Centrum Glacies Session 110: Aberrations
Week 110 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party dives into another Platinum Ranked Commission and encounters Aberrations.
Like my other campaign, I’m turning this one into a book series. You can check out the first one here.
Anyway, just like my other campaign, there is a whole lot going on and I don’t want to elaborate on every moving piece in the story. You can see the whole thing in the book series.
!!!Trigger Warning!!!
This story deals with a cruel world with some horrific twists. So far, this campaign has featured: Animals getting killed, Genocide, lots of body horror, evil cults, brainwashing, torture, psychological warfare, child abuse, and slavery.
Most recently, the party helped cause a complete planetary genocide. Save a few survivors, no one remains from that world. They are still grappling with this unfathomable loss of life and their role in making it happen. It is clear that their suffering is far from over. They can only hope they don’t cause untold pain to an even more untold more.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
The party fought against several Aberrations that were living fields of gravity. And monsters pulled the group and the two witches towards their bodies. Though they appeared to be humanoid if large in size. The inside of these creatures was hollow.
Still the party consisted of a two Platinum Ranked Adventurers, A Gold Ranked Adventurer, two Dragons, and of course the two Witches who were Platinum and Mythril Ranked. But Persephine being one of the most powerful beings in the world didn’t prevent Jyona from being flung around the room between creatures.
The Aberrations seemed to highly resist most forms of Magic. A problem for the mostly magical group. Worse, getting into melee range was dangerous. As simply striking the creatures caused a backlash.
Rot
But Engelique found one type of Magic that was extremely harmful to the Aberrations. While they seemed to lack most features of living beings, they had some sort of flesh. Specifically flesh that could be rotted via necrotic magic. They were highly vulnerable to it in fact.
But just because the group had a weapon to use against them, didn’t mean the Aberations would go down easy. Their gravity abilities continued to force the group apart and the monsters had plenty of durability as they tried to pick them off one by one.
Jyona tried casting haste on Persephine since it was clear she was the strongest of all of them, but almost immediately, she was struck by several of the Aberrations and couldn’t concentrate. The Witch however made it clear that the party was needed and she returned the favor by casting haste on the Half Elf. Which saved her from a horrible fate as two of the creatures tried to devour her.
Obrom tried to use a psychic attack on one of the Aberrations, curious to see if it would work. He went to his go to attack magically lacing insults with potency. And it worked. But the Bard learned something frightening. The Aberrations were intelligent and capable of telepathic speech. But whatever they said into his mind was incomprehensible gibberish. At least he didn’t suffer any immediate effects.
Through attrition, the party with the Witches help banished the creatures. They faded into mist leaving nothing behind. There was no hint of their origins. And the only connection the group could make involved the strange and dangerous substance dotting the walls of the mine.
Deadly Curiosity
While the group took a small breather, Jyona grew more curious about the glowing material around in the cave. She ordered the Animated Armor to retrieve a sample of it so that she could analyze it. Yet the Golem made by her and shaped by Jyona’s very will, once more made its own decision. It refused to get a sample. Perhaps it sensed just how bad of an idea it would be to go near something so dangerous, much less grab some of it.
Teztcal attempted to convince Jyona to collect it anyway. And that if the Animated Armor wouldn’t obey, that she should do the deed herself. Yet she knew that this stuff would make her sick. In fact she took heed of the Armor’s refusal to go near it to be a sign that she shouldn’t either.
Unfortunately, Teztcal had once again gotten an idea into his head and so simply saying no wouldn’t deter him from trying to grab it himself if Jyona didn’t first. So she quietly asked Engelique to cast an illusion of a glowing stone. She trusted this Witch far more than her friend to help her.
Together they tricked the Dragon. He grabbed the imaginary rock and gave it to Jyona. She in turn “threw it” into the armor to “hide it away” and maintain the illusion. With his excitement quelled, Teztcal didn’t bring up the dangerous substances again.
The End of a Rest
Obrom meanwhile, seemingly ignored, was going on and on about how dangerous this stuff was. In fact his former friends had tried to sell the metal and had been caught. They were still imprisoned for the very act of trying to profit from the stuff that Jyona had considered harvesting and studying.
The party went back and forth in conversation as they take a short rest. They couldn’t take a longer rest here because of the dangerous stuff all around them. But a fifteen minute break or so was sufficient. Persephine warned that there would be more of these Aberrations down here. In fact, they needed the party’s help because of them.
It didn’t take long for the party to run into even more Aberrations. They were just as strange and alien as the ones they had already fought. And no one had any idea what these creatures might be capable of.
Wrap Up
This cave system is filled with dangerous stuff along the walls and Aberrations keep appearing from thin air. This is a Platinum Ranked Quest and its certain that much worse is in store for the group. Nothing good has come from anything involving Engelique or Persephine thus far.