This is the fifth post for my solo Shadowdark game running The Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands. I’m testing using footnotes for smaller Oracle rolls, mechanics, and comments and then using italics for the larger stuff. I’m hoping this makes things flow a little better. Please let me know if you have thoughts on this.
You can find the first post here, and the prior post here, and if you want to see more in the way of notes, you can find my public Notion Notebook here.
I would LOVE questions and insights so please leave those in the comments if you have any.
Previously
The prior day had been a long one for the group. They had defeated the giant spiders in the great hall, Shiori made friends with the spirit of the murdered child Einar, and they learned a great deal about Strika’s complex past. Now, after a good night's rest free from their prison, they found themselves standing before a vault hidden beneath the keep, as the sounds of footsteps echoed down the stairs behind them.
Intruders
Oracle: Do the bandits enter the keep looking for them? Yes.
(w/ Adv) Are they moving quietly? Yes but… they stay downstairs at first.
Did the group focus on being quiet while exploring the first floor? No… The adventure mentions that the floorboards on the second floor are loose and often creak so I kind of figured the bandits would make their way to the second floor eventually. Then I rolled a random encounter check while the group was in the tunnels and just decided to use the bandits that had entered the building. I used the SD rules for random encounters1 and decided that the bandits were looking for them, but were also uneasy and wouldn’t immediately attack.
Oracle: Does the group hear the bandits moving towards them? Yes
Do they recognize them as bandits? No
The group tensed as the sound of footsteps echoed down the stairwell. Quickly, they formed a defensive line. Stika and Shiori remained near the demon door at the far end of the hallway, while Gol’shruk and Quibel slipped into shadow beside the stairs.
When the first figures reached the bottom of the stairs the group realized they were a handful of Firean’s bandits. The group attacked without words and a brutal melee erupted. Flames danced and steel flashed in the cramped corridor. The bandits were quickly overwhelmed and the remaining two turned to flee. Shiori ensorceled one and as the last survivor fled up the stairs. Desperate to avoid alerting the rest of the bandits to their presence, Gol’shruk and Strika dashed after him bringing him down with spear and magic just before he reached the exit of the ruined building2. Gol’shruk scooped up his body and they made their way back upstairs to meet Shiori and Quible who had subdued the last living bandit.
The Demon’s Wrath
With the bandits subdued, the group returned to the imposing demon door that guarded the secret vault and Gol’shruk resumed his work with the lockpicks. The lock proved to be more difficult than anticipated, though with a look of determination Gol’shruk was eventually rewarded with a satisfying click. As the lock yielded he heard a loud rushing sound and glanced up at the stone visage of the demon's face above him. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a blinding flash of light as a wave of fire erupted from the demon's mouth and consumed the hallway. Only Strika flattened against the wall, managed to escape the inferno’s initial fury. Behind him, the screams of Shiori and Quibel were swallowed by the roaring flames before gout of flame finally relented. It had been but moments since Gol’shruk had unlocked the door and only Strika and Shiori remained conscious, though she was barely able to stay on her feet.
Strika's gaze was drawn to the demonic face. The horror of the situation was magnified by the sight of a growing, crimson orb within the creature's mouth, promising even greater devastation. Driven by desperation he and Shiori draped the bodies of Quibel and Gol’shruk across Stika’s shoulders and they moved as quickly up the could towards the stairs. Just before ascending, Strika heard a roar of flames and the ominous beating of wings. A glance backward revealed a small winged creature made of fire burn into existence. Praying that the creature would guard the door rather than pursue them, Strika staggered up the stairs as fast as he could.
SHIORI! Get back on your fucking feet and help me with these two! If we don’t get out of here now, we almost certainly never will - Strika
Once they reached the second floor, Shiori slammed the door behind them and they both collapsed to the floor. Only after several minutes did they finally feel safe enough to breathe a terrified sigh of relief. Both of them realized just how narrowly they had escaped a fiery death deep below the earth.
Oracle: Do Strika and Quibel flee rather than fight? Yes.
This was honestly one of the single most important rolls of this adventure so far. As a GM I knew what was coming for them if they stayed, but the characters didn’t. Strika also has the Power Hungry trait so I imagine he would want to stay and face the foe, but at the same time he isn’t stupid and things could go south for them quickly. I left it up to the dice, if they had stayed it’s highly likely they all would have died.
STR check for Strika to carry both bodies was a 15
Does the summoned fire imp stay in the hallway rather than pursue them? Yes
Does Gol’shruk get permanent burn scars from the trap? No
Shiori and Strika spent the remainder of the day tending to their wounds and caring for the unconscious bodies of Gol’Shruk and Quible. They bound and gagged their captured bandit, deciding to interrogate him in the morning when they were at full strength. The day so far had been short, but exceptionally brutal and the entire group needed its rest.
Here we run into one of the biggest challenges I have with the deadly style dungeon crawl scenarios. The time of activity in a day always feels incredibly short and there doesn’t feel like much else to do. I really like Shadowdark’s rules for carousing, it’s led to some super interesting quests and events in other games, but once you are at/in the dungeon it feels like there isn’t much to do. In this scenario, the group has been active for maybe 2 hours and now they absolutely must rest.
Maybe this is because I don’t have a priest in the group (they totally need to get a priest hireling), or because my ADHD brain can’t comprehend 10 hours of doing nothing to rest, but I always feel at odds with the game when something like this happens. I always wonder, what the heck are they doing with this rest time? I also tend to homebrew every game I touch super quickly (like genuinely I homebrew board games LOL) so I may end up looking at some other systems for ideas about what the group could do on their downtimes in a dungeon (assuming they find a safe area).
Interrogation
As the day dawned Shiori recounted the events of the prior day to Quibel and Strika. Strika described the inferno that had consumed the lower levels of the donjon and the flaming beast that had been summoned. While the promise of the treasure vault still drew their attention they knew their immediate survival depended on dealing with Firean and her band of brigands. A retreat to Dulwich was unlikely with the bandit presence in the area and soon they would desperately need to resupply.
If they were to defeat the bandits they would need more information. The group's attention turned to the captured bandit, though Strika moved to an adjacent room to learn invisibility from the scroll they had found3. They bound him to a decaying wooden chair and Shiori took charge. With a chilling tone, she promised him a swift death at the hands of the imposing Gol’shruk if he failed to cooperate or cried out for help. The terrified bandit was more than willing to cooperate; he told them his name was Carow and offered up all the information he knew.
I didn't want any part in this. They forced me to join. Firean is a monster, and she'll kill me if I don't do as she says. I'm terrified. Please, I'll tell you anything, just spare my life. - Carow
Your life is of no consequence to us. We are not interested in your personal story or plight. Our focus is singular: the information you possess. Any deviation from this will be met with...disappointment…and pain. - Shiori
The full force of the bandit company numbered 10 brigands, including Bareli (the half-orc chef), Cullen and his dog Fang, and Firean (the bandit queen herself). A scouting party was currently absent from the tower but their return was imminent. Corow had been part of a cleanup crew sent to retrieve the adventurer’s belongings, as Firean had believed them to be dead. The bandits' failure to return from the donjon would undoubtedly heighten her suspicions. Carow also revealed that there was a secret exit from the bandit tower but it was barred from the inside, and while the bandits were loyal to Firean they would not simply flee if she fell. The group would need to deal with them all to eliminate the threat. The group knew they would be in for a fight.
Once Carow had no more information to give, Shiori outlined their plan to him with brutal clarity: an all-out assault on the bandit camp, with no survivors. They were going to let Carow go, per their agreement, and he would have to make a choice. Flee and survive, or return to the bandit camp and face certain death. A short time later they lowered Carow by rope out a window and to the group outside the walls of the keep and he set off into the forest.
The interrogation was actually hard for me to figure out how to do effectively and I honestly didn’t like many of the ways I thought about doing it. It felt odd to try and make Oracle checks for what the bandit might know and make checks about whether he told them and make oracle checks (or even a save) to see if they believed him. It sort of makes me wish that they didn’t need to interrogate him.
This could be because of how I tend to run interrogations for my players. They play out more as full scenes with plenty of insight and intimidation-style rolls but that didn’t work here. I think I want to find some kind of system in the future for longer conversations where the group is trying to convince someone to do or say something. I don’t want it to just always come down to one roll, but at the same time, I don’t want to roll a hundred oracle checks. For now, I settled on making 1 roll to see if the bandit feared his leader or the group more. I rolled opposing d6 and added Firean and Shiori’s Cha to the roll. Shiori got an 8 and Firean got a 4 so I decided that Carow would corporate. While I didn’t love this decision, it worked for now and let me move on to oracle questions instead of stalling out.
Oracle: Does Fierna think the group is dead? Yes
(w/ Adv): Will she come looking for the missing bandits? Yes
(w/ d.Adv): Is there a secret entrance to the bandit tower? Yes but … it’s locked from the inside, it's for escaping in case things go south.
Would the rest of the bandits flee if Fierna is captured? No, but some of them might.
Consequences
Unbeknownst to Carow, Strika had become invisible the moment he left the rope and was now following him invisibly through the wood while Muninn (Shiori’s raven familiar)4 followed him from the air. The group had talked it over and decided the Strika should tail the bandit and see whether he fled as he said he would, or return to his allies.
Carow chose poorly5. After a brief journey through the woods, he doubled back and headed directly for the bandit’s watchtower. Strika followed, an invisible specter of coming death. He was ready to enact vengeance when Carow knocked on the watchtower door and it swung open to let him in. Strika stepped inside the door and released a circle of burning flame from his fingertips incinerating all 3 of the bandits in the room. The dying screams of the bandits echoed into the upper rooms and Strika heard footsteps thundering across the floor above him as Firean’s crew headed towards the chaos. Strika turned to flee, his fingers already beginning to make the motions he knew would turn him invisible, now he just had to hope it would happen in time.
We warned you Carow, we warned you what would happen if you returned, and now you’ll suffer the consequences. - Strika
Oracle (w/ Adv): Would Strika take vengeance on Carow if possible? Yes
The book says there are always 2 bandits in the front room so I figured Strika would take the chance to attack. I rolled a Nat 20 on the spell check, then 9 points of damage, seems like Strika might be finally getting lucky.
It looks like the group is headed into a full confrontation with what is left of the bandit group in the very near future. I can’t imagine Firean and her bandits will just leave them alone now.
I’m still not loving the whole interrogation thing and will probably try to come up with some kind of system of the attitudes of longer social scenes. I do like Shadowdark’s attitude chart but that’s designed for random encounters. I enjoy a world where the way characters treat the NPCs in the world matters and it’s a little harder to nail that part down playing SoloDark. I do think it worked out ok but I’d like to get something more robust in place.
That’s it for this time, we’ll have to see if Strika makes it out of that tower ok and how Firean and her bandits retaliate.
(Distance = Far, Activity = Guarding, Reaction = Curious)
Oracle: Do Gol’shruk and Strika get in range for a single ranged attack before the bandit escapes? Yes
Oracle (w/ Adv): Is there enough time left in the day for Strika to try and learn the Invisibility spell? YES! (Nat 20). The scroll is written very efficiently and Strika can learn it in half the time.
Oracle: Does Shiori get Munin back? YES! (Nat 20) He is also able to give her additional information on the activity of the bandits.
Oracle: Does the bandit leave the keep? No. So he returns to the bandits and tells them what he knows.
Amazing! Glad you like it.
You're right, I largely go on feeling. I try to ask myself, is it pretty likely that this would be a yes, or pretty unlikely? I think the more you play with it the more you get used to it, and I'm finding myself using advantage and disadvantage on the oracle less and less. If it's very likely (or very unlikely) something would happen, often you should just let it happen or not.