D&D 5E Lost City of Omu for high-level PCs (spoilers)

[CapnZapp]

First session play report (of Omu, using the above version of the city):

We didn't get too far. Easily defeating the initial ambush. I was pleased I added so many Yuan-Ti - the Tabaxi barely had time to show off Copper Bell's snake burst poison before the combat was over.

The players worry a lot about conserving resources now that they see the extent of the city, and me reaffirming that, no, there is no free long-resting in the city or anywhere close. They studied the main Chult map and concluded Shilku was probably the closest river/coast where they could count on a rest.
(Obviously this was before finding the first Ubtao shrine)

Conversation with the Tabaxi. I played them as chilled-out defaitist hippie senior citizens, which I think impressed the group the most

They were very wary in the Pyramid Fruit house, so the appearance of King of Feathers came to very little - the affected character just ran away (instead of wasting any resources on attacking the figment). Since the dino is described as looking down on the PC through a hole in the roof, I realized it could not effectively pursue. I didn't want to spoil its special abilities, but in retrospect I should probably have mentioned the buzzing noise from its swarms.

They managed to save the Grung without fighting the Vegepygmies. Once character joined their trance dance as distraction (they were very distractable) while another cast levitate on the Grung as it was pushed off the cliff They almost abandoned him when they saw through his empty promises though.

Then they walked around the city perimeter with the intent to rope down right above the Nangnang temple. Gargoyles and Yuan-Ti dissuaded them from this course of action (the signal color of the grung does not exactly help in staying undetected! )

Then it was a close call - they almost decided on sniping Yuan-Ti from above the city. Of course they would initially have an easy time of it, but if one of the players hadn't started worrying about losing the ability to move about freely in the city, they would have short-circuited the scenario. I would have described how the city goes into lock-down, and perhaps one or two feeble attempts at a counter-attack (that they would easily repulse).

But then Ras Nsi would have taken charge, and stopped using low-level tactics against an obviously not-low-level attack. Using lieutenants to fly invisibly to scout out the threat, for example. And most importantly: forming a massed response.

What is the problem with this, isn't that a fairly natural outcome? The problem is that there really is only two ways this can go:
1) the party manages to fight off all counter-attacks. This removes a large part of the tension of the chapter since there is no longer a looming threat hanging over the party's head while they explore the city. Basically it rewards the PCs for stupidly arrogant and belligerent - if coldly rational - play.
2) a TPK, assuming Ras Nsi together with all his major lieutenants will overwhelm the party (and if they don't, the party is too high level for this adventure).

The probable outcome, however, is somewhere between 1 and 2: they perform a protracted withdrawal. This is possibly even worse: all play time is spent out in the featureless jungle rather in the cool city.

Luckily, they abandoned this idea at the last moment. I possibly helped in that I didn't call for attack rolls, and simply said "you kill a bunch of guards", giving off the strongest signal I can (without breaking immersion and outright telling them) this kills the adventure.

Let me also say: I don't blame the players. They are after all not low level any longer. If there's any blame to be had, I should take that blame myself for thinking I could use Omu for level 9 heroes.

They found the defaced Shrine to Ubtao, and rolled a decent "5" on their d10 - every PC except the Rogue (who abstained) now has "Ubtao's Favor" and are assured one regular long rest.

Anyway, we ended the session with a failed attempt at getting Shagambi's puzzle cube. Of course they all focus-fired the first Clay Gladiator that appeared! The Rogue rolled a natural 20 on his final Investigate check, so by now they know why they failed (not fighting honorably), that they may try again tomorrow, that the Gladiators aren't restricted to merely the small Pit (but the entire shrine) and that they can short-circuit the puzzle by finding four Omuan bronze spears* if they don't fancy fighting the Gladiators one-on-one or four-on-four.

 

[CapnZapp]

Let me summarize the party.

Feats are in. MC is in. (Lots of) magic items* are in.

They're level 9. I plan to level them up after next session (I'm not tracking xp).

- bear totem barbarian / champion fighter built for DPR with Galeb Duhr hammer, Cube of Force and the Aspect of the Ram item set (etc)
- ancients paladin / tome warlock built for DPR with gold longsword, efreeti chain, and the Arms of Unbreakable Honor item set (etc)
- moon druid with Armor of Fallen Leaves and a Staff of the Woodlands (etc)
- thief rogue with Bracers of the Hunter, Gloves of Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (etc)
- sun monk with Anklet of Translocation, Basheba's Dagger, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, and the Ring of Attunement (etc)
- red draconic sorcerer with a Ring of Protection, Circlet of Mages, and a Jacinth spell focus

Every party member except the Paladin is additionally part of the Caelynnvala’s Boons group item set.

Both main casters have purchased items to regain at least some spell slots even in the absence of easy long-resting (such as Heward's Fortifying Bedroll), the Paladin regains slots thru Warlock.

*) items that recharge on a new day rather than a long rest are very valuable in this campaign.

 

[Inglorin]

First session play report (of Omu, using the above version of the city)

Was there ever a second session?

 

[CapnZapp]

Was there ever a second session?

Eep. Wow, that was one detailed play report.

Yes, there has been more sessions since, but unfortunately I cannot provide detailed commentary.

The party has finished with Omu - collecting all the cubes, cleaning house in the Fane, and entered the Tomb just before summer break.

Highlights:
I modified Broken Nails so his gods gave him three slaying arrows each morning with the names of today's quarries written on them (three random PCs). With his Oathbow he can shoot for 20d6 damage at 600 ft distance without disadvantage (a slight simplification of his damage, sneak damage, slaying damage, and oath(?) damage).

First he merely grazed one PC for ~55 dmg but then he critted the careless second one for well over average dmg (let's say 180 dmg): instant death (taking the rogue from fully healed to negative maximum in one hit). There went their only ressurrection scroll... ;-)

The rogue got his revenge, though: successfully sneaking up on the feline senior citizen Rambo, evading all his traps, find him snugly in bed sleeping like the old codger Broken Nails really is. It was a tense moment though. Since they did not believe they could cure his dementia, he mercy-killed the sleeping Tabaxi.

The fight against another mythic King was also a success - the King of Feathers. As I might have explained somewhere, I made the Powers that Be ensure he WILL be killed in single combat: each party member approaching the amphitheater enters strange mists: a "pocket plane", very similar to your own ethereal plane only containing one hunter and one copy of the dino. Back away, and that effect disappears again (you're not trapped). Unless you have ethereal travel or force spells, you can't help your fellow hunters against their copy (but you can still see into their dimensions up to 60 ft away). Once one copy is dead, we have a Master Hunter and the mythic effect dissipates (all planes joining back together).

This fight was - like all separated fights - very tense, with some classes predictably doing much better than others. The Sorcerer and Paladin could nova to kill the dino before it killed them (but in the Sorq's case it was up to the final initiative). The monk and rogue stood no chance of killing their respective King, but rather easily survived until the end. The end result was two Master Hunters (killing their King during the same round).

Other encounters in the city were mostly of the cool non-combat variety. I recommend adding the encounters from the Tomb of Annihilation Companion from Power Score. (Somewhere I've posted my version of the Omu map, where you can see how many locations I added)

The players tired somewhat on the puzzles for the cubes, or perhaps the best ones came first...

The Fane of the Serpent became a HUGE fight, but it really had to (or there would be no challenge).

Again, instead of beefing up monsters (=replacing them), I mostly had the whiole temple try to attack the heroes in one fight, no holding back.

They killed Ras Nsi, his bodyguard, his hydra and a bunch of guards in his throne room (him getting backstabbed by Fenthaza). They in turn broke their deal with her (that is, they never had any intention of leaving before everything was dead), but thought they could get in a short rest by barricading themselves in Ras' private chambers.

I could not allow them to trivialize the fight by splitting it up with a rest, so I let Fenthaza collect every guard there was, and assaulting them in waves. Cultists, purebloods, malisons, the Awakened snake's mesmerizing incense, spawn of Kyuss, minotaur skeletons and an elite bone naga, lots more yuan-ti, and Fenthaza and her oracle priestesses. Instead of trying to hold out, however, they charged out as soon as the first wave was defeated, and the fight ended up in the main temple.

That fight took most of two long sessions and resulted in something like 85 dead monsters... but nothing could prevent the heroes from winning. Not even the surprise Red Hag (from Tome of Beasts) hiding in the pool of blood!

At least I managed to fully deplete them - all abilities, points, items, and resourced used up, and most of them were bloodied as well

That said I don't recommed this approach - it simply takes very long. D&D works better with more capable monsters that ultimately die quicker. In this case, I felt I had to make the point the temple was a tough nut to crack, and that the option to make a deal with Fenthaza would have been quicker.

Side note: my players HATE to diplomatize with irredeemably evil races (Drow, Yuan-Ti). The idea to make deals with conssumate backstabbers is incomprehensible to them. Yet, so many D&D supplements that take that possibility into account...

Then they entered the Tomb (fully longrested)... the only big modification I can remember offhand is that I've decided Withers and his crew gets auto-ressurrected each night, so they can't relax after just killing them once.

As before I'm restricting long rests (with the Ubtao's favor or whatitscalled), which would require them to leave the tomb temporarily.

I still have the party of Red Wizards as an ace up my sleeve. Think their stats is above(?) - as Volo specialist wizards whose tattoos give heroes disadvantage on saves, they should be much more dangerous working as a team than the anemic suggestion from the adventure text to have Red Wizard Mage NPCs spread out to be taken down one by one... Undecided on when to best use them, however; except I won't save them until last. (Don't like to reward heroics with a tough fight when they believe they've already completed the entire campaign)

 

[Quickleaf]

@CapnZapp My 11th level party is headed to Omu, and I've incorporated some of your awesome ideas in this thread. How did you handle the random encounters in Omu? Things like 2d4 vegepygmies, 1d4+1 kobolds, 2d6 grung, and so forth? Did you not use random encounters in Omu at all? Or did you devise some alternative encounter table?

 

[CapnZapp]

After incorporating the Tomb of Annihilation Companion's added Omu locations I could present a revised city map with over thirty marked buildings (more than A thru Z). Since the number of buildings marked was so great I could hand out that map without the markings feeling "spoilery" since they pretty much covered every interesting-looking building anyway.

Since my party kept exploring I don't think I used a single "random wandering monster" (and certainly no low-level speedbumps) - from their view, plenty of encounters felt plenty random as is. They encountered low-level critters both at the cliffside (the about-to-be sacrificed Grung) and in the cellars of the old market (kobolds).

When they accidentally made the clock tower crumble I did send out an expedition from Yuan-Ti HQ. As I've recounted somewhere here on the forums, I also elevated Bag of Nails to the greatest hunter in the land (albeit a deluded one).

In the end it went fairly well. That is, they sneaked from place to place (partly because they needed to find the nine temples, but partly because they could not resist finding out what was behind all those marked buildings! I have a hazy memory of actually posting that map... somewhere... )

PS. One rather big thing to keep in mind - in order for the jungle exploration to remain relevant despite having a party overlevelled for the content, I made it impossible for the heroes to rest (regain spells, hit points) unless they camped by a "clean" water source - a river, the coastline, back in town etc. This way, even a monster that can't hope to present a challenging encounter retains some dramatic value, since the adventurers could not expect to move around with all batteries charged.

Since Omu has caught up somewhat in the level department I hid a number of Ubtao tablets around Omu. Tracing them gives the character doing so a blessing that lets him or her rest peacefully even if in the midst of the steaming jungle. That way, they had an additional motivation to keep exploring.

PPS. Even though the party started out at level 5 instead of 1 they still spent MONTHS in the jungle of Chult. Since they WERE relatively high level I could keep the curse as is (losing 1 hp a day), partly because they would have had enough hit points to still have a fighting chance of seeing the Tomb before the curse takes them, but mostly because the risk of dying (thus triggering the curse) is much smaller in the first place. It happened exactly once (Bag of Nails rolled a twenty and one-shotted the party Rogue from six hundred feet away! Yes, triggering instant death despite the character being at full hp...) but then they were already in Omu. So that character lost maybe a week's worth of hp before the curse was lifted, and 7 hp isn't crippling when you have seventy.

Guess my point is: that curse is utterly unplayable as written.

 

[Quickleaf]

After incorporating the Tomb of Annihilation Companion's added Omu locations I could present a revised city map with over thirty marked buildings (more than A thru Z). Since the number of buildings marked was so great I could hand out that map without the markings feeling "spoilery" since they pretty much covered every interesting-looking building anyway.

Yes, I took your excellent additions to the map, the TOA Companion locations, made a few alterations for my group, and overlaid it with 250-foot hexes.

Since my party kept exploring I don't think I used a single "random wandering monster" (and certainly no low-level speedbumps) - from their view, plenty of encounters felt plenty random as is. They encountered low-level critters both at the cliffside (the about-to-be sacrificed Grung) and in the cellars of the old market (kobolds).

That completely makes sense. I've run two ruined cities previously – Mezro (which was a magical/temporal headtrip city where water played a major role and the PCs focused on a dungeon crawl) & Kuluth-Mar (which was a sideways city teeming with undead where verticality played a major role and the PCs had to get to a central ziggurat). I want Omu to be distinct from those, so I'm thinking to play up a fast-paced and action-packed sense of discovery in an Indiana Jones motif. And playing up the lava.

I've thought about using these quick exploration rules to emphasize that there's always something to discover...

Spoiler: Exploring Omu

Exploring Omu
Each hex = 250 feet, representing very difficult terrain due to ruined buildings and natural overgrowth.
Moving Cautiously you cover a hex in 5 minutes, and your party can make Stealth checks.
Moving Normally you cover a hex in 2.5 minutes.
Moving Quickly you cover a hex in 1 minute, but your party lookout(s) suffers -5 passive Perception.
Searching a hex thoroughly requires 30 minutes.

While adventuring in Omu, there are Exploration Roles you may wish to divide among your party:

• The Investigator searches for clues and treasure; make an Investigation check upon entering a new unkeyed hex.
• The Lookout keeps an eye out for sneaky monsters and traps; you can use your passive Perception while exploring (PCs with other roles may not). When entering a new hex without keyed areas, there’s a 10% chance for random encounters (d12).
• The Mapper handles annotating your map of Omu; the DM may call for checks to deduce locations. When entering a new hex without keyed areas, there’s a 50% chance of finding an interesting ruined structure (d12).
• The Scout scouts out an adjacent hex; making a Perception check in new unkeyed hexes or a Stealth check in new hexes with keyed areas.

I've got a d6 list of clues: 1 = old papyrus design documents stamped by “Gorra” for a massive skeleton door with five geometric keyholes; 2 = water-damage journal with etchings of nine puzzle cubes and illegible warning about “the false entrance”; 3 = urn with engravings depicting the mass sacrifice of gorgons to harvest their blood to make mortar; 4 = royal edict on clay tablet proclaiming the Devourer seeks Omu’s five best gamblers to challenge him to a game of dice and the winner will earn freedom (five worn names surrounded by polyhedral silhouettes: triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, octagon); 5 = Dwarven stone pattern roller with hidden message lamenting vast amounts of diamond dust used in creating the Tomb of the Nine Gods that depleted all of Chult’s diamond mines; 6 = holy symbol of Ubtao enchanted with magic mouth speaking in Old Omuan: “The Devourer has killed our gods and outlawed worship. No amount of divination pierces the unhallowed Tomb where my kinsmen toil.”

I have a d12 list of interesting ruined structures inspired building off of Sly Flourish: Running Omu.

And I'm still working on tying various story/character elements I'd like to bring to conclusion to a random encounter table that doesn't eat up a lot of time, but also presents some meaningful risks. For example...

• Showing the fallout of a magic duel between Acererak and another lich which ended with that lich destroyed, her magic drained, and her phylactery stolen. I'm imagining parts of the city with ongoing spell effects, tears in reality emulating conditions of various planes, and feuding between various power groups in Omu.
• Introducing zoblins (zombie goblins) serving the zombie lord Queen M'bobo who is important to the goblin PC's storyline and who has the Eye of Vecna (the Hand of Vecna was a major subplot for our druid PC). M'bobo is a goblin character from the Ring of Winter novel who was zombified by Ras Nsi but later escaped his control when Nsi was stripped of his barae powers. She seeks vengeance on Ras Nsi and Artus Cimber (who killed her "god" and delivered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Mezro).
• The PCs were geased by Zalkoré (who I made a wild sorceress & "queen" of the yellow musk creepers) to help her reclaim her throne in Omu, but had Asharra cast remove curse on all of them, of which Zalkoré is aware and seeks revenge against the "liars and betrayers." Possibly some kind of merger of various plant monsters like russet mold, vegepygmies, yellow musk creeper & zombies, and shambling mound.

It's good to hear your experience that with the increased keyed locations, random encounters weren't needed. I still might consider them for story purposes, but only if I can design the random encounters right.

In the end it went fairly well. That is, they sneaked from place to place (partly because they needed to find the nine temples, but partly because they could not resist finding out what was behind all those marked buildings!

Ah, sounds like you have a party of irrepressible explorers!

I have that unmarked GaleForce 9 vinyl map of Omu & an acrylic hex grid overlay which matches up with the 250-ft hexes. Since we've had 4 players come and go over the course of the campaign, I plan on including the old ranger in Omu who can give the party a "download" about the rough layout of Omu (i.e. here are the 9 shrines and here are the ones that have been raided already, the yuan-ti live over here, the Red Wizards were there but don't know where they are now).

Because we're a bit strapped for time (only 3 sessions for Omu & the Fane), I have 3 of the shrines raided already:

• Shagambi's Shrine was raided by the ranger PC & Dragonbait (who got captured by yuan-ti). Since it was mostly a big combat, I was fine cutting this one out.
• Papazotl's Shrine was raided by the Red Wizards. The puzzle is extremely obscure and seems like it could become an exercise in frustration for the players. Plus it's close to where the Red Wizards camp is, so a logical one for the RW to claim.
• Obo'laka's Shrine was raided by the yuan-ti, seeing as it's right by the palace. The puzzle is rather vague. Players need to be aware that it's suspicious there are lit torches, since every other shrine apparently lacked them. But what if they explore this shrine first? How do the players know to connect the torch holders in room to the torch holders in the hallway? Does mage hand count as touching the puzzle cube? What about familiars? If it’s put in a bag using levitate does that trigger the petrification? Too many corner cases.

PS. One rather big thing to keep in mind - in order for the jungle exploration to remain relevant despite having a party overlevelled for the content, I made it impossible for the heroes to rest (regain spells, hit points) unless they camped by a "clean" water source - a river, the coastline, back in town etc. This way, even a monster that can't hope to present a challenging encounter retains some dramatic value, since the adventurers could not expect to move around with all batteries charged.

Since Omu has caught up somewhat in the level department I hid a number of Ubtao tablets around Omu. Tracing them gives the character doing so a blessing that lets him or her rest peacefully even if in the midst of the steaming jungle. That way, they had an additional motivation to keep exploring.

That makes a lot of sense. We're done with the jungle hex crawl – I kept normal long rests, just made it more challenging, and sometimes threatened their ability to take long rests in the narrative – and it ran well with modification and seeding clues (which were a big motivation to explore). The party now has an 11th level druid with wind walk so they can reach Omu in less than two days of wind walking, so they've officially unlocked fast travel.

But I am looking toward the Tomb and thinking they'll be hard-pressed to get a long rest in there, so having some kind of "Blessings of Ubtao" to allow PCs to gain benefit of a long rest during a short rest might help with pacing before the final confrontation.

PPS. Even though the party started out at level 5 instead of 1 they still spent MONTHS in the jungle of Chult. Since they WERE relatively high level I could keep the curse as is (losing 1 hp a day), partly because they would have had enough hit points to still have a fighting chance of seeing the Tomb before the curse takes them, but mostly because the risk of dying (thus triggering the curse) is much smaller in the first place. It happened exactly once (Bag of Nails rolled a twenty and one-shotted the party Rogue from six hundred feet away! Yes, triggering instant death despite the character being at full hp...) but then they were already in Omu. So that character lost maybe a week's worth of hp before the curse was lifted, and 7 hp isn't crippling when you have seventy.

Very cool. Similar for us. I started them at 3rd level and they've been in the jungle for ~60 days.

Actually, the main time pressure on the PCs is now the Sewn Sisters. They've been a thorn in the PCs' side for half the campaign and much more active villains out in Chult. Now that the PCs just killed Baggy Nanna, one of the remaining sisters is going to Nightmare Haunt a PC every night. And the party's tactic of tiny hut + private sanctum doesn't defend against the night hags (which can either ethereally follow the party to be within the tiny hut when it it cast or ethereally come up through the floor, and their Nightmare Haunting doesn't technically cross planar boundaries), so their only resort is trying to anticipate who will be Nightmare Haunted and then have one spellcaster PC give up their long rest to watch over that one with protection from evil and/or magic circle. I've also tightly controlled access to diamond dust – the component for greater restoration which can restore Max HP lost to Nightmare Haunting – so this is a major threat against the PCs.

Of course, in Omu the other time pressure threat comes from the Red Wizards actively exploring shrines. I have it that there's a cumulative 10% chance per day of the Red Wizards claiming another puzzle cube (starting with I'jin and going from there).

Guess my point is: that curse is utterly unplayable as written.

Yep. Totally agree. I changed it to -1 Hit Die per every fortnight (2 weeks). And I seeded a few "life imbued" magic items of Ubtao that could be expended in a ritual to grant extra time to a Death Cursed creature. That allowed the PC motivated to save her husband from the Death Curse to actually have the time to do so, without the party feeling overwhelming pressure to go straight to Omu. That gave them breathing room to enjoy exploring the jungles.

I also used a Dungeon World style "front" which I called the Deepening Death Curse, but I spread my timeline out too much so that very few of the "impending dooms" got to take place.

 

[Nebulous]

I'll post each encounter as I finish writing them, but first, the major tweaks to the overall campaign. Remember, my party started out at 5th level (and are well on their way to 10th now), so while these measures might seem draconic, it's really what's needed to keep the ToA random encounters relevant.

* perhaps the most significant change: you cannot long rest in the jungle!

That's right - you can camp for the night, but there's no benefit (other than what a short rest gives you, and the fact some items key to a new day, "dawn", "noon", "midnight" and the sort).

At rivers and coastline (beach hexes) you can attempt a DC 10 Con save to gain the benefits of a long rest during an 8 hour rest, but there are no rivers anywhere near Omu.

Damn that's a good idea, wish I had done that, would make the jungle 1000x more scary. It was never as brutal as I wanted it to be, and with high Survival skills they never got lost. Random encounters didn't happen that often either, I should have just cherry picked ones I liked.

Did you actually run it like that yet or is this a planned thing to do?

 

[Nebulous]

Yes, I took your excellent additions to the map, the TOA Companion locations, made a few alterations for my group, and overlaid it with 250-foot hexes.

That completely makes sense. I've run two ruined cities previously – Mezro (which was a magical/temporal headtrip city where water played a major role and the PCs focused on a dungeon crawl) & Kuluth-Mar (which was a sideways city teeming with undead where verticality played a major role and the PCs had to get to a central ziggurat). I want Omu to be distinct from those, so I'm thinking to play up a fast-paced and action-packed sense of discovery in an Indiana Jones motif. And playing up the lava.

I've thought about using these quick exploration rules to emphasize that there's always something to discover...

Spoiler: Exploring Omu

Exploring Omu
Each hex = 250 feet, representing very difficult terrain due to ruined buildings and natural overgrowth.
Moving Cautiously you cover a hex in 5 minutes, and your party can make Stealth checks.
Moving Normally you cover a hex in 2.5 minutes.
Moving Quickly you cover a hex in 1 minute, but your party lookout(s) suffers -5 passive Perception.
Searching a hex thoroughly requires 30 minutes.

While adventuring in Omu, there are Exploration Roles you may wish to divide among your party:

• The Investigator searches for clues and treasure; make an Investigation check upon entering a new unkeyed hex.
• The Lookout keeps an eye out for sneaky monsters and traps; you can use your passive Perception while exploring (PCs with other roles may not). When entering a new hex without keyed areas, there’s a 10% chance for random encounters (d12).
• The Mapper handles annotating your map of Omu; the DM may call for checks to deduce locations. When entering a new hex without keyed areas, there’s a 50% chance of finding an interesting ruined structure (d12).
• The Scout scouts out an adjacent hex; making a Perception check in new unkeyed hexes or a Stealth check in new hexes with keyed areas.

I've got a d6 list of clues: 1 = old papyrus design documents stamped by “Gorra” for a massive skeleton door with five geometric keyholes; 2 = water-damage journal with etchings of nine puzzle cubes and illegible warning about “the false entrance”; 3 = urn with engravings depicting the mass sacrifice of gorgons to harvest their blood to make mortar; 4 = royal edict on clay tablet proclaiming the Devourer seeks Omu’s five best gamblers to challenge him to a game of dice and the winner will earn freedom (five worn names surrounded by polyhedral silhouettes: triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, octagon); 5 = Dwarven stone pattern roller with hidden message lamenting vast amounts of diamond dust used in creating the Tomb of the Nine Gods that depleted all of Chult’s diamond mines; 6 = holy symbol of Ubtao enchanted with magic mouth speaking in Old Omuan: “The Devourer has killed our gods and outlawed worship. No amount of divination pierces the unhallowed Tomb where my kinsmen toil.”

I have a d12 list of interesting ruined structures inspired building off of Sly Flourish: Running Omu.

And I'm still working on tying various story/character elements I'd like to bring to conclusion to a random encounter table that doesn't eat up a lot of time, but also presents some meaningful risks. For example...

• Showing the fallout of a magic duel between Acererak and another lich which ended with that lich destroyed, her magic drained, and her phylactery stolen. I'm imagining parts of the city with ongoing spell effects, tears in reality emulating conditions of various planes, and feuding between various power groups in Omu.
• Introducing zoblins (zombie goblins) serving the zombie lord Queen M'bobo who is important to the goblin PC's storyline and who has the Eye of Vecna (the Hand of Vecna was a major subplot for our druid PC). M'bobo is a goblin character from the Ring of Winter novel who was zombified by Ras Nsi but later escaped his control when Nsi was stripped of his barae powers. She seeks vengeance on Ras Nsi and Artus Cimber (who killed her "god" and delivered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Mezro).
• The PCs were geased by Zalkoré (who I made a wild sorceress & "queen" of the yellow musk creepers) to help her reclaim her throne in Omu, but had Asharra cast remove curse on all of them, of which Zalkoré is aware and seeks revenge against the "liars and betrayers." Possibly some kind of merger of various plant monsters like russet mold, vegepygmies, yellow musk creeper & zombies, and shambling mound.

It's good to hear your experience that with the increased keyed locations, random encounters weren't needed. I still might consider them for story purposes, but only if I can design the random encounters right.



Ah, sounds like you have a party of irrepressible explorers!

I have that unmarked GaleForce 9 vinyl map of Omu & an acrylic hex grid overlay which matches up with the 250-ft hexes. Since we've had 4 players come and go over the course of the campaign, I plan on including the old ranger in Omu who can give the party a "download" about the rough layout of Omu (i.e. here are the 9 shrines and here are the ones that have been raided already, the yuan-ti live over here, the Red Wizards were there but don't know where they are now).

Because we're a bit strapped for time (only 3 sessions for Omu & the Fane), I have 3 of the shrines raided already:

• Shagambi's Shrine was raided by the ranger PC & Dragonbait (who got captured by yuan-ti). Since it was mostly a big combat, I was fine cutting this one out.
• Papazotl's Shrine was raided by the Red Wizards. The puzzle is extremely obscure and seems like it could become an exercise in frustration for the players. Plus it's close to where the Red Wizards camp is, so a logical one for the RW to claim.
• Obo'laka's Shrine was raided by the yuan-ti, seeing as it's right by the palace. The puzzle is rather vague. Players need to be aware that it's suspicious there are lit torches, since every other shrine apparently lacked them. But what if they explore this shrine first? How do the players know to connect the torch holders in room to the torch holders in the hallway? Does mage hand count as touching the puzzle cube? What about familiars? If it’s put in a bag using levitate does that trigger the petrification? Too many corner cases.

That makes a lot of sense. We're done with the jungle hex crawl – I kept normal long rests, just made it more challenging, and sometimes threatened their ability to take long rests in the narrative – and it ran well with modification and seeding clues (which were a big motivation to explore). The party now has an 11th level druid with wind walk so they can reach Omu in less than two days of wind walking, so they've officially unlocked fast travel.

But I am looking toward the Tomb and thinking they'll be hard-pressed to get a long rest in there, so having some kind of "Blessings of Ubtao" to allow PCs to gain benefit of a long rest during a short rest might help with pacing before the final confrontation.



Very cool. Similar for us. I started them at 3rd level and they've been in the jungle for ~60 days.

Actually, the main time pressure on the PCs is now the Sewn Sisters. They've been a thorn in the PCs' side for half the campaign and much more active villains out in Chult. Now that the PCs just killed Baggy Nanna, one of the remaining sisters is going to Nightmare Haunt a PC every night. And the party's tactic of tiny hut + private sanctum doesn't defend against the night hags (which can either ethereally follow the party to be within the tiny hut when it it cast or ethereally come up through the floor, and their Nightmare Haunting doesn't technically cross planar boundaries), so their only resort is trying to anticipate who will be Nightmare Haunted and then have one spellcaster PC give up their long rest to watch over that one with protection from evil and/or magic circle. I've also tightly controlled access to diamond dust – the component for greater restoration which can restore Max HP lost to Nightmare Haunting – so this is a major threat against the PCs.

Of course, in Omu the other time pressure threat comes from the Red Wizards actively exploring shrines. I have it that there's a cumulative 10% chance per day of the Red Wizards claiming another puzzle cube (starting with I'jin and going from there).



Yep. Totally agree. I changed it to -1 Hit Die per every fortnight (2 weeks). And I seeded a few "life imbued" magic items of Ubtao that could be expended in a ritual to grant extra time to a Death Cursed creature. That allowed the PC motivated to save her husband from the Death Curse to actually have the time to do so, without the party feeling overwhelming pressure to go straight to Omu. That gave them breathing room to enjoy exploring the jungles.

I also used a Dungeon World style "front" which I called the Deepening Death Curse, but I spread my timeline out too much so that very few of the "impending dooms" got to take place.

Great stuff. I utilized several of those encounters from the Omu companion book, my favorite being the Enchanted Bathhouse. I wanted to slip in the Magic Academy but the PCs skipped it. I used the Mezro supplement as well, which is such a friggin fantastic addition to the whole campaign.

 

[Nebulous]

I was happy to have the entire Omu map printed on one sheet of paper, and I probably got 12 sessions out of exploring the ruins. It was the highlight of the campaign and the Tomb exploration part isn't as fun I don't think.