Beforehand in 4 In opposition to Darkness: …one roll: limbs and demons…
The spirit’s wails of sorrow and demise bounced off the partitions like slingshots towards the 4 adventures. Torvul, a paladin used to the ungodly, wasn’t upset by the screams and charged just like the medieval tank he was. The arrows from his companions flew forward of him, crippling the banshee earlier than the killing blow from Torvul.
To the spirit’s credit score, she by no means did attempt to run.
Not scary sufficient. Sorry.
The banshee encounter was a mistake. However like several good solo RPG, I rolled with it earlier than I noticed I might missed my shot at discovering the gelatinous dice with the magic sword I used to be on the lookout for.
There aren’t any gelatinous cubes in Digressions of the Devouring Useless (DDD), not to mention magic swords being digested inside one. So earlier than beginning this journey, I might arrange my thoughts that as quickly as I rolled a Bizarre Monster, I’d make it the ultimate boss I used to be on the lookout for, rolling within the acceptable tables to make it an epic struggle.
Alas, it has been some time since I regarded on the sheets, and tonight, lifeless drained from an extended and sleepless week, this completely slipped my thoughts.
The following couple of rooms turned out unexpectedly uninteresting, contemplating the abhorrent nature of the DDD complement. Amid one empty room with treasures unguarded and one other crammed with puny skeletal rats popping out from lots of of tiny holes of undetermined depth within the partitions, the highlights of this 4AD session had been actually ornamental. There was a lever within the rat room, linked, as I’d later discover out, to the drawbridge within the subsequent part. And there was a pit entice on the finish of the banshee’s hall, with sides sloped into lethal spikes and greased with ooze. In all probability excretions from the dice.
However they by no means went again to activate the lever and open the drawbridge, and so they jumped over the pit entice as safely as a toddler enjoying on a padded playground. And with the enemies not more than a nuisance, I used to be able to pack on this subdued session after I determined to roll one final room and use Knock‘s tables to spice it up.
Certain sufficient…
Knock is sort of a field of candies…
Torvul’s lantern gentle was taken over by the glowing orange glow on the finish of the hall. The extra they walked towards it, the edgier all of them had been. Gentle inside a dungeon can really feel as unnatural as fireplace in a dry forest, and but the orange glow wasn’t what was causing them tense. They had been listening to a bit of unmelodious music coming from the identical course!
No one wanted saying to prepared their weapons and get right into a battle stance as they exited the hall and entered a big platform overhanging a fair bigger chamber with a lava pool! Torvul needed to struggle the urge to shed his armor as a result of warmth on this room, and the archers had been compelled to skint their eyes to focus previous the warmth waves within the air and goal on the skeletal group transferring in the direction of them.
Karva, the markswoman raised in a extra well-to-do household than the remaining, shortly acknowledged the supply of the dissonant sounds coming from one of many edges of the platform. She’d seen loads of piped organs and pianos throughout her childhood after dozens of visits to church buildings, palaces, and royalty lounges. However by no means had she listened to severed heads spiked on an organ, half singing “Feed Me!” whereas the remaining fought again with “Eat me!”
When OSR chaos meets DDD’s 4AD.
Each events engaged in fight, with the swords clashing, muffling the sounds on this weird setting! But once more, the arrows proved of little use in diminishing the variety of skeletons, however Torvul’s easy sword minimize by means of them like an axe slicing firewood. However some logs are more durable than the remaining and can make even the very best lumberjack miss their hit if they don’t seem to be cautious. Torvul’s brow, tucked behind a full-headed metallic helmet, poured sweat like a waterfall. His sword missed one of many skeletons, and the bony foe seized the hole earlier than the paladin might do something. It struck Torvul’s armor lifeless on!
It did not trigger a lot harm, nevertheless it pushed the paladin to the very fringe of the platform. Torvul slipped, fell, and rolled towards the inferno beneath, helped by the momentum of his heavy armor. He managed to cease on the edge and was perplexed not by the demise he had narrowly averted or by Nifteil, who had rushed in to assist him and killed the skeleton attempting to complete the job.
Torvul watched from the sting, amazed on the glowing scorching metallic idol, partially submerged within the lava pool, and questioned for a second if his beloved deity could be happy by golden choices.
Books used: 4 In opposition to Darkness; Digressions of the Devouring Useless (for the rooms and tables); The Dungeon Dozen (for aptitude within the rat encounter) Knock! #1 and Knock! #2 (for much more aptitude within the skeletal encounter)
One yr later: N/A
Pictures & Pictures: ZombieBoard, alecyl, feeshseagullmine,
Michael Wolgemut
