#firefinger

Firefinger

Tomb of Annihilation

I thought I would share my experience running the Firefinger area in the Tomb of Annihilation. It led to the death of a player and some really intense combat and story moments, not to mention I built a scale model of the dungeon to add to the drama of the spire's height:

There’s not really any spoilers for Tomb of Annihilation’s major story, but if you don’t want this area spoiled for you here’s your warning.

The Approach

The players had already been to Kir Sabal and sought aid from Asharra's Dance of Seven Winds (which would allow them to fly to Omu quickly and scout the area). She was willing to use the ritual on them only if they proved their intent by rescuing Nephyr, a fellow monk captured by the Pterafolk of Firefinger. She also told them about the necessary orchid from Nangalore. So the party had their mission.

During their approach, they had a random encounter a mere day from the spire. I rolled for it, and it was the Emerald Enclave. I decided that since the party hadn't met Azaka Stormfang yet, this might be a good opportunity. So I had her hired as a guide for the Enclave's party. The Enclave was complaining that Azaka had promised to lead them to the source of the undead in the jungle, but had tricked them and tried to get them to climb Firefinger instead (as her bio says, she wants her mask back but is also terrified of heights). Once the two groups talked, Azaka realized her opportunity and left the Enclave party to join the PCs.

The PCs were suspicious, but a Zone of Truth assuaged their fears. She only wanted her mask back and revenge against the Pterafolk. What she had to offer was far more valuable: the way to Orolunga. The PCs had heard of the place and Artus Cimber left them on curious terms during a Frost Giant ambush as they demanded his ring from him, so they believe if they reach Orolunga they can unravel that mystery, or use the oracle for their own needs. The PCs were more than willing to comply with Azaka's terms.

Lower Tiers

Azaka convinced the party to approach during heavy rain so the pterafolk couldn't see them. To be fair, I don't think the party would have thought to do so without Azaka's help.

Our elven paladin of Tempus, Talvor, cast Heroism on Azaka to remove her fear of heights for a hot minute to get her into the spire. After defeating the spiders in the pit on tier one and the stirges on tier two, Azaka was confronted with the outer ledge and was once again gripped with fear. She stayed in the cave to await the PCs' return.

The players reached the next tier for their first battle with the pterafolk elders, which was fairly straightforward. They then rested in that cave as Nephyr (bound and gagged) managed to roll over to them. The players hadn't bothered to check the next room, so they didn't realize he was there. They released Nephyr and fed him. Grateful, he was able to tell the PCs roughly how many pterafolk were up on the spire but was unable to help in his sorry state, he went down to keep an eye on Azaka.

Tackling the Pterafolk

The players snuck up the trash chute above where Nephyr was kept to scout out the top of the spire. Unfortunately, one of the players slipped and yelped inside of the shaft (a failed Stealth check) alerting the pterafolk. The tabaxi fighter, Steppe, put her shield over her head to plug the hole, but a pterafolk wrenched it from her and threw it from the top of the spire. The beasts yanked Steppe out of the chute and started flying straight up into the air past the fiery beacon tower, where several more pterafolk were launching off of the tower's sides to dive towards the third tier. The rest of the party backpedaled down the chute planned to bottleneck the pterafolk from the third tier's outer ledge.

Steppe escaped the pterafolk's grapple and took minor fall damage, then scrambled into the flaming beacon tower. She held her own dodging many, many attacks from the pterafolk. Tiring of this, the pterafolk's leader (Nrak) ordered more pterafolk down to take care of the rest. Steppe bounded for the trash chute just as Nrak was about to grab her and dove into it. Nrak dropped a large rock into the chute hoping to hit her, but Steppe dodged and Nrak rejoined his crew.

Below, Sara (our tiefling cleric of Helm), stood with her shield out and a Shield of Faith spell in front of the party in the narrow cave entrance to defend against the incoming attack. The pterafolk took to hurling javelins into the hallway, but they couldn't penetrate Sara's now-immense AC. So with javelins covering him, a pterafolk landed in the cave and tried to grapple Sara. Talvor, Jacque (our swashbuckler), and Lucas (our ranger) ambushed the pterafolk putting it on the brink of death, but it survived and succeeded in pulling Sara out of the cave and into midair. She kept hold as it tried to drop her to the ground, a dizzying 240 ft. below. The other pterafolk started to pile into the cavern, but were killed one by one by the party, now rejoined by Steppe from the chute.

The party tried to get to Sara, but were unable to get past the large pterafolk. Nrak arrived at the scene and tore Sara away from the other pterafolk she was hanging on. Sara tried to curse Nrak with blindness, but he resisted. As he felt the magic tug at the edges of his vision, he screeched with rage and held up the cleric to his face with his talons. "Let's see you fly, witch!" and released her. She had failed her check to hang on, and started to plummet. "NO!" Talvor screamed as Sara's flailing body fell past the cave opening. There was nothing they could do. I gave Sara an acrobatics check during her round of falling to try to twist herself and fall towards the spire, but to no avail. With no other options, she prayed to Helm one last time, and met a violent end in the jungle basin below.

With the pterafolk numbers dwindling, they made their apparent retreat. A round later, the party saw Nrak lift up the rope ladder they used to reach this height. With a quick tug, he snapped it free and dropped it uselessly to the ground. With a tirade of screeches, the pterafolk returned to the spire. The party was left there. Stranded. Their peace-loving, cheerful cleric in a twisted heap a quarter mile below.

Chloë: Viltu kak?

Me:

Chloë:

Me:

Chloë:

Me: ;)

Chloë: OH GOD NO.

Me: ;)

Chloë: ISN'T THE ACCUSATIVE KAK?

Me: Köku.

Chloë: Oh god...

Me: ;)

Chloë: Ókei. Viltu köku?

Me: Nei, ég vil ekki köku, en ég vil kak.

Chloë:

firefinger a réagi à votre billet :

THEY SAID THAT ABOUT BUSH IN 2004. DO YOU REMEMBER THAT???? BECAUSE I DO

also voter suppression in swing states is going to be a factor and really do not let your guard down UNTIL THEY ARE ALL DEAD

:( you want my login info?

I'm going to try to see if I can find a stream, but if not, I might message you and take you up on that offer. Thank you!

michelle-my-belle replied to your post: kat8cha replied to your post: You would think that...

but…its catered to amurricans because we’re so stupid and only care about ourselves.