D&D 5E [SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation

Xandala joined the party last session. They don't quite trust her, but I have not had Summerwise interact with them at all yet. I might do that if/when Artus actually shows up.

In other news: Eku is leading the PCs to the Heart of Ubtao because she believes it may give them a good enough view to spot Omu (I don't think it will, though). It's just occurred to me that, as a couatl, Eku has truesight. This means she'd be able to see straight through Valindra's illusory appearance.

What would be more fun: having Eku spill the beans on Valindra or having her stay on the ground while the PCs go up to visit with the lich?

EDIT: As a lich, Valindra also has truesight. So she'd be able to see Eku for what she really is as well.

pukunui said:

What would be more fun: having Eku spill the beans on Valindra or having her stay on the ground while the PCs go up to visit with the lich?

Click to expand...

If it was my group, I'd probably have her wait below, unless you feel the PCs are mostly done with her, or if you prefer a much more scary Valindra experience.

That is because as soon as Valindra recognizes a Coautl she realizes her game is up. Assuming there's a combat round when everyone but her and Eku is surprised she might try to kill the Coautl, but mostly she should bring forth her zombies to cover her retreat.

I find it unlikely that she wouldn't know the abilities of a Coautl, and I find it more unlikely still that she would remain to talk.

Remember, as a lich your Achilles heel is your low hit points. Maybe low-level adventurers are nothing to fear, but rather soon a party will achieve the ability to inflict 135 damage in a single round.

Given Valindra's illustrious back story, I would never have her allow five potential enemies that close, unless she thinks she has them fooled.

Not unless you have her summon a Pit Fiend bodyguard or sumthin'


Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

pukunui said:

In other news: Eku is leading the PCs to the Heart of Ubtao because she believes it may give them a good enough view to spot Omu (I don't think it will, though). It's just occurred to me that, as a couatl, Eku has truesight. This means she'd be able to see straight through Valindra's illusory appearance.

Click to expand...

Suggest a level of misdirection with Eku when it comes to both Nangalore and the Heart of Ubtao. If the party can convince her to go into either of these areas, Eku will play it cool. The adversaries will also play it cool. In other words, Nangalore will be bright and shiny. There's no chance to discover hallucinogenic plants or get into a fight with even as much as a garden snake with Eku on the grounds. Eku and Zalkore will talk politely, revealing how they met and some history. Yes, Zalkore will have a veil, and yes, she'll ring her silver handbell, summon some elbis to offer the party fruit and wine plates (non-poisoned this time around), etc. Nothing can happen except for talk.

The same situation could occur with Valindra. Eku plays it cool; Valindra plays it cool. They talk, some history comes up, and maybe the players will think to ask a question or two -- none that could start a riot, however. Maybe Eku asks about the teleportation circle and gets the players to copy the sigils while Valindra bites her tongue. Everyone is on tip toes, and it feels awkward, but a wave of peace and armistice carries over these situations.

In Mbala, though, Eku all-but polymorphs into a stegosaurus to tail-slam Nanny Pu'pu into the ground. Eku hates her. Eku knows that she can take Pu'pu and she knows that the party can, too. The others above are more of a stalemate -- and neither side will risk dying -- and neither side will reveal their secrets.

Not really an "enhancing" post, but a good story nonetheless (and posted on another thread, but I thought as this is the main ToA thread it would be good to repeat it here)...

My group found the alchemy jug earlier today (after figuring out the clue to avoid the traps about halfway through the dungeon), and one character, being impatient to figure out what it was before the wizard could identify it, decided, with perfect D&D character logic, to just try to take a drink from it. Since they didn't name a liquid (not knowing that they needed to), I had the player roll a d10 to randomly determine what liquid had last been commanded to flow forth from the jug...

So, they got a face full of 2 gallons of mayonnaise. A good laugh was had by all...

CapnZapp said:

On the trip: don't forget about the Dragon Turtle.

Click to expand...

Did you guys have the Dragon Turtle appear between Port Nyanzaru and Fort Beluarian? I was going to avoid that if they go there, with the ship or canoes or whatever sticking close to the coast so they do not encounter it and have to pay out loads of gold they don't necessarily have yet.

Aremag would just be if they take a ship out of the bay and around the coast, maybe in order to get to the south of the peninsula quickly. Not started yet so no idea what they will do, although I can use the guides to..erm...guide them.

I recently substituted The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan from Tales From the Yawning Portal for Oralunga. It worked great. Rather than a guardian naga, the players had to make it through the shrine to fight a bone naga and find an Old Omuan tablet with directions to Omu.

Ok I did miss it. Where is Chapter 5 located? I found Omu.

edit to add DOH! Nevermind

Hi guys. I have a question. It says that some zombies have blue triangle on their forhead. Is this a mark of Acererak or Ras Nsi?

In 4e FR Campaign Guide I found a note about how ruins of Mezro are swarmed with undead who have this triangle. It also appears in ToA. I would asume that it's Ras Nsi's mark.

Any help? Thanks.

wizardlvl80 said:

Hi guys. I have a question. It says that some zombies have blue triangle on their forhead. Is this a mark of Acererak or Ras Nsi?

In 4e FR Campaign Guide I found a note about how ruins of Mezro are swarmed with undead who have this triangle. It also appears in ToA. I would asume that it's Ras Nsi's mark.

Any help? Thanks.

Click to expand...

The blue triangle is the mark of Ras Nsi!

Questions on Charters of Exploration:

1) The NPC Guides in Port Nyanzaru. Presumably these guides are aware of the Flaming Fist demand for a Charter of Exploration. The book makes only one mention of this awareness or their attitude towards buying a charter (Qawasha). Would the other guides mention this? Would they refuse to guide a party that did not purchase a charter, in order to avoid trouble and potential loss of their own gear? Would they instead hold the Flaming Fist in contempt and encourage the players not to get one? What's your take on this?

2) Similarly - the Order of the Gauntlet. No mention is made of their interaction with the Flaming Fist (if any). Do these two groups just co-exist with each other, and the Fist not bother to try to enforce Charters of Exploration against members of the Order? If the half-orc cleric is with the party, or a party member is an OotG affiliated character, would this then satisfy any Flaming Fist patrols?

I've got some ideas of how I'm going to run it (a high level agreement between the Order of the Gauntlet and the Fist, for example) but would like to hear from others how they handled those aspects - cheers!