SoloDark Pt. 11: Back Into the Cold and Dark

Sep 25, 2024

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.

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Previously

The group found themselves outnumbered and fled before the might of the Blood Moon goblin clan. It might be more accurate to say they had fled from the two ogres that seemed to be leading them. Luckily the ogres had not followed them out of the dungeon and the Luckless were about to fortify the watchtower in case of an assault. The group had a good meal before settling in and hoping the night passed without issue.1

Setting Up

We do have some things to figure out before we start play. The big one is whether or not the group is attacked during the night. I looked at the adventure events by day, the events triggered by characters, and then a little of my intuition. I settled on 4 options and assigned them even odds on a d8 roll.2

1-2 The ogre leader organized an all-out attack on the group.
3-4 The horned ogre (the leader’s son) leads a smaller skirmish force against them to impress his father.
5-6 The goblin shaman slips out to speak with them in the hopes they will help him overthrow the ogres.3
7-8 The goblin clan regroups to count their losses and prepare defenses. The Luckless did kill 18 of the clan members after all.

The roll is an 8! The Luckless get a solid night’s rest! Well, almost all of them do.

One of Strika’s traits is Power-Hungry and he’s got a new spellbook burning a hole in his mind. He opts to stay up all night to try and learn the spell Web. This will make him exhausted and I’m going to rule that means a -1 to every roll. On the other hand, Web would be a really solid spell to have. He needs to make a DC 15 INT check to learn the spell…He rolled a 2+4 twice! That’s right, I used a luck point and got the same result. Bummer. Now he is exhausted, doesn’t know the spell, and can’t attempt to learn it again until his next level.

Now that the group has made it through the night they could delve back into the dungeon or return to Dulwich to cash in some loot. Both are viable options so we’ll let the dice decide.
Oracle: Does the group return to Duluth? No, but they decide to store their treasure here for later.
I think there will be a 1:6 chance every day that someone else shows up at the tower and potentially finds their treasure.

While at the watchtower Gol’shruk would want another shield after his prior one was sundered. While it would make sense that the bandit tower has a usable shield it’s still worth rolling for.
Oracle (w/ Adv): Can Gol’shruk find a shield here? Yes, but it’s the last one that’s in usable condition.

Finally, before the Luckless adventure back into the dungeon, we need to find out what has changed. Given the attack that just happened, we can be sure they beefed up their defenses and restocked the guard room. I briefly reviewed the major players in the clan and there are 3 that might change things for the group.

Ruknar (the incredibly fat ogre): The tribe’s chieftain, this powerful ogre, is a bully and sadist of breath-taking enthusiasm.
Razogen (the horned ogre): Ruknar’s young son, Razogen, desperately craves his father’s approval and is fanatically loyal to him.
Sar (not encountered yet): The tribe’s shaman, Sar, incessantly plots against Ruknar and tries to enlist the characters to his cause.

This easily gives us 3 good options. Razogen is there with several warriors hoping to crush the intruders and gain his father’s favor. Sar might be there with a few guards hoping to convince the adventurers to help him gain control of the tribe. Lastly, they could assume the intruders wouldn’t come back and have simply put 6 more guards there. I think all those options are about equal so I’ll assign them to a d6 and roll for it. I’m going to save the results of the roll as a surprise.

We should probably also find out if they trapped the stairs again.
Oracle: Are the stairs trapped? No

With all those rolls taken care of, it’s time for some action.

The night had passed without incident, and everyone felt refreshed except for Strika. He spent the night struggling to learn a spell from the spellbook they found in the vault but with no luck. Now he felt exhausted without anything to show for it; the day promised to be a long one for the mage.

After hiding their valuables in the tower the Luckless made their way to the stairs leading down to the realm of the Blood Moon. They stared down into the darkness wondering what lay in store for them before Shiori broke the silence.

No point putting this off, they’re surely waiting for us down there. May the spirits guide us and the gods grant us luck. Gol’shruk, Diam I hope your shields are ready. Quibel, keep that scroll handy.
Let’s go kill a pair of Ogres. - Shiori the witch

The Horned One

As the group descended the stairs to the guard room, they heard a deep grumbling growl. The edge of their torchlight illuminated the horned ogre and three well-armored goblins waiting for them.4 With a roar the orge charged as Gol’shruk and Diam flanked the stairs. They brought their shields up just as their enemies slammed into them. The height difference between the goblins and the towering ogre made defense more challenging than expected and his spear cut deeply into Diam’s arm. Undeterred the group unleashed everything they had on the Ogre and the beast quickly crumpled under their onslaught. They turned on the remaining goblins when an evil wind rushed up from below and snuffed their torch. The Luckless found themselves plunged into darkness.

As blows rained down upon them Quibel quickly lit a new torch while the rest of the party struggled to fell their foes. The two groups were well matched and Gol’shruk decided to shift to offense and change the tide of the battle. He lunged forward, slamming his shield into the nearest goblin and throwing him off balance. He grimaced in pain as he felt the sharp steel of a sword slice across his unguarded back, but the tactic worked. He and Diam quickly slew the off-balance goblin while Shiori and Stirka focused on taking down a second of the goblin warriors.

It seemed like the goblins were at their end when disaster struck. Gol’shruk took a step toward the final goblin when he jerked forward and slammed into him. The Luckless were so tightly grouped that when Gol’shruk stumbled backward he collided with his allies, knocking most of them to their knees. As the torch slipped from Quibels hands it rolled down the steps, into the blood, and the room was once again plunged into darkness. By the time Quibel had lit the next torch the goblin warrior had fled. No doubt to warn the rest of his clan of the intruders.

The marching order puts Gol’shruk and Diam on the front line with Strika, Shiori, and Quibel in the rear positions. As all enemies make melee attacks I’ll roll randomly to see who gets attacked.

Rd 1. Enemies win initiative. Ogre lands a hit on Diam for -5hp (5/9). The group slays the Orge and sunders the shield of 1 goblin. Torch goes out.

Rd 2. Enemies win initiative. Hit to Gol’shruk for -1hp (1/12). Strika and Shiori focus on one goblin while Diam and Gol’shruk focus on another, neither goes down. Quibel re-lights the torch.

Rd 3. Tied Initiative. Hit to Gol’shruk for -4hp (5/12). Group kills 2 of the 3 remaining goblins. Based on noise I rolled a random encounter check but got no result.

Rd 4. Group wins initiative. Diam and Gol’shruck both roll Nat 1’s. Strika had to use a luck point to not fail his magic missile casting. He and Shiori both roll minimal damage (total of -2hp). The goblin fails his moral check and flees (the third Nat 1 of the round). The torch goes out again. (My god this was a terrible round. That d20 is getting banished for a while).

As expected only a few moments later a titanic roar echoed through the dungeon and the war cry provoked a chorus of violent screams from the goblin clan.5 The Luckless moved back up the stairs, established their positions, and readied themselves for the coming onslaught. By moving up the stairs they would force the goblins to come at them one at a time. Gol’shruk would hold the front line and focus entirely on defense while the rest of the Luckless launched missile attacks at the goblins. If needed Diam and Gol’shruk could rotate out, and Quibel had the scroll of cure wounds. To ensure no torches went out Quibel also lit 2 torches and placed them near the stairs to keep the darkness at bay. Things were dire but they were confident they held the advantage and could defeat their foes.

They were fools.

The group has slain Razogen, the horned ogre and child of the clan leader (though the group doesn’t know this). They are doing pretty well so far and have decided to stay and face the next wave of enemies. They’ve gotten themselves into the best position they can and now they just have to wait for the hoard to arrive. I won’t lie, the coming fight is going to be ROUGH, but the characters don’t know exactly what’s coming for them even if I do. It’s certainly a winnable fight but it’s gonna be a challenge.

I know this week is a little shorter but the upcoming fight is pretty long too and I didn’t want to publish an entry that took 20 minutes to read so I decided to cut it into 2 parts.

As always, thanks for reading and I’d love to hear if you have any comments or thoughts.

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