Campaign Adventure Notes 060426

=== CAMPAIGN RULES PACKET ===
Final Seed: F|3PC18U8V|t=20260529|weird=3
Campaign: The Iron Concord of Smoke (Packet I0MJ)
Rolled: 06/04/2026

[Factors]
CF: 1 (Complexity Factor: max rules looseness cap)
MF: 9 (Magic Factor: max spell level cap)
PF: 9 (Physical Factor: max innate ability cap)
TF: 2 (Temporal Factor: max temporal looseness cap)
PsiF: 9 (Psionic Factor: max psionic level cap)
TechF: 9 (Tech Factor: max technology level cap)
AdultF: PG-13 (Adult Factor: max adult mpaa cap)

[Enforced Rules]
- Segment order: PCs act on top of segment; Monsters act on bottom (standard).
- Known Classes: Full Collective, A.I. are banned
- Known Spells: Full Collective, Random are x2 Cost
- Known Psionics: Artificial Intelligence Generated only
- Known Rogue Abilities: Full Collective
- Known Kits/Feats/GGL/Familiars/etc.: Randomly Generated only
- XP / Advancement: XP by encounter + story awards.

[Classes / Races / Minis Determination]
Mode: CF BUDGET PACK
Classes+Races+Minis Picks: 6
Budget: (3 + CF) + 2×SN = 6 (with CF=1, SN=1)
Per-pick cap: each pick must be CF ≤ 1
Cost model: Class pick costs its CF; Race pick costs its CF; Minis pick costs its CF.
Display rule: list chosen picks and subtract cost until budget is spent.

[Starting Stat Determination]
Mode: ALL 13S
Rule: All stats start at 13.
Display: Str Dex Con Int Wis Chr = 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13.

[Starting Package]
Starting SN: SN 1 (baseline campaign start).
Starting Location: Rural region unknowingly bordering the Far Place (quietly collapsing)
Starting Wealth: Starting gp = set at 10,000
Player Picks: Randomly rolled, Freely traded

[Custom Weirdness Line]
Weirdness: None. Reality is boring today.

6/4/26
SN=1
kxp: 0 to 7kxp and 23kgp
Storyline: 
The town sits in a forgotten rural valley where rolling fields, old stone fences, and narrow dirt roads stretch farther than they should. At first glance it appears ordinary: weathered barns lean against the wind, church bells ring on schedule, and farmers still gather at the general store to trade rumors and complaints about the weather. Yet a strange stillness hangs over the countryside, as though the land itself is holding its breath.

Travelers often remark that distances feel wrong here. A hill visible from town may take hours to reach, while a distant farmhouse sometimes seems closer than it should be. Locals dismiss such observations with shrugs and stories about unfamiliar roads, though most quietly avoid venturing too far from established paths after sunset.

The surrounding wilderness grows increasingly peculiar with distance. Forests become unnaturally silent. Creeks occasionally flow in directions that seem impossible. Abandoned structures appear where no records suggest they were ever built, only to vanish weeks later without explanation. Livestock occasionally wander off and return days later unharmed but strangely altered, staring at empty corners and refusing to enter certain fields.

The oldest residents speak of places that no longer exist. They describe crossroads, ponds, orchards, and entire homesteads remembered by dozens of people despite leaving no trace on any map. Family photographs sometimes depict unfamiliar buildings standing where open pasture now lies. Few dwell on such mysteries for long. Doing so tends to invite uncomfortable questions.

Recently, subtle signs of decay have begun to spread. Fences sag without breaking. Trees stand healthy while their shadows appear wilted and thin. Wells produce water that tastes faintly of dust and old memories. Dogs bark at empty horizons. Birds alter their migration routes to avoid the region altogether.

Unknown to the townsfolk, the valley rests against a weakening boundary separating reality from the Far Place. As that distant and alien realm slowly collapses, tiny fractures have begun to appear along the edges of the world. Most manifestations are harmless oddities for now: misplaced roads, forgotten names, missing hours, and landmarks that seem uncertain whether they ever truly existed.

The townspeople remain largely unaware of the danger. They continue planting crops, repairing roofs, attending weddings, and arguing over trivial matters while the fabric of existence quietly unravels around them. The collapse has not yet become obvious enough to inspire panic.

But every year there are fewer stars visible from the northern fields.

And nobody can quite remember why.

A favorite topic of conversation at the town's general store is the legendary Hundred Rooms, a rumored dungeon said to lie somewhere beyond the western farmlands. Every resident seems to know a different version of the story. Some claim it is hidden beneath an abandoned grain silo swallowed by weeds decades ago. Others insist its entrance only appears during heavy fog, concealed within a grove of dead apple trees that cannot be found twice.

According to local folklore, the dungeon consists of exactly one hundred rooms arranged in no sensible order. Farmers tell tales of chambers filled with forgotten tools, dusty treasure chests containing a handful of silver coins, and small but dangerous creatures lurking in dark corners. Supposedly each room presents a modest challenge suitable for inexperienced adventurers, wandering mercenaries, or overly curious teenagers seeking glory.

The stories agree on one peculiar detail: nobody seems able to describe more than a few rooms. Veterans returning from expeditions recount battling giant rats, goblins, animated scarecrows, and other minor threats before inevitably becoming confused about what came next. Their accounts grow vague beyond the first dozen chambers, as though memory itself becomes tangled within the dungeon's halls.

Old maps occasionally surface showing possible entrances, but none agree with one another. Some place the complex beneath nearby hills. Others indicate forgotten cellars beneath ruined homesteads. A few even suggest that the Hundred Rooms slowly drifts beneath the countryside, changing location over time.

Most scholars dismiss the tales as simple frontier folklore. After all, every rural region seems to possess rumors of hidden tunnels and lost treasure. Yet enough travelers return with strange trinkets, faded maps, and stories of underground passages to keep the legend alive.

Recently, however, the stories have changed.

Several explorers have reported discovering rooms that did not match older descriptions. Hallways appear longer. New chambers seem to have formed where blank stone walls once stood. One trapper swore he found a doorway opening onto a landscape that resembled the nightmarish descriptions of the Far Place before the passage sealed itself moments later.

The town elders dismiss such tales as exaggerations.

Privately, they worry.

If the Hundred Rooms truly exists, and if the collapsing Far Place is beginning to leak into the dungeon, then the old legend may be evolving from a harmless local curiosity into something far more dangerous. For now the dungeon remains a relatively minor threat, a place of weak monsters and modest treasure.

But it may no longer be entirely part of this world.

SN=2
kxp: 7 to kxp and kgp
Storyline:
### The Nineteenth Room
The tale began three days after the harvest festival when a band of local adventurers decided to test the legend of the Hundred Rooms for themselves. The group consisted of a retired caravan guard, a young hedge mage, a trapper from the northern woods, and two brothers whose confidence greatly exceeded their experience.
They located an entrance hidden beneath the collapsed cellar of a long-abandoned farmhouse. Witnesses claimed the stone staircase had never existed before that morning.
Unlike many previous expeditions, the adventurers kept detailed notes.
The first eighteen rooms proved surprisingly survivable. Giant rats, cave spiders, animated farm tools, goblins, and wandering skeletons were encountered throughout the upper chambers. Several rooms contained simple traps, minor treasures, and strange architectural inconsistencies. One chamber was larger on the inside than the entire dungeon should have been. Another contained a campfire that had apparently been burning for decades.
The first major challenge came in **Room 19**.
There the party encountered a creature now known locally as **The Grain King**, a bloated scarecrow-like horror stitched together from rotting burlap sacks, rusted farm equipment, and the bones of livestock. The monster commanded swarms of animated crows and possessed the unsettling ability to speak in the voices of long-dead farmers.
The battle lasted nearly an hour.
The hedge mage reportedly burned half his spellbook's prepared pages while the caravan guard lost two fingers to the creature's iron sickle arm. Eventually the Grain King collapsed into a heap of grain and rusted metal, revealing several enchanted items and a cache of forgotten coinage hidden within its body.
The party continued deeper.
---
### The Sixty-Ninth Room
The adventurers later admitted they could not reliably explain how they reached Room 69.
Their maps became increasingly contradictory after Room 20. Hallways seemed to rearrange themselves. Several rooms appeared more than once. The brothers independently recorded entirely different routes despite remaining together the entire journey.
Numerous wandering monsters plagued the expedition during this stage:
* Crystal-backed cave lizards
* Goblin scavengers
* Living shadows
* Animated suits of armor
* Pale eyeless wolves
* Swarms of whispering moths
Several treasure caches were discovered, helping build the growing fortune that would eventually total 23,000 gp.
Upon reaching **Room 69**, the party found themselves inside what appeared to be a ruined chapel suspended over an endless black void.
Waiting within was a powerful subboss called **The Bellringer**.
The creature resembled a gaunt priest wrapped in tarnished chains carrying a massive bronze bell as a weapon. Every strike of the bell produced supernatural effects. One toll summoned spectral warriors. Another aged equipment by decades. A third caused the adventurers to temporarily forget each other's names.
The battle nearly ended in disaster when the trapper was hurled from the chapel into the surrounding darkness.
Moments later he reappeared through a doorway on the opposite side of the room, badly injured and unable to explain where he had gone.
The Bellringer was ultimately defeated when the party shattered the great bell itself. Witnesses later reported hearing its final note echo across the countryside for several nights afterward
---
### The Ninety-Sixth Room
The deepest recorded point of the expedition was **Room 96**.
Here the party noticed something profoundly disturbing.
The architecture no longer resembled the earlier dungeon.
Stone gave way to smooth black surfaces that appeared simultaneously ancient and unfinished. Corners bent at impossible angles. The air felt cold despite no measurable temperature change.
The adventurers later claimed that stars could be seen through cracks in the walls.
Not stars from the night sky.
Different stars.
Wandering monsters became increasingly strange:
* Creatures made entirely of eyes.
* Insects that walked backward through time.
* Faceless humanoids carrying tools they did not know how to use.
* Floating geometric shapes that bled when struck.
The final chamber contained the dungeon's boss.
Local scholars have named it **The Surveyor Beyond**.
Descriptions vary wildly, but most accounts agree it appeared as a tall figure wearing the remains of a surveyor's uniform while carrying measuring chains and maps. Its face was hidden behind a featureless porcelain mask covered in shifting symbols.
The creature repeatedly attempted to "measure" the adventurers.
Each successful measurement caused reality around them to distort. Weapons changed size. Distances altered. Wounds appeared in locations where they had not been struck.
The battle was brutal.
The younger brother was nearly killed. The hedge mage exhausted every remaining spell. The caravan guard reportedly fought the final minutes while bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Eventually the Surveyor Beyond was slain when its measuring chain was severed and driven through the porcelain mask.
The creature's body immediately collapsed into dust.
The room itself began collapsing shortly afterward.
---
### The Escape
Rather than continue toward the final four rooms, the adventurers wisely chose survival over curiosity.
As the dungeon shook around them, the party fled through corridors that none of them remembered entering. By their own accounts they traversed fewer than a dozen rooms during their retreat before emerging from a completely different entrance several miles away.
When they finally counted their winnings, the haul amounted to approximately **23,000 gp** worth of coinage, gemstones, relics, and magical treasures.
The expedition became one of the most successful delves in local history.
Yet the wealth was not what people remembered.
Months later, all five adventurers independently drew the same strange symbol while attempting to map Room 96.
No such symbol had been present in their original journals.
And despite reaching Room 96, none of them could clearly remember Rooms 70 through 95.
Those twenty-six rooms remain entirely absent from their memories, as though they were never there at all. Or perhaps as though something in those rooms preferred not to be remembered.