ToA: Session 38

## **Round 2: Fight!**

The fight rages on, as Kinlek has freshly dispatched one of the three giant serpents, he joins the rest of the team in fighting off the snakemen. Neb continues to blast at the remaining septasnake while Daedalus roasts his own accosting snakeman alive. In the water, Fargus is accosted by the last remaining snakeman, which proves to be a foolish choice on the part of the fiendish creature. Since he somehow missed Fargus drowing his giant cohort, he attempts to attack the crazy water dwarf with a knife, only to absolutely destroyed by Fargus's axe. On the raft the Septasnake rushes the group, knocking Kinlek into the water and smacking Neb right into Daedalus. Luckily for Daedalus, his heavy armor keeps him standing firm. Unluckily for Neb, Daedalus's heavy armor keeps him standing firm. After failing to subdue the septasnake, Fargus instead gives the big bastard a bitch slap across the brow, distracting it so Neb can get off a powerful shot that shatters one of the monster's fangs. In a rage the septasnake snaps at Fargus, taking some of his cheek with the remaining fang. But tis merely a flesh wound and after jumping back so Daedalus can blast the septasnake with another gout of fire, Fargus finishes it off by taking its whole head off. As Artus and Dragonbait rejoin the group, Artus cuts open the chest of the septasnake to reveal it is filled with yet more dead snakes.

## **Living in a village DOWN BY THE RIVER**

As the raft continues down the team notices signs of the river having once been used for fishing and possibly travel. And as the sounds of animals return to the air, the team realizes they are being watched. A group of three children, possibly in their early teens, follow them on the uncorrupted side of the river. Seeing as they are Chultan and Neb was using his Chultan appearance, he called out to them, and is waved at in turn. The children are wary and look to be underfed as well. Asking them to take the team to the village, the children comply and lead the group to what remains of their village, deeper in the jungle. The village of Xochipilli shows the same signs of famine as the children, and the team is taken to the elder to find out more.

## **Party in the breadline**

The group is taken to three elders, Quitzel, Chipotl, and Loch, who give the team packages of spice blends and offers them food and drinks. They show the team a statue of an eagle and a frog, and share the tale of the two great and powerful gods. Taolag the frog who controlled the rains and storms and Quitzel, the wise eagle. They told the team of how the two had become rivals over who was the greater god and began to fight for control over the lives of those in the valley, causing great suffering with droughts and flood. After the team asks about if anyone had seen the CGC, a 17 year old boy speaks up about having seen them, and the description of the peacok feather cloaks enraptures the elders. They invite the team to join them in a feast with the last pig they have to offer.

## **A Party at Rest**

The team is happy to share their own food with the hungry people, as well as do a round of healings as they can. The people are sick with the taint spreading through the jungle, as well as being slowly pushed out of their home by the ever present threat of cultists and ghouls and snakemen. The elders share the story of how the world came to be, with a noticeable jaguar motif to much of their beliefs. During the meal Daedalus walks off with the 17 year old from before, Zipatotecl, who secretly tells Daedalus that he has seen ghouls make their way across the river, and takes him to where it happened so Daedalus can set up some wards. He tells Daedalus more about something called the Dream Thief who has been feeding on the villagers, even making him forget about his once girlfriend, and the face of his father. He brings Daedalus to a set of fallen stone towers that act as a makeshift bridge across the river, and the artificer gets to work setting up the ward against the ghouls.

## **Unexpected Connections**

Back at the fire, the rest of the team learns more about the village, and how they had once used the river to connect to all the other settlements and had been part of a thriving trade network. They even have advanced steel tools, which Kinlek recognizes from the maker's marks as having been made by the Firebeard clan, best known for braziers and metalworking. As this goes on Daedalus and Zipatotl are interrupted by movement in the trees. They attempt to hide and watch as a group of those snakeman ghouls from before climb to the edge of the windchimes in the trees, which seems to both give them a path to move through and limits them to where they can go. Leading them is a snake woman in leather and brass armor, weilding a spear. She notices someone is there and demands they show themselves, naming herself the daughter of the Dream Thief. As Daedalus shows himself, she alights her spear in flame, and wherever it moves over, the plants below die. But the river rushes up to block her way, forcing her back. In an act of malice she throws a dead heron upon the waters and threatens that she and her people "will come for you."

**Will this new threat prove dire for the squad? Will they be able to turn the tide on the approaching cultists? Will yet another enemy throw of their schedule for being the unintended heroes? Find out next time on Tomb of Annihilation!**