Solo Roleplay Campaign – Darsildorf Experiment (Session 3)

In the last session we saw our characters back in town after a difficult time in the dungeon.

This session kicks off with them heading back into the dungeon (where else would they go?) 🙂

The PCs keep with their original plan to check out the living areas of the mines first, and then tackle the mine itself later.

This time, they head to Area 10 on their map. So far, the map the dwarves gave them has been pretty accurate.

I am using the map from the original AD&D DMG as the silver mine.

The character believe these were sleep quarters for some of the dwarves and are keen to check them out.

Which, may just be their downfall.

The Characters

Graswin of Myrbridge III – a human sorcerer
Flame Athok of Lucindar – a human cleric of Lucindar
Kristoff – a Surface Dwarf (Azlan) Undead Hunter of Lucindar
Valstaff – a human illusionist

Checkout Session 1 for mentions of the deity Lucindar¹Lucindar is one of the twelve major deities in Aythia. Also known as The Everburning Torch and The Unsetting Sun, Lucindar is the goddess rebirth, the sun, fire, and summer. and Azlan Dwarves²Surface dwarves (or Azlan dwarves) have mingled with the humans and hin (or humans) for generations and live alongside them in the settlements they built together..

The Dungeon

The PCs made it to the dungeon and Area 10 with no encounters.

Area 10

With a few doors to cover, they decide to listen at the first two doors at the same time: Kristoff on one, and Graswin on the other. Kristoff heard some soft  moaning coming from within. His first thought was undead, but his Undead Sense wasn’t tingling, which left him a little perplexed.

Area 10A

The characters gathered around as Kristoff opened the door to discover…

A natural cave-in.

Immediately though, Kristoff could see the desiccated body half buried under the rubble – just its lower torso and legs showing.

With no immediate danger, Athok moved into the small room cautiously. He spotted some mushrooms growing over and around the body – a body of what he now believes was a ghoul!

He made a successful INT check to discern the type of undead. 

Immediately, Athok knows what the mushrooms are: Undeath Caps³Undeath Caps are outlawed in some Nations and city-states, which makes them highly prized and worth a great deal of coin..

Undeath Caps are mushrooms that only grow around the dead bodies of the undead. Quite rare, they can be used to animate the dead as if they were undead. They are highly sort after by necromancers. 

I completely made this all up on the fly as I thought that would be something cool. Sometimes, go with your first thoughts as they generally – at least for me – lead somewhere cool. 

Athok remembered  reading about them back when he was just an acolyte with the church. He moved closer, and started cutting some carefully off, placing them into his backpack.

He didn’t tell anyone else of their origins or usage.

The character move on to Area 10B.

Area 10B

Opening the door, the see a 5-ft by 5-ft room that contains a spiral staircase heading down.

The characters looked at each other and decided without word they would leave that for now. Closing the door, they moved on to the next.

I am trying to decide where these stairs go.

I definitely want it to go down to another dungeon level, but I was thinking of using a mammoth mega-dungeon like one of Dyson’s Mega-Dungeons. This took my fancy! 

But the jury is still out on this one. I guess the PCs will find out when they go down there. 

Area 10C

As soon as the PCs open the door, two dwarves immediately spring to attack!

The dwarves heard the PCs from in their hiding space, and sprung the attack more out of fear and desperation than anything else. After a quick skirmish, Athok calls a holt to hostilities, and the dwarves, a little surprised, agree. All stop fighting.

Athok called out to end the attack, but I made a reaction roll to see if the dwarves would holt, and he got a friendly response, so they did indeed want to stop. 

The dwarves, after calming down a little, tell the characters that they were checking out the mine for other members of their party, who are all dead now, who had claim to it. Also telling the PCs they just want to get out of the dungeon as it is too dangerous a place for just the two of them.

Gaswin asks them to join them, but they just want to leave.

The characters decide to show them out of the dungeon and be done with them.

The dwarves were lying to the characters about why they were in the mines. They were there to grab some quick loot as they are part of a dwarven bandit group. Some of the companions did die, but they never had claim over the mine. 

Once outside, the character say their farewells to the dwarves and take a moment to rest before heading back into the mine.

Area 10D

Making it back to Area 10 without incident, Graswin opens the door to this small room, and to everyone’s surprise (yes, they were all surprised), a Carrion Crawler⁴Also known as a Carcass Crawler, Deep Crawler, or Cave Crawler. attacked!!

Graswin is hit immediately, and is paralyzed by the creature. The creature snakes out past Graswin and along the wall of the passage and attacks Athok, who is also paralysed.

This creature will finish them all if they don’t do something quick!

Valstaff quickly casts dancing lights to distract the creature, while Kristoff grabs Graswin and runs past the creature, heading north. Valstaff grabs Athok and follows Kristoff as the creature is still distracted by the lights.

I made a saving throw Vs. spell for the creature to see if it was indeed distracted by the lights, and as it failed, I decide it was distracted long enough for the characters to get away with their paralysed companions. 

They leave it behind, and manage to make it to the exit and outside.

Huffing and puffing, they rest, hoping that Graswin and Athok overcome their paralysis. After about half-an-hour of worry and waiting, they finally do overcome their stiffness, and thank their friends for their lives.

All four sit in silence for a while, eating, and realising how close they came to death, but also thinking about the bonds they have forged together.

The sun was high in the sky, so after their rest, they decide to head back to town. They arrived unmolested still thinking how lucky they were to survive that beast.

Given that the characters left the door to the room open and the carrion crawler alive, I added it to my random encounter table. The table now looks like this: 

1. 1. 1. Orcs
      2. Giant Rats
      3. Dwarven bandits
      4. Feature
      5. Noises
      6. Carrion Crawler

I have written a blog post all about creating a random encounter table as you explore, so that should be worth checking out if you are interested.

To be continued…

While You’re Here…

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• 1
  Lucindar is one of the twelve major deities in Aythia. Also known as The Everburning Torch and The Unsetting Sun, Lucindar is the goddess rebirth, the sun, fire, and summer.
• 2
  Surface dwarves (or Azlan dwarves) have mingled with the humans and hin (or humans) for generations and live alongside them in the settlements they built together.
• 3
  Undeath Caps are outlawed in some Nations and city-states, which makes them highly prized and worth a great deal of coin.
• 4
  Also known as a Carcass Crawler, Deep Crawler, or Cave Crawler.