Bleak + Pearl

 


"The Bleak and The Pearl" is my first foray into ShadowDark and a good way for me to learn the basic rules while also trying out the new SoloDark toolkit for running ShadowDark solo games. 

It offers me some opportunities that my normal style of solo play does not: I get to do an actual dungeon crawl and proper hex crawl; I get to mostly eschew any kind of social and civilization sections or at least keep them brief; and I get to play pre-written adventures. That last one is still amazing to me. 

The backstory is relatively simple: there are two twin islands (both somewhat sizable), Barthus and The Silt. For centuries, Barthus was the hub of the Barthic empire. The Silt, however, was a wild and primitive land of giant beasts and strange magics that resisted civilization. 

300 years ago, something went wrong with Barthus as The Bleak began spreading. Slowly at first, then faster and faster. It corrupted. It devoured. Beasts and demonic energies destroyed towns and broke the empire into pieces. The people of the land - humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and goblins - were driven further south and east until many - those who lived anyhow - started trying to cross the Gray Channel and rebuilding civilization. 

However, The Silt is not an easy prize. Orcs and other tribes already living there resented losing their freedom and the great creatures, including dinosaurs and dragons, lashed out if the Barthic diaspora spread too far. The end result is that the last three centuries have seen the mighty Empire reduced to a number of cities and settlements on either side of the channel, clinging to the edge of two lands. 

To the west is The Bleak and its people contending with the corrupting Darkness. To the east is The Pearl and its people trying to gain a foothold in a savage land. 

Four orphans from The Pearl are driven by apocalyptic dreams that something in The Bleak is about to begin a new assault and have traveled across the Channel to see what they can find. 

Along the way they have come across a quest to save the last great city in the Bleak, a city called Grunce which handles many of The Bleak's refugees and also trade across the Channel. The city is on the cusp of falling, the final relic of Barthic magic - The Lighthouse - is winding down. They feel that stopping this disaster will help them to prevent a larger calamity looming. If only they are not too late. 

Sessions and Musings List

NOTE: The first two sessions were played prior to the making of this blog. The adventures took on a cultist lair full of undead, found a strange cloak that prevents any magical scrying but also drives the wearer mad, and then came to Grunce where a drunken week of carousing ended up with them finding and joining up with the Lighthouse Keepers. 

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