The Bleak and The Pearl [SoloDark] Part 20 - Exploring the Lab
<< GAME MASTER PHASE >>
First, the matter of treasure and XP
10 Cultists, 2 Senior Cultists, 2 Horned Devils, and 2 Viperian Automatons later and we have not really adjusted for any treasure, boons, or such. ShadowDark page 117 suggests "Per treasure find, each group should gain about 10x their average party level in gold." Neither the devils nor the automatons would have treasure, per se, but the cultist should have something worth looting. The salamanders did not care for any trinkets they could find so left with their three resurrected members (and their two recent dead). The four adventurers though, should gain something. I have been remiss in giving proper monetary reward to anything they do so I am going to be a bit OSR about this and side on the "too much":
- The human cultists had a variety of coins. Let's say 2d6x10 gold and 2d10x10 silver for 80 gold and 100 silver worth of coins.
- The one senior cultist had the gem of devil summoning (which broke) but the other had (from the level 4 treasure tables...): Copper flask etched with an owl worth 30gp.
- The automatons had no treasure on them personally but do they have parts worth anything? 15 --> Yes, but... it is worth 2d20 gold if the party can find someone wanting to buy it [plot twist, they are just going to give it to free to Cal so I won't even roll]. 50% chance of other treasure in that room... 64% so yes and the treasure is A Clockwork Dragon Doll (45gp). Is it functional? 8 --> No. So it is basically worthless and is likely only worth around 45sp instead [and will get left behind].
- The forest itself (all the dragonsilk sidequests and such)
- The salamanders who are one of the dominate rulers (strong but somewhat constrained in their area)
- The cultists who are another (weaker, but covering a wider space)
- Uuld Alloces who is the third (and perhaps most powerful, though commands the least space)
The friendship with the salamanders and Uuld Alloces constitutes a pretty major boon. They will get 4xp from this total. Not only does this give them a combined access to around half the valley but it also involves a being who personally knew Jonias Grunkheart.
This gives each of the adventurers 7xp for the past 3 sessions.
Now, The "Upper Floors"
Ground Floor
Upper Floor
Some Notes/Reminders
Rooms 1-9 were described (at least in brief) in part 18 - Entering the Lab. 10 (and parts of 19) were described in 19 - Fighting the Cultists. The reason the numbering jumps around is because the encounters with the salamanders, and the fight with the cultists, had the rooms entered into a non-standard order. I could have pre-numbered all the rooms but I did not because the nature of solo-play means I had no idea if rooms would even be visited.
A final note (for this section): the ground floor has a bit "blanked out" with a red spray. As said in the credits, a few pieces of the OG map will be excluded in this playthrough just to trim it for time. That was originally a series of secret passages that does not quite fit the flow, here.
For now, we will start with the rooms that are already defined from the above posts and go from there.
>> PLAYER PHASE <<
In the aftermath of the battle, the chat with the efreeti, and the leaving of the salamanders; the constant background noise of crackling wood and bubbling pools is practically silence. The adventurers have spent some time gathering up the bodies of the cultists, stripping them of anything valuable (not a whole lot, but a fair number of coins and one of the older cultists has a flask of some unknown liquor (no one is in a rush to drink it). Afterwards, the bodies were drug to the nearest pool of lava and tossed in while Tom and Rance spent some time hiding the tracks. Just in case any other cultists try to find out what happened to their buddies. All in all, the lab remained quiet in the meantime. [1]
The front door (bashed open at least twice and left generally open to the elements who knows how many times) is a harder repair. "Good enough to shut" will have to do for the time being. [2]
These basic repairs done, the quattro take time to eat, rest up a bit, and generally get their bearings before giving the lab a fuller search. They broadly agree to spread out a bit and search these top three floors since they got to see quite a bit of them before and during the fight. Tom and Grusk will take the vestibule. Rance and Inar will go and search "the theater" and its odd portal.
While examining the ancient runes and bas reliefs in the pillars, and cleaning some of the ash out of them so that Rance can make a better catalog of them later, Tom comes across a switch on one and activates it, spinning a chunk of an outer layer away and exposing a...thing, inside. Once it might have represented something, but Tom mostly sees it as a misshapen hunk of gold. Which it mostly is. [3]
For now, Grusk and Tom leave the once-statues in place and turn their attention to the door in the east.
In the theater, Inar has found a mostly rusted out clockwork dragon. He plays with it a bit. The rails lead to the base of a "stage" (though the cart is not currently here, though a few odds and ends are scattered on the floor. Quill tips, bits of random guff. Like someone was packing in a hurry. On the stage is Rance who is examining the strange mirror like contraption and it's slowly swirling, warping image.
"It's a portal," Rance says, grasping the basic idea behind fairly quickly. [4] Of course, any more complicated ideas behind it are going to take a lot more time to study.
"This is where Grusk would say something like, 'Gale, want to make 5 gold pieces?'," Inar jokes and Rance agrees.
"Yeah, and then would possibly just walk through himself to see what it is only..."
"Yeah?"
"Only...it feels off. I don't think this was activated by us being here which means it could have been running for 300 years. Like some strange beast sleeping."
"How do we wake it up?"
"I do not know. There are various notches and stones in the frame itself, and there are those...pipes? The ones attached to the...um, gears? In the wall?" Rance makes a broad gesture pointing out the really obvious but completely undecipherable mechanisms along the walls. "Those. I guess." [5]
From across the vestibule, they hear Grusk shout and Tom cry out in pain, and take off running.
<< GAME MASTER PHASE >>
This section of two rooms was not initially mapped out. A lot of the ground floor is dedicated to prep of bringing and treating fuelstone. However, rooms #11 and #12 are a bit outside of that path. For #12 the SoloDark prompt pair was 20 Push 22 Obstacle + 04 Prevent 60 Trick.
#12 will be an old meeting room, a place where some of the retainers up above who handled some basic work [what few there were] might mingle with the [again, few] who worked downstairs in the lab proper. Jonias did not work alone but he also was fairly solitary in this endeavor. As he became more focused on his final goal, this was kind of a place for him to talk and convince folks to stick with him. Did they stick with him? 2 --> No. Eventually, folks stopped trust him. The tricks being prevented and obstacles being pushed were their own complaints to him. By the end, it was just him, Uuld, and the automatons.
To finish this out, #11 will be servant's quarters and a food prep area. #12 also served as a makeshift dining area when there people to eat.
The room numbers are already weird so let's keep it going!
#12 The Meeting Room
In the era of Jonias building this lab and planning for it to be something of a meeting place for likeminded folks to gather and discuss the war against The Bleak, this room was something of a heart to the place. A place for people to meet and discuss the inner workings of the lab and its findings, but also a place for people from all tiers of the project to meet and eat and gather.
A large stone table in an l-shape dominates the center of the room and smaller stone tables are in the southeast corner of the room. What chairs and other furniture were here have mostly given way in the hot, dry air.
Two of the gaps in the north wall and a gap in the south wall has plinths with statues representing various Grunkheart personalities. These statues are actually automatons. At the time, Jonias meant them to be symbolic of the Grunkeart family serving the people. Now, they are in a similar mode as others in the base: guarding territory. Without the deactivation amulets (downstairs), they have a 2:6 chance of activating each round and attacking once either door to the meeting room is open.
These serving automatons will be based off stone golems but reduced to LVL 5 as an encounter.
++ Glitching Serving Automatons (3)
AC 16, HP 30, ATK 2 slam +4 (1d8), MV 1/2 near, S +3, D -2, C +4, I -3, W 01, Ch -4, AL N, LV 5
Each has a gemstone worth 30gp (each a different color sapphire: red, blue, green) to represent the Grunkheart family heart.
#11 The Kitchen and Servant's Quarters
This area is largely decayed. Cracks in the outer wall have exposed the bunkbeds and simple furniture to lots of damage. Nothing of value remains in the rubble. The kitchen utensils have largely rusted and wasted away, with the water tanks going empty. What food left behind has rotted and dried to dust in the centuries since this place was last used.
>> PLAYER PHASE <<
Grusk pushes open the door and pushes his torch in first while Tom crouches down with his bow drawn. Lucifer's Breath has already been activated today so its glow has dulled to barely visible and his stash of arrows is running low (less than a full quiver remaining) but there have been at least a few surprises for the group in this lab. In the distance, the pair can hear Rance and Inar discussing...something.
The room before them is largely dominated by a large stone table. The wall has remains of paintings, tapestries, and other notices but time has not been good to the decorations. Only a few scraps remain and it would require a lot of imagination to see the paintings for what they were: more of Jonias's vision.
Entering into the room, dry and cracking wood scatters as the two adventurer's feet sweep along the floor. There is no hint of the smells of food or the presence of good cheer. This is now simply a room saved from some degree of decay by being sealed.
Tom looks to a pair of statues on the north wall while Grusk makes his way to the south version of the same. Tom points to the gems in the chests of the statues and lets out a light cough with a clear intention. Grusk shrugs and then shines his torch light under the table. Not seeing any opponents and a mostly empty room, the half-orc is already starting to move on the next room.
"Wait, wait, I can get this..." the goblin starts, realizing he is about to be the dark but also starting to get the red sapphire loose, when he realizes the blue-gemmed statue has turned to "look" at him and by sound, the green-gemmed one south is doing the same. Tom leaps back onto the table and shouts Grusk's name.
All three statues are approaching the goblin on the table, moving slowly but deliberately.
Grusk, holding the torch in his off hand, rushes in and brings Bloodlust down on the shoulder on the blue-gemmed statue but feels the blade bounce off roughly. These things are way tougher than he realized. In turn, the blue-gemmed statue turns and starts swinging wildly at the half-orc but is clearly still stiff and needing repairs to be at full functionality.
"GET IN HERE!" Grusk shouts as he tries to work out how to get Tom down from the table and to safety. Behind the blue-gemmed statue, the other are pounding heavy fists into the stone of the table, sending up chunks and debris as cracks start to form on its surface. [6]
Blue punches Grusk in the gut but the half-orc shrugs it off and returns the favor. The blood red axe blade actually bites into the fuelstone body even if the damage is mostly minimal. Unfortunately for Tom, the red-gemmed statue manages to grab hold of one of his legs and tosses the goblin bodily into the wall, dropping him. The green golem gets to Tom before he can get back up and smashes the goblin head into the same wall, which takes Tom out. [7]
Inar runs into the room and sees Tom collapsed near the door. He casts Cure Wounds on the goblin and watches some of the wounds heal and hears some cracked bones knit back together. He then grabs Tom under the armpits and starts pulling the goblin back towards the door. Rance, caught off guard, summons forth an acid arrow while nearly whiffing it but has it cast into the back of one of the two on their way towards Grusk. It sinks in, but barely so. That statue turns around slowly starts approaching.
Across the room, Blue is taking wide swipes at Grusk but the half-orc is keeping up. "I need LIGHT!" [8]
Green catches up to Inar right as the halfing is pulling his friend to the door but one swing misses entirely and the other glances off the armor and actually helps Inar to launch out into the wider space. Rance, keeping up his mental connection with the arrow, also flings out a magic missile into the golem's torso. These two are much heartier hits but the stone automaton does not slow down (well, it does, because its natural state of being is pretty much "slowed down").
Across the room, Grusk is warding off another attack when his arm is struck by Blue. He sees that Red is close by and begins backing out of the room so only one can fight him at a time. He embeds his axe in the golem's face and looks around for a place to the torch down safely. Noting a small shelf near the door, he shoves it there so he can pull his shield up. [9]
Tom comes up firing and lands an arrow in the body of the strange green-gemmed machine. Rance stumbles the acid arrow but does toss a magic missile and Inar slams the Crimson Star into the back of the thing. It is showing heavy cracks from all the damage. The damaged, "enraged" machine swings its torso around striking Rance and knocking the wizard back into the floor. The sound of a rib snapping can be heard. The other hand strikes Inar's armor but the halfling holds firm.
On the other side, Grusk has almost hacked into the body of the Blue-gemmed statue and rendered non-functional, taking a punch to the face himself. The Red-gemmed statue is punching the wall, trying to collapse the door frame. [10]
Inar continues to bring his magical mace down on the green-gemmed statue with Tom landing an arrow directly through it's eyes. The statue stops moving and, after a few seconds, falls over. Rance gets back to his feet, breathing hard.
Grusk keeps chopping away at Blue and likewise, that automaton ceases to function. The half-orc takes a step back, knowing that Red is still moving. It is not long before the sound of punching uptakes as the red-gemmed one starts punching through the still body of its companion. [11]
Tom runs into the room and sees the red-gemmed statue trying to punch the body of the blue-gemmed one out of the way. Tom shoots an arrow that misses (17 arrows remaining). Inar heals Rance as the seer runs up beside Tom and casts acid arrow. It hits the automaton in the back. After another pointless punch into Blue, Red turns around and starts lurching across the room towards the other three. [12]
Tom and Rance, reading the room, start running around the table to try and lure the automaton while they use long range fire. Tom lands another shot and Rance is able to keep up the magic barrage. Inar pulls shield and sets up position in the doorway. Despite their quick footed actions, though, the red-gemmed horror, eyes focusing on Rance, twitches for a second and then fully leaps over the table, landing between Rance and Tom. Rance bounces back, avoiding a hit, as Red starts chasing him around.
Outside of the room, Grusk is aware of the change of plans and so leans back and kicks Blue down and out of the door and runs in himself. [13]
Red catches the fleeing wizard with one hand and punches him in the back as Rance cries out. This drops Rance's concentration as Rance speaks the words of the Misty Step spell and phases out of the automaton's reach. Tom keeps up the arrow shots while Inar rushes in to flow it down and smashes against its legs. Grusk leaps up on the table to and catch it by surprise and brings down his axe on the statue's head. [14]
Grusk misses as the statue turns around to face him, again, giving Inar the chance to smash the legs once more. They break off and the whole statue falls over into pieces.
Catching their breath, the halfling manages to keep his focus in place long enough to heal both the human and the half-orc. The group debates for a minute whether to continue or to rest and once Rance points out that the seeing the fire-elemental, meeting the salamanders, fighting the one set of automatons, fighting the cultists, and then fighting these things was all in one day, they agree to rest. [15]
Night in the Everburning Forest is strange. The daylight is largely obscured by smoke while the night is almost entirely skipped by the orange and red glow that suffuses the place. On the ground floor of the lab, the light only comes through in places where cracks in the walls allow it. Rather than put up with the "nightless" aspect, the group decides to pull into the theater and pull the locking doors back shut behind them. The condition is in here is much better than the rest of the ground floor which suggests that nothing has been able to disturb this room for a long time. The night passes without incident. [16]
<< GAME MASTER PHASE >>
A super quick summation of the upstairs rooms.
#17 is going to be the main suite of "upscale" rooms. Almost entirely unused.
#14 is a smoking lounge. #15 is the water closet. #16 is the way up to the roof.
#13 is 24 Block 23 Doubt: a display room of many wonders. There are a few things in the display cases. The only thing of value is a strange hatchling creature encased in a translucent stone (a find found in the mines). An ancient style trap attached to a mechanical blade is here. DC18 to disconnect. The exact value of this treasure would be unknown.
#18 is a large room sort of like a large ballroom. The lack of other interest in the project meant it was never used so it stands as a strangely liminal space. Dark without windows, sealed enough from dust and smoke that overall it is good condition.
#19 is the room that houses the special telescope. Again, the practical worth of this is immense but getting it out of the housing would require great effort and it would be...all the inventory slots. Think large Victorian style telescope with a domed roof overhead (though in this case, the roof is a large sturdier and harder to open without the proper mechanism.
Did just three "room" rolls and besides the fire beetles in #4 there was 2 "empties" and 1 treasure protected by a trap. So the area is fairly empty.
>> PLAYER PHASE <<
The adventurers spend the next morning crawling over the upper floors of the lab to make sure everything is secure. In a room of unknown purpose, to them, they find a whole nest of fire beetles just crawling around and doing fire beetle things. Even Grusk is feeling a bit less bloodthirsty today and so they seal the door back up, and pile some of the broken pieces of automaton in front of it.
"Good luck, little buddies," says Inar.
They find a room full of some sort of...armor. They cannot tell the purpose of it. And tools. In many ways, the fighting was the easy part. This is a place full of riddles with most of the answers burned away by the constant march of smoke damage and time.
Upstairs, it is more of the same. Empty rooms. Lost plans. One room is the size of an entire house and is completely empty of all but stone. More bedrooms. Unused (presumably). A room with water pipes so bone dry it is hard to know if there was ever water in the room.
The only two things of interest found is first the large telescope on the roof which sees through smoke like it is not there (and sees stars despite a murky sun above the smoke layer suggesting it is daytime outside of the valley).
Secondly, there is a room that was passed through with the salamanders that is full of several display cases, mostly empty. Not all, though. Some have strange relics from the time of Jonias. The final days of the Barthic Empire. Exactly the sort of rubble that the salamander ruffians would not have even noted. One piece, though, is a strange relic of somewhere else. A creature in translucent rock like a carved egg. Tom works out the trap [17] and takes the relic out. Rance is not sure what it might be. Tom adds it to his bundle of holding (along with the three gems from the statue).
After this, they realize it is time to go down into the underbody of the lab. With the exception of the "temple" (Inar's choice of words) or "theater" (Rance's choice), very little up here has any real indication of being the the proper workshop. Meaning things are only going to get more exciting for them as they head downstairs.
"Time to find what else Jonias has in store for us..."
== DOUG'S NOTES AND COMMENTS ==
Starting this one, I was thinking that the fire beetles were going to be an interesting set piece to play with and then found out that ShadowDark does not have stats for those. I figured I could bring over the Basic Fantasy version with minimal tweaks only that version mentions (on page 68) "They are normally timid but will fight if cornered." The boys have shown, at least in part because of their worship of Gede, that they do not tend to fight animals unless is to protect themselves. Heck, they often try not fighting even people who attack them unless it goes south. In a session where they had more space to chew up on this, there might have been more description of them trying to empty out the beetles, but the other fight went a bit more punchy than I expected.
I made the automatons to be a kind of quick fight and in that way such things go it involved a lot of strategy and moving pieces. It was fun, no complaints, but I thought there was a non-zero chance the way the rolls were going that Tom might be the first actual death in the game. Inar, who has tended to be comic relief for most the series, got some great rolls in.
This one does represent a mood-shift that I am on board with. The last few sessions (maybe even last dozen sessions) have been building up Jonias Grunkheart as a noble man of legend. This one represents something like the reality of that. Jonias was a legend but one who was a bit driven and needed people to sign on. The other houses were turning against him (except for the original other four of Grunce). He eventually faded from public eye, his great work on partially done. There is evidence all the way back to the development of the Monolith that he had plans for this even-bigger project that few ever excepted fully.
Cal, in many ways, stands to be perhaps the better version of Jonias since he is all about building up a team that works together rather than relying on nobility.
It's too natural of a place to end this here, before they start downstairs, so I will.
By the way, the gems were +1 XP and the thing upstairs as +1XP.
Bonus by the way, this is the first time I am moving away from the OG style of section breaks and just using HTML. With the changes to the color scheme hopefully this works just as well with feed readers as it does with people reading in the blog.
== MECHANICAL AND STORY NOTES ==
- 19+3+1 = 23 INT check meaning it would take DC23 INT to spot the fact that the tracks were covered up. 3 wandering monster checks during this passing of time and all were negative.
- 6+3 = 9 DEX check. It won't be too hard for someone to punch through if they wish but it will at least cut down on the ash and embers wafting in.
- 19+3 = 22 to pass the check to find the secret compartments. 12-2 = 10 to fail the DC 15 check to realize these were the original models of the full fuelstone statues in the monolith.
- INT check 13+3 = 16 to pass a DC 15.
- Is there some sort of control mechanism in the room to operate the mirror portal? 18 --> Yes. Using Knave 2nd and the "Mechanisms" table on page 17, got 91 Vacuum Pumps 65 Rack + Pinion. That's enough to get a good "aetherpunk" picture of the place. Is the clockwork dragon somehow related to the working of the entire room? 10 --> Twist. 72 Contain 76 Anger + 28 Expand 75 Dream. So..."yes" but yes in the sense that Jonias's frustration on getting the technology right was channeled into the construction the dragon to figure out certain Ancient building techniques. We'll give Inar a INT 15 (at disadvantage) check to see if he notices...and no, he does not. For now, the dragon is getting left behind.
- Took two rounds before they activated. Tom whiffed the first check to get the gem loose but had figured out the latch right as they were activating. PCs got first go with initiative and Tom used it to leap back up on the table to put some space between him. Grusk is not able to equip his shield while holding the torch. He whiffs his attack. The golem whiffs its attack. The two (green and red) going for Tom have a massive table to navigate and they are not the quickest so they are slamming fists down at disadvantage to hit him (and are missing, tearing chunks of the table in the process). The table holds but each time it will have a greater chance of collapsing.
- Golems win init. Blue gets a weak hit in on Grusk. Red, even at disadvantage, gets two hits on Tom leaving him with only 2hp. Is the Green on the opposite side of the table? 8 --> No. Green gets a final hit in on Tom. Tom has 4+3 turns to make his death save. Grusk does get a weakish hit of 6 points of damage against Blue, though. Rance and Inar are in route and will be here next turn.
- PCs win. Grusk gets another hit in for another 7 points of damage. Inar casts Cure Wounds and gets a 17 to cast. Tom is healed up by 11 points and Inar starts dragging the goblin back out of the area. Rance has to spend two luck points but gets Acid Arrow shot into the back of Green for a single point of damage. Red and Green were slowly making their way across to fight Grusk. Red continues to do so, but Green is turning around and will be coming back across. Blue fails to do any damage to Grusk.
- Green hits low and fails to do any damage. Inar succeeds in a DC 12 STR check to pull himself and Tom out of the room. Rance maintains concentration on the acid arrow (5 points) and gets a magic missile cast (4 points) for a total of 10 points of damage to green. Red is still moving around the table and will join Blue next round. Grusk backs up to use the door so that only one statue can swing at him at a time. Blue gets another 4 points of damage on Grusk. Grusk, in turn, gets 9 points of damage (21 total). Blue is largely broken.
- PCs go first. Tom hits for 2. Rance fails his concentration check but does get another magic missile off for for 4 (16 points total). Inar burns off the team's last luck point to get a hit but gets a crit (easy come, easy go). 2d6+2 = 7 points of damage (23 points of total). Green hits Rance for 9hp damage and sends the wizard tumbling. Then, on the back swing once again glances off of Inar's armor. Grusk gets another 8 points of damage on Blue (29 points of damage, leaving it barely functional). Grusk takes 4 more points of damage and is definitely starting to feel it. Can the Red one hit past the doorway? 7 --> No, but...it's going to try and punch through the wall itself.
- PCs win init. Inar spends the last luck point (again) and hits in 5 points of while Tom lands another arrow and finishes off the Green-gemmed one. Rance makes a DC 12 Dex check to get back to his feet. Grusk crushes the main mechanism of Blue and then starts backing up, letting Blue's broken body act as a blockade Red has to navigate and buying him some time to prep. Red fails to punch through Blue 6+3 = 9 does not pass the DC 12 check to move the body.
- PCs win init. Inar heals Rance back up to full. Tom runs into the door frame and fires a shot into Red's back but misses. Rance casts acid arrow and lands for 2hp. Grusk holds the line and waits. Red continues to punch through the body of Blue and still does not get through.
- PCs win init. Tom and Rance run into the room and keep the large table in between. Inar stands in the door. Red is locked into Rance for now. Tom hits for 3 points of damage. Rance keeps up the arrow and adds a magic missile again (this time for 7 points of damage: 12 points total done). In checking to see if they stay distant, they roll an 18 (for Rance) and an 20 for Tom. They are keeping the table precisely in between themselves and the automaton which is tracking Rance. In a surprising move it leaps over the table (18 - 2 = 16) and comes down in between the two heroes [but does not score high enough to cancel out their maneuvering. Grusk gets WIS 15+1 = 16 to be aware that the tides have changed and now he has to punch through Blue. He kicks the blue automaton aside and will enter the conflict next turn.
- Red wins init. Both attacks hit Rance (7 total damage). Rance drops his concentration and casts Misty Step to phase out of the room back into the vestibule behind Inar. Tom gets the hit for 4 points of damage. Inar gets a swing in for 4 points of damage (20 total, now). Grusk gets a nat 20 leaping up over the table to cut the distance down. Attack will be at advantage and hits. For 6.
- PCs win. Grusk misses. Inar hits and shatters the legs of the creature. It topples, broken. Inar passes both of his Cure Wounds tests and heals both Rance and Grusk back up. Chance encounter check was negative. Nothing outside was attracted by the sound of clashing.
- Rolled 3 encounter checks, all negative.
- DEX 19 + 3 = 22, passing the DC 18 difficulty.
== CREDITS ==
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).
Opening art at the top of the post is "borrowed art" meant to be invocative rather than precise to illustrating the story. Image tools to generate some of the art is GIMP and Hex Kit (featuring the Lil Hex Pack and Strange BW Hex Pack).
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