C1 S3 - Sleuthin’ & Drinkin’ at King’s Gate
This session played June 6, 2025.
Skalvin D9 Market (Neutral) - Day 2 Morning
Above table: New house rule: Shadowdark RPG rules say to treat CHAOTIC settlements/districts as RISKY for purposes of triggering random encounter checks. I’ll expand to say NEUTRAL is UNSAFE and LAWFUL is SAFE.
@ Party moves from Skalvin Market (Neutral) to Skalvin Artisan A (Lawful).
? Random encounter check
d: 1d6: 5 → Clear
@ Party moves through Skalvin Artisan A (Lawful) and out of Skalvin to the north.
The muggy swamps of Skalvin give way to drier terrain where the marshy wetlands collect into a widening river. The boardwalk leading north out of Skalvin terminates in a well-trod dirt path along the east bank of the river that leads a short distance to a sturdy but modest palisade wall.
? Random encounter check
d: 1d6: 2 → Clear
The gate is guarded but open; we’re welcome to come and go as we please.
D9 King’s Gate - High District (Chaotic) - Day 2 Afternoon
We enter King’s Gate and pass a City Watch outpost. A guard courteously welcomes us but warns us to keep a hand on our pursestrings, as there’s been a recent uptick in petty crime.
Several larger and nicely-constructed homes, painted bright colors. Street is bustling but not chokingly crowded. We see the Crimson Dragon, a clean-looking tavern.
@ Party enters the Crimson Dragon.
Carlsby is behind the bar. We all order House Ales (free).
? Solodark oracle - Does Carlsby know about the cloaked woman?
d: 1d20: 5 → No, but …
→→ … the description reminds him of the garb of a cult he thinks is based far to the northwest. Says we should ask at one of the temples here in town.
@ Party also asks if he knows where the Silver Blade is.
→ Carlsby directs us north toward the slums. Yikes.
? Random encounter check
d: 1d6: 1 → Hit!
d: High District Encounters 1d100: 79 → A weeping bard singing a tragic ballad follows the PCs.
? Solodark oracle - Is this guy a thief?
d: 1d20: 17 → Yes, and …
→→ … he’s not alone!
@ Denton WIS check to see through the bard’s ruse.
d: 1d20: 15 + 3 (WIS) = 18 vs DC12 → Success!
→→ Denton remembers the City Watch guard’s warning and realizes they’re being played.
@ Daeniel WIS check to notice the hidden accomplice.
d: 1d20: 10 + -1 (WIS) = 9 vs DC12 → Fail!
@ Denton confronts the bard and starts arguing with him.
@ Ryarn WIS check to notice accomplice.
d: 1d20: Nat 20!
Above table: The natural 20 here will mean Ryarn notices the hidden accomplice, and the jig is basically up. Thieves must pass a flat DC15 check to commit to the bit and attempt to mug the party. Let’s give them disadvantage, too.
N Thieves gooned-together “morale” check.
d: 1d20 (dis): 5 → Fail!
→→ The thieves are well outmatched without the element of surprise, and flee as the party draws our weapons and makes some noise, attracting attention.
Above table: Just for fun, let’s say one of them drops something as they run.
@ Brolga WIS check to notice what the thieves dropped.
d: 1d20: 6 + 1 (WIS) = 7 vs DC15 (busy street, general commotion) → Fail!
@ Denton, same check.
d: 1d20: Nat 20!
→→ Denton notices a small pouch on the ground!
Above table: Keeping it simple, let’s say 1d4 gp.
d: 1d4: 4 → Denton gains 4gp!
@ Party decides to head toward Temple District A to ask about the cultist.
? Random encounter check
d: 1d6: 4 → Clear
D9 King’s Gate - Low District B (Lawful) - Day 2 Afternoon
No encounters (safe district). We cross a bridge over the river into Low District A.
D9 King’s Gate - Low District A (Lawful) - Day 2 Afternoon
No encounters (safe district). We cross a bridge over the river into Temple District A.
D9 King’s Gate - Temple District A (Lawful) - Day 2 Afternoon
We arrive in the district mid-afternoon. The two largest structures here are a stone meeting house to the west and an imposing cathedral overlooking the river to the east.
@ Party enters the cathedral.
This is a temple to Ord. Denton, as a Seeker to Ord, is immediately calmed, and approaches one of the many prayer altars lining the nave to offer a prayer. Out of respect, all party members donate 1gp to the charity box at the entrance.
A Haruspex of Ord approaches, noticing these sugns of respect, and greets the party warmly.
@ Denton bows.
@ Party asks the Haurspex if she knows anything about the cult in the northwest, and specifically about a cultist traveling through the area some years ago.
? Solodark oracle - Does she remember the cultist?
d: 1d20: 18 → Yes
The Haruspex says the temple has long been aware of the cult but had never met one of its members before—so it was pretty memorable when the young woman came into the temple in search of a safe place to sleep. She stayed in the rectory for several days and was a good and respectful guest of the temple. Came and went several times. Seemed very stressed out, ate little, conspicuously sweaty even in the autumn cool. All of a sudden she was gone, leaving nothing but a generous donation behind.
? Solodark oracle - Does Haruspex remember clearly enough for details of the cultist?
d: 1d20: 2 → Nope
→→ Just a young woman, never shared her name.
@ Party thanks the Haruspex and leaves.
Above table: Housekeeping! Party should have earned XP as well as gold as a group for that cash drop from the thieves. Whoops. All PCs get 4gp. A “bag of gold” is considered “Normal” loot, so +1XP all around.
The day is almost over. Let’s find Kieren, deliver the letter, and see if there are beds for us there.
@Party heads to the Slums (Neutral) via Temple A, Low District A, and Low District B (all Lawful).
D9 King’s Gate - Slums (Neutral) - Day 2 Evening
We arrive at the Silver Blade Tavern just as the sun is setting.
? Random encounter check
d: 1d6: 4 → Clear
The Silver Blade is an upstanding establishment with a diversity of patrons. The evening crowd is thick and good-natured. Tasty smells from the kitchen door behind the bar lead the party up to Kieren. No space at the bar, so it takes a minute to catch her attention. Kieren soon spots us and brings a round of ales.
@ Ryarn pulls Ginny’s letter from her pack and hands it to Kieren.
Kieren is delighted! Says it’s been hard for them to see each other lately because of dicey conditions along the palisade (crime, etc), and it means a lot we were willing to help.
Above table: For delivering the letter, we’ve earned Ginny’s discount! +1XP all around.
Kieren assumes we’re not heading straight back to skalvin, but if we check with her next time we pass through, maybe we could deliver a response?
In the meantime, Kieren says we should make ourselves at home, free rooms for the night as a thank-you.
@ Party hangs out & socializes.
@ Party buys dinner: 2x cheese & bread, 2x rat-on-a-stick, 4x more ales.
→→ -2gp & 16cp
? Solodark oracle - Does anyone here know the way to that weird cult? Let’s retcon a name for them: The Oath of Frost.
d: 1d20: 13 → Yes, but …
→→ … not for free. A patron challenges one of us to a round of Wizards and Thieves. If we win, he’ll mark the safest route to the Oath’s village on our map.
? Solodark prompts - What if we lose?
d: 2d100: 88, 48 → ACQUIRE DARK
→→ He gets to try and knock me out with one free punch.
Note for the blog: Wizards and Thieves is a tavern game described in the core rules for Shadowdark RPG that I was excited to try out. I’m going to omit the log of this game for three reasons:
Gambling games are a lot more fun in a group rather than solo.
The written log of a gambling game is hella boring to look at.
I completely borked the rules anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Suffice to say, the game happened, and near as I can tell, the bar patron won.
? Solodark oracle - Is the bar patron serious about fighting?
d: 1d20 (adv): 12 → Yes
→→ Bar guy socks Daeniel in the face.
Above table: I’d make it a combat encounter but neither party is interested in dying and Daeniel will just get his HP back when they rest, so mechanically let’s call it a wash.
Daeniel takes the hit. The small crowd that gathered to watch the game cheers with raucous laughter. Daeniel shakes it off and Bar Guy helps him up. They shake hands amicably and Bar Guy says he has no idea how to get to the Village of the Oath.
Jesus, probably time to turn in. Thank goodness for full bellies and free beds.
Above table: Want to clean up / rewrite the context for Bar Guy. Bar Guy is a trader working for a major trading corporation. The corp jealously protects its routes—especially those that traverse dangerous roads—and it could cost Bar Guy’s employer dearly if that knowledge becomes public. That’s why nobody else raises a hand to help—the route is secret. Bar Guy was just drunk enough and just cynical enough to bet that knowledge on the game. We’re accepting the loss and not attempting to intimidate Bar Guy because A: we’re not assholes, even though our quest is serious, and B: it’s likely Bar Guy travels with an armed entourage and we don’t want trouble. Maybe try to follow, or track?