Session 2
Recap
Having fallen miles into the Abyssal Gorge, the party landed in an enormous sheet of webbing — steel-cable thick — that broke their fall. Five of them stuck fast while Lux, perched on Vosk's shoulders, lit the dark with a Wayfinder pendant and revealed dozens of reflective eyes on the walls: dog-sized spiders above them, and much larger ones further up. Ottora, the only one able to speak the spiders' clicking tongue, opened negotiations while the rest struggled out of the webs. A very large spider dropped down and offered a deal: deal with a creature eating her younglings in the cave below, and the party would be released unharmed.
Freed by the smaller spiders and lowered on a rope of web, the party finally introduced themselves to one another properly — names, weapons, gods, and a long argument about whether caves are good or bad. They swept the enormous cavern in formation, hugging the wall, and found a stream of clean water pouring in from the dark. A small hill near the shore was moving. It was not a blob at all, but a gargantuan abyssal angler fish, whose lure fascinated most of the party and drew Vosk stumbling toward it.
The fight was long and ugly. Vosk taunted it and took the brunt, getting bitten and grabbed but proving too bulky to swallow. Shim tripped and dirty-tricked it; Lux buffed with Bless, Guidance and Blazing Armor and threw silver coins; Rowan kept the party standing with heals; Ottora chipped away with Divine Lance; Lia threw the flaming spear Lux made for her. Lia was eventually swallowed whole, went down to dying, and stabilized inside the beast's stomach. Vosk's final blow killed the thing, and Lux crawled in through the teeth to haul Lia out.
The party looted a glowing bulb from the angler's lure — which brightens and seems to fascinate anyone looking at it when struck — and carved off hide and teeth as trophies. Investigating the stream, Lux found a cracked-open egg in a pool, only a little smaller than the creature they had just killed. It had floated in from somewhere upstream. The angler was a baby.
The spiders came for the corpse and pointed the party toward civilization. After a rest they took a left out of the cave and found ghouls tearing apart a dark-skinned, platinum-haired elf. They killed the ghouls and found a brooch on the body that spoke: someone asking for 'Lila.' Lux answered. Within seconds a drow named Nathara dropped from the darkness with an escort, froze the corpse with her spear to preserve it 'for the composer,' and agreed to guide the party toward the city of Xalthera — while warning them her group is being pursued by the First Blood Court.
Timeline
The party landed in an enormous sheet of spider webbing after a miles-long fall, with five of them stuck fast.
Lux, riding on Vosk's shoulders, activated the Wayfinder pendant and lit up dozens of reflective spider eyes on the cavern walls.
Ottora began clicking in spider-speech, the only one able to communicate with the brood.
A much larger spider dropped down from an overhang and began speaking to Ottora directly.
The big spider offered a bargain: deal with the thing eating her younglings in the cave below, and the party goes free.
Ottora accepted the deal and the spider guaranteed her brood would not harm the party in the area.
Smaller spiders chewed the party free of the webs and lowered a rope of webbing.
The party finally introduced themselves to each other by name, class and weapon.
Rowan revealed he serves a god he cannot name — 'the man behind the door.'
Vosk laid out a formation: melee hugging the right wall, casters inside, with light held outward.
The party found water pouring into the cavern and flowing out somewhere unseen.
Ottora spotted a small hill by the shore that was moving very subtly.
A dim light appeared about twenty feet from the 'hill' and began to grow.
Vosk failed his will save and began walking toward the lure, fascinated.
Lux opened combat by throwing silver coins at the light, revealing a gargantuan abyssal angler fish.
Lux cast Blazing Armor and conjured a flaming spear into Lia's hands.
Shim pulled a dirty trick, tying two of the angler's tentacles together.
The angler bit and grabbed Vosk, but he proved too bulky to swallow.
The creature lifted thirty feet into the air and used an abyssal lure, fascinating and slowing most of the party.
The angler swallowed Lia whole, dealing acid damage and dropping her to dying inside its stomach.
Vosk landed the killing blow on the angler fish.
Lux squeezed in through the creature's teeth and pulled Lia out of its stomach.
Lia was healed back to consciousness, wounded but alive.
The party cut the glowing bulb off the angler's lure and found it still shining.
Lux discovered that striking the bulb makes it flare and attempt to fascinate whoever is watching.
Lia carved hide, teeth and bits from the corpse to carry out.
Lux investigated the inflowing stream and found a cracked-open egg at the bottom of a pool, nearly as large as the creature they had killed.
Lux and Lia argued at length over whether the earth of the Abyss is inherently tainted.
Around fifty small spiders arrived to haul the angler's corpse away, chanting as they dragged.
The spiders pointed the party left out of the cave toward something civilized.
After a rest, the party walked into ghouls tearing apart a dark-skinned, platinum-haired elf and killed them.
A brooch on the elf's corpse spoke, asking for 'Lila' to respond.
Lux answered the brooch and told the voice that Lila was dead.
A drow woman with a spear dropped from the darkness with an escort, weapons out but not pointed.
She introduced herself as Nathara and asked what surface folk were doing down here.
Nathara warned the party her group is being pursued by the First Blood Court — vampires.
Nathara agreed to guide the party to the city of Xalthera, while prioritizing her own mission.
Nathara froze her fallen companion's corpse with her spear to preserve it 'for the composer.'
Nathara asked the party to dim their light to forty feet of dim light for the night's camp.
At the table
If you can take care of a little problem inside the cave down below, a little further down, I'll let you out of here.
At the table
It's been eating my younglings.
At the table
And I will guarantee my group will not harm you while you're in the area.
Sagely hermits can also live in caves, which are usually just crazy people.
There's always a fucking prophecy.
Because you've never had a slime drop on you, have you?
Our main concern is living long enough to see sunlight.
At the table
I think I found the blob.
I'm okay with it. Damage is not my character's job. I used all my actions to do my actual job, which is keep this fucking thing focused on me and stay up.
At the table
Why does he keep yelling, eat me?
Oh, this is disgusting. Oh, this is gross.
At the table
Don't touch that, who knows what it does. It glows.
Of course it's an evil tainted place. Everything here is tainted.
There's nothing wrong with the Earth around us.
No, spiders don't normally make a deal to go kill something for them so they can eat it later.
I don't think Lila will be responding anytime soon. Who is this?
What is the surface doing down here?
It's not safe down here, you folks.
Preserving her for the composer, so she can make use of her once again.
At a Glance
Session
2
Recording
2026-09-12-1722
Played
2026-09-12
For the GM
What laid the egg in the stream, and where upstream did it come from?
Will the spider colony's guarantee of safe passage hold if the party comes back through?
What is the 'objective' Nathara must return to Xalthera, and what was Lila scouting when the ghouls got her?
Who or what is 'the composer' that the drow preserve their dead for?
How will the party be received in Xalthera as surface-dwellers?
Will the First Blood Court catch up to Nathara's group on the road?
What can the glowing bulb actually be used for, and can it be affixed to a shield as discussed?
Answering corrects the transcript and teaches the voice for this microphone, so next session asks fewer questions.