Gardens of Ynn - Solo #1
This is beginning of a series of blog posts in which I play Into the Odd as a solo rpg. I am using the Gardens of Ynn to procedurally generate a depthcrawl.
I am also using a Depthcrawl Time Tracker sheet I designed for Gardens of Ynn [Itch.io].
The party is composed of Grobina Gill the Crossbow-woman, Augosta Parfait the Axe-Mistress, the Dread Pirate Istan Jongler, and just Vanissa Gullwin. The party entered through the door into the gardens to face a Ynnian dawn.
This session takes place over two in-game hours.
Adventure Session
Area 0A: Vine Trellis + Nests
The party passed through the dappled shade beneath steel frameworks holding up a tangle of overgrown vines. Deep blue fruit hung from the vines. Among the vertices of the frames were dozens of rooks’ nests, tangled masses of twigs and detritus.
The party resists any urge to sample the viticultural fare and presses on.
Area 1A: Ponds + Burned
The party reaches an area of the gardens scorched and ash-laden. But among the charred remains lie two ornamental ponds, their surfaces covered in lilies spared from the flames. The party members peer into the water to see huge drifting fish like bright orange and pink carp and catfish beneath the surface. None give the water a taste and all quickly move on.
Area 2A: Hedge Maze + Nests
The party is stopped by a tangled maze of thorny hedges. They deliberated over entering, ultimately choosing to return back toward the burned ponds to find an easier path.
Area 2B: Kennels + Well-maintained
After heading back to the ponds (Area 1A), the party pressed on to a cluster of little wooden shacks, sized for non-humanoid animals. The structures and the environs were well-preserved yet empty, which struckthe party as odd.
They nosed about in each kennel, coming face to face with 6 large, curious rats, fur replaced with moss! Overcome with their cuteness, Vanissa crouched down and holds out her hand to a rat. Grobina tried to advise against it, but luckily the rat merely sniffed and scampered about.
Outside of the kennel, the perfect blue sky gave way to a sudden, heavy torrential rain. The party elected to wait out the storm, squeezed into the well-maintained kennel structures two-by-two. Vanissa shared her brandy with Grobina. Augosta chatted with Istan's talking parrot.
Through the sound of the rainfall on the roof, the party members could hear an ominous ticking from beneath the ground. The activity of the rats seemed to increase for the next ten minutes.
Two more soggy moss-rats scurried in from the rain as a loud crashing sound reverberated through the area. The party members peeked out from the kennels to see a massive creature set against the dark, stormy sky: a turtle, as broad as a cart with a tree grafted onto its back. The beast had crushed a nearby kennel under its bulk, mistaking it for a turtle foe... or friend?
The party scrambled out into the downpour, unwilling to be inside the turtle's next target. Before escaping, Vanissa scooped up the cowering moss-rats and carried them with her. The party pressed deeper into the gardens.
Area 3B: Rose Garden + Lamp Post
The sky cleared again as the party stepped into an overgrown rose garden, a tangled mass of thorns dotted with brilliantly-colored exotic roses. Surrounded by the dense thicket stood a black, wrought iron lamp-post. A candle burned faintly against the daylight. Growing along the lamp-post, the party spotted a strange black rose. Though they could move through the rose garden safely at a slow pace, the party could discern no safe route to the lamp-post.
Vanissa released her rescued moss-rats here. To her surprise, one (presumably the first) scurried back into her arms. She named the moss-rat Weckin.
The party decided to press on, moving slowly through the growth. Suddenly, the rose leaves began to rustle, the vines began to quake. A giant caterpillar 12 feet long burst forth from the vegetation, munching from the rose bush. Its antennae wiggled forth in Vanissa's direction; she held tightly to Weckin the Moss-Rat. The caterpillar continued on its way.
Area 4B: Ice Rink + Sidhe Skeletons
The party crossed a frost-bitten meadow up to a depression at its center. The frost had escaped from an ice rink, lined with white marble, within the depression. Scattered on the ice were four perfect alabaster skeletons.
The party members briefly debated whether the ice rink itself was dangerous, whether it had caused the death of the skeletons. Grobina and Istan were more apprehensive, Vanissa less so, while Augosta insisted on climbing onto the ice to check out the skeletons up close.
Augosta tied a rope around her waist and clambered onto the ice but, being not particularly graceful, quickly fell on her ass. Using her longaxe as a cue, Augosta pushed off from the marble walls of the rink toward the skeletons at the center. From the ice she collected bones thin and delicate, perfectly symmetrical and aesthetically balanced. She scooped a handful of finger bones into a pocket, then let the other three party members reel her in.
As the party turned to depart, a group of 6 rose-headed, thorny dryad-esque creatures approached, badly injured. In high-pitched voices they warned of a mechanical beast with spinning blades. The Rose-Maidens were seeking a path to their settlement, deeper in the gardens. The party agreed to guide them further, granted they wouldn't run out of time before the door to the Real World closes.
Referee Notes
This is the map produced through this session:
