Solo Aetherdark - Session 1 - Always a Bigger Fish

This is the start of an Aetherdark campaign, a Spelljammer-like setting and extension of Shadowdark. It will begin with a Level 0 Gauntlet from the same setting.

I will be the GM, and I will emulate the players using Triple-O, a neat tool by Cezar Capacle. My hope is that, as a happy forever GM, this style of play will appeal to me more than playing solo characters, and I’ll be more eager to build a longer running campaign. I’ll be able to develop content before I run it and then see what my emulated PCs do with it. The characters actions will be informed by some randomly generated traits.

I will be notating this campaign using the Lonelog format. My hope for using this tool is that it will lower the barrier of entry for me. I want to be able jump right into sessions without being overwhelmed by the idea of writing a ton of prose.

The PCs:

I have randomly generated 15 PCs from the Aetherdark setting. I will play four of them at a time. If one dies, I will replace it with another PC. All the characters that aren’t currently being spotlighted are assumed to be following the main four around and doing little things to help.

Content Warning:

The level zero gauntlet begins with players captured by slavers. These slavers are unambiguously evil. I recognize this is not everyone’s cup of tea - it’s not something I reach for either, but having read it, I don’t feel qualms about running it as a game.

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Session 1

Date: 2026-02-19

What the PCs know:

• You were taken by raiders in a flying ship

• You’ve been locked up at least a week, up to a month

• You’ve been able to talk in whispers and know a fair bit about each other

• Your captors are cruel

• Two captors are the frightful **Chef Amelia** and the cunning **Captain Ca’Resh**

• Just now, yells came from above, then the ship began to shake. The hull buckled and broke your cells open

• There was a slaver in the hall before the cells broke, but his lantern went out in the chaos.

S1

The ship rocks and captives are thrown to the floor. They scramble to their feet in the darkness.

The four PCs I am starting with are:
Pavya, Calrivian Dwarf. Sarcastic, talks to themselves. Former Thief.
Leith, Devlienner Serf. Orc. Courageous, growling. Former Stonecutter.
Amchutchen, Calrivian Hardback. Huge family, quivering. Former Spicer.
Bi’De’Nir’Wyn’Lek, Solarian Kobold. Bide (pronounced Beed) for short. Never gives up, insistent. Former duelist.

I will roll for turn order and stay in turn order. The Kraken Timer as written is 1 hour. I will make it 10 turns, the way Solodark prescribes for torch timers. On my turn, the kraken timer will advance. It will look like: [E:Kraken Timer 1/10].
d: d4=3 -> Amchutchen goes first.

@ [C:Amchutchen] Search in the darkness for a light source
(note: three things can be found by searching here, so the only thing that will change is the order.)
d: d3=3 -> Slavers corpse
=> Amchutchen stumbles blindly into the corpse of the slaver

@ [C:Bide] Searches the body
d: d2=1 -> Cutlass
=> Bide grabs the cutlass from the man’s belt.

@ [GM] Encounter check and kraken timer
d: d6=4 No encounter
[E:Kraken Timer 1/10]

@ [C:Pavya] Searches near the body
=> Finds the extinguished lantern and turns it on

[GM: There are two visible exits. Grinding, cracking sounds come from the door fore, and flickering light from the door aft.]

? Which way does Leith lead the group? Obvious: aft, Option: fore, Odd: neither
d: d6=6 -> Obvious, aft

@ [C:Leith] Opens the door and charges in

Leith yanks the door open, nearly ripping it off its hinges, and then freezes. The smell of burning flesh sickens. All that can be seen in the dim light are stacked barrels and crates, and fire in an oven on the starboard side wall. Turning on the spit in the oven is a goblin body. The group is in the hold of the ship. The ceiling is open over the barrels, and flickering firelight can be seen above. On the wall to port, a sliding section of the outer hull is open, revealing an endless expanse of stars in the astral sea.

[GM: Everyone makes a CHA save (DC12) upon seeing the goblin in the oven. On failure, disoriented for d4 rounds, can only move OR act.
d: [C:Amchutchen] d20+2=8 -> Fail
d: [C:Bide] d20+1=10 -> Fail
d: [C:Pavya] d20+2=17 -> Pass
d: [C:Leith] d20-1=7 -> Fail
d: d4=2 -> 2 rounds of disorientation
=> All but Pavya see this and are sickened. Bide and Pavya vomit, overcome.

@ [C:Leith|disoriented] Searches the barrels and finds a pathway through into the open hold

Further into the hold, steel pipes descend from the upper deck, pass through boxes carved with runes, then continue to the aft wall of the ship where mithrite blocks are positioned, floor to ceiling, carved with complex runes and flickering with green flames. On the wall opposite the group, sacks and crates of supplies are strewn about, opened, spilling onto the floor.

@ [C:Amchutchen|disoriented] Searches the supplies for anything like a weapon.
d: d12=8 -> Iron Spikes (10)
-> Triggers random encounter check
d: d6=5 -> No encounter

@ [C:Bide|disoriented] Joins Amchutchen in the search
d: d12=7 -> Crowbar
-> Triggers random encounter check
d: d6=1 -> Encounter!

Bide and Amchutchen start digging through the supplies, desperate to find anything to help them survive this catastrophe. As they dig, they uncover a sailor hiding behind a barrel, one of their captors. More crawl out from behind cover as they realize they are discovered, but they look terrified.

[GM: Reaction Roll]
d: 2d6+2 (Amchutchen CHA)=12 -> Friendly
=> The terrified soldiers say they are hiding from Amelia

As weapons are pointed at the cowering soldiers, the halfling closest cries, “Don’t! Wait! She’ll kill us all, we can help you!” The other soldiers babble incoherently, about something monstrous destroying the ship. “Amelia, she’s gone mad, she’ll carve you up and eat you just the same!”

? What does the party do in response to this unexpected reprieve?
Obvious: Attack the sailors, they are captors!
Option: Try to compel the sailors to defend themselves and the ship
Odd: Leave the sailors here and go somewhere else
d: d6=1 -> Leave the sailors here, have to get away from them!

[GM: Encounter check and Kraken timer]
d: d6=2 -> No encounter
[E:Kraken Timer 2/10]

[C:Pavya] Shouts out that they have to run, but tries to glance around the supplies first
d: d12=1 -> Torch

[C:Leith|disoriented] Leads the way back aft, into the room with the cells

[C:Amchutchen|disoriented] Opens the heavy wooden door on the fore side of the cell rooms and steps in to see the Kraken’s massive, lamprey-like maw devouring the wall and floor to starboard.

The group freezes in terror as they see half of the room has been replaced with the open, gnashing, gnawing mouth of an enormous creature. Wood from the deck and the hull splinters and cracks and falls into the mouth, where rows upon rows of impossible teeth grind it to paste. A tentacle, a meter thick, crashes through the walls and up through the ceiling, where more breaking and cracking can be heard above. The ship will soon be completely destroyed.

? What do the party do, with the kraken’s maw here?
Obvious: Push through to the other side
Option: Retreat and deal with the sailors instead
Odd: Freeze for a round
2d6: 1,6 -> Obvious
=> They try to push through the room and make it to the ladder

[GM:The kraken senses their approach and starts to shake the ship violently to get them in its mouth. DC12 DEX check or fall and slide towards the mouth]
d: [C:Amchutchen] d20+2=20 -> Pass
d: [C:Bide] d20+2=8 -> Fail
d: [C:Pavya] d20-2=8 -> Fail
d: [C:Leith] d20+4=14 -> Pass
=> Bide and Pavya stumble and fall, sliding towards the maw. They will be devoured on their next turn...

[C:Amchutchen|disoriented] Tries to grab Bide and pull them up
d: d20+2=13 vs DC12 DEX -> Pass
=> Amchutchen pulls Bide to his feet

[C:Bide|disoriented] Tries to grab Pavya while Amchutchen holds on to him
d: d20+2=18 vs DC12 DEX -> Pass
=> Still scrambling to his own feet, Bide also grabs Pavya by the leg and hauls her back

[GM:Encounter check and kraken timer]
d: d6=1, Encounter!
[E:Kraken Timer 3/10]

[GM: Unbeknownst to the group, Chef Amelia has finished her meal and begins searching for a new one. She leaves the chop shop and cabin and is now in area 7. She finds the syndicate sailors there and is engaging them in combat.]

[C:Pavya] Scrambles up the ladder onto the open deck

Atop the ladder, the stars light the middle deck. Facing out from the front of the ship are four iron devices, like long, bowled cauldrons, resting and bolted down to wooden blocks. The opening of these devices aims out over the front of the ship into the astral sea. In the center of the ship is a cabin atop this deck. On the walls of the cabin are shuttered glass windows. To the sides of the ship, tentacles of the kraken have curled around the deck of the ship, splintering wood beneath, and keeping the ship in a vise grip as it devours it from below.

? Does anyone know what the bombards are?
d: d20=9 -> No

? What do the group do here?
Obvious: Search the rest of the deck
Option: Break into the Cabin
Odd: Try to figure out the bombards
d: d6=5, Obvious
=> The group moves to search the rest of the deck for any way off this ship.

[C:Leith:-disoriented] Moves around the sides of the cabin.

[GM: The group hears a blood curdling scream and the thwacking sound of a blade hitting flesh.]

As the group follows the narrow walkway to the aft of the ship, they see a grisly scene. 3 sailors back away in fear from a hulking human woman. She wears a blood stained apron, and blood drips from the end of a massive chef’s knife. It is clear to them that this is the woman the sailors below were so afraid of. A halfling sailor lies on the deck, feebly trying to crawl away as they rapidly lose blood from a fresh wound.

“Mutiny... you thought you could... take my place... take the captain’s place... Oh no, sweet little meatlings, there won’t be any mutiny on my ship!” The woman steps over the body of the halfling towards the other sailors.

[GM: Initiative Rolls!]
d: [C:Amchutchen] d20=2 -> 2
d: [C:Bide] d20=6 -> 6
d: [C:Pavya] d20=10 -> 10
d: [C:Leith] d20+4=13 -> 13
d: [GM] d20=2 -> 2

[C:Leith|-disoriented] Stunned, but Orcish runs hot. Charges and attacks Amelia with his fists.
d: d20+STR(0)=20! -> Critical Hit. 3 damage [N:Amelia|HP:17]
(Note: Unarmed. My rule is that unarmed strikes deal 1 damage. Here, it’s doubled to 2, and Leith’s Mighty adds 1 to make it 3.)

[GM:Amelia grins and turns to attack Leith]
d:d20+3=7 -> Miss!

? Do the sailors run, or do they join the fray to attack Amelia? Or the group?
? d6, 1-3 run, 4-5 attack Amelia, 6 attack the group
d: d6=1 -> Run
=> The soldiers, seeing an opportunity to escape the mad woman, run away.

[C:Amchutchen] Searches desperately for something like a weapon
? Does he find something useful?
d: d20=11 -> Yes
=> Amchutchen spies bottles flickering with lightning near the edge of the husk of a burning room. (Lightning Bottle)

[C:Bide] Whips out his cutlass and attacks with duelist’s speed!
d: d20-1=14 -> Hit!
d: d6=3 [N:Amelia|HP:14]
=> The cutlass slashes into Amelia, who seems to revel in the bloodshed

[C:Pavya] Grabs the crowbar from Bide and swings it at Amelia
d: d20=6 -> Miss
=> Pavya swings wide and stumbles toward the only intact small boat on the deck

[C:Leith] Enraged, tries to kill Amelia with his bare hands.
d: d20+1=3 -> Miss

[GM: Amelia whips her blade in a circle, attacking her nearest enemy, Pavya]
d: d20=16 -> Hit
d: d6=3
=> Pavya takes the wicked chef’s knife across the neck, and the blade nearly decapitates the dwarven woman, who is now dead.

As their first compatriot falls, the group cries out in horror. Another one of the group steps forward and grabs the crowbar out of Pavya’s lifeless hand.

[C:Ra’Wyn’Lek’Ka’Nir, Solarian Gnoll. Rawyn for short.] (takes Pavya’s place in initiative)

[C:Amchutchen] Throws the bottle at Amelia!
d: d20+2 vs DC 9 DEX=17 -> Hit
d: d20=16
=> Amelia convulses as the bottled lightning explodes at her feet, collapsing to the ground, smoking and dead.

To be continued...