The Doug Alone
A man wanders through a liminal space with dice and dominos.

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The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Intermission 2: Creating the Everburning Forest

By

On 2024-08-18

In Design Philosophy, ShadowDark, SoloDark, The Bleak and the Pearl

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... 

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

By

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

  1. 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. 
  2. Just rolled 4 times on Random Realities to generate some syllables. Probably won't try and make any functional degree of Grunkheart's language.
  3. 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. 
  4. 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.
  5. 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

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

  1. Tom got an 18 on spotting the door. 
  2. This room will be +5 to the check of getting the sea water flow working more properly. 
  3. 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. 
  4. 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.
  5. 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. 
  6. 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. 
  7. 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. 
  8. 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. 
  9. 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. 
  10. I did a weighted d3. 1:6 = 10', 2-5:6 = 20', 6:6 = 30'. Got a 3 so 20'.
  11. 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. 
  12. 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. 
  13. 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. 
  14. 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. 
  15. 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. 
  16. 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 Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 10 - Drying Off Just to Get Wet Again

By

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

  1. 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. 
  2. 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. 
  3. 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. 
  4. Had previously rolled that the tunnel entrance is above the line. 
  5. "Will House Marius go along with the plan?" Yes, but... 
  6. 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....
  7. 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.
  8. 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. 
  9. 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. 
  10. "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. 
  11. 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

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

By

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

  1. 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. 
  2. Vote dice. First rolls were inclusive. Final roll was three 6s and one 2. So "high road" wins. 
  3. "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.
  4. 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. 
  5. 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.
  6. All attacks against Grusk missed but one which only did 1 point of damage. It could definitely be going worse, all things considered. 
  7. 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.
  8. 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) 
  9. 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.
  10. 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. 
  11. 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. 
  12. 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. 
  13. 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. 
  14. Did the rations survive? 20. What is up with this dice all of sudden but yes. They are extremely environmentally protected.
  15. 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. 
  16. 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

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 Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 8 - The Monolith of the Cyclops Delve 2

By

On 2024-07-27

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

 [A Few Baseline Checks]

Doug, here. 

At the start of these "Monolith" sessions, there will be (currently) three basic checks to establish the flow of things and to add a little tension and uncertainty:

  • Repairing the Flow: D20 + # of Rooms *Cleared* + Rance's INT bonus vs DC36
  • Secrecy of Project: Monolith Activity Level Die (currently d4) vs City Activity Level Die (always d20 unless something big happens).
  • Barrier Check: Barrier Die (currently d10) vs Threat Die (currently d10).
In the above, a failure/fumble does not mean the quest is loss while a critical success will not mean the quest is won, etc. An extreme result will be baked into the story. Likewise, a failure of the barrier check does not mean the barriers are just reset, just that they require extra work/activity/cost to keep up. Right now, Marius is covering that. Fact is, let's say that House Marius has 30 House Points. Each failure will do 1d6 damage to those house points. Each success will allow 1d6 House Points to heal. If Marius runs out of HsP, then another quest might be required to help get funding/etc and restore them. I like that.

As for secrecy, once the secrecy check ends up with the secret being found out, it is also not end game, we'll swap that for an interference roll each session. Other factions might end up claiming part of the Monolith. 

As for the Flow, the Ocean Water "Heart" of the system, once that is repaired, it should give some boons and bonuses to the team. There will be a similar system (brain, lungs, stomach) in each other quadrants and we'll pull them in when it is time.

For this session, the results we get are 12 + 5 claimed rooms + 2INTBonus = failure to repair the Heart. Secrecy is well in hand (3 vs 14) The barriers lost the fight (6 vs 8) so Marius took 1 House Point worth of expenditure. Currently have 29 remaining. 

And now on with the show!

[Building a Stronghold]

Grusk, Rance, Inar, and Tom are talking to Nelf in the new "War Room" set up in the area where the old Monolith Crew kept some sort of zoo or menagerie. Inar, Cal, and Blkalkkbl had spent some time discussing the primordial slime entity's experience. From Inar and Cal's approximation, there seems to be a section to the east of here that rises up and so was above the water line the whole time. However, "Blick" (as Inar calls them) avoided that because there were some rather hostile creatures calling it home. 

"At least it is dry," Rance says, "Which means that it might contain some paperwork or writings that were not destroyed by water. We can handle danger, guys." Tom has been agreeing with Rance that it should be a priority. Grusk, though, feels they should go south and clear out some of the newly dried out portions first. 
"We can take these frogs an gators and slimes by surprise as they get used to cracked skin. Secure the other tunnels, and THEN we find out what might be lurking in those sealed off tunnels above us."
Inar has generally sided with Grusk, figuring that dehydrating fish people are less a threat than the complete unknown. 
Nelf ends up casting the deciding vote. "We are precarious right now. Marius had to bring in more troops and retainers. Once those things below decide to come to the surface to find out why their home is turning into a desert, the barriers might not hold."
And with that, Rance and Tom agree that a quick assault might be for the best. It has only been a week since the barrier to keep the tidal water out was built. The area will be flooded, still, but more accessible. Once that dries out, there will be some irate things that might risk pushing through the Grunce folk to get to the sea and that could be dangerous. 

[Tidepool Alice: The Terror of the Sea Hag]

Rance casts his light spell and attaches it once again to his staff [1]. The four push down the stairs where they could go no further last time. Now only the bottom two steps are underwater and as they walk into the sludgy water Tom keeps sweeping the floor with his pole to make sure they are not going into any surprise drop off. 
Shortly they come to a door on their left and stop to stare at it. It is less decayed than would expected by the surrounding area which was just, until recently, almost 60% submerged. Despite the water stained and brackish mildew on the surrounding walls, the door is actually a light creamy color. "Bone," Tom marks, gently examining it. And in the middle of the bone door is a mask in the shape of an old woman from the Old Grunce theater. [2]
"I vote Inar goes first," Tom says with a chuckle. A whispered chuckle. The team prepares. Rance summons Mage Armor around himself. Inar casts Holy Weapon on both his mace and Grusk's axe. [3]
Tom starts to work on the lock, as quietly as he can. The mechanism is in the mask itself and with some work he has it solved. "Long fingers," he quietly calls back. And then, with that, they push the door open and rush inside. 
To find a cowering youth inside. Strangely dry and looking a blinking their eyes at the sudden light coming in from Rance's staff. "Oh...m..mmm...my. Are you...he...her...hhear. to help?" 
It is Rance who punches through the illusion first, though it is clear that most of the others are aware that something is up. "That's not a person that's a... SEA HAG!" At his cry, the Sea Hag roars out an inhuman gurgle and switches back into her true form, a warty dark shape with a crown of bone and carved skulls, and everyone (but Tom) is clearly shaken as she advances to tear them apart. [4]
Grusk goes to check her advance and to keep her back from the others. He sweeps up with his axe and with a bit of luck manages to land a good hit against her shoulder. Inar rushes in to close in the gap and protect the other two but does not get a hit with his mace, mostly slamming the stone at her feet. Tom's arrow bounces off the brick wall behind her and Rance is forced to also rely on a bit of luck just to get Magic Arrow cast despite the fear quaking him and holding him back. 
In her rage she sweeps one claw towards Grusk and one towards Inar. The high + low assault by Grusk and Inar have definitely caught her off guard because she trips forward and misses both hits. This helps to cheer up the guys who push forward to press their luck. [5]
It also angers her because she goes first and continues to slash out at the Grusk and Inar. Her right claw tears a bit through Grusk's armor and scratch his chest but the left one goes over Inar's head. 
Grusk returns the favor by getting a solid hit against the arm holding him, nearly severing it from her body. The dodging Inar cannot land it. Rance screams "ACID ARROW" and gets a solid hit in her torso while Tom continues to fail to get any solid hits. 
The Hag drops to her knees and screeches "NO! WAIT!" to halt any further attacks, the Acid Arrow still burning inside her chest. "Please. Let me live. I can help you!" Looks from Grusk to Rance to Tom to Inar. I can tell you how to get past Garoshen and his stinking fish people! I know what they fear!" [6]
"Why should we trust you?" This from Tom, whose goblin blood absolutely does not like surprises. Rance, though, is absolutely sure they can. He knows that Sea Hags are usually not this close to the surface. Something drove her up here. 

"Why are you here at the edge of the ocean instead of below?" the young wizard asks, already cancelling his spell before it can finish her off. 
"My...coven...was overran by my sister's and those who survived joined her. Drove her off. I fled up out of the temple that had been my home for centuries to find a safe place and to plot my revenge. Here worked as well as anywhere. It amused me to listen to all the petty talk of the people above. When the city soon falls, the above will be ripe for the taking and maybe something there will help me fight my sister." 
"So, what do you need from us?"
"Free passage out of here, to let me find somewhere else. Some place I can lick my wounds and call out to my old coven sisters so we can get our home back from Specklesnout." [7]
The team discusses it for a moment but all end up agreeing to help get her back to the ocean in exchange for information to help them speed up this process. [8] They find out that her name is Tidepool Alice and Specklesnout is her actual sister (the term sister and sister being a bit confusing in Common, one being a member of a cousin and being from the same brood). In exchange for her pointing out to where Garoshen lives on the map they in turn tell her about the Citadel and how it might be a spot worth for her to use to hide, at least some of the caves nearby. 
"The place with the bull man? Why should I go there? He's a bigger a threat than you."
Grusk holds up Bloodlust, "This was his axe. We have solved that problem." Leaving out the part of slaughtering the tortured minotaur while he was sleeping.
Tidepool Alice laughs at this. "Oh you, you four are fun. It makes sense why I might have had trouble fighting you."
After this she agrees and the group escort her, under guard, to the shipwreck. The Marius retainers and the Keepers are clearly nervous but Rance explains. Inar notes that there is some fear about the four youths in the eyes of their allies. Working with Sea Hags is strange business. She is warned if she ever returns that they will no longer protect her. If they hear any human settlements nearer the Citadel are attacked, they will come and find her. And if Sea Hag fights break out nearby they will intervene. Tidepool Alice agrees to these terms and goes to swim away.
"WAIT!" shouts Tom, "You haven't told us what these fish folk fear!" 
"Why, my little goblin, they fear me. I have long feasted on their babies and their old. They have tried to appease me by driving slimes and beasts to my door. If they think you are sea hags, they might even pay you to get no closer." And with that, she is gone.
Returning to Alice's room, the party finds a golden statue meant to look like some deep sea isopod, a serrated coral sword that might have been Alice's own, and a pearl in a strange green jar. [9]

[A Bit of Luck, a Bit of Ooze]

Pushing south into the Monolith, the party finds a large, long room that looks to be a gathering place. A massive area to one side has a stone throne upon it, the emblem of Marius nearly lost in the years of water and mold damage. Pillars wrapped in barnacles stand tall to either side. This appears to be some sort of court room of house Marius, possibly to discuss the everyday details. [10]
This is the first room in the place that was not actively trying to kill them so it gives them a moment to take a rest and regroup, with the throne being dry enough they can actually get out of the water for a minute.
After a quick sweep through this room (and a brief recasting of a light spell), the team pushes further south again and find sunlight in front of them. The room they enter was once a store room with a ladder to the surface but now a large hole leads to the air above while trash and detritus wash up below. The team are just starting to poke through the rubble when a large gray ooze (much bigger than the previous one) slithers out from the back wall and washes over Inar before the halfling can get out of the way. [11]
Tom misses and Rance stumbles over the words of his Magic Missile spell and feels the spell disappear from his mind.
Grusk, though, is able to splatter the ooze and pulls it from the enveloped halfling before chopping into little pieces. Tom gets a torch lit to help mark the room from above and the team works out a plan to back out for now and report this opening. And work out where it would be from the surface.  

Before heading back, though, they do find a suit of deeply rusted chainmail in the debris still wrapped around the bones of its owner. That same adventurer who died has a strange ironstone egg inside. [12]

[Another Connection to the Surface]

Tracking back outside, the team finds the opening is behind Baelur's moneylending shop. Baelur is an elderly thief with a stubborn streak. The hole, from the surface looking like a cracked and busted well, has been used by years by Baelur to dump junk and people who have failed to pay him back. The irony being that until the water was drained from the Monolith, it would have actually functioned something like a well...just terrible brackish salt water. 

House Marius options to buy the shop out so they can lay claim to the hole (without it being obvious), claiming they are trying to just run the business. They are able to do this but Baelur makes it cost. 4 House Points (25 remaining) are spent to claim the area. With the slum area dismal vibe and Baelur's own reputation, Marius has some privacy building a new ladder and trap door down into the area. [13]

[Wrapping Up]

The boys sell off their finds and then decide the spend the money from the pearl on a night of party. Down at The Jolly Dragon, know for the various young wizards who gather there, Rance ends up getting into a drunken knife throwing contest and wins. [14]

Doug's Notes: the Blue is the "known" locations of the fuelstones. The Red is Garoshen/Gar Folk territory. Green represents areas controlled by the Keepers. yellow are areas that have been cleared but could be lost because no barriers help to protect them. "X" show alternate paths to the surface.

MECHANICAL NOTES

  1. Spell Check 11+4 clears the DC11. Note, I am not going to list out every single spell check/etc but will mostly just encapsulate it in the story though I'll highlight a few rolls when it helps to explain.
  2. Used Knave 2's tables for this one. Color was 31 --> Cream. Symbol was 57 --> Mask. I had rolled room contents before the door and got 10 --> Boss monster. On my table I got "make or choose" and will go with a Sea Hag. So some care is given for her to take care of her lair. 
  3. Inar got a success on his first casting and a Crit on his second. Grusk's Bloodlust has +2 to hit (total +9) and gets +2 to damage (+5 total). 
  4. Sea Hag was not surprised (had probably heard them talking, knew it was just a matter of time). So I went with her making herself into a (Random Realities) 6,2 --> Timid | 6,4--> Youth. However, her roll to cast the glamour was just a 3+2 = 5 and everyone's WIL check was higher with Rance's being highest. On the other end of the luck spectrum, only Tom made the DC15 CHA check to resist the terror effect so 2 rounds of combat the other three will be hitting at disadvantage. At least they get to go first in initiative.
  5. ShadowDark only has fumble tables on spells as far as I can tell however she rolled 1s for BOTH of her attacks. That's the kind of bad luck that normally inflicts Rance trying to get his spells off so in this case I am going to say it dispels the terror a round early. Note, I had to spend a luck point just to not lose Magic Missile with Rance.
  6. She failed her morale check. Rolled twice on the SoloDark prompt and got "Start Plan" + "Secure Victory" which felt obvious. Did check the oracle and yes she is telling the truth. In exchange she wants "Fortify Order" and "Defeat Glory". Slightly harder to full on explain but I have an idea. I also checked to see how forthcoming she will be and it's decent. Besides, what good is it to hide details in a solo game for a completely optional side quest? I'd rather build the lore than punish myself.
  7. These names and a couple of the details are derived from Skerples' The Monster Overhaul. If the Sea Hags ever return, I will use more details from that.
  8. This is the first time in this entire campaign that a vote roll ended up with everyone agreeing "yes". Neat. 
  9. Since this could have been a proper boss fight in a world where the rolls didn't speed run it so much, went for 3 treasures. Rolled a tapestry that made no sense so rerolled and got "jewel encrusted scarab" so made it more "oceanic" (45gp). Got a serrated great sword that I made into a coral sword (12gp), and a Kytherian Cog [+1 Luck at the start of the session] that I swapped into another deep-sea variation. This last is worth 300gp. All told, I'll give them +5XP for this encounter and to make up for skipping out last time around, since there are treasures and boons and such [and I am purposely inflating the XP to help accelerate the campaign some]. Since +1 Luck is a bit weirder in SoloDark I rolled a random description for Alice's Pearl and got that it allows the user to teleport a short distance away but gives the carrier disadvantage on CON checks. As useful as that is, they are probably going to just sell it.
  10. Room's contents are empty and prompts were Pursue Victory and Push Mundane.
  11. Finally triggered the first passage to the surface. Rolled a "Treasure" room with a guardian monster. This one was marked as strong so I'll give them +6HP and +2AC and +2 (+5 total) STR. There is just one, though, feasting on the animals (and unfortunate people) who get washed into tossed down from the hole above. Rance and Tom are not surprised, but Inar and Grusk are. The Ooze is attacking Inar. It hits with a crit but luckily only does 4 total damage. Then Tom misses, yet again, and Rance even with advantage whiffs (but not fumbles) the spell.
  12. Armor is worthless after being underwater so rolled again and got an egg of a cockatrice but Rance, for once, whiffed his knowledge roll and has no clue what it might be, yet. 
  13. A mixture of ShadowDark's own tables with Random Realities to get these results. Slum. Poor shop. Money Lender. Bael-us. Elderly. Stubborn. Thief. Since it's a poor moneylender in a slum, rolled at advantage on oracle to see if Marius could purchase it. Got a 19 so very yes...with a but. The but was to roll on HP to see if they have to put in a good chunk of resources and they lost 4. 
  14. Carousing roll +2. Total = 8. Knife throwing contest. They get their luck token back and +4XP, bringing them all the way to Level 3 +17XP each. The name of the tavern was just generated using ShadowDark. 

DOUG'S NOTES

Combat continues to be basically a single monster versus the squad so I think next time I'm going to make it more 2+ or some such because have to scrap is part of the fun. Grusk is a danger and I'd like to see some sweat (besides Rance and/or Inar getting hit from behind).
Garoshen leads me wanting to make the "fish folk" into alligator gar derived. So, taller, thinner but with a worse bite. 1 trident +1 (1d6) and 1 bite +2 (1d8). AC and STR reduced by 1. 

I enjoyed the Sea Hag "fight" because it was exactly the sort of fight that could have gone south but it ended up adding some lore. It might be fun to bring the Hags back soonish. 
Otherwise I think the story mostly works for itself as is and look forward to the boys trying to work out some more territory and build up towards a big fight with the gar folk. Also, I've now set myself up to there being the "dry tunnels" with some danger inside. Have no idea what that is about but I'll wait and figure it out once I get there. 

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 were generated while testing the the new ChatGPT4o + Dall-E. It is partially an exercise at futility (heh) but I am using the weird glitch outs to add in another layer of oracle in this experiment.
The Alligator Gar photo is by Greg Hume - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30364231

The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 7 - The Monolith of the Cyclops Delve 1

By

On 2024-07-25

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

 [The First Trap and Wading Through] 

"Well, that answers the trap question," Tom says, pointing out the trap. Which is pretty obviously just sitting there where even the worst trap-spotter in the world would have had to struggle to not see it. Also, it is pretty obviously broken. 

A decayed crossbow, string broken, gives the impression it should definitely be aimed at the door they just opened. The tripod system it is on leaning and half submerged in the knee deep water of the room. Knee deep on Grusk and Rance. Tom and Inar are going are quick up to their chest in it. 

When the Monolith was fully functional, a crisscross of light beams powered every part of this underground complex. Another use for the fuelstones. Now, though, that light is gone. "You can see how it would trigger when someone does this," as the goblin waves his hand in front of the useless sensor. Dramatically. He's disappointed by this. Rance at least studies that the strange twine that seems to have once directed the energy to towards the mechanism. [1]

"This is right outside the main entrance. Should be a guard station first, something to say 'NO FOOLING AROUND'!" Inar seems legitimately disturbed by the fact the very first room they enter is already, in theory, trying to kill them.

Rance looks around, holding up his staff (glowing now with a light spell). The now familiar Marius icon of the setting/rising sun remains just visible on the grime caked walls. During high tides this room is half full of water. Until the Marius retainers behind them can get the tides checked, the party is going to be forced to move fast or swim. As it is, they may have only an hour or two before they will be very wet indeed.

"I think the trap was very late stage, as they were pulling out of here at the end. That bench over there, the one covered in barnacles and trash? That looks like an old work bench. Over there half melted into the wall is the world's rustiest saw...or maybe the world's sawiest rust. This was a repair and stocking station. They would have wanted people to come here at least until the last of the old Keepers fled. Probably though they would come back in a few years..." [2]

They spike the door entering the room open and wave at Nelf and Terk and the Marius folks outside, just about 10 yards away. The siblings twitch. The last time the Keepers sent someone this far, it went south very quickly. The only surviving member lapses in and out of a coma at the Lighthouse infirmary and Brother Olin does not expect him to make it. Tom takes the grease paint stick and makes a mark above the water line. The mark deems this room safe to enter and the plan is to get a places cleared so that the Keepers can have a full base of operations. 

Tom listens at the the door south and the door east. "I don't hear anything to the south," he whispers, "But there's something over here behind the other one." [3]

Almost like in perfect timing, a loud croaking sound can be heard. 

"That settles it," says Grusk, pulling out his axe, "We go and meet the frog prince." 

[Feeling Froggy and the Damned Crocodiles]

Grusk counts down using his left hand in a complicated series of motions: orcish finger counting. And then he slams through the door and rushes on into the darkness on the other side, the other three trying to keep up. A pale, large human sized frog with blind eyes wallows in the muck and mire, frog eggs floating nearby. 

Grusk leaps into the pool of water and brings Bloodlust down on the frog's head. Blood splashes out into the pool as the now enraged mother frog swipes at the half orc and misses. By this time, the others manage to get into position and give assistance. 

The frog whips out its tongue towards the splashing sounds it hears in the distance and just misses Inar. Grusk gets another chop at the head of the frog and more blood splatters but the great beast is not dead yet. 

Rance chants a spell and let's loose a magic missile which pierces the eye of the frog, dropping it into the now blood filled pool. "You know, Grusk, it was just a frog. We could probably have lured it out by convincing it that Tom was a fly." [4]

"Shut up, Uffolt," Grusk and Tom reply at the same time. 

The room they are in looks like it might have been a some sort of store room for papers and notes. "Ah, Cal is going to be sad about this," quips Rance while Grusk and Tom descend into yet another argument. [5]

Grusk wants to pour out oil and set the frog eggs on fire and Tom is pointing out it is a few minutes walk...they could carry the frog eggs out there, not like they are the problem. As Inar is trying to wedge himself into the middle, somehow agreeing and disagreeing with both at the same time, Tom whips around and shouts... "RANNNCE!" 

Unfortunately the warning is too late as a large saltwater crocodile, attracted by the blood and the now unprotected food, erupts from the water and chomps the wizard's arm and starts pulling him under the water. [6]

Tom starts shooting his bow as Grusk once more brings his axe to bear and Inar begins weaving a bless spell. Grusk is too nervous about striking Rance, missing wildly, and while Inar gets the spell off, is unable to find Rance under the churning, bloody water. Tom manages to embed an arrow into the beast but the fight is clearly on a clock. 

The team are not giving the croc any chance to get away with their friend and press the attack with a speed the croc can barely comprehend. Unfortunately, Rance's light spell is currently on a staff slightly submerged so attacks will be difficult. [7]

This time, Grusk does not hesitate and lands a massive hit against the skull of the croc though Tom is having trouble seeing into the frothing water. At least Inar, trying his best to not get swiped, manages to get contact with Rance and heal the wizard back up to enough health that Rance can pull himself free (if quite bloody and very wet).  

Now the enraged crocodile is taking out his anger on Grusk. The first bite glances off of Grusk's plate but the second sinks solidly in his arm. Grusk uses the locked jaws to lift the crocodile out of the water as Rance, still hoarse and coughing water from his mouth, screams as he brings down his staff on the crocodiles back, finishing it off. 

"Alright, Tom," huffs Grusk, "You win. We'll keep the eggs alive for now. Might make good bait to lure these damned crocs." 

While Grusk is gathering up a few frog eggs to act as bait, a recovering Rance looks through the old papers and scrolls to see if anything survived the damp. Nothing did but even among the detritus he finds a few sigils and stamps that he jots down. A stylized skull shows up across some of the communications. [8]

[Down into the Slime]

As the party pushes further south, Tom notes that the water in here, a bit deeper than before, has a particular sheen to it and holds the others back. "That ain't water." 

Sure enough, the team can see portions of the water swirling around as something darker and...gooier, swirl around inside. "Ah," says Rance, "an ooze". 

"Can't fault the name, so let's burn it," says Grusk as he pulls forth one of his oil flasks and gets ready to light it on fire. 

"Nah, don't. Save your oil. According to the books I read, these things won't burn. Also, according to Dendor Morsinbor's On the Nature of Slimes, don't hit them with metal. They eat that." [9]

"Alright, then they can eat one of these eggs," and with that Grusk tosses an egg in. Which the oozes ignore. 

"Maybe they are full," says Tom from the back. 

Grusk pulls out his axe and ignoring Rance's warning, chops down into the middle of the swirl and the water changes color and then dissipates.

"That is very strange." 

The team keep clear of touching the slime in case it still is a danger while dead. [10]

[A Surprise for Sure]

Unfortunately, right past the slime the stairs descend down and that means the water will definitely be too deep for Tom and Inar. Even Rance will be feeling a bit drowned. Considering the dangers they have faced so far, they are not looking forward to stripping off armor and gear and diving down. Instead, the head to the side now trying to loop back towards the surface rather than going too deeply into the Monolith. 

The room before them is the largest of the side rooms that they have seen and it seems to have once been some sort of menagerie. Cages and tanks - empty, rusted, and cracked now - are lined up along the edges with a large table structure in the middle of the room that might have once been an aquarium. Currently filled to the brim with brown sludge. [11]

Once again, Tom's goblin senses pick up the threat before the others and he points to the tank. Grusk trudges through the water and gets close to the tank before the thing in the tank stands up in a rough approximation of Grusk's own shape. 

"Alright. Do. I. Hit. It?" 

Inar steps forwards, still well behind, Grusk, and tries talking to it in a variety of languages, finally finding some recognition when he lapses into Primordial. After adjusting some of the tenor and tone, he makes contact. [12]

The others wait with Rance glancing back down the previous hallway. 

"Blkalkkbl," says Inar, "came here years ago to escape some of the horrors of the Bleak. Well, I think he was talking about The Bleak. It is fascinating is it not that a notion that I am pretty sure that would translate as to 'the long sigh after the noise of insect wings' would mean..."

"Gale. The Point. Find it."

"Yes, well, um...he is...allergic? to water?" 

"A slime. Allergic to water."

"Again, the thing you have to keep in mind is that..."

"No."

"NO?"

"No, I am sorry I asked."

After some discussion the adventurers work out that they would like to help Blkalkkbl but Grusk worries that this slime might eat his armor since, in principle, he will have to carry it. [13]

Rance pokes around at some of the other tanks and barrels and cages in the room and with a little work comes up with a feasible container good enough to get Blkalkkbl out of this flooded dungeon. However, the damage means they will need to go relatively quickly. [14]

"I say we get him in there and then Grusk runs like the devil is on his trail and tries to get him out of here. Give him to Nelf and tell her to take it to Senior Commander Grunkheart because the Lighthouse has lots of dry rooms this...visitor...can hang out in. Cal will love more company."

Grusk sighs deeply but Blkalkkbl aggress to the plan and carefully climbs into the lashed together tank, the acidic skin starts to eat at the edges. Grusk braces as Inar runs north and opens the door, and the half orcs runs to get the slime creature to higher ground. 

Inar grins. "I knew he was a big softy!" 

Tom looks up from digging through some of the piles that Rance has disturbed. "It isn't much, but it's dishonest work," and tosses a jade statue over to Inar. Some holy statue from the Barthic empire. Worth a bit, but not much. 

The three friends follow after their rough voiced companion. Wondering how well Cal will take the new guest.[15]

[Regrouping and Drying Out]

We will skip ahead a few days here. Rance, Grusk, and Tom are going to aid the Marius retainers to work on getting the tide barriers in place since the dungeon will be very underwater without them. They will also help to secure the rooms already explored, building barriers and guard stations. 

Back at the Lighthouse, Blkalkkbl will be given a very dry room and will have some long conversations with Cal and Inar. We will return to what info can be gleamed in the next civilization run. 

Cal does not recognize the stylistic skull icon found but will add it to his list of things to research. Perhaps another party involved in the construction of the Lighthouse (yes, signs point to yes...want me to roll on it? Ok... 14. So yes. That's nice, actually, saves me having to work out another plot thread since the current one is quite....meaty). 

If you look at Michael Prescott's depth analysis on the original Amon Gorloth Post, by the fiction many of the areas in the green and blue in the northeast quadrant will be from pretty deeply underwater to very deeply underwater. The system was mean to let water flow through so it drains off. BUT.. we'll say that after a few days of draining, the green will be knee deep while the yellow will be damp and the red will be [still] dry. This might make some of the more slime and aquatic stuff less friendly. 

Once again, thanks to Dyson Logos for such awesome maps. I've enjoyed getting to use them. And thanks to Michael Prescott for making the depth map because while I will not be sticking to this depth too hard as we get past this initial aquatic style, it really helps me to keep it sorted in my head which portions are most impacted by the flooding sea water. 

MECHANICAL NOTES

  1. Room contents 3 --> Trap. Crossbow. Triggered by breaking light beam. Seems a nice time to set some lore/mechanics into place.
  2. Checked the oracle and got "Repair Mundane". So it's a workshop. The trap is definitely a poor attempt to protect the complex as the older keepers were retreating a couple of centuries back.
  3. Note: Rolled on both rooms. To the east is a solitary giant frog. To the south is a random boss monster who we will figure out when we get there. 
  4. This one was quick so I won't go into too much detail on the combat but basically the frog got no hits and Grusk got two but they were relatively weak. Rance got magic missle off to finish it. I gave Grusk surprise bonus on his first swing because he got the door open in a single action. 
  5. Room contents are "sneak information" so we'll just say it's a place for missives.
  6. Random monster check hit. Crocodile. Tom is a goblin and cannot be surprised but he wasn't the target. Gave Rance an INT check versus 9 to see if he could react in time but alas. Croc hit at advantage doing enough damage to take out poor Rance in a single hit. He has 5 turns to resurface but I'll make his "death saves" at disadvantage since he is submerged.
  7. Init was 20 vs 1 so I'm going to roll that essentially a free attack round squeezed in. With the light being dim they would be on disadvantage but I'm having the two cancel out. 
  8. SD Oracle, at Disadvantage: "Does anything worthwhile survive?" No, but... used Random Realities to generate a rumor "Secret Societies" and an icon/mark: "Skull". 
  9. DC15 INT check to see if Rance knew any information. Got a 21 total so, yeah, quite a bit of information. Knows that Gray Oozes are immune to fire and can eat normal weapon. 
  10. After the previous fight, a single gray ooze is kind of a nice change, especially with Grusk one shots it. 
  11. The room "clue" was "Reveal Animal". Hence the trappings. So, rolling it up with it locked at a type of ooze, the monster is a level 2 ooze that can change shape, does extra damage from its acidic touch, and... thanks to a quick roll on Random Realities, explodes when damaged. It has AC13, 8HP, +2 to attack, 1d8 + 1d6 damage. When it explodes at 0HP it will do acid attack to everyone in... near. Ironically,  it's threat is *water*. Which is probably why it was hiding out in the tank, eh? It *is* intelligent but is fairly alien in thought compared to humans. It is not aggressive but it is also highly frightened. There will be some good treasure in the room though since this will check at LV5. 
  12. Ok, Inar has Primordial which feels right for this. Gave him a DC15 check to see if he can establish some sort of contact. He made it so yes and I'll give him +2 to his Reaction check which is only 5 (rolled) +2CHA +2 for 9. This put's the creature at "neutral". 
  13. Rolled 4d6 with 3+ being a vote for yes. Got 3 out of 4 for helping the strange slime being. I'll put Grusk as the practical "nay" vote for a reason related to the just previous encounter.
  14. "Can Rance work out a container out of all the animal cages and tanks?" yes, but... they will break and spill out on a roll of 1:6. 
  15. Grusk made a DC12 check to run out of there in a timely manner and the tank did not break. On the oracle, rolled a 20 so Cal not only likes his new guest but absolutely loves having this being with some knowledge of the Monolith. Looks like the campaign just got a strange side character.

DOUG'S NOTES

Not many. It's nice to swap mental mode from the more maudlin werewolf series to the more classic crawl mode. Just like it will be nice to swap mode back to what every I play next. I love this aspect of solo RPGs, the getting to shift my gears into whatever tickles the old fancy. Doug's play styles, much like The Doug Himself, contain multitudes. 
I have never really gotten a chance to play in a flooded place and though I do not want to keep it up for too much because I want to give my boys a chance to shine, it is nice to just have to think about the flow of water and how it impacts their quest.
Crocodile fight is probably the sassiest fight I have gotten to set up in a good while. I enjoyed throwing some notable difficulties and I am glad the dice did not betray them too hard. That is pretty close to how I would have ran it as a player and how I would have played it as a GM...at the same time. 
The Blkalkkbl encounter was me being nasty but also give a few tells: exploding acid blooded acidic slime dude was going to go off. Then I love how a single "Is it intelligent?" question flavored that from "A Thing to Be Killed" to a "Maybe Try Talking" sequence. Setting up the puzzle of how could they get B out and then actually rolling dice to see if it all went to crap made it slightly spicy. 
This might come up to a shock to you, by the way, but Blkalkkbl were 100% just some random letters that I typed out that sounded...slime-ish. Never meet your heroes, people. 
Rance still seems to be the target of the dice. This is the third sneak attack in this whole campaign and the third time Rance has been a) targeted and b) one-shotted. He always manages to get back up before it is too late. Fun. On the other hand, every roll to see if he knows something about the monster at hand tends to come back with "Heck yeah he knows the monster at hand" with lots of DC18+ hits. 
Another shout out to Tom's "Goblin's Cannot Be Surprised" flavor. I've heard people argue that it is too weak an ability in SD and I don't know if I just solo lots of surprise attacks or what but our goblin friendo has done some work. 
Until next time, when House Marius gets a stronger foothold and our poor brave fools go even deeper into the muck. 

The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 6, In Which History Is Discussed and Plans are Made

By

On 2024-07-24

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

The group climbs past over the sea scoured rocks behind the shipwreck to stand before a large archway built in the years of The Bleak's first encroachment. In the archway various symbols and crests were once carved to declare its purpose but most are lost to time. Channel winds wearing meaning from this old structure. 

A shape not unlike a lighthouse is next to a shape not unlike a rising sun. On the other side, perhaps an eye. Others are open to much wider interpretation. 

A woman breaks from the group and approaches the once great door in a bricked up wall under the arch. Now it has the general appearance of drift wood shackled together in an approximation of a door, a bad approximation at that. A large enough gap at the bottom to admit several people at once as long as slightly tall folks are willing to bend. 

Looking at it, it seems the whole door would collapse if someone actually tried opening it, possibly pulling down the wall and the archway with it. The woman gestures to the rest of the group and leads them inside. 

Her name is Nelf Haskins. She is a Lighthouse Keeper. Dressed in a sort of short dark felt robe, giving the appearance of an oversized shirt, strange goggles acting as a headdress, and an armband of various colors which signify duty and sub-rank. This is Cal Grunkheart's attempt to give the Keepers a traditional uniform, despite the order being gone for two centuries. These new Keepers he has recruited over the past five years. True believers to his cause. The Lighthouse can shine fully again. The Bleak will go no further. 

Nelf is Senior Expedition Planner - armband green with three large yellow triangles - and has been tasked with restoring the so called "Monolith" to working order. "I prefer to call it Grunkheart's Network," she explained to the rest of the group as they set out to see what the Keepers have accomplished. Turns out to not be a whole lot. A single room out of plenty of rooms. 

Once inside, Nelf walks a few dozen feet down a wide hallway lit by too few torches into a chamber of some decent size. Light is better here. All the better to help pay more attention to the main three points of interest. 

The second most noticeable thing is a chubby man on scaffolding next to human sized statue seeming to have an argument between himself, the statue, a sizeable ring of metal in his hand, and the universe in general. Occasionally he tries to set the ring down on the statue's head but sparks fly off.

The statue is in the likeness of a human in pre-Bleak clothing holding a tall spear, a mad grin on his face. Mad Del Marius, once Lord of House Marius. The "ring" is the Marius Diadem, once a relic of Marius rule. The man on the scaffolding is Terk Haskins, Nelf's older brother, in a similar uniform though he lets his body hang out of it a bit more. His armband is blue with red eyes. Chief Investigator of the Monolith. Nelf and Terk were two of the original recruits. 

The third thing you notice is a group of men and women wearing armor, setting up a kind of makeshift camp. What seems to be a month's worth of supplies. The tents and their armor emblazoned with a red setting (or rising) sun over a blue field. Retainers for House Marius who have agreed to help restore "The Network". They will help choke off the sea water. They help protect the rooms that are cleared. They just will not go first. 

The first thing, though, before Terk or the retainers, you notice is the smell. "Ach, like the sea took a piss all over this place," one of the group following Nelf says. This is Grusk Obe. Half-Orc. Currently suited up. Blood red axe, Bloodlust, on his belt. One of the many orphans raised by the Priests of Gede at the Blue Grove in the wild lands of the so called Pearl. "The Silt," an untamable place and the refuge of free people until the Bleak can be drove back. Which is why he is here.

Beside him is Rance Uffolt, a human wizard. Holding back is Inar Gale (halfling priest) and Spotted Tom (he once had a last name assigned by the priests but has long stopped using it and the others barely recall). Tom and Inar are joking around and paying no attention. Too excited about the day's delve. Like Grusk, these are more orphans raised by the Blue Grove, brought into the Bleak by Rance's dreams. Dreams not even the young wizard understands. 

Rance is distracted by the activity of Terk and goes over to chat with the Senior Investigator. Leaving Grusk to carry on the conversation with Nelf. Grusk is not quite so good at conversation but does his best. Nelf seems nervous around the large man so unlike the Keepers she normally travels with. 

"We have not gotten far past this room. At...all, past this room. We tried but, um, a couple of Keepers did not come back. The third is in our infirmary ranting about "teeth." The area past this is...dangerous," Nelf rambles things that Grusk already knows. "I told Cal...I mean, Senior Keeper Grunkheart...I told him that we need a division trained in such but he feels it is at odds with our mandates to spend too much time dedicated to delving. So..."

"He asked us," Grusk finishes off. No judgement in his voice. The orphans like Cal, quite a bit. Rance is convinced that fixing the Lighthouse will help them in their quest. Drive the Bleak back. Grusk does not know if it is true but he trusts Rance. They have traveled together for some time. Not one of the four will question the others. It is how they survived in The Pearl. It is how they now survive in the Bleak. Too bad Grunce is something else. But if Cal can get his Keepers to rebuild the Lighthouse, some of those problems will go away. 

Grusk and Nelf stare down a massive sloping hallway traveling down into the darkness. Pools of seawater catch in cracks and the whole area is caked in mold and crawling with insects. Occasionally strange splashes and grunts can be heard, somewhere in the distance. 

"Cal....SENIOR KEEPER Grunkheart...says that in the old days the flow of sea water into the structure at high tide was part of the process. Like a giant heart, an organic beast, the blood flowing through the veins. The Lighthouse practically a living thing powered by the city above and the land around it. By the five families that gave part of themselves to make it. Now, though, as the Network fades and collapses and the Bleak invades...you get junk in the system. It is rotting." Nelf seems flustered to find the right words. Grusk really wishes that Rance or Inar were the ones doing the talking now but Rance is up on the scaffolding with Terk and Inar is back with Tom and the retainers telling jokes. 

"Rotting's a right word, lass. That dead man down there attests to that." Grusk shines the lantern he's carrying down to a corpse. A corpse missing some chunks. Something feasted on a part of it. Something that might return. 

Nelf blanches a bit and steps back. Grusk is not great with social interaction and not particularly fond of weakness, but he does him allow himself a moment of sympathy for the Keepers. Academics and cast off nobles risking a lot to try and bring back a dream that the city itself has forgotten. 

Nelf continues her history lesson, only a bit of a shake now in her voice. "The reason it is so big seemed to serve two purposes. First, the structure of the Network is itself part of the generator. Second, Cal says that Jonias Grunkheart, his ancestor, intended it to be an evacuation place if Grunce ever fell to the Bleak. A place where people from all over the city could come and hide." [1]

Seeing the eyebrows of the half-orc raise, she concedes, "Well, at least the people who were working for the five great houses. Their people especially. But Cal does say that there should be entrances and egresses all over. The Network and the City are one. Grunce was the powerhouse for the Lighthouse...until it wasn't." 

***

Cal had talked to Rance about the overall plan. They need to retake the Monolith (unlike Nelf, he uses his old Ancestor's original name) and they have to purify it. "We have to drain the mildew and the water, Rance," over pipes. 

"How?" 

"If we had genshel sponges, those can hold tons of water without gaining any weight." 

"Do we?"

"Ah...no, but up north the Sherifan Enclave harvest them from..."

And so on and so on. Rance and Grusk ask 1-3 syllables and Cal responding with long winded talks and speeches. 

Like Nelf is doing now. Filling in the fear of getting started with words.

55 Keepers, now 52 after Mursy's group ended the way it did. Brother Olin in the infimary says Mursy will likely never return to service. A rough map that Cal is trying to restore. A stack of legends from a city that constantly rebuilds itself. A network of tunnels and rooms and caves that once housed dozens or hundreds of people working on keeping the Lighthouse alive. A honeycomb of storehouses and armories and classrooms, all gone to rot. First the workers diminished until the five great houses got replaced by new greedier great houses that danced in the light they did not  maintain. 

So the Lighthouse ran itself. And now it is very nearly kaput.

"It is like a a tooth," Cal had said that night, after the smoke and beer had made him maudlin. "Most of your life, your teeth are tough. Chewing the meat. Cracking the bone. Biting the coin. Then they get cracked. Decay gets in. The tooth turns black and falls apart. Strong on the surface but vulnerable underneath. My whole life I have watched that light grow dimmer year and year and now I want to do something. For Jonias. For....myself."

Inar had asked if there were treasures. Tom had asked if there were traps. Rance asked how the magic worked. Grusk had asked how strong the creatures down in the Monolith were. To each of these, Cal had shaken his head...

"I don't know."

***

Faced with this great unknown, the only emotion Grusk really feels is impatience. The sooner they get Rance a good night sleep, the sooner they can go back home to The Pearl. "UFFORT!" the Half Orc shouts.

And with that timing the cursing and red faced Rance, next to an even louder and more red-faced Terk, slams down the Diadem and makes some necessary contact because instead of sparks they get a reaction. The eyes of the statue glow dull red as a mold covered marble chestplate burns away the gunk to show the Marius Sun Banner underneath. The tip of the sphere glows red hot and then shoots a beam down into the dark past the dead body Grusk was looking at earlier. 

Not very bright, or very large, yet. But a start. The Blue Grove Orphans can smell the air get cleaner. See the statue burning away the years of negligence before their eyes. 

In the distance, a loud roar screams in response to the subtle shift in the air. Grusk chuckles. 

"Alright, boys, time to go into the dark. We got that to kill for a start." 

The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark]: Intermission 1, The Monolith of the Cyclops Overview

By

On 2024-07-23

In Campaign Design, ShadowDark, Solo Campaigns, SoloDark, The Bleak and the Pearl

The "Monolith of the Cyclops" will be something of the hub dungeon // wrap-around story for a few sessions in my SoloDark campaign: The Bleak the Pearl. I've dropped bits and dribbles here or there in the text already shared but the idea is that this dungeon (the "monolith" moniker makes no sense but it also sets a mood so I kept it, it was just randomly rolled as a title) is a mystical network of tunnels whose layout and composition were originally designed to channel energy into the "Lighthouse." The Lighthouse which is used to the keep The Bleak at bay and to allow humanity to have a stronghold against the tide. Lately, the Light is failing and so The Bleak threatens to overrun the last great uncorrupted city...

And there are forces in the city that considers the fall of the Light to be a useful profit making opportunity. 

The map being used is The Halls of Amon-Gorloth II by Dyson Logos. I chose this one because it is big but not too unwieldly. It feels the right size to be a network covering the underground of what was essentially a "border city."  It has some neat and varied features. And, frankly, it just sparked joy. 
The plan is to split it into rough quadrants and to give each quadrant its own encounter table and to give each one it's own "fuelstone" (the mystical statues used to channel the energy towards the cyclops which then powers the Lighthouse). 
The four "flavors" are just to make it a bit varied but also to give me some experience in building up reasonable encounter lists for ShadowDark and to try out a few different enemy types.
  • Northeast: Marine/Sea Monsters + Slimes. This section will be flooded by sea water coming in from the large north-east entrance and have several rooms underwater with some care being spent to drain them using the resources and gadgets of the Lighthouse Keepers. The creatures here will be a mixture of fishy (Fishfolk, Saltwater Crocodiles, etc) and slimy (Black Puddings, etc). 
  • Southeast: Giant Insects and more Fungal Types. This section will have some of the icky from the first (so slimes are likely to repeat but I'll toss in some mushroomy things) but will focus more on insects and insect type enemies. There will be giant cockroaches. A lot of giant cockroaches.
  • Southwest: Automatons, Golems, and Plant Types. This section will more "mechanical" with automatons and magical armor type enemies and I want to try and work in some plants and such, possibly created more on the fly with the creature generation rules. I'll hold off any future predictions since I'll need to scale this to something more level appropriate but golems and such will make an appearance. 
  • Northwest: Humans, Rats, and "Slum" enemies. will have some some human and various "fantasy slum" style encounters. A thieves guild setting up shop. Maybe some classic giant rats and such. 
The characters will have a rough map and a rough location of the five fuelstones. One in each quadrant plus the main "eye" which is the large statue in the lower left. Not necessarily a perfect map, and one that was made roughly 300 years ago but I'll dial out some of the "which way to go" for this one to stop it from taking even longer. As I go, I'll do something like roll a d20 per room/section and a roll of 20 (or maybe 19-20...or make it so each roll counts "down"...I like that, eventually there *will* be paths up) will indicate there is a passage up to the city of Grunce, above. 
The idea will be they will need to clear and purify the whole map before they are done, but as they go other adventures will crop based on various needs. They will extend out, make base camps, spread up supply stations, and generally retake the whole complex over several weeks or months in game time. Also retaking the city in the process.
Besides that, I will use the standard ShadowDark content generation d10 tables blended in with some of Philip Reed's ShadowSpark cards, bits of a couple of other oracles, etc. The first quadrant, the NE/Sea-Themed one will have no boss monster. The other quadrants will likely have a boss monster set to the current level the adventurers are at. 
Once this is done, they will likely be level 6 or 7 and ready to venture deeper into the Bleak for a few hexcrawls and a build up to something like a final battle. If paced correctly it should give me plenty of experience with most of the elements available to explore in ShadowDark.
Part 7 will begin the actual delve where they work on reclaiming the first fuelstone (they already have the Marius Diadem) and cleaning out and confirming the next fuelstone which will launch on finding the relic they need to power it). 

The Bleak and The Pearl (SoloDark): Part 5 - Returning the Spear (Civilization Phase)

By

On 2024-07-13

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

-- Gathering Allies in Grunce --

Returning to Grunce after finishing up their dive into Mad Del Marius's "Lost Citadel," the team has two goals in mind: 
  • Return the spear of House Marius to the current ruling leader, Varren Marius, and ask for her help in the ongoing issues facing Grunce and the Lighthouse. [1]
  • Get prepped to start diving into the tunnels underneath Grunce and return the Marius Diadem to the first fuelstone. 
Rance and Cal (Grunkheart, chief Lighthouse Keeper) start pouring over the notes of each other's research. Rance has connected the various items of power to restart the fuel stones. Cal has learned that the location of the final item, Jonias Grunkheart's "Eye", is in some place beyond the normal realm. [2] He now moves on research what this clue might mean and will try and locate a route to Mistamere's domain. 
The meeting with Lady Varren goes well. She accepts the gift and pledges to aid Cal and his Keepers in their quest. This might be the chance to launch an offensive against the dark. [3] She will not return to the Citadel and try to retake it. "Let the dead stay dead". 
Potential Wrinkle: Her urge towards a more militant approach means she might see the Lighthouse more as a weapon than a protection. A sword rather than a shield.

-- The Free Merchants Plot --

Meanwhile, the Free Merchants have begun to muster their own forces. Their current goal is to disrupt the trade routes into Grunce and use the frustration against the Great Houses to profit. [4] Their plan is to primarily destroy the alliances between the Pearl shipyards and the Grunce ones by refusing shipments and slow rolling the process. The Bleak needs the Pearl more and if the merchants across the Gray Channel feel they are losing out, the number of ships will shrink. 
This will hit both House Allocius (who runs the Grunce docks) and House Marr (who handles many of the Grunce markets) in the pocketbooks, tightening the screws and forcing them to collaborate and compromise more with the Free Merchants. 

-- Mechanical Notes --

  1. Varren Marius, the current Matriarch, strives to create unity among the Great Houses to wage war against the darkness and take by Barthus. However, the sheer greed of the upper houses, seeing The Bleak as a business venture, tends to silence her from doing much. (Note: Her name Var - Ren, and her drive, Unity - Challenge) were both generated with Random Realities. 
  2. Mythic Meaning Tables: Actions 59 Leave, 71 Physical. 
  3. "Does Varren accept the spear?" "Yes." What does she want from it? Mythic Meaning Table: Character Motivations --> 11 Conflict, 97 Support. 
  4. Mythic Meaning Tables: Actions --> 9 Hindrance, 39 Attain. "Are they trying to hinder the Lighthouse?" No. 
  5. Random Realities. Quest, Mission --> 5, 6 Destroy + 5,2 Relationship

-- Doug's Notes -- 

This one was shorter and a bit more awkward than intended. That's a byproduct of some gear shifting that happened in the middle. Originally, when I decided I wanted a dungeon crawl centric solo game, I went with ShadowDark backed with Mythic. Then, with SoloDark out, there was an alternate oracle with a few other bits and pieces. The plan morphed into using SoloDark in the dungeons (to avoid some oddities of triggering a close thread type event just asking "are there still torches on the wall") but then going back to a full Mythic campaign to figure out how stuff was going in the civilization part of the adventure.
This ended up being surprisingly awkward. Grunce is just the (current) backdrop. Threads about the various Great Houses fighting probably won't mean much as the game gets going and the team goes deeper into the Bleak (which is, in theory, only around 10 delves from now). It felt weird and flow disruptive to have a lot of book keeping for a part of the storyline that should be more about weaving an exciting story and giving excuses to fight minotaurs, scarlet or otherwise. This campaign is about enjoying dungeon delves and (soon) hex crawls. 
In the middle of working out this civilization scene I realized I was going to do away with the two phase model (I might try again in the future, but not right now). Instead, it will be purely SoloDark. Civ scenes might be short and brief or they might be more detailed but they will largely just be in-ShadowDark rather than outside of it. I will then back up some of the SoloDark tables with Random Realities and with Mythic's meaning tables. 
Take Doug's Advice: Solo Play is only about satisfying one player at the table, YOU. If something is not working for YOU then it is not working. Move on, try again, rip out parts, shove in parts. Whatever YOU need. 

I'll wrap this up here. Tomorrow I will try and work out the random tables for the next section of the "mega dungeon". Then I'll begin the next delve. 

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