The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 18 - Entering the Lab

 

<< GAME MASTER PHASE >>

A couple of weeks ago, a group of rebellious salamanders pushed back against the rules of the tribe to the southwest section of the valley and set off. Live in the Everburning forest is slow and steady for the lizard-like folk. These youngsters did not like the quasi-truce with the cultists nor feeding off fire beetles and so went north to cause trouble. The clash with the cultists actually went pretty well for the group, with several humans dying before the salamander youth pulled back. 

Unfortunately for them they came across a much different foe next. Uuld Alloces, the ancient Efreet, did not take kindly to the upstart punks. They thought they could push the "old man" around and he cut three of them down. The others fled back the way they came only to find the cultists had been tracking them. This time the fight was not so one-sided with only eight of the Salamander youth surviving. 

Currently they are holed up in the first and upper floors of Jonias's laboratory. They can sense the strange energy of the place and have not pushed too deeply. The cultists are searching for them and may only be a few days from finding the lab. As for Uuld, if he thinks someone is actively trying to destroy his own old friend's Jonias's work, he will intervene. 

1. The Vestibule

This large opening resembles a temple rather than the foyer of a research station. Pillars with carved images of Ancient symbols and technology are spread throughout the floor and the remains of long desiccated tapestries can just be made out in a few barely hanging threads. The overall state of anything not made of fuelstone laced brick is in stark contrast to the core structure which remains notably stable.  Ash and dust from the forest have piled up on the floor. A strange hum can be heard from the door to the left which is locked with an intricate mechanism (INT DC 15 to being understand, DEX DC 18 to pick after this, key is found in the basement in Jonias's room). 

Room Content: 9 --> Treasure (1, Hidden). 5 of the pillars contain golden statues representing the 5 final fuelstone statues in the Monolith. Time has not been kind to them, the constant heat has caused them to warp (otherwise, they would be in the 1000s of gp). As is, each statue is worth 40gp if found. 

Footprints from the Salmanders can be clearly seen going up to the north and east. A lone set tracks to the door to the north but seems to have quickly left and the ash and dust on the door is mostly undisturbed.

The door to the east is unlocked. The doors to the northeast are left hanging open. 

>> PLAYER PHASE <<

Grusk waves the others to join him and they stand in a large room full of pillars and covered in ash and dust over years of slow build up. By the door, the light from the everburning wood manages to illuminate the room (admittedly in a dim sort of orange-red light for the back half) but pushing much further in will require a light source.

"Akalat TRUN'am," intones Rance as his lantern starts growing a shimmering light.[1] The pillars are covered in a variety of runes and designs but the ash and smoke cover the majority and they will be hard to read - assuming anyone could read Ancient script here - without cleaning. Directly across from Grusk and Rance is an ornate door. 

Tom points to footprints across the floor and going up and to their right. "I'm not saying those are brand new but considering how much dust this place accumulates, they look to not be very old." [2]

"What about that door, then?" asks Grusk, "That looks exactly like the sort of place that some ancient secrets we've spent several days trying to find might be." 

Tom approaches the door and looks at the interlocking gears and strange knobs. "Hmm, I can get this open. It's like a kid's puzzle wrapped in another kid's puzzle and spoken backwards. Strange sound inside. Humming. Something clicking? Want me to get this open before we track down whoever made those, assuming they are still here?" [3]

"Uffolt, Gale, come with me. We are going to pop our head in over there." 

Grusk and the others track up to the other door and glance inside while Tom gets to work getting through the locks of the door. 

<< GAME MASTER PHASE >>

2. The Transit Room

This smaller open space has railcart tracks coming from the southeast and moving west to another pair of intricate doors, which they follow inside. Several smaller rooms branch out from here. The ash and dust is much lesser here, only a thin layer, so that the Salamander tracks bring *more* dust and ash rather than clearing it away. A set of counters on the eastern wall have fuelstone rubble on them and were once used to sort stones. 

Looking at the intricate door is a larger Salamander. This is the group's leader - Hucleo. The rest, as is seen by their tracks, have headed north and through the staircase there to the second floor. Hucleo carries an axe rather than a spear. His skin tends to an orange shade. Neither he nor the players will be surprised. He hears them coming but still remains fairly cocky despite the losses against the Efreet (and the cultist). 

Using UNE, Hucleo is a 57 Naive 90 Charmer whose motivation is 36 Encourage 09 Success. The source of his cockiness is the fact that he was a pretty rough fish in a small pond, so to speak. He is a natural leader, though perhaps not full of common sense. He really thinks his small band will lead a revolution to take over the whole forest and the last few days have been a set back. 

The remaining rooms will be left a bit vague for now and will be fleshed out more as they are used.

3. Prep Room

Door is locked. DEX DC15 (or key from Jonias's room, downstairs) required. This room has robes, boots, goggles, and gloves as well as other wear on the wall hanging from hooks. INT DC 12 to identify that fuelstone elements have been woven into the cloth. There are chairs and other furniture here to assist in getting ready. Most of these have decayed to time while the fuelstone enhanced bits have survived.

4. Cleaning Room

This room had tanks of water (long since dried up) that were used to wash and polish fuelstone elements. Now only thin chunks of fuelstone remain near washbasins and ceramic pots that have rusted and cracked. 

A group of 12 fire beetles have burrowed through the wall and are nesting in here. 

5. Tool Room and Stairs

A series of shelves with old greatly decayed tools are in the outer section. The inner section is a way down. 

6. The Down Tracks

The railtracks turn here and go down a somewhat steep slope (DEX DC15 to not slide on the ash covered ramp) to the east. A switch on the wall is no inactive, but at one point in time would have powered the tracks to help the minecarts bring the fuelstone up from below.

7. Antechamber

The railtracks continue to another pair of doors similar (but larger) to the ones in the vestibule. Stairs on either side lead up to the second floor. The salamander tracks, now fading, go up to the one to the north. 

>> PLAYER PHASE <<

"Um, hi...," says Inar after Grusk taps the halfling slightly forward, "My really astute goblin friend says it's like a kid's puzzle wrapped in a kid's puzzle and spelled backwards. Which would be elzzup s'dik!"

Hucleo turns. His scales shimmer in Rance's magical light and his neck frills start to stand out a bit, making him look a bit bigger than his actual height (Hucleo is shorter than Grusk, but roughly the same musculature, giving him a heavy, stocky appearance). He...laughs...in a sort of sibilant hissing way. Then says something back to the group in reptilian. 

"Dammit," quips Rance, being the only person in the group to speak the tongue [and his last attempt at diplomacy going so well]. "We are not here to fight, but we will if we need." 

Hucleo spreads his frills even further and contemplates the words of the seer. Speaks in a slightly stilted Barthic, "You not cultists or my boys slice you, yeah?" [4]

"Yes. I mean, no, we are not cultists. We do not get along very well with them." 

"Like you already. Why you here in my valley, cold skins?" 

Rance looks at Grusk and Inar and Grusk takes Rance's meaning. Do they share the reason they are here? This laboratory is filled with potential treasures that can change the shape of an empire. They have no idea how many salamanders (Rance does recognize the species) are nearby and what stance the fiery lizards might take if they think this place is valuable. On the other hand, trying to lie might make it hard to actually explore the lab. Grusk decides to go with his usual blend of very-nearly-honest and abruptness.

"Person who owns this place wants a book. Sent us." 

"You three come all this way for a...," the word 'book' throws him because a species that swims around in lava would have a tricky time storing even the toughest materials for anything book like. Rance knowing some of the basics of their structure translate the word to roughly <stack of obsidian tablets>. 

"Also," says Rance, "We are four. The other one is in the room behind us." 

"Sa sha sha," laughs Hucleo in that his hissing chuckle, "I know cold skins got four. Little test. Forgive! Forgive!' 

The salamander walks forward and holds out his hand. Grusk walks up and shakes. Thanks in part to the dragonsilk, Grusk takes no damage from blistering hot scales. 

Hucleo seems impressed. "Come. Meet my fellows. Come, come!" He starts toward the north stair and heads up. Grusk and Inar follow but Rance mentions going back to check on Tom. 

<< GAME MASTER PHASE >>

8. The Upper Balcony

Years ago, this room's shutters could be opened to look down into the temple room (9), below. now the heavy metal shutters are locked into place and the mechanism to open them on the south wall has long worn down. High windows in the walls allow for light outside to filter through, casting the whole area in a pale orange glow. The curtain to the east (now only rags and thin shreds) has fallen down and the door to the east is left open. 

Stands holding pew-link benches are on the north and south of the room. Being made out of everburning wood, they have sustained better than a lot of the other furniture, here. 

Five of the remaining salamanders are on the north set of pews, eating fire beetles. The other two have gone through the door and are exploring the upper rooms. 

>> PLAYER PHASE <<

Grusk and Inar have been talking with the salamanders upstairs for a bit. The conversation is a bit stilted without Rance to translate so it is mostly Hucleo's broken Barthic and every time he lapses into reptilian the other salamanders laugh. Grusk is big enough to be a bit intimidating to even these young roughs but Inar definitely feels out of place. At least the salamanders think it is sign of brethrenhood that the two adventurers have faced (and beaten) cultists. The valley is such a tiny ecosystem, though, that it is obvious the youth have trouble contemplating some of the scale of it. 

"And then this one," says Inar, knowing when to keep up a narrative even if he does not know why the salamander are happy to hear about it so much, "brought his axe down and chopped the cultist in two!"

Hucleo hisses out a translation to this and the other five cackle and making threatening swipes with their claws. The four adventurers have gone from being a neutral entity to one the salamanders seem to quite enjoy. They even offered fire beetle meat to the adventurers (who in turn offered up some rations) but Grusk and Inar politely declined. 

Unfortunately, discussion of needing to search this place has tended to swing the conversation back to the more negative even with Hucleo's prodding. 

"The fellows worry more coldskins will come. They like you but coldskins not good." [5]

As Grusk contemplates debating the point even more, or perhaps trying his luck at attacking six people he actually is enjoying talking to, a shout from down below alerts everyone that Tom and Rance have run into problems.

<< GAME MASTER PHASE >>

9. The "Temple"

This large chamber's most obvious feature is a large mirrored object on the western wall which glows with a pale white light. It is a semi-active portal that can not be fully entered until the machinery in this place is reactivated. However, even once that is done, attempting to enter it without precaution is dangerous. The energies of the vortex will tear you apart. The energy can be better sustained if you are wearing gear from the prep room (3). Even then, DC12 to not take 4d6 damage in transit. 

The railtracks coming up from the basement travel from the western door to the platform underneath the portal. Jonias was using this system to transport materials up from below and carry them to his pocket dimension. 

Two automatons guard this portal. Both give the appearance of viperian ophids: tall creatures with a human like body and a long snake tale. Both are carved from fuelstone and have glowing green eyes when activated. They have four arms each. In three of these arms is a fuelstone scimitar. In the fourth is  a locking box. Bringing the key from the control room in the basement can allow you to unlock the box and to disable the automatons and give them new commands. For stats, they have the same as regular automatons but are immune to mind control and similar spells.

They have been awakened by the new activity in the place and have sensed people at the south and eastern doors. Their last command was to keep people from this room as Jonias entered into the portal (to never return). They will be aggressive in that regard. 

Will they chase people if the people leave the room? (Advantage) 17 --> Yes, but they will not go downstairs, they have commands to not interfere with Jonias's work. 

>> PLAYER PHASE <<

Once Tom has sussed out the general puzzle he gets it open in essentially no time at all. [6] Rance has been catching Tom up as the final gears of the door give way and it starts slowly opening, increasing the sound of the hum.

"...it was a salamander, strong looking guy, but friendly, Grusk and Inar are.."

Rance stops talking in mid-sentence as they see the glowing green eyes of the vipherian ophid automatons turning to look in their directions. Behind the two strange stone golems is a strange swirling light that looks like silver glitter turning in glowing sap. 

"...are...ok, we do not go in there, right? We stay out here?" 

"Agreed."

Unfortunately the automatons are not as bound to the entry into the room as the pair hopes, and after a few rusty moments of getting their internal workings going again. 

Rance pulls out his wand and shouts the activation phrase - "Glunnis Paloshi" - and magic web starts pouring out and covering the creatures who struggle in the web but being shouting their own words back at them (the words are "intruders must be stopped" in Ancient). [7]

Even with the strange creatures trapped, it is obvious that the strands of magical webbing are starting to tear and fade and will not hold them for long. The two start running for the stares to follow their friends and shout for Grusk and Inar. As they do, they hear webbing start to snap in the room behind them and move just a bit faster. [8]

Grusk comes running down the stairs and bumps into the other two in the transit room. Right as they go to explain the situation in hurried simple words a loud crash hits the door behind them as one of the automatons pushes through. Grusk pushes the two aside and goes to meet the creature with his axe out and his shield up. He gets a hefty blow and tears a chunk out of the creatures abdomen. 

A winded stops and gets an acid arrow off which embeds into the body of the creature while Tom gets his bow up and also lands a shot. Grusk, keeping his shield up and forcing the automaton to stop in the doorway, gets hit by the two upper arms bringing the scimitar down. [9]

Grusk shrugs off the bleeding for now and gets his axe, Bloodlust, into the face of the creature to see if the glowing eyes are actually needed for it to track. At the same time, Rance keeps control of the acid arrow that finally burns the inner works of the stone mechanical. It's eyes stop glowing and it collapses in a heavy (STR DC 15 to move it) pile of stone on the floor, blocking the door it was just trying to get inside. [10]

Inar, Hucleo, and several of the salamanders are coming down the stairs right as Tom and Rance are sitting on the floor and Grusk is tearing some cloth from a pouch to bandage up his arm. Inar sees that and rushes over and casts cure wounds which causes the new gashes to heal. [11]

Hucleo shouts, <<What is that thing?,>> in reptilian and Rance tries to explain in more precise details but only gets some of the basic ideas out. The salamanders, realizing they are now staying in a place with such dangerous hazards, begin to worry about looking around much deeper. At the same time, seeing Grusk take it down single-handedly (in their eyes) makes them also worried about the half-orc. They are hastily debating leaving right away [12] when the second automaton tosses the first aside and comes into the room with scimitars out. 

Hucleo barks and order to his wavering band and charges in. Only Hucleo manages to get a hit while dodging the arms but their unmagical weapons just bounce off the stone hide. Their extreme body heat also does no damage. Grusk pushes to join in the fight (also having to resist the heat coming off the salamanders, which he does) and gets a good slash along the back while Inar tries to get his made into the otherside of the creature. Rance fires off another acid arrow while Tom's arrow glances off the side of the automaton's head. Its fast moving arms digs deep gashes into the two salamanders to either side while the third heavily wounds the one standing next to Hucleo. [13]

Grusk shouts them to be careful, the creature seems to be shrugging off the hits. Unfortunately no one puts together that this creature is immune to magic. The salamanders again several hits in but no damage shows on the automaton. The one by Hucleo takes another severe gash, this one across the face, and starts to fall back while another slice by the fuelstone scimitars catches the one on the right and slices the head clean off. The salamanders are enraged. While they shout and continue to attack pointlessly, the adventurers use the distracted automaton to land a series of shots and blows to finish it off. [14]

Inar immediately starts casting cure wounds on the two living injured salamanders and gets them back to full, though the damage from their heat clearly blisters him as he lays his hands upon them. One of the salamanders just healed realizes the danger the halfling is putting himself in and bows his frilled head and says some words in reptilian. [15]

"Thank you, coldskin. You fellows very brave. Strong. Fire like us in blood, eh?" Hucleo says. He is clearly upset about the loss of yet another of his band and is now facing the fact of having to go back and ask forgiveness of the tribe. "We leave you to your search, just ne..." 

Upstairs, one of the salamanders still exploring shouts something faint and outside humans can be heard talking and getting closer. The cultists have found the lab. 

== MECHANICAL NOTES ==

1. 15 on spellcasting check.
2. Only Tom succeeded on the INT check to determine the age of the footprints (with a 15, the rest did quite a bit worse, their attention is on the door). 
3. Tom the superstar got a Nat 20 on deciphering the door. I probably should have rolled on advantage but I forgot and it's not like it matters. Since he is going to stay and take his time, he will get it open just fine (eventually). 
4. Even with his CHA penalty, Rance got a reaction of 9 so Hucleo is mostly neutral and will play to his cocky charm. 
5. SoloDark "Will they allow the adventurers to keep searching? (Advantage) 10 --> twist 53 Deny 91 Success. The salamanders are worried that allowing things to be found here will bring in more invaders. 
6. Once again, our boy rolls a Nat 20. Tom is special.
7. Rance got a 19+4=23 on his Web casting check which means the automatons will be trapped for 5 rounds or until they roll a 23 on their STR check. 
8. On the third round (1st round in something like shock, 2nd round in getting moving, 3rd getting to the transit room) one of the automatons gets a nat 20 and breaks free. The other is still 2 rounds out.
9. All three attacked at disadvantage but all three managed to make their hits (Rance spent a luck point). Grusk did 10 points of damage, Rance did 6, and Tom did 5 (a total of 21 out of 28). The automaton will not have a morale check so will get its turn. It gets 2 off its three hits on Grusk, doing 7 points of damage. 
10. Grusk gets another solid hit and Rance maintains control. That finishes it off. 
11. Cure Wounds required another luck point but cured 8 which is enough to put Grusk back to full.
12. Do they want to leave right away? 14 --> Yes. The second automaton got a STR roll of 16+4=20 and easily tosses the lifeless "body" of the other aside. 
13. Actually decided to do a three way initiative for this one. Salamanders got first, then adventurers, then automaton. Salmanders made their morale check and so decided to move in to show they can also fight. Is it immune to their heat? 13 --> Yes, but...it's immune to this level but not immune to higher levels of heat. Grusk only gets 6 points of damage (and Rance only 4). The automaton gets all three hits on three different salamanders doing 10, 10, and 6 points of damage.
14. Rance did not recognize the Viperian Ophid fuelstone and so is presumably unaware of the abilities of the species. He will realize the problem the round after this. Two salamanders again got hit (the one nearest Hucleo has taken 17 points of damage). The one that got hit for 6 last time took a critical hit for a full 20 points of damage, ending him. Grusk gets 10 points of damage in. Rance maintains the acid arrow for 5 more. Inar gets a hit for 4 and Tom gets a shot for 4. This is enough to finish off the second automaton. 
15. Took a luck point (one remaining) to get the three cure wounds spells needed off. Inar missed his resistance check even with advantage and took 5 points of damage.  

== DOUG'S NOTES == 

Halfway through, I decided it felt weird to always capitalize species names so I swapped to lower-case. It will likely glitch here or there. 

The lab is a bit less random than some of the adventures. Trying to justify a completely randomized place kept feeling a bit stilted. There are still elements. The fire beetles in the wash room was decided a head of time. The use of the rooms is fiction-first. The fact Hucleo was by the doors was a random "boss monster" roll. I wanted to work in more fuelstone golems. The treasure was a random roll. I'll keep it at this level because a few random rolls is what got us to half the campaign being about getting into a burning forest and secret lab. I want to tamp down some of the chances for this to become 10-sessions of more side quest.

I also have begun working on a lot more lore and just injecting in, here. We knew from way back when than Jonias's artifact to power his fuel stone was in some place beyond the physical realm. We also have learned through largely random rolls that there is more to this forest than initially thought. I am not sure if I ever specified that Jonias died in any specific way but the lean now is that he full on left the world and for some reason did not come back. Everything is just guesswork. 

The set-piece with the cultists was something I had decided would happen whenever a stopping point was reached and it feels like now. Just a good old fashioned siege meets a sort of western-style shootout. That'll be for next time, though, as the team has to rapidly learn what else the lab has in store. More golems? Ancient visitors? Let's find out together.

== CREDITS == 

This campaign is played primarily using Shadowdark and SoloDark, both by Arcane Library and Kelsey Dionne (et al).

Additional sources include a variety of things for tables, especially Knave 2nd Edition and Maze Rats (both by Ben Milton), Random Realities by Cezar Capacle, Universal NPC Emulator by Zach Best, and various pieces from Worlds without Number and Scarlet Heroes (both by Kevin Crawford).

The illustrations are created by me using GIMP and Hex Kit (featuring the Lil Hex Pack and Strange BW Hex Pack). The sources of the images I edit to make the "two color" splashes range from personal photographs to Pixabay stock art and bits from other public domain and CC-0 sources.

The map is from Dyson Logos's "Temple of the Worm" series. There will be some slight modification on the lower levels because those go on longer than I need (so a few passage-ways edited out in some way or just ignored). As usual, I just sort of take each room as I see it so some of the drawn elements will not necessarily match my description.