Tomb of Annihilation: Episode 19
You have to roll with death in the Tomb. Your players will be sad to lose their characters, but they’ll appreciate that the Tomb is actually as deadly as advertised. Have your players bring backup character sheets so they don’t have to start the process of building a 10th level character from scratch. Don’t forget to keep them engaged after their characters are dead and before a new one comes along. You can have them take over a sidekick character, or even cut to their new character engaging in an activity on their own before meeting the main group.
The Party:
(Jon) Zorel — Aasimar Paladin
(Terry) Harden — Dwarf Barbarian
(Matt) Grender — Human Wizard
(Stacy) Torven — Lizardfolk Monk/Druid
The Path:
Tomb of the Nine Gods — Rotten Halls
“Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.”
Frank Herbert — Dune
Grender and Torven were trapped in Acererak’s macabre oubliette. Around them were bodies in various states of decay, and a large green devil’s face carved into the wall. Grender ambled over and examined it. He found that each nostril housed a stone lever. Without any other options, they began to prepare to pull the levers. Fearing the worst, Torven tied ropes around their waists and anchored themselves. He grabbed the left nostril, while Grender grabbed the right. They nodded and Torven pulled his lever first.
The devil’s mouth slowly opened, revealing a gullet filled with impenetrable darkness. It began to suck in every living being in the room. Grender succeeded on a Dexterity saving throw and braced himself against the devil face. Torven was almost sucked in, but he clung onto the devil’s face before he could be swallowed whole.
Grender’s lever couldn’t be worse than Torven’s, he thought, and pulled it. The devil’s eyes glowed red, and Grender was zapped away in an instant. Torven didn’t know if Grender had been incinerated or teleported. He was holding on tightly, and didn’t have much time to think. An otyugh that had been hiding in the room came crashing out from a pile of bodies and began to get sucked in the devil’s face too. The otyugh wrapped its tentacles around Torven, pulling him in further. Torven didn’t have much choice. He decided to reach out and pull the right lever as well.
Zorel was trying to figure out how best to move past the propeller blade without getting chopped into pieces. He and Harden were testing it out and futilely trying to jam it with various items. Zorel wanted to use his Misty Step spell to get by it, but after seeing his friends disappear, he was reticent to use it. Harden slapped him on the back and reminded him that he had used a Misty Step earlier in the dungeon, and nothing had happened, so it was probably safe. Zorel cast the spell and safely appeared on the other side.
A deep pit opened up at the entrance to this room, with a stone sarcophagus resting at the bottom. A snarling, monkey-like creature was engraved on the lid. Beyond the pit, three treasure chests sat on stone daises. The chest on the left was carved of black onyx, the middle chest was made of rusty iron, and the chest on the right was cast of silver and glistening with frost.
Harden came barreling through, using his Strength (Athletics) to try and slide through the propeller as it started to revolve. It worked perfectly as he crashed onto Zorel.
Meanwhile, Torven was teleported in front of the green devil face he had seen at the entrance of the Tomb. Grender was there as well — he’d been transported moments earlier — but wasn’t thrilled to see Torven in his state. That was because he was wrapped up in an otyugh. They quickly jumped into action and threw spells and slashes at it before it could do too much damage. Surviving that, they finally embraced and thanked their gods that they were still somehow alive.
They caught up with Harden and Zorel, ran past the propeller — Grender got a little sliced on the way through — and started to inspect the room together. The sarcophagus could not be opened no matter how hard they tried. The chests couldn’t be moved, but they could be opened. This would reveal a 3-inch-long gold key protruding from an adamantine keyhole set into the underside of the chest’s lid. It couldn’t be turned, however.
Harden fished out Acererak’s riddle. “ The keys turn on the inside only.” He suggested they climb inside the chests and turn the keys from there. There were three chests, but four members (Musharib was guarding outside the room). The team surmised that they might get attacked by something while the three were stuck in the chests. Zorel, being strong and versatile, would stay outside.
Harden climbed into the frosted silver chest and closed it. He turned the key, and a button magically appeared on the sarcophagus. Zorel pushed it, as Harden was blasted with cold from inside the chest. He opened the chest, revealing that he had survived the process. Torven closed the rusty iron chest, turned the key, and Zorel pressed an iron button. All metal objects on Torven corroded into worthless rust. Fortunately, as a monk/druid, that meant virtually nothing of value was lost. Some bits of copper and trinkets were wrecked, but none of his adventuring gear was affected.
Finally Grender closed his chest. He turned his key, and Zorel pushed an onyx button. They heard a loud pumping noise come from the onyx chest, then saw the stone sarcophagus turn to transparent crystal, revealing a mummified su-monster within. Clutched in its desiccated claws was a fearsome mace.
Grender still hadn’t exited his chest. The group walked up to it and opened the lid. Inside sat a pile of dust — the last remains of Grender and all of his possessions.
The group stood in stunned silence. There was no ambiguity about the situation. Grender was dead. Felled by one of Acererak’s devious traps. Grender’s player took over Musharib in the meantime.
“You know what that means… extra loot… a bigger share of the plunder.”
Brian Jacques — Redwall
They mourned for their friend. Harden said he should have re-entered a chest in Grender’s place. No one cast any blame. There was still danger afoot. Zorel heaved up his sword and smashed the sarcophagus. The su-monster awoke, and brandished its Mace of Terror. It unleashed waves of panic on the team, hoping they would run into the propeller blades. The heroes managed to destroy the mummy, however, and claim the treasure for themselves.
Torven had now seen many of his allies perish. Alathar, Illiyum, and now Grender. He was upset at the prospect of losing more, and picked up the mace. Red smoke seethed from the head of the mace, forming the outline of a monkey with a long tail. With a roar, the smoky apparition leapt at him, screaming “Let me in!”
Torven was now inhabited by the spirit of Wongo the Su-Monster, a violent and deranged monkey-like creature. Torven gained the flaw, “I act without concern for the well-being of others,” and the power to unleash a psionic assault on nearby enemies.
Wongo encouraged Torven to be a leader. He was usually mellow and congenial, which Wongo tried to influence in the other direction. Soon, Torven brazenly exclaimed to the party the need to continue on so they could finally kill Acererak. He marched out as the others followed. They explored the rest of the top level of the Tomb. As the group spoke, Zorel became very concerned that his two party members were acting strangely.
Their search led them to a room with a magnetic statue, and another with a magical fountain. After revealing a secret door, they passed into a vaulted tomb overgrown with moss and creepers. Inside was a stone sarcophagus, and two large statues of bears gripping a bronze disk embossed with a dozen glaring eyes. Six desiccated corpses slumped on thrones in niches along the walls, wearing black papier-mâché masks with feathers. This was the room with the crystal window Harden had seen before.
Harden recalled Acererak’s warning. “Don the mask or be seen.” With the power granted by his trickster god Moa, he turned invisible and handed out masks to his party members. While wearing the masks, they could freely investigate the room.
They pushed aside the sarcophagus lid, and found a dusty pile of Zorbo bones and a magic ring. Harden and Torven encouraged Zorel to take the ring. As he did, dust swirled into the shape of a small, feral, bear-like creature that billowed toward him with a ghostly roar.
The spirit of Obo’laka, the Zorbo, now inhabited Zorel. Unfortunately, Obo’laka’s nervous, obsessive presence was a stark contrast to Zorel’s usual brave and headstrong instincts. It was too late though — Obo’laka was now comfy inside Zorel’s head, as Zorel gained the flaw, “I am risk-averse and a slave to routine,” and the power to attune to an additional magic item.
Now each character (that was still alive) had a trickster god riding shotgun in their head. All the spirits wanted to help defeat Acererak as much as the party did, if not more. And they would help whenever they could. But their vibrant personalities started to create new, amusing conflicts that the party hadn’t dealt with before. They bickered as they made their way toward the grand staircase to see what was on the floor below them. Zorel’s newfound nervousness annoyed everyone instantly; especially Torven, who was eager to plow forward. Harden had to take the role of peacemaker, which was not his usual strong suit.
If only they could find a new member of their party soon.
Previous: Episode 18
Next: Episode 20
