hard · 16 rooms · did not come back · seed log-hard-30
🌑 The party works the monster to the edge and puts it into a crack across the floor: 13 damage on the way down.
The line this delve would be retold by.
12 of 13 values met. A reading, not a grade — the score exists to sort logs, not to judge them.
| Value | What the log shows | |
|---|---|---|
| met | A delve should be about somebody. | Marsilio Ficino carries it (5 mentions against 5); 4/4 named |
| met | Rooms should be in the order they are for a reason. | 2 of 16 rooms answer an earlier one (13%) |
| met | Something must go wrong, and it should be legible when it does. | 7 rooms cost the party something |
| met | If every room is a beat, no room is. | the loudest room runs 3.5× the median (peak 7, median 2) |
| met | A choice reads as a choice only when the alternatives are named. | 16 of 16 deliberations name a road not taken |
| met | A death is only worth reading if the dead had a line first. | 4 deaths, each of somebody the reader had met |
| met | Name the thing and state the number. | 16 of 16 resolutions state a number |
| met | The party should not argue in one voice. | 5 distinct voices across 16 deliberations |
| missed | No sentence should appear twice in one delve, verbatim. | 1 effect line printed verbatim more than once (worst ×2) |
| met | The boss should get to be a boss. | the throne room ran an unstated number of rounds |
| met | A resolution should be readable in one breath. | every resolution inside its budget |
| met | The back half should cost more than the front half. | front half 4, back half 8 |
| met | The ending should answer the delve it ended. | the epitaph names somebody who went down |
A library. The party can study here to learn spells. A brazier burns in its bracket — nobody has been here to feed it, and it burns anyway.
They might have chosen to reconstruct his rounds, or question the ghost gently — John Napier made the case: "My shield works best with me behind it and everything else very far away." The party chose to read the place itself.
🧭 The map is unnecessary: the place was laid out by someone with habits, and habits can be read off three corridors. The party stops doubling back — two marches of oil saved, and the next snare is on the route before they reach it. +30 score. 🎓 Three disciplines on one problem, none of them guessing: +25 renown.
A gelatinous horror holds the room (attack 8, health 27). The party must decide how to get past it. Plate and chitin cover it: the party's blows do 2 less damage each round. It flinches from the cold: weak to frost (frost damage ×1.5). Somebody stacked supplies here and never came back for them. A crack runs the width of the room, wide enough to matter and too wide to jump twice.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Marsilio Ficino made the case: "The god helps those who check for tripwires." The party chose to put it down the crack in the floor.
🌑 The party works the monster to the edge and puts it into a crack across the floor: 13 damage on the way down. ⚔️ The party kills a gelatinous horror in 1 round, taking 0 damage. 💢 Sunder reminds the plate it was ore: it stops turning blows for the rest of the fight. 🔪 Six knives arrive before the party does: 4 damage before the first round. 🎒 4 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
🛡️ The order settles with John Napier at the head of it: whatever comes, comes to them. 🧭 The party turns off into the flooded wing — a floor that slopes down into standing water. Its rooms join the route.
A trap blocks the corridor. The party must disarm it, avoid it, or take the hit.
They might have chosen to search for a way around — Michael Maier made the case: "Gold in, gold out — that's the whole science." The party chose to push through and take the hit.
💥 The party pushes through the trap, taking 3 damage. The Craven spotted the tripwire first: 1 less damage. 🔮 This is the snare the party was told about: half the damage it would have done.
✚ John Napier takes a wound that will not close down here. Healing can bring them back to 13, no further, until town. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them.
A cold-eyed wraith holds the room (attack 12, health 18). The party must decide how to get past it. It is ethereal: weapons do only 60% damage unless a cleric blesses the blades. It will not face the cleric: undead take holy damage ×1.5. A sarcophagus stands against the wall with its lid slightly wrong. A brazier burns in its bracket — nobody has been here to feed it, and it burns anyway.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Giordano Bruno made the case: "Why duel what you can outwit?" The party chose to shove it into the brazier.
🔥 The party drives the monster into a brazier still burning: 10 fire damage. ⚔️ A cold-eyed wraith is finished before it can strike back. 🔪 Six knives arrive before the party does: 4 damage before the first round. 💥 The Reckless finish the fight with style: +5 score. 🎒 3 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
A rattling skeleton patrol holds the room (attack 9, health 21). The party must decide how to get past it. It will not face the cleric: undead take holy damage ×1.5. Half the ceiling is on the floor, in pieces worth stepping around. A sarcophagus stands against the wall with its lid slightly wrong.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Marsilio Ficino made the case: "I have a strong feeling we should be elsewhere. Call it prophecy." The party chose to turn the undead.
✨ The cleric turns the undead: a rattling skeleton patrol crumbles. +30 score. 🦴 A rattling skeleton patrol drops a femur of surprising balance: a trinket (+1 attack), now worn by John Napier.
A treasure chest sits in the room. It may hold gold; it may be a mimic. A silvered mirror leans against the wall, and it shows the room more honestly than the room does.
They might have chosen to loot the treasure, or leave it alone — Marsilio Ficino made the case: "Even the dead tithe here. Especially the dead." The party chose to inspect it first.
🔍 The party checks for mimics and curses first, then takes 39 gold safely. 🔍 The Masterwork Lockpicks found everything: the full gold taken, nothing missed.
A connecting corridor. Nothing blocks the way; the party moves through.
They might have chosen to observe every detail, or divine what is hidden here — Michael Maier made the case: "Shake it and see." The party chose to search the room methodically.
🔎 Systematic searching reveals a cache in the oldest stones. Not as rich as it might have been, but real. +20 gold, +14 score. 🎓 Everything this asks for, the party happens to have brought: +25 renown.
A cold-eyed wraith holds the room (attack 12, health 18). The party must decide how to get past it. It is ethereal: weapons do only 60% damage unless a cleric blesses the blades. It will not face the cleric: undead take holy damage ×1.5. A portcullis hangs raised above the passage, on a chain that still turns. A gargoyle spout drips something that is not water into a stained channel.
They might have chosen to accept the duel, or negotiate the terms — Giordano Bruno made the case: "Overchannel? I call it generous casting." The party chose to open with a combat spell.
🔥 The caster opens with Dawnbreak, chosen precisely for the monster's holy weakness: spell damage ×1.5. ⚔️ A cold-eyed wraith is dead before the party closes: it never gets a round. 🔪 Six knives arrive before the party does: 4 damage before the first round. 💥 The Reckless finish the fight with style: +5 score. 🎒 6 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
A cold-eyed wraith holds the room (attack 12, health 18). The party must decide how to get past it. It is ethereal: weapons do only 60% damage unless a cleric blesses the blades. It will not face the cleric: undead take holy damage ×1.5. A brazier burns in its bracket — nobody has been here to feed it, and it burns anyway. Pillars break the room into aisles — something to fight behind.
They might have chosen to speak with whatever wears the armour, or name the armour by its heraldry — John Napier made the case: "Last one in buys the ale!" The party chose to strip the insignia off it.
🗡️ The binding is three rivets and a sealed strip of vellum. Out they come, and the plate is only plate again — with a strip of very old vellum worth keeping. +8 gold, +20 score. 🎓 Three disciplines on one problem, none of them guessing: +25 renown.
A library. The party can study here to learn spells. Pillars break the room into aisles — something to fight behind. A font holds water that has been still a long time and is somehow clean.
They might have chosen to read the sealed texts, or move on — Marsilio Ficino made the case: "I have a strong feeling we should be elsewhere. Call it prophecy." The party chose to study the shelves.
📚 The party studies the shelves and learns 1 spell.
A shrine. Resting here heals the party; the gold leaf on the altar could be stripped instead. A silvered mirror leans against the wall, and it shows the room more honestly than the room does.
They might have chosen to rest and heal, or move on — Michael Maier made the case: "Don't burn the carcass — half my income is in the glands." The party chose to strip the gold leaf.
⛏️ The party strips 30 gold of leaf from the altar. The next disaster will hit harder for it.
A trap blocks the corridor. The party must disarm it, avoid it, or take the hit. A bed of rusted spikes stands out of the floor, most of them still upright. A pit takes up a third of the floor. The bottom is not visible.
They might have chosen to solve the progression, or read the dust — Giordano Bruno made the case: "Why duel what you can outwit?" The party chose to cross in order.
🎯 One at a time, weight where the weight has already been tested. Slow, sound, and the party is in single file at the far end. +18 score. 🎓 A second pair of hands that knows what it sees: +10 renown.
🕯️ Someone checks the reservoir and does not like the answer: oil for 2 more marches.
A connecting corridor. Nothing blocks the way; the party moves through.
They might have chosen to reconstruct the mosaic from memory, or recognize the mosaic — John Napier made the case: "Danger pay. Emphasis on pay." The party chose to imagine what the image should be.
✨ Your creative instinct pieces together something that was never there but might have been. A hidden cache reveals itself. +10 gold, +16 score. 🎓 Not done alone, and better for it: +10 renown.
🕯️ Someone checks the reservoir and does not like the answer: oil for 1 more march.
A goblin toll-gang holds the room (attack 8, health 18). The party must decide how to get past it. A silvered mirror leans against the wall, and it shows the room more honestly than the room does. A pit takes up a third of the floor. The bottom is not visible.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or pay the toll — Marsilio Ficino made the case: "Even the dead tithe here. Especially the dead." The party chose to fall back.
💨 The party retreats, taking 2 damage on the way out. The room stays hostile; they will have to try it again.
🕯️ The lantern dies with the party still under the hill. No more light to carry.
✚ 2 wounds on John Napier, and the ceiling with them: 11, and no more.
Back through the same door, for the second time. Nothing here has forgotten them.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Giordano Bruno made the case: "The safety margin is where the good magic lives." The party chose to open with a combat spell.
🔥 Chain Lightning opens the fight, softening the monster before the first blow. ⚔️ A goblin toll-gang is dead before the party closes: it never gets a round. 📐 The party meets it standing as the last room left them. 🔪 Six knives arrive before the party does: 4 damage before the first round. 💥 The Reckless finish the fight with style: +5 score. 🎒 4 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
🌑 The party gropes through the dark and pays for it: 5 damage to everyone. The Craven creep, and the dark takes its time with them. The Covetous will not leave a room unsearched, even blind. It costs them.
✚ 3 wounds on John Napier, and the ceiling with them: 9, and no more.
✚ Marsilio Ficino takes a wound that will not close down here. Healing can bring them back to 12, no further, until town. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them.
✚ Michael Maier takes a wound that will not close down here. Healing can bring them back to 10, no further, until town. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them.
✚ Giordano Bruno takes a wound that will not close down here. Healing can bring them back to 10, no further, until town. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them.
The boss chamber. The Dragon Whelp of the Deep Vault waits at its center (attack 18, health 52); killing it clears the dungeon. It flinches from the cold: weak to frost (frost damage ×1.5). A portcullis hangs raised above the passage, on a chain that still turns.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — the Cunning picked the safer angle. The party chose to open with a combat spell.
🔥 Chain Lightning opens the fight, but the monster resists the element: spell damage ×0.5. ☠️ Even softened, the Dragon Whelp of the Deep Vault beats the party down. 🔪 Six knives arrive before the party does: 4 damage before the first round. ✨ Nothing is held back for later: the party looses everything it has, 4 workings in the one fight that matters. 🎒 4 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
🌑 Another march by touch alone. Walls, edges, and things underfoot take 5 from each of them.
☠️ Michael Maier falls. The party's alchemist is dead; the 3 still standing march on.
☠️ Giordano Bruno falls. The party's wizard is dead; the 2 still standing march on.
☠️ John Napier falls. The party's fighter is dead; one of them is still standing.
☠️ Marsilio Ficino falls. The party's cleric is dead, and there is nobody left to carry them out.
The party is wiped out in the Old Delve. The dead: John Napier, Marsilio Ficino, Michael Maier, Giordano Bruno. Rooms cleared: 15. Trophies lost with them: 5 (latest: 💰 the toll-purse).
Regenerate this exact delve:
npm run simulate -- --seed log-hard-30