I Hate It Here

The Thursday game, recapping 10/29/20 – The Warlock identifies the loot from Nepaka’s tomb. The scepter can be used to destroy a construct of Nepaka and the necklace is a Necklace of Fireball with eight beads.

Heading east from the gargoyle room, we enter a hall that ends in a familiar green devil face with its mouth open. Looking in the mouth, the Warlock discovers a lizard. Surprisingly, the Druid can speak with the little guy in druidic. He introduces himself as Lizzy, an animal who was awakened by a druid and has been wandering the jungle ever since. The Company of the Yellow Banner captured him and brought him here, ostensibly to set off traps for them, but he ran away and has been hiding ever since. He is so happy to finally have someone to talk to and agrees to join our party.

We find a secret door heading north and stairs to the south leading up. At the end of the stairs is another painting of a gaunt man with his hand up, exactly like the other depiction in a hall south of here. We speculate that both probably lead to the same room or area.

First, we open the secret door and waves of heat come from the room. Tiny holes appear on the ceiling and floor. On the far wall, a bronze sconce holds a burning red candle. The Warlock detects no magic in the room. As the Paladin enters the room, the door slams shut, and lava begins entering through the holes in the ceiling and floor. When he blows out the candle, he is teleported to an entirely dark room with no air. Searching he touches a skeleton holding a candle. Other skeletons have a waxy substance on the ends of their bones. When he breaks off the waxy substances, air begins to fill the room and he is teleported once again.

This large room is filled with terracotta warriors arranged around a sarcophagus. Four aisles lead to the coffin of Shagambi, the kamadan. At the terminus of two of the aisles sit two other teleportation pads. The Paladin misty steps to the coffin and fails to open it. He then misty steps to another pad which teleports him to in front of the Mirror of Life Trapping. Luckily, he resists the pull that would have imprisoned him. After he rejoins the party, the Warlock uses mage hand to place a cloak over the mirror. There is some discussion of everyone teleporting to Shagambi’s tomb to open it, but the party wisely decides the risk very much outweighs the reward.

The Warlock stands in front of the stone slab door with the gaunt man and mimics him by giving him a “high five”. The door lifts open. Within is a set of corridors leading to a central area. Here a gold crown with a black opal in it rests on a marble pedestal. As the Warlock takes the crown, the stone door slides shut. From the inside, we see the door has the painting of a man, only his right arm is severed at the elbow.

The Druid feels something attack her mind, but she resists as two bodaks appear from the north and south corridors. The Druid is like, “Nope!” and polymorphs her attacker into a fish. As it flops on the ground, the second withdraws. We give chase, but it disappears into a familiar green devil mouth on the eastern wall. Heading back to the open area, the Warlock identifies the crown and mentions something about the, “depths of evil of humanity.” We decide no one will be putting on that crown anytime soon.

Back to the devil, we contemplate whether this is an escape route. From it, we hear whispers, but no discernable words. The Warlock casts light on a rock and tosses it in, but it has no effect. The Paladin can sense undead coming from the mouth, likely the bodaks. The Paladin ties a rope around the Warlock. When the Warlock pokes his head inside the mouth, his body falls to the ground minus one head! The remainder of the party stands shocked, looking to the Cleric. Sadly, the Cleric informs them that because of the curse of the Soulmonger, no manner of restoration or resurrection spell will revive our fallen comrade. The Tomb of Annihilation has finally claimed one of us! However, if we can destroy the Soulmonger and find someone powerful enough to cast true resurrection, we can bring him back. This becomes our mission – destroy the Soulmonger and revive the Warlock. First, however, we need to find a way out of this trap, and we are reluctant to mirror the painted man by amputating our right arm at the elbow. I hate it here. So yeah, Happy Halloween!