SoloDark: Pelor's Quest ep64

--/-- Welcome to SoloBickering! It's a solo rpg, which means I roll dice generate a story and decide outcomes, and lose arguments with myself as I portray the exploits of my adventurers. 

--/-- Join me on a journey into the game world I play face to face in, and it may sound vaguely familiar to you. Like many another DM I stitch my world together from any bits and pieces I fancy, adding them into a standard setting, Faerun's Sword Coast.  

--/-- AI and NSFW: For this possibly brief adventure the stars are young and moderately hot, and I'll be using CoPilot AI to buff my romance bar, because I'm useless at romance, and for side situations that need social interactions. Some of the situations the young protagonists find themselves in may turn out to be NSFW. I won't be deliberately aiming for that, but oracles are what they are. So if on either account you take an ethical stand against those, skip this episode and listen in to Rollohi, my other SoloBickering output. 

--/-- And having said that, let's get the game started. 

 --/--Music from Pixabay with thanks to: daynightmorning, Good_B-Music, JefWakeUp, LudoSoundX, makesoundmusic, Playsound, teodholina, and White_Records

--/--Selected tracks from "Ancient Realms" by Joel Steudler Music.

--/--The adventure *the Lurker Beneath Red Larch* by MT Black: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/184581/the-lurker-beneath-red-larch-adventure
--/--MT Black's 5e Vol i collection: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/198501/complete-adventures-of-m-t-black-vol-i

https://larrymannplayssolobickering.blogspot.com

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Two days. Yes, that is reasonable. The breach will not widen in that time. And now that I have the scroll, I can't really afford to linger here myself. Every hour I delay is an hour the valley loses. But two days? Two days is the time I would have spent traveling with the survivors. I can give you that. If you strike at the threat beneath the red light and return in two days, I'll be ready waiting for you, gladly. But no more than that. After two days, I will ride to Beliard with you or without you.

Speaker 1 0:45

Join me on a journey into the game world I play face to face in. Like many another DM, I stitch my world together from any bits and pieces I fancy, adding them into a standard setting, Faerun's Sword Coast. For this venture, the stars are young and moderately hot, and I'll be using Copilot AI here and there to buff my romance bar because I'm useless at romance, and for side situations that don't really need tools. Some of the situations the young protags find themselves in may turn out to be NSFW. And if you're uncomfortable on either of those two scores, skip this and head over to the world of Rollohi. Otherwise, having said that, let's get on with this show.

Recap

Speaker 1 1:41

In our last episode, our four heroes triumphed over the hideous gibbering Martha, looted it of a magical hat, a hat of disguise in fact, and then finding that the walls were still illusory or beguiling or unsafe, retreated back north to the area that the ankhegs had erupted from. There, the presence of a just- hatched ankheg signaled the possible presence of eggs. All of them were in assent. This was worth excavating. But since they had tools at the stables and had paid good money for them, and that would make excavating the eggs far easier than using the makeshift effects of shield and weapons, they agreed that they would return to the stables. They encountered the bard Owaine on their way back to the stables, and Natalie, exhibiting her commercial nous, asked the bard for information in exchange for the tale of their adventures as to where they might profitably sell off eggs of monsters. Owaine recommended that he act as middleman at the bathhouse, a clearing house of sorts, where those who sought rare items as a way of purchasing their way up the ladders of nobility might be contacted. This they agreed to. And so without further let or hindrance, the five of them headed to the stables.

Equipping and Socialising

Speaker 1 3:51

Is Rilsa extremely cross with Owaine? No. Are the tools of the adventurers ready to hand without any problem? Yes. The tools themselves are not particularly heavy but they are unwieldy. I'm going to roll a D4 for who ends up carrying them, with the four being split between the three who can carry tools without getting too encumbered, while Nat, who would be otherwise encumbered, can manage sacks and spare torches. Oh, it is a four. So I would guess, given that Drum has a longbow, Saqib and Locinda are carrying a spade and a pickaxe between them. As they pass back into the main street on their way east, Locinda pauses. The delicious smells wafting from the tap room make her mouth water. It's still quite a way from the noon hour, but they have done a fair amount of work already.

Speaker 3 5:08

I'd say we pause for a light snack and a drink, she suggests with a grin.

Speaker 6 5:16

Quite right too, Owaine says comfortably. I've only really got the gist of your adventures. There's a few extra questions I'd like to ask. Not really what? I'll stand you the cost of four decent house ales. How would that be? What you eat is up to you.

Speaker 3 5:41

So we have bargaining again.

Speaker 1 5:44

Nat feels Locinda's glance. Does Nat make a big deal about the trade? Absolutely not with a one. She heads on to the tap room, leaving it up to those encumbered with large weapons such as longbows, pickaxes, and shovels, what they do. As you can imagine, villagers coming in with such items aren't that unusual. And there's something in the nature of a makeshift mud room, which stands open enough that those not wishing to lose valuable items like plus one longbows can still see their items. Even so, I think Drum will actually keep his longbow with him, and we can imagine the pick and shovel set in that adjacent mudroom kind of area. The tap room itself is crowded. No fewer than 31 people go in and out during the time that they're there, mostly just to grab a drink or a light snack, while nine of those people are there during the entire time that Owaine quizzes the adventurers. I'm just going to check against their ready money. It does not use up their ready money. I'm going to roll for the number of turns it takes Owaine to fully gain the details that he wants. Nine turns. So with the ten minutes needed to extract the tools from the stables, that is ten turns. Had a torch been burning all that time, it would be time to change out to a new torch. However, that's not the case. What it means is that it's pretty much noontime when, with enough of a snack under their belts to keep going, the four adventurers wave farewell to Owaine: fairly firmly, I might add. They really don't want him hying down to the dungeon. And head once again east along what's called the Cairn Road to the little cottage. Well, I say cottage, it's not even a cottage. To the tiny bungalow, beneath which some strange dungeon exerts its menace. Rolling an encounter on the way to the dungeon. That's a four? No. Since dungeons by their nature can quickly regenerate peril, let's roll an in-dungeon encounter without tying it to any particular area. Five. No. By the time they've all clambered down the iron rungs or spikes that form the ladder to the base, they have lost what little daylight filters through the little room above.

Exploration

Speaker 1 8:53

Locinda lights a fifth torch. Working easily now as a practiced team in this environment, they reform. Natalie scouting slightly ahead of the light to one side, Locinda more or less in the middle, Saqib protecting her unguarded flank, and Drum coming in to the right. I'm going to enforce a stealth check on the two who are carrying tools. Well, I'd say luckily for Dexterity being good, Locinda scrapes by with DC9, and Saqib definitely makes DC9. At the dig site, or so we shall call it, there's no sign of the immature little bug. Thinking like a game master, I'm going to roll a D4 for the number of torches it takes to unearth the eggs. Two torches worth. Locinda is on the party's seventh torch - although those have been topped up from the stables - by the time all of the eggs are revealed. Given that one has already hatched, I'm going to roll 2d3 for a maximum number of eggs that can be harvested. Oh, I roll max. 3 and 3. That's a total of 6 eggs that they carefully lift out. Now comes the boring part. Transporting the eggs up to a place where they can leave them in the cottage above. This is definitely not going to take hours, so I think I'll roll a D3 plus 1 worth of 10 minutes. 30 minutes go by, by the time, dripping with sweat, the last of the six eggs is maneuvered up the spikes and put carefully into a place of readiness. Come evening, they should be able to safely move the eggs to the bathhouse, or, if Owaine indicates that putting them in a warm place is not advised, disguise their presence here. They climb down, and Locinda lights up an eighth torch. It's early afternoon, she states, which they already know given the amount of daylight in the room above.

Speaker 3 11:34

What do you think, Saqib? That uh billowing wall kind of area would have settled down?

Speaker 5 11:44

We can but try. If anything, we have to go that way, just so as to avoid the scree. I don't fancy sliding down into a possible goblin trap for no reason.

Speaker 2 11:58

I'm really curious, a s to, how come the walls didn't seem to really go anywhere? And yet when Shatterspike was in my hand, I felt something to the east.

Speaker 5 12:17

Saqib looks curiously at Drum. Then I think you'd better put that longbow away for now. Maybe leave it here and draw Shatterspike. If that sword is specially attuned to this area, then you should have it in your hand at all times.

Speaker 1 12:43

Drum nods and suits actions to Saqib's advice, leaving the longbow back at the assembly area near the iron spike ascent. With Shatterspike in his hand, he looks a different person somehow in Natalie's eyes. More like a handsome knight of fairy tale, ready to strike down evil. She shakes her head involuntarily, getting those images out of her mind, and focuses on the tunnel ahead. By very rough reckoning, the party travels approximately 200 feet in a large passage to the west and then passage to the south, working its way around the edge of the diggings. At that point, they're on the far side of the puddle, which in effect leads southwest to what used to be Aberrant Ground. By this time, though, all of the after effects of the gibbering mouther have receded, and Drum nods in comprehension. From the area just south of the puddle, the cavern work heads southwest and then due south for a short while. There's a kind of a choke point just south of what used to be the Aberrant Ground. But from there, a cavern opens up very wide, and there is a very different smell in the air. Here, the torch suggests that the cavern narrows to the south in a kind of funnel, but also heads off to the east. The scent of sulfur is strongest to the east. The party keeps well spread out as it works its way through the choke point. Encounter check. 4, no.

Speaker 3 15:02

Locinda suggests, looking uneasily to the east: Drum, what do you make of that movement to the east? Do you think that's steam or something in the steam? Drum peers through the stalagmites.

Speaker 2 15:19

Steam and that's a regular... it must be a geyser, he guesses. I've only heard of them, but they pump up elemental steam from below. They can be very dangerous and they do attract nasty monsters. But it's a good distance back. Let's take our time. I agree with Locinda. Let's check south first.

Speaker 1 15:48

The party works its way south into what is a dead end funnel shape south of the choke point. There's no encounter, and I double check whether the mysterious wizard who would like to offer advice to Drum has turned up, and the answer is definitely no. Given that the dead end is twenty feet across and at least forty feet deep off the cavern that they've just come from, I've got to say that Locinda lights up a ninth torch by the time they're finished searching it.

Speaker 2 16:27

Nat I hate to say it, but I think you'd better sneak forward in what light you can use from Locinda's torch and see what you can see, Drum says, pointing to the east.

Speaker 1 16:41

They're on the south wall now. I'm gonna check on Nat's morale. As though she is a retainer, and I get a good low four, meaning she is keen as mustard to show her real worth to the party. She will make a stealth check in the half-light that Locinda's upheld torch will provide. Here we go. I've got to say I was hoping for something a little higher than DC9, but she rolls an 8, and so with her dexterity bonus, gets to the lowest level of success in Shadow Dark. This in turn allows her to make a perception check as to the other side of the geyser and as to the timing of the geyser. That's a great check. She clears DC 15 fairly comfortably by rolling a 16 and returns to report to the others. With a clear idea that they'll have to move quickly to get to the other side of the geyser, and that there may be ambushing creatures waiting in the steam, the party prepares its next move. Bearing in mind her morale check, Nat's advice is as follows.

Speaker 4 18:02

Make a running jump and move really quickly. We can get all over as a body. The only one I'm a little worried about is Saqib in his armor. Will you be okay, Saqib? Saqib nods confidently.

Speaker 5 18:18

You're forgetting my power, he says with a slight note of innuendo in his voice and slaps his belt. This armor weighs as much as your leather armor does on you, Nat. If you can jump, I can jump. The point is not quite well made, but it conveys itself. Nat has one more suggestion.

Speaker 4 18:42

I'll lead the way and I'll keep a torch burning. That way you can see where to jump.

Speaker 1 18:48

Here are four jump rolls with advantage because Nat has already scouted where to jump. Yes? Yes, DC twelve? Potentially yes, and definitely yes. I foresee a luck token. Okay, that's a twelve. The party uses up the last of its current luck as it quickly traverses the mud. This upsets the plans of the waiting mud mephits, and they will need to decide whether to attack at some disadvantage to themselves or to hold off to ambush the party on its way back.