One Shot in the Dark was created by Jon of the Tale of the Manticore podcast. You can get your copy of the game on DriveThruRPG. Jon is on Twitter, and you can visit the TotM blog and Podbean page to listen to his amazing dark fantasy/D&D actual play podcast.
Level Up
Available Spells
Draw for Location
The companions descended the stairs into inky shadows, briefly chased away by the glow of Charis’s lantern. At the base of the stair, they find themselves in a small room with a torn and tattered red runner covering the cobbled ground.
“The floor is different here,” Galadhri said, crouching and tracing the mossy stone cobbles with his elegant fingers. “This was built more than carved.”
“Indeed,” Belig replied, placing his palm on the slick stone wall. “These stones were cut, and cut well. Look here, you can see the striations of a stonecutter.”
Charis walked ahead, leaving the elf and dwarf in shadow. “If you’re both done admiring the stonework, can we get a move on? There’s light up ahead.”
The halfling didn’t wait for her companions to follow, and crept forward silently until she reached the large room. Inside, she saw a long wooden table scattered with old books. Two of the walls of the large room housed shelves of books.
“Morrigan, you’ll want to see this,” the thief called.
Morrigan, Galadhri, with Belig trailing behind, entered the library. The elf and cleric immediately began rifling through the leather bound tomes on the shelves while the halfling plopped down in one of the high-backed wooden chairs and propped her booted feet up on the table.
“I needed a rest,” she said, leaning her head back and taking a deep breath.
“Galadhri, look at this,” Morrigan called.
The elf took the book the cleric extended to him and flipped through the tattered, age-stained pages with a grim look on his face.
“This is a book of summoning. An old one at that. Some of these spells have been forbidden for centuries,” the elf whispered. “What is going on down here?”
“I don’t know, Galadhri, but I fear what we will find down here.”
“Whatever it is,” Belig rumbled, “we’ll handle it like we always do.”
“I admire your confidence, Stronghammer,” the elf replied, returning the book to its shelf. “We will need more than that if what I fear comes to pass.”
“Don’t tell me what you fear, Galadhri,” Charis called. “It’ll be better for me if I don’t know. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.”
“Very well then,” Galadhri said, bowing to the halfling.
“Let’s move on,” Belig said, looking down the only corridor leading out of the library.
Draw for Location Result
Draw for Location
Charis grabbed Belig's arm and motioned for silence. She cupped a hand to her ear and nodded down the tunnel. Belig let the halfling slip between him and the wall and waited as the thief crept to the other end of the tunnel.
The sound of light snoring reached the halfling's ears as she stepped quietly into the large room. Beds and tables cluttered the wide space, and two humanoid figures slept in cots near the northern exit of the room.
Charis waited and listened, her keen hearing finally picking up on two distinct rhythms. Certain both forms were deep asleep, she motioned her companions forward.
Despite Belig's heavy boots, the adventurers managed to make it across the room and into an adjacent tunnel without rousing the sleepers.
Draw for Location Result
Saving Throw
Draw for Location
"Oy!" Belig whispered loudly, "watch yer step here. Floor's slick."
He took another step and sucked in a startled breath. Charis and Morrigan gripped their weapons tight and moved forward, prepared to deal with whatever had surprised their friend. Both women stopped, gasping as cold water flooded into their boots.
"What the hell," Charis muttered and withdrew the hood of her lantern.
They found themselves calf deep in a shallow river of fetid green water. The tunnel's walls were slick with slime and mushrooms which ballooned to life as the light hit them, brimming with a green incandescence.
"This looks like the sewers in Gottsham," the halfling muttered, and continued into the tunnel.
Soon, she and Belig found themselves thigh deep in the water. Morrigan, and the near seven foot tall Galadhri managed to avoid getting more than their boots wet in the muck.
The tunnel wound left and right, the water sloshing against the slimy walls as the Delvers trudged forward.
Draw for Location Result
Draw for Location
"A door," Belig whispered to the thief.
"Let's see if I can open it."
Charis climbed up out of the water and crouched on the stone threshold of the iron door. Her deft hands quickly went to work on the rusty lock, guiding her picks into the slot and slowly rotating the tools.
A sharp metallic crack echoed weakly through the tunnel as the lockpicks broke and clattered to the ground.
"No luck," Charis said, standing. "The pin broke off. There's no unlocking it now."
"We must find another way," Galadhri replied, placing his hand on the halfling's shoulder.
"The only way is to get past those sleepers."
"What's two unarmored people to us?" Belig rumbled. "We can handle them."
"Very well, let us return," Morrigan agreed. "Lead the way Charis."
Draw for Location Result
Saving Throw
Draw for Location
Charis led them back through the eerily lit tunnel, sloshing with every step. She held the lantern up as much to keep it from being inadvertently doused by a rogue splash of water. A loud squelching echoed through the tunnel, and Charis turned to grin at Belig, thinking it was his boot stuck in the mud that made the sound.
As she turned, a large iridescent blob dropped from a rotting beam overhead. She tried to move out of the way, but she wasn’t fast enough and the slimy substance coated her head. She tried to scream, but the goop kept her mouth from opening. She could feel the skin on her face and the hair on her head begin to burn beneath the acidic ooze of the slime. She dropped her lantern, but couldn’t hear the splash as it hit the fetid water. She slumped against the slick wall and slid down until her shoulders were nearly submerged.
Belig and Galadhri dashed forward, and pushed their friend beneath the water. She struggled against their grip until the first bits of the slime began to slough off of her face. Bubbles fluttered to the surface as the screams she had been unable to release came out all at once as the slime’s gelatinous body dissolved.
The dwarf and the elf pulled their friend from the fetid water, supporting her weight as she sputtered and breathed deeply. The halfling’s hair was mostly dissolved by the slime’s corrosive properties, and the skin on her face and pointed ears was a blistered red.
“You did well,” Belig said, patting the thief on the shoulder. “Trying to get beneath the water probably saved your life.”
“No,” she gasped. “You and Galadhri did that. Thank you both.”
“Can you walk?” Morrigan asked.
“I think so,” Charis replied, taking a step forward in the dim luminescence of the mushrooms. “Anyone see my lantern?”
“I’ve got it,” Galadhri answered, scooping the still burning lantern from beneath the water.
“How’d it stay lit?” Charis asked.
“Dwarven oil,” Belig grinned. “Takes more than dirty water to douse.”
“You used your oil in the lantern?”
“Don’t look so shocked,” Belig replied.
Belig stepped back to let Charis stretch her legs and felt a stone beneath his foot give way. He stumbled back against the wall and braced himself for whatever trap he had inadvertently sprung. Nothing happened for a long moment, then they all heard a dull grinding sound and dust began to fall from a section of nearby wall.
Draw for Location Results
Party Status Update
Draw for Location
The wall slowly descended, revealing a dry and dust-coated passage. Charis limped forward, holding the lantern aloft to illuminate the dark space, with Belig at her side.
“Looks like no one’s been here recently,” the warrior said, and motioned for the cleric and mage to follow.
The dark corridor twisted left and right, until it opened into a long hallway. Ahead, the party could see a red light filtering through a haze of dust motes and smoke particles. Charis’s daggers rang in the silence as she drew them.
“Be on your guard,” she whispered.
Belig and Morrigan stepped in front of the wounded halfling, their blunt weapons gripped and ready.
Draw for Location Result
Draw for Location
| Location | Suit | Value | Result |
| -------- | ---- | ---- | ------ |
| The Dungeon | Hearts | 7 | 60'x60' Unholy Church |
As they approached the red lit room, more details came into focus through the haze. Large pillars marched in ordered rows from the back of the cavernous space all the way to the front. Along a tattered runner were rows of benches. At the front, a large marble statue towered over an altar caked in blood.
There was nothing living within the room, but on two long wooden tables Morrigan and Belig found desecrated human bodies. Forks and knives, along with blood soaked plates lined each corpse. One of the bodies had a large carver’s knife in its side. Disgust overcame the halfling and the dwarf, and both moved away, retching and spitting phlegm.
Morrigan hangs her mace on her belt and crosses her arms, examining the bodies. Her eyes narrow as the scope of the atrocities before her dawns. Galadhri trembles beside her, rage and revulsion waging war within his breast. The elfkin do not relish death, and are staunch opponents to the taking of life and the mage was no different.
“What horrid practice is this?” he asked Morrigan.
“Human sacrifice. Cannibalism. I know of only one reason for such actions.”
“Enlighten me cleric.”
“Someone down here is trying to summon an extraplanar being.”
“A demon?”
“Perhaps. We can only hope it's as simple as a demon. We stand a chance, however slim, against a lesser demonoid. If they’ve summoned something worse, then we are all doomed.”
“Very uplifting, Morrigan,” Charis called, then spit.
“We must leave this place,” Belig rumbled. “Even the stones quake at the wickedness done here.”
Draw for Location Result
Party Status Update
Draw for Location
Charis wandered north, past the columns and then called back to her allies. “There’s some stairs here!”
When the others gathered, they descended the next set of stone stairs together, shaken and disgusted by what they had just witnessed.
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