight the creature nor let it roam about the cave, Dunch attempts to trap it with the Iron Bands of Binding. The metal bands quickly surround the creature, but then it flexes with all its strength, and the iron bands burst into fragments. Startled, the snake slithers rapidly about the cave, finally locating the exit. The adventurers stand aside and let it pass.
Their search of the cave walls finds no other exits.
As their next move, they decide that Dunch and Ixtli will return to Port Nyanzaru with some of the evidence they've found: the map of Goldenthrone and a few of the pamphlets. They plan to seek out Wakanga O'tamu and seek his advice on how to reveal their findings to the other Merchant Princes.
After Dunch and Ixtli depart, the others rest around one of the campfires. Among the scraps of wood and debris surrounding the flame, Yollotl spots a partially burnt fragment of paper with writing on it. It reads:
Sayid,
An unexpected opportunity has just presented itself. Two Asturian ships have arrived in the harbour this morning, take your men and scuttle the Twilight Sabre after nightfall. The foreign templars are a perfect scapegoat to rouse further apprehension in the people. I have ...
The rain is still falling as Dunch and Ixtli return up the beach. The rope is as they left it; Dunch easily climbs to the top, but while Ixtli loses his grip on his first attempt, his training enables him to fall without injury. He reaches the top on his second attempt, and they head back to Port Nyanzaru.