Page 81 - Tomb of Annihilation

throw or be poisoned for 1 hour or until they drink 2 The characters' first impression of the water is cor-
quarts of water. rect; it varies from 3 to 4 feet deep everywhere. A search
Thiru-Taya. When Zalkore is reduced to 63 hit points of the muddy bottom turns up hundreds of goblin bones
or fewer, she calls out to her dead lover for protection. and stone spear heads, greatly annoys the multitude of
The spirit ofThiru-Taya answers the call, appearing as frogs, and draws attacks from two swarms of quippers.
a barely visible 10-foot-tall apparition of a Chultan war- Someone who examines the dragon bones and suc-
rior wielding a massive spear of force. The apparition is ceeds on a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check sees
impervious to damage and spells, and it can't be turned enough regularity in the vines draped across the ribs to
or controlled. It looms above Zalkore until she dies or conclude the dragon was tangled in a net. To identify the
regains all her hit points. Once per turn, when a crea- remains as a green dragon, characters must lift its skull
ture within 15 feet ofZalkore damages her, Thiru-Taya's out of the water and muck; that feat takes a successful
apparition unerringly hits the attacker with its spear, DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check.
dealing 15 (2d8 + 6) force damage to it.
Treasure. Most of what remains in Zalkore's lair TREASURE
has little value. Her feathered dress is worth 50 gp, if it A 10-foot-wide, 10-foot-high secret door in the northwest
wasn't too damaged in the fight (the dress is ruined if wall of the grotto conceals a 15-foot-deep alcove. The
more than half the damage done to Zalkore was slash- secret door is carved from natural rock and disguised
ing, acid, or fire damage, or if she was hit by a fireball or to look like part of the wall, and all the plants around it
similar effect). Her lair contains 2d6 vials of her dream- are dead. The secret door can be detected with a suc-
ing tincture. Each vial contains a single dose and can cessful DC 17 Wisdom (Perception) check. Characters
be sold for 10 gp in Port Nyanzaru. Any character that who inspect the plants around the door and succeed on
drinks a dose of the tincture must succeed on a DC 15 a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) or DC 15 Wisdom
Constitution saving throw. Characters who are immune (Medicine) check can tell that the plants were killed by
to the poisoned condition succeed automatically. On a poison. Needle opened the secret door by breathing poi-
failed save, the character begins to experience illusory son gas on it; smearing or spraying poison on the door
sights, sounds, smeUs, and sensations that seem real. also causes it to swing open. Otherwise, a knock spell
Casting a lesser restoration spell or similar magic on or similar magic is needed to open it.
the character ends the effect, which otherwise lasts for Needle hid the following items in the alcove: a purse
ld4 + 4 hours. made from triceratops hide, a small box made from two
velociraptor skulls cleverly fitted together, and a hollow
NEEDLE'S BONES dinosaur bone with a wax plug at one end. The purse
contains 55 gp, 800 sp, and three blue quartz rings (10
gp each). The skull box is worth 12 gp and contains a
A wide sinkhole yawns before you, the earth around it wand of Fear and two diamonds (500 gp each). The hol-
littered with goblin bones. The opening is 90 feet across low dinosaur bone contains five +1 sling bullets.
and roughly circular, and the stone walls are nearly ver-
Ns1WASTES
tical. Thirty feet down, the sinkhole is filled with murky
This vast tract of jungle was ravaged by blight long ago
green water. Hundreds of frogs hop from one floating
and never recovered. The plants here are sickly and
plant to another.
poisonous. In the .heart of this wasteland is the ruined
The massive rib cage and fine wing bones of a dragon palace of the warlord Ras Nsi: a crumbled stone fortress
rise above the murk. Vines, moss, and lichen hang from that once stood on the backs of a dozen giant undead
the bones. judging from how much of the skeleton is ex- turtles. Its destruction by Ras Nsi's rampaging undead
was so complete that nothing remains of this once-awe-
posed, the water can't be more than 3 or 4 feet deep.
some structure except the crushed shells and bleached
bones of the turtles, and heaps of stone so jumbled that
The walls of the sinkhole are rough and draped with not even the outlines of the ancient walls can be picked
dozens of stout vines, so climbing into or out of the out, slowly sinking into the muck. The chance for a ran-
grotto is easy and automatically successful. dom encounter is doubled in this region.
The bones are the remains of Onnalagos, an adult
green dragon better known during her lifetime as OMU
Needle. She used this grotto as a lair but feared Batiri
The lost city of Omu is described in chapter 3.
goblins had sniffed out its location and were getting
ready to raid it. Needle was in the process of moving 0ROLUNGA
her treasure to other locations when the goblins struck.
While the dragon was away, they dumped baskets full of All that remains of the ancient city of Orolunga is a
crumbling ziggurat watched over by a guardian naga.
quippers into the sinkhole. When the dragon returned,
The naga is thousands of years old and a font of useful
they trapped her in the sinkhole with vine nets. As the
quippers devoured the dragon from below, the Batiri information- perhaps the best source of information in
showered Needle with spears from above until she fi- Chult. However, she's not easy to reach.
nally died. Nearly the entire goblin tribe perished in the
fight, too.

CHAPTER 2 I THE LAND OF CHU LT
80