The session was attended by Trajan, Will, Avery, and Jamie. We used Google Hangouts again.

Scouring the Sewers

The Alliance away team gave a report of their activities to the Alliance War Council in Phoenix. They spoke about Astyanax’s death, the later banishment of the demon, and the odd resurrection of Astyanax. The party then headed back to Bradel Fields to search for the Tome of Agamemnon.

In the sewers the party explored next to the demon’s room first. They found a room filled with deep clear water. Opposite from the entrance the players used was another exit with flowing water going through it. At the bottom of the large pool of water was a pile of silver coins and some other objects too far away to make out. Logan did some magical scouting and discovered an illusion aura covering all the water, a second illusion covering a large object in the north half of the water, and a transmutation aura in the glittering treasure at the bottom of the pool. Logan returned to the party.

Shez gave a shot at dispelling the magical auras in the cavern. As he did so a force began attacking the minds of the party, starting with Logan. Logan fought off the mental attacks. Everyone threw up defensive wards and prepared for the worst. The malignant force attacked Torin’s mind next but was fought off again. More preparations for battle were made. The force made a final attack against Preta’s mind and succeeded. Preta began blasting the party with his battle magic. Amalius dominated Preta to prevent further blastings.

The force revealed itself as a giant tentacle-whale monster rose out of the water and entered a melee with Torin. The sewers were apparently home to the ancient horror that is an aboleth. Amalius was disappointed to find that the aboleth’s dominate spell was stronger than his own. Amalius countered that failure by dominating the aboleth itself.

The combat ended there, but they still had a big aboleth in the middle of the room. Amalius was unable to convey complicated orders to the aboleth due to the language barrier. The party decided that blasting the aboleth with all their damage spells at once was the best strategy. The aboleth was effectively pulped by all the energy thrown at it in one round. As the aboleth died the illusion spell it’d cast on the water disappeared to reveal the water was not clear; but, in fact, dirty sewer water just like everything else in the sewer.

The party still wanted the treasure at the bottom of the pool. Logan volunteered to do a bunch of dives down to get it. He used his magic luck ability to avoid getting a disease from the sewer water. After an hour or so of diving he had recovered two potions, a wand, a magic monocle, a magic pin, a magic mace, a large opal, and a smattering of silver and gold pieces. Detecting no more magic at the bottom of the pool, the party journeyed onward.

The passage from the aboleth room went on for a longways and let out to the sea. Turning around the party went back to near where they entered the sewer and explored a passage there. The passage led to a large room with a pit of sewer water in its middle. A partially destroyed walkway surrounded the pit. As the party advanced into the room, tentacles shot out of the water to grab people and pull them into the depths. Logan and Amalius quickly blasted the monster in the water. It turned out to be large on offense and low on defense. The blasts killed the beast and it sunk into the sewer water (This is the darktentacles monster from the MM2. It’s basically the watcher in the water from LOTR).

More exploration revealed a room of dire rats that were quickly slain. After the rats was a room with a sewer spirit in it. The sewer spirit spook to the players before they killed it, leading them to believe it had good intentions. The spirit said its name was Nevsha and that it was glad the party had slain the dark ooze that dwelt in its sewers (See Xorian Wars 7/Alliance 6). Nevsha offered a reward for whomever stepped forward to claim it. She put her closed hand out with the fingers facing downwards. Only Torin was willing to accept a gift from a being composed of sewage. He accepted the gift, which turned out to be a silver ring. Torin cleaned the ring with his purify food and drink spell.

Amalius remembered that the party was seeking the Tome of Agamemnon in this sewer. The party had been told that the Tome was in an area full of traps and protected by a golem. Amalius asked if Nevsha knew of such an area. Nevsha said, “yes,” and directed them to the area.

On the way to the area Nevsha spoke of the party ran into two sewer mutants that could shoot death rays from their eyes. They were quickly dealt with. They also found an area that used to be a catacomb and explored that. They were attacked by a giant spellcasting bone snake. They defeated it, largely due to Logan’s eldritch magic, and collected a bounty of jewelry from the bone naga’s corpse. The party reached the end of Nevsha’s directions at a room with a metal door on the other end (The first door of any kind in the dungeon). The door was guarded by a fearsome otyugh.

We ended the session there. The encounters after the otyugh should be treated as a single encounter and it was getting too late to finish all of them. Also, Trajan had fallen asleep. It was pretty funny. Shouting, texting, and calling him didn’t wake him up. The party has earned enough XP to level up to 12th, but they won’t do so until after they exit the sewers for a day. Our next session was scheduled for Thanksgiving Friday in person.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

88 – DM & Roleplaying Tips with Balance of Aksio (Jay + Sandra! and 3RPG) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Our guests today are Jay and Sandra from the 3RPG podcast. Their podcast is a talk show, typically with three hosts. Unfortunately the third host Chris was unable to make it.Jay and Sandra are working on a RPG product dubbed The Balance of Aksio. It's a new narrative fantasy TTRPG system with point buy character creation. The world within Balance of Aksio grew out of games that Jay and Sandra have been playing together since high school. Lots of history from important characters over the in-game centuries they have been playing. Balance of Aksio comes with numerous storytelling aids to help with character decision making, generational play, and how to cover long gaps between adventures.Balance of Aksio also introduces a unique idea for running your NPCs. Rather than make all the decisions yourself, Jay and Sandra recommend outsourcing the NPC actions to people you know outside of the campaign. Give those people a profile of the NPC and the decision they are facing. Then let those people decide what the NPC would do without your own biases as a GM entering the equation. Quite a clever way to introduce new developments in your game that even you can't predict!There's a 3RPG Podcast website and the show itself is available on all major podcast platforms.I guested on the 3RPG podcast for episode 61. Check it out!Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stage on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 88 – DM & Roleplaying Tips with Balance of Aksio (Jay + Sandra! and 3RPG)
  2. 87 – Adapted Azeroth D&D (Flare and Akridon)
  3. 86 – Wuxia Adventures in RPGS (Daniel and Metanoia/Ithasen)
  4. 85 – Medical Doctor D&D (Justin and Oops! All Healers!)
  5. 84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps)