Tomb of Annihilation Session 34 – Against the Endless Tide

Here’s the write up from our latest Tomb of Annihilation session, in which the characters battled waves of yuan-ti in the entrance to the Fane of the Night Serpent.

Begin here with Session 0 – Caves of the Cockatrice

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1^st Hammer, 1496 DR (contd.)

As the adventurers battle the air elemental that appears from the corridor to the east, the sound of the gong summons yuan-ti reinforcements. The air elemental slays Eysleigh’s earth elemental, then moves into the Hall of War to attack the characters. It falls to Tharhul’s longsword, but the first of several waves of yuan-ti –a group of four broodguards – arrives from the same corridor. 

On the next round, the surviving yuan-ti are joined by Sekelok, Ras Nsi’s champion, along with more malisons and broodguards. Certes casts the first of three fireballs, Loro Pag succumbs to a suggestion spell and throws down his weapons, and Tharhul goes down from Sekelok’s onslaught. 

More malisons and purebloods arrive, followed by two Chultan human gladiators. Tharhul is back on his feet after being healed by Eysleigh, and calls Tyke and Buzzter in to help. The giant wasp brings down Sekelok with his sting, but both animal companions are soon slain by poison rays from the yuan-ti. Tharhul goes down twice more and has to be revived by Eku and Eysleigh. Meanwhile Rhamash, Nanna, and Loro Pag battle the serpentfolk in melee. 

Eysleigh activates his wand of fear, causing a couple of yuan-ti to flee in panic, then Certes strikes up his bladesong and wades into melee, killing the last surviving gladiator. Rhamash and Nanna chase after a fleeing malison and bring him down. 

At some point during the battle the two malisons guarding the door in the east corridor slipped away, but only one other yuan-ti malison escaped. In total, twenty-seven yuan-ti, two basilisks, and two humans lie dead in the Hall of War.

With the fighting over, Nanna creeps into the Fane where there is a giant bowl filled with blood beneath a balcony. She rejoins the others, while Tharhul revives Buzzter and Tyke. 

In desperate need of rest and recuperation, the characters decide to go back outside. The petrified Vorn lies in the entrance, stopping the doors from being closed, but Nanna disables the mechanism anyway to be on the safe side. Once back in the open air, the party spot the escaped triceratops nearby, munching on the foliage. Eysleigh casts vine carpet and the characters hide beneath it, recovering hit points during their short rest. They hear movement outside at one point but cannot determine what it is. When they emerge from under the vines, Nanna finds the trail of a large snake-like creature leading back inside.

The characters return to the temple to find the entrance undefended, and the piles of corpses undisturbed. Nanna opens the door in the east corridor. Inside the room is Fenthaza the nightmare speaker and her two malison guards. The yuan-ti priestess offers the adventurers a deal – if they kill Ras Nsi, they can take the puzzle cube they need from his lair. Then, if they bring her the Black Opal Crown found inside the Tomb of the Nine Gods– the key to unleashing Dendar the Night Serpent from his underground prison – she will reward them with great riches. 

Fenthaza mentions someone named Acererak who she says has tricked Ras Nsi and tells them the yuan-ti leader can be found in his throne room to the east of the Fane and uses teleporters to move around the temple. The speaker also offers the characters the opportunity to become purebloods and gain special powers – Certes seems quite interested. 

Bidding Fenthaza farewell, the adventurers return to the Hall of War and study the carvings showing the legend of Dendar and the rise of Ras Nsi in the Hall of Serpents. Nanna discovers that pressing the button in Ras Nsi’s crown depicted in the carvings will unleash gas into the chamber, so they spend half an hour blocking all the holes, before pressing it. Disappointingly the door opposite fails to open – it is sealed with an arcane lock. They scout the corridor to the east, then head back outside and have a long rest. 

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