Out of the Abyss: Sessions 4-5

Hi all,

I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.

Game on!

Steve 🙂

Session 4 – A Horde of Shannon Gnolls…

A bunch of Gnolls in pursuit of two Hook Horrors ran past the party. More Gnolls came up behind them and the fight was on! Josh’s Wizard/Warlock hit something other than a wall for the first time and was well pleased. After the party dispatched the first group, another two hordes appeared. The party decided discretion was the better part of valor and ran for it.

Meanwhile, the Glabrezu Demon with the glowing crystal in his chest, whom the party had spotted ripping into a Duergar caravan entrée (let’s call him Guy Sebastion, for good measure) appeared and made mincement of one of the Gnoll groups (he obviously thought they were Shannon Gnolls). Then Guy spotted Jeremy’s Goblin Monk and started to chase – shame the tunnels got too small and too tight for him. “Next time, my sweets!” Guy cried, shaking his fist. Or something like that.  

Meanwhile, the party worked their way through some tunnels, skillfully avoiding a corridor with the two dead Gnolls, melting away because of some gloop that dropped on them. The other tunnel had a few Piercers – one took out Belinda’s Bard and the other KO’d Rhyse’s Rogue. Luckily Matt’s Cleric and Jeremy’s Monk were on hand to revive them (Jeremy’s Monk skillfully dodged falling green slime to get to them).

Out of the rabbit warren and onto a new tunnel, which collapsed on both sides of the party! Out of the dust and smoke frying pan and into a side corridor…also known as the fire.   

Next Week: The Oozing Temple… and maybe Slooopooobudoopdpapppapuupooo. So, it’s all well and good when explorers want to escape the Underdark, but what happens when everyone is from the Underdark?

Session 5 – Suck it up, princess! And a watery end…

The party rested briefly in a cave off the side of the tunnel – above, a chimney rose up a hundred feet or so. Mat’s Duergar Cleric did the (stone-cunningly powered) climbing honors, getting up to halfway and finding an offshoot tunnel filled with Stirges! Jeremy’s Goblin Monk got up there with him and both got unpleasantly sucked. Meanwhile Josh’s Tiefling Wizard/Warlock, Belinda’s Half-Sireen Bard and Rhyse’s Ratfolk Rogue picked off the Stirges at range (with Rhyse bravely hiding behind Belinda and Josh heroically standing in front of everyone, just in case).

Everyone climbed up the chimney and into the tunnel. Jeremy’s Monk found a glowing magic shortsword in a pile of stirge-guano. Meanwhile, water was starting to flow down the tunnel. Rhyse’s Rogue had a chat with some Giant Rats running away from the water and telling him the obvious: “water coming!” Further up the corridor after checking out some leaky cave ceilings, the party fought an Ochre Jelly which conveniently split into three before it was dispatched. A final climb up another chimney as the water reached 5 feet deep. Rhyse’s Rogue made climbing that chimney his personal vendetta after falling 5 or 6 times. Up top and Shushaar the Kua-Toa guide realized they were at the Darklake, a vast network of underground tunnels and unfathomable depths (really? In the Underdark? what a surprise) except this time they’re full of – you guessed it – water.  

After a long rest on the shore, filled with nightmares of creeping tentacles and horror-filled landscapes (or maybe someone just farted in the night), the party found a stand of zurkhwood mushrooms to make into a raft. Jeremy’s Monk and Rhyse’s Rogue (“We ain’t building no raft!”)  killed a couple of Giant Spiders a mile down the beach. Meanwhile, back at the raft-building BBQ, a bunch of Kua-Toa on a boat (who must have smelled the snags) approached the beach reeeeeaaaalllly slowly. They fiiiiiinnnnnaaaaaally arrived and (gasp!) weren’t friendly, taking out Belinda’s Bard and Matt’s Cleric with pointy spears and poorly thrown nets. Okay, maybe not the nets. Josh’s previously heroic Wizard had already decided discretion was the better part of valor and ran away before the Kua-Toa got to shore. He met up with the boys down the beach and came back to take their new raft to the water and chase the dastardly kidnappers. Lots of spears and bites later, Josh’s Wizard, Jeremy’s Monk and Rhyse’s Rogue saved their wayward and unconscious fellow party members, and got a free and better keelboat in the process. Hmmm – wonder why those Kua-Toa said they wanted sacrifices in the name of Leemoogooogoon?

A long rest later and the party was fighting fit and off to Slubooopoobppoppoooop, Shusar’s home town, for some flavorsome home cooking and fervent religious confusion….

Next Week: Slooopooobudoopadupadooo. Home cooking and fervent religious confusion – Underdark-style! Guess who’s coming to dinner…