This concludes the write-up of a solo-game exploring the Stygian Library, using BLUEHOLME as operating system. The previous post can be read here.
Aged philologist and wannabe wizard POLSTRUM had organised a second delve into the STYGIAN LIBRARY after previously failing to retrieve MAZIRIAN’S GRIMOIRE. In addition to his faithful servant, MAREK, he has enlisted the aid of the following adventurers:- Larkin (Eliza Larkinkis), fighter 1
- Sirka, changeling fighter-mage 1/1
- Bastien, fighter 1 (a hired retainer)
- Emmeline, fighter 1 (follower of Larkin)
- Schmidt, Cleric 1 (a hired retainer)
Additionally, thief-for-hire Kurdt fled following his death and subsequent resurrection. After a series of bruising encounters the party may have finally reached their goal...
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| Illustration by Alec Sorenson |
Turn 39
Event: Something is returning home to its office and is surprised by the PCs!
“Welcome! I’ve been expecting you
[so not that surprised]
Sitting at her desk,the 3' tall archivist-lich Eirkuut grins (as if skull-faced individuals can do anything else). She knows what Polstrum wants and she senses his sudden fear: she would, of course, be more than happy to share if he had anything at all to trade.
After some discussion, she hands the party a tome: Journeys in Ynn, written by an author unknown to any... though the title makes Sirka's eyes pop.
"Travel to the Gardens of Ynn and bring me back proof of the sidhe and the grimoire is yours."
Eirkuut copies a spell from the grimoire as a gesture of good faith: Polstrum receives a scroll with Conjunction of the Inexorable Step. She then ushers the out, wishing them luck: when they ask for a way back, she merely tells them to keep delving deeper!
Progress: mission accomplished? just need to find a way out...
Turn 40
Event: Something returns to its lair!
Larkin remembers this previously: the storage vault holds (possibly) the solution to her debt. She is keen to force the door open while the rest of the party wish to keep moving–unfortunately, they spend too long arguing and find themselves hemmed in by 7 crawling things: "Improbable chimeric organisms that should not be biologically viable, and yet somehow live—twitching, shuddering, crawling. Driven by glitching muscle memory and scrambled genetic instincts. A broken democracy of mismatched anatomies. Tragically incomplete."They battled these alongside a host of animate books, but now the slowly marching monsters present a more serious threat. Bastien and Emmeline move to protect the flanks with their halberds, while Marek and Sirka provided ranged cover over the heads of Schmidt and Larkin, who initially hold a shield wall. Polstrum retreats to the doorway of the vault. Marek hits one with a crossbow bolt, Sirka destroys another with a flaming spear... but she will have to reload her crossbow and watch her spear flicker in the darkness before attacking again.There’s a lot of manoeuvring as the main melee combatants (Schmidt, Larkin, Emmeline and Bastien) attempt to weaken the crawling things’ flanks while Marek and Sitka continue to blast them with quarrels. However, after five rounds the remaining crawling things have cornered Marek and killed him. Larkin, Schmidt and Sirka take 2 rounds to dispatch his murderers.The party are exhausted and decide to rest.
Event: Something turns up!
Larkin suggests that break into the vault and try to get some sleep. Reluctantly , the party concurs. Without Kurt’s it’s down to Larkin and Bastien’s brute force… which after ten minutes of banging and crashing alerts an ink elemental and 3 ink blots.The party now know fire is an effective weapon against these creatures, and Emmeline sends a flaming crossbow bolt towards the Ink Elemental while the party tool up: Schimdt and Polstrum light torches while Bastien, Larkin and Sirka equip themselves with magical weapons.The party swiftly deal with the ink blots but the Ink Elemental itself persists for four rounds–despite taking continuous fire damage throughout this period. Before it can be permanently put itout of its misery the beast engulfs Bastien, and he dies.The party have lost two members in quick succession, and several of them suffer minor wounds. Sirka and Larkin attempt to put out the fires using what wine and water rations are remaining. They now have none left.
Event: PCs become disoriented and lose track of their position, -1 progress
The event rolled has a specific mechanical effect upon exploration which is no longer relevant, so instead I imagined the party's despair compounded: trapped in a hell dimension with no obvious way out, charged by an immortal skeleton wizard lady to travel to a mythical garden... with two of their number dead.Larkin smashes down the door to the vault and orders everyone inside, and says they're doing nothing until everyone's slept. The party drag the bodies inside: they'll find a planetarium again, Larkin says, though the desperation in her voice is audible. Polstrum remains silent. They seal the door as best they can, using bookcases and other items of furniture. Schmidt prays. Larkin and Sirka count the treasure.
Event: Something curious comes by... and leaves
While most of the party sleeps, Sirka counts up to 1600 silver in precious items, including glassware and ornate metalworking and woodworking tools. There is a magic coat permitting the wearer to phase through bookshelves as though they were intangible.Larkin can't sleep, remembering the Devil showing her the likeness of her dead brother in an effort to tempt her. She looks at the body of Bastien, wondering what face it wears. Misreading her expression of concern, Emmeline says: "don't worry, we'll get him back," before the lights go out for the "night".
Event: Gust of wind
Schmidt and Larkin make a stretcher for the body of Bastien using one of their magic coats and Batien and Emmeline's halberds Emmeline dons Bastien's plate armour and takes the magic longsword they found earlier.Polstrum is perplexed: they just need to find a Planetarium, then return to retrieve the bodies later. Larkin rolls her eyes, and hoists the stretcher with Schmidt's help, instructing Sirka and Emmeline to do likewise with marek's corpse. Sirka decides she's not going to do that, so after some more fruitless arguing Marek's body is shut inside the storage vault for collection later.A gust of wind would have blown out their lantern were it not shuttered, but it is a reminder that the party are now down to their last flask, and need to make the next four hours worth it.
Event: doorway back
Polstrum notes that the room is time-locked, and they could leave Marek and Bastien's bodies here. The debate reignites, once again Larkin overrules saying they will find a way back THEN retrieve Marek. A doorway opens... leading back! Unfortunately only as far as the room of Jarred Brains (from whence their way back was blocked originally), but they decide to poke around in that chamber.
Event: treasure cache!
The Brains in jars are unable to help them find a way out, and it becomes distressing trying to talk with the disembodied entities. While Polstrum quizzes the brains fruitlessly, the others locate a hidden treasure cache in a chest of drawers with gemstones worth in the region of 10,400 silver!
"It'll be worth nothing if we don't get out of here," says Schmidt, once again trying to piece together the true purpose of the library.They look for a new route deeper: previously, they'd travelled from the room of jarred brains to the Calculation Engine: this time, they'd find a new way.
Event: Ominous Ticking
The party arrive at a storage vault. They decide not to linger, especially given the ominous ticking sounding beneath the floorboards. Deeper they delve...
Turn 5, Day 2
Event: Doorway back!
Turn 6, Day 2
Event: Ominous ticking...
A new madness sets in as the party rest, debating the value of heading back to a route they've visited before.
"It's like a maze," says Sirka, "do you think anyone's watching us?""God is always watching," says Schmidt beneath his breath."There's always new routes we didn't see before, " says Emmeline, her tone plaintive. They vote on it, and the party rules in her favour. An ominous ticking begins just as they leave the holding pen.
Turn 7, Day 2
Event: Something curious....
Turn 8, Day 2
Event: A curious Eye Sentinel....
A nosy printing press, the likes of which the party have encountered many times now (though not yet created in their own world). At the far side of the room they perceive this:
The room contains a doorway leading out to the real world. It is set neatly into the wall, largely incongruous but bearing a smart brass plate that states where in the real world it leads to.
4 Black Order Librarians stand guard by the door... but of greater concern is the terrifying giant floating eyeball drifting around the room...
Sirka and Polstrum look to one another, strolling forward in as humble a manner as possible, explaining to the Eye Sentinel that they are but lost researchers looking for a way home having already lost a comrade.
[I made a reaction roll for the eye sentinel, achieving the best result possible–a 12!]
The Eye Sentinel permits them to pass and instructs the Black librarians to do likewise. Beside the heavy oaken door is a brass plaque reading:
PRIVATE LIBRARY OF PROFESSOR KARL-HEINZ ERDELYI
OLD COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF FRIEHABER
EARTH 000000000751
The jubilant party pass through the doors, emerging in the unlit library of one of Polstrum's profesional rivals! It's 1930 and the Old College is quiet, the party can't quite believe their luck...
Except, of course, they were never able to revive Bastien, and Marek's body remains in the looted storage vault...
Schmidt is unhappy, and after failing to rouse the remaining party members (Emmeline, Sirka, Polstrum and Larkin) to join him, he storms back through the door to the library...
Schmidt's Quest...
Schmidt does not find himself in the room with the Printing Press and the Eye Sentinel...
...instead, he is in an unfamiliar room filled with display cases and an oriental rug...
Despairing, he turns to leave...
EVENT: ...behind the party, the bookshelves rearrange themselves, blocking their route back!
Links
BLUEHOLME on DTRPG (affiliate link)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/109409/blueholme-prentice-rules?src=newest_recent&affiliate_id=767873
The Stygian Library
https://soulmuppet-store.co.uk/products/the-stygian-library?srsltid=AfmBOoo_zl5FyQYYzqJDkWxw530fHa06o1CYi03gzsz5FfTzIGMWLmJ9
Previous post in the series:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2025/12/solo-blueholme-second-delve-part-2-of-3.html
Alec Sorenson TUMBLR
https://oddsbod.tumblr.com/
Kurt Komoda Art Blog
https://kurt-komoda.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-new-look-at-old-ones.html
