So the party just reached level 5 (Milestone Levelling) and after building up an invasion of the body snatchers type vibe they have finally determined where the main danger to the town they have been adventuring in and around is coming from.
As an overview. Town has been slowly taken over by an Aboleth, Aboleth is working with a high level (20+) wizard who's entire goal has been to get the Aboleth to give him information. Wizard has been presented as a bumbling idiot who owns a magic shop in town, he has tooled up the party with a variety of magic items with the intention that, when he was done with the Aboleth he would point them at it to kill it. Wizard has been working with 3 changelings, the changelings impersonate townsfolk replacing them while he teleports them to the Aboleth, they get enslaved, he then teleports them back. He has also been creating various threats in and around the town to keep the party distracted, keep them around and also just get a sense of fear and general paranoia around the town especially in the town council (who's members he has been having enslaved). he has also created a potion that enhances the Aboleth Enslave (extends the range and makes the save DC higher and at Disadvantage). Aboleth was actually entombed deep underground many thousands of years ago in an underground lake, unable to escape. Wizard determined where it was and 3 years ago travelled to the mine, used a combination of Modify Memory and Dominate Person to get the dwarfs of this mine (5 days travel from the town) to dig down to this Aboleth. The dwarfs where then slowly enslaved, imprisoned and forced through various means to work for the Aboleth and Wizard. The nearby town was informed the Mine was reaching the end of its life and so fell into economic decline.
Party, through a variety of great play, good rolls and just story stuff worked out wizard was bad, and headed to the mine determining there was something going on there. That got them all to level 5.
So the party are now a days travel from the Mine they have come across 2 dwarves who where part of a party traveling from dwarf holds far far away. One of them has a sister in the mine who stopped contacting him 2 years ago, so he has made the long trek to find out why. The party where attacked by Chuul and only 2 are remaining.
In my head the following things are going on. Aboleth is by now well aware the Wizard will act against it eventually, it can't enslave Wizard and still finds him useful so there is an uneasy alliance, but it has fortified it's position. Mine is fully under Aboleth control, a % of dwarves are enslaved but there are also a number of dwarves who are just imprisoned, there young being held hostage as a way to stop them doing anything stupid. The dwarves are being used to continue mining raw materials the Aboleth intends to use in the future. There is a collection of Chuul and other creatures that have been drawn to the Aboleth and are helping it maintain order in the mine, as well as patrolling the area outside the mine keeping it secure. The mine itself consists of a large subteranean cavern in which the majority of dwellings etc are. There is a small surface village consisting of warehouses, some buildings and a small canal dock. The canal runs all the way to a nearby river (about 2 days travel by foot) down a valley.
So I am looking for ideas for challenges, encounters, story threads that I can create and run in this area, and the mine itself with the aim of building to the party driving down to the aboleth and a big epic fight. Once complete the aim is they will level from 5-6. The wizard is already long gone (he will be a recurring threat until they are powerful enough to face him).
Any suggestions or ideas of creatures that might have come to help the Aboleth, any ideas of interesting challenges, My aim is to make this portion of the campaign last a number of sessions.
I suggest you buy "A Night Below", its the legendary 2E campaign where the bad guy is an aboleth. If you look at the end of it you can see the aboleth lair. There is a complete campaign that essentially you could steal. You could take what you started with and use its maps and themes to work very well with your content. You essentially completed the above ground portion and would be going into the underdark portion. I'd suggest replacing the Svirneblin with the Dwarfs at the upper entrance and from there its an easy substitution.
It's a very well written module and would save you a lot of time. Just do what DM"s have done since time immemorial steal from others and repurpose their work to yours. The maps are lacking however in detail so you'd have to fill it out on your own a bit. The final portion has the Aboleth in a sunken city with all sorts of baddies. It'll take your characters to level 12.
So the party just reached level 5 (Milestone Levelling) and after building up an invasion of the body snatchers type vibe they have finally determined where the main danger to the town they have been adventuring in and around is coming from.
As an overview.
Town has been slowly taken over by an Aboleth, Aboleth is working with a high level (20+) wizard who's entire goal has been to get the Aboleth to give him information. Wizard has been presented as a bumbling idiot who owns a magic shop in town, he has tooled up the party with a variety of magic items with the intention that, when he was done with the Aboleth he would point them at it to kill it.
Wizard has been working with 3 changelings, the changelings impersonate townsfolk replacing them while he teleports them to the Aboleth, they get enslaved, he then teleports them back. He has also been creating various threats in and around the town to keep the party distracted, keep them around and also just get a sense of fear and general paranoia around the town especially in the town council (who's members he has been having enslaved). he has also created a potion that enhances the Aboleth Enslave (extends the range and makes the save DC higher and at Disadvantage).
Aboleth was actually entombed deep underground many thousands of years ago in an underground lake, unable to escape. Wizard determined where it was and 3 years ago travelled to the mine, used a combination of Modify Memory and Dominate Person to get the dwarfs of this mine (5 days travel from the town) to dig down to this Aboleth. The dwarfs where then slowly enslaved, imprisoned and forced through various means to work for the Aboleth and Wizard. The nearby town was informed the Mine was reaching the end of its life and so fell into economic decline.
Party, through a variety of great play, good rolls and just story stuff worked out wizard was bad, and headed to the mine determining there was something going on there. That got them all to level 5.
So the party are now a days travel from the Mine they have come across 2 dwarves who where part of a party traveling from dwarf holds far far away. One of them has a sister in the mine who stopped contacting him 2 years ago, so he has made the long trek to find out why. The party where attacked by Chuul and only 2 are remaining.
In my head the following things are going on.
Aboleth is by now well aware the Wizard will act against it eventually, it can't enslave Wizard and still finds him useful so there is an uneasy alliance, but it has fortified it's position.
Mine is fully under Aboleth control, a % of dwarves are enslaved but there are also a number of dwarves who are just imprisoned, there young being held hostage as a way to stop them doing anything stupid. The dwarves are being used to continue mining raw materials the Aboleth intends to use in the future.
There is a collection of Chuul and other creatures that have been drawn to the Aboleth and are helping it maintain order in the mine, as well as patrolling the area outside the mine keeping it secure.
The mine itself consists of a large subteranean cavern in which the majority of dwellings etc are. There is a small surface village consisting of warehouses, some buildings and a small canal dock. The canal runs all the way to a nearby river (about 2 days travel by foot) down a valley.
So I am looking for ideas for challenges, encounters, story threads that I can create and run in this area, and the mine itself with the aim of building to the party driving down to the aboleth and a big epic fight. Once complete the aim is they will level from 5-6. The wizard is already long gone (he will be a recurring threat until they are powerful enough to face him).
Any suggestions or ideas of creatures that might have come to help the Aboleth, any ideas of interesting challenges, My aim is to make this portion of the campaign last a number of sessions.
I suggest you buy "A Night Below", its the legendary 2E campaign where the bad guy is an aboleth. If you look at the end of it you can see the aboleth lair. There is a complete campaign that essentially you could steal. You could take what you started with and use its maps and themes to work very well with your content. You essentially completed the above ground portion and would be going into the underdark portion. I'd suggest replacing the Svirneblin with the Dwarfs at the upper entrance and from there its an easy substitution.
It's a very well written module and would save you a lot of time. Just do what DM"s have done since time immemorial steal from others and repurpose their work to yours. The maps are lacking however in detail so you'd have to fill it out on your own a bit. The final portion has the Aboleth in a sunken city with all sorts of baddies. It'll take your characters to level 12.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17087/Night-Below-An-Underdark-Campaign-2e