Tomb of Annihilation Session 35 – Return to the Fane

Here’s the write up from our latest Tomb of Annihilation session, in which the characters finally came face to face with Ras Nsi in the Fane of the Night Serpent.

Begin here with Session 0 – Caves of the Cockatrice

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2nd Hammer, 1496 DR

The adventurers return to the Fane of the Night Serpent to find the doors closed and no sign of Vorn. Tharhul and Loro Pag prise the bronze double doors open, kicking off another battle in the entrance chamber against a dozen yuan-ti malisons and purebloods. 

Certes casts fireball, Eysleigh summons an earth elemental and bravely crawls forward, and Tharhul, Rhamash and Loro Pag engage the snake people in melee. The dwarf succumbs to a suggestion spell and jumps into a pit full of poisonous snakes, but Rhamash uses his Stillness of Mind to resist the effect. Tharhul and Tyke are both grappled by malisons who constrict them with their powerful tails. Tyke is killed, but Tharhul is rescued, only to go unconscious shortly afterwards. He’s healed by Eku and Eysleigh, and the characters defeat the rest of the yuan-ti. Ten are dead; two purebloods flee east to the Fane.

The party enter the Hall of War. The triceratops has been recaptured and the petrified form of Vorn is standing in one of the alcoves. Eku casts greater restoration and Certes is reunited with his construct friend. Tharhul revives Tyke and Rhamash disables the gong on the balcony overlooking the Fane.

Now that Certes has memorised knock, the adventurers can open the door to the Armoury. Inside, the bone naga Ukurlahmu asks them for the passphrase. Eysleigh offers praise to Dendar the Night Serpent, but this doesn’t work. “They will tell use the correct passphrase! So Ukurlahmu has spoken” is the response. When the naga commands two minotaur skeletons to rise from the floor, the characters decide to come back later and beat a hasty retreat.

Heading east towards the Fane from the Hall of Serpents, Eysleigh’s attention is drawn to the Venom Distillery to the south. Fascinated he steps forward to talk to Xopal the poison maker and is stabbed with the pureblood’s poison-filled syringe. Several zombies shuffle forward from the shadows leading to a fight. Certes takes down Xopal, and the others slay the zombies. 

Eysleigh searches the lab, finding various bottle poisons and a magical plant (a dancing floret). He opens the door to the south which leads to a cavern holding an underground river to the east and tunnels heading west and south. Four broodguards watch over the south tunnel and a pair of rowing boats. The druid shuts the door.

Next, the characters head north and explore the Fane. Tharhul peers through the portcullis leading to the Harem, then climbs the North Balcony where there is a teleporter. Certes and Rhamash climb up too and a discussion follows about whether it would be a good idea for an invisible Certes to try and activate it. They think better of it and climb back down. Quietly opening the double doors to the east, they can hear voices speaking in Abyssal. They shut the doors again.

Returning to the south, the characters open the door to the Snake Pit. Not liking the look of the rickety walkway around the 50 foot pit, they decide to speak to Fenthaza again and ask where they can find Ras Nsi. Certes is admitted to her chamber by the guards and tells the nightmare speaker he is interested in becoming a pureblood. Fenthaza gives him directions to the throne room and reveals the passphrase for the Armoury. She promises to transform Certes into a pureblood in the Fane that evening.

Back at the Armoury, the characters give the correct phrase (“black mask”) to Ukurlahmu and are allowed to take a suit of crocodile armour, a serpent’s tooth spear, and a tortoise-shell shield.

They head back to the Fane and open the double doors to the Throne Room where Ras Nsi is holding court, attended by three malisons, three broodguards and four ghouls. Certes casts a 4^th level fireball which Ras Nsi fails to counterspell. This wipes out the ghouls.

Ras Nsi responds with his own fireball and counterspells Certes’s counterspell. Everyone survives but Valdro and Tyke are forced to retreat. The characters fight their way into the room through the yuan-ti, but Ras Nsi escapes through a secret door….

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