Out of the Abyss is a Dungeons and Dragons (DnD 5e) game set in the Underdark. Play takes place every Friday night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in Chislehurst South East London. The Dungeon Master is Joshua.
Cast of Characters
Janek Boone - Human Champion (Tony)
Targonis - Wood Elf Ranger (Steve)
Aur - Aarakocra Rogue (Suresh)
Selya Skag - Vedalken Alchemist Artificer (Daniel)
Sunna Mortas - Tiefling Sorceror (Jo)
On the Road to Gracklestugh
Our heroes continue their journey on the road to Gracklstugh accompanying the corpulent trader Kaethra in her Quaggoth carried sedan chair and her retinue of Duergar. After another days journey they make camp as directed by the circadian rhythms of the underdark.
Aur has failed to steal Kaethra's necklace and the giant ruby that lies at its centre but has managed to slip off one of her rings. Stretching her wings she paces around the edge of the camp and hears the faint sounds of footsteps running down the tunnel. Someone has been watching them. Targonis searches the vegetation and finds footprints which seem to head off down the tunnel they have just walked down. Janek mentions
"it is not wise to go off into the underdark looking for trouble... ...You often find it."
Sarith appears to be on edge and Skag and Sunna talk to him. Sunna smells him but he does not appear to be intoxicated, rather he is suffering from the same strange malady that affected them all in the cave. He recounts his dream of being drawn towards a large pulsating green fungi in a field of fungi. Skag administers a sleeping draught and the drow falls into a deep slumber.
Day Two
In the morning the Duergar break camp and the ensemble begin another days trek along the road. They pass several other travellers including a Kuo-Toa family, other merchants and a curious trio of troglodytes who appear to be in deep conversation around an outcropping of crystals.
Janek approaches and cannot believe that he hears the familiar sounds of common speech. He introduces himself and the troglodytes respond in a friendly manner. Their leader Bof introduces his two compatriots Hufus and Dufus and explains that they are part of an expedition from the Society of Brilliance investigating the apparent expansion of the faezress. Their society is made up exclusively of creatures who have been reborn into sentience. Their own sentience came upon them suddenly only a few months ago.
Their society is spread throughout the underdark and they have collected a great deal of knowledge about the faezress and in particular it's ability to defuse or dispell certain magic spells. In particular the faezress seems to nullify transportation spells such as misty step or teleportation. The people they have encountered on their travels always seem weird, strange or messed up in the head..
Skag and Bof converse in depth about the magic side effects of the faezress as the caravan moves ahead without them. Janek bids the trogolodytes farewell and they rejoin the caravan.
A few hours later the Duergar make camp and they begin to eat what rations they have. Bupido and a female Duergar dissapear from the camp into the undergrowth. Aur patrols nearby and suddenly Bupido leaps out of the vegetation half naked and covered in blood.
It swooped down and snatched her out of my arms!! he cries. Despite a rapid search nothing can be found of the duergar. Gunther orders everyone to stay to their groups with no fraternising and sets his guards on watch for the rest of the night.
Sunna recites a dark poem a tale of murder whihc sets Janek on edge. He shares his suspicions about Bupido with Skag. Recalling the words of the dying demon they encountered as they fled Velkynvelve.
"We were brought here by The Scent"
Perhaps the demons were not after the drow and were looking for someone. How much can they trust Bupido? They both agree to watch him more closely from now on.
Day Three
On the third day of their journey they arrive at the junction for the Darklake. Kaethra once again tries to buy Aur promising to make her the star attraction in a menagerie but the Aarakocra states she is sadly not for sale. They embrace fondly and the Rogue manages to slip off another of her rings. Gunther gives the heroes a small amount of rations and they depart. As they travel down the tunnel they can hear Kaethra complaining that she has lost another ring. The heroes mquicken their pace.
The Shore of the Darklake
After a few hours they emerge into a massive cavern and onto the shore of an immense lake. They are immediately aware that there are figures closing in on them and they are suddenly surrounded by humanoids.
Their leader announces to the party
"Join us in bringing forth our glorious saviour. Offer up your blood for our cause". The strange cultists press their attack.
In a desperate pitch battle they manage to slay the leader and his cultists but as soon as they are dead they rise up as ghouls. The cult leader's lifeless corpse is ripped apart from the inside by three demon imps who claw their way out of his body. The fight continues and several of the prisoners fall to the poisoned barb tails of the demons or the fetid claws of the ghouls.
Janek, Sunna, Aur, Targonis, Skag and even the little ooze Nug bravely fend off their attacks and are finally victorious.
Before they can administer healing to their fallen comrades the entire cavern shakes with a tremendous earthquake. The blood of the demons sinks into the sands bubbling and fizzing.
Moments later the fabric of reality is torn asunder and a great demonic figure enters the cavern...
