"Oh... Aye, aye would like to see what there is left, if only to say a few words over the spot. Not sure they would appreciate my Lady's blessing but aye'll offer it."

He thinks a bit more on it then shakes his head,

"No, maybe not. Their souls are all in the soul monger for who knows what. It is better to instead focus on freeing them from that, along souls more deserving our charity. Time is important for those being drained and time spent on that will mean more of them could die."

Phillip looks at the concerned faces, then decides against trying the key now. He picks it up though and offers it to Eku to hold for safekeeping.

”Okay, we’ll dispel the traps tomorrow, uh huh, uh huh… then check inside then…”.

”Let’s check another shrine in the meantime. Yep yep…”. He stows his bow and gear and is ready to explore somewhere else for now.

Phillip, Eku flaps her wings and motions for you to keep the key. She then bows her head in approval and tickles the top of your head with her wing. Phillip, she then says to you telepathically:

Orvex would say "I know of one other shrine to our east. My team, er, former team didn't get a chance to explore it because we were going to look at this one first, but then we were raided."

"Anyhow, the other shrine is just to the east of the compound where you found me. Not far."

Will the party go to #3 on the Omu Master tab to investigate the other shrine? Or something/somewhere else? Up the main road perhaps? And will the party go together?

Over to you.

Phillip’s colours all flush, brilliantly, at the tickle from Eku, and he pockets the key for now too.

((yes, head to 3. Do we want to clear the compound of wolves (was it?) and loot corpses, on the way, or avoid??))

((3 is fine for Evo but he wouldn't want to split the party again.))

((Wild dogs.))

"Orvex, was it not your crew that marked the inscription that said, among other things 'beware the frog monster'? Anyone have the exact wording of the rest?"

"Be an odd thing for them to write before they actually ran into the frog monster...?"

"Exactly. Must have been another group. Orvex, any of this mean anything to you?"

Fear the fangs of Ras Nsi!

Erik, I’ve gone in search of the nine shrines. V.

The puzzle cubes are the key.

Beware the frog monster!

Who is Unkh?

All hail the King of Feathers!

The snakes are not what they seem.

Kubazan = bravery. Shagambi = wisdom. Moa = ?

"Oh that grafitti back there. Yeah, we all saw that too. Not sure who wrote it but it wasn't us."

"Hmmm. So, if there ARE actually the creatures at each of the shrines that were built for the gods who disguised themselves as such, we best be prepared."

Gotur, this is what Orvex knows about each piece of the graffiti ->

Fear the fangs of Ras Nsi! - the wizards were yelling something about Ras Nsi and that the Yuan-Ti forces were likely Ras-Nsi's army, but he doesn't know who or what Ras Nsi is.

Erik, I’ve gone in search of the nine shrines. V. - must be some person named Erik looking for the shrines. Orvex says that he thinks many people have sought out these shrines. Without success. 

The puzzle cubes are the key. - yes he's told you all about them. All of them are required to open the lost tomb which only the gods know what holds! (Orvex is excited that he might have the chance to explore the tomb)

Beware the frog monster! - must've been referring to the froghemoth now looking back on it. "Well, it seems we may very well end up seeing the creatures that the gods disguised themselves as at each shrine" he says. 

Who is Unkh? - one of the trickster gods represented by a huge snail.

All hail the King of Feathers! - probably referring to the god Papazotl, who disguided themselves as an eblis.

The snakes are not what they seem. - he isn't sure about this.

Kubazan = bravery. Shagambi = wisdom. Moa = ? - names of 3 of the trickster gods. Kubazan was the one who disguised themselves as the Froghemoth. Shagambi was a kamadan. Moa was the jaculi (he's assuming you know what those things are. same thing with the eblis he mentioned above). He'd be happy to tell you what he knows about each of the creatures if you want, although they are pictured where the cubes are on the Omu Master tab. He just knows what they look like.

Orvex tells you again about the cubes and which gods took the form of which creature. (check out the new 'Cubes' tab) The names on the cubes are the names of the gods, and the pictures are the creatures of which the gods disguised themselves as.

If you proceed to the compound where Orvex was found, you'll notice that the wild dogs (jackal) are still there trying to get the last bits of meat from the dead.

The dogs (there are 6 of them) will leave you alone if you don't bother them. If you try and inspect the bodies, they will attack which of course would be a complete wash as you'd make quick work of them.

Eku did a fly around of the compound and she didn't think anything was left on the bodies or anywhere else. Orvex says "Damn Yuan-Ti likely looted everything" 

 DAY 34 - 12:30PM 

Ok, if there are no objections, the party will head to #3 on the 'Omu Master' tab. You don't see any hostile creatures or people or any sign of the red wizards as you cross through the walled compound, across the main street and east towards the next shrine. 

I've also added a new '#3' tab which shows the layout of this shrine. Orvex doesn't know anything about this shrine and he hasn't been there yet. His group never got there.

Eku would offer to do a fly around of the shrine. She comes up with no pings from her detect evil and good or her detect magic spells. She also visually scans the entire area from the air. (the 13 perception rolled in the other thread). 

She comes back to the party and explains that she saw a staircase going down at the south end of the shrine. She also saw 2 large creatures in a wooden cart behind the shrine. They looked like big cats, but she also thinks she saw snakes with them....?

Orvex puts two and two together. "DRAT. It has to be a Kamadan. This is the creature that the god Shagambi disguised themselves as. It's a horrific mix of big cat and snake. And you say you saw two of them, Eku?"

"Yes. Two. As far as I could see."

Please let me know exactly how each of you would want to approach this and please make any checks as required. Remember you could enter the area from any direction on the map, just let me know where. 

I won't show you what Eku actually saw yet until one of you actually get closer to it. She only had a quick glimpse of it given her roll and has decribed what she saw. (big cats with some snakes?)

I marked them on the map #3 where Eku saw them.

((if something doesn't make sense about the story or about Omu and the history and the cubes and the tomb or anything else please ask. There's a lot to the details and with PbP it's hard to keep it all together. And it's a bit confusing at baseline. Orvex knows a lot (but not everything) about this place and the history etc. as he's described so he'd answer any questions you might have the best he can))

((this is the page that has the entire spiel that Orvex gave you about this place. Details about the cubes, etc. It's in a spoiler or two in this link -> https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/98029-kleins-tomb-of-annihilation?page=62

Ok - over to you!

Maps are all updated. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BN23DQDrAKvzNLFcDh7dpnv_CiDfSJ_TloAK9-2VpfY/edit#gid=1892519643

((OOC: would we have had a short rest between shrines or not really? Thanks)).

((sure, if you want. there'd be no encounters in the 1 hour.))

"Orvex, and Azaka as well, will these Kamadan be a problem you think? Aye can't say that aye'm familiar."

Alton would offer to sneak forward with anyone else who is willing to get a better look at the creatures (possibly enact a sneak attack as well!).

Stealth (if/when needed): 24

 DAY 34 - 1:30PM  (after that short rest)

Evo, Orvex responds "A kamadan. Quite the predator. This is a feline creature that resembles a leopard, with snakes sprouting from its shoulders. Yes, snakes. Quite the monstrosity this creature is. Kind of the best of feline predators and reptile predators all wrapped up in one."

Azaka and Eku will make nature checks to see if they are aware of these creatures. They are found in the jungles of Chult for sure, it's just a matter of seeing if either of them have seen one and/or knows about them. 

Eku: 6

Azaka: 15

Eku says "We need to be careful. These creatures are deadly predators. They are extremely poisonous, and I've heard stories of them being able to expel some type of sleeping gas. No idea how. Thankfully I've never experienced that."

Azaka goes "Leopards with snakes coming out of them? Nope, can't say that I've seen anything like that."

Alton, your scouting tendencies coupled with your curiosity of what has just been explained overtake you as you can't help yourself but get a look. With that roll, you're easily able to sneak up on these unsuspecting creatures and you will be hidden should anything eventually go down. Please let me know exactly where you want to be and I will add you to the map. I'd say anywhere 20 feet or greater away from the cart is fine. 

Oh, Alton here's what you see:

Alton, you can go back to the party if you'd like to tell them exactly what you saw, but you'll have to roll another stealth check to reposition yourself should you go back to the party.

Over to you!

 "Claws, fangs, poison and sleeping gas? It does sound like a nasty beast! So aye guess we go around?"

"How many legs? You're not talking about a displacer beast, are you?"

"A what'er beast?"

Eku shakes his head at Gotur. "No. That crossed my mind as well, friend. But no, it's not a displacer. 4 legs. And snakes instead of tentacles."

Eku then says "Alton went to get a closer look? I hope he stays quiet."

Azaka would say "Eku, you saw stairs right? And those cat-snake creatures are in the back of the place, right? I wonder if we just sneak in the shrine if they'd even notice? Or care?"

She shrugs her shoulders. 

"Aye'd rather not risk it, we can try another shrine and hope they move on?"

((I should have put more thought into Gotur's spells this in game morning, he could have prepped Speak with Animals, which might not work for some of these things, as they seem to be more than just beasts, but could have possibly talked to those wild dogs...))