Tomb of Annihilation Session 23 – Needle’s Bones

Here’s the write up from our latest Tomb of Annihilation session, in which the adventurers helped to defend Kir Sabal and headed back into the jungle in search of a dragon’s lost hoard.

Begin here with Session 0 – Caves of the Cockatrice

---

26th Uktar, 1495 DR (contd.)

Kir Sabal comes under attack from a flight of gargoyles from Omu, and the characters rush to the monastery’s defence. Tharhul and Rhamash fight in melee, while Eysleigh summons Birdie and Certes fires scorching rays. Meanwhile, Eku and Valdro shoot their bows at the gargoyles attacking the cleansing chamber down below.

One of the gargoyles gets past the characters to attack Teacher and wounds the aarakocra seriously enough that she falls unconscious. Certes rushes over and pours a potion down Teacher’s throat to bring her round, then bravely draws Windharrow and makes several ineffective attempts at stabbing her opponent. 

When the characters have defeated all the gargoyles inside, the rest retreat to Omu. Teacher thanks the characters for their bravery.

As the party heal after the fight, Princess Mwaxanaré and her brother Na appear. The princess seems impatient to claim her throne and asks the characters to recover the Skull Chalice of Ch’gakare from Omu “for the good of Chult”. Na is six years old and dressed as an aarakocra; he takes a shine to Rhamash and is very impressed when the kobold demonstrates his ability to fly.

---

27th Uktar

The characters head northeast from Kir Sabal in search of Needle’s Bones. They pass a black panther dozing in a tree.

Later in the day, a rotten tree collapses on top of the party. Eku and Tyke leap out of the way in time, but Tharhul is badly injured. Certes looks around to see if someone or something felled the tree but only spots a baboon. He offers it a banana which it accepts greedily. The baboon is soon joined by three more. When Certes runs out of bananas and more baboons arrive, the group decides it’s best to move on. 

Sometime later, the party pass through a grove of fruit and nut trees which is home to lots of birds and monkeys. Certes uses his mage hand to pick another bunch of bananas. 

---

28th Uktar

The characters arrive at Needle’s Bones – a large sinkhole 90 feet across with a few feet of muddy water in the bottom. The vine-covered skeleton of a large dragon rises out of the muck. Eysleigh casts speak with plants and learns that there is treasure is somewhere in the sinkhole. 

Vorn leaps down into the hole, scattering frogs everywhere. Certes climbs onto the construct’s shoulders and orders Vorn to kick the muck beneath the dragon’s tailbone, hoping to find treasure. He doesn’t find any. Eku casts detect magic which doesn’t reveal anything either. 

Then, Tharhul uses his scroll of commune with nature and learns that the dragon’s treasure is hidden in the sinkhole’s northwest wall. Eysleigh summons the Green who survives an attack from a swarm of quippers long enough to find a section of the wall where all the plants are dead. Certes and Vorn go over to investigate and discover a secret door. Certes correctly determines that the dragon’s breath had killed the plants, and smears Eysleigh’s vial of poison on the door. It opens. Certes and Tharhul venture inside and retrieve the dragon’s modest hoard.

That night, a mated pair of kamadans attack the party’s camp while Certes is on watch. Their sleep breath sends the wizard to sleep but luckily Vorn is on hand to wake him up again. Eysleigh harvests poison from their snakes once the kamadans have been slain.

---

30th Uktar

The characters arrive back in Kir Sabal and discuss the best route to Nangalore with Teacher.

---

If you’d like to keep up to date with my Tomb of Annihilation campaign and other posts, please do join my mailing list – there’s a sign up form below and subscribers receive a free Parsantium supplement.