nightmare · 10 rooms · did not come back · seed log-nightmare-103
🏛️ 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.
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. | John Dee carries it (4 mentions against 3); 4/4 named |
| missed | Rooms should be in the order they are for a reason. | 1 of 10 rooms answer an earlier one (10%) |
| met | Something must go wrong, and it should be legible when it does. | 3 rooms cost the party something |
| met | If every room is a beat, no room is. | the loudest room runs 2.0× the median (peak 4, median 2) |
| met | A choice reads as a choice only when the alternatives are named. | 10 of 10 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. | 9 of 10 resolutions state a number |
| met | The party should not argue in one voice. | 5 distinct voices across 10 deliberations |
| met | No sentence should appear twice in one delve, verbatim. | every effect line is said once |
| 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 2, back half 3 |
| met | The ending should answer the delve it ended. | the epitaph names somebody who went down |
A gelatinous horror holds the room (attack 10, health 37). 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). Pillars break the room into aisles — something to fight behind. Somebody stacked supplies here and never came back for them.
They might have chosen to accept the duel, or negotiate the terms — John Dee made the case: "Faith walks in front. So do I." 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 gelatinous horror in 2 rounds, taking 1 damage. 🧱 The party fights from behind a row of squat pillars: 1 less damage per round. 🧱 The party fights from behind stacked crates and barrels: 1 less damage per round. 🎒 3 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
🛡️ John Dee takes the front of the march, and the rest fall in behind.
A shrine. Resting here heals the party; the gold leaf on the altar could be stripped instead. 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 rest and heal, or strip the gold leaf — Giordano Bruno made the case: "I did not survive the academy by standing in the open." The party chose to bless the font and drink.
⛲ The cleric says the words over a stone font of still water and the party drinks: 12 health healed.
A treasure chest sits in the room. It may hold gold; it may be a mimic. Somebody stacked supplies here and never came back for them. A silvered mirror leans against the wall, and it shows the room more honestly than the room does.
They might have chosen to experiment with the assembly, or dissolve the lock — Michael Maier made the case: "Run first. The reaction can finish without us." The party chose to take one of the side passages.
🛤️ The side passage goes round, and round, and eventually through. Two more marches of oil burned than the direct road would have cost. +8 score.
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 — Simon Forman 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.
🕯️ The wick is well down the oil. 2 more marches of light, then none.
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). Half the ceiling is on the floor, in pieces worth stepping around.
They might have chosen to solve the progression, or read the dust — John Dee made the case: "The light goes first. I merely follow it, loudly." The party chose to ask which square is safe.
🔮 The question is put once, at the threshold, and answered squarely enough to cross on. +20 score. 🎓 Everything this asks for, the party happens to have brought: +25 renown.
🕯️ The wick is well down the oil. 1 more march of light, then none.
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 push through and take the hit, or bypass it with a utility spell — Giordano Bruno made the case: "I did not memorize this spell to whisper it." The party chose to search for a way around.
There is nothing to fight and nothing to take. The party keeps going.
🕯️ The flame stands up, thins, and is gone. The party is out of oil.
A gelatinous horror holds the room (attack 10, health 37). 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). A bed of rusted spikes stands out of the floor, most of them still upright. An anvil sits under a dead forge, still true.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — Michael Maier made the case: "Every explosion is a lesson. Class is in session." The party chose to put it onto the floor spikes.
🔻 The party drives the monster back onto a bed of rusted floor spikes: 19 damage, and it has to pull itself off them. ⚔️ The party kills a gelatinous horror in 1 round, taking 0 damage. 🧱 The party fights from behind a fall of rubble: 1 less damage per round. ➖ The party spreads into a line, two forward and two behind. 🎒 1 more preparation holds besides — the ledger keeps it.
💡 Dancing Light carries the march instead of oil: none of the 3 damage the dark would have taken.
The dungeon itself turns hostile. The party must brace together or scatter. A crack runs the width of the room, wide enough to matter and too wide to jump twice. A boulder sits at the top of a slope, held by a wedge of rotten timber.
They might have chosen to brace together, or scatter and regroup — Simon Forman made the case: "The god counsels prudence. Loudly. Through me. Right now." The party chose to sift the rubble.
🪨 The party sifts a fall of rubble: 13 gold.
A connecting corridor. Nothing blocks the way; the party moves through.
They might have chosen to pass a plan through the stone, or send something under the slab — John Dee made the case: "I have a strong feeling we should be elsewhere. Call it prophecy." The party chose to speak mind to mind.
📡 The link opens as easily as speech, and both halves know at once that the other is standing. They come back together at the far junction abreast and unpanicked. +26 score. 🎓 It is answered from three directions at once and stays answered: +25 renown.
The boss chamber. The Ogre King Under the Stair waits at its center (attack 28, health 77); killing it clears the dungeon. Plate and chitin cover it: the party's blows do 2 less damage each round. A silvered mirror leans against the wall, and it shows the room more honestly than the room does. Pillars break the room into aisles — something to fight behind.
They might have chosen to stand and fight, or fall back — the Craven wanted no part of the alternative. 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. ☠️ Even so, the Ogre King Under the Stair beats the party down. 🩸 Simon Forman takes the worst of it: 14 of the party's 63. 📐 The party meets it standing as the last room left them. 🪞 A tall silvered mirror shows the ethereal where it truly stands: weapons do full damage. 🧱 The party fights from behind a row of squat pillars: 1 less damage per round. 🎒 2 more preparations hold besides — the ledger keeps them.
☠️ John Dee falls. The party's cleric is dead; the 3 still standing march on.
☠️ Giordano Bruno falls. The party's wizard is dead; the 2 still standing march on.
☠️ Michael Maier falls. The party's alchemist is dead; one of them is still standing.
☠️ Simon Forman 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 Dee, Giordano Bruno, Michael Maier, Simon Forman. Rooms cleared: 9. Trophies lost with them: 2 (latest: 🫙 a jar of restorative ooze).
Regenerate this exact delve:
npm run simulate -- --seed log-nightmare-103