Combat Report: The Fane of The Night Serpent

[CapnZapp]

This thread contains spoilers for Chapter 4 of Tomb of Annihilation.

My players assaulted Ras Nsi & Co in his headquarters during the last two sessions. Finally I managed to fit several encounters into one long rest! (Actually all the below happened without even a short rest)

Here's a summary of the opposition they overcame, from outside the Fane main gate (#1 on the Fane map) up until they defeated the last (well) of the opposition. Since they feigned support for Fenthaza's plan (to kill Ras Nsi and then leave), he died already the first out of two play sessions.

I beefed up the security in several locations, including "location #0" (outside the ramp leading down to #1).

#0: A guard barracks commanded by Alea, an Abomination and 4 Malisons and 4 Broodguard; four Purebloods stationed down the ramp with specific orders to sound the alarm
#1: Nahth (Malison) plus 4 Broodguards and swarms of poisonous snakes
#2: Soakosh (Pureblood), 4 broodguards, 2 basilisks, 1 Triceratops

At this point the main party followed Fenthaza to be teleported into the Throne Room, but two party members made a futile attempt to catch Soakosh before he could sound the alarm. They killed him, but not before they reached #14, and had to fight the following:
#13 Azi Mas Giant Constrictor and his Mesmerising Incense
#14 Xopal (Pureblood) and 5 zombies
From main hall: 8 Cultist Followers
They retreated after killing Xopal and his zombies since the Rogue succumbed to the incense.

They then entered the throne room in approx four rounds:
#11 Ras Nsi (buffed with a better bracers, and a copy of the flying shields), 2 Malisons, 3 broodguards, 4 ghasts, Sekelok (champion), Hydra (seven-headed, max hp)

Then they retreated to Ras Nsi's chambers in the hopes of beling allowed a short rest. Fenthaza realized that since they didn't leave, their intention was to wipe out every Yuan-Ti, and so she found them within twenty minutes.

The assault was planned in waves, but since the Barbarian didn't want to waste a Rage, the party gradually took the fight to the yuan-ti, eventually finishing in the Fane itself. All of the following blended into one rather long combat.

1st Wave: 6 Cult Followers and 8 Tribal Warriors, led by two Purebloods; when most of those are defeated: thrown poisons + four Malisons, 6 purebloods, led by an Abomination

2nd Wave: Mesmerizing Incense + Ukurlahmu the bone naga (with max hp and +2 save dc), one Spawn of Kyuss that freaked the frak out of the players and I had the Barbarian deal 46 self-inflicted damage to herself , four zombies and four minotaur skeletons, a small number of purebloods scouting (can't remember exact number, no more than four)

3rd Wave: Fenthaza (a slightly buffed nightmare speaker), her air elemental (actually, two air elementals, since when Fenthaza tried to dispel the druid's summoned Air Elemental, she rolled a 20, so I let her wrest control over the summon from him), four broodguards, and the three oracle maidens (malisons with eldritch blasts, and a "nightmare apparition" ability, essentially a ranged version of the Nightmare Speaker ability) , four more purebloods to operate the cauldron

4th Wave: This is actually as far as we managed. Just as they triumph, the Red Hag (Tome of Beasts) appears from the bottom of the Fane's blood pool and drags the druid inside...

When they've dealt with the Red Hag, they really must find somewhere safe to take a short rest. While in Ras Nsi's chambers they were scried upon, but I had the Fane automatically try (and succeed) to counter-scry on the scryer. So they know the Red Wizards know where they are, and that they are in combat with the Yuan Ti.

In ten minutes time or so, the entire team of Red Wizards will reach the fane, desperately trying to force a combat before the winners of the fight (heroes or Yuan-Ti, they don't know) will have time to recover. As I am sure I have posted elsewhere this is four Volo NPCs (One Abjurer, two Evokers and one Diviner, with the main buff that their spells are saved at with disadvantage to mimic the Red Wizard Tattoo feat from 3rd edition; plus a smattering of mercenaries, guards and veterans).

This wouldn't be a trivial fight under the best of circumstances, but after this harrowing combat they are flat out. I think they have used up almost every single ability, spell, item and consumable, or very close to it!

 

[CapnZapp]

The characters are 6:

Moon Druid, Draconic Sorcerer, Barbarian/Fighter, Sun Monk, Paladin/Warlock and Thief Rogue.

Levels 10-11.

 

[TwoSix]

Seems like getting a short rest will be the difference. They'll be back at 80% or so after a short rest, otherwise...

 

[CapnZapp]

Seems like getting a short rest will be the difference. They'll be back at 80% or so after a short rest, otherwise...

Yes a short rest will make a massive difference. Not as much as a long one, of course.

5e characters are incredibly powerful and resilient. I'm quite amazed at the punishment they endured - without a single character dropping even once (except the ones succumbing to the mesmering incense*, which really is the only enemy effect that can be considered really dangerous for them)

*) it really isn't stringently defined. The description (page 122) suggests at least the incapacitated and prone conditions, yet it only defines the poisoned one. Since I know they can take it, I went with the former interpretation, which added a nice bite to it.

 

[TwoSix]

The characters are 6:

Moon Druid, Draconic Sorcerer, Barbarian/Fighter, Sun Monk, Paladin/Warlock and Thief Rogue.

Levels 10-11.

I have to say, I'm surprised to see Sun Monk on that list...are they houseruled?

 

[Eltab]

Did the PCs clear out everything the Fane can do to intruders (traps, magic, &c)? If not, the Red Wizards will have to slow down to deal with it. This may just happen to turn out so the Wizards show up minutes before the PCs finish their Short Rest and get replenished.

 

[CapnZapp]

I have to say, I'm surprised to see Sun Monk on that list...are they houseruled?

If you mean the subclass is considered weak, then yes it is. Luckily the main class (Monk) isn't that weak - it's just that the player seldom uses the specific subclass features.

The player asked if the character could use radiant instead of fire for her abilities; I said yes.
The character has also got a class-specific item: a headband that allows her to do a Blinding Strike in conjunction with her Radiant Sun Bolts (Blinding Strike works exactly as Stunning Strike other than inflicting Blinded instead of Stunned). This item does require attunement.

I would say in hindsight these changes add relatively little actual power (but were appreciated for the characterization nevertheless). We haven't seen many fire-resistent creatures, and she has mainly used Stunning Strike anyway.

Did the PCs clear out everything the Fane can do to intruders (traps, magic, &c)?

Not sure what you have in mind. They took the main entrance, and then went straight to the Throne Room. Not sure if there's any significant defending wards left.

The players have hopefully learned their lesson by now (=don't stay in the Fane to take your short rest; you will be found and interrupted).

Even though I've buffed the Red Wizards significantly from RAW (I believe they're only Mages there, and encountered piecemeal), they will only stand a chance if they catch the party before they manage to rest.

With no spells, no stuns, no action surges, no item charges, no potions, no nothing... the characters should be somewhat vulnerable... but if they escape out in the jungle, chances of finding them before they can complete their rest should be slim.

 

[CapnZapp]

I started calculating how much xp this series of encounters would net the heroes, had I actually used xp awards.

I was shocked straight away.

#0: A guard barracks commanded by Alea, an Abomination and 4 Malisons and 4 Broodguard; four Purebloods stationed down the ramp with specific orders to sound the alarm

This encounter rates as deadly. Already the first one. I only intended it as a warm-up, where the challenge was to prevent any guard to sound the alarm. But according to the rules, this gets the hardest rating. Yeah, right.

According to the xp calculator I'm using the challenge ratings of 1x7, 4x3, 4x2 and 4x1 gives you 8300 xp, and for a party of five* level 11 characters adjusts to 24900 xp, well over 21000 xp into "deadly" territory.

However, there was nothing deadly about this encounter! They practically toyed with the hapless yuan-ti! I knew I amped up the challenge so the party wouldn't feel they could just mow down everything and everybody, but I'm getting the suspicion this will amount to something like eight deadly or super-deadly encounters in a row(!)

A substantial credit must go to the Druid player who used his 6th level slot on Feast of Heroes. Poison immunity for everybody really takes the bite out of snake people.

We'll see how much xp it amounts to in total. No wonder I'm not using the CR system, though.

Edit: I couldn't be bothered with the tribal warriors or zombies, and I've probably forgotten about half a dozen Purebloods or so. And I've bluntly ignored the way I beefed up many monsters**. But it adds up to 73 monsters and 55900 XP (9317 per character, assuming they were six all along*).

At least that's good - all that slaughter (it probably took 8-9 hours of play time, divided over two day-long Sunday sessions) and still it's not enough to level up (you need 15000 xp at this stage).

Zapp

*) the first session (up until they holed up on Ras Nsi's quarters) was played by five players; the Barbarian player could not attend.
**) I am generally quite liberal with the action economy of monsters, allowing them to take their signature abilities as bonus or free actions - I'm tired of having monsters die before they get to show what they can do! Many monsters get max or double hp.

Specific changes included: Ras Nsi started out with +10 AC on top of having +4 bracers, and each time he was hit despite this, lost 1 AC (making him go from AC 27 to AC 26). Since only one and a half character could teleport in each round (on average), the fight against Ras Nsi was probably the hairiest. The Spawn of Kyuss got to inflict 1d6 worms in one attack, which I said the character could get rid of by inflicting 2d6 damage per worm removed. I rolled a six, and the Barbarian promptly shaved off a cool 46 hp off of herself! Since they'd already met a Bone Naga out in the city, I maximized this one, and let it cast as many spells as it could. The yuan-ti's most devastating power was probably the clouds of mesmerizing incense - since it is neither magic nor poison, and miss the DC 16 save and you need magical restoration or you're out for the full hour. The Oracle maidens created apparitions that was mobile versions of the Nightmare Speaker ability. Fenthaza herself got a free improved invisibility.

All this, and yet the heroes prevailed. At least they're utterly depleted. I think it was a success - enough danger but not unfairly so.