Our heroes discover the source of the Nyanzaru plague, which leads to a very unexpected reunion.

When last we left our heroes, they had finally arrived back at Port Nyanzaru only to find the city locked down under quarantine. The citizens are dying by the hundreds and nobody seems to know how or why. The city is gripped with fear. The town’s resources are depleted just trying to contain the panic. It’s up to our heroes to save the day. What else is new?

One thing that Tomb of Annihilation is missing is a good mystery. I don’t know about good, but I can at least give them a mystery. Like the explosion mystery in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, a calamity has occurred, the sudden death of hundreds of residents, and the party has the decipher the clues that lead them to the culprits. There are no suspects yet, but there are plenty of witnesses and lots of clues.

These clues are laid out like breadcrumbs for the players to follow and I’ll reveal them as we go. As for witnesses to questions, there are several who have info related to this mystery. There is a new NPC, Templar Georgi Faithful, who runs this hospital; the Merchant Prince ally, Wakanga; the head of the Temple of Savras, Grandfather Zitembe; new NPC Ige, the owner of a local tavern and its patrons; and there are the victims who are physically affected and dying of the Death Curse.

As I mentioned last week, Tomb doesn’t do a great job of presenting the Death Curse. It is supposed to be a global pandemic, but the book only mentions three victims that are actively affected by it, and two of them do not admit their affliction. Since the main villain’s plan is to collect as many souls as possible, we are going to need a lot more bodies. We need hundreds of victims, but let’s start with those whom are directly affected from the Death Curse.

I made a list of fifteen new NPCs that are dying from this Curse. The first effect of the Curse is that anyone who has been resurrected in the past is now withering away until they die and their soul is collected by the villain. I argue that even in a fantasy world the true number of resurrected souls would be very, very small; it is a rare and expensive process. But still, the players need more than the three presented victims to reflect the lethal nature of this plot hook, the inciting event of the entire adventure.

This list serves several functions. First this list supports the old entertainment adage of: Show, don’t Tell. Instead of merely telling the players about the Death Curse in a boring and impersonal way, now through roleplay with several victims the player can see firsthand the effects and importance of this disease. These victims come from all walks of life, young and old, wealthy and poor, healthy and sick to show that anyone can be afflicted with this curse. To keep thing interesting, I wrote a variety of deaths for each victim, some heroic, some tragic, some funny, and it doesn’t matter if they had been revivified, raised from the dead, or resurrected; the Curse affects them all.

The mechanics of the Death Curse work such that the afflicted lose one hit point per day until they die and lose their soul. I chose a different death day for each victim, spread out over the course of three months so that a new victim would die every 4-5 days. By learning the details of these afflicted, the players can learn more about the curse, but the clock is ticking. I use my personal Chult calendar to keep track of these impending deaths so that I remember to keep my players in a constant state of apprehension. Who’s going to die next? You can view my full unmarked calendar here: Calendar ToA

The true value of the Dead Pool list is that it provides an opportunity to give your players a more personal connection with this Curse. Out of these 15 new NPCs, your party is likely to connect with a couple of them. As each of these NPCs die, your players will have an unconscious and exponentially increasing desire to stop the Curse. In my campaign, every time a new victim dies, everyone who knew that person gets a nightmare vision that shows the death of the victim, the loss of their soul, and the threat that soon every soul on earth will be taken. This compounds all the fear, anxiety, and paranoia that this Curse properly deserves. Okay, let’s start the session.

“One of the ziggurats in Old Town has been converted into a quarantine hospital. The conditions are deplorable; hundreds of cots are strewn about, each one filled with a desperate victim with no separation between the sick, dead and dying. Dead bodies lay stacked in a corner waiting to be taken to the nearby Refuse Pit for “disposal”. A dozen harried clerics are staggering about from cot to cot in a state of exhaustion trying their best, but there is no cure, just a debilitating sense of hopelessness and despair.

As you walk about looking for someone in charge, a hand reaches out and tugs at Gwen’s clerical robes. A delirious man speaks feebly, “Have you seen my son? I can’t find him anywhere. He works with me at the bathhouse, but it’s closed thanks to all this.” This is Gatura, specifically created for Gwen due to her previously established love for the Port Nyanzaru bathhouse. Gwen’s response betrayed her true motivations, “Oh no, the bathhouse is closed too? I mean, we’ll find your son. What’s his name?” Before passing out the man replies, Samir, and I am Gatura.” That’s one player hooked, three to go.

Our heroes find the director of this hospital and he happens to be the head of the local Order of the Gauntlet faction, Templar Georgi Faithful. More importantly, he is a far more reasonable man that the last Templar who runs the Gauntlet in the jungle. See, not every NPC in charge has to be a jerk; just most of them. As soon as our heroes offer to help, Templar Faithful tells them everything he knows.

Clue 1 – People started getting sick shortly after the Festival of the Monsoon. Clue 2 – This plague, as people are calling it, affects some people differently. Clue 3 – Most look like they’ve been poisoned: High body temp, fever, nausea, sweating, vomiting and the veins in the body become pronounced and darkened, what the people call the Black Vines. Clue 4 – This version is painful and quick and fatal; in the ten days since the monsoon, over 200 have died, 150 more are dying, and each day we get another 20-30 new sick. Clue 5 – There is another, much smaller group of sick people that have opposite symptoms: Low body temp, weakness, lethargy, the skin becomes pale, dry and brittle with bloody lesions and sores all over the body in the later stages. Clue 6 – We’ve only seen 15 cases of this second disease and so far, only 4 have died, mostly young and weak, but even the strong ones get weaker every day. Clue 7 – Regardless of the version, no healing can help, no clerical spells work. We’ve even resorted to some ridiculous gypsy hogwash called medicinal science, but nothing can cure them. Jinkies, we got a real mystery here, gang!

While the players mull over this information and try to formulate a plan, Roland attempts to use his Lay on Hands ability, but this also proves to be useless. Thames asks if anyone received any odd dreams on the night of the Monsoon. Templar Faithful replies with Clue 8 – Everyone we’ve asked did have a nightmare that day, reliving a past event where they escaped death, then the dream ends with a terrifying voice saying, “See you soon”. Gwen asks if anyone has compiled a list of where the infected people came from. Faithful tells them that they are working on that list and should be ready in a day or two. Gwen channels Dr. McCoy from Star Trek and says, “Dammit Georgi, these souls don’t have a day or two!”

The group wants to go visit their Merchant Prince ally, Wakanga, but I beat them to the punch. He arrives with the High Priest of Savras, Grandfather Zitembe. They proceed to a private bed where lies a dead serving girl named Ndidi. Zitembe attempts to cast raise dead on the girl but is unsuccessful. “I’m sorry my friend. I can’t explain why this failed. It’s as if her soul is lost. I cannot find it.” Wakanga is bereft with grief and Gwen is having an existential crisis because this confirms Clue 9 – Everyone who dies since that fateful day cannot be resurrected by any means.

 

My group left Wakanga to his mourning and instead questioned some of the patients. They quickly moved past the ones sick with the first illness. They all had the same story: got sick, got worse, sent to the hospital, even their death dreams didn’t provide any new clues. However, they did provide Clue 10 – Many of the sick had recently purchased a talisman from a street vendor. It’s probably just a bogus trinket sold by a con artist profiting from the calamity, because desperate people will do anything for hope. Our heroes obtained one of these talismans off one of the dead to research later.

Next, they focused on the twelve remaining victims who presented the second set of symptoms with more success. Here they learned Clue 11 – Every person in this group had been killed and resurrected at some point in the past. Only one victim, Bakata, refused to admit that he had once died but the group knew he was lying and did not press the issue. As I expected, the group gravitated toward a few of these NPCs, three in particular.

First is Gatura, the bathhouse guard with the missing son. Tragically they learned that the son, Samir, has already succumbed to the disease and died. This lead to the absolute coldest line spoken by any player during the entire campaign. Gatura asked if he could see his son, to which Gwen replied, “Don’t worry, you’ll see him soon.”  We really need to work on this cleric’s bedside manner. It took about ten minutes for all the players (and the DM) to regain their composure after that line.

Second, they met Sigfrid, a cleric of Savras who also used to be an adventurer, so she and the players share a lot in common. She regaled them with her exploits in the arctic Spine of the World and the time she was killed defending one of the Ten Towns from a remorhaz attack. She will become quite relevant later. Third, the group was surprised to find Houndspurr, the tabaxi rogue whom the group rescued from the Yuan-ti slavers back in Session 13. Apparently, our heroes had rescued him from slavery only to die at the hands of this debilitating disease. Houndspurr admitted to have been resurrected but lied about the nature of his death. This truth will reveal itself later. But at least Houndspurr was able to reveal the fates of the others they rescued, especially that of the guides Faroul and Gondolo.

Ever since our heroes and the people they saved split ways back in Session 15, my players have been dying to know what the journey home for this ragtag group of civilians entailed. I rolled up a complete random encounter list for the group to see if they would make it back to Port alive. They did. Along the way they encountered a crocodile that chased their boats, bats that plagued their sleep, a vision of a beautiful woman that caused Volo to fall out of the boat only to be hauled back in (it was really an Eblis), crossed paths with another expedition heading to Thunder Falls led by the guide Salida, and finally a pack of Zorbos that stole their oars, forcing them to walk the rest of the way home. Incredibly, they all made it back to Port Nyanzaru, upon whence Faroul and Gondolo were hailed as the heroes.

Dubbed the Saints of the Shosenstar, stories spread like wildfire about the cunning, courage, and combat prowess of the two glorified guides who single-handedly assaulted a Yuan-ti temple, killed all the demonic snakemen inside, rescued six enslaved citizens of Port Nyanzaru, and safety escorted them through a monster infested jungle back home. There was a parade, there is a motion before the Princes to commemorate the event as Faroul and Gondolo Day, and Volo is including a chapter in his newest book about their adventures.

Needless to say, my players were livid. “But we did those things!” “We rescued those two idiots!” “Who do those two jerks think they are? When I get my hands on them, I’m gonna…” I cannot repeat the rest of that sentence because children might be reading. They asked Houndspurr, “You know what really happened, why didn’t you tell them the truth?”

To which he replied, “We figured you were dead. Who cares who took the credit? I didn’t want it, too many people watching, asking for autographs and such. Bad for business. They can have it.” My players asked where Faroul and Gondolo were. Right now! “They’re probably back in the jungle. Seems everyone wants them to be their guides. And they’re charging triple the rate!” At long last, my players have their first real nemesis. I think they hate these guys even more than Ras Nsi.

With nothing more to be gained at the hospital, our heroes finally headed home, only to find that the dilapidated ziggurat that they’ve been using is still falling apart. It might even be even worse than before. Is that a new hole in the roof? Where the hell is Meepo? Their beleaguered kobold minion is here and he is still incompetent. He’s out of money again. No one’s been doing any work on the home since the Plague started. And he’s been taking care of a bunch of tribal natives that don’t speak any language. “Thanks for that by the way, boss. And there’s a giant robot that’s been standing at our back door for hours now. Do you know anything about that?” Oh yeah, he’s with us. His name’s Vorn. “But thank heavens you’re all safe. What animals have you brough for my master’s zoo back in Waterdeep?” Umh, we have this parrot.

A few days pass (mere minutes in game) while our heroes settle back into Port life such as it is during a locked down quarantine, and debate the nature of the plague gripping the land. Thames uses his alchemy kits and learns Clue 12 – Those talismans being sold on the street are actually cursed magic items that makes you vulnerable to disease. Some sick group of bastards is purposefully spreading this plague. They asked around about these street vendors and learned that they exactly match the same descriptions of the people involved in the slaver network in Port Nyanzaru. Previously, our heroes learned of a group of Yuan-ti purebloods who could pass for human and were suppling captured slaves here in Port to be delivered to the Yuan-ti Temple in the jungle. This led them to unlucky Clue 13 – The Yuan-ti are involved in this plague. Yet again the Yuan-ti are the cause of so much misery here in Chult, and my players hate them now even more. Almost as much as they hate Faroul and Gondolo. Finally, at the end of the second day back in town, our heroes catch their first big break in the case.

Back at the hospital, the clerics have compiled a map of all the cases contracted in the city. All the dots in red have the first version of the disease. The fifteen yellow dots have the second version. Examining the map gave my group Clue 14 – The first disease is centered around two major hubs while the second disease is scattered all over the city. Further evidence that this is two separate problems. Ian scoured the map some more and asked about these two circles in the middle of these red disease hubs. “They look like wells. I want to investigate them.”

Heading to the nearest one, it is indeed a water well. They had a hilarious encounter with a little boy carrying a bucket. (No, it is not Bucketboy. My players already made sure that he was safe.) Gwen terrified this innocent babe, threatening to kill him if he ever came near this well again. He ran away crying. The prospect of permanent death has really put Gwen over the edge. The rest of the group was aghast.  “Gwen, dude, you need to chill.” “It’s for his own good,” Gwen snapped back unapologetically. They took some water samples from the well and corralled two guards to watch the well and make sure that no body drinks from it.

I played these two like the idiot guards from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. “Ooh, umh, what if somebody draws water and drinks it later? Is that okay?” No. Just watch the well and make sure nobody drinks from it. “What if, umh, what if we guard them while they drink from it?” No! Guard the well and make sure nobody drinks or draws water from it! “Umh, what if somebody falls in the well? Can’t he drink from it?” No! Don’t let anyone fall in the well! This went on for far too long, but I was amused by it.

Back at Thames’s alchemy station, the artificer discovered Clue 15 – The well water has been poisoned and cursed. Yes, yes, as Woody (and one of my players) would say, “Somebody’s poisoned the water well.” It’s not a terribly original villainous plot; we’ll call it a classic scheme. Thames also learns that in order to cure this affliction, one has to cast remove curse and then lesser restoration. My players could have discovered this by randomly casting the right combination of spells, but they were more satisfied by figuring it out like Sherlock Holmes.

This prompted another trip to the hospital, where they were able to cure one of the victims of the first disease with this proper spell combo. They tried it on one of those afflicted with the second curse, but it did not work. This must be something stronger; a more deadly Death Curse you could say. Templar Georgi Faithful was speechless with admiration. “I don’t know what to say. You’ve saved all these people.” We’ve finally moved on to the point where NPCs start treating my players like heroes and not just mercenary scum. Georgi continues, “We’ll get to work right away curing the rest of them. But we still have to find who did this.”

But first, a stop at the Merchant Prince ally, Wakanga. After the customary “Sorry for your loss” platitudes, it’s down to business. Fortunately, Wakanga belived this outlandish tale of snakes and poisoned wells. Through Wakanga’s connections, the town will set up guards at all the water wells. But this will stretch the town’s resources even more. And with no access to fresh water, the town will soon panic. We (and by that, I mean the players) will have to stop who did this quickly. They have the What and can guess the Why, but they still need the Who, Where, and How.

So, it’s back to the drawing board or in this case, the contagion map. There are two smaller disease clusters on the map. One from a tavern in the Grand Market and another in what seems to be a small house. The house is a red herring and a dead-end clue. But my group is smart and asks if there is anyone from that house here at the hospital. Well, there is. There is sailor named Amara who tells our heroes that he had just arrived home from a long voyage and his family was celebrating at a local tavern. And where is this tavern? It’s called the Gilded Spirits and it’s located in the Grand Market. So, it’s off to market.

The Gilded Spirits happens to be the same tavern where the party first met Volo way back when. Due to the quarantine, business is terrible with only a few die-hard drunks at the bar. Volo is one of them but we’ll talk with him later. The tavern is also right next door to the spice merchant that Miche bought spices from during that same session. Unfortunately, the entire spice stall has been recently burned down. We’ll get back to that later too.

In the tavern, they talk to the owner, Ige, who is quite upfront with the fact that several people got sick here. The group was initially suspicious of her but she was honest and innocent. She claims that everyone who got sick all drank from the same barrel of tej, the honey mead drink popular in Chult. She had to throw out three barrels, but no one’s gotten sick since. They ask about how tej is made and she tells them that it’s rather simple: water, fermented honey, and spices. They ask where the water comes from and Ige tells them that the closest well is in the Merchant’s Ward; not one of the two known contaminated wells.

Ige introduces us to the boy who collects water for her. I didn’t have a name for him so when asked, I called him Bobbybouche. They ask about where the tainted water came from and the waterboy who is only about 10 years old answers suspiciously, “Er, I always get the water from the, ah, merchant well.” Gwen doesn’t even wait for a perception check and starts threatening the kid. “Okay, okay. The spice stall next door was empty, so I took the barrels from there. The next day, the stall burned down. I didn’t cause this plague, did I?” Gwen shot back with another overly-callous remark. “Oh, no kid. You only murdered a dozen people.” Ouch, good luck with your therapy, kid.

As they investigate the burnt spice stall, they find a small portion of a larger note that was not consumed in the fire. The note reads, “bring… to temple… Shadow of Savras.” It is hard to see in the photo but there is also part of what looks to be a blue triangle on the note. This is the symbol of Ras Nsi. To strengthen this Yuan-ti connection, I have them remember that this Spice Merchant was also one of the purebloods killed in the Yuan-ti temple. (In that session, they all failed their perception checks to make this connection). From this they can confirm Clue 17 – The Yuan-ti are using barrels of tainted water to cause at least part of this plague, and they are covering up their tracks. Now we just have to find their hideout.

I had a couple of ways for my players to find this hideout. They could track down the owner of the spice stall and learn his address. Or they could stake out one of the wells or a fake talisman vendor and then either follow them or threaten them to give up the location. My players also thought of another great solution to cast find the path on one of the talismans. They had gained this one-time ability from a Ubtao statue in the jungle and I had completely forgot about it. But in the end, they found it accidentally by following the clue on the burnt note.

Early the next morning they went to the temple of Savras, because, thanks to the note, they suspect someone in the temple might be involved. This is the first time the group visited, so I describe this stunning temple on a hill devoted to wizards and seers with its central dome tiled to look like a giant eye gazing up to the sky. And I describe that in the morning light, all the buildings in town, especially those on the city’s four hills cast striking shadows that reach toward the west.

Suddenly the clue on the note makes sense and my group asks where the shadow of the Temple of Savras points to. I tell them that it leads to a non-descript home along the western wall of the Merchant Ward. “I got you now, you son of a bitch!” The session ended here with my heroes heading off to finally confront these villainous Yuan-ti slavers/poisoners/terrorists and end their reign of terror once and for all.

But lucky for you, dear reader, this is another double session recap, because I am way behind and I need to catch up. After last week’s thrilling mystery, I wanted to end with a little dungeon crawl. I’ve said before that the other one thing this adventure lacks is dungeons (except for the over compensating massive one at the very end). All the locations are camps, forts, and small villages, But Dungeons & Dragons needs dungeons! The claustrophobic isolation of delving into an enclosed environment like a cave, or a ruined temple, or even just an abandoned house is a powerful psychological part of the game. And I wanted to give my group a rematch versus the Yuan-ti that kicked their butt last time, but now my players are much more capable and powerful. Don’t worry I got a surprise for them at the end. This should be fun.

Arriving at the house in the shadow of Savras, they see that it is rundown and unkempt. It doesn’t look like anyone lives here. Outside they find a beggar sleeping on a stoop. They ask the beggar who lives in this house. The beggar slurs, “No one lives here. But I wouldn’t go inside, it’s haunted.” Ignoring the bum’s advice, they toss him a coin and tell him to scram, they’re gonna go kill some “ghosts”. They also ignored the bum’s jeweled pendant that looks like an eye, maybe he’s a failed cleric of Savras who’s fallen on hard times. (He’s not.) For the first time in the campaign, the party encounters a locked door and Martic has to reveal that he owns a set of thieves’ tools and knows how to use them. The others have questions but they’ll have to wait.

I don’t want this “dungeon” to be huge, so this entry foyer is empty with just a single door leading further in. A set of stairs leading up is choked in rubble and will take hours to clear. Also my group didn’t realize that the beggar was really a sentry with a previously seen method of alerting his masters, so they did not realize that they were walking into a trap. Our heroes enter a dining room that has seen better days. All the furniture is mismatched and in disrepair but it has clearly been used recently. There is a single door on each wall and the only thing of note is the portrait of a stern Chultan male on the opposite wall. Just then the painting blinked and a loud CLANG sounded behind them as heavy bars blocked the door they entered and the other doors all opened as bandits poured in from both sides.

From the far door enters a 6-foot tall Chultan male with grey slitted eyes. Even before he speaks in the hissing sibilant style of a snake, you can tell that this is a Yuan-ti pureblood and it matches the description of one of the fake talisman vendors and part of the slaver network. “You must be the ones Ras Nsi warned us about. No matter. You may have found our operation but you’ll never live to tell anyone. Kill them!”

Compared to their first encounter that resulted in a TPK, this fight was a breeze. Five bandits, a bandit captain, and a Yuan-ti Pureblood proved no match for this new and improved group of seasoned adventurers. Now the party is so well-balanced; everybody got a kill. Even Grum, the ex-Flaming Fist mercenary and current underling, delivered a final blow. After the battle, the players were a disappointed to find some paltry gold and a bunch of dead ends. Two rooms were makeshift barracks and the other was a kitchen but none of them led anywhere. For only the second time in the campaign, they had to look for secret doors. And both times were in homebrew locations.

Fortunately, they found one in the kitchen which led to a trapdoor which led to a natural cellar and into a small cave complex. As our heroes creep down, they are stopped in their tracks by the chilling voice of Ras Nsi. “Sissal, there are four agitators in the city, two half-breeds, a duthrael, and an uppity dragonkin. Kill them immediately.” Certain they were about to face the main villain, they snuck into the next room. Inside they see a Yuan-ti malison with a human body and snake head (damn! it’s not RasNsi), alongside three Purebloods and, for good measure, a half dozen snakes. This was not Ras Nsi, but at the purebloods definitely matched the look of three more slavers. This cave had been converted into an alchemy lab with a dozen more barrels of tainted water ready to roll out. Like brave fools, they took the element of surprise and attacked.

Obeying the rule of escalating conflict, this fight was tougher than the previous one, but still my players dominated. Thames was resistant to their suggestion magic. Martic was resistant to their poison, and even when Roland was grappled by a giant constrictor snake, he just teleported away. Sometimes I really hate this version of D&D. Every effing player can cast misty step. At least I got to paralyze Gwen for a little bit when Sissal, who is still not Ras Nsi, pulled out a wand and blasted her with it.

But this battle was all about Thames. He was a one-dragon wrecking crew, and got the killing blow on all four Yuan-ti. Whether by Thunderwave, a shocking grasp to the face, or a cannon blast (from some weird artificer “spell”), Thames got the killing on all four baddies. After the battle they earned some minor loot (38 gold!), a Wand of Binding, and another sending stone, except this one had four interlocked blue triangles. Doing some quick math, my group guessed that there were at least two other stones out there, and one probably belonged to the last Pureblood slavers that is not among the dead ones here. They’re not wrong.

They may have some cursed barrels of Yuan-ti poison, but they still haven’t discovered the source of the plague, so they travel deeper into the unknown. When I am designing challenges for my group, I try to think of the most dramatic and surprising, yet plausible encounters. I love recurring villains, and I love mining past encounters where players maybe didn’t perform their best. For this final battle, I went all the way back to Session 3 for this one. Back then, I never expected to bring this foe back for a rematch, but as the campaign developed, they became the perfect rematch.

“As you descend deeper, the cave walls are damp with moisture and you smell the briny scent of the sea. The tunnel opens into a large rough cavern grotto. Several stalagmites and columns dot the cave which ends at a sandy beach and the gentle waves of the ocean. But this is no idyllic scene. The cave is strewn with garbage; flotsam, jetsam, dead fish, smashed shells, and the smell is the most disgusting smell you’ve smelled since your first night on the island when you narrowly avoided a fight with…”

The Sea Hags! Once I created the second plague that involved disease and curse magic, I knew I wanted to bring the hags back. Plus, since a different trio of hags play a big role in the endgame, this could be a good opportunity to foreshadow them. My only head-canon issue is how did these sea hags come into the employ of Ras Nsi? Ultimately it doesn’t matter; at some point Ras Nsi simply asked them.

I want this to be a fair fight, so I don’t allow either side to have surprise. “From the shadows of the cave, you hear a familiar cackling voice, “Well, well, well, Drisella, what have we here? I smell the scent of new arrivals for our entertainment.” And second voice calls out from another dark corner, “Not so new, my dear Anastasia. I never forget a smell. They’ve been our guests before, when they destroyed our beloved crab-eye and stole our meal. We must repay their crimes and have them for dinner. What do you say, Cruella?” From another section you just hear a pig-like snort in reply.

When last we came across these hags, I contrived a reason to only have two of them, because if my group had faced a coven of three at the start of the adventure, then this would have been a very short campaign. But now, they have a fair shot at fighting a proper trio and I am itching to have a full-on hag fight. Even so, I played around with the stat blocks of these hags, nerfing them in some ways and boosting them in others, all relating to their spell list.

In the Monster Manual, a coven of three hags has access to an incredible, and very deadly, list of spells. But all three types of hags (green, night, and sea) have access to the same list, regardless of their challenge rating. Frankly, no trio of low-level sea hags should have the same spell list as a coven of much stronger night hags. In my world, a sea hag coven can cast up to 3^rd level spells on the list. For me, this lowers their Challenge Rating to 3, but that’s still 2100XP for killing all three.

 

On the flip side, it is implied (though not specifically stated) that the moment one hag dies, the other two lose all ability to cast spells. This cripples the two remaining hags, rendering them irrelevant. To boost them back up a bit, I rule that when one hag dies, the remaining two can still cast spells, but from one level lower on the list. Thus, when one sea hag dies the others can cast spells of 2^nd level and lower and so on. This may shock your seasoned players (Ian called me out on it), but it is your world, your rules; just play fair. Okay, enough rules, let’s fight hags.

Immediately all three hags cast a litany of spells at the party; ray of sickness, hold person, and bestow curse. The best part about being a DM, aside from being a virtual omnipotent god, is a chance to play all the varieties of monsters and their combat options. Sure, most of them are just different variations on the same mechanic, but I do revel in the telling. Hags have some pretty unique spells and abilities; I have to make sure I get to use them before my players massacre me.

I wish that I kept better notes about each player’s individual attacks since combat with monsters is most players’ favorite aspect of the game. But I tend to get wrapped up in the minutia of subtracting hit points and not the means by which we got there. I know that my hags got smited by the paladin, multi-attacked, hunter’s marked and pushed around by the bugs of the ranger, smacked with cannon blasts and catapults by the dragonborn and his griffon homunculus, and toll the dead by the cleric. Also, it was very nice to have a hag cast counterspell on the cleric’s silence, but beyond that it’s all a blur.

I waited until a fair number of them lined up perfectly for my last 3^rd level spell, lightning bolt, but it nearly proved fatal to their minion, Grum. I thought that he was well out of the spell range, but I thought the range was 80 feet, not 100. When the hag cast the spell, a drew a blue line right on the mat, right through Roland and Thames, through a jumble of rocks, where it went though Martic and I thought ended there. Until a player schooled me that I needed to draw another 20 feet, right toward Grum. I expected my players to survive the damage, but there was no way this lackey guard was gonna make it. Mercifully, the bolt died just one hex away from their plucky mercenary. I think we all would have been more upset if we had lost Grum, than if we had lost an actual player character.

Eventually, the first hag (Anastasia) fell to Roland’s mighty smite. Then a second hag (Cruella) was hit with a successful silence spell. This caused her to “drop the veil”, and unleash her horrific appearance, one of their two unique abilities. Their already ugly façade is replaced with their true, and even more ghastly, image; instilling fear upon all who see her. I gave my players a chance of avert their gaze, and they all passed this save which stopped me from unleashing the hags’ second ability, death glare; that has the chance to immediately drop a player to zero hp. I never got a chance to use it, but my players were afraid of it, so that’s almost as good.

Ultimately, this hag was taken down by blind fire from Martic. The last hag standing (Drizella) pleaded for her life. But Roland was not in a forgiving mood and slew her where she stood. At long last, our heroes have rid the world of the Shipwreck Coven and avenged the honor of that nameless Flaming Fist soldier these hags had maimed so many moons ago. He does have a name, it is humbly hilarious, and maybe our heroes will finally learn it next week.

Searching among the wreckage, in addition to all the usual hag garbage, bags of bones, jars of flies, and sopping bags of mystery meat, our heroes discover a cryptic letter that proved more mysterious than I ever intended. As a reward for solving this Mystery of Snakes and Hags, I wanted to give my group a little puzzle that could not be solved by mere dice rolls. Written in a language that doesn’t exist, our heroes will have to decode a curious little cypher.

More important than this mystery note, our heroes have found a potion book that has the antidote for the tainted water that began the Nyanzaru Plague, or the Black Vines Blight, as it came to be known. Our heroes have saved the city! But don’t worry, I’m sure that Faroul and Gondolo will find a way to take credit for that too.

Next week, our heroes receive a prophetic gift in a session filled with runes, glyphs, and secret societies. And the Flaming Fist.

As always, like a good mystery, keep your players guessing, and Game On!

The game is afoot – Sherlock Holmes

Don’t forget to check out my Tomb of Annihilation Resources Page, filled with all the stuff I use to make this epic campaign even more epicier: My full Campaign Diary, plus Handouts, Maps, Charts, PDFs, Images, and more to use, abuse, or ignore at your peril.

And written specifically for this adventure, read my Explorer’s Guide to Chult to delve into all the legands, lore, history, religion, and culture that I used to bring even more life to this adventure.