It’s the Battle of Ten Armies! With new friends, new enemies, betrayal, salvation, and we nearly break the campaign.

When last we left our heroes, we had a genuinely pleasant conversation with one of the true royalties of Chult in her magical undersea castle, the Pearl Palace. Mainu, The Lady of Olung and Queen of the Deep, is one of the seven mythical barae (rulers) of Mezro, a legendary city that was seemingly destroyed over a century ago. Our heroes learned a number of new facts. First, Mezro is not really ruined, but rather hidden away in an alternate reality to avoid disaster. Tragically, Mezro and all her citizens are trapped there and cannot return until “all threats to the city” are eliminated. This includes the Death Curse and the notorious Ras Nsi.

Our heroes also learned a lot about that nefarious Yuan-ti; his tragic fall from grace, subsequent exile, his descent into madness all while fulfilling his sworn duty and the almost noble motivations behind his despicable actions. He’s still bat-shit crazy, but now they have a greater understanding and appreciation for their nemesis. Don’t worry; they still want to kill him.

Lastly, they learned a bit about Artus Cimber, a mysterious man from Chult’s past, whom several groups, including a gang of Frost Giants and a woman claiming to be his daughter, are hunting for. In fact, this woman, Xandala, has hired the party to find Artus and they just found out that she lied about her reasons for finding him. Why these groups are hunting him is still a mystery, but it has something to do with an artifact called the Ring of Winter. Perhaps this can also explain the inexplicable areas of frozen tundra our heroes have found while exploring the steaming, hot jungle.

Later that night, our group was haunted by a nightmare that relived the death, resurrection, and soul stealing re-death of their close friend and ally, Undril Silvertusk. She was a carefully fostered NPC and tragic victim of the Death Curse designed to spur my players to action. In response, my players were mildly miffed at the loss of their imaginary friend and vowed to get around to that pesky Death Curse eventually. But first, they want to check out the cool ruins of Mezro!

To be fair, I have spent months in game teasing my players with tidbits and hints about this mystical city and goading my players to investigate her ruins. In fact, the whole purpose of this particular excursion was to arrive at this destination, so I don’t mind that the nebulous Death Curse is not higher on my group’s To Do List. With so much build-up, I have to make Mezro a memorable location. Unfortunately, despite its intense significance to Artus Cimber, Ras Nsi, and Chult itself, Mezro is given no attention in the book, going so far as to say that there is no treasure, clues, or anything of interest to be found here. This is a huge missed opportunity.

Given the magnitude of this location, there should be something here. There is an excellent PDF adventure called Lost City of Mezro available on the Dungeon Masters Guild for $14.95. It is written by one of the co-authors of Tomb of Annihilation, Will Doyle, and features three adventures (and a supplement) in Mezro for low, mid, and high-level characters. In full disclosure, I do not own the full PDF and I’ve only read the sample part of it, but I love the synopsis of the three adventures and if the included map (see above) is any indication, then I’m sure the product is worth the money.

As for my game, I did not discover Lost City of Mezro until after I ran this session. Plus, for my campaign, I didn’t want to bog down the location with a multi-session mini-adventure. But I still need something momentous to occur here. As the campaign has developed, one NPC has risen to become the perfect focal point for this monumental occasion: Artus Cimber.

I love the weirdness of his placement in the adventure. He is the anomaly, the enigma, the WTF character that doesn’t seem to fit, but somehow does, despite the illogic of it all. As a legacy character from the original source material and an official NPC in this adventure, I knew he would play a major role in the story, and like Ras Nsi, demanded a significant build up to his eventual reveal. I turned him into a mystery that didn’t make sense and slowly unveiled new clues over time. His olfactory companion (another legacy character from a different source) only compounded this confusion. I loved teasing out moments that all seemed unrelated, and only magnified his mystery.

The foreshadowing began before my players even realized it with the throw away mention of the name Artus Cimber in a lost journal written over 100 years ago (Session 1). There were some strange scents in Port Nyanzaru (Session 6), then the discovery of a frozen lake in the middle of a sweltering heat wave along with some unrecognizable footprints and more odd odors (Session 10). They were given a map once owned by Artus (though they don’t know that at the time in Session 14). Then they found a Wanted poster of an unknown man dropped by some terrified Frost Giants (a WTF enigma in its own right from Session 16). The poster offered only one clue about this mystery man, a runic note that read “Wyrm Friend”.

Later, they discovered more frozen tundra, more scents, and new wanted posters, where they finally learned his name, only to realize they knew it all along (Session 24). They also realize that this human is over 150 years old, which made no sense to the group. Along the way, they met a lost nobleman whose ancestor knew him, a ghost who was once rescued by him, and a woman who claims to be his daughter and paid the group to find him (Session 25). When the group finally met the Frost Giants, they hired our heroes to kill him and let slip the first mention of the ring of winter (Session 28). Lastly, they met a 1000-year-old queen who knew him well, yet frustratingly refused to divulge any secrets about this Hero of Mezro, who had once saved her beloved city (Session 29). That’s a lot of set-up for just one guy; he better be worth it.

When I first began foreshadowing Artus Cimber, I had no idea where or when he would finally appear. The book leaves this vague as well, with a number of options for his introduction: Camp Righteous, The Heart of Ubtao, Jahaka Anchorage, Kir Sabal, Orolunga, or anywhere in the jungle fleeing from something (which is really a cop-out.) As time went on, it was obvious that the perfect place to finally reveal this grand-daddy of all cameo NPCs was in the one place not suggested by the book. Here at the start of it all; the mysteriously-ruined, (and also heavily foreshadowed), ancient city of Mezro. BTW, had my players run straight to this location at the start of the campaign, I doubt that Artus would have appeared here. It would have been too soon in the story. I’m glad that my players took as long as they did to get here. 

Today’s session began innocently enough and was designed to mess with my players expectations. It started as an exploration encounter with the expectation to learn some more lore and exposition. Next, my group was excited when they realized this would be the grand reveal of the man they’ve sought for months and expected a straight roleplay encounter. It quickly devolved into a standoff that had to be resolved before that could even begin. Then before the long-awaited conversation could properly occur, the encounter exploded into an utterly chaotic massive battle. But I’m getting ahead of myself

As my group explored the ruins of Mezro, they were struck by the immense vastness yet utter emptiness and suspicious silence of the place. It was like an above ground tomb. Bits of rubble choked by the encroaching jungle were everywhere, but nothing to match the massive mecca that was Mezro. Even when they reached the center of town, nothing remained of the massive crystal pyramid rumored to exist here except a single small structure surrounded by debris. It is a stone building about 15 feet square and on the west side there is a broken doorway that leads inside. The party hears sounds of something inside and they smell a mix of honeysuckle and ham. They have smelled this curious scent before, and could guess what it portends. Excitedly, the group burst into the room…

Only to come face to face with two serious and determined warriors with their weapons drawn in challenge to our heroes. They were a decidedly odd duo. One is a surprisingly squat, barely 4 feet tall, biped that was equal parts lizard, dragon, and human and yet none of those things at the same time. Its size and appearance are almost comical. But what isn’t funny is the massive greatsword it wields deftly in its hands. The sword was taller than the thing holding it, yet you can tell that this thing knows how to use it. More ominously, the sword glows with a divine light. This creature now has an unmistakable scent of smoke and violets and his face reflects a curious mix of fear for and devotion to the human standing next to it.

In contrast to this strange and enigmatic creature, the man is plain in comparison. Of average height and build with hazel eyes, ruddy brown hair, and unremarkable features, there is nothing distinctive about the man except for one thing: a slight hint of frost that seems to preternaturally cling to his clothes and hair. He holds a strange curved dagger in his hand and his face belies a weary expression, as if he bears the weight of the world on his shoulders. Despite his haggard appearance, the group recognized him immediately from his wanted poster. This is Artus Cimber.

Before our heroes can speak, the man demands, “Be you friend or foe? Who are you and what are you doing here?” Our heroes quickly scrambled to explain everything. This was made harder because the de facto leader and main speaker of the party, Roland, was absent today and missed the session. Good thing that Artus is a good NPC and this wasn’t a subterfuge encounter because my players left nothing out. They told Artus about the wanted posters and the group of frost giants that want him dead. They told about Xandala who hired the group to find him and claimed to be his daughter. They apologized for this, because they now suspect that she is not his daughter and lied to them. And they told about meeting Mainu in her Pearl Palace and the very scant details she relayed about Artus.

The mention of Mainu allowed Artus to trust them. “You would not know to speak of Mainu unless you speak the truth and had truly met her. No one living today has ever been to her palace, not even I. You must be quite exceptional to have earned her trust. Although she and I don’t agree on much, if she trusts you, then I would be wise to do the same. Let’s talk.” Artus and Dragonbait sheath their weapons and the second most anticipated conversation of the campaign can begin. Too bad it was so brief.

Artus introduced the group to Dragonbait. He explained that “Dragonbait is a Saurial, a race not native to our world. Despite his appearance, he is not unlike a paladin in our world. (Another reason I was bummed that Theo missed this session.) He understands us but cannot speak, so he uses a series of scents and smells to communicate simple ideas. For example, that ham you smell is a sign of concern. I don’t think Dragonbait trusts you just yet. If you smell violets, be on guard; danger is about. But if you smell baked bread, run; because that means he’s really mad. I met him in Port Nyanzaru and he has been a valuable ally and trusted friend, but I’ve seen him fight and he can be a dangerous foe. I don’t know much about his past but maybe someday I’ll hear the tale.”

Arus went on to confirm that he does not have a daughter which made Thames very anxious to meet Xandala again. So, he can wring her scrawny little neck. He verified what Mainu said about Mezro, Ubtao, and the barae. He was surprised to learn the nature of Mezro’s disappearance, but was relieved to learn that his beloved wife, Alisanda (and also a bara of Mezro), is still alive, even if she is trapped in an alternate reality. Artus tells them that he only meet Ras Nsi once, many years ago, but this seems like something he would do. He also claimed that he’d had some run ins with the frost giants chasing him but would not admit as to why. He trusts the party, but not completely.

With a total lack of diplomacy, our heroes ask if it has to do with the ring of winter. Yes, they just said it out loud; no beating around the bush with this group. Little do my players know that this is the trigger for the next part of the encounter. A flash of shock and resignation registers on Artur Cimber’s face and he is about to speak… When suddenly the room smells of violets. Dragonbait grabs Artus and shoves him out of the room. “What do you do?” Naturally, everyone followed suit and jumped out of the room. “Give me a Dexterity saving throw.”

Everyone passed, (it was a low DC). “You all jump clear just as the building explodes in a shower of rock and rubble, as a giant boulder bounces through the wreckage just missing your heads. You are prone on the ground and covered in rock dust, but you were lucky. Roland was clipped by the passing boulder and is knocked unconscious. (This is what you get when you miss a session.) Looking past the rubble through the dusty haze where the boulder came from, you see the shadowy Frost Giant from Session 28 standing beside an enormous winter wolf, and he’s holding another huge rock. He speaks, “Drufi was right to have you marked. She knew you would lead us right to him. Give me the ring Artus and I might let you live!”

Our heroes quickly weighed their options. They could fight, run or sweet talk their way out of this. With the unconscious Roland on their hands, running was out of the question. Artus Cimber stated that the ring must never fall into the giant’s hands, so surrender is out. The party could betray Artus and hand him over to the giant. This was considered, but fortunately they chose to play their alignment and be good guys. This left fighting as the one true choice. It would be difficult, but if there is just the one giant, then they stood a chance. They decided to flank the giant to the north. Roll initia…

Not so fast! This is Mezro, the mythic site of bombastic battles and stupendous shenanigans. The anticipation for this legendary locale has been building for over a year. I can’t just throw a single giant at them and call it a day. This site demands an epic encounter. You all remember the finale of “The Hobbit” and the Battle of the Five Armies? Forget that. Allow me to present the Battle of the TEN Armies! Way cooler.

From the North Road, the party hears the voice of an unfortunately familiar Southern drawl. “Why I do declare, lookie what we have here. The Siderian scum and his gang of hooligans. I really must thank you for telling me all your plans. You may be peasants, but at least you’re honest. I only want the dragonborn for “interrogation”. The rest are free to leave, though I think your giant friend has other plans. Surrender the dragon spawn over to me now.”

Dammit, not this guy! That pompous ass also from Session 28, Atticus Sheffield Smythe, Red Wizard of Thay, all-around schmuck, and mortal enemy of Thames’s entire nation has joined the fray with his entourage; a half-dozen mercenaries and an army of two dozen undead. They have the north road blocked off and this time they don’t have any interest in parlay. Our heroes should have taken this guy out when they had the chance, but I’m glad they didn’t. How’s the South Road looking?

Suddenly a sibilant hissing sound resonates from the South Road. “Sssstop right there! Ras Nsi wassss right. The insssurgents are here. Rsi Nsi sssends hisss regards. You were worthy adversssariesss but are now just a nuisssance. Your journey and your livesss end here.” Five Yuan-ti along with a dozen snakes have taken up position along the South Road, cutting off that avenue of escape. The only positive note is that this group looks like they just finished a forced march to get here. Hopefully, this will favor our heroes. (They have the first stage of exhaustion, so all checks and saves are at Disadvantage.)

The party looks to the west, seeking any way out of this growing catastrophe, when a piercing scream invades their brains, followed by the sense of dread not felt since their narrow escape from the hallucinations suffered in the spore-infected Mines of Session 27. The scream becomes a voice inside their heads. “There is no escape from The Colony. Mother demands you rejoin the Colony and spread her seed. Yumog is eternal.” A half dozen Lichen Spawn, fungal minions of the mutant spore Yumog, have followed the party and caught up with them here. Back in the mines, Roland and Gwen almost succumbed to their infection, and now they’re here to finish the job. And of course, they are standing on the West Road, closing off their last escape route. Okay, now, you can roll initiative. Good luck, fellas.

I’ve been waiting for this fight since Day 1. As I’ve mentioned, this adventure is based on the novel “The Ring of Winter”. The finale of that story is an epic battle in the city of Mezro, so I’ve always wanted to run another epic battle in their ruins. In the book, the enemies of that battle were a tribe of Batiri goblins and the evil Cult of Frost, plus a few other rogue variables. For my battle, I want to make my bad guys be the culmination of all the factions that my players have manage to piss off. I wanted the player’s actions to dictate who they fought here. For instance, had they made enemies of Baldur’s Gate back in Session 23, they would be fighting the Flaming Fist here. The pirates at Jakarta, the goblins of Yellyark, even the Order of the Gauntlet were all possible candidates had the campaign run differently. But I am very happy with this roster of giants, red wizards, undead, yuan-ti, and hallucinating fungi.

I ran this massive battle like the one I did for Camp Vengeance in Session 19. Read that post for more details. And read How To Run A Fantasy Siege for even more ideas on running big battles. The most important aide for running this type of encounter is the ToA Mezro Battle Roster that lists every enemy, their stats, combat options, and other details all on one sheet. The main difference between this battle and the one before is that the first was broken down into manageable waves of attack and the players knew that other allies were around if things went poorly for the group. This time, everyone was attacking at once and except for a weary ranger and a mute dragon-thing the party was on their own. Of course, there will be some changing conditions and surprise complications as the battle progresses, but until then, these guys are screwed.

The first few rounds were all about survival. On purpose, most of the enemy combatants did not have range weapons and I placed them all beyond the 30-foot distance so that those enemies will have to spend the first round getting into position, spreading out and closing off escape routes. The few who did have range weapons, such as the mercenary spears, yuan-ti arrows, and the giant’s boulder would be a nuisance but unlikely to kill anyone. And because I am not a complete jerk, I also removed the Yuan-Ti madness arrows that caused the TPK back in Session 11. My group has enough problems to deal with.

The biggest problem for the players right now is the wizard. His first action is to launch a fireball at the party. This won’t kill them outright, but a few more of these and it’ll be barbeque city and game over, especially for the unconscious paladin. Fortunately, Dragonbait has a 10’ radius Advantage versus spells and magic for him and his allies. Make sure you use this to your player’s advantage. To further balance this encounter, I rolled a separate initiative for each faction, this spread out the battle to make it a more fair and more tactical combat. Basically, a player would act on his turn, then an enemy group, back and forth, for each round. This forced the players to come up with ways to neutralize different opponents, before their attack. This allowed me to spread out my attacks (instead of lethally all at once) and allowed a few players to spread out away from the group and minimize the area effect spells.

Still, my players were in dire straits. I had no idea how they were going to get out of this dilemma. The players were frantically looking over their character sheets, looking for an unused ability or item that could help them. First and unexpectedly, Thames cast vortex warp on the wizard, moving him right into the middle of the group and forcing that wizard to waste an action casting misty step and not casting another fireball. But I was pleasantly surprised when one player found a single-use item that I had randomly given to them weeks ago and forgot all about. It came from the treasure chest found in Session 26. Most of that treasure was randomly rolled using the charts in the DMG. Lady Luck was with our heroes during these rolls, because there was one item that saved all their lives. For now.

The Cleric reached into her sack and poured out the contents of the shimmering vial upon her companions and new allies. The dust of disappearance took effect and our heroes vanished from sight, momentarily pausing the lethal assault. The wizard, giant, and Yuan-ti weren’t completely fooled by this trick and the Lichern could track them telepathically, but the various minions were confused, and this gave the party one crucial first round to develop a plan and prepare.

Next, Thames grabbed Roland and hid his invisible body in some bushes. He had to run past some Spawn Lichen, but even though they could sense him, I had them roll their opportunity attacks at disadvantage. Everyone else scattered and set up their positions. The only downside to the invisibilty spell is the lack of any offensive ability. The moment they choose to attack would expose them. And all the while the enemies were closing in as the archers, spear-chuckers and boulder-flinging giant fired blindly into the general area and still managed to do some damage, making the invisibility a good but not and invincible shield. The players can’t hide forever and will have to act soon.

Of course, my biggest problem is not getting my players into the fight, but rather keeping one person out of it. Artus Cimber. As important as he (and his titular ring) is to the story, he is just too powerful. I don’t like having a deus-ex-machina NPC in my game because they render the player’s actions irrelevant if there is a super powerful ally to save the day. I’m looking at you, Gandalf the Gray. The ring of winter is a cool and mysterious artefact, but it could easily overpower this entire encounter. But I still want to show off all its cool abilities. Decisions, decisions.

If you use Artus Cimber in a battle, be sure to be familiar with all of his abilities and use the ones that are better than what the players can do but not so bad-ass that it destroys the battle before it begins. My Artus Cimber is actually afraid to use the full potential of the ring and will only do so in the most dire of circumstances, such as freezing an entire lake to escape a T-Rex as our players found back in Session 10. He is constantly afraid of the evil compulsions of the ring only uses its powers to escape, so he wouldn’t engage the wizard or the giant directly. Instead, he will try to make a break through a weak point of the assault and get away. He would not abandon our heroes (he is a still good character), but he will try to led them away from the conflict. Plus, I will have a complication in a few rounds that will (fingers crossed) take this OP McGuffin out of the fight entirely.

As his first action, prior to being turned invisible, Artus used the ring to create a creature whose sole purpose is to take on the frost giant’s pet. As the white wolf charges toward our heroes, bits of snow and frost emanates from the ring on Artus’ hand to coalesce into a frigid version of the king of beasts, blocking the wolf’s path with a frosty roar. It is fitting that an Ice Lion should be the thing best suited to challenge a Winter Wolf. If only I had the foresight to repaint my generic lion mini into a more frozen variety.

After a couple of rounds, the fight was at a stalemate. Our heroes were still invisible, but they have been unable to attack directly and they are still taken occasional damage from a lucky enemy attack and they are now completely surrounded. My group was afraid to drop the invisibility because they were convinced that they would be overwhelmed. It was time to turn up the heat and give them a new reason to compel them to join the fight. I said that this was the Battle of Ten Armies, but I have listed only five groups (Our Heroes, the Giant, the Red Wizard, Yuan-ti, and Lichen Spawn) on the field. I count Artus and Dragonbait as a separate group, so that makes six. Well, here come the other four.

From the four corners on the map, four new factions enter the fray. From the northwest, a couple of Giant Spiders enter the arena attracted by the sounds of battle. From the southwest, several feral Su-monsters, monkey-like abominations with a nasty psychic attack, come looking for an easy snack. From the southeast, we hear the battle cry of a dozen Batiri Goblins that charge onto the field in their unique battle stack formation. But are they remnants of the Yellyark tribe looking for revenge or something else? Seemingly, these additions just made the fight go from bad to impossible, but they still weren’t as bad as the fourth group that came here to “help” our heroes.

From the northeast corner, the rest of our heroes’ entourage joins the battle. There are the group’s loyal porters, the hirelings Grum and Benedict, Roland’s kamadan steed, Stripe, plus their druid guide and his useless plant companion, Weed. They had been given instruction to proceed to Mezro while the players took on a side quest. They’ve just arrived to help, but they are not invisible and they are completely exposed and vulnerable to overwhelming enemy attack. Our heroes will have to join the fight just to keep this group from getting massacred. Worse still, Xandala is with them and at this moment our heroes are convinced that she is a bad guy, or gal. What chaos will she inflict upon the battle? Spoiler Alert: a lot.

In order for my plans to work, I need to remove suspicion away from Xandala. She runs into the fray and immediately casts Chromatic Orb on the Red Wizard inflicting some decent damage on the encounter’s most dangerous enemy. Now my players don’t know what to think. Is she a bad guy, or not? She is fighting alongside us, so maybe there’s a reasonable explanation for her suspicious behavior. I just want my players (especially Thames) to think twice before attacking her. And it worked. My group gave her the benefit of the doubt (for now), which was all I needed to enact her real plan that will occur in a few rounds.

While Xandala might not be an immediate threat, these other new groups are. I let the reveal of these new enemies sink in for a few moments, waiting to see if there were any reactions. There was the obvious despair, which was delicious to watch. But then there was renewed hope, as they realized that this could be tuned to their advantage. As part of that same treasure horde that held the dust of disappearance, I gave them a Mask of the Beast. The book only provides one of these items (see next session). I added several more and in addition to casting animal friendship, these Masks can command the type of creature on the mask. Our heroes, specifically James’ Martic, have the Monkey Mask and he’s been wearing it ever since acquiring it.

Using the mask, Martic commands the Su-Monsters to fight for our heroes. And it works. The compelled monkeys charge into the swarm of Yuan-ti and snakes, wreaking havoc on those sinister slitherers. I hand the players a card that has the abilities of the Su-Monster on it and tell them that they each control one Su-Monster who acts on their character’s turn. But that’s not all. There is more good news.

Suddenly, the spiders stop their advance on our heroes and instead focus on attacking the nearest undead. It turns out that Artus’ magic dagger has the ability to control spiders. Since the book includes a detail like this, it is the job of the DM to make certain that the players get to see it. So of course, I’m going to include spiders into this scenario. My players don’t know why the spiders are helping them, but they’re not complaining. I don’t give the players a card for the spiders, since they are controlled by an NPC, but I do give them another creature to run.

As the Batiri Goblins charge onto the field of combat, our heroes realize that the battle cries they’ve been shouting are actually saying, “Protect the hoomans! Big Boss says so.” And I hand them a card with the Batiri Stack stats on it. Ever since the big fight when the party was fighting against the goblins back in Session 15, I thought it would be fun to have them fight alongside our heroes this time. In my head, this is the same tribe that attacked Mezro over a hundred years ago in the Ring of Winter novel, but now they are fighting to defend it. Why they are now good guys is a mystery, but the reason will be revealed soon. For now, there are three stacks of goblins, one for each player. How convenient.

Just a quick note about my Goblin Stack minis. I was very disappointed when I ran the Yellyark session that I didn’t have any representation for the unique Goblin Stack. I love this neat and ridiculous way for goblins to be more “intimidating” and attack larger enemies. But just putting a goblin on the battle mat and saying, “Oh, that’s four goblins stacked on top of each other,” isn’t very impactful. So, I made several Goblin Stack mounts out of some scrap hardboard I had lying around. The mounts stood 4 inches tall with a small dado joint at each 1 inch mark to hold the 1-inch square base for each goblin to stand on. My stacks were just a tad too small. I wish I had made them a little taller (5-6 inches) with a dado at every 1¼” or 1½” and I wanted to paint little tribal masks on the back side, but they still came out pretty good. Back to the battle.

As with every combat encounter, I don’t actually want to kill any characters; the monsters want them dead, but I don’t. I just want them to think that they could die at any moment. This scenario was particularly satisfying. What started as an impossible scenario (a Kobyashi Maru if you will) against an unstoppable army of overwhelming numbers has now turned into a glorious battle royale with the players not just fighting as their character, but also as mercenaries, goblins, and even monsters. Had Roland been here for the session, there would have been even more undead and yuan-ti to fight but there would have been another Su-Monster and Goblin Stack to balance it out.

The battle was gleefully chaotic. So many things were happening, I couldn’t even write them all down. The kamadan knocked out a couple of red wizard mercs then moved to protect her unconscious master. Su-Monsters and Yuan-ti were trading physical and psychic blows back and forth. The players did a great job running the goblins as the astonishingly impressive goblin stacks took on the giant. The goblins suffered heavy losses, but the players kept reforming the stacks and nearly took down the giant single-handedly. The player’s actual characters had dropped their invisibility and they had their hands full against the undead, the lichen spawn, and the Red Wizard. There were ice storms and firebolts, failed suggestions and counterspells galore, and webs (both player induced and monster) flying everywhere. Heroes were held, poisoned, charmed, covered in dead snakes, knocked down, knocked out, revived, and Thames’ robot Seppi died, but at least the Red Wizard was never given a clear line of attack to use his cone of death (my necro version of cone of cold) because the players were constantly moving around. Good boys.

Through it all, Artus Cimber was making his way toward the spider quadrant, where he could break through the line of undead and escape. He purposely did not use his deadly area effect ice spells, so as not to injure his new allies, but he did use several of his minor powers to good effect. At the same time, Xandala was surreptitiously making her way toward Artus Cimber, all while seemingly fighting on the player’s side. But once she was close enough to Artus, she enacted her devious betrayal.

Her plan presented in the book is pretty good but there is a mechanical flaw in the plan. She will cast dominate person on Artus, demand that he gives her the ring, then cast fly and escape. The problem is that you can’t cast two leveled spells in the same turn, and the moment she gets the ring, every player will do everything in their power to stop her. She can get the ring but then she’ll be stuck there for a full round, getting hammered by the players, before she can even attempt to fly away. I don’t like breaking the rules just so I can cheese as the DM and Xandala is not at the level to qualify for “legendary” actions. But she is a sorcerer, so by giving her a single-use item, I can still achieve the same result.

As the battle progressed, I moved all my minis into position so that Xandala and Artus are next to each other, but no other allies are in melee range of the duplicitous damsel. Xandala uses her quickened spell ability to cast dominate on Artus Cimber as a bonus action. I rolled Cimber’s saving throw out in the open and he failed to repel the charm. He dutifully hands the evil artefact over to Xandala. Still on the same turn, she drinks a potion of flying. I considered giving her boots of flying but I didn’t want my players to get this item, once they defeated her. The potion is fine. With the taunt of, “See you, suckers!”, she begins to fly away with the stolen ring. BTW she failed her save versus the sentient ring, and on her next turn she will probably unleash one of the more devastating ice spells on the party. Too bad I never got that far.

All the players are furious but not surprised at Xandala, especially Thames, and they are all trying to devise some reaction to stop her. But there is none, my plan is foolproof. I expect the encounter to change into a frantic run through the jungle as the party chases Xandala and everyone else chases after the party. Thames is the closest to her but still not close enough to provoke an opportunity attack. “What about that guy?” he asks pointing to one of the Lichen Spawn. That happens to be standing right next to Xandala.

Fuuuudge. The Lichen Spawn are a mindless killing machine, whose only purpose is to infect and absorb as much life as possible. It doesn’t care about allies, tactics, or Xandala’s petty schemes. Naturally, it would attempt to infect any soul it can get its tendrils on. So, it attacks her. To no one’s surprise, the opportunity attack succeeds and these creatures have a chance to stun its victims. Of course, Xandala fails her save, so just as she attempts to fly away, a moldy fungal tendril comes out of nowhere to knock her senseless as she slams into the ground. This led to a massive dogpile as every player smacked this blacked out back stabber into oblivion. In less than six seconds, Xandala lay dead and her mad plan for world domination never even got off the ground. Literally.

I was slightly crestfallen. Of course, I did not want Xandala to succeed. But I did hope that this moment of unbridled betrayal would last longer than half a round. Ah well, the best laid plans of mice and men and dungeon masters. But wait… There just might be a second chance at calamity. The stolen ring still lay in the palm of Xandala’s cold dead hand. Without thinking, the neophyte artificer Thames, closest to the dead body, quickly snatched up the ring, to keep it out of enemy hands and fully intending to return it to its rightful owner, as the world-weary Gwen reached out across the battlefield (and physically across the table) and yelled to no avail, “NO! Don’t touch it!” Should this moment occur in your game, play it up to the hilt, with as much wintery pathos and gravitas as you can muster.

 

“As soon as you touch the ring, the battle seems to stand still, frozen in time, as icy daggers stab at your mind. An unbearable cold seizes your heart with a chill that sends a shiver down your very soul. The steaming jungle fades away as the frost glazes over your eyes. Inside your frigid brain you are assaulted by visions of a world encased in ice. All your friends, family and companions lie dead by your hand, consumed by ice in ghastly frozen effigies. A cold hatred gnaws at your bones and the whole world must be made as cold and barren as your heart. A blinding blizzard stirs in your mind and now the world is covered in an endless sheet of snow that will never melt. This Ice Age is eternal, and you laugh a cold, lifeless laugh because you will be the instrument of its destruction. And you like it. Thames. Give me a Charisma saving throw.”

It dawned on Thames that he may have made a grave and fatal error. Thames’ mind, soul, life and maybe the fate of the entire campaign, lay in this single roll of the die. If he fails, the other players will have to do everything in their power to kill him or die trying. And the odds were not in his favor. To save you the time looking up the rules in the DMG, the ring will attempt to assume control of anyone who touches it, forcing a DC15 Charisma saving throw (12 plus the ring’s charisma modifier of 3). There is no guidance, no help action, no cheap bonuses to apply. Roll the dice.

With great trepidation, Thames rolled the most important roll of the session. We watched with bated breath as the plastic polyhedral tumbled end over end, bounding across the table until fate intervened, causing the die to come to a rest upon…

15! The merciful gods have decreed that the campaign shall not die today. “With all your might, you force the frozen nightmares from your mind. The chill seeps from your heart and your frosted vision melts away to reveal that you still standing in the ruins of Mezro as the battle still rages around you. In your hand, you still hold the tiny gold ring that seems to hiss as its icy flakes melt back into its very core. Your hand feels numb as if stricken with frostbite. What do you do?”

“I get this eff-ing ring away from me and give it back to Artus Cimber!” Artus, freed from the dead Xandala’s charm, and with a mix of relief and sadness, takes back the cursed item. “You are very lucky indeed my silver scaled friend, we will speak more of this if we survive. What say you, shall we rejoin the battle?” This encounter left Thames (and maybe even his player) scarred and traumatized. From this moment on, Thames will touch nothing without using the mage hand spell. This will cause me no small amount of grief and chagrin when we finally descend into the Tomb of Annihilation. But that is a problem for another day. Let’s get back to the battle.

The battle raged at the table for over another hour. There were no more surprises, but there was no quarter and no mercy given on either side. With the duplicitous Xandala dispatched, our heroes focused on the red wizard. Poor Atticus Sheffield Smythe never stood a chance. They whittled him down to about 20 hit points, when he too decided to beat a hasty retreat. He was about to cast greater invisibility on himself and abandon the battle, but sadly for him he has to wait for Martic to aim one last arrow at him. Even worse for Mister A.S.S., Martic drew one of his Yuan-ti madness arrows. “I’m done messing around with this clown,” I believe was the quote. Since these arrows were directly responsible for my previous TPK, it’s only fair that my players give me a taste of my own medicine.

I should pay more attention to the rules about range weapons getting fired through a crowd of targets, but I’ve ignored it so far, so I won’t start now. The arrow flew true, struck the wizard square, and he too failed his save at the most inopportune time. After hunting around for my over-stuffed folders for my Madness Table (we haven’t dealt with this for months), with a roll of 29, we learn that the Red Wizard was overcome with a bout of incapacitating outbursts, unaware of his current surroundings. Thames immediately pounced on him, binding his limbs, and gagging the defenseless necromancer to be dealt with later.

After that, the rest of the enemies began to fall like dominoes. First the lichen spawn, then the wizard’s mercenaries and undead. The Yuan-ti were taken out by Gwen, Qawasha, and the Su-Monsters. The Winter Wolf was taken out by our heroes’ entourage. And finally, although they had been reduced to just one stack, the Batiri goblin just kept chipping away at the Frost Giant, until it was finally put down like a mongrel dog.

The ruins of Mezro ran red with blood and the mangled bodies of over fifty souls that lay broken amidst the rubble. But our heroes and their friends were grateful to all be alive. Our heroes scavenged the field of battle for salvage and spoils of war. I will discuss their discoveries next session. As for their unexpected allies, having served their purpose, the spiders and the monkeys returned to their hovels. Meanwhile, the few remaining Batiri Goblins were gathering up the snakes of the Yuan-ti, presumably for dinner. Our heroes tried to talk with them. “Thank you, good goblins. But why did you help us?”

The goblins didn’t understand and could only repeat, “Papa Big Boss say help hoomans.” This did little to explain things. Fortunately a voice rings out from the South Road. “They came to your aid because I told them to.” Coming up the lane is none other than Feron Silvemace, the lost and inept noble they bumped into back in Session 25. (My favorite part of this session was the wrap-up of so many threads left dangling throughout the campaign.) My players were ecstatic to bump into this trivial NPC again. I had only created this guy as a bit of an easter egg to the source novel and to drop a quest location hook on my players. Back then, the group was bummed when Feron refused to return to town with them and insisted on going back into the jungle alone, presumably to die. But now, here he was alive and triving. They couldn’t wait to hear the tale of how he not only survived, but is now the king of a tribe of savage Batiri goblins.

But tis a tale to be told another time, for I am exhausted after such a long battle and the buzzards are beginning to circle the charnel field.

Next week, enroute back to Port, we knock some pterodactyls off their perch, and meet the world’s unluckiest lycanthrope.

As always, if you place a loaded gun (or an evil ring) in your scene, make sure somebody grabs for it and Game On!

FYI – I apologise for such a long gap beween session. You know, life, blah, blah, blah. But I’m back, and I’ll try to keep up a better pace. No promises. I’m a very unreliable narrator.

Hey, 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.