Gods and Monsters

The Strangers With Weapons continue through the Tomb of Annihilation, discovering some lost and dark history.

## Major Plot Points

* SWW found Dani Dorito (Jamie Erb's new character), an elvish wizard, who had been trapped in the tomb for a century. They agreed to let her join the party.
* The Strangers With Weapons then continued their journey through the Tomb of Annihilation. The first room they entered had a large statue of a stone knight in the middle of it surrounded by rusty armor and weapons. The characters could feel their metallic objects being pulled towards the statue.
* Vulveeta, believing the statue to be a real person, ran in and attacked. She was quickly drawn to the statue. Her metal weapons began to rust once she was attached to it.
* Vlad went in next and his metal armor dragged him towards the statue. He was soon stuck with Vulveeta.
* Dani cast Dispell Magic to rescue her new friends. Vulveeta’s weapons weren’t rusted too badly. Vlad’s armor, however, was heavily rusted so his AC was reduced by 4.
* In the next room, the party found a fountain with stone maidens pouring water into the basin. Two stone women drank from the fountain. Voloth collected a vial of the water. Vulveeta used her fishing pole to take a gold triangle pendant out of the fountain. Vlad put it on.
* The party then discovered a balcony that overlooked a large atrium. Vulveeta noticed a masked, pale dwarf on the balcony below who quickly disappeared in the darkness.
* The SWW then headed north and found a hallway with a large bladed fan spinning in the middle of it. Voloth tried to dive through the blades and took 33 slashing damage. Vlad successfully avoided the blades. A little too late, Vlad realized he had two scrolls of Arcane Gate. He used one to get the rest of the party through the fan. He then healed Voloth.
* The party found a tomb with a sarcophagus and three chests on the other side. There was no way to open the sarcophagus so the party investigated the chests. All had keys lodged into the inside lock. Calypso entered the silver one with a frozen body inside of it. Dani went into the rusted iron box. Voloth entered the ruby box full of ash. They all locked the keys from the inside and that summoned magical buttons on the sarcophagus. It also activated the chest traps. Calypso suffered frozen damage. The rust curse of the chest had no effect on Dani as she had no metal weapons or armor. Voloth took 75 fire damage, nearly dying instantly in the flames.
* Vlad and Vulveeta opened the sarcophagus and Voloth offered himself to the monkey god, Wongo.
	+ Violent and deranged. The host can unleash a psionic assault on a target it can see within 60ft. Target must succeed on a DC16 Wisdom save or be stunned until the end of the target’s next turn. If the target succeeds, roll a D4. If it’s an odd number you make a melee attack against the closest creature next to you - friend or foe. If it’s a tie, pick a creature at random.
	+ The mummified monkey inside the sarcophagus is now loyal to Voloth and gave him a mace of terror.
* After a long rest in Wongo’s tomb, Vlad used his last Arcane Gate spell scroll to get through the fan again.
* The SWW then discovered the third and final tomb on the first level. The doorway was the mouth of a stone jackal. Vlad and Voloth went through it. Once they did, it’s flaming eyes died out. Vulveeta discovered the jaw was hinged and used Calypso’s Immovable Rod to block the trap. Dani, Vulveeta, and Calypso then entered the tomb.
* Inside the tomb was a sarcophagus and a crystal box with a human skull inside of it. The skull used telepathy to speak to the party. She was Visenya Al-Gharib, daughter of Zalkore, and former princess of Chult. Vlad successfully soothed the girl by promising the spirit that they’d come back for her and help her leave this place. Wongo revealed that the nine religious factions of Omu killed the remaining royal family after Zalkore was exiled for being turned into a gorgon. Visenya said her brother, the prince, escaped and she wanted to be reunited with him and her mother.
* Vlad opened the sarcophagus, took the staff of the python inside, and willingly let Moa, the snake, drag queen goddess possess him.
	+ The host can turn invisible. Invisibility ends when attacking, casting a spell, dealing damage, or forcing a saving throw. The host cannot kill. It can only knock enemies unconscious. Truthful and Kind.
* Moa showed Vlad how to use the gold triangle pendant to access the secret staircase to the second level.
* The party discovered a gruesome scene after descending into the second level. There was a laboratory with crucified flayed men in each corner. A large metal table was covered in blood. A smaller table beside it had bloody daggers, tubes, and scissors on it. Four pale dwarves opened an iron maiden, revealing a horribly disfigured Nolard. His one eye was forced open with pins. His mouth was stitched shut. His skin was covered in blood, chains, and metal plates. The once friendly cyclops attacked the SWW.
* After killing the dwarves, Voloth was able to talk Nolard down through his Charm Spell. However, he begged for death as he feared he couldn’t control his dark urges. Moa allowed Vlad to kill Nolard as an act of mercy.
* The SWW discovered the office of Withers, an undead ancient Omuan. He shared that he was an engineer enslaved by Acererak to build this tomb for the Nine Gods. Acererak was so impressed he made Withers immortal so he could spend eternity managing the tomb and educating himself. He hates Ras Nsi and agreed to give the SWW info if they promised to kill the snake lord - providing Vulveeta access to his scrying pool for entertaining his questions about the outside world. He refused to directly help otherwise - afraid Ras Nsi or Acererak would torture him. Vulveeta used the scrying pool and saw:
	+ Three old women with withered hands take turns breastfeeding a decaying baby.
	+ The key to the third level is to the East.
	+ The location of the staircase to the third level.
* The party discovered a bisected goat man in the middle of a hallway. Vlad found a swinging scythe trap there and took the man’s diary and magic staff.
	+ Devlin’s diary entry: There were eight of us. Only half of us made it into the tomb. I can still see the others rotting as that undead dragon’s breath consumed them. We must keep going in search of the Eye of Zaltec. We were lucky to sneak in behind that snake lord. Though, I fear now that he knew we were there all along and simply allowed us in so we could die. I heard him and his servant speak of captured adventurers. My prayers are with them. What treasure is worth the lives of your friends?
	+ Staff: The owner of this staff gains the beard, hooves, fur, and horns of a goat. It has one charge for each of these spells per long rest:
		- Detect Magic
		- Hellish Rebuke
		- Knock
		- Dispell Magic
* The SWW then found another tomb, however, Moa warned that it didn’t match any of the symbolism of her brothers and sisters. Voloth opened the tomb, which was illuminated in sunlight despite being 50 feet below ground. The light hit a wooden sign that said: Drown Your Sorrows. A stone slab descended over the entrance. Wine began pouring out of stone gargoyles’ mouths and eyes.
* The room filled with nearly three feet of wine before the party was able to turn the valves in the gargoyle mouths.
* The SWW successfully enjoyed a long rest in here once the wine drained out.
* Using the wine sewer grate, the party then entered another tomb.
* Inside this tomb was a sarcophagus surrounded in a salt pentagram. Wongo urged Voloth to destroy the pentagram as whatever could be trapped by it wouldn’t be a threat to them. Voloth did as he was told.
* The party was then attacked by a large gray frog monster. After killing it, the SWW had Calypso investigate what was inside the casket. She found an urn that released magic dust once opened. Vlad fell victim to its effect and suffered from hearing a blaring orchestra taking 11 psychic damage. He used Devlin’s wand to dispell the magic before it could go on for the next 10 minutes and healed himself. Vlad took the mysterious potion from it. Calypso took the petrified frog egg inside and gave herself to Tung-Tung. The sea witch also found a golden triangle pendant.
	+ The host gains a climbing speed equal to its walking speed. The host can climb on walls and ceilings while keeping its hands free. The host’s tongue becomes elongated to 10 feet, which it can use as a whip. It’s resistant to poison damage. The host is vulnerable to lightning damage. Selfish and cruel.