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)
Gracklstugh - The City of Blades
The city of Gracklstugh was an unwelcoming sight for the heroes as the Princess Heresy docked at pier 9. A thick acrid smog hung over the city and burned their lungs with every breath and the rhythmic booming of the forges deafened their ears. Nothing about Gracklstugh made you want to write home about it.
Time to escape the Duergar slavers had run out and so in desperation Skag and Aur hatched a plan to use magic to alter and disguise themselves as fellow Duergar hoping that the Captain would take pity on their kinfolk who had been overpowered by the strange man bird and his smelly companion. Jimjar sat back in the cage and watched with interest.
Captain Rothram Bonebattle was enraged to find his prized Aarakocra missing and slapped the two duergar in irons. His firstmate Bangram was surprised to look back at his own face when he clapped the manacles onto one of them. Aur proceeded to claim that Bangram was an imposter. The pair were dragged up on deck.
Janek started to argue with the captain demanding to know where Aur and Skag where. He began pushing the two Duergar closer to the siderail of the boat and the 20 ft drop down to the water. The Duergar slavers resisted and a fight broke out. The heroes were no match for the strange underdwarves who reflexively grew to twice their normal size and brutally put down the uprising and hauling them off in chains to the Blade Bazaar.
Only Skag and Nug managed to escape over the side of the ship but their freedom was short lived when they were arrested by a Stone Guard who had been waiting patiently and invisibly to catch any wrongdoers. As the guards hauled off the shapeshifted Alchemist to the Stalacmite armoury, Skag's spell wore off allowing them to slip easily out of the manacles and into the safety of the crowd in the bazaar.
Some time later, the heroes are once again prisoners held in a cell awaiting their imminent sale to some well to do Gracklstughite nobility. One by one they head to the auction block to be sold and then returned to the pens to await collection by their new owners.
Suddenly a loud crashing can be heard and the screams of people. From their cage they can see a two-headed giant smashing through the crowd. His eyes glow red as though he is possessed.
"The Scent" he booms "We are here"
Brave Stone Guards immediately leap into the fray to protect their home and the giant stumbles and falls smashing his head on the slave pen cage bending and twisting it out of shape.
Sunna shouts at the Giant "Who are you looking for?", "The Scent" it replies "We are coming little one".
Janek and Targonis usher the group through the broken bars and out of captivity. Bupido claims that there is an inn nearby in which they can lay low for a while.
Disguised as an old drow woman, Skag deftly works their way through the bazaar and spots a strange derro. As the derro passes merchants selling their wares they shoo him away or spit at thim. Skag follows him until he passes through a checkpoint guarded by Stone Guards. A sign says No Foreigners beyond this point and the Stone Guards politely stop Skag from passing into the beyond politely telling them "No-one but Duergar and Derro beyond this point ma'am"
Returning to the bazaar Skag spots a merchant loading boxes of clothing and spies some of Janek's equipment. Approaching to investigate, a few Duergar materialise out of thin air and brutally stab the merchant to death with shiny bright swords before dissappearing again. Incredulously, Skag grabs Janeks gear and heads over to the slave pens just in time to see their friends escaping. The alchemist follows at a distance.
The fleeing heroes make it to the safety of the inn. The innkeeper demands payment up front and Aur shrouded in a blanket goes back to a nearby stall and manages to sell an ornate dagger for 60 gold.
As the confusion in the bazaar dies down the group sit huddled in a large room tending their wounds and resting. They consider their fate and ponder how it is that they are once again fleeing as escaped prisoners...