Cannibalism, Spiders and Slavery: Out of the Abyss Session 1 Part 2
OK, I'm finally doing this. The second part of the summary for my first session of out of the abyss. I'm very sorry it took so long. Various things including Star Wars, Doctor Who, YouTube, Christmas, New Zealand, a computer that wouldn't turn on properly and laziness (mostly laziness) all slowed this summary down. But it's here now!
You can read the first part of the summary here.
After escaping captivity and eating a pacifist monk, the players and there nine other party members ventured into the Underdark. They were headed towards Gracklstrugh, city of blades, in the hopes that there would be a route to the surface there.
I completely messed up with the travelling rules. Turns out, you're supposed to roll navigation daily to avoid getting lost. I just rolled for the random encounters.
There were a few basic encounters, like a big ravine that they had to cross, and then there was an interesting one. A group of escaped human slaves, who had run away from Gracklstrugh. The party befriended them, and tricked them into coming with them so that they could give them back to the Grey Dwarves.
Now you see how evil my players truly are. If this, combined with the cannibalism hasn't convinced you, then I don't know what will. At least there hasn't been any child murder in this campaign (so far).
When they reached Gracklstrugh, the party used the slaves to bribe a corrupt guard into letting them into the city.
Gracklstrugh is a really interesting city. It has a massive fissure through the middle, with outsiders on one side and Grey Dwarves in the middle, with mad Derro (Mutant Dwarves, like Buppido) living in squalor in the fissure.
Plus, there's a dragon that lights the forges so... Yeah. cool city.
However, I do have a few problems with it. There are several "hooks" in the chapter, and the one that seems to have the best chance of getting the characters to the surface is about a merchant who will help the characters if they find out how the Derro are getting so much surface currency.
Slight problem: The book doesn't give an answer. All it says is that if they give her a journal that describes the "miraculous" appearance of a surface coin, she'll help them. I read somewhere (I think it was an ENworld post) that the flavor text implied casting a spell into this altar would give you a surface coin, so I'm going with that.
Anyway, after buying rooms at an inn with cash they'd stolen from the Drow and telling the NPC party members to lie low, they went out to the bazaar.
You can read the first part of the summary here.
After escaping captivity and eating a pacifist monk, the players and there nine other party members ventured into the Underdark. They were headed towards Gracklstrugh, city of blades, in the hopes that there would be a route to the surface there.
I completely messed up with the travelling rules. Turns out, you're supposed to roll navigation daily to avoid getting lost. I just rolled for the random encounters.
There were a few basic encounters, like a big ravine that they had to cross, and then there was an interesting one. A group of escaped human slaves, who had run away from Gracklstrugh. The party befriended them, and tricked them into coming with them so that they could give them back to the Grey Dwarves.
Now you see how evil my players truly are. If this, combined with the cannibalism hasn't convinced you, then I don't know what will. At least there hasn't been any child murder in this campaign (so far).
When they reached Gracklstrugh, the party used the slaves to bribe a corrupt guard into letting them into the city.
Gracklstrugh is a really interesting city. It has a massive fissure through the middle, with outsiders on one side and Grey Dwarves in the middle, with mad Derro (Mutant Dwarves, like Buppido) living in squalor in the fissure.
Plus, there's a dragon that lights the forges so... Yeah. cool city.
However, I do have a few problems with it. There are several "hooks" in the chapter, and the one that seems to have the best chance of getting the characters to the surface is about a merchant who will help the characters if they find out how the Derro are getting so much surface currency.
Slight problem: The book doesn't give an answer. All it says is that if they give her a journal that describes the "miraculous" appearance of a surface coin, she'll help them. I read somewhere (I think it was an ENworld post) that the flavor text implied casting a spell into this altar would give you a surface coin, so I'm going with that.
Anyway, after buying rooms at an inn with cash they'd stolen from the Drow and telling the NPC party members to lie low, they went out to the bazaar.
They split up there (I know, bad tactics) to ask about trade routes out of the Underdark. While exploring the bazaar, Mishann spotted a merchant threatening to kill a customer. This is because the demon lords in the Underdark (the big overarching plot for the adventure) have caused lots of people to go mad. Mishann cleared it up with - much to my surprise - no bloodshed.
g They eventually arranged a meeting with Ylsa, the merchant who can get them to the surface. They took the quest, and decided that the best way to begin investigating the Derro was to enter Derro territory, in the fissure.
Robert (The player who plays Mishann) decided to go back to the inn and get Jimjar to come with them, because he was a rogue as well. When he got there, it turned out that Buppido, Topsy and Turvy had all left. This is because Buppido is mad, and Topsy and Turvy are wererats (they're ashamed/scared).
. Once they got there, it was clear that the Derro as a whole were hardly rich. They lived in horrible conditions, and all seemed quite mad.
Robert (The player who plays Mishann) decided to go back to the inn and get Jimjar to come with them, because he was a rogue as well. When he got there, it turned out that Buppido, Topsy and Turvy had all left. This is because Buppido is mad, and Topsy and Turvy are wererats (they're ashamed/scared).
. Once they got there, it was clear that the Derro as a whole were hardly rich. They lived in horrible conditions, and all seemed quite mad.
Darrak rolled to try to find anything suspicious. He spotted a cave system that was hidden from casual view. The system is called the whorlstone tunnels, and most of the plot hooks in the city lead to it.
And, because they're D&D characters, they went into the creepy cave they found without any plan whatsoever.
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j They explored a little bit, and came to a room with bones all over the floor. Buppido was there. He declared himself to be a god and that he was going to sacrifice the players to himself. He summoned 3 skeletons and the battle began. The players dealt with the skeletons fairly easily, and knocked Buppido out.
Robert (the one who plays Mishann) thought that he might actually be a god, and was asking if there was any way to drain his powers. I pointed out that not many gods have 11 hit points.
After that, they found a lake blocking their path. Jake chucked Darrak in, to check if the water was safe. It wasn`t, but the others went in anyway. They all failed their con saves, and got cackle fever. Basically, this means that whenever they`re in a stressful situation, they have to make saves or collapse laughing.
The next room they found was filled with fungi, and every time a flame came into contact with it there was a chance of it causing a chain reaction and blowing the whole fungi thicket up. Luckily, my players are really responsible with spells and would never do anything like try to blow it up in order to destroy a caterpillar nest that they found in the fungi. They totally didn`t do that.
Once that highly destructive encounter was out of the way, they found a section of the caverns that you needed to be small in order to get to. Which meant only Jimjar and Mishann could do it. Well there were giant spiders inside, Mishann failed her con save and we ended the session there.
Thanks for reading my post. I`ll write about the next session in a weeks time at that most, promise. I won`t take over a month like I did last time. Nope. I won`t.
And, because they're D&D characters, they went into the creepy cave they found without any plan whatsoever.
h
j They explored a little bit, and came to a room with bones all over the floor. Buppido was there. He declared himself to be a god and that he was going to sacrifice the players to himself. He summoned 3 skeletons and the battle began. The players dealt with the skeletons fairly easily, and knocked Buppido out.
Robert (the one who plays Mishann) thought that he might actually be a god, and was asking if there was any way to drain his powers. I pointed out that not many gods have 11 hit points.
After that, they found a lake blocking their path. Jake chucked Darrak in, to check if the water was safe. It wasn`t, but the others went in anyway. They all failed their con saves, and got cackle fever. Basically, this means that whenever they`re in a stressful situation, they have to make saves or collapse laughing.
The next room they found was filled with fungi, and every time a flame came into contact with it there was a chance of it causing a chain reaction and blowing the whole fungi thicket up. Luckily, my players are really responsible with spells and would never do anything like try to blow it up in order to destroy a caterpillar nest that they found in the fungi. They totally didn`t do that.
Once that highly destructive encounter was out of the way, they found a section of the caverns that you needed to be small in order to get to. Which meant only Jimjar and Mishann could do it. Well there were giant spiders inside, Mishann failed her con save and we ended the session there.
Thanks for reading my post. I`ll write about the next session in a weeks time at that most, promise. I won`t take over a month like I did last time. Nope. I won`t.
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