Well… that was interesting: D&D 5E Solo Game 1 – Session 5 – Mythical Crypt

Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.

Robert A. Heinlein

Session 5 – Mythical Crypt

Using the Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition (MGME2E)! Well, we’ve finally made it. With this solo session post, we’re switching over to using Mythic as the principal driver for my solo adventures.

I’m working on an Investigation Check for Mythic, but I wouldn’t say it’s complete as of yet. I need to use it a bit more before I give it the final grade.

To start things off, I fill out a few details in the Adventure Journal and Adventure Lists. I default the chaos factor to 5 and after reviewing my previous notes and posts I list specific items on the Threads List and the Characters List as described on pg. 111 in the MGME2E in the End of Scene Bookeeping. Since we haven’t used Mythic yet, I’m treating everything that has happened so far as the end of the scene and detailing what I believe to be important characters and locations.

Mythic prescribes that you do the following when adding thread and character items to the lists.

If any Threads or Characters already on a List played a part in the Scene add an additional entry for them as well. This creates weighted Lists that make important elements more likely to reappear in your adventure. Once a specific Thread or NPC
has filled three slots on its List don’t add any more entries of that element, even if it’s important in a later Scene.

Add List Elements – Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition.

Since I don’t currently have anything, I know that the following items have come into play a few times, so I add them. The prepared Adventure Journal and Adventure Lists are shown here.

My handwriting is horrible, but I’ll detail below what is written above.

For the Adventure Journal, I list the scene as “The party enters crypt of Cord Stomrock”, and as you can see the Chaos factor is currently 5.

For the Adventure Lists.

Since we’ve been to the Goblin cave to the west a few times, I’ve added it multiple times to the max of three as prescribed by Mythic.

One last thing to note, is that since we haven’t been keeping track of Scene numbers thus far, I just chose the number 50 to start off with. The Day sections will now contain the Scene reference we are in within the overall story.

With this prepared, we’re ready to get back to our adventure, but using Mythic as the oracle system. Keep in mind however, that I’m treating the start of this session as being in the middle of a Scene already, so we’ll cover more scene details later and focus on the core mechanic of Mythic, Fate Questions, during this session post.

---

Advice to the reader

In order to interpret the structure of my gaming session posts effectively, it is strongly suggested that you peruse A Readers Guide to Play Sessions on The Old Bard, if you haven’t already.

To better grasp what I mean when I bring up Fate questions, you might find it useful to keep the Mythic Fate Chart accessible, potentially in a new window or tab in your browser.

---

The Story So Far

The party has just started down the hidden passage into the crypt where they believe Cord Stomrock is holding Cheng’s wife.

---

Day 15 Continued – Scene 50

ATOB: The one thing we should do first and foremost before going down onto the crypt is establish the marching order for the party.  This isn't something I've detailed before, as it was more of a summary up to this point.

The party agrees that Morn will lead the party down into the crypt. He moves slowly and stealthily as the cultists are sure to expect that they would follow.

ATPC: A Stealth Check is performed for Morn since he is leading the party. A roll of 1d20 results in 8. Since Morn has a proficiency bonus of +3 and a Dexterity bonus of +2, the result is. 13. 

ATGM: Considering the fact that the cultists know the party probably followed them, I determine that the difficulty class (DC) for stealthily entering the crypt is Medium, or 15. Unfortunately this Ability Check is a failure for Morn.

ATOB: But I'm curious if the cultists actually heard him or not, so I'm going to introduce Mythic by asking a Fate Question. Note that I do NOT plan on providing this much detail and exposition as we continue on, but I want to show you how the core mechanic of Mythic is used. So, bear with me as I explain.

ATGM: "Do the cultists hear the party entering the crypt?"

I'm going to rule that the odds of the cultists hearing the party is Very Likely based on the circumstances. With the current Chaos Factor being 5 we can see the percentile of getting a Yes is 75% by referencing the chart below. So, if we roll a 75 or under, then the answer is Yes. Anything higher is a No. However, the two numbers besides 75 represent Exceptional Answers. Rolling equal to or less than 15 in this case would be an exceptional Yes, vs rolling a 96 or higher would be an exceptional No.

ATGM: Now let's roll 1d100 and see what our result is. 54! So, it's a yes, the cultists do hear them. I could decide at this point that the cultists turn back and engage with the party again, however they started running away in the initial battle, so I suspect they are either going to hide or seek out Cord Stomrock for help. I'll pose another Fate Question to determine that and based on the context, I'm going to say it's likely that they do in fact try to flee.

"Do the cultists continue to flee?"

A 1d100 roll results in 12! Since I set the odds to Likely for this fate question, it's JUST under 13 which is the number to roll at or under for an Exceptional Yes!

An Exceptional Yes is the same as a Yes but
intensified, meaning you take your Yes answer to
the next logical level.

Fate Question Answers – Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition.

ATGM: I decide that not only do the cultists continue to flee, but the party hears them shouting in alarm for Cord Stomrock to alert him of intruders.

In the vaulted darkness of the crypt, the ceiling still feels close, and the walls—weighted with death and black with mold—seem to press inward. The party is conscious that they walk in the footsteps of the dead: those who built this place long ago and those who buried people in it—now perhaps entombed here as well. This is no place for the living to tread. The cultists detect that the party has followed them into the crypt and shout as they continue to flee “Cord! There are intruders here! Quick! Cord!!”

ATOB: I plotted out this map of the crypt probably about 3 weeks ago, and you can see how some of the areas have been rubbed off. Thanks Cats. Usually, I keep my battlemaps under a sheet of plexiglass to keep them flat and protected (You can sort of see that at the top) however in this case I didn't.

The party can partially see the cultists escaping down a corridor on the opposite side of the entrance to the crypt and hear them shouting for help.

Combat broke out while the party had the two cultists in sight. One of the cultists was defeated and became a Phantom Servant. This servant was defeated as well but not before doing some hefty damage on Morn by frightening him and attacking with his blood-chilling touch. The cultist already in the corridor ran out of sight, but not before he was severely hurt. Before moving onward, the party searches the corpse of the cultist and the room.

ATPC: Morn searches the corpse. I'm going to say the odds are 50/50 so I role 1d100 for a result of 84 on the Fate Chart which results in a Yes, but not an Exceptional Yes.

ATGM: I use the Random Treasure section of Chapter 7: Treasure from the D&D DMG. This results in 14 silver pieces that I split evenly for Morn and Thenelis (I don't split with Sidekicks because I don't want to manage that). I also award both Morn and Thenelis 400 XP each for the slain Cultist and Phantom Servant (I use XP leveling vs Milestone for my solo games)

Before moving through to the corridor, Morn inspects the door for traps.

ATPC: Morn rolls an Investigation Check, with a result of 9 (1 with +8 Proficiency), yeah that's just not going to be good enough. Thenelis attempts as well, with a result of 22 (19 with +3 Proficiency). That will work.

ATGM: I'm going to say that's sufficient, as it would probably be a moderate DC for them to determine if the passage is trapped. So, if in fact it is, Thenelis would detect it.  If no one was successful in the ability check, I would still determine if it was truly trapped, and if so, my characters wouldn't know that. Then move them through tripping the trap.  However, we really need to see if there is actually a trap, so I'll use a Mythic Fate Question of "Is the corridor trapped?" to determine if it is truly trapped.
I'm going to say it's likely that it is trapped and roll. 93! So it's a No, but JUST Under an exception no, but a yes regardless. So now, what kind of trap is it?  I'm going to say that there is a trip wire just beyond the opening of the corridor, that if hit, would cause the ceiling above the opening to collapse down. This would pummel anyone underneath and seal the opening to where they could not get back out.

Thenelis sees the trip wire just beyond the opening and warns everyone to be careful. Thenelis then leads, visibly stepping over where the wire is so everyone can see. He is followed closely, by Morn, then Ulmog, Mara and finally Cheng. Thenelis sees doorways on both sides halfway up the corridor.

ATGM: I say there is a 50/50 chance the cultist in the room to the right sees or hears the party, so for a Chaos Factor of 5, that's <= 10 for an Exceptional Yes, <= 50 for a Yes, and >= 91 for an Exceptional No. I roll 70, so just a No in this case. The cultist does not see the party. I could have rolled a perception check for him but decided to use a Fate Question for this instance.
I have Thenelis roll a Perception check since he is leading. He has a passive perception of 14, and I would generally say that is good enough, but since we are in a stressful situation, I'm going say a roll is needed. He rolls 13 (9 +4 Proficiency). This is good enough. 

Thenelis spots the cultist to his right just inside the room. He casts Fire Bolt at the cultist but misses. Combat ensues once more, mostly with Morn and Thenelis against the cultist, and eventual Phantom Servant. Morn is injured once again.

ATGM: I award out another 400 XP each for the slain Cultist and Phantom Servant

The two rooms happened to contain stone coffins but are empty and nothing is found in the room itself, so the party moves forward to the next corridor they see.

ATPC: Since it is still very likely that the next corridor is trapped, I have Morn roll another investigation check. It's 11, so I say that's successful but post the Fate Question of is it trapped with the Very Likely category. Since Chaos Factor is still 5, I role a 69. It is in fact trapped much like the other corridor with another trip wire.

Morn moves through the next corridor, careful to step over the trip wire and hears voices coming from the other side of the door. Morn uses the Doss Lute he previously acquired days earlier to become Invisible.

ATOB: The Doss Lute mentioned above and linked, will take you to its description on D&D Beyond. However, if you click it and do not have a D&D Beyond Account, nor own the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) digitally there, you can find a description for it on page 178 in the DMG itself.

Morn stealthily enters the room. The room smells heavily of incense and oil, and smoke hangs in a curtain about the room.

A stone altar can be seen across the other side of the room that looks to be another place of ritual sacrifice much like the one seen above the crypt. Atop the altar are half-candles, all lit and made from strange pearlescent wax, surrounding a pentacle of bloody ground bone and laying on top of the alter the figure of a woman can be seen. Possibly Chéngs wife Morn believes.

In the coagulated blood splattered over the altar’s top and front, and on the floor, someone has written a fine script in arcana and infernal, as if scratched into the blood with a stick, claw, or fingernail. Behind the alter, is a tall man in a cloak and cowl holding up the ancient crystal ball. This must be Cord Stomrock.

Morn doesn’t see any other cultists around so retreats back to the corridor to inform the rest of the party what he sees. Morn brings Cheng up the corridor to peak in and see if he can identify the woman as his wife.

ATPC: Posing the question of "Is the woman on the alter Cheng's Wife", and that it is Likely, I roll a 56, which is under 65 needed for a Yes.

Overcome with emotion, Cheng announces “Yes! It’s my wife!” which unfortunately Cord Stomrock heard. His eyes now drawn to the opening of the corridor. Realizing they have been spotted, the party rushes in and draws their weapons once more.

Stomrock lowers the crystal ball, a blinding light emanates from it filling the room and blinding the party. A whoosh is heard, and the blinding light is gone.

Slowly the party starts to see around them. They are no longer in the crypt. Instead, they see small multicolored tents, hear laughter, and music playing. It looks to be a Carnival.

---

Bookkeeping

Well, that’s sort of an introduction to using Mythic. I only used the core mechanic mainly here, Fate Questions and the Fate Chart. In the next post I’ll detail the concept of Scenes in mythic, considering that our party seems to have been transported to a Carnival. But is it the Carnival mentioned previously by Mara? We’ll have to see. And why was the party transported there by Cord?

I would call this an Interrupt Scene by Mythics standards, even though I didn’t roll to determine if it was. I had actually planned this for part of my story. You don’t always have to leave it to any system to tell you what you want to do in your own story, because it’s yours. Always feel free to deviate and come up with something on your own if you have a good idea.

However, since a Carnival has come up, we’re going to list it in the Threads List on our Adventure Lists page. I’m just going to put A Carnival, since we don’t know that it’s THE Carnival that Mara has spoken of. We’ll resolve that next time. We already have The Carnival on the characters list.

I’m also going to add another entry for Cord Stomrock as I feel he played an extremely important role in this scene. I mean, he somehow transported the party somewhere else, so we need to try to understand why. He was already listed once, but not the max of 3 so I add him again on the Characters List. I also add Crystal Ball to the characters list.

We of course didn’t have to wait till the end of the scene to update these lists. We could have added them earlier so they could be available sooner for Random Events.

Moving forward, I’ll also try to limit the amount of ATGM/ATPC etc. unless I feel it’s really necessary, meaning I won’t repeat things such as “I did a skill check, etc.” unless the result of that check introduced an interesting aspect of the story. But you tell me, if it’s too much or too little.

I’m also going to say it’s been a few hours into day 15, so I put my current time at around noonish of the day.

Lastly, I think the party wasn’t in too much control there at the end. I mean they were transported away when they confronted Cord! So let’s bump the Chaos Factor to 6 moving forward.

Till next time!

---

Resources Used

• Dungeons & Dragons Core Rule Books
  • Players Handbook (PHB)
  • Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG)
  • Monster Manual (MM)
• Dungeons & Dragons Campain Settings: Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
• Dungeons & Dragons Expanded Rules: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
• Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition (MGME2E)
• dscryb for flourish in some descriptions.
• Ultimate Bestiary: The Dreaded Accursed (5E) (NGTDA) for Phantom Servants that the cultists become.
• Remarkable Cults & Their Followers by Lore Smyth for details about the cult.
• Wonderdraft for generation of the ritual site.