Tomb of Annihilation - Session 33
General Summary
It is still early morning when the party leaves the shrine of Moa. Nyemba declares that she will remain there, but would be willing to rejoin them at a different, similarly hidden and defensible location—if they can find one.
As the wings of Nyemba's Might can't be reused yet, Dolan casts Fly on Dunch instead, and the barbarian ferries the others across the lava as before. They head back towards the causeway and follow it westward, keeping the raised stone thoroughfare between themselves and the palace, until they can skirt the staircase at the causeway's end. Just to the north, Nyemba has told them, is another of the shrines to the nine guardian spirits: the shrine of Unkh.
Two twenty-foot obelisks carved with swirling decorations stand at the entrance to the temple compound, which is bounded by a partially collapsed wall. The shrine itself is a low, windowless building fronted by two closed stone doors. Above them an inscription in Old Marakuran reads: "Unkh urges us to contrast all options before acting."
A small outbuilding, its roof collapsed, stands to one side of the compound. Investigating it, they find plants growing through its floor, and hundreds of iron keys hanging from its walls. The bit of each key is different, but their bows are the same. The Sceptre of the Honored Voice reveals that none of them radiate magic.
Chibuzo and Dunch push open the right door to enter the shrine, while Ixtli walks through the stone walls with the power of the Ring of Earth Elemental Command. In the large central room stands a tall statue of a giant snail, with five clublike appendages sprouting from its head. In an alcove behind it is a low, bare stone pedestal containing a keyhole, while six niches around the walls each hold a single, unique iron key. There are no mosaics or inscriptions inside.
Crouching behind the statue are three emaciated humanoids with blue triangles carved in their foreheads: ghasts! The party withstands their putrescent odour and makes short work of them, though one manages to sink its teeth into Ixtli, nearly paralyzing him.
They investigate the statue but find nothing of interest. When Chibuzo tries a key from the outbuilding in the keyhole, nothing happens at first, but then the shell of the statue blazes with radiant light, injuring them all. After the others exit the shrine, Dunch tries to smash open the pedestal with the Maul of Disruption, but receives only another radiant blast. The barbarian curses.
Dolan finally comes up with the idea to overlap the six keys to align their teeth, then look for a key in the shed that matches the combined pattern. After some searching, Chibuzo manages to find a match. After he turns it in the lock, the pedestal rotates with a grinding noise, and a stone cube inscribed with an image of Unkh rises up from within.
They add it to their collection and leave the shrine, returning to the riverbank where a massive tree lies across the swift-moving water. The tree shows signs of having been used as a bridge before. Chibuzo leads them across and then south, past more ruined buildings and overgrown foliage, to the shrine of Shagambi the kamadan.
Approaching from the north, they pass through the partially collapsed outer wall, but find that the circular shrine building converges with the perimeter wall on both sides, so that there is no way to reach the shrine entrance from this side. When Ixtli hears the sibilant sounds of yuan-ti speech from a treed area to the west, they decide to avoid conflict and circle the compound to the east instead.
In a few minutes they find the entrance gate in the compound's southern wall. The entryway passes between two obelisks, inscribed with images of a kamadan—a leopard with six snakes sprouting from its shoulders—overseeing the training of Marakuran warriors. In the shrine building itself, an archway opens on stairs leading downwards, while above is an inscription in Old Marakuran: "Shagambi teaches us to fight evil with honour."
Descending the stairs, they find that the rectangular shrine interior is open to the sky. In alcoves on either side, four statues of Marakuran warriors flank a central pit, above which is a lattice of metal bars. The statues' hands look as if they should be holding something. At the far end of the room is a short pedestal, empty, while a narrow doorway to the left shows stairs leading down. A mosaic on the wall behind the pedestal depicts a kamadan fighting a froglike humanoid, presumably Shagambi in battle with her archenemy Nangnang. Ixtli senses air blowing from the mosaic's surface, and closer inspection finds it to be embedded with dozens of tiny holes.
Dunch descends the stairs, followed by Chibuzo. At the bottom, the narrow passage turns left, then left again to bring them into the pit, where another doorway opens on the opposite side. As Dunch enters the pit, he hears a click, and then a clattering sound from the far doorway, and the sound of approaching heavy footsteps.
A clay golem appears in the doorway followed by three others, each armed with a wooden shield and bronze spear. Dunch steps back to allow the golems to enter the pit, while Chibuzo advances to attack, joined shortly by the lizardmen. From above, Dolan casts Bless on Chibuzo, Dunch, and Ixtli.
The golems prove to be fearsome foes, stabbing swiftly with their spears and bringing Chibuzo to the brink of death with repeated heavy blows. But the tide of battle turns when Dolan slows the golems with a spell. Chibuzo, Dunch, and Ixtli strike their own savage blows; Yollotl's fists and Dolan's magic missiles strike true; and one after another the golems crumble back into clay. Chibuzo finishes the last of them with Atsu's Lance; as it falls, the golems' remains vanish, leaving only their shields and spears behind.
Returning to the surface, the adventurers slot a bronze spear into the grip of each of the four statues. With a grinding noise, the pedestal turns, and a stone cube carved with an image of Shagambi corkscrews up from within it.
It is still early morning. After Chibuzo receives the benefit of one of Dolan's healing spells, it's decided to scout out the yuan-ti voices heard from the west. Chibuzo casts Pass Without Trace, and he, Ixtli, and Yollotl advance cautiously into the wooded area west of the shrine. After briefly glimpsing a blue glow from deep in the woods, Ixtli goes prone and sneaks closer. In a small clearing stands a twisted, gnarled tree, carved with glowing blue runes—very like the tree near Nanny Pu'pu's hut in lower Mbala. A pair of humanoid figures are nearby, but don't appear to notice the three observers.
Leaving the wooded area behind, they sneak south, looking for a place to rest and recover from the golem battle. An overgrown building with a partially collapsed roof seems secure enough for the moment, notwithstanding Ixtli's discovery of a shed snakeskin inside, along with other evidence that someone passed through the building several days ago.
After Dolan and Dunch are retrieved from the shrine, the party recuperates until late morning, then heads west again, making for the shrine of Kubazan the froghemoth. Their path leads them past the terminus of the causeway that runs from north to south almost the entire length of the city. As they pass by, half a dozen yuan-ti appear at the top of the causeway stairs, looking down on them.
One turns to another: "Are those the ones that Sisava reported?" "I think so," the other answers. "Someone go back and report to Fenthaza immediately," commands the snake-headed yuan-ti apparently in charge. One of his followers turns and runs out of sight to the north, while the leader commands the adventurers: "You there. Come with us!"
Two of the yuan-ti draw their weapons and head down the stairs, but stop short after Dunch affixes them with an intimidating glare. "We aren't enemies here," Chibuzo tells them, "there's no need for us to come into conflict." The leader encourages him to continue speaking: "I'm happy to waste time talking to you while we wait."
After a few moments of this tense standoff, the adventurers simply walk away. They move eastwards until out of sight of the causeway, then run north up a side street. Their passage is shortly blocked by a ten-foot wall. As they hastily discuss their next move, Chibuzo hears a voice behind him: "It would have been simpler if you had just come up with us the first time." Turning, he sees the serpentine figure of Sisava, accompanied by some two dozen yuan-ti of various types. "Yes, that's true," Chibuzo agrees.
They follow her back towards the causeway, then through a gate into a large, walled compound containing numerous buildings and another dozen yuan-ti. In a domed, open pavilion in the centre reclines another serpent-bodied yuan-ti, with the upper body of a beautiful woman draped in yellow silk: Fenthaza. Sisava bows to her, presenting the adventurers.
Fenthaza smiles and slithers forward. "Chibuzo," she says, "are your kind always so difficult to deal with?"
"Oh yes," the prince replies, "we're very independent-minded."
"Hopefully that will not be a problem," says the priestess. "Why are you here, exactly?"
"To stop the Death Curse," he answers.
She smiles again. "Exactly what I was hoping to hear. Until recently, I saw no reason to care about Ras Nsi and his brother's project. But now I realize that the Death Curse must be stopped before I can lead my people back to Hisari."
She and her people have also started collecting the puzzle cubes in order to enter the Tomb, though they don't know exactly how the cubes need to be used. They have only retrieved one cube so far, as they are not sure of the whereabouts of all of the shrines. Sisava has been scouting for them but skirmished with Ras Nsi's forces near the shrine south of the palace. When the Death Curse manifested on both sides of the conflict, she chose to retreat to preserve yuan-ti lives.
Fenthaza offers to give the cube her people recovered to the adventurers—she has no interest in sacrificing more of her people to the Tomb—and also order her people to leave the party unmolested. In return, she asks that they leave her people be, make their way to the Tomb, and end the Death Curse. "Then I will take my people and return to Hisari. It was a mistake for us to come here in the first place."
To the party's other questions, she tells them her people know of the Aldani presence, and encountered them in the northern part of the city. Fenthaza doesn't know where they are now, but suspects that they may have a cube as well. The tyrannosaur that the adventurers heard to the north is the King of Feathers, and the whole city is its hunting grounds.
Ras Nsi resides near the palace with some fifty yuan-ti followers, along with many slaves and his "sycophant" Rashaad. Of their former companions in the Ravengard Expedition, Fenthaza tells them that the "beast-man" proved troublesome, and now serves Ras Nsi as a broodguard. The others are contained in Ras Nsi's harem. As for Nanny Pu'pu, the hag has rejoined her sisters in the Tomb, where they serve as the nursemaids of Lar'lenek's project.
Before they depart, Fenthaza advises them to keep their presence in Omu quiet. If Ras Nsi learns what they're doing, he will try to stop them, and seize the cubes himself. If the party should need to confront him in his lair, she tells them, there is a hidden entrance on the south side of the palace.
Finally the priestess has Sisava deliver the cube of Kubazan to them, and Dunch places it in his Bag of Holding along with the others. Then Sisava escorts them to the gate, and watches as they depart.
It is high sun. After moving away from the causeway, they travel northwards through a narrow passage between ruined buildings. Soon they come upon a long-abandoned campsite, with torn backpacks and rotting tents scattered about. From a crude wooden flagpole hangs a scrap of yellow cloth. Searching the area, they find only a mouldy parchment concealed in the lining of one of the tents:
Rae,
Devlin has a lead on the Eye of Zaltec! The old goat found an obelisk to the north that marks the entrance to the Tomb of the Nine Gods. The Eye must be within, but the door is magically locked. We think the secret to opening it lies in the shrines.
We're headed into the ruins to check them out; Maker willing, we'll be back tonight. The serpent people are on the prowl, so be careful. If you get into trouble, sound the war horn twice and we'll come running.
For the Yellow Banner,
Lord Brixton
Finding nothing else of interest, the party moves on. They cross over the causeway at a nearby set of stairs, then head north towards the next shrine. In his heavy armour, Dunch continues to make a loud clattering sound as he moves about the city, but the noise doesn't attract any undue attention.
Inside another walled compound, its entrance flanked by two obelisks, is the shrine of I'jin the almiraj. The stone doors to the shrine are sculpted in relief with an image of a horned rabbit charging a similar-sized bear-like creature with sharp claws: I'jin in battle with Obo'laka. An inscription over the doors in Old Marakuran reads: "I'jin teaches us to take the path least expected."
The heavy stone doors open outwards. Pulling them open reveals a hallway paved in carved tiles depicting various beasts. Holes lining either side of the passage look like they could be dart holes.
Instead of passing down the hall, they decide to try a different approach. Ixtli uses the Ring of Earth Elemental Command to walk through the southwestern stone wall of the shrine, emerging in a narrow corridor. The only open path leads around a corner, where he notices that a panel of the stone floor is raised ever so slightly, and that there is a groove in the ceiling overhead. He leaps over the panel and continues.
The passage branches back to the entrance and deeper into the shrine. He follows the twisting passages deeper, avoiding one trapped floor panel and then another until he comes to a door that opens onto a rectangular room. A stone puzzle cube engraved with an image of I'jin rests on a pedestal, illuminated by a shaft of light from the skylight above. Ixtli picks up the cube, and exits the way he came.