Written by the Almighty DM

Hearing loud crashing sounds and cursing coming from the hallway above, Nor and Kanye peek their heads up out of the river grate. Keshma the Dao is punching the wall in frustration and yelling. The party emerges from the river and confront her about her frustration – her PLANE SHIFT spell failed and she wound up still trapped in the tomb! She blames the party for trickery, but Thas quickly points out that the whole dungeon is warded against any kind of teleportation. “You mortals are not powerful enough to pull that off, so I believe you. You will find me a way out of here!”

After further discussion with Thas, the party knows the following:

• Ijin, the most dexterous of the gods, is on level 3
• Kubazan, the strongest, is also on level 3
• Shagambi, the best attacker, is hidden on level 4
• Unkh, the toughest, is also on level 4

Kanye goes to the secret staircase and heads to level 4 to search for Unkh. 

The level 4 secret staircase leads them to a large chamber. A ten foot deep sunken floor is surrounded by ledges without railings. Alcoves hold painted wooden statues of hornet-headed warrior statues. A throne lashed together with bone and skin rests atop a pile of skulls. A huge horned skull rests on the back of the throne and in the seat rests a metal scepter. 

In the sunken portion of the room are three gaunt undead in dusty robes covered in cobwebs. Their eyes and mouths are stitched shut and they are armed with brushes and paint pots. They are painting scenes on the wall, poorly done but obvious caricatures of Nor and Kanye falling into the spike pit at the entrance of the tomb, Kanye nearly dying in the onyx chest, and the beginning of a painting of Elgard dancing and dying. There are older paintings of unknown adventurers dying from various traps and foes painted along these walls and columns as well.

“I just, like, live for art, man, you know?”

[title redacted] decide to sneak out of this room and continue the search for Unkh. The stone door that leads out needs to be lifted up, and as Kanye lifts the door 6 Ghasts run out from hidden rooms next to the door! 

Sophitia runs forward and TURNS UNDEAD, frightening most of these foes and making the fight easier on her allies. Zyldi turns into a giant majestic elk and prances about the battlefield, while Elgard sends a fireball into the mix. Once the Ghasts are destroyed the party emerges victorious into a hallway. They see a staircase descending into a large chamber, and a treasure chest at the bottom of the stairs. Kulu goes to investigate the chest while Sophitia ventures out onto the 4th floor Grand Balcony to get the clue there:

“Death to Fire, Dine or Drown, Precious Air, and Falling Sand. The Army Sleeps in Silence. The Mirror Holds Twelve. Find the Iron Scepter’s Twin. The Maze Holds the Key”

Kulu goes forward by herself and opens the chest. The chest appears empty and a giant boulder rolls down the staircase at her! She is able to jump off the wall and vault over the stone as it smashes the chest and rolls into the open room beyond, falling into the floor and revealing a hidden acid pit. Having skillfully avoided death, Kulu beckons the party into the room.

The sarcophagus within this large room has the symbol of a flail snail on it. They have found Unkh’s tomb! The lid of this sarcophagus changes color every few seconds, and there is a small keyhole on the top. There are murals of Minotaurs all over the walls, and two staircases  lead up to a small gallery where a shifting maze is carved on the wall. 

Kanye goes up onto the small balcony and looks at the maze. The walls continually shift before his eyes, and it appears to be covered in a light fog. Determined to redeem himself after his poor maze performance on a bridge in the jungle long ago, Kanye touches the maze and is magically sucked into it! As Kanye disappears, 10 secret doors open up along the murals below revealing 10 Minotaur skeletons ready for battle!

“sup”

Elgard weaves a wall of fire damaging half of them, and Sophitia is able to TURN UNDEAD on most of them. Zyldi’s majestic elk antlers prove especially effective against these skeletal foes as she destroys one of them in one crushing attack! Nor engages two that resisted the holy turn.

Within the magical maze Kanye can see the party battling in the sky above him. As he walks through the foggy corridors he sees the bones of a small child. Pressing onward a large figure appears before him: The living Minotaur in the maze! It rushes forward to attack Kanye but the Goliath summons his soulbound hammer and delivers two crushing blows. 

The skeletal minotaurs behind the wall of fire run through the fire and gore Elgard. The wizard is knocked on his back as another ax falls upon him. The wall of fire goes out as Elgard begins to die from his wounds. Not wanting to lose another friend in battle Nor runs forward, throws a healing potion down Elgard’s throat, and action surges past him and attacks the minotaurs that were killing him!  Elgard casts SHATTER from the ground, damaging a group of skeletons.

Sophitia unleashes the fury of her SPIRIT GUARDIANS who fly around the room dealing holy radiant damage to all the minotaurs, killing a few of them. Zyldi crushes another beneath her horns.

Meanwhile, Kanye slays his Minotaur within the maze and is able to find a blue key. When he touches this key he is transported out of the maze back into Unkh’s tomb as the final Minotaur Skeleton falls in battle against [title redacted].

Kanye runs down and puts the key into the sarcophagus, sees a robe and a flail snail shell, touches the Robe and is possessed by Unkh! Unkh is incapable of making decisions, is totally neutral, and bestows Kanye with an even tougher Constitution than he had before! The Robe is a Robe of Scintillating colors. 

After using this blue key Kanye notices a strange blue rune that has been etched into the skin of his hand. He has gained immunity from piercing and slashing damage, and vulnerability to bludgeoning damage from some unknown source.

After this harrowing battle, the party plans their next move. 

Written by the Almighty DM

Kanye rushes forward and holds the chain linking the two golems together to keep them in place as Elgard sends an explosive WALL OF FIRE down through the hallway. Yaka is in Elgard’s face saying “WHY WOULD YOU CAST THAT? THAT’S A TERRIBLE SPELL! WHAT KIND OF 3RD RATE WIZARD ARE YOU?” Sophitia calls down holy fire on the golems.

Zyldi turns into a giant bear and runs back into Yaka’s chamber to deal with the tomb dwarves there. Nor vaults over Zyldi and brings his sword down into one of the dwarves.

Out on the balcony two more dwarves run to the hallway to further ambush the party. As the lead dwarf is trying to line up a crossbow shot, he takes an axe to the back and is pushed into the wall of fire by his companion. This rogue dwarf throws his dead ally off his axe, nods to the party, sits down and lights up his pipe. 

The golems begin pummeling Kanye and trying to move out of the fiery hallway, but Kanye holds them in place with his great Goliath strength. “THIS BARBARIAN IS ON FIRE! HE’S ALL THE RAGE!!!!” shouts Yaka. The fire is causing the golems to go berserk, giving Sophitia and Elgard easy openings for their spells.

Zyldi swipes and bites at the dwarves, but sustains too many hits and drops out of bear form. Nor is there to keep her from getting overwhelmed during the assault. Zyldi grips her staff and sends out a booming THUNDERWAVE, killing one of the dwarves and knocking the other down. Nor quickly finishes off the remaining undead guardians. 

Kanye is able to keep the golems from moving out of the fire, and they are overcome by the magical damage they’ve taken. Yaka tells the party “THERES NO WAY YOU’RE GOING TO SURVIVE IN HERE! YOU’RE TERRIBLE! HOW DID YOU GET THIS FAR!” 

Sophitia approaches the remaining Undead Tomb Dwarf Guardian who remains seated on the balcony smoking his pipe. “Aye, that was a good bit o’ fightin ya did there!” Sophitia replies “Are you….friendly?” The grizzled old dwarf rises to his feet and says “Ye killed my boss and I’m tired of livin’ in this dusty tomb, ready for some adventure. They’ve got me cooped up makin’ that big stained glass window over an’ over. Every group of adventurers that comes in here, first thing they do is smash mah window! I’m ready for a change. The name’s Thas. Thas Wight” [title redacted] gains another improbable ally!

“The Health coverage was really overrated”

Kanye, tired of not being able to damage these golems directly, turns to the Dao in the bottle. “Can I have your magic hammer for your freedom?”

“You wish to change the deal?” She replies. “This hammer is far too great for any mortal like you to wield. It would destroy you!” Nor chimes in “I think we need to use her to get rid of Yaka instead!” 

After some negotiating with Keshma, it is decided that instead of helping the party 3 times in combat for her freedom, she will give Kanye her hammer and rid the party of Yaka’s curse. 

Kanye uncorks the bottle and the air swirls and the Dao forms before the party. She towers over Kanye as she reaches her hand out and places it on his chest. The giant hammer on her back dissolves and energy flows into Kanye, causing dark purple tattoos to form on his chest, going down his arms and ending in his hands. She removes her hand and Kanye falls to his knees. He doesn’t know what happened, but something is different.

“That was my favorite hammer!”

She turns to Yaka and places her hand on the skull. After a moment, she turns her head up and screams “WHAT! NO! AAAGGHGHHHHH! I hate you all.” She looks at the party with deep resentment, then holds up her hand as precious gemstones begin to pour out. Yaka begins to greedily devour the stones as Keshma looks on with disgust. “This is great wealth out of my own personal stores! You mortals don’t know what you have cost me!” 

After about 10,000 gold worth of gems have been devoured by the skull, Yaka lazily floats up and says “OH WOW, I THINK I NEED TO TAKE A NAP! SMELL YA LATER!”. Yaka returns to his pedestal and the curse of the Golden Skull is lifted from Elgard. 

Having fulfilled her obligations, Keshma the Dao PLANE SHIFTS away from the party. 

With Thas as their guide [title redacted] rest in the room with the lever in it. They pull the lever to watch the horrible trap go off in the room below: the room rotates like a clothes dryer, and the walls shoot out poison gas, spikes, and fire. Looks like a complete death trap, and the party is grateful to have disarmed it. 

During their rest [title redacted] learn that the 6th floor of the dungeon is where the Hags live. There are 5 skeleton keys needed to access this room, one key from each floor. The party has the 2nd floor key (square), and decide that they should search the underground river on the first floor for the level one key.

Awakening from his long rest, Kanye discovers he can now summon a Soulbound Earth Hammer that deals full damage to objects and constructs!

Returning to the underground river access grate, Thas pauses a moment to look at the current state of the smashed stained glass window. He looks down and shakes his head, and the party enters the river and heads north.

After winding through this cramped waterway they do come upon a lone skeleton wandering around. They destroy him and get his skull – it is the Triangle Key! They now have 2 of the 5 keys needed. 

Going forward they find the secret entrance to Moa’s tomb. Continuing on the river ends in a waterfall that goes down deep into the darkness below. On the other side of this chasm is a small ledge with a treasure chest perched upon it. They tie a rope around Thas’ waist, anchor that to the Immovable Rod, and throw him across. 

Thas touches the chest and it bites him and causes acid damage: the chest is a Mimic! The Mimic lives a very short life after this attack, and once it is destroyed the party pulls Thas back over. There was no treasure on the ledge, only disappointment. 

They return to the river entrance and plan their next move.

Written by the Amighty DM

After resting up in Nangnang’s tomb it is time to explore level 2 further. Off the Grand Balcony is another hallway that leads to a 4 way intersection. The halls to the left and right curve upward and out of sight, and there is a corpse of a half-human half-goat hybrid halfway up the ring to the left. 

Searching the body reveals it to be Devlin Bashir, the last surviving member of the Company of the Yellow Banner. A letter on his body describes that the rest of his party was killed by various traps and monsters in the tomb. He warns anyone who finds him not to trust Acererak, because while his hints may help you in the short term, just being in the Tomb is your doom. He has a cursed Staff of Striking that turns you into a goat if you touch it, and a magic ink pot that never runs dry. 

The hallway continues into another tomb room. The Kanye points out a giant stone that could fall and block the exit to this room. Inside this large chamber magical sunlight falls from the arched ceiling onto a gilded sarcophagus in the center of the room, while 4 huge gargoyle faces look on from the walls. Moa informs Zyldi that the markings in this tomb do not match any of the Nine Gods. Remembering part of Acererak’s warning “The Dead Abhor Sunlight”, Zyldi casts Dispel Magic on the sunlight, casting the chamber into darkness. 

Kanye and Zyldi open the lid, and inside is a wooden plaque that reads “Drown Your Sorrows”. Nothing happens. Inspecting the open mouths of the gargoyle faces shows a big valve. Prying one of them open causes an enormous amount of wine to flow out of the mouth, and they are unable to stop it. The wine keeps flowing and flowing, but since a trap has not been triggered, it just flows harmlessly out of the room. Sensing that dispelling the magic saved them from a deadly trap, [title redacted] move back to the hallway to explore the slanted hallway. 

Nor and Kanye do not fall from walking up this curved hall, and are able to walk all the way over the hall like a ring. However, when they come out the other side none of the rest of the party are there, though the rest of the tomb looks the same. They go back the way they came and get the rest of the group.

After going through the ring and going back into the “False Tomb”, Zyldi sees a hunched figure watching them from the Grand Balcony. It is the hag from the forest! Her eyes glimmer from the gold coins covering them, and she cackles and jumps away down into the lower levels as Zyldi runs forward to attack. Spooked by this encounter, she encourages the party to return through the ring back to reality. 

“I’m SO glad you’re here!”

The final unexplored room is a small chamber with a green devil face carved into he floor. Its mouth is open and there is magical darkness within, from which agonized screams can be heard. The party nopes out of this room and takes the service staircase down to the 3rd level. 

The stairs spit out into a small room where a Golem stands still with its hand on a lever, looking down into a lower room. The party kills the golem and goes through a narrow access corridor around to another small room. This room has a pedestal holding a golden skull across from a staircase leading up to a secret door. 

“C’mon, who WOULDN’T touch this skull?

Elgard inspects the golden skull and taps it cautiously with his staff. The eyes light up and a loud voice echoes in the chamber “HEELLLLOOOOO! I’M YAKA!! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?!?” The skull floats up around Elgard’s head. “Uhhhh…..I’m….uhh…Robert” ‘ROBERT? THAT’S A STUPID NAME!””Uh, well, what are you?””I WAS THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER IN THE WORLD! I ENTERTAINED THE ROYAL FAMILY OF OMU AND I’M HERE TO ENTERTAIN YOU WITH MY EXCELLENT JOKES! I ALSO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS DUNGEON!”

The party quickly finds that Yaka is immune to damage and spells, and will not leave Elgard’s side. They emerge into a hallway: ahead is a large open chamber, to the left is a closed room, and down the hall to the right are two Plated Golems joined together with a chain. The party decides to avoid the Golems, but Yaka loudly tells them “THIS IS A CLASSIC TRICK! THESE BIG BOYS ARE JUST EMPTY SUITS OF ARMOR FILLED WITH TREASURE! IT’S HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT! JUST PULL THE CHAIN!” His voice echoes off the walls of the whole dungeon, but [title redacted] decide that this is a good way to test if Yaka is truthful. Kanye touches the chain and the two Golems spring to life and attack while Yaka cackles loudly! Crossbow bolts fly out of the darkness behind and in front of them as a Tomb Dwarf ambush sets off! The battle begins as Yaka laughs at the party and tries to mess up Elgard’s spells.

Written by the Almighty DM

After a long rest in Withers’ office the party follows another secret door to the Grand Balcony on the 2nd level. There written on the wall is Acererak’s 2nd Warning:
 

“The ring is a path to another tomb. The dead abhor sunlight. Only a jewel can tame the frog. Bow as the dead god intoned. Into darkness descend”

Below the warning is a skeleton walking on the balcony. Its skull is shaped like a square in the back, and when it notices the party it tries to run away. [title redacted] dart around the balcony and skillfully smash the skeleton into parts. Sensing that this unique skull might be valuable later, they hold onto it. 

There is a large door with three zombies pushing their heads out of three holes. They are harnessed, have bits in their mouths, and are snarling and trying to attack the party. Kanye clobbers one of the zombies to dust, then realizes that there might have been some kind of puzzle to solve regarding the zombies and the door. Nor, Kanye, and Zyldi simply brute force the door open and dispatch the other two zombies. Puzzle solved!

They enter a large room with a golden chariot heaped with treasure in the center. On the chariot is a gilded sarcophagus with imagery of Papazotl the Eblis. Along the walls are 6 large pots filled with human bones, and at the far end of the room are 4 statues and a giant shield. The shield depicts a Chultan archer, and the statues are of Chultan warriors each holding different weapons. The statue on the far left is missing its face. Written on the wall is the command “Bow Before No One”.

Kulu approaches the chariot and grabs some of the treasure which causes the room trap to spring into action! Twelve skeletons climb out of the giant pots and begin to attack the party. Sophitia holds up her holy symbol and calls upon the gods who blast most of the skeletons into dust. 

“Well that escalated quickly!”

The Chultan Archer drawn onto the shield springs to life and blasts a force arrow into Nor. Elgard holds out his hand and arcs a powerful lightning bolt into the shield. The loud sound echoes loudly in the room but the shield is undamaged. More skeletons begin to pour out of the pots on the side of the room when Zyldi has the idea to bow before the faceless statue. The shield archer ignores Zyldi and fires another arrow at Kanye, smashing into him with great force. 

The rest of the party bows before the faceless statue, causing the shield archer to deactivate and the giant pots to stop creating skeletons. Now that the fight is over Kulu approaches Papazotl’s casket and takes the items upon it: lots of fine decorative jewelry and a big amulet next to some bird bones. 

When Kulu touches the amulet the voice of Papazotl calls out in her head “You will do as I command!” Papazotl is selfish and bossy, and convinces Kulu to keep all of the treasure for herself. 

After searching the tomb for a few moments, the party finds a secret door right as they hear a large creature moving about on the Grand Balcony. A quick peek outside the door shows a huge golem with fire coming out of his head, smoke issuing from the seams between his armor plates, and instead of hands there are small jets of flame pouring out of his arms. 

“Artist Rendering”

As this Fire Golem walks past the room the party pulls the heavy stone door up, and Kanye and Nor rush out and tackle this large golem off the edge of the balcony! They watch it fall down several stories and crash into the 4th floor. It stands up and walks away down on level 4. 

The secret door leads to a small chamber with a dusty bottle on a table. Inside this bottle is Keshma Al-Wazir, a trapped Dao (earth elemental genie). She wields a huge hammer and is imposing even when trapped in this bottle, wearing a hateful expression, jewels braided into her dark hair, and fine clothes ending in a magical swirl. Acererak imprisoned her in the bottle centuries ago, and she begins to negotiate her release with the party. Despite her insults and demands the party is able to negotiate that they will free her on the condition that she help them 3 times in battle – 3 times of the party’s choosing. She is not super happy with this arrangement but accepts it, and the party takes her bottle with them. 

The next room has a giant salt pentagram on the floor surrounding a sarcophagus decorated with the froggy image of Nangnang. Kanye approaches and is attacked by an invisible Grey Slaad! 

Walls of fire and general party aggression cause the Slaad to retreat back into a small hallway that ends in…wine? It dies from its many wounds and Kanye dives into the wine.

“Cowabunga!”

Elgard reaches into the sarcophagus at Nor’s urging. As he reaches toward the Pearl within he hears loud, discordant percussive music in his head, and cannot resist dancing to the awful sounds. The sounds are so loud and abrasive that they begin to suck Elgard’s life away! 

No one else in the party can hear this music, but can see Elgard’s sick dance moves. He collapses in a heap on the floor but his body is still twitching, and Sophitia kneels down beside him and casts some powerful healing magic on him to keep him alive.

Kanye swims forward in the wine pool and finds  the inside of a valve. Not knowing what to do with this, he goes back up for air and swims down again, this time finding a giant reservoir tank filled with wine. Not seeing anywhere else to explore, he returns to the hallway.

Elgard awakens but continues to dance. He tries to get the music out of his head but fails – the magical music is just too powerful. He collapses again but this time his body stops twitching. Sophitia checks his body and finds he is still alive. They heal him again and take a rest. Kanye reports back what he found in the wine, and [title redacted] decide to leave Nangnang’s sarcophagus alone.

Written by the Almighty DM

After a short rest our heroes explore the final Level 1 area. At the end of a long hallway stands a statue of a knight holding a big shield forward with exploded piles of rust all around the shield. Sophitia tosses a small metal bolt into the room, and it whizzes by Kanye’s head like a bullet and explodes into a pile of rust as it strikes the shield! Kanye is impressed by Sophitia’s throwing ability and tries to throw like she did, but his stone hammers don’t fly through the air with magical magnetism. 

Sophitia removes her metal armor and weapons and enters the room. A small room beyond has a fountain with magical water in it. They decide very quickly not to drink any strange magic water in the Tomb of Annihilation. A second smaller hallway appears to be a dead end.

Upon inspecting the dead end they find two secret doors: the first is a side entrance to Obo’laka’s tomb, the second is a secret stairway going down to the second level. After retrieving Sophitia’s gear and going round through Obo’laka’s tomb, they descend to the lower level.

They enter an active workshop: Albino Undead Tomb Dwarves are working at a large Iron Maiden contraption with pistons and tubes running into it. There are wooden workbenches and schematics all around the workshop. Our heroes decide aggression is the way forward, and Elgard looses a powerful Fireball in the room!

The workbenches go up in flames and the dwarves at the Iron Maiden quickly pull a lever to release another Plate Golem Guardian! Kanye runs past them and tackles the golem back into the maiden. Zyldi transforms into a bear and begins to harass some of the other dwarves. Sophitia begins throwing holy spells and Elgard lets loose with another huge fireball, burning up the rest of the dwarves, blowing up the final remnants of the workshop, and damaging the golem. The golem tries to pull itself free of Kanye’s grapple, but is unable to hurt anybody as the party finishes him off. 

As they explore the wreckage of the workshop, they find an undamaged lantern. Looking inside the lantern reveals a ghostly spirit named the Starfallen. She is a Moon Elf Warlock who died over 1,000 years ago, and the Company of the Yellow Banner was seeking the Eye of Zaltec to bring her back to life. They tracked the Eye to the Tomb of the Nine Gods, where they all perished. The body of Seward, one of the Company members, was taken apart and used for the latest golem that the party just fought in the workshop.

The Starfallen is friendly but has only hazy memories of her life, and can only offer general help in the Tomb. The gang takes the Starfallen with them. 

Outside the workshop there is a spiral staircase going deeper into the dungeon, a secret door, and a very nice wooden door. They go through the secret door and find a stone font filled with water inside a small room. 

Kanye looks into the water and the water ripples as he sees through the eyes of a tomb guardian wandering through a lower level. After watching this scene for a few moments the guardian stops walking, looks up, and reaches a strong arm up through the water, grabbing Kanye! A giant golem covered in chains pulls itself out of the font and attacks the party!

Kanye tries to pull it back through the water but quickly finds it was a one way street: the chain golem slams Kanye’s head into the font and begins trying to drown him. Kanye rolls his head to the side, shifts his weight, and is able to burst out of the water and wrap the chains around the golem, grappling him in place.

The golem is able to use his chains to break the grapple and knock Zyldi down before he is destroyed by our heroes. After the battle, Kanye uses what he has decided is a “Magic Toilet”. 

After a potty break [title redacted] moves into the room with the nice wooden door. Inside is a nice office with candles burning, disembodied hands crawling all over the floor, a skeletal parrot in a cage, and sitting at a nice desk covered in books, blueprints, and journals, is a wight. This gaunt figure wears long black robes, a scowling gold mask on his face, and a black skull amulet around his neck with glowing red eyes. He turns to face the heroes and says “Ah, you found my office. I assume you were the ruckus I heard in the workshop then? What news of the outside world do you bring me?”

“………….”

“Oh please don’t be rude, it’s been too long since we’ve had visitors”

The party looks at each other, and Sophitia holds up her hand and calls upon holy forces to DESTROY UNDEAD. The crawling hands and parrot are instantly blasted into piles of dust, and the wight runs to the corner of his office. Kanye and Zyldi quickly bind his hands, feet, and mouth. 

Once the wight calms down he begins to try to negotiate his freedom by grunting through his mouth binding. [title redacted] decide they don’t want to take any chances with this spooky dude, and Kanye smashes him with his hammer. 

They discover this wight was Withers the Tomb Custodian. Acererak left him in charge to run the day to day operations of this dungeon, to reset the traps and recast any magic hexes that required maintenance. 
In the office they find:

• A Manual of Clay Golems
• Wither’s Spellbook with a name written on the back cover “Khomara Blackfire”
• A mysterious fist sized magic stone
• The Black Skull Amulet 
• His bronze Mask is worth 25gp
• They find an entry from Withers’ journal that describes the dead god remnant that Acererak found floating in the Astral Sea, and how he contracted the Sewn Sisters to help him build the Soulmonger to glut this being on souls *cue ominous music*

Knowing the true purpose of the Soulmonger, [title redacted] rests and heals up in Withers’ office before delving deeper into this dark dungeon.

Written by: the Almighty DM

After resting in Obo’laka’s Tomb our heroes set out to explore the first floor of the dungeon. Kanye and Zyldi lift the grate cover out of the floor in front of their resting room and find an underground river that flows from south to north. Deciding not to explore this river, they go out to the grand balcony and Kanye sees another shadowy figure. This figure looks right at Kanye and disappears into the darkness. 

The entrance to the next tomb is the open mouth of a giant devil face with its eyes ablaze. Unable to extinguish the flames, Zyldi crawls through the devil’s mouth and enters the tomb, with Nor following. As Zyldi and Nor crawl through, Sophitia and Kanye notice the flames go out one at a time as they go through the mouth. 

As Zyldi enters the tomb she hears a small child’s voice in her head “Hello! Where am I? Who are you? Did my father send you?” Kanye tries to enter the room through the devil mouth and the jaws slam shut on him! Nor and Sophitia are able to help Kanye pry himself loose from this crushing stone mouth. As soon as he’s free, the eyes begin to burn again and the jaw returns to its open resting position.

Meanwhile Zyldi tries to reason with the child’s voice. She is Nepartak, a princess of Omu, and her father is the king. The room has a sarcophagus with the symbol of Moa on it, a small child’s skull in a glass case on the far wall, and the earthen walls are covered in small holes, from which small skittering sounds can be heard.

“What a princess”

Nepartak gets grows more upset as the conversation goes on when Zyldi remembers part of the warning etched on the obelisk outside the tomb: “Speak No Truth to the Doomed Child”. She lies telling her that her father did send them and that they are to report back on her location. Nepartak believes this story and calms down. 

Zyldi uncovers the lid of Moa’s final resting place, and within sees a wooden staff next to the bones of a Jaculi. She grabs the staff and hears the voice of a peaceful serpent in her head say “Let me help you! I promise to be good” Moa is very truthful and kind. Zyldi gains the ability to turn invisible (which it turns out she already had!). The staff is a Staff of the Python, which turns into a giant snake at Zyldi’s command. 

Having finished all they came to do in Moa’s tomb, they prop the casket lid up in the devil mouth entrance and leave. 

The next hallway is blocked by a giant metal fan. Stepping into the hall causes the fan to spin very fast and create a wind tunnel, sucking things into its deadly spinning blades. Realizing that the whole floor of this hall is a giant pressure plate that sets off the fan, Kanye and Zyldi are able to shimmy on the walls across this hall. After navigating their way down the hall they enter a square room with a stone sarcophagus etched with the symbol of Wongo and 3 chests. One chest is made of black onyx, one of rusty iron, and one is silver covered in glittering frost. 

The chests are all empty except for a key on the inside lids. Remembering the clue “The Keys Turn on the Inside Only”, Kanye climbs inside the black onyx chest, closes the lid and turns the key. *CLICK!* He is locked inside! A black onyx button appears on Wongo’s casket. Zyldi decides she wants no part of this horrid room and leaves as Nor takes her place in the room. 

Kanye, realizing he is trapped in this cramped chest, begins to rage. He kicks, punches, and heaves at the walls and lid of this chest to no avail. Nor, seeing no other path forward, presses the black onyx button. FWOOOOM!!!! A great blast of force explodes from within the black onyx chest, and Kanye absorbs a blast that would have outright killed any other member of their party. Visibly shaken and nearly dead, Kanye emerges from the now open chest. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the party hears a sound approaching from the level below: clank….clank….clank….CLANK…. Coming up the stairs is a 7 foot tall figure covered head to toe in plate armor that appears to be bolted into its flesh. It notices the party and begins to run at the from around the balcony.

“I just want a hug!”

Kanye and Nor begin to shimmy their way to the battlefield as the others begin their ranged magic attacks on the creature. Sophitia calls a SACRED FLAME down on the creature, and Elgard sends a large LIGHTNING BOLT straight into its chest. The lightning heals it back to full strength! Zyldi then uses HEAT METAL and causes the creature to freak out – it does not like the heat! 

Kanye and Nor join the battle! Kanye runs up to the monster and hits it square with his warhammer to no avail. The creature can only be damaged by magic! Kanye stays in its face to keep it from approaching his friends. 

As the HEAT METAL spell continues its work destroying the creature, our heroes are able to take this monster apart piece by piece. After a final FIRE BOLT, the creature succumbs to its wounds. Upon inspection, they find it was a Flesh Golem with plate armor bolted to it. 

They retreat to the hallway in front Moa’s tomb to rest. Moa suggests they leave the rest of Wongo’s tomb alone, since it nearly killed Kanye and Moa hates Wongo.

Written by the Almighty DM

Players present: Sophitia, Zyldi, Nor, Kanye, Elgard

• Sophitia leaps out of the boat and assumes her angelic form, flying back toward the ceiling of the cavern. She lets loose a powerful GUIDING BOLT that smashes into the Hydra and causes one of the heads to wither and die.
• Kanye tries to distract it with the bell – this proves ineffective. He throws the bell at the Hydra in frustration
• Elgard, not wanting to draw attention to himself, plays dead and sinks beneath the water. As he does this he casts WATER BREATHING on the party.
• Nor stabs it from the water
• Zyldi transforms herself into a Giant Constrictor Snake and grapples with the Hydra. It is unable to move
• The many wounds on the Hydra begin to knit themselves back together and close as new heads burst forth from the body, more than replacing the heads that had been severed
• Sophitia launches another GUIDING BOLT
• Kanye angles the boat close and smashes recklessly with his hammer
• Elgard swims underneath the creature and decides it would be fun to cast FIREBALL from under the water. An explosion rocks the cavern and the screeching Hydra reacts with panic at the introduction of fire magic
• Nor stabs his blade into the side of the beast and climbs onto its body. He notices the Hydra’s regeneration has been slowed after getting blasted with the FIREBALL
• Zyldi constricts the Hydra
• The Hydra fails to regenerate new heads as it bites at Kanye. It begins to attack more frantically as the fire magic halts its regeneration
• Sophitia SACRED FLAMES it
• Elgard shoots more fire magic from below
• Kanye pushes some of the remaining Hydra heads against the cavern wall and smashes them to a pulp, killing the beast. He cuts a head off as the beast dies

• They want to summon Dendar the Night Serpent to destroy the world
• Acererak the Arch Lich came to Omu years ago, murdered the Nine Trickster Gods and forced the Omuans to build a giant tomb for their gods. After completing the tomb Acererak killed all of the Omuans
• Acererak told Ras Nsi a few months ago that he could help them unlock the Iron Gate to unleash Dendar upon the world. In return, Ras was to prevent anyone from entering the Tomb of the Nine Gods
• After hearing about the Death Curse Ras believes Acererak is playing him for a fool and is willing to help [title redacted] with their quest

• Vials of Yuan-Ti poison
• A spell scroll of GREATER RESTORATION
• An IMMOVABLE ROD that he got off a dead Red Wizard
• Nangnang’s Puzzle Cube

Written by the Almighty DM

Players Present: Kanye, Nor, Sophitia, Elgard, Zyldi

BOA? I HARDLY KNOW HER!

After a short rest back at Papazotl’s Shrine, Zyldi offers to Wildshape into a snake and scout out the Fane of the Night Serpent. She transforms into a Giant Contrictor Snake and heads to the entrance. 

There is a Malison and 4 Broodguards guarding the front gate. The gate has small holes for snakes at the bottom, but these are much too small for Zyldi’s giant form. She intimidates the guards who open the gate up for her, and begins her exploration as the gate slides shut behind her.

As she explores this enormous compound, she makes the following discoveries:

• There are lamps around so seeing is not an issue
• The place is teeming with snakes, Broodguards, Malisons, and the occasional Pureblood
• Large room near the gate has a giant snake statue, a triceratops, carts, and some mysterious eight-legged lizard creatures chained within 2 dark alcoves
• Wall reliefs showing the rise of Ras Nsi, Dendar the night serpent eating the nightmares of sleeping Chultans, and the rise of the Serpent from the Iron Gate to devour the sun
• A sacrificial altar that feeds blood into a cauldron that sits in the middle of a foul Cathedral
• Zyldi hears moaning from some slave pits kept near the altar. There is an unknown group of people being kept in horrifying conditions
• A venom distillery
• Another Giant Constrictor Snake is counting items in a storeroom, and speaks to Zyldi in Common as she enters the room. Zyldi acts like she has no idea what he’s saying, and he slithers over her which creeps her out immensely

Having explored all she can as a giant snake, she decides that she needs to become a small snake. The main gate is closed and there are no other exits to be found. 

SLITHER IN TO DANGER

There are swarms of snakes in a pit right next to the main gate. Zyldi slithers to the bottom of the pit, pops out of her Wildshape, and spends 6 agonizing seconds POLYMORPHING into a small garter snake. She slithers out of the pit and resumes her exploration, knowing she only has 1 hour to find a way out. 

Beyond the storeroom she finds a slave encampment within an earthen cave. The slaves are guarded, and beyond this small cave she finds an underground lake.

• There are 2 rowboats chained to the shore. Each boat has a cowbell on a hook at the bow of the ship. There are 4 Broodguards guarding these boats 
• The lake is In a massive cavern
• There is a pillar in a wide grotto whose base is heaped with bones 
• Near this pillar Zyldi feels something HUGE moving beneath the water-
• At the north end of the cavern there is an opening into a throne room. Zyldi slithers in and sees Ras Nsi addressing several Malisons. Near him is his champion, a huge Pureblood with grey scales. Also in this room are several Broodguards, one of whom sees Zyldi and shoos her back into the lake before she can explore further
• A tunnel near the south end of the cavern has a skeleton covered in a buttery mold. There is a brass key around the neck. Zyldi slithers the necklace off the dead body and onto hers, disturbing the Mold in the process. Her Druidic constitution steels her against its effects, and she slithers on key in…hand? 
• At the south end of the cavern there is a tunnel right near the lake that leads to the surface. 

After emerging from the secret back entrance, Zyldi snakes her way as fast as she can back to home base. She is very traumatized by what she has seen in this foul temple. 

RELIVING HISSSSSSSSTORY 

Upon waking from her nightmares, Zyldi gains a fresh insight on what she saw down in the depths. Though she only saw him for an instant, she noticed Ras Nsi was covered in bandages. 

Not yet knowing what this means, our brave heroes plan their assault. These snakes are going to pay.

Written by the Almighty DM

Players Present: Kanye, Nor, Sophitia, Zyldi, Elgard

EXPLOSIVE RESULTS
After hiding out for another day, the party hears explosions coming from the direction of the Red Wizard camp. Zyldi wastes no time turning into an owl to go scout what is happening. She sees a few snakes fleeing and 4 dead Yuan-Ti along the edge of the camp, along with several dead mercenaries. The Wizards quickly pack up their camp and head out. As they are gathering their things, Zagmira RAISES DEAD on the fallen mercenaries and uses these fresh zombies to help carry supplies to a new spot. Zyldi notices the 2 Puzzle Cubes hidden in Zagmira’s robes. They huddle near a dense clot of buildings and begin scheming. 

Zyldi returns and reports on what she’s seen. There is a discussion: Do we continue hiding and hope the Yuan-Ti finish off the Wizards, or do we strike the Wizards now while they’re weakened? They decide to at least talk to the Wizards – dealing diplomacy and, if needed, death. 

The secret word is determined – if anyone in the group says “fireball”, Elgard will cast FIREBALL on the biggest group of wizards he can find. 

Before they leave, Rhan presents Kanye with his finished club. It is 8 feet tall and looks like it could hold up a building – or tear one down. Kanye hoists it over his shoulder and grins.

BLOWING UP THE LIES

Zyldi leads them to the street where the Wizards were hiding. At the far end of the street, Zagmira and Gareth step out to face the party. Sophitia and Elgard stealthily climb up buildings facing the street and see that there are 6 Red Wizards up on the rooftops watching the scene unfold below. Elgard casts ALTER SELF to make himself look just like a Red Wizard while Sophitia remains hidden.

Nor, Kanye, and Zyldi step up and begin to talk to Zagmira. They let her know they obtained another puzzle cube, but heard a commotion and came to check on them. Zagmira tells them “I’ve got bad news and good news. The bad news is that we were attacked by the Yuan-Ti. The good news is that our friend Valindra sent us reinforcements!” With the snap of her finger the rooftop group reveals itself – 6 figures in Red Wizard robes surrounding the party. Elgard steps forward as one of them and goes unnoticed as an “extra” wizard. 

Zagmira and Gareth urge the party to infiltrate the Yuan-Ti temple and meet with their ally. She says “We’ll watch over any Cubes you may have gathered while you’re down there – wouldn’t want them falling into the wrong hands”. Nor does not go for this idea and suggests that Zagmira’s group join forces with [title redacted] and do a full frontal assault on the temple. It is revealed that Yuan-Ti are naturally magic resistant and would easily fend off this attack. 

Nor tries to convince Zagmira that a frontal assault is a good idea, and unintentionally mentions the super-secret-code word “FIREBALL”. Elgard unleashes a huge FIREBALL that nails Zagmira, Gareth, 2 Wizards, and 2 Mercenaries dressed like Wizards. The mercenaries’ charred corpses are blown from the rooftops, and Zagmira’s bluff of extra wizard reinforcements is shone false. The smoking survivors prepare for battle.

However, as the smoke is clearing, Zyldi yells out “How dare you! We came to speak to you in good faith and this is how we’re treated? We’re trying to help you!” The wizards, confused, begin looking back and forth to each other to see who cast the spell. 

Zagmira calls out “Who dared cast that! I gave no orders! Reveal yourself!” They quickly determine that Elgard is the culprit. “Who are you? What is your name? Get down here!”. Elgard replies “Well, ma’am, I got confused, and, well, seein as how there was a bunch of shoutin and stuff, I thought you wanted us to blow things up.”

Gareth storms forward and says “Get your ass down here right now!” Kanye and Nor begin casually surrounding Gareth as he confidently strides toward the disobedient wizard. 

Zyldi says “Well, just don’t let it happen again!” 

Zagmira replies “No no no, that’s not how we do things. Disobedience deserves to be punished, and our friends need to know that this hostility was not our intent!” She summons a giant spectral BIGBY’S HAND and attempts to slap Elgard off the rooftop and to his knees. Against all odds, Elgard is able to expertly dodge this magic force, and Sophitia is fooled into believing their wizard is athletic. 

Zagmira, suddenly suspicious, says “Why don’t you just give me all of your cubes, last chance. We’re not stupid. I know you’ve been lying to us, all the other shrines are empty. No more games” Zyldi responds by turning into an Allosaurus and trying to bite Zag’s face off! 

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE

• Zagmira is able to fend off the worst of Zyldi’s attacks by casting SHEILD from her magic staff
• Kanye hits Gareth with his new giant hammer, knocking the wind out of him
• Gareth stands up, pulls out his magical mace and uses it to cast FEAR. Nor and Sophitia are affected.
• Sophitia shakes off the effects of the fear and prepares to jump into the fray
• Nor runs as far away from Gareth as he can, using his movement to scale a building with a Wizard on top of it
• Elgard jumps off the roof, runs halfway across the street and shoots a LIGHTENING BOLT out of his hand. The bolt blows a hole through Gareth’s body and deals significant harm to Zagmira.
• Kanye and Nor are upset that Elgard just casually killed Gareth like it was no big deal
• Zagmira punches Elgard with BIGBY’S HAND and casts  POISON CLOUD on most of the party. Elgard goes down.
• Thazma (a Red Wizard) casts RAISE DEAD on Gareth and the other fallen mercenaries, and also brings forth the other zombies that were in hiding, bringing 7 zombies into the mix
• Since [title redacted] is too scattered among the Wizards and their allies there are no good groups to cast FIREBALL on, the remaining two wizards both cast a CONE OF COLD, one on Nor, one on Kanye. A Mercenary dies as collateral damage, but our heroes stand strong. 
• Zyldi continues her assault on Zagmira and is able to draw more blood on her. She’s not down yet, but her apex predator senses are telling her that this prey is very weakened
• Kanye climbs a building and hits a wizard with his giant club, sending the top half of his body flying into the jungle
• Sophitia leaps off her building, lands in the middle of the zombie hoard, holds up her holy symbol and DESTROYS UNDEAD. The hoard of zombies is reduced to ash except for one. Sophitia then sings a HEALING WORD at Elgard bringing him back into the action
• Nor runs at the wizard on rooftop and plunges his blade deep into his stomach. Blood pouring out of his mouth, the Wizard smiles and begins to cast a spell
• Right before the spell can go off, Elgard sends another FIREBALL onto the battlefield, killing all but Zagmira and the lone zombie. Nor watches as the wizard on the end of his blade is consumed by the fire and is annoyed that Elgard stole yet another kill from him
• Zyldi, finally able to pounce Zagmira to the ground, bites her head and tears it off her body. 
• The final zombie dies too 

OUT OF THE FIRE AND INTO THE TREASURE PAN

Victorious, our heroes gain the following treasures:-

• 1,000 gold
• A STAFF of DEFENSE which allows wizards to cast MAGE ARMOR and SHIELD using charges from the staff
• a purple IOUN STONE that stores spells
• MACE OF TERROR
• GAUNTLETS of OGRE STRENGTH
• 2 Puzzle Cubes: Moa the Jaculi, and Unkh the Flail Snail

Kanye takes the gauntlets, Elgard takes the staff, Nor takes the Ioun Stone. It still has a FIREBALL spell in it, so this should prove very useful for our fighter. No one wants the MACE, so they will haggle with The Merchant on a price.