"Lawrence the Lizard" - Tomb of Annihilation, Chapter 37

"'Allo!" said the lizard in perfect Avallonian, "Pleased to meet you! Name's Lawrence!"

Argent jumped back and hit his head on the ceiling of the confined space.

"What happened? Who said that?" inquired Bramble, worried.

Argent bent over and looked out of the devil's mouth, "It's a talking lizard! His name is Lawrence."

Argent returned his attention to the lizard, "Um, I'm sorry about that. I wasn't expecting you to talk. Have you always talked?"

"Oh no," said Lawrence, "I was given the ability to speak by a ranger named Seward!"

Argent extended his hand to Lawrence. Lawrence crawled onto Argent's hand and scurried up his arm to perch on his shoulder. Argent emerged from the niche behind the devil face and introduced Lawrence to the rest of the party.

CHAPTER 37
"LAWRENCE THE LIZARD"

THE EXPEDITION

• Bramble Wolf - a theran barbarian wise-man (Wildhunt Shifter Druid) searching for the legendary origin of his tribe, recently transformed into a woman by a magic fountain, slowly becoming a goat due to a curse from a bronze staff. Current bearer of the spirit of the trustworthy god Moa.
• Apparently Jones - a blue-skinned demijin caravan guide and animal trainer (Air Genasi Ranger) from Akasa, the land of sky mountains. Having failed to find work in Port Nyanzaru as an animal handler, she has joined the expedition to the interior as a scout. Current bearer of the spirit of the foolhardy god of froghemoths named Kubazan.
• Xoc-Wik - a b'alam warrior (Tabaxi Fighter) from the jungles of Bres, searching for those responsible for the destruction of his tribe.
• Zeynap Shiravadakar - a Eusebean smuggler (Human Warlock) bearing the spirit of a celestial unicorn. Current bearer of the spirit of the nimble god I'Jin.
• Argent Truth-Sayer - a golden azi knight errant of Bhamut (Dragonborn Paladin) in the service of Bhamut, sent on a holy mission to join the expedition to destroy the Soul Monger. Current bearer of the spirit of the selfish god of wealth Nangnang.

NPCs

• Orvex Ocrammas - translator and guide for hire; rescued from the Fane of the Night Serpent.
• Lukanu - Omuan champion and former personal bodyguard of Queen Napaka; trapped within a magic mirror soon after the destruction of Omu more than 150 years ago.
• Zaal - goshi (humanoid water buffalo) warrior and best friend of Lukanu; trapped within a magic mirror soon after the destruction of Omu more than 150 years ago.
• Zorai - vyth (grey-skinned alien) explorer sent to Omu to investigate the massive seismic event that coincided with its destruciton; trapped within a magic mirror soon after the destruction of Omu more than 150 years ago.

The Company of the Yellow Banner
Lawrence explained that he once traveled with a group known as the Company of the Yellow Banner. The company had come to Chult to find the fabled Eye of Zaltec, a magic item that could restore life to the long dead. They hoped to use it to free the elioud known as Starfallen from the ghost lantern in which she was trapped. They were separated by a teleport spell and that was the last he heard of them. That was nearly two months ago. Lawrence had survived on spiders ever since.

"How big was the Company?" asked Bramble.

"The company consisted of six adventurers. Let's see- there was Lord Brixton, knight of Avallonis and leader of the company."

Bramble and Argent nodded, sagely.

"Devlin Bashir," the lizard continued, "Uttaran wizard who looked like a goat and carried a goat staff."

"Yep," said Bramble, "We found his dead body. I have his staff."

"Ah, that's too bad," said Lawrence, "Let's see, there was Bravus, a terro cleric from Tsolin. He was known for his magnificent yellow turban."

"I'm sorry, but we found his remains in the tomb of I'jin. He was devoured by locusts." said Argent.

"I see. There was also Sephirius, better known as "Seph". He was an azi paladin of Bhamut from Plaksha like yourself."

Argent nodded, "Yes, we found his remains in the Chamber of Respite. He had starved to death."

"There was also the ranger named Seward."

"Haven't seen him," mused Bramble.

"And finally there was the fighter, Biff Longsteel. Oh! Be careful! Biff Longsteel is a doppelganger!"

The party dropped into combat positions and looked for Biff.

"Where's Biff?" shouted Argent.

Everyone looked around. There was no sign of Biff.

Zaal spoke up, "Do you mean the guy from the mirror? When the stone slab dropped upstairs and separated us, the merchant ran away screaming. Biff said he's go find him. Neither one of them has come back yet." 

Argent asked, "What do we do?"

Bramble replied, "Well, if I remember correctly, a doppelganger can't hold their shape if they're knocked unconscious. So, just in case one of us is the doppelganger, I'll have to turn into a giant ape and smash everyone until they're unconscious. Just to be sure."

Xoc-Wik tilted his head with scorn, "What ELSE can we do?"

Bramble set abut painting small X-marks on everyone's arms using Apparently's (formerly Devlin's) magical ink pot, "Okay, everyone be on the lookout for Biff. If you see any of us, look for this X. If they don't have an X, it's a doppelganger. Kill it."

Pay the Toll

The party exited the hall and returned to the atrium. They were at the very bottom. Four large statues of monstrous four-armed gargoyles were perched atop four square pillars. A small coin-sized slot was located at the base of each pillar.

"Coins? These things are coin-operated?" wondered Argent.

Bramble shrugged, "Feed them some coins."

"Wait!" Zeynap interjected, "Don't forget that the top of each pillar had a different color- copper, silver, gold, and platinum."

The party inserted coins of the appropriate type into each pillar and climbed the stairs to the next higher mezzanine.

They looked down the long corridor facing west. The corridor was at least sixty feet long. A skeletal silhouette staggered just at the edge of the magical illumination of Argent's shield.

The dark shape turned and charged the party. It was a skeleton with a large key-shaped growth emerging from the back it the skull. Xoc-Wik put an arrow into the skeleton which disassembled it. The bones fell lifeless to the floor. The b'alam picked up the skull. The key was shaped like a hexagon.

The Ghastly Door

At the end of the hallway was a large stone slab. On both walls next to the slab were bronze funnels shaped like snakes, mouths wide. The inner surface of both statues were stained with blood and emanated the stench of death.

Argent made a small cut on his hand and dripped a few beads of blood into the mouth of the snake on the right. The sound of chains rattling and frantic shuffling emerged from the bronze funnel, but nothing happened. He shrugged and suggested they instead explore the side corridor to the right immediately behind them.

Rolling Doom

Stairs led down from the main corridor. A closed chest sat at the bottom of the stairs.

DM Comment-
Bramble's player and Xoc-Wik's player simultaneously said, "Mimic!"

Xoc-Wik stepped forward and put a few arrows into the chest, just in case it was a trap.

DM Comment-
As a joke, I replaced the chest with a mimic miniature and said the mimic got up, walked back into the room, and returned carrying the real chest. It put the chest down and retreated into the room, nursing its wounds. That got a laugh.

Argent took Orvex down the stairs. The dragon-man asked Orvex to check the chest for traps. Behind him Argent saw a large room supported by four pillars with a raised area on the far wall. \

Orvex investigated and saw that a wire led from the lid down a small metal tube into the floor. Argent thanked Orvex and sent him back up the stairs to wait with the others. Once he was alone, Argent magically attached himself to the ceiling so that he hung down and opened the lid of the chest.

The ceiling at the top of the stairs unexpected dropped down like a ramp and down it rolled a large stone sphere. Argent withdrew quickly into the room behind him, using his magical gravity-defying  power to stay attached to the wall. The sphere crushed the chest and rolled past. The sphere crashed through the floor just inside the chamber, revealing a thin false floor concealing an acid-filled pit.

Argent looked back into the corridor and up the stairs. Bramble and Xoc-Wik pushed the ceiling back up until it clicked into place. Argent gave them a thumbs up.

Bramble examined the remains of the chest. He found a silk pillow which he proudly procured for his use. Doing so he heard an invisible clink of something metal fall to the floor. He searched around and found an invisible object in the shape of a key.

The party avoided the false floor pit trap thanks to Argent who carried them one by one along the wall. Argent, Bramble, Xoc-Wik, Lukanu, Zorai, and Orvex entered the room. Zaal was too big to fit down the stairs comfortably so he waited  in the hall with Apparently and Zeynap who were suffering from brain fever.

The Tomb of Unkh

Argent dropped everyone along the wall to the right of the entrance and the party began exploring the tomb counter-clockwise. The three walls adjacent to the entrance were made of ten foot panels decorated with scenes of goshi at work building the city of Omu and paying homage to a massive snail with ten eye-stalks. Each eye-stalk terminated in a spiked ball like a mace head.

"This is the tomb of Unkh the flail snail," explained Orvex, pointing towards the giant snail.

The back wall of the chamber was elevated above the rest of the chamber by a raised stage. The wall was adorned with an intricate maze-like pattern. As they looked closer they could see that the maze was a small model with two-inch walls. Closer examination revealed that the passages between the walls were filled with fog and that the walls of the maze were constantly and slowly shifting. Every few seconds, Argent could see a tiny colored dot appear and disappear in the maze.

Bramble pondered out loud, "Maybe we need to use that potion of diminution we found in the beholder vault?"

Xoc-Wik and Argent agreed that the idea sounded plausible bout wondered if there was a different way.

In the center of the room was a large sarcophagus made of opaque crystal. Every six seconds the sarcophagus would change color - blue, gold, purple, green, red, and black. There was a keyhole on the side of the sarcophagus. The invisible key was tried but did not fit.

Argent said, "Got it! I'm going into the maze!"

Xoc-Wik looked puzzled, "What?"

Argent climbed the stairs to the maze on the back wall and touched it. He disappeared in a flash!

Xoc-Wik ran after him and saw a tiny Argent in the maze. Argent likewise looked up and saw a giant Xoc-Wik peering down at him from above. Despite Xoc-Wik's attempts to communicate, Argent could hear no sound. Argent held his hands up to his ears and shook his head to communicate this to Xoc-Wik.

Suddenly, the panels along the other three walls of the room slid open to reveal piles of massive bones and water buffalo skulls. The bones began to magically assemble into large skeletal goshi wielding Chultan axes.

The goshi skeletons charged the party. Zorai was struck down. Orvex took a near fatal hit and was knocked into an empty cell vacated by one of the goshi skeletons. He hid under the bones to avoid further attention.

Lukana drew her yklwas and became a whirlwind of death, charging into the midst of the massive skeletons. She cleared a large enough path for Bramble to transform into a giant fifty-foot ape. Ape-Bramble waded into the room destroying skeletons, smashing them under her massive fists. Meanwhile Orvex was attacking from cover with his crossbow.

Xoc-Wik loosed arrows at the goshi skeletons. Some arrows arced around corners while others exploded, sending debris and bone fragments flying. Two goshi climbed the platform and bore down on Xoc-Wik. The nimble jaguar-man leaped off the platform onto Ape-Bramble's muscular back and continued attacking. Soon all the skeletal goshi were defeated and the room was secure. Xoc-Wik ran to Zorai and saved her from the brink of death.

DM Comment-
I normally don't worry about death saves for NPCs unless the players call for them. Players sometimes grow attached to NPCs they like so I'll allow them to roll death saves for them if they want. In the heat of battle we all forgot about the meatgrinder mode. Oh well, maybe she'll suddenly die mysteriously next week.

Edit- Argent's player just notified me that he did, indeed, roll death saves vs. 15. My mistake! 

Meanwhile Argent wandered the fog-shrouded maze. He eventually found a gold key. He took it and disappeared from the maze. He reappeared next to the sarcophagus. He waited for the sarcophagus to turn gold before inserting the key. The lid opened to reveal a box filled with salt.

Bramble ran her hands through the salt and found ten bracelets made of iridescent snail shell. She also withdrew a robe. The robe was made of a shiny iridescent fabric that gleamed in the light of Argent's shield. The collar of the robe contained ten tassels ending in soft spiked balls.

"Nice!" she said as she donned the robe.

Slime began to emanate from the inner lining of the robe. A voice spoke inside Bramble's mind, "Do you accept me?"

"No!" cried Moa, "This vessel is mine!"

The two trickster gods battled for occupancy of Bramble but Unkh won out. Moa was forced out and disappeared.

Bramble felt suddenly healthier, more robust, like she could take on the world.

Meanhile, the gold key in Argent's hand disappeared. A strange sigil magically appeared on the inside of his right arm. He found that he could suddenly smell the gold, silver, and other precious metals around him, along with all previous stones and gems.

Argent could feel the spirit of Nangnang dancing with joy at this newfound ability!

Grandfather Clock

Bramble was the first to notice the small passage at the back of one of the cells. Argent led the way. The party was soon looking at a tall grandfather clock sitting in an empty room. The pendulum of the clock terminated in a fist-sized pearl.

DM Note-
I normally play background music through a blue-tooth speaker. I replaced the music with a ticking clock channel on YouTube.

Argent carefully opened the door but was blocked from grabbing the pearl by an invisible barrier.

Argent concluded that the time on the clock face removed the barrier so he turned the minute hand to the next hour. The clock chimed. The sound was deafening and everyone but Argent was forced to cover their ears. When the chiming was done Argent found he had aged ten years!

The barrier was still there so Argent tried again! The clock chimed. This time, however, everyone covered their ears and was spared the premature aging.

The chimes had no effect on the barrier. Argent turned the minute hand one hour back. The clock chimed. The other members of the party shouted at him and pleaded with him to stop! They left the room, carrying poor Lawrence the lizard who had aged twenty years!

Eventually, Argent ran his hand along the invisible barrier. He found an invisible keyhole. He called Bramble back. Using the invisible key they opened the invisible door and took the large pearl.

Upon seeing the pearl, Orvex exclaimed, "It's the Navel of the Moon! It's a fabulous treasure rumored to reunite loved ones long lost! I believe that b'alam hunter was looking for this."

The Throne Room

The party returned to the end of the hall. Argent tried dripping some more blood into the funnels. Xoc-Wik and Bramble became impatient and shoved Argent aside, "Get out of the way! We've got this!"

They each held their arms out over one of the funnels. They cut their arms and a stream of blood flowed into the yawning mouth of the bronze snake. After a minute of steady bloodletting they heard the sound of chains rattling and vicious frenzy behind the walls. The heavy stone slab began to rise haltingly. It eventually opened wide enough for the party to enter the chamber beyond.

Within they found a large throne room with a vaulted ceiling supported by gothic arches and four heavy pillars. A narrow ledge ran around the perimeter of the chamber. The center of the chamber was sunken fifteen feet below the level of the entrance. The walls of the sunken section were decorated with painted scenes of adventurers dying from the traps of the Tomb of Nine Gods. 

Three humanoid figures stood near the walls holding brushes and palettes of paint. They were busy adding new scenes to the murals depicting the exploits of the party. One was painting a scene of Argent entering the very room in which they were standing!

The figures paused in their work and turned to the intruders. The party could now see that their skin was dry and leathery as if preserved by tanning and their eyes and mouths were crudely sewn shut using hemp string. The gruesome painters returned to their work.

Three niches on each side wall contained statues of Omuan warrior women wearing masks resembling the heads of hornets. Lukanu said, "They are the handmaidens of my queen, Napaka! What is this place?"

Directly opposite the entrance, on a ledge overlooking the sunken mural, was a large throne made of bone lashed together with leather thongs. The skull of a water buffalo was affixed atop the throne.

"That is the skull of a goshi!" exclaimed Zaal.

Argent made his way around the left ledge towards the throne, carefully passing each statue in case of attack.

A sign hung from the back of the goshi skull, "It says 'Karagos'!"

Zaal fell to his knees and began to weep. "Who was he?" asked Bramble.

"He was the leader of Zaal's people, he was a great engineer and architect, it was he that designed the defenses of Omu," explained Lukanu as he gave comfort to her friend.

There was a metal scepter on the seat of the throne. Its spherical head was made of adamantine. Argent picked up the scepter and began smashing the throne. He smashed the skull, sending it flying across the room. For a brief moment a flash of rage and revenge overtook him, but he quickly regained his composure.

Tomb of the Sun Queen

The rest of the party examined the statues. They were able to locate two concealed doors hiding secret passages. They chose the one behind the throne on the right to explore first.

Argent entered alone. He soon entered a secret crypt containing a fabulous sarcophagus made of gold. The word "NAPAKA" was inscribed onto the coffin in Atlantean.

A large golden sphere hung by a chain over the sarcophagus. The sphere was decorated with a friendly smiling face.  A box shaped like a jeweled scarab sat atop the sarcophagus. Argus opened the box and found a necklace of rubies.

DM Comment-
Everyone simultaneously said, "Necklace of Fireballs!" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

He also found a jade key shaped like a crocodile. Argent looked around but could find no keyhole.

Argent then walked up the wall and onto the ceiling so that he could better inspect the sphere. Again, he found no keyhole.

He walked back down and tried to lift the lid of the sarcophagus. It was too heavy for him. Argent went back to the throne room and asked Orvex privately about "Napaka". Orvex said that she was "the Sun Queen of Omu" and was likely the last queen of the city when it fell. Argent nodded.

Argent turned to the others and explained that he found a tomb and needed help lifting the lid. Lukanu volunteered but Argent held her back, "No, you better stay out here."

Xoc-Wik and Bramble entered into the small room and rendered assistance. They removed the lid to reveal the mummified remains of Queen Napaka wearing a golden hornet mask and a tattered black dress. An iron scepter identical the one on the throne lay clutched in her left hand.

Xoc-Wik took the mask from the remains. The smiling face on the golden sphere immediately changed to an angry grimace. The sphere began to glow as if building up to some kind of discharge. Xoc-Wik, Bramble, and Argent were able to quickly find cover as the sphere flashed. The intensity of the burst singed the edges of their clothing. The sphere was now glowing bright orange and radiating an uncomfortable heat, forcing everyone to flee the room.

Once outside, Bramble said, "Wait, I'll be right back!" She ran back in and grabbed the scepter out of the sarcophagus, then ran out as fast as she could.

DM  Comment- 
Dang it! I totally missed the gas trap in the sarcophagus! I'll make up for it later, I guess. 

The Service Corridors of Annihilation

The party then opened the hidden door on the opposite diagonal corner of the room. It revealed a utilitarian corridor of plain concrete. It connected to a spiral staircase that led up and down. The party followed Argent as he descended the stairs.

TO BE CONTINUED...