Tomb of Annihlation - Surprise, Ras Nsi!

[arcane_asp]

Hi everyone,

I’m posting this in hope of some good suggestions for how to deal with a couple of the players characters who are in way over their head – those DM’s who’ve already run the Tomb of Annihilation might be able to suggest something cool . I’ve tried to put in some spoiler warnings here to protect some of the plot, but honestly if you intend to be a player in this campaign one day then probably don’t read any of this :smallsmile:

Background: We’ve been playing Tomb of Annihilation this year (even the Covid 19 Quarantine couldn’t stop us as we moved over to Roll20 for online sessions) and have been loving it. We’re on session 24 right now. Party is all level 5, and consists of:


Zengo – half orc Samurai
Psymondo – human wizard (Evoker)
Patrycia – Aasimar paladin (Oath of devotion)
Serendipity – half elf bard
Mist’arr – drow rogue (Arcane trickster)



I estimate that the party is nearly ready to head to Omu for the city exploration, Fane of the Night Serpent, and eventually the Tomb itself. Some business to clear up first with a shipment of weapons the party has arranged, plus encountering the Frost Giants ship and the effect that will have on their new best buddies, Artus Climber and Dragonbait
The party decided they wanted to investigate the ‘Lost’ city of Mezro as it caught their interest. The main book for ToA doesn’t give more than a paragraph on Mezro, but the DM’s Guild had me covered with their ‘Ruins of Mezro’ expansion which was full of good ideas and fleshed out the location a lot. Things have been running smoothly up until the most recent session.
The party got access to Mezro by promising Lt. Brokenbarrel they would do a job for her, then went off exploring. They ran into Artus & Dragonbait, befriended them, and decided to investigate the big shiny Temple of Ubtao before leaving the city again with the intention of heading to Omu. They dealt with the temple (I gave them some ‘trials’ to overcome, maze based in true Ubtao style) and on the way out trouble struck. The Hall of Champions description does specifically state that saying the name of a Mezro champion will teleport you before their statue in the hall. But if anyone utters Ras Nsi’s name in the temple, they will be teleported straight to him. They were warned of this by Artus on the way in, but on the way out? Two of the players (Samurai and Wizard) forgot this restriction and very clearly their characters both namedropped Ras Nsi together. They agreed it was spoken IN CHARACTER and not just table talk, and I did verify with them and the other players that this was what happened.
So now they are both teleported far away from the party – both players will appear before Ras Nsi in the Fane of the Night Serpent in Omu. Obviously this encounter is way above their current level, and there is only the two of them. We’ve agreed that they want to play out what happens even if they are likely to die from this sudden relocation. Ras already has Salida as an informant in their party and knows exactly who they are, so them tricking him into thinking they admire him is a hard sell at best.

Currently I’m leaning toward giving them an interesting meeting with Ras followed by a swift death. Obviously if they try and fight him, or try and fight their way free, they are likely going to die.
So what do you think – any tips for how to make a memorable encounter with Ras here, whether they survive it or not?

I should add – both players have admitted they made a bit of a mistake here but they want to own it, and are curious about this upcoming encounter. They have newly created backup characters ready to join the main party should things end for their current characters.

[Keravath]

Comments and suggestions in the spoiler box ...

I think you need to remember Ras Nsi's motivations. He doesn't want to kill the characters, he WANTS them to cure the death curse since he is dying from it himself and is embroiled in a power struggle with Fenthaza.

Ras Nsi wants the characters to succeed. He can kill them when they come out of the tomb if he really wants to ... however, he would probably like a stronger hold over the characters now that they are in his power.

Ras Nsi knows that at 5th level they will fail to kill the Atropal and destroy the Soul Monger. He can't send them into the tomb now as he might if they were 8th or 9th level. He also can't send them without the rest of their party.

Here is what I would do ...

1) In order to tie the characters more closely to him, he forces the human wizard to participate in the ceremony that creates yuan-ti. He converts them to a yuan-ti pureblood. He hides this from the other character present and the rest of the party. Unfortunately, the ceremony won't work on a half-orc. In order to hide this, he separates the characters, tortures both, and when they are back together he has a geas cast on them preventing them from harming him and tasking them with the destruction of the Soul Monger.

2) I would add a teleportation circle to the yuan-ti lair in a hidden locked room that can be used to send the characters back to the area near Mezro (either that or a teleport spell).

The conversion of the wizard to yuan-ti would be kept secret from the other players. The ones not present should only hear about the encounter with Ras Nsi from the characters. It would be up to the wizard whether they shared anything of their horrendous experience or not. It would make a good role-playing opportunity. You could make do with just a geas but that is pretty weak and Ras Nsi is not stupid. If he has the character in his power then converting them to a yuan-ti would make sense.

The rules for the conversion are described in the chapter on the Fane. It doesn't affect the character stats, just changes their race and adds several useful abilities, it doesn't affect their alignment. Mechanically it is an upgrade but the role playing potential is really good as the character has to reconcile the actions they take while under the drugs during the ceremony with their view of the world.

In addition, although they can pass for human, a close inspection will likely reveal some snake like characteristics which an astute observer might be able to use to identify that they aren't human.


----

When I played this we ended up in a battle with Ras Nsi and the yuan-ti (after sneaking into the Fane to try to recover the last cube) that we were going to lose even with a full party of 7 level 7/8 characters. Ras Nsi took us prisoner, converted the humans to yuan-ti purebloods, gave us the last cube and escorted us to the tomb entrance with no chance to escape. We had to enter the tomb and there is no way back out until you complete it. The yuan-ti are emotionless, our killing of yuan-ti before the encounter was inconvenient but since we had a purpose for Ras Nsi to destroy the Soul Monger and save him, we were useful and worth sparing. The yuan-ti aren't motivated by revenge or emotions. They don't get mad for characters killing other yuan-ti, they just consider the characters a problem that needs to be efficiently dealt with.

Keep in mind that characters need to be on the order of level 11+ (might manage a lower level if the DM tones down the opponents or plays them in an unintelligent fashion) to defeat the Atropal, the Soul monger and Acerak. It took us on the order of 40 4-5 hour sessions to complete the adventure.

We didn't do Mezro, we did the Return of the Lizard King and a couple of other DMsGuild ToA supplements instead. The jungle of Chult takes a long time to cross and there is very little content in the jungle itself unless you add encounters (the random encounters have very little XP). (The Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan also fits well into the jungles of Chult if you want additional tier 2 content). We also did not know where Omu was and had to find out through some NPC encounters. In our case, the guardian naga gave us directions.

[OldTrees1]

(Trying to limit spoilers)
Ras Nsi is a person rather than an obstacle, I suggest reading through their motivations. The DM knows Ras Nsi's motivations better than Ras Nsi does. So there are some shot in the dark comments that could work.
Ras Nsi is a person rather than a location, read through the area. There is more shenanigans.


Personally I would suspect the Wizard would upcast Invisibility and then both of the PCs try to flee through the location. Maybe through in a free arcana check.


But yes, death is expected.

[arcane_asp]

I think you need to remember Ras Nsi's motivations. He doesn't want to kill the characters, he WANTS them to cure the death curse since he is dying from it himself and is embroiled in a power struggle with Fenthaza.

Ras Nsi wants the characters to succeed. He can kill them when they come out of the tomb if he really wants to ... however, he would probably like a stronger hold over the characters now that they are in his power.

Ras Nsi knows that at 5th level they will fail to kill the Atropal and destroy the Soul Monger. He can't send them into the tomb now as he might if they were 8th or 9th level. He also can't send them without the rest of their party.

Here is what I would do ...

1) In order to tie the characters more closely to him, he forces the human wizard to participate in the ceremony that creates yuan-ti. He converts them to a yuan-ti pureblood. He hides this from the other character present and the rest of the party. Unfortunately, the ceremony won't work on a half-orc. In order to hide this, he separates the characters, tortures both, and when they are back together he has a geas cast on them preventing them from harming him and tasking them with the destruction of the Soul Monger.

2) I would add a teleportation circle to the yuan-ti lair in a hidden locked room that can be used to send the characters back to the area near Mezro (either that or a teleport spell).

The conversion of the wizard to yuan-ti would be kept secret from the other players. The ones not present should only hear about the encounter with Ras Nsi from the characters. It would be up to the wizard whether they shared anything of their horrendous experience or not. It would make a good role-playing opportunity. You could make do with just a geas but that is pretty weak and Ras Nsi is not stupid. If he has the character in his power then converting them to a yuan-ti would make sense.

The rules for the conversion are described in the chapter on the Fane. It doesn't affect the character stats, just changes their race and adds several useful abilities, it doesn't affect their alignment. Mechanically it is an upgrade but the role playing potential is really good as the character has to reconcile the actions they take while under the drugs during the ceremony with their view of the world.

In addition, although they can pass for human, a close inspection will likely reveal some snake like characteristics which an astute observer might be able to use to identify that they aren't human.


----

When I played this we ended up in a battle with Ras Nsi and the yuan-ti (after sneaking into the Fane to try to recover the last cube) that we were going to lose even with a full party of 7 level 7/8 characters. Ras Nsi took us prisoner, converted the humans to yuan-ti purebloods, gave us the last cube and escorted us to the tomb entrance with no chance to escape. We had to enter the tomb and there is no way back out until you complete it. The yuan-ti are emotionless, our killing of yuan-ti before the encounter was inconvenient but since we had a purpose for Ras Nsi to destroy the Soul Monger and save him, we were useful and worth sparing. The yuan-ti aren't motivated by revenge or emotions. They don't get mad for characters killing other yuan-ti, they just consider the characters a problem that needs to be efficiently dealt with.

Keep in mind that characters need to be on the order of level 11+ (might manage a lower level if the DM tones down the opponents or plays them in an unintelligent fashion) to defeat the Atropal, the Soul monger and Acerak. It took us on the order of 40 4-5 hour sessions to complete the adventure.


Thanks for that Keravath - I hadn't even considered that Ras would find them of use at level 5, but your suggestion here sounds like loads of fun. Having the players return with stories of torture and worse from their encounter will allow them to keep playing with their current characters without feeling like they've been given a free-pass through the encounter.

I am seriously considering this, awesome suggestion :smallsmile:

[arcane_asp]

(Trying to limit spoilers)
Ras Nsi is a person rather than an obstacle, I suggest reading through their motivations. The DM knows Ras Nsi's motivations better than Ras Nsi does. So there are some shot in the dark comments that could work.
Ras Nsi is a person rather than a location, read through the area. There is more shenanigans.

Personally I would suspect the Wizard would upcast Invisibility and then both of the PCs try to flee through the location. Maybe through in a free arcana check.

But yes, death is expected.

I had a feeling they were in too deep, but both players agreed they had genuinely made a mistake so we're going to go with it.

There is a chance they can talk him into NOT immediately killing them (see Kerevath's reply above) so its not a foregone conclusion.

Both Samurai and Wizard are low on health and spell slots as they have only had a short rest since their last encounter, so they aren't even at 100% themselves.

[Keravath]

I had a feeling they were in too deep, but both players agreed they had genuinely made a mistake so we're going to go with it.

There is a chance they can talk him into NOT immediately killing them (see Kerevath's reply above) so its not a foregone conclusion.

Both Samurai and Wizard are low on health and spell slots as they have only had a short rest since their last encounter, so they aren't even at 100% themselves.

It is trivial for Ras Nsi to kill them if he wants to ... the odds of the characters escaping from the Fane are pretty much nil since they will have no idea where they are when they arrive, would have to search for an exit and even if they succeed they will find themselves an ill-equipped party of 2 in Omu at level 5. Keeping in mind that the players will not have any clue about where they are or whether they are even on the continent of Chult - I think their only way out depends on how the DM chooses to have Ras Nsi react.

[OldTrees1]

I had a feeling they were in too deep, but both players agreed they had genuinely made a mistake so we're going to go with it.

There is a chance they can talk him into NOT immediately killing them (see Kerevath's reply above) so its not a foregone conclusion.

Both Samurai and Wizard are low on health and spell slots as they have only had a short rest since their last encounter, so they aren't even at 100% themselves.

IIRC Ras Nsi does not know as much as Kerevath's reply implies. Kerevath is correct about Ras Nsi's motivations, but Ras Nsi is currently a bit unaware of some of those details.
IIRC Ras Nsi does not know anything accurate about the inside of the Tomb. They want the death curse to end but they think the Tomb is unrelated and are guarding the ones inside.

The Fane is not as well guarded as it first appears. It has overwhelming force but has gaps in the security. In our playthrough we made a small stealthy incursion and then the rogue soloed the rest of a robbery. This was helped by teleporting into an empty room (due to Ras Nsi not being there at that precise time). A reverse of our path can make a possible escape route. But the PCs would need to be lucky. So they are probably dead.

[Keravath]

IIRC Ras Nsi does not know as much as Kerevath's reply implies. Kerevath is correct about Ras Nsi's motivations, but Ras Nsi is currently a bit unaware of some of those details.
IIRC Ras Nsi does not know anything accurate about the inside of the Tomb. They want the death curse to end but they think the Tomb is unrelated and are guarding the ones inside.

The Fane is not as well guarded as it first appears. It has overwhelming force but has gaps in the security. In our playthrough we made a small stealthy incursion and then the rogue soloed the rest of a robbery. This was helped by teleporting into an empty room (due to Ras Nsi not being there at that precise time). A reverse of our path can make a possible escape route. But the PCs would need to be lucky. So they are probably dead.

You are right ... however ..



.. he is willing to listen to what the characters have to say if they actually know enough to save themselves ... (when I played it we were able to talk our way out of it by explaining why we needed the last cube and our ultimate goal).

"AUDIENCE WITH RAS NSI ToA p112
Ras Nsi meets with prisoners in the throne room (area 11). He wants to know why the characters invaded Omu. If he finds their answer unsatisfactory, he views them as dangerous and has them put to death immediately. If Ras Nsi learns that they've come to put an end to the death curse, he is intrigued. If they reveal that the cause lies in the Tomb of the Nine Gods, he releases them, gives them any remaining puzzle cubes they need to enter the tomb, and grants them safe passage out of Omu if they succeed in destroying the Soulmonger."

However, in this case, the DM can modify what Ras Nsi knows to fit the situation depending on what his character's know. Just mentioning that they are on a quest to destroy the Soul Monger may save them even if they don't know exactly where it is yet.

[OldTrees1]

You are right ... however ..



.. he is willing to listen to what the characters have to say if they actually know enough to save themselves ... (when I played it we were able to talk our way out of it by explaining why we needed the last cube and our ultimate goal).

"AUDIENCE WITH RAS NSI ToA p112
Ras Nsi meets with prisoners in the throne room (area 11). He wants to know why the characters invaded Omu. If he finds their answer unsatisfactory, he views them as dangerous and has them put to death immediately. If Ras Nsi learns that they've come to put an end to the death curse, he is intrigued. If they reveal that the cause lies in the Tomb of the Nine Gods, he releases them, gives them any remaining puzzle cubes they need to enter the tomb, and grants them safe passage out of Omu if they succeed in destroying the Soulmonger."

However, in this case, the DM can modify what Ras Nsi knows to fit the situation depending on what his character's know. Just mentioning that they are on a quest to destroy the Soul Monger may save them even if they don't know exactly where it is yet.




Good summary of both of our comments. This is probably the PCs' best chance.

Yeah, if the PCs provide enough information, Ras Nsi's realizes they have a common objective. It is a bit tricky given the gaps in Ras Nsi's knowledge, but it is designed to be doable.

Nice to hear your group managed it. Our group's characters did not realize Ras Nsi's situation despite the players figuring it out.

[Keravath]

Good summary of both of our comments. This is probably the PCs' best chance.

Yeah, if the PCs provide enough information, Ras Nsi's realizes they have a common objective. It is a bit tricky given the gaps in Ras Nsi's knowledge, but it is designed to be doable.

Nice to hear your group managed it. Our group's characters did not realize Ras Nsi's situation despite the players figuring it out.

"Our group's characters did not realize the situation despite the players figuring it out."

I'm just curious but how can the players figure something out but the characters not figure it out? The players are given the clues, the players represent the characters, presumably the players and characters think the same things (unless a particularly perceptive person decided that their character wouldn't have noticed or figured something out based on their stats or the character description/concept?)

Most of the time, when role playing, if I (the player) figures something out then I usually role play it as the character also figuring it out one way or another. Even characters with low perception or intelligence can notice something or have a moment of insight allowing them to understand or solve a problem. Alternatively, they could just be lucky in coincidentally coming up with the right answer so I don't usually have a problem allowing the character I am playing to have also figured out something I came up with as a player.

[OldTrees1]

"Our group's characters did not realize the situation despite the players figuring it out."

I'm just curious but how can the players figure something out but the characters not figure it out? The players are given the clues, the players represent the characters, presumably the players and characters think the same things (unless a particularly perceptive person decided that their character wouldn't have noticed or figured something out based on their stats or the character description/concept?)

Most of the time, when role playing, if I (the player) figures something out then I usually role play it as the character also figuring it out one way or another. Even characters with low perception or intelligence can notice something or have a moment of insight allowing them to understand or solve a problem. Alternatively, they could just be lucky in coincidentally coming up with the right answer so I don't usually have a problem allowing the character I am playing to have also figured out something I came up with as a player.

Player knowledge and character knowledge overlap like a venn diagram. Separating the two usually involves ignoring meta game genre savviness and including knowledge checks.

So when we were entering the Fane, the characters recognized there were too many enemies to fight. The players recognized the authors did not intend the characters to brute force their way through the fane. Metagame clues like this lead the players to knowing a "bit" more than the characters.

[arcane_asp]

Just to make sure I do it justice, I'm going to give the two players a special one-off session to resolve this.


If they say the right things to Ras and make a good case for being useful for him, he will consider sparing them in the hope they & their party can somehow end the Death Curse. Part of the conditions for doing this will definitely be conversion to a Yuan-ti pureblood, and almost certainly the Geas spell to stop them turning on him eventually.

I've not used Geas spell before, from the spell description its pretty open ended what conditions you can set, as long as they aren't being asked take any suicidal action. Even without a higher spell level casting, it still lasts 30 days :smallsmile:

If they show mindless defiance, try to deceive Ras too blatantly or offer insult, he will likely order them executed. Sorry players! :smallredface:

I told the two players to have their backup new characters ready, so they know there is a big risk for them potentially.

**AFTERTHOUGHT**

I've just thought, the half-orc can't be converted to a Pureblood, so won't have that option. I wonder if Ras or his minions might just torture him instead? Don't want the player feeling 'left out' of the punishment!

[Segev]

Entirely spoilerific stuff about how my party handled it:

They tried a stealth incursion to recover the last cube, having bargained with the Red Wizards to pool resources to get ahold of them. The Red Wizards, of course, planned to betray them. They got to the door to his throne room from the chapel when they bombed their stealth checks. Still invisible from Zagmira's aid, they didn't get a surprise round, exactly, but they had some hefty advantage from it. They managed to fight most of the throne room to a standstill, but as soon as the warlock used hunger of hadar to make it a dangerous location, Ras Nsi retreated through the secret door to his chambers, teleported to the chapel, and rang the intruder alert gong.

The party cleaned up the throne room and retreated into a rope trick over his throne, and one of the players was...annoyed...that Fenthaza and Ras Nsi specifically kept the whole Fane on high alert for "at least an hour, in case the intruders have any Nightmare Speakers."

They used a sending to discuss the death curse with Ras and arrange permission to show up in his throne room, and after some tense negotiations, including Ras Nsi putting Fenthaza in her place when she attempted a political play, got a personal escort by Fenthaza out to take the remaining cubes from the Red Wizards.

They're trying to pull a fast one and get into the temple before Fenthaza realizes it, though ultimately this isn't a problem for the Yuan-ti. Tonight's session, they'll start with exploration of the true entrance, and encounter the true puzzle door. We left off after they uncovered the hidden entrance's...entrance.