Previously, on The Bleak + The Pearl…

The four adventurers have explored the upper floors of Jonias Grunkheart’s laboratory and have continued to make discoveries without context of Jonias’s true purpose. A battle with servitor automatons pushed the group to its limits but they are rested, healed, and ready to to embark downstairs to make sense of the strange mysteries they have found.

About The Bleak + The Pearl

The Bleak (Barthus) and The Pearl (Silt) are large twin islands. Once home of an Ancient Empire that fueled its machines and miracles by tapping into the primal forces found upon each (Becoming and Being, respectively). Two thousand years after the fall of the Ancients, the Barthic Empire that grew up in its place (one of many over the years) faced its own cataclysm as The Bleak (the corrupted version of Becoming) spread like a disease. Those who stayed were subjected to rapid mutations and strange changes: their own bodies warped into monstrous forms as even the land lost its sanity.

Three hundreds later, four heroes—Grusk Obe (Half-Orc Fighter), Inar Gale (Halfling Cleric), Spotted Tom (Goblin Thief), and Rance Uffolt (Human Mage)—are on a journey across The Bleak, risking sanity and their own existence, to try and save The Lighthouse: the last great act of Jonias Grunkheart. A piece of reclaimed Ancient technology that can bring balance to the out of control forces.

Content Warning: Fantasy Violence, Occasional Body Horror…

This post is in MULTI-PHASE style. See the about page for this blog for more details. The system used to play this is ShadowDark by Kelsey Dionne and the Arcane Library with SoloDark (same) acting as the oracle.

Part 21 – Going Underground

{{ GAMEMASTER PHASE }}

(c) Dyson Logos. Mild Modifications by Doug Bolden.

Jonias Grunkheart’s Lab, Upper Basement

The upper floor of Jonias’s lab is built on top of the remaining portions of Elizin Urnlight’s old Everburning Forest research station. Jonias scavenged increasing portions of the tech and those are evident in the motif as well as in specific sections. The decor of the rooms lean more to white stone with blue lines and filtration system keep around 90% of the ash from building up here. Ceilings have (inactive) glowglobs attached to stylized conduits. Once the controls are activated in B3, these rooms will be lit. Various automaton, some of which are deactivated, are on pedastals.

Automatons on This Floor

All “minion” style encounters are automatons. Outside of the Viperian Ophid Class as noted below, the rest are 1-3: simple servitors, 4-5: basic servitors, 6: advanced servitors. Specifics to each can be determined as found. There is a 3:6 chance they are deactivated in the long years since the lab was last used. On a roll of 6, the internal working should be considered too worn down to work. Once B3 is activated, still check to see if automatons have worn down.

B1: Examination and Prep Room

While 2 (Transit Room) and 4 (Cleaning Room) have equipment to finish off and sort some fuelstone brought up from the mines below, B1 is the heart where fuelstone is fully sorted, trimmed, carved, and initially activated. On the section of the room are cart tracks leading up from the lower basement and through the ramp into the upper floors. On a raised platform, a series of tables with intricate equipment is visible. To the western side, the tables are closer together and the equipment is more primitive—roughly equivalent to some of Cal Grunkheart’s equipment back in Grunce. As it tracks from west to east, the tables are “newer” (a relative turn since the newest one is over three centuries old) and more advanced. The last few tables built are quite advanced and on the lower tier of Ancient technology. Jonias spent decades learning more and all-in-all was a fast learner.

B2: Lower-Access Research Library

This was a library which housed some of the simpler, less-vital research books. There are four cases and each case has a 2:6 chance of having surviving texts. The more controlled air of this area is better at preserving the materials but it still remains dry and hot. If any surviving texts are found here, a INT DC24 roll (reduced by 3 per additional text and by an addiotional 3 if more than 1 week is spent in study) will help to bridge the gap between Ancient and Barthic languages.

B3: Control Station

Monitoring stations are in the north portion of the room. Glass screens which flash Ancient sigils while active are next to tubes and gears that provide other feedback. Through the locked doors (DC18 to open, but at disadvantage, key is downstairs) leads to stations with levers and gears to a) activate lights and life support; b) activate and control automatons; and c) activate and control the portal upstairs (in that order from west to east). The controls are written in Ancient but flipping the switch is somewhat obvious [just what it does, not so much]. INT DC18 to have a decent concept of what is happening if time is spent there.

B4: Scanning Room

This room was designed to scan security for the people who enter it. Two guard automatons (Viperian Class, 3:6 to still be powered) will activate if the doors are breached without the scan being done and the scan can only be done if the #a switch is activated in B3. The doors are not locked.

B5: Demonstration Theater

In the earliest days, the Temple/Theater upstairs was meant to be Jonias’s place for demonstration. However, as the lower levels were excavated and built, it was turned into the portal room. This room took over as a place where Jonias could show fuelstone technology to guests. [We know from previous posts that the whole attempt to get more people to adopt the fuelstone tech was a flop so there is little chance of this room ever being properly used]. A few fancy seats look up on a stage where a table on par with the most advanced in B1 and a few podiums stand. These were the core of his “magic show.”

B6: Second scan and security access to lower basement.

Both the north and south chambers contain more (currently inactive) equipment to scan visitors to check for access into the lower basement. Both doors are sealed with fuelstone tech and require STR DC24 to force open until B3 is activated (and then requires passing the scan of known people which accessible only in the floor below). Each door is guarded by another of the Viperian Ophid class automaton. Like all automatons on this level, there is an innate 3:6 chance for active status prior to the B3 switch. They will aggressively protect the doors if active.

Accessing the Lower Basement through the cart route

These shafts are narrow and steep. DEX DC18 to navigate them before activation of B3 (they are part of the automaton branch). Failure results in 1d6 damage. DEX DC15 to navigate once lights are on but failure results in 1d6 fall damage AND 1d6 damage from the fuelstone energy in the tracks. Furthermore, the carts are themselves primitive automatons (INT -2) who have a DC12 check to detect some disaster on the track.

[[ PLAYER PHASE ]]

The four have made their way over to the tool room and the large set of stairs there. Casting a light spell, Rance has his wand glowing and the four make their way carefully down the steps. Tom is leading with Grusk close behind. Inar is in the rear. Rance holds the light high from the middle.

The group stops as Grusk and Tom simultaneously let out a hissing noise from the bottom of the steps and Rance has to bend over to see what they see. Inar is too far back up to have a clear view so the halfling asks, “What is it?” [1]

“Couple of those snake golems that attacked us above. One of which is definitely turning to stare at us. The other seems…dead. Not moving,” says Tom by way of explanation.

Grusk is already pulling out his magical axe, the blood-red-bladed Bloodlust, and with a shout runs forth into the room with the axe up. Then stops. The “golem” is not moving. Just watching.

“It’s a trap, right?,” asks Inar.

“It is always a trap,” responds Rance, still crouching on the steps and watching, wand now fully aimed at the viperian ophid automatons.

Grusk walks forth and knocks on the automaton with his hand. Nothing occurs. [2]

Grusk looks back. “I’m going to chop it and wait to see what happens!”

“No, wait,” calls Rance, the seer entering the chamber now with Inar following close behind. “The ones upstairs went on attack because we got near the swirly mirror thing. These are, well, trying to stop us from getting to the door? Tom?”

“Yeah,” says Tom, thinking. The goblin checks out the door and spots no traps nor even obvious locking mechanism but when he goes to put a hand on it, the automaton quick whips its head to watch. Tom pulls his hand, back. “They are definitely stopping us from going through this door.”

“So I chop it?,” asks Grusk, still next to the automaton.

Rance again calls out for the half-orc to hold tight and examines the structure at the south of the room. A few inches higher than the rest it makes a step up into a rectangular platform filling the entire southern alcove. Then, in the middle of that, another smaller rectangular platform is again a few inches raised. At the corners of it are four pillars. They just appear to be more of the white stone prevelant in this layer of the lab. Except… “There is fuelstone laced in these pillars. And it attaches to those metal conduits making all the strange shapes, going over to that orb full of liquid, there. I think this area should be doing…something. Maybe this is helps us get past Hiss and Spit. Or we, you know…” [3]

The goblin answers the un-asked question, “I am for going back up and going down the tunnel with the railing.” [4]

Rance responds, “I know what Grusk wants. What about you, Inar?”

Inar looks at the automatons uneasily. “I think it’s worth at least a chance to see what the other way is about before we risk damaging anything.” [5]

Rance looks at Grusk and the half-orc shrugs. Puts his axe down (but not back into its belt-hook) and backs away keeping an eye on the automaton. “Ok, then, up and over and let’s see what we find.”

They make their way back up to the previous floor and follow the tracks around and look down into the dark, steep path. “Why do we not have any rope?,” asks Inar, giving it some thought.

The group goes back to the room at the top of the stairs that had various tools and gear stored. Everything there was in rough condition but in the side room with the strange armor and cloaks hanging on the wall, a good amount of rope was stored in the same material (and therefore has resisted the incessant burning). Sorting through the bits, they find hundreds of feet of rope and tie together about a hundred to start. Tom will go down first to test things out. Rance casts Light on a necklace Tom is wearing which is wrapped in a cloth so a dim glow shows the way. [6]

Tom’s foot slips slighlty in the slightly-less-than-completely-dark tunnel but he regains his footing and continues down more carefully afterward. Getting to the bottom he glances around and then makes his way back up. “Biggish room, bigger than this. Some sort of tables with bits on. Like a jeweler’s bench. Lots of these laying around.” Tom hands over a fist-sized beetle made of metal and fuelstone. It is clear from the way the wings move that it once was a automaton but now is dead. It is unclear if it will get back to working agin. [7]

“Guess the little ones don’t have as much…um…go?,” speculates Inar as he pokes it with a finger, gasps, and then tosses it away from him like it was actively trying to bite him.

Grusk brings his boot down hard on it. “At least these are easy to crack. You said there were more?”

Tom and Rance stare at the needless destruction but Tom eventually nods. “It’s a bit slippery with all the ash in the tunnel, but hold on to yourself.”

The four start going down in the same order they were descending the stairs earlier. Grusk and Inar both nagivate it about as well as Tom, holding the rope. Only Rance slips and he slides down hard enough to smack his wizardly head into the floor. Inar says not a word as he casts Cure Wounds on Rance’s bleeding scalp. [8]

Regrouping at the bottom, a chagrined Rance has been poking at exploring the tables up on a raised portion to the north of the room. There are a number of moving parts, things like that look like chisels, basins, and other bits that make only a rough bit of sense to the seer. “I think Tom was right. These are like jeweler’s benches, only…”

“Only for really big jewels,” Inar cuts in. “Like Brother Daniel might use to carve some of the statues and pillars back at the temple.”

“Right, only…more sophisticated. Look, more of those conduits out of this strange metal attaching them to paths along the floor, up the walls, and then to another series of of those globes in the ceiling. And then they…” Rance jumps down to the main and floor and then moves back and forth along the exits to the room—there are two about equidistant in the south wall—they follow this one on the left-hand side. [9]

He almost absentmindedly follows the path while the other scrabble to catch up. As he is following the conduit lines and the strange, arcane path across the ceiling, Tom points out that there are more of the inactive lady bug automatons on the floor. “More bug golems.” The room they are in is some sort of study. A few stone bookcases are covered in what was once books but now is mostly dessicated remains of books. A couple of volumes have weathered the passage of time enough to still be in roughly one piece, though. The goblin pokes Rance and has him come take a look. Rance flips through and shrugs. “Some of this is old Barthic. Some of this is…something else. I think this is Ancient. I can’t really work with either but Cal probably will be thrilled. Rance places the books very carefully in his backpack. [10]

Moving south (again, the room had a pair of doorless hallways evenly spread to the south) the four find themselves in the strangest room yet. Roughly the size of the previous room, this has walls covered in strange glass sheets reflecting nothing, a variety of multi-colored crystals, and various tubes of different metal. In the floor, another automaton is in pieces. This one started out as more human but has since fallen and shattered. Taking note of the face of the automaton, Inar rushes over to it. [11]

“Grusk, you see this?”

“Yeah…”

“This face looks like Cal’s!”

“Yeah…”

“Should we take it and show him?”

“Like, scare him with it?”

“No, you know, just show him!”

Grusk is clearly coming up with a plan. “No, I saw we convince him he is being haunted by himself. We’ll have this looking out windows, following him…”

Moving on from that conversation and letting it fade, drift back to the other two. Tom is poking another dead ladybug automaton while Rance is scratching his beard.

“Rance, why are they so lifeless here when upstairs five separate golems tried to murder us?”

“I think it’s the forest. Or, well, something in the forest.” Seeing Tom’s quizzical look, Rance continues. “Up there is ash and dust and fire everywhere. And you have multiple golems moving just fine. Down here, you have much less ash, much less heat, and…”

“…and the golems do not work. The same thing keep the forest out is keeping whatever lifespark these things need.”

And now back to the other conversation, in which Grusk has laid out a seventeen-step plan to convince Cal that evil duplicates are stalking him, as Inar shouts back to Rance and Tom: “You should come see this, it’s Cal’s face on a golem. A Cal-lem if you will!” The halfling has been in high spirits, lately. Nearly dying a few times in a week really wakes you up, sometimes.

Walking over, Rance looks down at almost immediately catches on. “This is Jonias. Look, it is an older face that Cal’s. There are some wrinkles and scars. The beard is much thicker. This is the great-great-great…well, you know. The old ancestor.” [12]

This revelation makes Grusk and Inar both more excited as the plan shifts to convincing Cal he is being haunted by Jonias.

To the right and left of the back wall, doors are shut tight. Plaques on them are painted bright yellow and red text makes the letter stick out. Unfortunately, being in Ancient, no one here can tell what it means. “I think it’s a warning.”

Rance agrees and points out the arcane conduits split and go both right and left, here, behind those doors. “Warning or not, this is the way we are going.” Rance and Tom go towards the door on the left when a loud clatter is heard behind the group. Something, more than one based on the noise, is making quite a bit of racket back there among the now mostly empty bookshelves.

“Tom,” Grusk shouts, dropping the Jonias head in his own backpack, “You see to the doors, the rest of us will investigate whatever that is.” [13]

{{ GAMEMASTER PHASE }}

There is one of the automatons match the type same as last time. The basic servitor automatons. Which is active. Rust Monsters have worked down into the lab and have been feeding off the automatons, at least the more traditional metal bits of them. This explains why some are completely collapsed and broken like the Jonias one and some of the ladybugs. Can the rust monsters feed off the strange metal in the conduits? 4 → No. That is safe. At least for now. Eventually they might start feeding on the lab, itself. The core metal which is a fuelstone alloy but things that need metal attachments is up for grabs. There are 3 rust monsters and they have been here for at least a couple of weeks and ended up sliding down the rail tunnel and haven’t been able to get back up so they have been…hungry.

They were feeding on Pearl when Pearl activated and starting fighting back. A couple of rust monsters got smashed but Pearl is now heavily damaged.

Servitor Automaton (1, this one with a Pearl Marking): AC 16, HP 10, ATK 1 slam +0 (1d6), MV 1/2 near, S +3, D -2, C +4, I -3, W 01, Ch -4, AL N, LV 5

Rust Monster (3, well-fed but getting indigestion from some of the metal blends): AC 13, HP 19, ATK 2 claw +3 (1d6), MV near (climb), S +2, D +3, C +1, I-3, W +1, Ch -3, AL N, LV 4. Corrosive (Metal that touches the rust monster is destroyed on a d6 roll of 1-3).

The servitor has already taking 20 points of damage. Only one-arm remains functional and has one leg drags limply behind it.

[[ PLAYER PHASE ]]

Running into the worn down library, they see another of the weird golems from up top (the ones that look kind of like liveried servants), only this one has a different shaped head and a large pearl in its chest slot, chasing after some strange wolf-sized bugs with spazzing antennas and odd tails. “Rust monsters!,” Rance shouts, recognizing them immediately. The Pearl-bearing servitor, moving oddly like its left leg has frozen up and its right arm is dangling loosely, goes to swing its left arm at one of the rust monsters and tilts forward and the falls over. The rust monsters turn around and leap upon it but it’s clear that their strange tendrils—extending where mandibles would be on another beetle—are having trouble getting into any good feeding spots in Pearl’s innards.

As Grusk steps forward to hit something, anything, with his axe, Inar holds him back. “Um, maybe let them get finished first. No need to fight both of them at the same time.”

Unknown to the three watching this fight, Tom has gotten past the door quite handily and is now entering into the southern chamber. [14]

The rust monsters keep attacking the servitor automaton until they hit something vital. The spark goes out and Pearl collapses. Almost immediately, the rust monsters turn and antenna and tendrils are aimed straight at Grusk and Inar. The plate armor is the first non-weird metal these bugs have had for a minute. They are ready to eat. “Well,” Grusk says as he trots forward to start the fight on his terms. Bloodlust slams down into the back of the nearest.

Inar rushes forward as support. He brings down The Crimson Star on the back of another one. Rance aims Acid Arrow at the third.

In the southern room, Tom flips the first switch and waits. Nothing obvious happens. [15]

The very hungry rust monsters are not deterred by a little bit of violence and two leap upon Grusk while the third goes for Inar. The rust monsters are crowding on top of both of them with one of the acidic tendrils hitting Grusk in the face. Likewise, Inar is getting burned while trying to find the creatures off. Grusk swings a bit wildly and gets Bloodlust into the same rust monster that Rance’s Acid Arrow struck. The Arrow burns deeper and Magic Missiles fly into the same monster to do some minor damage against its shell.

In the southernmost room, Tom flips a second switch. Again, nothing obvious occurs. [16]

The rust monsters continue their attempt at a feeding frenzy. Grusk takes more of the burning hits against his face as he roars out in anger. Inar can hear a sizzling sound as the tendrils try to get into his armor but are stopped by the dragonsilk.

Grusk finishes chopping down the second while Inar gets a quite solid hit into the shell of the third. Behind them, Rance curses as purple sparks fly everywhere and his spellwords turn into strange chant.

Even more shocking, the lights in the room turns on and the lab starts coming to life. Loud gurgles erupt as water starts flowing through pipes in the walls. A breeze can be felt on the face of the adventurers once they stop to notice. A deep hum rumbles from all around. [17]

Grusk ignores the distraction as the remaining rust moster continues to try to eat him or his armor first. The creature can’t get past the dragonsilk or there would be hells to pay. Inar has finally broken free from his opponent and has stepped back far enough the rust monster fighting him misses altogether.

Grusk swings around chops an antenna and some tendrils off his remaining opponent as Inar finally gets a good swing in and bashes the life out of the other. Behind them, Rance has managed to get his spells under control and the sparks have ceased flying.

Grusk and Inar run foward to the final rust monster and finish it off with a couple of quick blows. [18]

“What in blue blazes has Tom done?,” Rance asks, looking up at the liquid filled globes now glowing with a warm light overhead.

The Effects of Reactiving the Lab

There are several effects that occur across the lab and beyond now that the lab has been turned back on. Let us start with the obvious ones.

The glow globes have reactivated. True enough, a few explode as a side effect of the many-years of disuse. The blue conduits of fluestone-infused copper start glowing the blue-green color of oxidized copper. These two things are the most obvious.

Slightly less obvious is that the air-purification system has reactivated. The water purification system downstairs also turns on and begins pumping water through the place. The combined effect will be a great reduction of smoke and ash over the new few hours. There will be drinkable water again with six hours.

The automatons, those still functional, are now waking back up. Some are confused about the long period of inactivity.

The lab upstairs has had a low level of naturally occuring Light-energy picked up from the forest itself. This is now concentrating. The lab is starting to repair itself and all the gears are turning on.

The portal no longer looks like a swirling mirrored image but more like an actual portal. It thrums and pulses. Jewels in its frame start to light up and blink to a strange timing.

The rail system reactivates and the carts are now monitoring the track for instructions.

Finally, least obvious of all, the Left Hand and Right Hand temples are slowly rewakening. The giant fingers bend slightly. This alters the flow of the immense Light-energy that has been building between then and directs some of that towards the lab. This shift in energy is felt by Uuld Alloces, the salamanders, and even the cultists. The forest is changing to fit the lab. Deep, deep below the earth, something else stirs, as well.

[[ PLAYER PHASE ]]

The four are together again, sitting in the room with the dismantled Jonias (head still in Grusk’s backpack).

“Do you smell that?,” Inar asks.

“What?,” asks Grusk.

“The air, it’s…cleaner.”

Tom takes a deep sniff and sits upright. “You are right. I have smelled burning ash and woodsmoke for so long that I got used to it but this smells like…air.”

Rance looks somewhere between worried and delighted. “When Sir Green Fingers here decided to flip the switches he seems to have turned the whole place back on. We have to tell Cal about this.”

“But first,” says Grunce, still injured from the fight after Inar’s healing spell failed to take, “We need to get what we came here for. Whatever will allow us to go deeper into the Monolith.” [19]

The half-orc stands, kicks a rust monster corpse, and then heads west from the library to keep exploring. Tom stops briefly to pry the pearl out of Pearl’s chest but then follows suit. Inar and Rance do the same.

The room they enter into a relatively long passage is something like a twin to the “temple” above. It is a lavish place, especially in the glow of the orbs in the tall celing. A large stage takes up a lot of the room, stairs leading up. A table like a larger cousin to the ones they found earlier has a variety of even more advanced tools upon in it. Pedestals hold various odd objects under glass. A shining stone is in one. In another, an amber shows of a large beetle that might have been the inspiration for the ladybug automatons. Other pedestals hold items probably equally as rare, but more esoteric. Unfortunately, several of these have been knocked over and smashed by the rust monsters and the metals inside have been rusted away. [20]

On either side of the table are small stands. The one of the left is empty and a couple of smashed up rust monsters are dead nearby. On the right, though, another of the servitor automatons stares down at the adventurers entering into the room. This one has the same face as Pearl but a large Onyx is in its chest. It stares right at Tom and then leaps off the stage. Grusk gets in the way and breaks a good sized chunk of Onyx’s head off in the first hit. Inar goes for a leg hit as Acid Arrow and another arrow from Tom all fly out to hit the servitor. Onyx tries to smash into Grusk but the half-orc deflects the first hit with his shield and the second with an armored arm. [21]

Onyx keeps raining heavy blows against Grusk and Grusk keeps deflecting them but the assault causes Grusk to miss. Inar shatters the leg of Onyx and even though Rance’s acid arrow ceases to work, Tom shoots the automaton right above the gem and it ceases to function. Another dead automaton in a sea of them. [22]

“Is anyone else tired? I’m getting tired,” says Grusk as he shoves Onyx’s body back and uses a dagger to pry the heart-jewel out. Tossing it to Tom. The goblin is already up on the stage and gathering up whatever is valuable there. All these items are tossed in the bundle of holding.

Inar asks Rance, “Through the doors behind us, left, or right?”

Rance looks and notes the conduits are strongest to the south and makes his way to that door and opens it, carefully looking inside. Not seeing much he gestures for the others to follow. Tom hops down from the stage and goes first. The exhaustion, or the treasure, cause the goblin to make a rare misstep. He triggers a trap. As some of the seeming decoration turns out to be odd tentacle automatons, the goblin is already leaping backwards. The others, alerted by his actions, manage to get out of the way and avoid being snared in any of the grasping forms. Back in the stage room, they see the hall they were trying to get into blocked off by the tentacles. [23]

“Umm, let us try the right-hand door,” says Tom. Unfortunately, though the goblin can see the sigils that activate the trap, he can see no way to actually disarm it. “We could run through, I guess? Or, you know, we take a running start and try to dive through?” [24]

Rance looks at everyone’s tired faces. “I have a better idea. We head back up, take a breather. And we get some more rope.”

A NOTE ON XP: Regaining the lab will be worth 3XP. The books to help Cal find out more about translation = 1xp. The other will translate to 3 more XP across the four found treasures (one for each golem + 1 for the two found on the stage). This gives them another 7XP total for this session.

== DOUG’S COMMENTARY ==

In the commentary of as-of-yet-unpublished The GLOW session, I mentioned that felt like my sessions tended to get cut short for this blog and that’s half right. In reality, I often solo-play in bursts. Ten minutes one time, fifteen the next, two-and-half-hours the next day. Outside of the context of the blog, it is relatively easy for me to play for four or five hours total for a single “session” in those four to five bursts and still have the mindset and concepts of the session active in my head but with the blog I kind of need to reach a point where I can post things and I shift gears back and forth and lose track of things. Because of this, it is sometimes a bit easy to play for about half an hour, spend half an hour typing things up, and then post that instead of anything like the actual length of what I consider a “full session.”

This one feels about right because I played it over the course of a single day and kept returning to it rather than trying to force it to a close. I got food cooked. Hung out with cats and the family. Then, finally got to a point that feels like a conceptual close and it is nice. I am not sure if it is obviously longer or shorter than other Bleak + Pearl posts but it feels more complete in itself.

I like the way the shifts of technology are building. The hints and foreshadowings of things. A few nice coincidences (the dead automatons, the rust monsters, the finding of rope, the traps) all added a good flavor to proceedings.

Double fumbles and Tom not succeeding in a thieving roll were both things that I could have lucked my way out of but sometimes you got to just let the dice speak.

As a final note, I am going to start adding a SOUNDTRACK NOTE to some of these. I listen to a lot of music while solo playing and thought it might be nice to share some of the music and sounds that help inspire some of the moods and ideas.

SOUNDTRACK NOTE: The albums being played during today’s session were Dan J. Schulte’s Shadows of the Underworld volumes 1 and 2. As released by Heimat Der Katastrophe (as albums 183 and 184). The entire HDK line is perfect for setting various moods and I needed something a bit otherwordly and dark but with a kind of OSR vibe.

== MECHANICAL AND STORY NOTES ==

1. 19 on the spell check. Room Contents Check: 1 → empty. The room is largely devoid of things except for the two previously mentioned viperian ophid automatons. 1 is currently active. As a note, since the concept of automaton is a but rusty for a group of more country boys, they will call them golems.
2. Do the automatons consider such actions on themselves to be worthy of going into kill mode? 8 → No.
3. Rance got a DC16+3=19 INT roll and while it would be impossible for him to guess the full details he at least is able to make some decent deductions.
4. Would these guys have a concept of minecart railing? 14 → Yes.
5. Rance will go with the party. Grusk says to smash through. Tom wants to investigate. {Grusk | Tom} → Inar sides with Tom, right now.
6. Seriously, why did I forget to buy rope. I am normally of the whole 10′ Pole and 200′ of Rope school of adventuring. Well, live and learn. The equipment tool room does have rope through (18 on an oracle check) and they have 1d6x100′ = 500 feet so a good amount. we’ve already established the tools/gear in the one room is decayed so we’ll say there is some in the room with the extra-dimensional coats. Encounter check was negative. Light spell cast was positive.
7. Treating this as a climb, Tom does it at advantage and gets a 19+3=22 check. Room Contents: 7 → Monster Mob. Automaton check brings back not only not activated but dead. These will be smaller, normally floating automatons that have all collapsed down. Using the Animals Table from Knave we get 09 → beetles. They look like little lady bugs.
8. Grusk gets a nat 20 and nails it (no Luck Points open to regain, though). Inar gets a 19 total. Rance gets an 8. Takes 6 points of damage. Inar succeeds on a Cure Wounds so no problem. Did not test Tom because it feels pointless.
9. INT check vs DC15 to see if Rance can follow the path to B3. Whiffed first time, spent a Karma and got a 19+3=22. He definitely susses it out after a minute. Encounter check again negative.
10. Room Content check was coincidentally the exact same results. Mob monster but completely dead automaton. I figure I’ll take that as a sign and consider this whole floor to be littered with a number of the ladybug automatons. There will power and repair station somewhere downstairs. Shelf check brought back two volumes but the check is still DC21 and Rance only gets an 11 total.
11. Room Content 6 → NPC but Golem Activation 6 → completely dead. We potentially had a helper droid but all the these past the doors have been fried. Need a story reason for it. This, by the way, will be the Jonias automaton. Left to run things until the power faded.
12. Advantage for Rance to figure it out. Gets a nat-20. Luck point lost earlier returns and Rance figures it out really well.
13. Encounter check came up with a hit this time. Just went with the Tomb list because it matched the mood of this place. Got 41 → 1d6 corroded animated armors pursue 1d4 rust monsters. That seems fun considering the vibe.
14. Servitor, then rust monsters, then characters. Servitor gets a nat-1. It feels a good time to work that into a full on fumble. Even at the advantage, though, only one hit gets through (for 3hp). Rance got a nat-20 to identify the rust monsters. PCs sit out their turn. Tom, in the other room, gets another nat-20 to get through the door. Since he has his own light source, he is going to enter and explore.
15. Rust monsters, then PCs, then Pearl. Rust monsters surprisingly whiff a lot but get in two hits for 7 points of damage, finishing off Pearl precisely. The metal of the plate armor Grusk and Inar wears will be like a siren call. Because it is under the dragonsilk, we’ll modify the chance of rust to 1:6. This will not include the shields which are outside of the dragonsilk robes. Grusk gets a hit for 9 (10hp remaining on A). Inar gets a hit for 4 (15 remaining on B). Rance succeeds at Acid Arrow and it does 2 (17 remaining on C). The eastern-most switch sends power to the portal upstairs which is not very obvious down here.
16. {Grusk | Inar} → Grusk. Even with advantage, PCs go last this turn. One rust monster gets a hit on Grusk (5hp damage). The other one misses but hits between natural AC and the plate mail protection so we do a check versus the rust. It does not land and the armor resists. The other one gets a hit on Inar for 3hp. Grusk hits for another 9 (this is on C, though, since he’s having to swing a bit wildly: 8hp remaining). Inar for 2hp vs B so 13hp remaining. Rance maintains Acid Arrow and gets Magic Missile off but both only do 1hp + 1hp = 2hp total and so C has 6hp remaining. The next switch turns on the automaton control system but since all the automatons in this area are completely drained and inoperable, it does nothing much that is obvious.
17. Again, rust monsters win. Two get high hits on Grusk (bypassing armor altogether) for a combined 8hp damage. Inar gets hit in the platemail but the dragonsilk stops the attack from rusting the armor. Grusk does another 6hp to C, killing it. Inar gets a solid hit of 7hp on B (6hp remaining). And, um, in something that has never happened to me before, Rance double-fumbles his Magic Missile roll. Both d20s were a 1. That’s too humorous to pass up with a Luck Point. He gets Spell Worm which means his spells are all burning out, one by one. Starting with Magic Missile this turn. Tom has gotten to the Turn It All On switch.
18. Rust monsters always win init, apparently. Another hit on the armor of Grusk but again it resists due to the dragonsilk. Grusk gets 7hp damage so only 3hp remain on A. B is killed by 7hp damage from Inar. Rance gets 17+3=20 on his CON check so passes regaining control. To speed up the next round, the team wins init and both Grusk and Inar land hits on the rust monster, killing it.
19. Skipping ahead a couple of rounds so the group can, well, regroup. Inar whiffed his Cure Wounds spell even with a luck point spent. Rance has re-upped his Light spell though the one on Tom’s necklace has faded.
20. Room Content 9 → Treasure (guarded by monster). Here is Onyx. The treasures are 70 → Large Green Scarab encased in amber (worth 75gp) + 66 Magnetic, iridescent chunk of meteorite (70gp). Onyx will be a bit attack-y. It senses Pearl’s heart in Tom’s possession.
21. PCs win init. Gruk gets a heavy 11hp damage. Inar gets 3hp. Rance gets 2p. Tom gets 2hp. 18hp out of 30 are done before it acts. It misses both of its hits.
22. Onyx wins. Misses both hits. Grusk misses. Inar gets 7hp damage. Rance drops the acid arrow. Tom does 5 points of damage. That is actually enough to finish it off.
23. Room Content 3 → Trap. Large. Magical. Tom gets a 2 and a 4 so misses it even with advantage. Jonias likely would not build a truly deadly trap but let us come up with something interesting. Using Knave‘s Traps table I get 00 Wrapping + 07 Bending. Fuelstone tentacle automatons come down and DEX DC15 to avoid them. STR DC18 to bring free once caught. Tom makes it. Grusk makes it. Inar makes it with a nat-20. Rance makes it. They all avoid the tentacles but the way is blocked.
24. Again, even with advantage, and knowing a trap is there, he misses understanding how to turn it off (getting 11+3=14, one shy of the DC15 needed).

== CREDITS ==

This campaign is played primarily using Shadowdark and SoloDark, both by Arcane Library and Kelsey Dionne (et al).

Additional sources include a variety of things for tables, especially Knave 2nd Edition and Maze Rats (both by Ben Milton), Random Realities by Cezar Capacle, Universal NPC Emulator by Zach Best, and various pieces from Worlds without Number and Scarlet Heroes (both by Kevin Crawford).

Opening art at the top of the post is “borrowed art” meant to be invocative rather than precise to illustrating the story. Image tools to generate some of the art is GIMP and Hex Kit (featuring the Lil Hex Pack and Strange BW Hex Pack).

Photo of the stairs down into the lab proper is “Stairs, Steps, Old Architecture” by depaulus on Pixababy. Recoloring is by me.

The map is from Dyson Logos’s “Temple of the Worm” series. There will be some slight modification on the lower levels because those go on longer than I need (so a few passage-ways edited out in some way or just ignored). As usual, I just sort of take each room as I need and ignore some elements or add in elements not in the original.