Tomb of Annihilation: Episode 16
Villains are fun tools to use throughout a campaign. You can foreshadow them and their power early on, and build up their mystique as you hear more and more about their exploits. A villain’s desires, however, may run parallel to the adventurers. Then you can put your players into the awkward position of having to work with the very entities they’ve been fighting against. Whether they go for it or not, it should lead to an interesting decision that gives them some pause.
The Party:
(Jon) Zorel — Aasimar Paladin
(Terry) Harden — Dwarf Barbarian
(Matt) Grender — Human Wizard
(Stacy) Torven — Lizardfolk Monk/Druid
The Path:
Omu, Fane of the Night Serpent
“You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way.”
Patrick Rothfuss — The Name of the Wind
The party made their way through the streets of Omu to Unkh’s shrine to see if they could get their hands on another puzzle cube. They rolled Dexterity (Stealth) checks, hoping to avoid detection from any dangers in town. Zorel was especially wary of coming across the merciless Bag of Nails again. Even stealthier, however, were the Red Wizards themselves. As the party hustled past dilapidated buildings and flooded storefronts, they were stopped by three humanoids in long red robes.
The Red Wizard Zagmira said she knew the characters had been capturing puzzle cubes for themselves since they arrived in Omu. It was true that she had less, she admitted, but they would need all nine to do anything with them. The Red Wizards had two of their own, while the final one was taken by the yuan-ti’s leader himself— the fallen barae who had transformed from a Chosen of Ubtao into a serpentfolk cult leader — Ras Nsi.
Zagmira asserted they had been willing to work with the characters after they made a deal with Valindra, but the party could no longer be trusted. One of her comrades was missing, and they were in no mood for negotiating. She motioned to the buildings around the party where more humanoids in red robes stood at the ready. In all, it must have been about nine Red Wizards versus five party-members.
Harden was indignant. He hated capitulation, but he didn’t want to die. Grender knew this many Red Wizards was too many to take on, as they could just Fireball them and be done with it. If they had found some way to look more closely, they might have realized that not all of the humanoids in red robes had the other traditional characteristics of Red Wizards — they had no shaved head, no tattoos, and carried the melee weapons of a common warrior. But the bluff had worked against the party.
The Red Wizards demanded that the party enter Ras Nsi’s temple, the Fane of the Night Serpent, and take the final puzzle cube. Then they would combine their totals into nine, and enter the Tomb separately. Otherwise, they would blow them to pieces.
Zorel and Harden tried to argue with the Red Wizards. They asked what guarantee they had that the wizards wouldn’t just backstab them. Zagmira said it was in their best interest to see them succeed. They could even enter the Tomb first and clear the way, she chuckled. Zorel came close to threatening her death, but stopped himself, since she had the upper hand. She did offer them a small degree of help though; she could cast Invisibility on the group if they wanted to enter secretly. Otherwise, she suggested Grender disguise himself as a yuan-ti pureblood with the rest of the group posing as captured prisoners. From there, they could try to meet one of her spies inside — a pureblood named Ishmakahl (who was actually a doppleganger, though she didn’t share that information with the party).
The group discussed this, and opted for Invisibility. The spell only worked on four people, so Musharib would be unable to follow. Harden had him pick up his magical maul from Finde the minotaur, and wait for them at the Tomb. Zagmira cast the spell on the party, and they begrudgingly headed for the entrance to the yuan-ti lair.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.”
Genesis 3:1
The party quietly made their way down the slopes of the entrance-way into the yuan-ti lair. The architecture of the temple had to cater to the snakes and serpents that made up the yuan-ti, so stairs were discouraged in favour of ramps and slopes. They made it to a set of bronze doors, and tricked the guard into opening the door. They all slipped inside without notice, but discovered there were heaps of yuan-ti around, and they were unable to speak with each other to make a plan, for feat that they’d be detected. Torven grabbed Zorel’s hand as they trundled forward, while Harden grabbed Grender’s as they carefully tried to avoid making any noise.
The two groups got separated as they made their way to the next room. It housed four pillars carved with serpent reliefs and an 18-foot-high coiled cobra statue. Torches with green flames flickered on the walls, as Torven and Zorel slunk past the five guards and two basilisks and made it south. Meanwhile, Harden and Grender desperately tried to not earn the attention of the huge triceratops penned in the corner, and instead ducked behind some wagons that were filled with dung, figuring it would at least mask their scent.
Zorel and Torven continued to a pillared hall bearing reliefs that told the legend of Dendar the Night Serpent — who the yuan-ti worshipped — and the rise of Ras Nsi. Harden and Grender slipped out to the east and entered what looked like an underground cathedral, with sculptured stone serpents spewing blood into a steaming cauldron that exuded fleshy odours. They carefully avoided the large gong at the entrance, and examined what they could. It appeared that some disturbing rituals were performed here, with Grender surmising that it was perhaps the very place where Ras Nsi underwent his transformation into a yuan-ti.
They moved south and bumped back into the rest of the party in the quiet hallway. This time they made sure to stay together as they continued to explore the temple. They walked past a rickety wooden walkway 50 feet above a snake pit full of writhing poisonous snakes. Next, they inched their way into sort of bathroom filled with yuan-ti ritually bathing in blood, while Chultan slaves cleaned them. Harden was sick of slinking around invisibly. He gave the order for everyone to strike and take out the yuan-ti while they were unaware.
The four characters primed their attacks and unleashed them in a ferocious display. Soon blood was splattered everywhere, and not just from the gore-filled pools. But the yuan-ti were stronger than anticipated. Grender sent Scorching Ray spells that somehow missed every yuan-ti as Harden flew into a rage. The yuan-ti’s Suggestion spells confused and hypnotized the characters. Often the characters would get close to deliver a fierce strike, only to then waste their next turn running away and hiding after the yuan-ti’s magic convinced them to do so.
Many of the yuan-ti tried to shoot arrows at Zorel, but his magical shield kept those attacks at bay. Torven Wild Shaped into a dire wolf, sniffing out enemies and pinning them down with his teeth. Unfortunately during Harden’s rage, he blasted open a nearby door to a sauna and disturbed the snake-headed yuan-ti spymaster, Yahru. Yahru was having a ritual performed on him by his two incredibly strong bodyguards, and ordered them to destroy the intruders. While the other yuan-ti continued using Suggestion to ruin the party’s plans, the two bodyguards took their spears and viciously attacked Zorel. One guard bashed him with their own shield, knocking him prone on the ground and giving Advantage to the next round of attacks against him.
Grender was nearly mortally wounded and had to stay on the periphery of the battle, but managed to cast a devastating Fireball on the remaining yuan-ti. Torven absorbed what damage he could in his dire wolf form, but it soon looked like Zorel might die from the onslaught of attacks the yuan-ti were focusing on him. He used his Radiant Soul ability to sprout two incorporeal wings and produce some extra radiant damage on his attacks. Harden and Torven took out the remaining yuan-ti purebloods, and Zorel was finally able to take down one of the bodyguards. The other then impaled his spear in Zorel’s chest as he fell to the ground, dying.
Just as it looked like the second guard would finish the job, the yuan-ti spymaster Yahru cried out and ordered them to stop fighting. He was distraught over his dead bodyguard, and couldn’t bear to see a second one meet their demise. He pleaded to stop fighting, saying he would offer them some secrets in exchange for a peaceful exit.
The characters were more than willing to do this, as they were close to death themselves, and Zorel was unconscious. They healed him up, and tried to be as intimidating as possible as they demanded information for the yuan-ti’s life. Yahru hid behind his remaining bodyguard, as he told the party about Ras Nsi making a pact with Acererak who slew the nine trickster gods of Omu and built a tomb to house them. The party already knew some of these details, and Yahru got a little worried. So he added that Ras Nsi’s command of the yuan-ti was more tenuous than it appeared. The high priestess, Fenthaza was gaining favour with many. Also, Ras Nsi was slowly being eaten away by a magical disease for which there was no known cure.
This intrigued the party. Ras Nsi was afflicted with the death curse, and was not as powerful as he seemed. They asked where the puzzle cube was, and Yahru said that Ras Nsi held it in his private quarters. Ras Nsi sometimes traveled there through a magic teleporter in the blood chamber they’d been to before.
Zorel wanted to go to directly to Fenthaza, but Harden thought it was foolhardy. Zorel proposed that they could convince Fenthaza to provide some sort of help for an uprising, which Torven was on board with as well. Harden and Grender maintained there was no guarantee she would help, and in the end, they would still have to face Ras Nsi. Grender figured they might as well go their first and try to avoid Fenthaza completely.
“Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.”
Ted Chiang — The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate
They debated their plan like any good party would, and decided to investigate the teleporter before embarking on their next step. They stealthily returned to the cathedral and climbed the sculpture with five snake heads on it. On top was a balcony. Harden and Grender scouted it, as Torven and Zorel acted as lookouts.
The teleporter was a raised, faintly glowing disk with a serpentine glyph carved into the top. Grender discovered that he could use an Intelligence (Arcana) check to try to get it working. He figured he’d give it a try, and before the party had fully realized what was happening, Grender stepped onto the disk and was randomly teleported to one of four locations.
Grender appeared in a room with an iron throne carved in the likeness of a hydra. Painted on the wall behind it was a large blue triangle. Yuan-ti guards surrounded a bandaged yuan-ti sitting on the throne, who was addressing the others. This was Ras Nsi’s throne room.
Grender was alone, and not adept at hiding. The yuan-ti all turned to him, as Ras Nsi smiled and called out, “I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?”
Grender gulped, and slowly approached Ras Nsi. He said that he was an explorer in Omu, and was merely hoping to end the death curse. Ras Nsi continued to taunt him.“You’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill,” he sneered.
Grender pushed back. He said he was quite powerful, and that he had killed many of his yuan-ti already, and could kill more, leaving his priestess Fenthaza ready to overthrow and usurp him. This changed Ras Nsi’s demeanor. The two began talking about what they had done to get to Omu.
“I’ve seen horrors… horrors that you’ve seen,” said Ras Nsi. “But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that… but you have no right to judge me.”
Ras Nsi implored Grender to understand that he was ultimately trying to protect his people. Grender rolled highly on a Charisma (Persuasion) check and offered Ras Nsi another way. He said Ras Nsi could give him his final puzzle cube, and he could enter the tomb and stop the death curse that was slowly taking his life. Ras Nsi considered this. He said he would imbue this quest onto Grender, by casting Geas. This placed a magical command that would ensure Grender carried this out to the best of his ability and saved Ras Nsi. Grender submitted to this and walked out with the puzzle cube.
He stepped out with a yuan-ti escort to see the three other members of his party desperately trying to figure out how the teleporter worked and failing miserably. As Harden artlessly tried to pry it open, Grender interrupted and waved them over, showing them the puzzle cube grasped in his sweaty hand.
The yuan-ti escorted the party outside the temple, and they laughed and congratulated each other on their good fortune. Now they had seven puzzle cubes, which meant the last two they needed were in the hands of the Red Wizards. Those might involve more bloodshed than the encounter with the yuan-ti.
Previous: Episode 15
Next: Episode 17
