Radiant Light - A One D&D Solo Campaign - Episode 2 - Journey's Through the Radiant Citadel - Salted Legacy

When I first started working on Episode 2 of Radiant Light, Halloween had just left us and we were journeying into the latter part of the year with the spooky season still alive and kicking. This is apparent on the first half of the episode. Unfortunately, it has taken me a long time to get it together and put it out so it may seem a bit late when in the first half of the new year I am bringing up Halloween Competitions.

Despite this. I did run a Halloween competition across October, which was also a celebration for reaching 3k subscribers on YouTube, I am pleased to finally announce in a more official capacity on the show, that the competition winner was non other than 'Stratplayer05' for their spooky entry entitled 'Disguised Blessings'. This entry is featured on the episode.

Many of the competition enties, including this one, are written for the Basic Dungeons & Dragons rules (BECMI/BX). I do play these rules in my Tales of Mystara campaign. However, Radiant Light uses the new One D&D playtest material, so some of the competition content needed to be re-imagined or converted, which wasn't much trouble at all.

Here is the original submission from competition winner 'Stratplayer05'.

Disguised Blessings

What appears to be a ramshackle old barn has no place in town, yet this one is here, and surrounded by a serene garden of manicured alley-weeds and gutter moss, no less. The juxtaposition is... strangely alluring?

The lower floor of the barn is barren, save for a few cobwebs and a single greasy, sputtering lantern. A rickety ladder leads up to the structure's partial second level, for the rest of it has collapsed away. There, beneath a sign depicting an anguished princess crying tears of diamonds into an ornate chest, sits a hooded figure clad in robes of sable and lavendar hues.

Proprieter: The Shrouded One

Beneath black and purple robes is a figure of indeterminate, though considerable size. Despite this, it nimbly floats to and fro without so much as causing the barn's old boards to creak. No one knows the figures age, sex or even species, and visitors report to having seen anywhere between one and eight glowing, orange eyes beneath the Shrouded One's hood at any given time. When asked about the available merchandise, however, the Shrouded One does speak. In a voice somehow booming, yet soft, the Shrouded One will describe each item in detail, punctuating every statement with reassurace that the item is not cursed, nor do curses even exist. "Everything here," the creature assures, is "blessed and enchanted, if you look at it the right way..."

Sample the Wares (1d8)

1. Rose-Colored Glasses: A set of ruby-hued spectacles in stylish silver frames.

   Grants the wearer infravision, and lets them see ruins and worn-down places in the full glory of their bygone prime. Sometimes the wearer will miss things that are in front of them, however, and is surprised on a 4 in 6. Once donned, may not be removed without the spell 'Remove Curse' being first cast on the wearer.

   Price: 500gp. per functioning eye the character has. 250gp. for blind characters.

2. Unhatched Blessings: Speckled eggs of golden sheen, roughly the size of quail's

   If kept in a character's possession for a time, these eggs will crack open, revealing their contents (1d4). If deliberately broken or any effort is taken to identify the contents, the egg will crumble into shiny, useless dust. Up to two eggs may be purchased at a time.

   1. A gem worth 500gp. (hatches in 1d4 days)
   2. 1d3 extra HP (hatches in 1d6 days)
   3. 500XP. (hatches in 1d4 weeks)
   4. A phoenix feather which can be used to cast Raise Dead once. (hatches in 1d4 months)

   Price: 500gp. each

3. Drowsy Sword: A saturnine sabre of silvered steel.

   +1 magic sword that allows its wielder to ast 'Sleep' once per character level per day. For a character of 4th level or above, functions as a +1 magic sword with no other features.

   Price: 1000 gp

4. Exhumed Legumes: A bag of dried beans that faintly buzz with magical energy. Previously planted and then dug up after a high-altitude mishap

   If eaten, one legume will sufficiently feed a character for a week. If planted, nothing will grow. Arouses the irrational ire of giants if spotted in a character's possession.

   Price: 250 gp.

5. Enough Rope to Hang Yourself. A burlap sack of hempen cord.

   This bag contains a magically-infinite amount of good sturdy rope, useful for whatever rope can be used for. Additionally characters with the Climb Surfaces or Tightrope Walking skills can use this magic rope to add +30% to those skill rolls. If the roll fails, the magic rope constricts around that character's neck. The character must save vs. paralysis or become entangled for 1d4 turns, taking 1d4 damage per turn.

   Price: 500gp.

6. Red Rum: A ruby-tinted glass bottle of a rich russet spirit.

   Drinking this potion daily provides healing equal to the hit point total of the next creature the drinker slays after drinking. Healing occurs when that creature is slain, and does not exceed the drinker's own maximum hit points. Bottle contains 1d6+2 doses.

   Price: 250gp.

7. Borrowed Time: Hourglass-shaped vials of clear, iridescent glass.

   Character actions, which take days may be accomplished in hours, and those which take weeks (such as magical research) may be done in a day. May be purchased up to six times.

   Price: Free, but should the character be reduced to one quarter or less of their total hit points, roll a d6. On a 1-in-6, the character's time-debt comes due, and they die instantly. For each instance of borrowed time the character has used, add 1 to this chance, to a maximum of 5-in-6.

8. Diamonds in the Ruff: A frilly, bejeweled lace collar worn as part of a high-society ensemble.

   This fine lace neck ruff is adorned with 1d4+2 diamonds in silver-threaded settings. When removed, these diamonds may be sold, and when they are sold the ruff's owner is awarded experience points equal to hald the diamond's sale value.

   Diamonda set in the ruff "mature" in size and clarity over time. Initially, they are worth 100gp, and increase in value by 500gp, to a maximum of 2000gp. each, for every year in which the ruff's owner wears it for more days than not. Once removed, a diamond may be replaced, and once all the diamonds have been removed, the ruff is a nice piece of fancy clothing worth 100gp.

   Whenever the ruff chances owners, the value of the diamonds re-sets.

   Price: 2000gp.

Local Rumor

"The Shrouded One never sells an item that doesn't function as advertised."

Supplementary Table

Whilst working on this episode I also had a few moments where I needed to roll up a 'species' for one or two NPC's which were not fully fleshed out in the published adventure module, Journey's Through the Radiant Citadel that I am using. To handle this I came up with the following table off the cuff, which focuses on the available character species that are currently playable in the One D&D playtesting material. I also added a Kobold to round things to ten, considering my party have already come across a couple of Kobold's in the Dyn Singh Night Market. As I progress through this little campaign I may find myself referring to the table again. I'll be sure to add a few extra species depending on what I come across during my adventures. Here is the table as it currently stands at the time of writing:

1. Human
2. Ardling
3. Dragonborn
4. Dwarf
5. Elf
6. Gnome
7. Hulfling
8. Orc
9. Tiefling
10. Kobold

Let me know what you think in the comments and be sure to check back for more content. In the meantime:

• Follow me on Twitter @crawlersolo
• Check out my YouTube content at youtube.com/c/SoloDungeonCrawler

See you next session...

Support Me with a Donation

If you enjoy my content and find value in it and would like to send a small donation over to show your appreciation and help support this blog so it can continue to grow then please follow the link below to make a donation via PayPal.

https://paypal.me/tomdnd