Out of the Abyss: Sessions 20-22

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 20 – The Pudding King

The party headed back into Blingdenstone with the petrified body of whathisname, where they rested after their ordeal. They dropped in at the catacombs with the dead gnome’s bones they recovered in Rockblight, and were thanked by Burrow Warden Jadger. They advised him of the strange happenings in the Underdark (the madness and demon attacks) and the ghost concurred that several demon lords on the loose was not a good thing. They had gained an ally.

The party provided the Diggermattocks with an update, explaining they defeated Ogremoch’s Bane and were off to see the wererats. The svirfneblin were very grateful. Happy times all round.

Into the old city and the wererat warrens, avoiding traps and finally chatting with Chipgrin, who was keen to negotiate peacefully with the Diggermattocks and advise them about a strange deep gnome called the Pudding King, who was controlling the oozes. The party guided Chipgrin and several wererats to Diggermattock Hall, where the news prompted a war council to address the threat.

The party investigated the oozes, discovering there were far too many there for them to advance, and so headed back to the city with the rest of the wererats in tow.

Blingdenstone was united in an army of elementals, deep gnomes, wererats and ghosts to battle the oozing threat. The PCs fought Black Puddings, Ochre Jellies, Gray Oozes and Gelatinous Cubes to get to the Pudding King, all while the battle between the army and the ooze horde raged around them. Finally, the party confronted the Pudding King, who at first used cloudkill to sap their strength, but was eventually dispatched. As he died, he warned that Jubilex, demon lord of oozes, was planning to feast on the Demon Queen of Fungi’s banquet…

The party was rewarded with a Spell Stone, a Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals, a guide to Mantol Derith (secret trading post on the Darklake) and the name of a contact there – Gabble Dripskillet – who would provide them with information to find the Stone Library of Gravenhollow, and perhaps the Archmage Vizeran… 

 Session 21 – Revenge of the Drow

Jeremy’s Barbarian retired in Blingdenstone, helping the locals to rebuild their city. William’s Tortle Barbarian joined the party as they travelled to the Underdark trading post of Mantol Derith, on the shores of the Darklake.

Three days into the journey, the party realised they were still being pursued by the pesky Glabrezu demon that had plagued them many weeks before. They rushed into a vast cavern filled with rocky columns and ledges, only to be attacked from above by Drow! Yes, that annoying lot from Velkynvelve, led by Ilvara, the Drow Priestess, had set an ambush for the party while they were in Blingdenstone.

The battle wasn’t going well for the party as Drow Elites, Giant Spiders and regular Drow troops carved them up left, right and centre. Matt’s Cleric summoned an Earth Elemental which fell directly on the Drow leader, then he used Mass Healing Wounds a few times to get unconscious party members back on their feet. The party fought valiantly and eventually vanquished their would-be oppressors.

The Glabrezu appeared and the Earth Elemental held it off in a bottleneck tunnel. Rhyse’s Rogue claimed some cool Drow poison from the elites and then the party ran out of the cavern.

Everyone advanced to 8^th Level!

Three days later, B’l the Svirfneblin guide took his leave after pointing to the trail to Mantol Derith and giving the party the password to a secret door to enter the trading post. As the group made their way up the narrow track, three Chasme Demons swooped down to attack!

Session 22 – Getting Down in Mantol Derith

The party fought and defeated 3 Chasme Demons on the rock path leading up to the trading post of Mantol Derith. The group trekked along a tunnel until they came to a secret door that led to a ledge, where they met serial killer elf Sladis Vadir, who invited them for a bite to eat from his munchie bag (no thanks). Not knowing he was nasty (but suspecting he might be a bit loopy) the party accepted his gracious invitation to find the correct door and went back up the tunnel until they found the way to the trench separating east and west Mantol Derith.

Taking some lifts up the side of the trench, the party realised something was up – the market places were deserted, 2 Duergar were hunting 2 svirfneblin and a bunch of enlarged Duergar were attempting to knock down the doors to the Svirvneblin enclave. Slaughtering all the Duergar (and Sladis, who decided to slice up Belinda’s Bard during the confusion) was a short aside, thanks to Belinda’s Bard’s fireball, Pete’s Rogue’s deadly sunblade, Rhyse’s Rogue’s double-shortsword attacks and William’s Barbarian’s far-too-numerous critical hits. Rhyse’s Rogue lost the nub of his tail, but at least he still had his hair.

The party entered the svirfneblin enclave to meet Gabble Dripskillet, who conveniently was just the person they were supposed to meet. They asked if she knew the way to the Stone Library of Gravenhollow – she didn’t, but she said she might know someone who did. But first, a favour: could the party rescue Xantha Coaxrock, a svirfneblin mage and friend of Gabble’s who was accused by the Duergar of stealing a special gem? Apparently, that’s why everything in Mantol Derith had gone to hell, although Gabble couldn’t understand why.

The party traded some stuff, long rested, then set off to the Duergar enclave across the cavern (partly to do shopping – Matt’s Cleric wanted plate mail and Rhyse’s Rogue wanted barding for Littlefoot the pack lizard. Like visiting a fantasy world mall, really). They killed some duergar guards in a fungi grove and Matt’s Cleric used his stone cunning wizardry to open the great stone gates to the duergar enclave, where large numbers of duergar turned to face the party…

Next Week: Into the Duergar Enclave…

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