Sunless Citadel in Tomb of Annihilation (unmarked spoilers for both)

[Segev]

Going to try to make the intro paragraph mostly spoiler-free (or at least first-five-minutes-spoilers-only) for those of you hovering over the thread with your mouse.

I'm running Tomb of Annihilation, and have inserted Sunless Citadel as a dungeon that will introduce the major plot driver to the party. I've reskinned it a little, so that now Ashalderon was a dragon who led a monestary dedicated to Ubtao for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, but died significantly more than a century ago. In keeping with that, I have given some consideration to a particular encounter that is potentially one that could become recurring, depending on the PCs' choices.




Okay, spoilers go entirely unmarked from here on.

The most recent use of the Citadel by humans was when Omu, hyped by the new Nine Gods they have, began plans to follow through on their Queen's missive stating that Mezro (amongst others) would be brought back under Omuan rule. So they took over this long-abandoned citadel near one of the large signal towers (Firefinger is 1 day south), and set up shrines to their new gods.

They did not, however, disturb the resting place of the failed dragonpriest.

In the module, he engaged in a "forbidden" ritual that turned him into a troll. Given the dedication of the old monastic order to Ubtao, I am thinking the ritual would be more thematic if it made him a minotaur, what with the tie-in to mazes. The Order seeing the ritual as blasphemous could be tied into minotaurs "cheating" at mazes, while the priest felt it would let him achieve more enlightenment.

However, minotaurs are 2 CR lower than trolls, even if the minotaur would still be stronger than the troll is when first encountered (due to the weakness debuffs put in place when he's first cracked from his sarcophogus). They also lack the regen, which the explained behavior of the troll seems to rely on. I'm tempted to make it a minotaur with troll claws, bite, and regen (or, rather, a troll that looks like a minotaur and has the maze-walking talent), but I'm at a loss as to how to explain that particular set of regenerative powers being part of a minotaur from this ritual. I don't HAVE to explain it, I suppose, but I'd like to at least have it in my own head, even if the PCs never learn of it.

So I'm open to suggestions, there.


For those interested in more details, I've had Tiryiki - Ekene-Afa's dino-racing son - join a party of NPC adventurers who work for Sylvane in trying to find a cure for her ailment. He'll be the corpse they find of the canon party, rather than the one that's in the module. The failure to raise him from the dead at the temple of Waukeen will be the party's introduction to the Death Curse.

I'm also probably having one of the Sewn Sisters be the evil behind the Gulthias Tree, rather than a vampire. I was originally going to tie it to the vampire god of the Hidden Shrine of Tamochan, but the similarity of a Heartstone's disease-curing powers and the red fruit's healing powers is intriguing.

[Tanngrisnr]

This might not be what you're looking for, but why not describe the Minotaur/Troll Priest as a Triceratops-Man? A dinosaur man has ties to Ubtao, has a reptilian look that might make easier to explain the regeneration, and - as childish as it may sound - has horns, like a minotaur.

[Great Dragon]

They did not, however, disturb the resting place of the failed dragonpriest.

Are you going to have the Trickster God Shrines here?
Or still in Omu?

Are you keeping the Kobolds vs Goblins ?
I'd suggest Grung vs Bullywugs.

I'm tempted to make it a minotaur with troll claws, bite, and regen (or, rather, a troll that looks like a minotaur and has the maze-walking talent), but I'm at a loss as to how to explain that particular set of regenerative powers being part of a minotaur from this ritual. I don't HAVE to explain it, I suppose, but I'd like to at least have it in my own head, even if the PCs never learn of it.

So I'm open to suggestions, there.

What I'm thinking is that the ritual attracted the attention of Baphamut, and he took the chance to steal this priest's soul.

So, Minotaur with Troll-like abilities.

Sure, the Party can just kill this "monster", but if they do some difficult RP, and some Investigational exploring, they can actually find (McGuffin) to break the curse, and allow the Dragonpriest to ascend.

I'm also probably having one of the Sewn Sisters be the evil behind the Gulthias Tree, rather than a vampire. I was originally going to tie it to the vampire god of the Hidden Shrine of Tamochan, but the similarity of a Heartstone's disease-curing powers and the red fruit's healing powers is intriguing.

Interesting, I suppose that Tamochan's Shrine could be where a Cult of Vampire Spawn are trying to complete the "Rebirth Ritual" to bring back a True Vampire.

Been too long since I've seen that module. So, am not sure if this works, or even makes sense.

[xroads]

The priest presumeably did the ritual to give himself more power, right?

So why settle for a standard minotaur? What if the priest turned himself into an uber-minotaur complete with unheard of power? He's not a natural born minotaur so he doesn't have to be limited to natural born minotaur abilities.

[Segev]

This might not be what you're looking for, but why not describe the Minotaur/Troll Priest as a Triceratops-Man? A dinosaur man has ties to Ubtao, has a reptilian look that might make easier to explain the regeneration, and - as childish as it may sound - has horns, like a minotaur.

An interesting idea, though I was going with a minotaur not for the horns, but because of their abilities wrt mazes and their navigation. Ubtao has a maze as his holy symbol, and mazes and their traversal are a big part of the motifs of his worship. The one shrine to him that is spelled out in any detail in ToA is on the Laughing Bridge, where tracing the maze on the statue with your finger prevents the trap from going off.

I likely have a couple of weeks until they find the dragonpriest's tomb; they enter the Citadel this Friday. The Triceratops is more appropriate to Ubtao, but that actually is a reason not to do it: the transformation is, after all, considered blasphemous by an order dedicated to Ubtao. Still, it's a neat idea.

(The canon transformation is into a troll, which...just seems weird and out of place even in the original.)

Are you going to have the Trickster God Shrines here?
Or still in Omu?

Still in Omu. There will likely be smaller shrines/statues to them around here. They already found one to Kubazan a couple of days further downriver from this location.

Are you keeping the Kobolds vs Goblins ?
I'd suggest Grung vs Bullywugs.

I don't want to alter the motives of the kobolds, so I'm keeping them. The goblins are baitiri of the Smokey Jaguar tribe; they'll have masks and crude scimitars of stone and hardened wood, and potentially fight in battlestacks. The bugbear will actually wear two masks that cover him from head to toe and make him look like a battle stack to those who don't succeed on a DC 15 perception check. I might put some grung and terror folk in the prison scenes, though; thanks for the idea.

What I'm thinking is that the ritual attracted the attention of Baphamut, and he took the chance to steal this priest's soul.

So, Minotaur with Troll-like abilities.

That's about right, if the ritual wasn't to Baphomet in the first place. The question is why troll abilities, thematically? Minotaur, I can explain (which is why I want to switch the creature, at least cosmetically), but the troll regen feels important to how the creature goes from weak to strong if left alone.

Sure, the Party can just kill this "monster", but if they do some difficult RP, and some Investigational exploring, they can actually find (McGuffin) to break the curse, and allow the Dragonpriest to ascend.

I don't know about ascending, but having the dragonpriest be a recurring encounter around Chult might be interesting, if they leave him alive.

Interesting, I suppose that Tamochan's Shrine could be where a Cult of Vampire Spawn are trying to complete the "Rebirth Ritual" to bring back a True Vampire.

Been too long since I've seen that module. So, am not sure if this works, or even makes sense.

I've placed the Hidden Shrine of Tamochan in Hisari, which is the city the Yuan-ti were driven from and can't approach within some number of miles. I am probably renaming it to the Hidden Shrine of Hisari, but I'll likely have Zotzilaha be responsible for that curse in some fashion. Maybe one of the Sewn Sisters tricked the Yuan-ti into giving her the makings of the Gulthias Tree from something sacred to him, which she's using to work towards growing a new source of Heartstones. His curse on the Yuan-ti drove them out, and maybe also keeps the Sisters away.

The hag at Mbala is too far from where I put the Sunless Citadel and Hisari, so I doubt she's involved.

Also, the party has Eku as a guide, so they're unlikely to be fooled by a hag, least of all Nanny Pu'pu, for whom Eku has a (justified) hate-on.


But yeah, my focus in this thread is ideas on how to justify the failed-dragonpriest-now-minotaur having troll powers.

edit to add:

The priest presumeably did the ritual to give himself more power, right?

So why settle for a standard minotaur? What if the priest turned himself into an uber-minotaur complete with unheard of power? He's not a natural born minotaur so he doesn't have to be limited to natural born minotaur abilities.

I suppose there's always this. He not only performed a blasphemous ritual, but modified it.

[Great Dragon]

The Uber-Minotaur is one possible way.

1) Baphamut is trying to one up the Troll God?
Some kind of complicated Deal between them?

2) there a battle between Baphamut and Ubtao. (Curse) Regeneration prevents death?
(Why the McGuffin exists)

These kinds of battles don't always make sense.
****
Just tossing ideas, as they arrive....