The Old Lands - Session 15 - 7/28/2025
Into the Maw’s Shadow
Campaign: The Old Lands
Date Played: 7/28/2025
Location: The Chasm of Kalé – Ca’nip’s Outer Rims
The party marches towards a reflection of the head of Ebrietas - the Chorus of the Forgotten Maw
Arrival at the Chasm
The session opened with the party finally reaching the jagged perimeter of the Chasm of Kalé, the earth torn wide into a voidglass canyon that seemed to hum with a low, alien resonance. The DM described wind patterns like breath moving in and out of the wound, each gust tasting faintly of rust and ozone. Faint motes of voidglass drifted in the air, catching the wan light in sharp, unnatural colors. Basil’s notes—recovered in earlier sessions—were consulted, detailing both the layout of the outer Maw and vague warnings about what lay within. Stevia, ever the curious one, peered into the depth, swearing she could see movement far below, though no one else could confirm it.
They camped briefly before the descent, the DM narrating the unsettling stillness that seemed to press in from every direction. Oberyn busied himself checking the stability of the group’s gear, while Grim quietly studied the terrain for safe approaches, mentally marking hazards like unstable ledges and voidglass overhangs. The air itself seemed hostile to life; every breath left a dry, metallic aftertaste. Even without monsters in sight, the Chasm’s atmosphere alone made the place feel like a living enemy waiting for its moment to strike.
The First Descent
With no more delays to justify waiting, the party began the perilous descent down the first ledges. The DM described how each step dislodged small shards of voidglass that tumbled into the abyss below, fading into darkness long before hitting bottom. Strange echoes rose from the depths—not like wind or stonefall, but like half-formed whispers too far away to be clear. Basil pointed out markings along the path, claiming they were left by earlier Black Church expeditions, though their age made them brittle and hard to read.
Stevia’s knack for bold experimentation appeared early when she tested the ledge’s stability by tossing a chunk of rock into the void. Instead of a clean fall, the rock slowed, drifted sideways, and was suddenly gone—vanished as though swallowed by something unseen. The DM used this moment to hint at Ca’nip’s warped physics, explaining how gravity was inconsistent here and could shift without warning. It was a warning well taken; the group tightened their formation and moved with deliberate caution, each step chosen with care.
Signs of the Past
Further along, they encountered the remains of a makeshift Black Church outpost, long abandoned. The structures were little more than voidglass-streaked tents and crude scaffolding clinging to the cliffside. Grim searched through the remnants, uncovering rusted tools, empty rations, and a single journal so decayed it crumbled at his touch. Basil’s reaction to the site was mixed—nostalgia at seeing the Church’s mark so far from the surface, and dread at recognizing the same staging areas that preceded failed missions in his own time.
Stevia found a cluster of carved symbols in a sheltered alcove. They seemed to depict a dragon circling a great wound in the earth, lines radiating from the center as though marking something buried deep within. Oberyn guessed it might be a warning about Astaroth’s domain, but Basil remained quiet, his eyes fixed on the carving as if recalling something he wished he could forget. The DM lingered on his hesitation, letting the weight of Basil’s silence carry through the rest of the scene.
First Blood in the Maw
The climb brought them to a narrow shelf overlooking a dimly lit crevasse where pools of liquid shimmered faintly green. The DM emphasized the smell—sharp and acrid, like a mix of vinegar and burnt copper. Just as they debated whether to investigate, movement in the shadows drew their attention. A swarm of small, many-limbed creatures skittered into view, their chitinous bodies glinting in the voidglass light. Grim was the first to strike, his weapon finding purchase in the nearest of the creatures, but the swarm’s sheer numbers quickly turned the fight into a chaotic melee.
Stevia darted between pockets of cover, using her agility to avoid being surrounded, while Oberyn positioned himself to keep the creatures from swarming Basil. The fight was quick but punishing; several blows landed, leaving acidic burns that hissed faintly even after the creatures were dead. Basil identified them as scavengers—bottom feeders drawn to voidglass resonance, harmless in small numbers but deadly in large packs. The warning was clear: these were not the Maw’s apex predators, only its vermin.
Shadows at the Threshold
After the skirmish, the group reached the first true threshold into Ca’nip proper—a jagged archway of fused stone and voidglass, its surface rippling faintly like the skin of a pond. Basil explained that once crossed, they would be in territory that did not follow the rules of the surface world. The DM described how the air on the other side shimmered, as though underwater, and the sound of their own breathing became hollow and distant.
Crossing the threshold was disorienting; colors shifted toward muted violets and greens, and time itself seemed to slow. The DM noted that footsteps felt heavier, not in weight but in consequence, as though each one was being recorded. Stevia commented that she could feel “something watching,” and for once, Basil did not disagree. Ahead lay the winding passage into Ca’nip’s first layer, where the true dangers—and the stories that had brought them here—waited in the dark.
Trivia Sidebar
This was the first session set at the Chasm of Kalé, marking the beginning of the Ca’nip arc.
Stevia’s tossed rock vanishing mid-air was the party’s first direct experience with Ca’nip’s warped physics.
The voidglass-carved dragon symbol was entirely player-discovered, with no prompting from the DM.
The scavenger swarm fight was improvised based on failed Perception checks while exploring the green pools.
Basil’s hesitation at the dragon carving was not explained in-session, leaving the reveal for later.
Lore Sidebar: The Chasm of Kalé
The Chasm of Kalé is the largest voidglass scar on Kol’s surface, created during The First Fall when Kalé summoned Ebrietas into the mortal plane. The impact destroyed Ca’nip, the Nephalem’s flying city, and obliterated the dwarven-gnomish metropolis of Delvahrum beneath it. The chasm’s depths bleed into other realms, drawing aberrations, warped magic, and fragments of alien realities into its maw. Voidglass, a rare and dangerous material, forms naturally here, and its resonance distorts gravity, time, and perception.
Legends say the Chasm is haunted by more than monsters—it holds the fractured echoes of those consumed by its creation, their voices lingering in the air like a chorus of the lost. The Black Church has sent many expeditions into the Chasm over the ages, few of which returned. To some, the Chasm is a place of ultimate knowledge and power; to others, it is a graveyard that will one day swallow the rest of Kol.
Quote Sidebar
“Once we cross this threshold, the rules change. And not in our favor.”
— Basil, on entering Ca’nip
“It’s not heavier… it’s just that every step matters.”
— Stevia, after crossing into the Maw
“If these are the scavengers, I don’t want to meet the predators.”
— Oberyn, post-fight in the green pool crevasse
