Here’s the write up from our latest Tomb of Annihilation session, in which the adventurers sneaked into the Flaming Fist settlement of Promise outside Mezro to steal a stone tablet for their friend Artus Cimber. We hadn’t played since late March so it was good to get back to the campaign!
I used the excellent Ruins of Mezro adventure site by Will Doyle and the Chultan Death Curse: Revised! supplement by Teos Abadia for this session.
Begin here with Session 0 – Caves of the Cockatrice
18th Uktar, 1495 DR (contd.)
As night falls, Certes, Eysleigh, Nanna and Tharhul paddle a canoe through the swamp towards Promise, under a pass without trace spell. Meanwhile, Rhamash remains inside the ruins with Vorn and the others to keep an eye on Lieutenant Brokenbarrel.
When the characters reach the walls, Certes casts invisibility and Tharhul casts silence. They steer the canoe underneath the boardwalks, heading for Brokenbarrel’s hut where they hope to find the goliath’s stone tablet. As they approach, the adventurers spot three cages holding captured crocodile cultists hanging in the water beneath the hut, and two knights guarding the dock.
Nanna has trouble hauling herself onto the dock, so Tharhul helps her. This draws the attention of the two Flaming Fists, and combat ensues. Eysleigh is their nearest, most visible target and goes down straight away. Luckily the invisible Certes is close by and pours a potion of healing down the druid’s throat to revive him.
Nanna attacks with her whip of fangs, pulling one of the Flaming Fists into the water where he flounders around in his heavy armour. Although they can’t hear him splashing, the sight of his struggles alerts the two Flaming Fists at the front door who raise the alarm and join the fray. Eysleigh summons Birdie from outside the silence, as Nanna, Tharhul, Tyke and the Green battle the knights.
Certes heads inside the hut and climbs the ladder to the first floor where there is a bed and a large, locked chest; unfortunately, Nanna is the one with Brokenbarrel’s key. He moves to the front window and attacks the knights below with scorching ray.
With stealth no longer relevant, Tharhul drops his silence spell and casts hunter’s mark. Nanna holds up Brokenbarrel’s badge to the onrushing Flaming Fists and shouts out that the characters are holding her hostage, but her attempted threat falls on deaf ears. Next, Eysleigh tries the same trick, again without success.
Meanwhile, Certes casts levitation and pushes the floating chest out of the window, then lowers it onto the dock. With three of the Flaming Fists defeated but more arriving, the characters hurriedly load the chest into their canoe and make a hasty escape, crossbow bolts whistling past their ears. As Tharhul and Nanna paddle furiously northeast, Certes casts fireball, blasting half a dozen soldiers into oblivion and setting Promise ablaze!
Once they’ve gone far enough from the burning village to be safe, the party do some healing and Nanna opens the chest. It’s full of gold – the Flaming Fist’s payroll – and there is a secret compartment at the bottom holding the stone tablet they have come for.
Relieved that their mission has been a success, the group steer their canoe south along the flooded boulevard. When they near the ruined amphitheatre, they hear beautiful, haunting music. Eysleigh and Certes are enchanted by the sound, diving into the water and swimming towards the building. Certes isn’t a great swimmer so it’s easy for Tharhul and Nanna to paddle over and haul the wizard back into the canoe, but Eysleigh has swum inside the amphitheatre. The druid heads for the empty stage, desperate to join in with the invisible performance, but is grabbed by a hungry crocodile. As more of the reptiles close in, the canoe arrives. Certes casts levitation to raise Eysleigh out of the water, and the confused crocodile lets go. The airborne druid casts entangle on the aquatic vegetation to slow down the crocs, allowing the party to escape.
When the characters reach their comrades’ hiding place, Nanna gives Artus the tablet. Her grateful mentor is hopeful that it holds vital clues to accessing lost Mezro. Artus says he will come and find them in Omu to help them with their quest to destroy the Soulmonger and end the Death Curse once he has found Alisanda. He will free Brokenbarrel once the characters are safely on their way.
19th Uktar
That night Valdro and Tharhul share the same dream of a ruined city in the jungle close to a range of volcanoes, the Peaks of Flame far to the south. Valdro has been weakened by the Death Curse and gains a level of exhaustion.
The characters set off for Kir Sabal, heading upstream along the River Olung. As they pass beneath the mouldering remains of a rope bridge, a troupe of flying monkeys steals jars of insect repellent from Certes and Eysleigh.
20th Uktar
The characters reach the ancient stone bridge, Ataaz Muhahah, home to large numbers of baboons and monkeys. Nanna is determined to investigate despite the reservations of the others and persuades Certes to cast fly on her.
The gnome flies up to the large stone statue of a warrior in the centre of the bridge and sets to work prying out its bright green gemstone eyes. The statue animates just as Nanna frees one of the stones and unleashes two deadly force bolts as she flies away. She returns to the others, badly wounded, and disappointed to discover that the stone she has stolen is worthless!
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Richard Green | Game Designer 