SoloDark Pt. 10: Monsters in the Dark

Thanks for reading my solo Shadowdark game running The Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands. I aim to tell a story and pull the curtain back on how to run a solo TTRPG. I use footnotes for smaller rolls, mechanics, and comments, and italic blocks for larger stuff.

You can find all the prior posts here, and if you want to see more in the way of notes you can find my public Notion Notebook here.

Previously

The Luckless had delved into the lower level of the dungeon and dealt with a handful of goblins and a few bugbears with ease. After a group of goblin children attacked them, and one fled to warn his clan, the dungeon denizens were now aware of their presence and the group pushed forward with caution. After almost an hour of exploring they found their first waiting foes and two Orcs savagely attacked Gol’shruk as he opened a door. 

Diam and Gol’shruk are wounded, everyone else is in top shape.¹

Before we jump in, it's worth looking at the danger the Luckless are in. They are currently battling 2 orcs in a single room, the orcs are strong but Gol’shruk and Diam are blocking the door so it’s not the orcs that worry me.  First, almost a dozen goblin combatants are waiting for them in a nearby room. Hearing sounds of combat nearby they would probably charge in that direction. In addition, the adventure states that if there is a threat to the clan, the leader will charge towards battle along with any nearby combatants. 

To determine when they arrive I decided I would roll a d6 for each group at the start of every round of combat. On the first round, each group would have a 1:6 chance to arrive, on the second round a 2:6 chance, etc. With that out of the way, let's get into it.

The Dungeon Awakens

The Orcs screamed in rage and hurled themselves at Gol’shruk who stuck to an efficient defense despite the surprise attack. The sharp crash of metal echoed off the walls as goblin shrieks, and the roar of something much bigger reminded the Luckless that things were about to get worse. Quibel’s spell sent Gol’shruk into a rage and he brought the Queenslayer to bear against his enemies as the Luckless sought to end the battle as quickly as possible.

Despite their efforts, the fight dragged on as neither side landed a clean blow though Gol’shruk’s shield took heavy damage from the orcs axes.² Finally one of Diam’s axes embedded itself deep in the chest of the first orc, just as a small horde of screaming goblins rounded a nearby corner.

Combat So Far: Starting round 3. 12 Goblins have arrived. No HP loss. The group wins initiative this round (thank St. Terragnis)

While the rest of the Luckless quickly put down the second orc, having been hypnotized by Shiori, Strika saw the approaching goblins and knew they were doomed without a miracle. Strika however, didn’t believe in miracles. If they were to survive it would be by their own hands, not due to the feckless whims of some god.³ He decided to risk certain death and dashed towards the goblins fingers darting through the air as he ran. If he finished his sleep spell in time the goblins would fall into a slumber, and if not…well he would be dead before he could regret his decision.⁴

Excuse me for a moment, I need to go create a miracle.

WHAT?!?!

Well it’s either that or die horribly - Stika and Quibel

Just as the first goblin lunged forward to stab him Stirka completed the spell and the wave of magic washed over the creatures. He had made it just in time and the goblins collapsed in a pile before him. The Luckless quickly went to work slaying the sleeping goblins,4 but they had only just started when two fully armored ogres rounded the far corner. The leading orge was obese, his form so large that the mismatched plate armor he wore had to be tied around him with leather straps and it looked like it could burst apart at any moment. The second ogre was slightly smaller but no less intimidating with two black horns growing from his forhead. Trailing behind them were three shockingly large female goblins with muderous eyes. Each of them wore studded leather armor and carried 2 handaxes. The group took one look and knew they could not win this fight. Escape was their only option.

Combat So Far: Starting round 5. The clan leader has arrived. 5 of the 12 sleeping goblins are dead and the group wins initiative.

Shiori, Quibel, Strika Go! Diam, to the rear defense with me!
EVERYONE RUN!!!! - Gol’shruk, leading the escape

The Escape

The Luckless immediately abandoned the sleeping goblins and fled for the dungeon’s exit. They knew they didn’t have far to go and as long as they kept moving they should be able to outpace the ogres chasing them. Gol’shruk and Diam dropped to the back of the group in case of incoming ranged attacks and as they moved down one of the hallways Gol’shruk slit open the bottom of a bag of caltrops. The metal bounced across the floor behind them, sure to slow down their pursuers. There was one section they knew was long enough that it would provide a clear line of sight for their enemies. If they Gol’shruk and Diam could survive the next few moments they would make it out alive.

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Well, here we are. The group is fleeing from enemies they know they can’t fight but can easily outpace as long as they run. None of the enemies have a fast move speed and the group won’t take any actions so they can “double move”. In addition they caltrops will guarantee the ogres can’t follow them.

But as I looked at the dungeon I saw that there was one long stretch that would put the group in the line of fire for any of the enemies missile weapons…and they all have missile weapons. Gol’shruk and Diam are at the back of the group with the goal of being the targets so first we’ll roll randomly to see who gets targeted by which attacks. A 1-3 is Gol’shruk and a 4-6 is Diam.

Lead Ogre = 3 | Horned Ogre = 4 | Goblin 1 = 2 | Goblin 2 = 3 | Goblin 3 = 5

So that’s 3 attacks at Gol’shruk and 2 at Diam. Gol’shruk’s AC is a respectable 18 and Diam has a 16 so they could be ok. Unfortunately Gol’shruk is at 6hp and Diam is down to 3. If they fall here there is no-way the group could save them, whether they live or die is about to come down to a few rolls. We’ll roll for Diam first and then Gol’shruk.

Diam AC 16, HP 3
Horned Ogre, Javelin = 9+5, our first miss
Goblin 3, Handaxe = 12+1, a miss!

It looks like Diam gets to live another day. How about Gol’shruk?

Gol’shruk AC 18, HP 6
Lead Ogre, Javelin = 12+6, A hit for 1d6 = 3 damage, 3 hp left
Goblin 1, Handaxe = 20!+1, a CRIT! Gol’shruk has no choice here but to let his shield be sundered, his AC drops to 16
Goblin 2, Handaxe = 2+1, a miss

Thanks to the shield they found in the vault Gol’shruk will make it out alive.

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Their legs burned as they ran with everything they had for the stairs leading out of the dungeon. The roars of the orges and goblins behind them promised certain death if they stopped. A half-dozen thrown weapons clattered around the group and Gol’shruk cried out in pain as a javelin tore into his calf. He was badly injured but he would live, they would all live. The stairs came into view and the Luckless raced up them, through the upper level of the donjon, and out into the courtyard. They only slowed once they were behind the barred doors of the watchtower and were certain the creatures below had not followed them out. In the moments that followed Gol’shruk realized how close to death he had come. As he pulled the shield from his back he found a handaxe had buried itself so deeply in the steel it protruded through the other side. Had he not worn the shield on his back he would be dead. He offered a prayer to St. Terragnis as he cast the ruined shield aside.

As the quiet stretched on the Luckless knew they needed a place to rest for the night. Shiori called Munnin and had him keep watch while they discussed their options.⁵ Eventually they settled on staying in the watchtower for the night.⁶ It was easily defensible and with the state of the group, they chose not to risk travel through the forest back to town.

Combat Results: 7 rounds, Gol’shruk -3 hp (3/12), Gol’shruk’s steel shield is sundered, the group successfully fled combat, no XP gained.

A Nights Rest?

Diam and Gol’shruk were asleep on the third floor within the hour. It had been a hard day for both of them and took the rest where they could get it. No one knew what the night would bring. While they slept Strika, Shiori, and Quible did what they could to secure the keep against an ogre assault. They moved tables in front of the heavy door on the first floor, locked the doors on the second floor, and organized some of the large rubble on the roof. The large rocks would make excellent weapons if dropped off the roof on any goblins fighting their way inside.

With the tower secured, they decided to use the tower’s kitchen to make dinner. It would be nice to eat something more than camping rations, and while they didn’t have any meat, Quibel could work wonders with very little. Eventually, Shiori woke the two warriors for dinner and they all gathered around the cooking fire. It had been a long day for the entire group and they were happy to have some peace, a warm meal, and good company. Anyone walking through the woods near the keep that evening would be surprised to hear laughter echoing through the trees.

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I think that’s an excellent place to leave the Luckless. While I do enjoy a good cliffhanger it gets old if it’s all the time. I can’t help but imagine them all sitting around eating a hearty stew, laughing at the week’s events. Very Studio Ghibli vibes. Which did get me thinking about the group's connection to each other. 

One of the things I wish Shadowdark had was some version of the “help” action. Where one character can help another do something (attack, pick a lock, etc.) and the character doing it gets a bonus to the roll. I understand why it’s not there but I wish it were. Honestly, Quibel would do that a lot, she has few spells and winds up not doing much in combat.

I decided to do a mashup of the help action, Dungeon Worlds “bonds”, and my own mechanical rules. Here’s how it will work; each character will have a bond level with the group (I’m doing it this way rather than on an individual level to keep it simple). The scale runs from 1 to 6 and if a character uses an action to aid another they get a bonus based on that level. 1-4 grant a +1, 5-6 grant a +2.

As an, example, let's say Shiori has a bond level of 2 with the group. She is low on spells so rather than attack, she spends her action to aid Gol’shruk’s attack by distracting their foe. When Gol’shruk rolls his attack he will get a +1 to the roll.

Now we need to figure out what everyone’s bond level is, and if Diam becomes part of the Luckless. First, let’s find out about Diam. Oracle: Do the Luckless accept Diam as part of the company (and vice versa): Yes (16). Ok, so Diam will be included and will start with a bond level of 1. I think the easiest way to do this is for the other characters to roll a d2+1. This means no one will get more than +1 right now but it gives some variance for how close to the group people feel. They all rolled a 1+1 (no sense typing all that out).

The last thing I want to do in this chapter is to roll for both Gol’shruk and Shiori to see if their friendship/romance level increases. I’ll do this by rolling a d10 and if I roll over their current level I’ll increase it. Gol’shruk rolled a 10 and his current level is 5 so I’m going to up it by 2 to 7. Shiori rolled an 8 and is at 6 so she goes up 1 to a 7. At this point, I think it’s still a close friendship but right on the edge of being romantic.

Well, that’s all for this chapter, next time we’ll have to find out if the Luckless actually make it through the night.

1. Diam - 3/9 hp, Gol’shruk - 6/12 hp, Quibel 9/9 hp, Shiori 4/4hp, Strika 8/8 hp

2. The first of two times this shield can be sundered.

3. Interesting point, Strika’s deity is “The Lost”, one of the gods whose name has been wiped from history.

4. In Shadowdark the sleep spell impacts all creatures of second level or lower in a Near area (roughly 30’), but it centers on the caster and targets all creatures except the caster so it’s very risky to cast around allies until higher level. He has good chance to cast this successfully, in Shadowdark you make a casting check (Strika has a +4) and have to beat a DC of 10+the spell tier. Sleep is a 1st tier spell so a 7 or higher will get the job done.

5. Since I don’t mention it much, Munnin stays outside and away from danger. In SD to bring a familiar back you have to permanently sacrifice 1d4 HP, so Munnin needs to not die.

6. Oracle: Do the Luckless stay at the Shadowed Keep overnight? Yes.