Session 2 - The Dungeon

Last time we ended at a pair of stairs leading into the earth:

Stairs Down: In the shattered remnants of a devastated fortress, you and your companions spot stairs leading into the darkness and, likely, adventure.

An opportunity to explore a dungeon is one that you never pass up! This particular site is small - only 2d6 rooms - and populated by slimes, rats, spiders, and other creepy things. Treasures within are minimal.

So, let's get cracking! Two d6 rooms, and I rolled 3, 3. So six rooms.

I will be using the Solo Gaming Sheets by Perplexing Ruins, specifically the dungeon-crawl pages. They include everything you need to randomly generate a full dungeon.

We'll begin with rolling up an Entrance, and then we'll proceed with new corridors and rooms... but first I think we should pick a theme at random.

(5) Occult.

We can then use the Type and Adjective/Noun columns to build up a name. It's not super necessary, but just for fun we'll roll it out. (3) Haunted or Shallow, (2) Veils or Truths.

I like Lair of Haunted Truths, so I guess that'll be our dungeon's "name", though that's more player information than character information. From our Knave's point of view, they just woke up and came charging back to the Lair to explore it further. If this place has a name, he doesn't know it.

Paschal looked down the ancient steps. Thick green moss covered the ancient stone, disappearing quickly into the gloom below. This old ruined fortress lost for who knows how long within the swamp, could contain... anything. He was on a mission, but, it wasn't exactly a high-paying mission... a few more coins in his pocket couldn't hurt.

With one last look at the fog-shrouded swamps around him, he pulled a torch from his pack, lit it, and began a slow, cautious, descent.

The Entrance - Room 1:
The moss-covered steps descend into what had once been made to look like a simple 5-foot-deep, ten-foot-long cellar. That facade had long ago been dismantled. A gaping hole in the masonry to the right of the stairs shows what had once been a hidden tunnel into some kind of underground complex.

Fifteen feet of damp stonework behind the busted false wall leads to another ten-by-ten chamber, with a door leading off to the right. Several pegs are mounted to the walls of the 10x10 space, looking like spots to hang cloaks or bags.

The door to the right is weathered, but still whole and appears functional.

Paschal tries the door and while the latch seems to lift, the moisture must have caused something to swell, because the door is firmly stuck.

[We have a STR stat of 0, meaning whatever we roll is a straight roll - no bonuses. As such, I'm going to give this a 50/50 chance of success to see if we can simply shove the door open with a bit of muscle. So, 1-10 = failure. 11-20 = success.]

[Roll d20: 12 - Success!]

Paschal sets down the torch for a moment and braces himself to give the door a firm push. At first, it seems like nothing is going to happen, and then with a squeal of protest, the door creaks open, and Paschal scrambles back to pick up his torch.

Room 2:
The shells of collapsed bookcases cover the entire back wall of this room. A single door on the left wall leads to another chamber.

[Explore roll: (3) Discovery] [Discovery: (5) Treasure A] [Treasure A: (6) Scroll]
[Spell rolled: 92 unravel: Cast this as a reaction to another spell of level INT or less going off
to nullify it]

Paschal shoves at the debris of broken shelves and bookcases with his foot. Whatever happened here, happened a long time ago. The room is drier than the prior entrance room, but mildew has still set upon the wood. As he's about to move towards the next door, he notices a scrap of paper poking out from beneath a few broken boards. Moving them, he finds a Scroll of Unravel. Not exactly an item he can immediately use, but he slides it into his bag next to his forged papers.

Room 3:
The door leading into this room is unlocked, and swings open easily. A ten-foot-long hallway leads to a thirty-foot circular room. The long-melted remains of candles crowd the walls and are grouped in seemingly random spots across the floor. Faded swirls of chalk hint at strange occult rituals having once been performed here.

[Explore roll: (3) Discovery] [Discovery: (4) Item] [Item: (5) Weapon]

A strange black blade sits upon a disk of white and gold marble in the center of the ritual site.

[Are we stupid or brave enough to grab this possibly cursed item? It seems like an obvious trap, but we're a knave seeking riches while we travel to our actual mission objective. Let's give this a 33% chance of us being dumb enough to pick this up. So, on a d6, a roll of 1 or 2 means we snag this item, and a 3+ means we ignore it]

[Roll: 6]
Paschal eyes the blade - it'd fetch a nice price no doubt, but... a strange dagger sitting within an occult symbol within a secret complex seems a little too convenient. There were already plenty of tales of adventurers getting turned to dust or cursed with terrible afflictions, and Paschal wasn't keen to add himself to that list. Even if nobody would know the tale of his last stupid act. No, it would be far better to avoid that particular temptation.

Cautious to step around as much of the ritual chalk as he can, Paschal approaches the door leading to the next room.

[Door: (6) Trapped]

The glitter of a fine thread leading into the keyhole stops him as he's about to put his hand to the door-latch.

[Disarm Trap, Target roll: 11+]
[Roll (12)]

Paschal stared at the thread, moving his torch back and forth, trying to get as much of a look into the keyhole as he could. Proper thieves' tools would have been a real asset right about now, but he'd left those back in Whitecliff. With a prayer to the spirit of luck, he pulled out his Kukri and gently cut the thread. A needle shot out of a cleverly hidden hole in the door's handle. Had he been holding it, it would have surely pierced his flesh. A thin shine to the barb hinted at some kind of poison coating it. As far as "disarming" a trap went, this was a butcher's job... but hey, you use the tools you have.

The door opened onto a long corridor. A door on the left and a door at the very end can be seen.

Corridor 1:
The corridor is bare, except for a threadbare and faded tapestry hung against the right wall, running nearly the length of the hallway. The faint smell of mold and dust is all you notice.

This is getting a little long, so I think I will cut it off here and finish the last 3 rooms with the next post. Until then! Happy Gaming!

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