hard · 11 rooms · came back · seed log-hard-86
🏛️ The party backs into a row of squat pillars and makes the monster come down one aisle at a time: 4 damage as it closes.
The line this delve would be retold by.
11 of 12 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. | Kenelm Digby carries it (4 mentions against 4); 4/4 named |
| met | Rooms should be in the order they are for a reason. | 2 of 11 rooms answer an earlier one (18%) |
| met | Something must go wrong, and it should be legible when it does. | 5 rooms cost the party something |
| met | If every room is a beat, no room is. | the loudest room runs 2.5× the median (peak 5, median 2) |
| met | A choice reads as a choice only when the alternatives are named. | 11 of 11 deliberations name a road not taken |
| n/a | A death is only worth reading if the dead had a line first. | nobody fell |
| met | Name the thing and state the number. | 11 of 11 resolutions state a number |
| met | The party should not argue in one voice. | 4 distinct voices across 11 deliberations |
| met | No sentence should appear twice in one delve, verbatim. | every effect line is said once |
| missed | The boss should get to be a boss. | the boss died without acting — the delve has no climax |
| 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 0, back half 2 |
| met | The ending should answer the delve it ended. | the epitaph names somebody who went down |
A goblin toll-gang holds the room (attack 8, health 18). The party must decide how to get past it. Somebody stacked supplies here and never came back for them. A gargoyle spout drips something that is not water into a stained channel.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Kenelm Digby made the case: "I've studied every trap in the codex. This one's new. Wonderful." The party chose to fight from behind the pillars.
🏛️ The party backs into a row of squat pillars and makes the monster come down one aisle at a time: 4 damage as it closes. ⚔️ The party kills a goblin toll-gang in 1 round, taking 0 damage. 🔪 Six knives arrive before the party does: 4 damage before the first round. 🗡️ The daggers land before the argument starts: nothing comes back in the first round. 🎒 7 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
🛡️ The order settles with Tycho Brahe at the head of it: whatever comes, comes to them.
A shrine. Resting here heals the party; the gold leaf on the altar could be stripped instead. A font holds water that has been still a long time and is somehow clean. A brazier burns in its bracket — nobody has been here to feed it, and it burns anyway.
They might have chosen to endure the discord, or rest and heal — Tycho Brahe made the case: "I'll guard the rear. Someone has to. Far back." 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.
🕳️ Kenelm Digby finds a hidden door into the archive wing. Behind it: shelving stacked to the ceiling, half of it collapsed. Its rooms join the route.
A library. The party can study here to learn spells. Shelves sag under books nobody has audited in a century.
They might have chosen to move on — Michael Sendivogius made the case: "Plan? I'm the plan." The party chose to study the shelves.
📚 The party studies the shelves and learns 2 spells.
A hidden vault, stacked with treasure. Vaults always hold something beyond coin. A portcullis hangs raised above the passage, on a chain that still turns. Shelves sag under books nobody has audited in a century.
They might have chosen to loot the treasure, or inspect it first — Paracelsus made the case: "Every explosion is a lesson. Class is in session." The party chose to open it with Knock.
🚪 Knock opens the lock at range: 106 gold taken. The noise carries through the dungeon.
The dungeon itself turns hostile. The party must brace together or scatter. Half the ceiling is on the floor, in pieces worth stepping around. A pit takes up a third of the floor. The bottom is not visible.
They might have chosen to brace together, or scatter and regroup — Kenelm Digby made the case: "I disarm faster when it's already ticking." The party chose to sift the rubble.
🪨 The party sifts a fall of rubble: 13 gold.
🚶 The party looks into the barracks wing (bunkrooms and a picked-over weapon rack) and keeps to the main route.
A connecting corridor. Nothing blocks the way; the party moves through.
They might have chosen to repair the gears, or divine the unstable motion — Tycho Brahe made the case: "If it bleeds on me, that's how I know it's working." The party chose to correct the orrery.
🔭 The planets are set right and the room settles. The corrected heavens counsel the party: the next fight begins under a favourable aspect. +20 score. 🎓 It is answered from three directions at once and stays answered: +25 renown.
A library. The party can study here to learn spells. Shelves sag under books nobody has audited in a century. A font holds water that has been still a long time and is somehow clean.
They might have chosen to move on — Michael Sendivogius made the case: "A fight you skip counts double." The party chose to study the shelves.
📚 The party studies the shelves and learns 2 spells.
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. A pit takes up a third of the floor. The bottom is not visible.
They might have chosen to accept the duel, or negotiate the terms — Paracelsus made the case: "Peer review can wait. The flask can't." The party chose to shove it into the brazier.
🔥 The party drives the monster into a brazier still burning: 16 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 daggers land before the argument starts: nothing comes back in the first round. 🎒 6 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
A trap blocks the corridor. The party must disarm it, avoid it, or take the hit. A tripwire runs up the wall to a bell: an alarm trap. Little damage, but the next monster will be warned (+2 attack).
They might have chosen to solve the progression, or read the dust — Kenelm Digby made the case: "There's a wire there. I noticed it while planning my retreat." The party chose to just walk it.
💥 It is a floor for about six paces. 3 damage out of the ceiling, and the party finishes the crossing at a scattered run.
✚ Tycho Brahe is opened up badly enough that the delve will keep it: 11 is as whole as they get until town. The Reckless do not stop to bind anything, and more of it stays with them.
A chittering rat swarm holds the room (attack 6, health 15). The party must decide how to get past it. It is a swarm: spell openings hit it ×1.5. It keeps clear of the torches: weak to fire (fire damage ×1.5). An anvil sits under a dead forge, still true. A bed of rusted spikes stands out of the floor, most of them still upright.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Tycho Brahe made the case: "Plan? I'm the plan." The party chose to open with a combat spell.
🔥 Frost Lance opens the fight; against a swarm the spell hits ×1.5. ⚔️ A chittering rat swarm 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 daggers land before the argument starts: nothing comes back in the first round. 🎒 3 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
🕯️ The wick is well down the oil. 2 more marches of light, then none.
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. Pillars break the room into aisles — something to fight behind.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Michael Sendivogius made the case: "My shield works best with me behind it and everything else very far away." The party chose to open with a combat spell.
🔥 The caster opens with Frost Lance, chosen precisely for the monster's frost weakness: spell damage ×1.5. ⚔️ The Dragon Whelp of the Deep Vault 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 daggers land before the argument starts: nothing comes back in the first round. 🎒 10 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
🕯️ Someone checks the reservoir and does not like the answer: oil for 1 more march.
the Old Delve is cleared: the boss is dead and the party walks out. Survivors: Kenelm Digby, Tycho Brahe, Michael Sendivogius, Paracelsus. Rooms cleared: 11. Trophies carried out: 4 (latest: 🔥 a vial of whelp-fire).
Regenerate this exact delve:
npm run simulate -- --seed log-hard-86