You wake in a cave, with amnesia. While you explore, you slowly discover who you are, and how you became lost. The broken and dangerous cave system reveals part of a temple to a lawful good goddess that befell a calamity. As pieces of your memory return, you realize that you must race against time to help your mentor battle an ancient evil. But, for now, you are alone and Lost in the Dark.
Can’t get the group together, but want to play 5th Edition? Grab some dice and get ready to escape mysterious caves in over 200 pages of solo 5E adventure. We’ve created a complete adventure from character generation to your first boss battle. Suitable for new players who might not have a regular group to play.
I was recently given a copy of this book to have a look at.
This of course made me bust out some dice, print out a 5e character sheet and give the game a go. I should point out the book does contain a character sheet you can use to play the game, I just tend to not use them so as not to damage the book. It’s a thing I have had since the old days of Lone Wolf, and Fighting Fantasy books.
My character sheet is mostly empty because you start the game not knowing anything about yourself, and will fill in more details as you progress.
Act 3 – The Breach.
Following after my repaired Temple Defender, I exited the tunnel at the edge of a rolling field, the sun blindingly strong in the sky after so long underground. Unfortunately, since I had been controlling the Temple Defender by shining a light where I wanted it to go, when it saw the sunlight it just shot off at full speed and I lost it. This upset me, as I feel like it may had been handy.
Standing in the Sun, enjoying the light and warmth that seemed to warm up my still not fully recovered memories, I did what any self respecting rogue would do. I investigated the area to see what I could swipe. I found a lovely shiny dagger, which meant I now have three daggers, high stealth, and a cloak, meaning I can cosplay as Vax “Dagger, Dagger, Dagger… And I walk away!“
Picking a direction randomly, I headed up some terraced fields, heading towards a barn in the distance. A quick Investigation check along the way found an abandoned picnic which I looted for lots of weird stuff like a dice set, and a book of elvish poetry (I just need Keyleth now). Arriving at the barn with a successful Investigation roll, found me a load of tools. My inventory is getting quite full now. From here I could see smoke in the distance, possible from a campfire. I could also see a way out of here which would end my adventure and find me freedom.
I still had questions I needed answers too, so I headed back towards the fields and on to a flowing river. My Magic Amulet that I stole from the corpse of that poor goblin I murdered back in Act 1, told me I may want to cross the river elsewhere, so i went upstream to cross, arriving at a broken Mithril Vault. Here I met one of my lost companions Erland the Tinkerer who was trying to repair and close the vaults door, to prevent evil coming in from the breach. He needed my help to try and fix the damage, but before I helped I decided to be stupid and enter the breach (My Amulet said this was a BAD idea), Entering the breach I saw evidence of monsters, and danger all around, so I did a quick investigation (Which I failed for the first time this act) and found nothing. So I fled back to Erland and using my sneaky skills (+5 Slight of hand FTW) helped him close the door and repair the vault. We could have left together then, but those answers still needed to be answered, and we had more companions to find. I therefore arranged to meet up with him later and returned to the river.
Heading back I passed a nature check and got myself a wild flower remedy. and entered the temple grounds. Here I failed another Investigation check, I think the breach cursed me or my dice. I did manage to find a few small coins. before arriving at a wall of fog. My amulet warned me of danger, so I stealthed into the fog (+7 Stealth) arriving at a crossroads in the fog. I headed towards the smoke I had spotted from the barn, and reached a merchants camp where my old friend Berit was recovering from his injuries. I failed yet another investigation, but I did have some items in my pack to heal up Berit and he also agreed to meet up with me later.
Heading back to the crossroads, I went up to a crystal spire and found my lost Temple Defender who was now stationary since the fog was hiding all light. A quick check of a nearby corpse pile which found me nothing due to another failed Investigation check, and it was time to meet up with my allies and fight the big bad!
So team Murder-Hobos were Myself, My Temple Defender, Berit and Erland.
The fight went for the full four rounds, we were very lucky due to the Big Bad rolling low numbers and missing all its normal attacks, and most of us surviving the poison gas attacks, Luckily I was well equipped for those infected. and we slowly battered the Hit Points down on the Vrock Brood Mother, until round four where on the first go, Berit struck true and killed that beast.
We rested, healed up and left. Oddly on the way to the end we made a cup of tea, which my Investigation finally succeeded again, and I was able to provide honey and lemon. We then continued on with our lives, happy, safe, and memories returned. I also had a load of stolen items that I imagine I sold for beer money.