Here’s the write up from our sixth Tomb of Annihilation session. I ran Whispers in the Dark to finish The Jungle Has Fangs trilogy. I had time before the game to paint one of the grungs I got for Christmas so I had a cool mini for Wadumu, the party’s guide.
As with the previous episodes, I made a few changes to the adventure to get it to run how I wanted it to. Next session, the players plan to visit Firefinger, one of the locations in the Tomb of Annihilation adventure. I have plans to run Rainforest Reckoning, my Tome of Beasts 3 Lairs adventure too.
Begin here with Session 0 – Caves of the Cockatrice
9th Eleint, 1495 DR
The adventurers set off for the lost city of Bulubo with Wadumu, their grung guide.
10th Eleint
The characters encounter a pair of su-monsters. Tharhul tries to befriend them, then Rhamash tries to intimidate them – both without success. When the creatures attack, Tharhul shoots one with his new arquebus. They kill the beasts and cook them for dinner. A treasure map found in their lair shows the route to an ancient tower called Firefinger.
11th Eleint
The group arrive in Bulubo. Suspicious of the dead bodies strewn around the overgrown courtyard, they approach cautiously. Eysleigh summons the Green.
Rhamash and Certes examine the pillars and determine that there are animal carvings in the top of each one that can be pushed like buttons. Certes translates the riddles inscribed on the obelisk and the characters quickly match the solutions to the animals carved on the pillars. Rhamash has a look at the dead bodies – they are wearing Flaming Fist uniforms, and some have a greenish tinge; all are covered in flowering vines.
Tharhul stands next to the obelisk and the others take up position next to the correct pillars. The minotaur pulls the snake symbol and the ground shakes as the paving stones around the obelisk begin to descend into the ground below, forming steps. At the same time, the yellow musk creeper wrapped around the obelisk sprays pollen over Tharhul and two of the corpses stagger to their feet – zombies!
Certes casts mirror image to protect himself as a zombie shuffles towards him; Wadumu hides in the foliage. Tharhul moves away from the creeper to escape its pollen and is hit by a nasty opportunity attack. Eysleigh summons Birdie who flies around the courtyard, attacking zombies while the Green distracts the party’s opponents.
The first zombies are destroyed, scorched by Rhamash’s fiery blows, but the creeper won’t stay dead until Certes burns it with a fire bolt. As more corpses rise from the ground, Rhamash presses the frog image on his pillar. Then, Certes tells Wadumu to press the spider panel but this isn’t the correct sequence. Needles spray from the top of the obelisk and the panels revert to their original position, meaning the adventurers need to start over!
More zombies rise and the characters decide it’s time to escape. They press the animal buttons in the correct order and flee down the stairs, Tharhul (down to 3 hp) in the lead. Birdie covers their escape before perishing.
The stairs wind down 20 feet to a vast cavern – the Fane of the Whispered Fang. The characters do some much needed healing, then advance cautiously towards the central platform where four tall pillars carved with serpents support a ceiling resembling a mass of writhing snakes. Behind them, there is a grinding noise as the entrance above closes, trapping them underground.
When Tyke, Tharhul’s velociraptor companion, steps onto the platform, a sibilant female voice echoes around the room: “Yessss… She tastes your fear; relishes upon it. So ssssweet. Step closer that she might taste it better.” This is Venom Queen Shasskatar, the yuan-ti nightmare speaker who has been communing with Dendar the Night Serpent and issuing commands to her yuan-ti and grung minions in their dreams.
Stone serpents drop from the ceiling, coming to life and slithering away. Certes tastes bitter poison in his mouth. Unable to work out where the voice is coming from, the characters continue towards the waterfall at the far end of the chamber.
Suddenly, Shasskatar attacks. Tharhul witnesses a nightmarish vision of Dendar’s return and a zombie apocalypse. Terrified, he backs away, but continues to take psychic damage. Then, the Venom Queen strikes down Rhamash with her scimitar and blinds Eysleigh with poison spray. Eysleigh heals Rhamash, and Certes blasts Shasskatar with scorching ray. When the yuan-ti loses concentration on Tharhul’s nightmare, he blasts her with his arquebus. Finally, Rhamash gets to his feet and finishes her off.
As Shasskatar crumples lifelessly to the ground, the fane starts to collapse. The characters make a run for the far end of the chamber as zombies tumble through the ceiling from above. The great snake’s mouth where the waterfall poured has now collapsed and the adventurers must climb a mound of rubble to escape.
Certes casts gust of wind to blow himself up the slope, and Wadumu and Rhamash both scamper up, but Tharhul slips, falling unconscious, and Eysleigh is also struggling. The druid heals Tharhul with healing word and both get to the top using a rope thrown down by Rhamash. Certes knocks a zombie over with his gust of wind and the Green distracts the others. The adventurers make good their escape!
If you’d like to keep up to date with my Tome of Annihilation campaign and other posts, please do join my mailing list – there’s a sign up form on the home page and subscribers receive a free Parsantium supplement.
Richard Green | Game Designer 