Page 94 - Tomb of Annihilation

When evening came, a wily eblis stepped from his VEGEPYGMIES
reed hut. He didn't like the Omuans, but without them Years ago, a meteorite fell from the heavens and created
he'd have no one to play his tricks on. The eblis sent a the city's Great Rift. Stardust rained over the ruins and
marsh frog to reason with Ubtao, but the frog was angry formed patches of russet mold out of which vegepyg-
and decided to wrestle the god instead. This amused mies arose. Their tribes prowl the flooded backstreets.
Ubtao, so he gave the frog tentacles to make it stronger. Yuan-ti have learned to shun these areas and kill the
When Kubazan the froghemoth returned to Papazotl the "moldies" on sight.
eblis, he chased Papazotl into the swamp with his new Omu contains several small tribes ofvegepygmies.
tentacles. They clash over territory and are unified only in their
That night, a su-monster broke into Ubtao's palace reverence of the Great Rift. Even if the vegepygmies
and stole a pail of water for the Omuans. When the god
could communicate with the characters, they have little
came running to find it, the su-monster hid the pail in a
desire to work with them. Their chiefs aren't clever,
jaculi's burrow. Ubtao asked the jungle animals where
and the characters could trick the vegepygmies to unify
his water was hidden, and Moa the jaculi was too hon-
against a common enemy.
est to lie. When Wongo the su-monster found out how
Moa had betrayed him, he vowed to catch the jaculi and Ko BOLDS
eat him up. Nine deadly shrines hold the secret to entering the
All the while, Unkh the flail snail lived deep under the Tomb of the Nine Gods. To maintain the shrines' traps,
earth. The noise of the other animals fighting made her Acererak recruited a tribe of kobolds to act as shrine
slither up to the surface, and when day dawned over her menders. These creatures dwell in cellars beneath a
shell, the light blinded Ubtao and made his eyes water. ruined marketplace (area 15). Acererak has promised
Life returned to Omu, and the people built shrines to to transform their sorcerer, Kakarol, into a dragon if the
honor the animals who'd saved them. kobolds keep their end of their bargain. Too impatient
to wait for his ascension, Kakarol has taken to sleeping
CITY INHABITANTS on a smaJI hoard of treasure and insists his underlings
Several factions dwell within Omu, including yuan-ti, address him as Great Wyrm. If the characters cut a
grungs, vegepygmies, and kobolds. Explorers also come deal with the kobolds, the sorcerer's greed is easily
here in search of gold and glory. Presently, these include manipulated.
Red Wizards and three tabaxi hunters. Each of these Acererak hasn't told the kobolds about his alliance
groups can play as much of a role in the story as you with Ras Nsi. For their part, the yuan-ti are barely aware
desire. They could serve as enemies or as allies brought of the kobolds' existence.
together by mutual interests.
RED WIZARDS OF THAY
YUAN-TI A group of Red Wizards entered the city a couple of
Yuan-ti offer sacrifices to Dendar the Night Serpent in days prior to the characters' arrival. They camped in the
a sprawling underground temple beneath the ruins of ruined compound at area 2, but Ras Nsi's forces nearly
Omu's royal palace (area 20); the temple is described in wiped them out in a night raid. Those who survived the
chapter 4. The yuan-ti guard the entrances to the city, attack continue to search the ruins for the Soulmonger.
patrol its streets, and send raiding parties into the sur- The survivors include four Red Wizards (LE male and
rounding jungle. Ras Nsi rules over them, but traitorous female Thayan human mages) named Dyrax (male),
priests plot his downfall. Thazma (female), Yamoch (male), and Zagmira (female).
Salida's Treachery. One of the guides presented in Their red robes, shaved heads, and sallow complexions
chapter 1 is Salida, a pureblood yuan-ti loyal to Ras Nsi. betray their allegiance to Thay. Eight mercenaries (LE
If Salida escorts the characters into the city, she'll sur- male and female human thugs of various ethnicities)
reptitiously use her sending stone to contact Ras Nsi so escort the wizards. The highest ranking mage, Zagmira,
that he can prepare an ambush. When night falls, Salida appears just eighteen years old, yet one half of her face
uses a lantern to signal the yuan-ti attack. The attacking is wizened and old. This effect is a holdover from a
force consists of one type 3 yuan-ti malison and two
yuan-ti purebloods per party member. Ras Nsi is keen 0LD0MUAN
to capture the characters so he can question them about The Omuans wrote in Old Omuan, a cuneiform script that
their mission. bears little resemblance to any other alphabet. A character
with the cloistered scholar or sage background can trans·
GRUNGS late an inscription written in Old Omuan with a successful
A small colony of grungs lives on the rooftops around DC 10 Intelligence (History) check, while a warlock with
Nangnang's shrine (area 18). Ras Nsi regularly mounts the Eyes of the Rune Keeper invocation can translate Old
raids on them to thin their numbers. Omuan script without a check. If the characters recover
the "queen's decree" from the chwinga cart at area 11, they
The grungs worship Nangnang and view her shrine as
can use it to decode inscriptions written in Old Omuan.
holy ground for their chieftain and his elite guards. Yorb, Without the queen's decree or a character with the ap-
the mad grung chieftain, craves vengeance against Ras propriate background, the characters can translate Old
Nsi but hasn't yet found a worthy attack plan. Omuan writing only by using a comprehend languages spell
or similar magic.

C.HAPTJ::R 3 I DWELLERS OF THE FORBIDDEN CllY
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