Month: August 2024

The adventurers have a map to lead them through the Everburning Forest. Let’s break this down and start figuring out what this means.

First, some lore. The Everburning Forest is going to be a valley with a lot of geothermal activity, lava pools, and the burning smell of sulfur. At some time in the past, the pre-Barthic Ancients developed flora which could resist the constant burning heat and low oxygen and which to this day thrives in a place where even the Bleak has trouble penetrating. 350 years ago, a young Jonias Grunkheart found this forest/valley through local legends and went in with a team to build a workshop to study the Ancient technology and to find out how to channel it. Such technology was used by him to create the burning light of the Lighthouse.

Now, let’s populate it.

Flipping through Bestial Ecosystem Created by Monster Inhabitation (Courtney C. Campbell and others), I wanted to pick a couple of “faction” types that made sense in an ever burning forest. Efreeti made sense to me but I was thinking maybe just a single entity who has been cast out from the City of Brass and found some solace in the valley (and possibly, long ago, worked with Jonias). Another one was lizard folk but I was immediately put in mind of Romancing Saga 2‘s Salamanders and so we’ll use them instead. Besides this we can use fire elementals and fire beetles. The salamander tribe is not necessarily going to be an enemy (at least not until I absolute fail reaction rolls again). I’ll save the question about the efreeti being a boon or bane if the adventurers encounter it.

With those ideas in mind, let’s make up a basic map using some ideas talked about at the end of my contemplating hex-crawls post. Rolling 10d6 “green”, 1d6 “red” (to represent the workshop), and discarding all green 1s I come up with the points of interest and get a rough number of paths. I then roll another set of 5d6 “on top of it” to represent difficulty of terrain. 1-3 is varying degrees of easily passable. 4-6 gets increasingly hard to traverse. Then for each path, I roll another d6 with 1-3 being “in good condition, lower is better” and 4+ being a path that will require some trouble. Putting that all together, I get…

I pick the blue star to be my starting point. There are two dead ends off of it that are passable. There’s another path the south that is harder to traverse with very rough terrain to get through. The air is harsher and the lava pools are wider while the path breaks down. Then, there is a clear and obvious chunk that takes a couple of hours (the left over bits of some road that has not yet been reclaimed) but it passes by a significant element. We’ll make that the salamanders who hunt the road. After another point in the road, another long stretch through less passable terrain happens. However, the workshop’s path is collapsed (workshop was a 6 so no paths to it). At this point, the characters will have to go off road and deal with the issues.

In the distance, in the deepest and roughest portions of the Everburning Forest, is the makeshift manse of the efreeti. Now I’m going to roll on the Overland Hex Maps table to learn roughly what everything else might be though I will not dig too deeply into elements. I get the “4” and the rightmost “3” are holy shrines. Stopping spots on the way for researchers to reset and to perhaps even worship the Ancients. the “middle 3” and the “topmost 2” are “natural landmarks”. We’ll have one be a crag and another being one of the largest trees. We’ll make that the one-time home of a Sulfur Dryad but we’ll see what’s up when it is found. The other “2” is a cave complex which could be interesting.

Putting this all into Hex Kit (using Thomas Novosel’s Strange Tile BW hex pack) and then taking some liberties with exact layout, we get…

The intended path will then be to start at a ruined tower (which was the 5/crossroads). Head south to the crumbled roll until you get the first shrine. Head deeper into the relatively clear forest past the salamanders you come to the First Burn tree and then find another shrine. Here, you have to leave the path and head through the rough terrain until you find workshop. Go to far, and you end up in the territory of the efreeti.

What exactly the shrines are and the cave complex and such…we’ll figure it out.

Step one is to start at the beginning: gathering up fire protection something and then figuring out the tower as a start and going deeper and deeper.

Other details will be developed as I go. For those that want to see this with a hex overlay, with each hex this time being about 1.5 miles or so…it looks like this…

Behind the Scenes: Contemplating Hexcrawls and Pointcrawls for My Solo Games

By Doug Bolden

On 2024-08-18

In Solo Musings

Roleplaying games are a fascinating artifact that I hope survives for a long time. There are a lot of things that you can say about RPGs but I think the two I want to focus on right now are a pair of contradictory statements:

Roleplaying games cut through the near infinite amount of abstraction presented by “real world” considerations by providing a framework that simulates a particular subset (usually combat and a few other adventurer subsystems).
Roleplaying games are an abstraction of “real world” considerations and not necessarily meant to represent any sort of 1-for-1 aspects and instead provide an escapist avenue beyond specificity.

In other words, an RPG often takes an in-Universe reality and dissolves it to fluff text and a few abstract dice rolls and stats and then feeds this back into the in-Universe reality with the broad idea that anything outside this abstraction is in itself an abstraction.

I am personally writing this like a college essay, by the way, because I am not sure if there is a better way to explain it. Maybe we can go with this. This IS not a cat:

That is a set of just a few quick shapes thrown together in Google Draw in under five minutes that represents the kind of “landmarks” we might associate with a cat face: ears, whiskers, nose, mouth. It will not win any awards but at its core I think if I made that into an icon people might go “oh, that’s a cat icon”. It boils down the immense number of elements that go into an actual cat face (thousands of strands of fur, vast differences in eye color, whisker length, variations in bone and flesh structure, and so forth) into an abstraction that is in no way a cat face but which, in RPG terms, could be seen a rough “these elements” approach to describe a cat face in the way that STR, DEX, CON and so forth is a ludicrous way to describe a person but it also makes perfect sense in the context of RPGs.

This kind of thought is what I have been giving over to how I might want to run hexcrawls. There are a lot of different flavors of abstraction but roughly speaking you see something like to represent, say, a mountain range ending at a forest with an old ruin on one side and then a small hamlet on the other side.

It makes sense and in-Universe it can represent several sessions of fun. By several conventions, those hexes represent 5-mile or 6-mile constructions and each has one or so distinguishing features. There are arguments why this “6 mile” hex makes sense and in gameplay it is a good way to guarantee a certain story/plot-density. You can travel 2-3 hexes per day and so you get a few chunks of story per in-game day but you also get to travel some 100+ mile range to help things feel nice and epic.

The problem is, that’s as nonsense as my cat face above. Give or take a few half miles, this is roughly a six mile real world hex of Monte Sano State Park nearish my house in Huntsville, AL as snipped (kind of hastily, from Google Maps.

In that 6 miles there is an entire state park. There are dozens of roads. Hundreds to thousands of houses. The park has dozens and dozens of miles of trails. There are shops and churches and schools. While this is, of course, a bit of a silly comparison because this is modern density it still shows that if you were take a dozen different parties and send them through that hex you have no reasonable reason to believe that any of them would ever crisscross. You can have entire towns and civilizations, there. Multiple dungeons could survive in that ecosystem. BUT, in that old school hex crawl, that would represent a single hex with a little mountain on it. And there are hex systems that consider 10- or 12-mile hexes to be the default.

Without triple checking math, the area inside such a hexagon should be roughly 30 square miles. For another modern comparison, that is more landmass than Manhattan. Or, to stick to something a bit more Outdoors Survival, you could roughly consider Yellowstone National Park to be something like 10 to 12ish hexes by 9 to 10ish hexes. While I don’t disagree that someone could hike across the park in 3 or 4 days (good weather permitting) it still fails to capture the true size of such a place. The sheer amount of things even a relatively wild place might contain.

On the other hand, if you are mostly driving a story forward by key points then does it really matter that you are boiling it down roughly to six “hexagonal” directions around 6-mile segments and focusing only on one landmark per hex? Going back to the bullet list above, you basically get this compression

A reasonable amount of distance to travel VS
A reasonable amount of story to tell.

Most other considerations about hex size are non-sense in the way that a dungeon as presented by a classic RPG scenario is beautiful nonsense. There are a surprising lack of real world examples of 20’x30′ trapped rooms with 20-floors down to make way for a lich. We can gleefully understand the hex-crawl as simply a way of saying “This is the size of the page I want to use to write my story.”

What I am trying to work out is something that might emulate elements of a hex-crawl but also give the sort of flavor that a dungeon might when generated for solo play. As in, you have a certain density of movement but rather than it suddenly decompressing from 10′ squares to 6 mile hexes it instead treats it roughly the same way as you might by gathering up certain “rooms” of varying sizes and shapes and they are connected by corridors and there are traps and hazards and occupants.

Something like how Advanced Fighting Fantasy (and many others) use with a dice drop method… (taken from page 135 of AFF 2nd Edition):

The idea would be the start there with a twist of rolling more dice and removing 1s (1 = a null space where no paths or nor significant objects exist).

2 = dead end
3 = a point along a path
4 = a fork where a path diverges/converges
5 = a crossroads of 3-4 paths
6 = an area off any path but which itself has significance.

I could shape that in a particular way by arranging things or the space to match my goal. A sheet of paper with an area drawn on it. Et cetera.

Then, for each path I roll a second d6 to determine path difficulty with something like 1-3 = no difficulty while 4-5 is some and 6 is notable.

Combine this with other methods to map out terrain shifts and significant points in more of a traditional hex map style system and end up with 2-3 “maps” that can be overlaid to create a story rich area that is variable as needed (long distances the relative scale shifts) and has the idea of being zoomed in and out (any given point can be looked at closer or the whole generated map can be part of a large map).

The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 12 – The Grunkheart Golem

By Doug Bolden

On 2024-08-13

In Actual Play, ShadowDark, Solo Campaigns, SoloDark, The Bleak and the Pearl

Doors to either side are locked and require DC18 DEX to open.

This is a 40′ by 30′ research library with a 20′ by 10′ alcove along the south wall storing many important texts about the running of the Monolith and about experiments towards fighting the Bleak. [SoloDark (SoD): 99 Rest 16 Information + 73 Assist 41 Danger]. The books are still in generally good condition, partially because of defense system installed which was also once an assistant used in running the complex.

In the center of the room is a strange stone automaton (the Grunkheart Golem, aka “The Librarian”) connected to the floor with four rotating wheels that spin upon a central axis. The top wheel has four mouths and four ears and four eyes and can answer questions as well as communicate. The eyes reflect the mode/mood: red = attack, blue = processing, green = librarian, black = off. They are currently in red mode. The Librarian is waiting for a passcode to back into its processing and helpful state.

The second wheel down has 3 long and articulated arms capable of reaching 15′ out from the center. They are equidistant around the wheel and each arm can strike for 1d10+2 damage. They hands attached (with seven digits) are capable of retrieving books from the shelves as well (but not the more restricted alcove).

The third wheel has four orbs which extend out on thin arms if needed. Red casts Hold Person. Blue casts Telekinesis. Green casts Protection from Energy. Orange casts Wall of Force.

The fourth wheel, closest to the ground, has enough space that it can rise up and slam down. The bookshelves are designed to absorb this impact.

The Grunkheart Golem (The Librarian)

AC 18, HP 40, ATK 3 slam +8 (1d10+2) and 1 slow, MV none, S +6, D +0, C +6, I +3, W +0, Ch -2, AL L, LV 8 Golem. Immune to damage from fire, cold, electricity, or non-magical sources. The bottom wheel’s “pound” causes all targets in near to require DC15 CON or speed halved 1d4 rds. For the four orbs, spells are at +2 to cast.

Three questions about the current state of The Librarian (SoD Oracle):

Is it still fully functional as its original function? 17 ==> Yes, but… requires repair.
Does the House Grunkheart still have the password required? 4 ==> No. This requires a trip to somewhere else.
Will it be mindlessly aggressive? 5 ==> No, but… it will defend the library.

The strangest door off the main Artery, as Rance calls it, was once brightly colored and still retains some elements of its glory after all these years of water and weathering. It is better sealed than the others, giving no indication of cracks or taint, still resisting mold and decay. The front has a series of interlocking wheels that make up some sort of opening mechanism the adventurers have not seen before. Despite time spent listening, no one has heard any sound from inside.

On the door, in very faint letters, are markings in a complicated language that neither Rance nor Tom recognize. Terk mentions that some of the oldest books in the library in the Lighthouse use this text and Cal has been trying to decipher it. Progress is being made but more about the language is lost than found. Tom’s theory is that was a secret code for the five families to communicate about the construction of this place. [1]

Now that the other avenues are starting to get explored, Grunce wants to knows what is behind the door and tasks Tom with getting opening while everyone re-kits after backing away from the large crocodile’s lair.

It eventually takes Tom, Rance, Nelf, and Terk some time to figure it out before the proper arrangement of wheels is made and the door releases with a deep hiss as the space beyond depressurizes. The siblings pull back and stare at the adventurers.

“You’re up, bigun!” Tom calls to Grunce who stands, takes a breath, grips his axe, and pushes the door open. The room beyond is a library. An extensive one. Rance almost forgets himself and goes to walk in but Grunce pushes him back. “Watch it, Uffolt, this place is full of surprises.”

One such surprise is in the middle of the room. A…structure. Like some primitive totem full of strange angles and shapes. Four wheels of differing sizes have been stacked on top of each other. The bottom one thick and heavy. The top one smaller and covered in strange carvings that look like a parody of the human face. Another one near the bottom with four orbs and a fourth, above this, wider than the others by a notch, with long…appendages.

As the door is pushed open and Grusk is standing there holding the others back, the thing begins to “wake up” as some of the shapes in the primitive face start to glow red. The long appendages stretch out just a bit and start to resemble complex arms like those of some strange giant bug trying to imitate a human. The wheel with the four orbs starts to spend faster and faster while the heavier wheel on the bottom lifts up.

In on time at all the thing seems to be fully “on” and one of the shapes in the face-parody starts barking in an unknown language: “ERIYL TOROL….ERIYL TOROL!” [2]

Grusk, entering the room, shouts back: “Yes, yes, Eriyl Toural.” Then stops as the “four orbs” disk stops and points the red orb at him…which flares and then turns off… before spinning back around to the Blue orb and Grusk flies back past the door and slams into the others. The half-orc manages to twist with the movement and prevent anyone from suffering more than embarrassment. [3]

The door slams back shut and moments later, when reopened, Grusk finds himself running into an invisible wall. Despite the “barrier”, the calls of “ERIYL TOROL!” are followed by “FARON IX!”

“Well, this is a funny thing,” says Inar.

***

Rance and Tom sit around with Cal Grunkheart around the oversized stone table on the second floor of the Lighthouse. Outside, the sounds of Grunce night can be heard in the distance. Yet another festival being thrown by Mayor Marr to distract the people from the encroaching darkness threatening to devour the town. The drunk calls and loud shouts as the city folk let their worries free.

Gryffin Grunkheart and Father Marnit enter the room. The young guard officer tosses an old scroll on the table in the direction of Cal.

“Here, cous, this is what mother gave me.”

Gryff, a junior member of the officers of the Grunce guard, is Cal’s cousin and middle son of the Lady Moreena Grunkheart, current matriarch of the House. Once the party had returned to the Lighthouse and told Cal about the strange door and the even stranger contraption inside, Call summoned Gryffin to talk Lady Grunkheart to find out if the current House library has any note about the commands or passwords to control the machine.

The library in the Monolith potentially will answer all the questions the Keepers have about saving the light. [4]

Unfortunately, Lady Grunkheart was unable to find anything conclusive about how to get past “The Librarian,” so the team has to take a different approach. Hence the scroll that Gryffin tossed to Cal. It is a map. A few miles northwest of Grunce is the Everburning Forest, a place of thick trees and constant smoke from fissures deep beneath the ground. Somewhere in there, and the map shows roughly wear, was Jonias Grunkheart’s old workshop where he studied and puzzled at pre-Barthic technology that later formed the basis of the Lighthouse and the Monolith. [5]

Cal looks over it and then hands it to Rance. Rance and Tom look over it and then call in the other two who had been playing cards in the next room with several Keepers.

“Pack your bags, boys, we’re going on a walkabout.”

MECHANICAL NOTES

Is the language an actual secret code? 9 ==> No, but… it is an old Barthic language that was largely lost by the time of the construction. Not secret, per se, but something from the past. Jonias was tapping into some old technology/lore when he built this place.
Just rolled 4 times on Random Realities to generate some syllables. Probably won’t try and make any functional degree of Grunkheart’s language.
The Librarian failed it’s Hold Person spell but managed to get the Telekinesis off. Grusk made his DEX save to prevent from damaging himself and the others. The Librarian gets the Wall of Force spell to seal off the room.
I’ll save any rolls related to that fact once they figure out how to get past the Librarian or ending up fighting and destroying it though the thing hits like an absolute truck.
Is the map easy to read? 9 ==> No, but… it shows enough details to get them roughly to the spot once they actually explore.

DOUG’S NOTES

Tried my best to create (in GIMP) a rough sketch of The Grunkheart Golem. I think it works ok. I want to start working in more and more of my own illustrations to this even though I absolutely suck at it.

Once I got a “boss monster” in a room right off the main “artery” I had a slight problem about what kind of “boss” would be around 30′ away from action that has already taken place and not yet involved. I decided it would either be a cool, higher powered undead, or some thing more “magi-tech”. I basically flipped a coin and then got to work making a weird golem that turned increasingly weird. I went from wanting it to be a “fight” to something that could be worked deeper into the lore. I spent half the time of this session doing a very prep-is-play format.

From here we will try out the first hexcrawl of the series which is kind of exciting for me. It will be a bit more of a “point crawl” than hex crawl but I have ideas.

The name “Everburning Forest” was because I just used a quick “generate a site name” and it was “Immortal Fire” or some such and I wanted to “bleak” it up. There’s been a building towards the classic trope of age-of-technology becomes age-of-magic and I am down for it.

With something like an hour of writing and designing some the backstory, the actual play here is at a minimum but so it goes. The GM-Doug + Player-Doug aspect offers opportunities like that.

CREDITS AND RESOURCES

This game is played using Shadowdark and SoloDark, both by Arcane Library and Kelsey Dionne (et al). The map in this delve is “The Halls of Amon-Gorloth II” by Dyson Logos with added annotations and colors by me.

The page of the Voynich Manuscript (an inspiration for the strange pre-Barthic language that will be featured in this next bit) was taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica and has the caption: “Botanical or pharmaceutical illustration, Voynich manuscript (page 99 verso), 16th century; in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.”

Other resources used in this campaign are

Knave 2nd Edition by Ben Milton
Random Realities by Cezar Capacle
The Monster Overhaul by Skerples
Bestial Ecosystem Created by Monster Inhabitation by Courtney C. Campbell and others.
The Book of Random Tables: Dungeons, The Great Book of Random Tables, and The Great Book of Random Tables: Quests by Matt & Erin Davids.
The Solo Adventurer’s Toolkit One & Two by Paul Bimler
GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing by Raging Swan Press.

The illustrations for this delve are a mix of elements from the game/map as credited above, Pixabay stock art (often used more for effect than precision), elements made by me, modifications of maps using Gimp, and various pieces generated using ChatGPT4o [or some combination of multiple of these things].

The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 11 – On Waterfalls in the Dark, Painting the Past, and When Fighting Is Best Saved for Another Day

By Doug Bolden

On 2024-08-12

In Actual Play, ShadowDark, Solo Campaigns, SoloDark, The Bleak and the Pearl

Room would be 30′ by 20′ except for the sharp angle cutting through the eastern wall. Said angle has a secret door. [ShadowDark (ShD), Room Contents = 2, Empty]. The room was once [SoloDark (SoD): Secure Dream || Acquire Secret] a measurement system for the whole Monolith. Vials and dials are upon shelves and alcoves, pipes and other conduits are built into the wall. None of the equipment functions any more [SoD: Does equipment have any spark? Disadvantage: 2, No].

Roughly 80′ corridor. [ShD, Room Contents = 1, Empty]. There are two alcoves showing very old and decayed artwork. Just visible with some effort [SoD, Are any details still presently visible? 19, Yes, but…] (on the left) is a shows a bright scene of dragon flies flying in the foreground while in the background a wave of darkness destroys the land [Random Realities (RR): 5,1 –> image element of dragon fly + wave]. The second (on the right) shows a obelisk with a light floating over it while all around darkness presses in [RR, 4,5 –> obelisk + lightbulb]. These are the paintings of Jonias Grunkheart showing off his early understanding of the Bleak pressing in on Grunce and the whole of the Empire.

Rance Uffolt looks around the room in clear excitement. “Ah, this is very useful. This looks like one of the rooms that was originally used to…INAR, no!” The latter shout to try and discourage the halfling shaman from pulling a pipe out of the wall. Inar Gale looks back a bit sheepishly and then pat the sensitive equipment a couple of times to show no harm done (and to hide the fact that he had pulled it slightly out of alignment).

The room the group find themselves in was once either some sort of control room or a measuring station. Mildew stained glass runs in tubes along the walls (and some are smashed upon the floor) while dials filled full of mud just barely show an arcane system of measurements. Bottles and metallic scoops and other cylinders that seems to have been used to store something lies in disarray on the floor and across the metal, rusted tables. Basins long rusted into gaping holes are connected to some of the complex clusters of the tubes and vials.

Considering its proximity to the entrance, this room could have been either to measure the salt water flow that makes up the “blood” of this construction or instead be something that actually handled some of the energy flow into the Lighthouse, above.

Unfortunately time (and sea water damage) have not been kind to the room. It has held up more than some of the others they have explored but only just. Rance and the Keepers will likely be able to make use of it but it will take weeks, if not months, to fully appreciate what this room did and how they can use it. Something to bring up to Cal (this being Cal Grunkheart, Jonias’s descendent and the reason they are here: to save the ancient Lighthouse that has long protected this region and stopped the Bleak from spreading across the Gray Channel).

“Check this out,” says Spotted Tom as he explores a patch of wall over to one side, one now covered in roots and black mold. A few pieces of old piping are still attached to it but none of the more solid pieces. As he pushes against it, the whole bit of wall slides out. [1]

Rance comes over to explore the opening and figures that maybe some of the tubing could be run out from here into the chamber outside (where the salt water flowed) to better collection some samples. He makes note of this and recommends they spike this door open to help this room air out. He’ll get Nelf and her brother to take a look (Nelf and Terk Haskins are two of the more senior Keepers handling the exploration of the Monolith). [2]

Grusk Obe, the half-orc warrior, beckons to the far door. He has been spending the last few minutes slamming his shoulder into it to try and get it open but has had no luck. “Tom, see if you can open this.” With a little bit of fiddling, Tom figures out the locking system and gets it open and the adventurers go deeper into the complex. [3]

Past the room, they find themselves in a corridor with steps going up. Along the righthand wall they see a couple of alcoves and in them are large oil paintings that have just barely survived the decades of decay.

The first seems to be an idyllic scene. A sunlit day. Only in the background a town (possibly Grunce itself) is being washed away by a dark tidal wave.

“I can’t make out the other one,” Grusk says before Tom steps up and replies, “It is the Lighthouse, I think. At least an artistic rendition of it. A shining light in the dark that is consuming the rest.” [4]

“These are either by Jonias himself or he had them commissioned. Like a reminder of what this Monolith was built for…why they were fighting,” says Rance, walking back and forth and staring at both.

“That or what they lost,” says Inar, an uncharacteristically downbeat proclamation from the usually mirthful halfling.

A 50′ by 70′ room with open archways on either side. The room’s original purpose was for [SoD ==> 78 Sacrifice 62 Pain + 14 Assemble 35 Asset] training purposes. Soldier’s would gather here to train and stay in physical shape. In the chance the town had evacuated into the complex, this is where they would have maintained some physical discipline. Now the training dummies are rotted and sagging and the gear is largely decayed.

The sound of water can be heard trickling to the south.

The room inhabited by a Giant Spinder (ShD, Room Content –> 5, Solo Monster. Spinder was rolled on the random creation table and given two mutations). The creature looks like a cross between a large spider and a porcupine. It can shoot spines from its back up to distance near. Each spine is poisonous but due the projectile state the DC to resist poison is CON 9. On a natural roll of 1-3 on a d20, the spinder has its last ready spine though it can still attempt close range attack. They hunt their pray by hiding along ceilings and getting a sneak attack.

(Note: the Spinder is currently sleeping [ShD Random Encounters: 12 –> Sleeping].)

Giant Spinder

AC15, HP25, ATK 2 Spines (ranged, near, on nat 3:20, it is out) +7 (1d6 + poison), MV near (climb), S +4, D +1, C +2, I-2, W +1, Ch -2, AL N, LV 7.

Poison. DC 9 CON or paralyzed 1d2 hours.

Sensitive to Sound. The spinders many spines act to pick up sounds and can aim at targets not facing it (making it dangerous even to approach from behind) but this also means that loud sounds can confuse or disrupt the creature. It needs to make a D12 WIS check to avoid.

Tom sees the dead body of a gar folk warrior on the floor. Desiccated with several large spines sticking out of its back. The goblin raises a fist in the air and signals the others to hold. Looking inside, he can sense something is wrong but not make out exactly what. [5]

The group backs up down the hall a good space away, slightly past the oil painting of the obelisk. In an absolute whisper, now, they talk about Tom’s fear. “Something killed that gar and since it looks like said something ate his insides I don’t look forward to joining them.”

Grusk grumbles, as usual: “It’s easy, we send Gale in at a run and whatever chases him I will chase in return.”

Inar takes the jest in relatively good humor but says maybe they should go back the other way for now. The halfling ends up outvoted. In quick succession, Rance wraps himself in Mage Armor and Inar gets a Holy Weapon spell cast on his and Grusk’s weapons. The halfling’s voice might be shaky but he stays resolute in his faith. [6]

Rance hands his glowing staff to Tom who goes ahead and wedges against a wooden figure once roughly human torso shaped so the room is lit. Tom looks around the rest of the room. More of these torsos – training dummies going all the way back to this Monolith’s heyday are rotted and decayed past use. Punching them now would have your hand sink inside and you’d end up with a splinter or worse.

A few archer targets and other training gear are on the walls and floor. This area was above the main waterline so the decay (and smell) isn’t as bad here.

Tom sneaks across the room with the the plate-mailed half-orc holding back. He senses that something before he can see it but is unable to get fully back in time as a spine shoots from the back corner and stabs him in the shoulder. [7]

Seeing this Grusk runs in (along with Inar) and they square off against a large spider…thing…coming out to face them. The size of a pair of horses lashed together, its back is a series of large and dripping spines. “Do you know this one, Uffolt?” Grusk asks.

“No!” Shouts Rance while already casting the first of soon to be many magic missiles. [8]

The creature shoots out two more spines with one glancing off of Inar’s armor but the other catching Grusk in the arm. It does not slow the half-orc down as he runs across the room and chops at one of hte large front legs. Inar uses the half-orc partially for cover and dives past him to bring his mace down on another leg. Loud cracks can be heard. A magical arrow flies out of Rance’s hands and strikes the creature for even more damage even though Tom’s aim is thrown off by the spine in his shoulder. [9]

The creature starts climbing up the wall and is able to get out of range of the adventuring party. [10]

From this position it continues to shoot its strange poisonous spines. Another strikes an enraged Grusk while the other hits Rance closer to the doorway. Grusk looks around to find something to throw and decides to throw the most obvious answer: his axe. It flies up and strikes the ceiling but does not make contact. Inar takes this time to hunker down behind one of the training dummies while Tom lets loose more arrows: still missing. “Acid Arrow!” Shouts the wizard as a green, acidic bolt shoots forth and strikes the spider. Which causes it to screech and become even more aggressive. [11]

Grusk runs and grabs up his axe and throws it again, this time missing so hard the axe – Bloodlust – embeds into the ceiling. Inar has completely gotten under cover and so Tom and Rance try and make up the difference. Tom manages to get an arrow into the spider beast and returns the earlier favor. Rance sweats as he wills the acid bolt to burn through and soon enough, it does. The creature, dying, falls from the ceiling and collapses into a twisted shape. [12]

“How the hell do I get my axe back?”

***

While Grusk is ranting about his axe being stuck in the ceiling Tom makes a discovery in the corner near where the spider thing was resting. A collapsed marble pedestal had a large amber “egg” with a wyvern hatchling inside. Made to look the size of a wyvern egg (and roughly 50lb) this decoration is a rare survivor of the various wealths and treasures that likely once adorned this place. Tom places it in the bag of holding and then tries to help Grusk out by looping some rope around the axe. While he is able to hit the axe with the tossed rope, the blade is wedged too deep and keeps slipping out of the loop. [13]

Grusk agrees to head back to the base camp and see if Terk still has scaffolding and can help. [14]

This platform juts out a just a few feet over a underground river. Down in the water below, a number of crocodiles can be seen sleeping blindly in the dark [Room content itself = empty, but this explains where some of the crocs are coming from]. Claw marks show where occasionally one of them makes the climb but they are slow to try most days. It is nearly 30′ down to the water. In the distance, another platform is visible but in the dim light it is hard to make out clearly.

In the past this room [SoD Prompt ==> 47 Lose 12 Time + 70 Win 94 Luck] was a place to relax and enjoy the flowing water below. People would toss small trinkets and coins in, many of which have been washed away. Some remain, though. If anyone braves the crocodiles, they will find still in the gravel 25 gold pieces, 40 silver pieces, and a polished pearl worth 40gp.

Crocodile stats are on page 203 of ShadowDark.

[Does the river flow into the channel? [or, if “no” from the channel] ==> 10, twist. RR 3,6 Ambient Noise + 6,6 ==> reverberation of sound… so no, it flows from here into some large cavernous space, possibly notes for another day.]

This 55′ corridor ends with a door back into the main flow chamber, sloping down a few degrees at a time. This corridor is cracked and sunken and silt and mud still retains a few inches of water around halfway and a few feet of water at the far end (water that will flow out once the door is opened). The smell is poignant because an absolutely massive crocodile considers this to be home and has grown increasingly agitated as the water has drained. In another week, this behemoth will move back to the river (above).

In the mud near the croc has bones of many victims and some washed up debris. A copper flask with an owl is covered in patina but represents an old Grunce emblem and is worth 30gp. There is 20% chance for an additional treasure on the 0-3LVL chart.

Big Croc

AC 16, HP 30, ATK 2 bite +4 (1d8),
MV near (swim), S +5, D -1, C +2, I -2, W +1, Ch -2, AL N, LV 6.

Entering into the hallway, the four note the sound of loud water to their right and carefully walk over to investigate it. Here, the sound is much louder than before with the air feeling humid, but in a much less stagnant way. Down below, at some distance, the light of Rance’s staff shows the eyes of several crocodiles lounging against the bank.

“A…waterfall?” Rance asks, no one in particular.

“So you are telling me there’s a waterfall the goes deep…under…a large body of water?” Inar asks, as confused as everyone else. The two continue to stare into the darkness, noting another platform across the way. Considering the dangers of being lost into the darkness below and swept into some madman’s dream of a functional water system if you do not get eaten by a dozen angry crocodiles, they silently and mutually decide to not worry too much about getting across for now.

“The crocodiles climb up here,” Tom says noting where parts of the platform have broken off and form a steep but relatively gentle slope (only 50 or so degrees instead of the normal 80-90).

“Then let’s not tarry before you three end up lecturing me about the morality of eating croc eggs, again,” says Grusk, already heading south.

***

“This way,” says Rance, looking at the rough map and the updated notes he has been taken,” should head back towards the central artery.”

A gentle slope down in this place means that like the staircase from the previous day, mud and muck and debris have had time to build and the smell of the stagnant and fungal water is pretty strong. There is something…else.

Grusk tells the others to stay behind him. He has had this smell in his nose before. “Croc,” he says. Moving forward he prods the water in front of him with his axe. Then raises his fist in the air to stop the others.

“There.” Where he points is the largest crocodile they have seen.

“It’s not far from the others, maybe we can…I don’t know…bonk it on the nose and then lead it back.” Tom makes a smacking sound on his own nose by way of demonstration.

“Bonk…the giant crocodile?” Asks Inar.

The four begin having a debate while the crocodile stares on, suspiciously. Mouth open as a threat, but also not approaching the four strange things. [15]

After a few minutes the party makes plans to leave some food at the end of the tunnel, double back and leave some more food near the edge, and then maybe check on the croc in a few days once they have cleared other parts of the complex out. [16]

MECHANICAL NOTES

Tom got an 18 on spotting the door.
This room will be +5 to the check of getting the sea water flow working more properly.
Have been rolling 1:6 to see if the doors are locked. That one was. Grusk whiffed a few times to get it unstuck using STR but Tom got through with a pick locks.
Kind of minor but I did DC15 checks for the characters to see if they could make out the paintings. Grusk + Inar only passed the first painting. Tom only passed the second painting. Rance passed both.
Goblins cannot be surprised. However, I rolled an INT check by the spinder and got 19-2 = 17 and neither of Tom’s “Spot Hidden” rolls hit 17. So…the spinder has hidden itself well. Still, he can sense something.
Took a couple of rolls on the Vote Dice but eventually all BUT Inar decided to push forward. Inar rolled a 16 and 19 for the spell checks so he is well good. By the way, a “hearing check” on the spinder came back with a 7 total so the spinder is not hearing them and is well asleep.
Even giving the sleeping spinder disadvantage versus waking up at Tom’s sneaking, the spinder rolled a 19 and a 20. Then, again, at disadvantage to shoot the war goblin, two high enough rolls landed. Tom takes 4 points of damage but makes the save to resist the weaker poison.
Rance studies the creatures of the Bleak a lot and so gets DC[N] rolls based on how common. In this case it would be DC18 and he did not make it.
Spinder wins imitative. Missed Inar but got a hit on Grusk. Only did 1hp of damage and Grusk saved the poison. Grusk and Inar both hit doing a total of 15 points of damage and taking the spinder down to below half health in a single burst.
I did a weighted d3. 1:6 = 10′, 2-5:6 = 20′, 6:6 = 30′. Got a 3 so 20′.
Spinder wins initiative and makes its morale check. Goes up high and keeps picking away. Keeps getting hits but rolling crap for damage. Tom and Rance the ranged attackers but Tom misses. “Can Grusk use anything on the floor as a weapon?” No. Throws axe. Treat it as a dex based roll AND at disadvantage. It misses. Inar cannot do much but hide and wait to cast some healing magic.
Heroes won the init roll. Grusk made another throw but this time got a Nat 1 so it’s funny to imagine a magically sharp axe being able to chop through stone. Inar got a 18 on his hide roll so I think he’d be good if the fight went on. Tom finally landed a shot and that left the spider with 1hp overall which Rance won by spending a luck point to maintain the acid arrow.
Got the wyvern egg out of the 7-9 treasure table. At first thought it was too big for the bag and then realized that it should be roughly a 1 slot item, just a chunky one. Tom made the roll to toss the rope but I asked the oracle “Can they get the axe back without help?” and got a no.
Can they get Terk’s scaffolding into position? Yes. In fact, Nat 20 so very yes. It’s quite portable and might be used in other places. This was taking some time so I skipped head about an hour and rolled 3 wandering monster checks. All were “no.” Rance re-ups his light spell.
Reaction Roll = 7, Suspicious. The team generally has tended to lean towards trying to minimize chaos when the creature isn’t outright attacking them so I figured I’d play it down to a reaction roll.
Made a somewhat collective INT roll and in the way I’ve been doing used the highest (i.e. Rance’s) to see if they could hit DC12. No. Even spent a precious Luck token. So, they don’t really have a plan. However, an oracle test of “Will the crocodile leave the tunnel and go back to the others?” ended up with a 20. So, very much so yes. And, in general, that giant croc will actually be somewhat “neutral” to the party. Basically as silly as it sounds I’ll give the crocs +2 reaction rolls to them. The dumb dumbs earned it.

DOUG’S NOTES

Fun fact, I have 100% been calling Rance Uffolt “Uffort” in the last couple of sessions. Ah, well. I’ll fix that in post sometime.

Real life got a bit in the way of me making this any longer but it’s a decent spot to end it for today.

I realized some of my frustrations I talked about in the past session were due to an interesting aspect of this campaign. For most of my campaigns and one-shots, the scenery is simply an extension of the characters. A temple or a school yard or a old factory are set pieces for a campaign mostly about what the characters do and in principle the flavor might shift if the characters were in a different place but I can add in just enough flavor to make it interesting for myself and maybe others.

While I love world building, during actual play I tend to like to world build in the context of characters.

With this campaign, the place the adventure takes place in is another character especially in the context of this complex/Monolith. Some rooms are empty. Some are full of stuff. Some had an important role in the old days. Some have an important role now. The method of making up the rooms as the characters are in the room while also properly building up a narrative and just dealing with a sense that the dungeon is too full of things in order to have something to write and do kept itching at me. My usual approach of “just focus on the characters, everything else is background” ended up with me having the weird stuff like the gar folk encounter get kind of out of hand.

Thus, I have decided this campaign will try a dual approach. I’ll take a moment to build up a few rooms and be in full GM mode working out oracles and tables to make interesting encounters and background information for 1-3 areas and then I will swap into player mode to lead the characters through it and do it in such a way that GM-Doug and Player-Doug are not necessarily seeing eye-to-eye even if they both want to tell an interesting story.

The GM-mode flavors the Player-mode for sure but it gives me time to work out the mechanics and the ideas and the history without having to essentially do both. The dungeon gets to be a fully fledged character which has improved my mood greatly. It takes more time but it enables me to make a better world and that better world enables me to tell a better tale.

I like it because in potential I could build a dungeon in this method, strip out the stuff I did as the characters, and still have something like an adventure: albeit one built by oracles and madness.

As it should be.

CREDITS AND RESOURCES

This game is played using Shadowdark and SoloDark, both by Arcane Library and Kelsey Dionne (et al). The map in this delve is “The Halls of Amon-Gorloth II” by Dyson Logos with added annotations and colors by me.

Other resources used in this campaign are
Knave 2nd Edition by Ben Milton
Random Realities by Cezar Capacle
The Monster Overhaul by Skerples
Bestial Ecosystem Created by Monster Inhabitation by Courtney C. Campbell and others.
The Book of Random Tables: Dungeons, The Great Book of Random Tables, and The Great Book of Random Tables: Quests by Matt & Erin Davids.
The Solo Adventurer’s Toolkit One & Two by Paul Bimler
GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing by Raging Swan Press.
The illustrations for this delve are a mix of elements from the game/map as credited above, Pixabay stock art (often used more for effect than precision), elements made by me, modifications of maps using Gimp, and various pieces generated using ChatGPT4o [or some combination of multiple of these things].

The Doug Alone Check In: August 2024

By Doug Bolden

On 2024-08-05

In Solo Musings

I’m the kind of person that usually (at least in my solo play sessions) likes to fling things out there and try to figure out what it means on the way down and this blog is sort of like an extension of that. It started as a place to post my “The Bloody Hands” Tricube Tales solo game while behind the scenes I was mostly focused on a couple of other campaigns, and then at least one of those campaigns, the SoloDark “The Bleak + The Pearl” has been added. It gave me the freedom of space to try out things (which lead to the completely new approach of gameplay that the Gareth Hendrix storyline let me try).

Still, each time I post I wonder not only “how can I change up how I’m playing” but “how can I change up how I’m writing about what I am playing”.

On How the Changing Style of Writing Is Impacting My Own Playing

I think is pretty obvious how the blog’s initial designation as a place where I wrote, for lack of a better word, pretty broad recaps about my sessions changed a good bit as I‘ve tried to write out my sessions as more of an actual story and keep things a bit more interesting for whatever random folks stop by (and also for myself). This has ups and downs. The up is that I am more proud of my stories. It forces me to dive into the characters, to add in details, to think even when I might be just wanting a quick reason to roll 3d6. The down is that it takes longer to write and much longer to read. This has slightly changed how I play.

Around 4-6 hours of playing through “The Lost Citadel” became two blog posts: one + two. By comparison, the time since then has involved a lot more writing over actual rolling. So a post about a single group of encounters roughly as complex as the fight with the beastmen in The Lost Citadel becomes the backbone of two different blog posts: a different one + a different two.

There will likely be 10+ more sessions to deal with the rest of just that dungeon (assuming I do not go off on a massive tangent, again). While that has given me a lot more space to work out characters like Grusk and Tom (Tom’s morality is a major part of the process, now) I know it makes the process more complex. Not just for me, but also for anyone else. 4-6 hours worth of play into two sessions will likely be 20+ hours of play and writing across a dozen plus posts.

The blog’s primary focus is my own play for my own use and to expand my thought processes and ideas. I find that it helps me to be a solo player to have to stop and think about how other people might read and experience it. Explaining it to an audience, even a primarily imaginary one, helps me to better explain it to myself. BUT… I still want it to be entertaining and not just a slog of a creative writing experiment for others to wade through, though.

I will try and work on balancing both. In that above linked “a different two” (dealing with the conclusion of the fight with the gar folk in my SoloDark campaign) I compressed down about 15 minutes of behind the scene play into just a few lines. I’m not saying that’s the solution but it’s a solution for sure.

I did think about trying to play out a session in my short hand form with quicker beats and resolutions but I found that does not quite work because it makes the longer write up more artificial. I would spend a lot of time (and I appreciate the irony of what I am about to say) making up things. What I mean, though, is that if I play out a fight and then explore a few rooms and then come back after and try to fictionalize it I have to build in more than “they opened the door” and that means I need details and concepts and emotions and motivations and if those things were not there to begin with then it’s an artificial skin on a skeleton.

My Favorite Thing from the Past Month

My favorite thing from the past month has been the finale where Gareth Hendrix ends up being less about a battle and more about fighting the good fight. Not only did he focus less on any particular conflict but he inverted the primary expectation of the whole mini-campaign. Well, I did. But I did it because it felt right for the character.

My Least Favorite Thing from the Past Month

I have already linked this twice already but my least favorite thing is the way I allowed myself to stall out when dealing with the conflict with the gar folk in “The Bleak + The Pearl”. It actually took me several days and sort of derailed what was meant to be a few days off work to focus on some fun solo play projects because my brain kept trying to make it more complex and more moral-driven. That is not a bad thing in itself but these are fictional story points in a fiction that I am writing. I should have just set a limit for myself. Just summed it up a couple of rolls. A single complex question roll could possibly solved the whole thing. I’m sure it will end up being a much better campaign because of taking time to work with it but it sucks that it took so much energy out of my enjoyment.

Something I Would Like to Do in the Next Month

I think my biggest wishlist is for a game that brings in a bit more complexity with dice rolling and more excuses to use more tables and charts and tools but also decentralizes combat as the only good conflict. I have some ideas.

I also sort of want to play with Mythic, more, since the main campaigns have kind of not needed that level of tool and I miss having more complex threads and relationships.

Finally, it is time to get my Advanced Fighting Fantasy back on and as we approach the one year anniversary of that I am ready to dive back into that world.

The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 10 – Drying Off Just to Get Wet Again

By Doug Bolden

On 2024-08-04

In Actual Play, ShadowDark, Solo Campaigns, SoloDark, The Bleak and the Pearl

[The Unknown Fish Army and Getting Back]

I used random dice to determine that there were 16 gar folk warriors as part of this tribe (with 16 non-warriors + Garoshen, the tribal leader). The group has already fought and beaten 10 of them, leaving only 6 more warriors + the chief. However, the group does not know how many warriors there are, etc, so opinions vary. Grusk (half-orc warrior) wants to push the fight. Rance (human wizard) is ok with pushing the fight AFTER the group prepares again. Inar (halfling cleric) spends a lot of time trying to not get into fights. Tom (goblin thief) is a bit in-between. Partially because Tom knows that now they are really taking the fight back to the gar folk, that they might slaughter the tribe and Tom has always tended towards trying peace first and not just, like Inar just to avoid the work. Despite it going badly for the group and then them managing to crawl out of hole (in Tom’s case, literally) Tom will rarely choose the killing of everyone until he is pushed into that corner: which by going back they will be.

Part 10 – Drying Off Just to Get Wet Again

“GRUNFFJF,” grunts the half-orc as he pulls the goblin from the deep mud and then turns to the half-submerged-in-muck halfling to do the same. The human in the very dirty wizard robes holds up a staff glowing brightly while also trying to keep watch as the team deals with yet another insult to their dignity after the past few hours that have involved being stabbed by angry fish folk, being chased through a stinking corridor, talking to a massive toadstool who thought they were funny, scrapping with giant spiders and crocodiles, and now being stuck in mud.

“I dropped my food,” Rance (the human) says staring sadly at his sack of rations that fell into the much.

“Sod it,” returns Grusk, the half-orc. “We have that croc’s eggs to eat. She took a bit out of me, it’s only fair”. He has managed to get both of the shorter companions through the muck and on the other side. [1]

“Why does everything down here have to stink so badly?” This one is Inar, the halfling. His plate mail suit currently making a squishing sound as he moves. “WHY DO I HAVE TO STINK SO BADLY?!”

“Keep it down!” The final one is Tom, a goblin thief and general nanny to the others. Sure enough, to the east they can hear something sludge through more of this disgusting sludge. The sound fades into the distance.

“We need to go fast. Through the corridor, we should be back into the main flow tunnel and hopefully above the…um…the spot,” says Rance, trying to not remind the group that a couple of hours ago their entire plan went up in smoke as the group slide through back mold right into an angry band of gar folk. “If we do not hurry, Garoshen might launch an assault on the Keepers above. That or some of the Marius guards might have heard us slip and have decided to go down and check on us.” [2]

Tom looking back over the mud points out a flaw they need to face. “If we come back this way, we have to get through that…muck…again. If we go the other, we have to slide down mold.”

Rance agrees but suggests they can set fire to the muck using lamp oil and dry and char the surface. And then come back down with some wood and plans to get over it. [3]

By the time the group reaches the end of the corridor, they can see the bright phosphorous “day lamps” installed further north to try and disorient creatures more used to full darkness. And, luckily, they are above the “mold line”. They are able to get back to statue of Marius and set about resting and reorganizing their supplies. And eating croc eggs. [4]

After a good few hours rest, the team has resorted their options and equipment, one member always on guard to help back up just in case their actions have awakened creatures in the deep. Strangely, there seems to be no retaliation. Grusk takes this at a sign that now is the time to go. The others agree, except Tom who feels that what they are doing is going to end up with a lot of dead gar children.

“We need to go down as a large enough group to dissuade them from fighting back and then escort the survivors out.”

The plan is to go with a double-pronged approach. The House Marius folks will make their way carefully down the main hall by using ropes and spikes to not slide. The main team will take the alternate route behind. The Marius squad will help but will not be the primary engagement, they are just there to help round up folks. If the gar folk tribe attacks, the guards will fight back. [5]

The main four adventurers slowly make their way back through the back path. When they get to the mud and the muck, they lay down some boards and scrap they had brought along and start making their way across. Unfortunately Rance falls into the charred mud and struggles for a few minutes to pull himself to the other side. When he is fighting is way back out, something comes out and starts attacking him. [6]

Blood erupts from his arms and face and he starts crying out for help. Grusk immediately jumps in. He does not see the invisible slimes clinging to his friend but he does take the wizard, forcefully pull him out of the mud, and fling him up on the rigged up planking. Rance holds on to the staff lighting up the way as the shadows and illumination swirls madly. This (unknown to Grusk and Inar, though Rance at least can tell) does shake the slimes off though they are going straight for the wizard. Only Tom can make them out. [7]

Grusk and Inar start slamming madly around as what appears to be bits of mud slither and splatter around. Neither make contact. Tom gets an arrow into one and it looks like the arrow is stuck in a particular thick pocket of air. Rance sees the floating arrow approach him and feels the touch as the slimes get to him and lets out a ring of fire from a Burning Hands spell which catches the arrow and several small squelching pockets of slime on fire, now clearly visible as they drop dead. It also sets the wood on fire so the wizard and the thief and priest flee to get off before getting burned themselves.

Tom and Inar easily get to the other side while Rance, pretty deeply injured by the surprise attack, starts coughing and collapses. Tom runs over and gets the fire put out while Inar gets a healing spell off to get the wizard moving again.

“Why is it always me?” he asks, throat sore from the smoke. [8]

The party only takes a few minutes to work rest after that. Inar sets about blessing everyone and they get into the mindset of what might might be a fight to the death coming up very shortly, and then they are on their way. [9]

A quarter hour later…

The group readies their weapons and Grusk shoves open the door. Expecting to be facing down several gar folk warriors they are surprised to see the leader sitting, seemingly alone. His throne a structure of bone and driftwood surrounded by moss and mold as years of debris and detritus have turned to mush in the years since he has taken this place.

Between the group and the throne a pool of water so dark and stagnant it looks close to reflective in the sunlight filtered into the room from some cracks and holes above. Another way to Grunce is here.

The rot and decay of the gar folk’s daily life is strong. Nearly overpowering, though the group of adventurers have tried to get used to it.

Grusk pushes Inar forward and the portly halfling priest tries his best in common and then in primordial, but alas it is clear that the gar folk do not speak the language of the surface dwellers. Inar then tries to gesture and point back towards the surface but the gar king just glowers at them and waves them to come closer.

Tom shakes his head “no” and barks in primordial not to trust, that something is up.

At this, Garoshen screams out something in Merran tongue and the water in the pool erupts at 6 of the warriors leap up and attack the heroes. [10]

The first one to reach the line of heroes is completely cut down by Grusk while Tom’s arrow (and Inar’s hammer) fail to hit their marks. Rance gets a magic missile off to wound another. The charging hoard slams into Grusk and Inar as the two fend of bites and tridents and Grusk takes some deep scratches but luckily stays ahead of the hits.

Rance picks up a sound from near the throne and notices a shimmering light surrounded Garoshen. “They have a mage!”

As the frontal assault continues, Grusk and Inar hold their ground with Grusk managing to drop another one (and Inar continuing to miss). Tom changes tactics and shoots an arrow at Garoshen himself and is satisfied to see the arrow sink past the glowing magic armor. Rance takes Tom’s lead and launches a magic missile at the gar fish leader. For now, though, Garoshen refuses to be prodded from his throne and the “mage” on the other side.

Starting to back the fish folk up, Grusk and Inar team up on a third and drop it next to the other corpses while Tom and Rance keep pressing their advantage of attacking Garoshen until finally the gar folk leader screeches some words and flings down his trident, causing the others to do the same. From behind steps a scrawny half-fed gar folk who looks like they have been the target of neglect and abuse for some time.

The next hour goes smoother than Tom could have hoped. A large chamber to the north of the throne room held a number of gar folk and their young. With Garoshen and his mage talking to them, they manage to gather up these scragglers and slump up the slope into daylight before disappearing into the water of the channel. The four heroes prevent violence between the groups from breaking out, not letting any of the Marius guards overstep. At one point, Grusk even helps carry a couple of gar folk youth up the steep slope (despite being covered in the blood of their fellow tribesmen, something the gar folk do not take too angrily…bloody fights is a way of their life).

After this, the team finds a lot of cleaning up with need to be done, eventually. In Garoshen’s throne room, they find a number of small trinkets. Tom is more excited by a small leather pouch in the area behind the throne, where the gar mage must have slept. “It’s a bag of holding!” [11]

MECHANICAL NOTES

On the way back up had a couple of designated rooms/areas to check and a random monster check. Rolled a random encounter and got another crocodile. Grusk and it went toe to toe with Grusk killing it but taking 3hp damage. “Did it have eggs?” came back with an 18, yes. So he pocketed them for food. The major hazard was “entrapping terrain”. Considering it is at the bottom of a stair well where water was designed to flow down…it’s mud and muck. Everyone rolled a STR test get through it (Inar and Tom failed) and then a DEX test to see if the dropped anything. Only person that did was Rance but he rolled a 1 so I rolled twice on his pack and both items were rations. How the wizard dropped ALL of his food I have no idea, silly man.
Will the gar folk push the offensive? 6, No. Have some of the Marius retainers gone down to see how the heroes are doing? 3 on disadvantage, so no…but they are contemplating abandoning their post.
Made an “open” INT roll with Rance. Got an 11 total so passed DC9 but did not hit DC12. I’ll say that it’s a weak hit. The team can come back this way with his prep but will need some luck to do it with speed. DC12 DEX rolls to pass without getting stuck again.
Had previously rolled that the tunnel entrance is above the line.
“Will House Marius go along with the plan?” Yes, but…
Everyone else passed with flying colors but it took Rance 4 rolls to get out which triggered enough time that a wandering monster showed up. Got a random monster. Went with making a new one. PL-3 so fairly weak. I’ll say level 1 with some disadvantages. These are STEALTH SLIMES. +1 to hit. 4hp but take double damage from most attacks. They are HARD to see unless you pass a DC15 WIS check or spray the area with something that shows them. Quick and fragile. They most do piecemeal damage (1d4) but will swarm presumably weak enemies and kill them in the confusion. There are 5 here. Since Rance just took 7 damage on turn 1…wellllll….
Tom passed his check. Other three failed. Grusk made the check to pull out Rance and throw him. “Are slimes still on Rance?” No, but… Rance did pass a DC15 check to hold on to the staff with the light spell, though.
Poor man failed another “get out of dodge” roll and took 2 HP damage which left him at 0hp. Inar had to burn a luck token to get the healing off. I’m not going to punish the wizard even more for now.
Bless is very…itself, eh? What a spell…anyhow, I compressed all the rolls and checks until they are entering into the chamber to stop it from being a paragraph or two of them just wandering and passing by Ollazelle again, etc.
“Are the warriors with Garoshen?” 10, a twist. 29 Waste, 34 Science. 36 Surprise, 35 Asset. Ummmmmm…without overly complicating this I am going to say he sets a trap and has a “wasted mage”. Rolling on the table for a couple of spells I get Floating Disk and Mage Armor. Yeah, that feels wasted alright. For the trap I thought it might be nice to roll on the “rivers and coast” encounter table and see if I could more widely apply it got 54: a weighted and barbed net launches out of the silt and sand…so the plan is try and taunt them forward towards a net the gar folk have set up.
After Garoshen failed his morale check I went ahead and sped up the aftermath. They have the rest of the gar folk leave. I did check (once) to see if they would go, at advantage on the oracle and got “yes”. Dropped the game a bit out of “real time” for the resolution so I don’t end up spending another hour working out the logistics. The team helps get the gar folk out and keeps them safe but insists they leave. They found 3 trinkets (some silver spikes, a random holy symbol) but I’ll just skip ahead and give them 80 gold. They also got a bag of holding which is pretty significant. Having cleared out one of the major threats, I’m granting them +7XP total for the treasure and the “boon” of being able to solve this problem and making the area safer without having to resort to going against their principles.

DOUG’S NOTES

That took me a few days to mentally work out and it shows how bad I can be at certain portions of the “OSR Mindset,” at least the “murder hobo” bits. I get mired down (pun not intended but still a delight) in the issues of working out the ecosystem and such. Frankly, taking a “there are some gar folk” and then turning that into a “there is a tribe and you need to approach it from a broad perspective” is not too far outside of the old school mindset, really, but these past two sessions show how I pluck at it. Even with the weird misfortune of the previous session I felt that it was worth going for at least one more dive into this theme but also wanted there to be an ending this time, one way or another, so I can get back to using this series to my simpler dungeon crawl experience. That makes two enemies that have been cast out. Something that might show back up in the future. Maybe not. I have no idea. Garoshen and Tidepool Alice are both “baddies” that were impacted by the Bleak and brought to a place where they could sense the Bleak somewhat at bay. But both of them represented a kind of decay that was letting the Bleak in.

I spent a lot of time going over aspects and considerations but really decided it was best to have the fate of the whole tribe be down to this core group. I was doing some math about how salt water and how food and flow and such would work but ehhhhhhhhh… this is a good balance between the broader “Doug style” and something that might make sense at a table. *Looking into the Mirror* I don’t have to write out an entire history of the tribe.

CREDITS AND RESOURCES

Other resources used in this campaign are

Knave 2nd Edition by Ben Milton
Random Realities by Cezar Capacle
The Monster Overhaul by Skerples
Bestial Ecosystem Created by Monster Inhabitation by Courtney C. Campbell and others.
The Book of Random Tables: Dungeons, The Great Book of Random Tables, and The Great Book of Random Tables: Quests by Matt & Erin Davids.
The Solo Adventurer’s Toolkit One & Two by Paul Bimler
GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing by Raging Swan Press.

The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 9 – Bringing the Fight to the Fish Folk

By Doug Bolden

On 2024-08-02

In Actual Play, ShadowDark, Solo Campaigns, SoloDark, The Bleak and the Pearl

[Starting Checks and Recaps]

Repairing the “Heart” Flow: Failed. It is technically impossible at this stage but Nat 20 should have some fun effect. Just not yet.
Secrecy Check: Still nothing noticed from above.
Barrier Check: Barriers actually hold this time.

Mostly just status quo as the team preps to dive back into the Monolith of the Cyclops (which is not a proper Monolith but naming tables going to name and I thought it was funny) and this time will start out focusing on fighting Garoshen, a fish folk leader, and his tribe of fish folk that have taken up residence. Last time the team let a Sea Hag go in exchange for information about the location of the fish folk. However, her advice was for them to be a Sea Hag. So there might be some dress up involved.

Part 9 – Bringing the Fight to the Fish Folk

“Why haven’t they reacted to us, yet?” Rance Uffolt wonders. The human mage takes on the role of lore master for the team and has found the rare case of a monster he does not know. It has now been ten days since the barriers were completed to block the tidal flow into the Monolith and yet the gar folk have not attacked. Surely their lair is starting to dry out. [1]

“At least we aren’t dressing up like Sea Hags,” quips Inar Gale, halfing priest. Checking his equipment and preparing for today’s delve, Possibly the most dangerous the four have ever faced. Despite Tidepool Alice’s advice to use the gar folk fear of sea hags to frighten them into fleeing or hiding, the four had a long debate and decided a direct approach is best. [2]

Step one. Try talking. Is it possible? Who knows.

Step two. Let Grusk get to chopping with his axe and Rance blasting with his spells while Tom and Inar try to keep them alive.

Step three. Flee back up the main tunnel and keep the gar folk mad enough to follow.

Step four. House Marius has loaned five soldiers that will take point along the various pillars and join in the fray-and-flee. They have been warned that these soldiers are to not be expended gleefully.

Step five. If it gets to step five, the mission is considered lost. Blow the barriers holding back the tidal water. Flush the fish back deeper inside and are likely to be placated until a bigger force can be gathered to drive them out.

Step six. “Get drunk or panic. Both.” This is Spotted Tom, goblin thief. He has spent the last hour pushing forward with Grusk Obe, half-orc fighter. They have been placing bright, long burning lanterns along the walls. Rance figures that gar folk have lived in near complete darkness long enough that day-bright light will put them off. [3]

Rance has wrapped himself in mage armor. Inar tried to get a holy weapon spell to stick to Grusk’s gear again and did not pull it off. Tom packs an extra quiver of arrows into his pack. At this point, it feels like they are stalling and so Grusk nods to the other three and they begin the slow descent down. They pass by side tunnels not yet explored. There’s still a lot of Monolith to explore.

Unfortunately, not far past the last the lanterns, the ground is wet. Quite wet. And very, very slippery. Stepping into the black mold on the floor, Grusk is the first to go and it is not long before the other three join him, sliding down a dozen feet and slamming into the brackish, stagnant water at the bottom. Backpacks and equipment are scattered. At they kept grip on their weapons. And Rance’s staff emitting light. But it will take them some time to gather the other bits. Time they do not have. [4]

Five of the gar folk are aiming tridents at them. Their long snouts (full of teeth) are shouting back in a strangle gurgling language.

“Tell me, Uffolt, about the steps again. I like the steps.” Grusk is not amused by the sudden collapse but Inar is nervously chuckling at least. Or gagging. The water down here stinks. Tom and Inar both look quite ill. “Ah, that’s it, time to die, then,” says the half-orc before Rance gets a hand on him. Let Inar try the friendly approach. Unfortunately the sick Halfling is unable to figure out the language and just ends up sounding like a person puking. Which he is. The gar folk are not amused and clearly go to stab the halfling in his throat. [5]

Grusk goes for the nearest one and chops the head clean from its shoulders with a single slice. This has the expected result as the others scream and target him. Rance dives for his backpack but is unable to get to it in time. Neither Tom nor Inar can recover in time to get into the battle.

The enraged gar folk begin trying to bite and stab Grusk as they close in on him. He manages to keep distance between him and then by swinging his axe around in wide sweeps but one of the tridents catches in on the side. [6]

Trying to press the offensive and by the halfing and goblin some time, Grusk steps forth and downs another of the gar folk by chopping through its torso. Behind him, Rance has managed to find his pack and with a quick search pulls for this Wand of Webs. Inar is still clearly struggling but Tom recovers enough to land a solid hit against one of the gar.

Grusk’s luck is clearly running out, though. One of the remaining gars bites through the plating on Grusk’s arm and and another lands a spot on hit against the half orc’s neck as his blood joins the corpses on the floor.

This last injury takes the fight out Grusk for a moment who slams Bloodlust into the floor and stumbles to the side. A flustered Rance tries to focus the webs from the wand to the corridor beyond and fails to channel the proper energy. Inar is by Grusk’s side and manages to get a weak healing spell off. Tom gives cover fire and drives one of the remaining gars back. Another runs forward in the opening and leaps on Grusk, biting him deeply and the two go down in a fight. [7]

“ACID ARROW!” Chants Rance, shooting off a bolt of acid that embeds into the back of the one struggling before Grusk shoves up and slams the gar into the wall, an axe in his chest. This buys times for Inar to get his mace into the stomach of another while Tom’s arrows continue to ring true and fly over the halfing in his foe to land in the throat of the final gar folk warrior. The fish folk do not run from the fight, though, and now turn their attention to the halfling who is the closest target.

Inar squeaks and pulls back into his armor as blows rain down on it but do not manage to pierce through it.

This is the change in tide that the others need and in the next few seconds magic missiles, arrows, axe swings, and mace slams have finished off the last two. [8]

Grunts echo down the the corridor, coming this way fast. The adventurers gather up their stuff in a hurry without any real time to sort it. “Back up the slippery slide to doom or do we run into the unknown?” No thought of trying to make another stand right away.

Rance takes the lead on this one: “We head south, screw the plan.” Tom runs ahead with Grusk right behind. Inar and Rance take up the rear. They can move faster than the gar folk on land but have to be careful of wading too deep into the sludgy water.

Unfortunately, their flight is interrupted nearly immediately because they tear through the hallway to the south they come across a giant spider feasting on another of the gar folk, and the spider is angry about the interruption, leaping at Tom! Tom takes the bite but at least resists the spider’s poison and Grusk and Inar finish it off. No time to investigate further, they push further into the south, trudging through the water. The gar folk at least not getting closer. Based on the sounds, the creatures might either gathering their dead…

“…or eating them,” Tom finishes a sentence no one else spoke out loud. This buys them a short amount of time and the quartet notice a door over to their right. Tom, despite the spider hit, still pushes forward into the lead, slams open the door and…

Disappears under the surface of the water. A few seconds later he resurfaces. “What in blazes, it’s some sort of pit…” [9]

“Not that one then,” the deeply wounded Grusk grunts. And now takes lead as Rance helps Tom to his feet. They manage to get to some steps and start angling their way back up until they are completely out of the water and are walking across the floor when Tom stops them.

“WAIT YOU BASTARDS!”

Grusk’s feet a few feet for stepping onto a large sigil in the floor. It’s edges already starting to glow. Rance looks at it. “It’s an old Barthic sigil for a sleep spell. Just out in the open!” [10]

“Yes, yes, fascinating. Gale, can you heal me?” Grusk points to the deep gashes in his arm and side. The halfing tries again and despite initial exhaustion, gets the spell off. The half-orc’s skin heals quickly.

While distant, the gar folk grunts still grow closer and closer. [11]

“I have a plan,” says Tom.

There are five of them now though none of them can count that high. The people. Driven out of the swamps to the north after generations of fighting against the catfish folk. Forced to find a new place to live. Brought here because of a familiar energy. The other creatures here being either food of foe. The sea hag feeding on them. Them feeding on the slimes. It felt a bit like home.

Until these new things washed up. And suddenly those that had gone to find out what the new noises were were gone. Chopped to bits. Delicious. The people do not let good food go to waste, even when it is each other. These things are dumb. Not like the people. Leaving their scent in the water.

Leaving their weird finless footprints on the dry stone. Maybe they think people are too weak to come out of the water, but they will…

A bright flash as the sigil lights up, and 3 of gar folk collapse immediately. Two stand tall but are deeply confused. At least until an acid bolt flies out of the nearby darkness and joins an arrow bolt and finally a thrown axe. Now only one remains. He snarls, and charges at the darkness that took his fellow warriors.

Before falling asleep just the same. [12]

“Is the trap sprung, Uffolt?” Grusk asks and before Rance can check the half orc grabs-his axe and finishes off all the gar folk and tosses their body down the steps back into the water pool below.

IT. WAS. FASCINATING.

The new voice they can all hear in their heads. Outside of language but all can know exactly what the words are. Looking back into the room they were hiding in, they see the bulk of the being calling itself Ollazelle. A massive example of the mushrom folk. Too big to leave by the doors in the room.

THAT. SPELL. HAS. BEEN. THERE. FOR. MANY. BLOOMS.

And then a sound in their brain that is just like a mushroom laughing. Which it is.

While it was a shock to open a door and to find an impossibly large mushroom man with a bright red head (well, multiple bright red heads, he is quite big) it was a somewhat welcome surprise to find something that wasn’t immediately trying to kill them. Because Olla is very, very bored.

THE. OTHERS. AVOID. I. TALK. TO. RATS. AND. BUGS. AND. EAT. RATS. AND. BUGS.

When asked why the other mushroom folk were avoiding this area, Olla happily showed a ghastly series of memories of itself devouring other, smaller mushroom folk with glee. It is apparently how the people ultimately share information and learn. Just not quite so viciously. Or wholly. And not without sharing a little of yourself in return, which Ollazelle definitely does not like to do.

Inar tried asking if it was the eating or not sharing that was the crime and Ollazelle seemed mostly amused by the question. Tom asked if he was going to try eating them and again: amusement.

YOU. BRAIN. SIZE. OF. RATS. FUNNY. FUNNY.

Despite this, they are a bit reluctant to stay inside the room with the giant psychic mushroom for too long. Just in case it gets confused. Grusk keeps grimacing and squinting while staring at it, obviously keeps trying to think loudly at it, to test Ollazelle it is able to read their thoughts but apparently that is a one way street. That or non-fungal thoughts are simply of no interest.

Rance has noticed a series of levers and cables in the room, some now semi-consumed by the bulk, but it would require crawling on top of Olla to reach them. Something he is not quite ready to do, yet. However, based on the issue of aligning the flow of salt water above, Rance feels this is something important. Unfortunately, Ollazelle seems to mostly consider the levers and contraptions to be mostly a series of weeds and vines.

Still, the talkative mushroom might have its uses. Rance has tried arguing the group can rest nearby if anyone or anything approaches it can send a psychic alarm and wake them up. The rations survived the fall and most of the other stuff is dry-ish now. Though prone to stink. [14]

Grusk, however, has said the best approach is attack right now. Not Ollazelle (maybe also Ollazelle), while the gar folk are damaged and hurt. Inar is leaning towards heading back. If the people up talk think the four of them are dead or captured they might try a rescue mission and he does not see it going well. He also wants to wash off a bit after being covered in crusty mud for the past half hour.

It comes down to Tom. Who goes back and forth. Rest can help Rance reattune to some of his spells and his wand. Let them heal up a bit. An attack makes sense because Tidepool Alice has been running population control on the gar folk for years. There cannot be too many. And going back makes sense because if he was up there and the people failed to return he might try to go in and rescue them.

The latter moves Tom the most so he suggests going back. Which brings us back to Rance who has a rough sketch map and needs to work out the best way to go. [15]

Rance figures that one of the side tunnels they passed by on the way down the main flow path should connect up to the tunnel they are on and it might get them higher up before the black mold makes the whole surface too slippery. What’s more, it gives them a path to try and come around from behind and avoid the dangers of that initial path. [16]

They get ready to head back up the surface and regroup for a second push against the gar folk. As they pack up and start walking north, they “hear” Ollazelle say,

COME. BACK. AGAIN. SOME. TIME. FUNNY. LITTLES.

And Rance, in full honesty, turns and says, “Oh, we will.” At some point, they are going to have to figure out how to get past Olla an examine those levers.

MECHANICAL NOTES

Are the gar folk causing issues for the rest of Grunce. 10 –> A TWIST! 40 Avoid, 74 Essence + 34 Forbid, 77 Vision. So, no. The creatures are disrupted by the energies of the Lighthouse and remain staunchly below.
Vote dice. First rolls were inclusive. Final roll was three 6s and one 2. So “high road” wins.
“Will it put the gar folk at disadvantage?” 18: Yes and a lot of it. As a note, the gar folk are going to use sahuagin as a base but then be modified to be the following: AC13 (leather), HP 8,
ATK 1 trident (near) +1 (1d6) + 1 bite (close) +2 (1d8), MV
near (swim), S+0, D+2, C+0, I-1,
W+0, Ch-1, AL C, LV 2
Half-Amphibious. Must be
submerged in water every 2 hours or suffocates. They are very slightly less tanky but also a bit more dangerous in close combat. Garoshen himself will get +2 to basically all of those numbers.
Is the sloping hallway slippery, I asked, to establish some potential hazards and got a nat 20 on the oracle so “so slippery that a DEX DC12 roll would be reasonable to keep their feet” and just whiffs galore. I then did a second DEX DC12 roll to see if they kept at least their hand held equipment and at least they passed that one. They are armed but things like extra arrows, torches, etc, are missing. And they will have to do a DC12 to try and flee back up the tunnel they were planning on fleeing back up. Rance also is missing the map that makes it obvious which way to go.
Why not kick them while they are down. CON DC9 to see if they can resist the heavy stench. Rance and Grusk did. Tom and Inar passed. Funnily enough, even rolling init at disadvantage, Grusk and Rance act first.
All attacks against Grusk missed but one which only did 1 point of damage. It could definitely be going worse, all things considered.
There’s the worse. Grusk gets hit with a critical attack and knocked pretty hard and then fails his next roll. He has 4 hitpoints remaining (but Inar gets him back up to 8, managing to complete the healing even at disadvantage). Rance fails to cast the spell from the wand even with a luck point, so the wand is useless for the day. Tom keeps landing hits but it’ll take a minute. One of the gar lands another attack on Grusk and this one is a 6hp bite. Heh, it might still take me a minute to balance this game a bit.
Now they finally decide to hit. Grusk is down to 2hp. Luckily thanks to a couple of Nat20s, they have 3 luck points. But Rance has lost his web spell AND his magic missile spell and Inar has lost his Holy Weapon spell. I’m going to give them one roll to retrieve their backpack or they have to leave it behind. All make it (Rance already has his)
Got a solo monster right away. Then did a check on the room and it was “minor hazard: a short fall”. Rolled d20 and got 16 feet deep. Except, in this place, that’s water, not a fall. I randomly rolled to see who would go first because if it was someone in plate mail, it would have been a problem.
Trap: Ancient. Magical. Effect is 2d8 sleep. Rance Nat20’d being able to recognize it so there you go. This actually refills all their luck tokens. They likely need it. Note: the team had been moving at speed earlier and had no chance to really check for traps. However, each roll to see how close the gar folk have shown the gar as falling back so by now the team has a chance to slow down and move more slowly. And then Tom Nat20’d the trap check so the trap is realllly obvious.
A whiff with a spent luck point leading to yet another Nat 20. This team just got walloped in a fight and scored three 20s in a row while hanging out on some steps. Typical. As for “Are the gar folk still tracking them?” I got a 16 so yes.
Tom got a DC12 check to help rehide the trap and to add to it (the footprints). The 5 gar folk warriors took a save at disadvantage. They did not spot the trap and 3 of them fell asleep. The other two made their morale check but one got cut down by three successful hits (out of four) and Rance got a sleep spell off on the last.
This room has an NPC//Captive. “Does it make sense that the NPC is still alive?” a TWIST! So I roll on Random Realities. 2, 4 and my eyes are drawn to the the mushroom image and the phrase “corpulent”. 1,2 and my eyes are drawn to the broken change and “exile”. This is someone brought here by fellow mushroom folk to the south some time ago but he is not chained inside so much as too large to leave now. A great big myconid. Ollzarelle. He communicates with his mind. His initial reaction is curious. The room he is in “allow path” so it has levers and chains to open and close certain gates. Possibly part of the “Brain” or “Lungs” portion of the Monolith. He was exiled because “Consume knowledge” and “Conceal Wilderness” he has been devouring other myconids to absorb their knowledge but then also not sharing it.
Did the rations survive? 20. What is up with this dice all of sudden but yes. They are extremely environmentally protected.
Rather than try “vote dicing” a three way vote I set Tom to be the decider. The other three have pretty definite choice paths in this situation – Grusk to attack, Rance to prepare, Inar to retreat – but Tom’s tendency to try the more interesting choice does not quite easily solve. He is, however, the kindest of the four so the consideration of others will move him.
Rance got passed a DC15 INT check to make a decent read on the map. I also asked “is this above the super slippery bit” and got a 18 so yes. However, they don’t know that, yet.

DOUG’S NOTES

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and Doug’s characters, eh? I figured we’d have a few large fights, maybe a parley, or maybe some heroes getting captured and having to make a compromise. Still, it can be fun to ask questions like “How slippery is it?” and just…almost literally…rolling with it. The surviving but not greatly leading to the run into unexplored tunnel is the kind of thing that took twice as long to think about than it did to play and write but I enjoyed it. I had planned to NOT explore these parts of the tunnels until I had worked out some themes. I had to improvise. A jumping/ambush solo spider and then a large, talkative myconid exile. Weird NPCs and goofy set pieces like sliding down a slope are better than boring fights, any day.

Figuring out how get Ollazelle out of that room should be a fun puzzle after the gar situation is under control. I have no clue how I’ll handle it. We’ll get there.

CREDITS AND RESOURCES

Other resources used in this campaign are

Knave 2nd Edition by Ben Milton
Random Realities by Cezar Capacle
The Monster Overhaul by Skerples
Bestial Ecosystem Created by Monster Inhabitation by Courtney C. Campbell and others.
The Book of Random Tables: Dungeons, The Great Book of Random Tables, and The Great Book of Random Tables: Quests by Matt & Erin Davids.
The Solo Adventurer’s Toolkit One & Two by Paul Bimler
GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing by Raging Swan Press.

The illustrations for this delve are a mix of elements from the game/map as credited above, Pixabay stock art (often used more for effect than precision, elements made by me, modifications of maps using Gimp, and various pieces generated using ChatGPT4o [or some combination of multiple of these things].