Aboleth Group D&D Blog

8th December 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 17. End of session: 1490DR Ches 17 Our "Heroes" consider their options. They don't have many. At least on dragon stands (or swims) between them and their goal - Kardreth, the Intricate Web. They are all already damaged from the dragon's acidic breath weapon and would struggle to survive another such attack. The dragon seems uncaring of their plight, and seems happy to wipe them out without even a discussion. And so Derrick walks up to the edge of the lake and tries to talk to the creature. The black dragon offers a choice - the party could either offer all their items, weapons and armour, and then leave, or they can die. Their choice. Derrick decides it would be a good idea to ask about some treasure they are looking for. The dragon seems unimpressed, and even jumps to the natural conclusion that the group have come to rob him of his treasure. Derrick does not take the hint and doubles down on his talki...

24th November 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 16. End of session: 1490DR Ches 17 The group decides to camp above the chasm. Iwee casts her Tiny Hut for them to, hopefully, safely rest within, and Jaxii puts her Immovable Rod in the door handle to stop that being easily opened whilst they rest. The group rests for 8 hours. Jaxii and Iwee are no longer exhausted - not from the rest, which was not particularly restful in the current situation, but from using the potion of vitality and a Lesser Restoration spell. When they awake, and the hut disappears, Jaxii implicitly, without stating it, collects her Immovable Rod from the door. They then make their way down the ladder. Using Lionel the rope to aid them, they all manage to get to the bottom of the ladder, though the descent down a slippery ladder is not easy and a couple of them are close to slipping and falling. The base of the ladder is in a natural cave system, with a fast-flowing river flowing through it. The wa...

17th & 19th November 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 16. End of session: 1490DR Ches 17 The group stare at Iwee as she stands for a moment, as if in a trance. After a minute or so she seems to snap out of it and explains that Kardreth was communicating with her once more - they are on the right track, but need to hurry! In what is now a traditional fashion, Jaxii digs out her portable hole, now apparently named "Harold", and places it at the base of the door. Iwee looks though and spots what seems to be a large room, with some stone pillars - she is unable to see the whole extent of the room, but can see some small fires at the far end. Derrick summons Pacino within this room and zones in to check out what is in there, using Pacino's vision. He spots two duergar at the far end of the room, cooking over a fire. They spot Pacino and come towards the owl - Derrick makes him fly up high to the ceiling and then unsummons him. The duergar seem to believ...

27th October 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 15. End of session: 1490DR Ches 16 After a successful battle with Tissora and her helpers, our "Heroes" venture back out into the large hall with the impressive descending staircase. Being completionists, they decide that rather than press on towards their goal of finding Kardreth and the Intricate Web before anyone else does, despite multiple warnings from Kardreth that other people are close to him, and getting closer, they would stop off for an hour or two to investigate another door that they are pretty sure is trapped. With the protection of burning incense keeping the stirges at bay, the party look carefully at the other door. The skeletons hint at a trap. The lack of handles on the discarded axes hints at a trap. The mysterious rows of holes in the door frame spotted by Derrick hint at a trap. They decide not to press on down safer routes, but spend an hour investigating. Until Iwee gets bored of the dis...

  20th October 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 15. End of session: 1490DR Ches 15 Our "Heroes" have managed a short rest - this time without interruption. At the end of their rest, Derrick is alerted by Pacino, stationed outside the room, that a duergar is approaching. Zoning in on Pacino's vision, Derrick sees that it is the duergar that they allowed to escape earlier, trying to sneak past. He seems to be alone, so the party decide to let him go past without impeding him. They emerge from the smelly room and proceed to go further into the mine, searching areas they haven't been before. They find a bedroom that seems to be where the mechanical-duergar hybrid creatures seem to live, and a large open area that has a few makeshift beds, a cooking hearth and a well. It also seems to contain a cell of sorts, which is currently holding a very scared, and somewhat beaten, gnomish couple - Blaise and Hotch Copperneck. It turns out these are residents of S...

22nd September 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 15. End of session: 1490DR Ches 15 Our "Heroes" are mid-battle, having overcome a number of Duergar foes, but knowing their leader is still to come as they can hear him calling and geeing up his 'troops' from the safety of the background. Derrick, in true "Derrick" style, goads Umnik for his cowardice, and jeers when Umnik decides to send in his pet dire wolves into battle rather than face the party himself. Derrick increases this level of taunting by slicing the head off of one of the dire wolves, after Iwee had caused the other to run away for a while though not before Karoshi had taken more damage from a bite. Umnik, getting a little annoyed by Derrick's taunting, not least by Derrick getting his name wrong, deliberately, Enlarges and moves out of the way to allow his other pet dire wolf to return and attack, along with two more Duergar who fire crossbow bolts at Karoshi, one of them ...

25th August 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 15. End of session: 1490DR Ches 15 Our "Heroes" decide to press on, despite knowing that they are probably being watched and the mine is alerted to their presence. They consider crossing the chasm, despite there being no bridge, but eventually disregard that option. Instead they look for, and find, the secret door heading north and go through that. This reveals a corridor at the back of the arrow slits which caused them some problems on the approach. These defences are now empty, despite evidence of enemies being there previously. At the end of this corridor is a closed door. With perhaps surprisingly little preparation, they just head to the door and open it. The door opens to reveal a sleeping quarters, of sorts. It contains numerous duergar, as well as a large spider-like creature, complete with a duergar rider, on the ceiling. The enemy seems aware they were coming, as evidenced by the number of crossbow bol...

  28th July 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 15. End of session: 1490DR Ches 15 Our "Heroes" take a breather after a tense morning avoiding Hook Horrors, and a busy, though not too taxing, battle with some strange fungal creatures. Derrick seems to be lost in his own thoughts for a while. Karoshi hands out healing as if hit points grew on trees. Jaxii chats with her ancestors. They eventually set off again and after a while they come across signs of recent habitation - wooden barricades, boxes etc. Derrick asks Pacino to head forwards on a scouting mission, with Derrick viewing through Pacino's eyes. He spots a couple of Duergar standing on a 'landing', one of whom seems to be lining up a crossbow shot towards the owl! Derrick quickly recalls Pacino and the group discuss their strategy… … which seems to involve running towards the platform, brandishing weapons and torches and hoping for the best. Derrick, who has limited vision requiring a torc...

21st July 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 15. End of session: 1490DR Ches 15 Our "Heroes" return to the small camp they had found the evening before. There is nothing to be found there, so they progress further down the tunnel. Jaxii is on the lookout for poo. The tunnel descends, and eventually opens out a little to become a network of intersecting tunnels. Derrick sends Pacino off to investigate, and looks though his familiar's eyes but sees nothing. The party walks to the next junction and repeats the process with Pacino. This time the owl sees a small family of hook creatures in a nearby cave. Unfortunately, one of these creatures spots Pacino flying around and decides to investigate. Our "Heroes" back away, not wanting a fight (wait, what?!). Jaxii throws some dries mushrooms at the creature, Iwee shouts at it to stop. Derrick runs as fast as he can away from it. The creature does not immediately attack, but tries to scare the party awa...

30th June 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 14. End of session: 1490DR Ches 15 Our "Heroes" loot anything they can see. Jaxii gets a mangy looking leather belt and a string of dried mushrooms. Derrick gets a heavy flail weapon and a silver/platinum ring (which he immediately puts on his finger, despite everyone else telling him not to). Karoshi gets a gold nugget that the gnoll boss was using as a tooth. And thus began the first of many discussions about whether to rest. And if to rest, then where to rest. This repeated discussion became the theme of the evening. Swiftly followed by recriminations about the decision made. Instead of immediately resting, our "Heroes" first take a quick look around the main cavern to check if there are any more creatures in sight. They see none and so decide to climb onto a platform to get a better view, and then take a short rest. During the rest Iwee thinks she sees some movement at the far edge of the cavern, but...

23rd June 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 14. End of session: 1490DR Ches 14 Our "Heroes" wait outside a gnoll lair, contemplating their next steps. After much discussion, Karoshi and Derrick head in, gathering the torches they threw in earlier, and avoiding the ball bearings that were also thrown in earlier. Jaxii, Iwee and Sully wait just outside the cave. Using his polished shield, Karoshi looks around the corner, but sees only another empty short tunnel before the next corner, so they move to that one, with the barbarian and bard following at a distance. Doing the same at the next corner, Karoshi sees the tunnel opening up into a larger cavern, and spies some movement in there, but can't really see anything else in his makeshift mirror. The sounds of snarling and chattering are getting louder, though perhaps slightly less frequent as if beasts are trying their best to keep quiet. The cavern is dark, so Derrick decides he needs to throw a torch int...

26th May 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 14. End of session: 1490DR Ches 14 Our "Heroes" set off from Shining Creek in the Lurkwood after a short, but respectful, burial of Silvermoon. They are heading towards the mine that they know is in the centre of the forest, and with Iwee's returning memories of the area, coupled with her ability to talk to the creatures of the forest, they do manage to find their way there, albeit a little slowly due to the presence of a large salamander walking with them through the close-knit trees. Their horse, Thumb, who has survived a remarkable length of time in their company, they decide to leave with the folk of Shining Creek for now, as a mine is no place for a horse. After almost a full day's travelling in the woods they spot a clearing ahead, with a large hill in the centre. Acting cautiously, Derrick sends a somewhat reluctant Pacino to scan the area and the owl returns rather quickly complaining that he was sh...

5th May 2023 In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 10. End of session: 1490DR Ches 14 Our "Heroes" travel back to Settlestone, with Iwee hiding the precious bluecap mushrooms in a sock in a purse of holding - insocktion, as Derrick referred to it. Silvermoon is back in her home and welcomes the travellers - especially when they explain that they have obtains a good amount of bluecap mushrooms for the ceremony. Whilst the others wait outside to give some privacy, Iwee and Silvermoon prepare for the linking ceremony and close the blinds and place the mushrooms over the fire for their smoke to rise and permeate the room. At this point, Iwee and Silvermoon undertake the ceremony where Iwee becomes re-bonded with Kardreth. At the end of the ceremony, when the others enter at Iwee's call, they all find Silvermoon's lifeless body slumped to the floor. Iwee explains that Kardreth had said that her duty was fulfilled and that she could now rest in peace, and apparent...