Walk further, and you will eventually be walking alone.
The world is plastic down there. Tar Lath Lien has explained that the Underworld is the natural, basal state of reality. The true aberration is the world that we live within. Time wasn't meant to flow in a straight line. Objects weren't meant to remain in a fixed location while unobserved.
According to Tar Lath Lien, the greatest aberration is light, itself an invention created by eyes in order to bolt the stars into their orbits and poison the chromatic spectrum until only a few of the most docile colors remained.
In the absence of light, there is darkness. This is the basal state of all things.
The Underworld is simply the word that we use to describe the collection of phenomena that we experience as the world returns to the shape that it was born in. Gravity is yet another manifestation of this force, as all things seek to return downwards.
Life is another anathema. (But not souls.)
You must understand this before I explain the different types of darkness which are present in the Underworld. There are at least 6 known to scholars, and many more subtle darknesses described in ancient writings.
At least three are sentient. None are benevolent.
Desperation is the Thing with Teeth
The most dangerous darkness is also the most well known. This is the Tiger's Shadow--the Hungering Dark.
It rests in cold pits, its indolence born from a rich meal. Or within the shadows of a cairn, or perhaps in the gloom of a dragon's skull, where it runs its fingers over the cold shelves of that predatory memory.
Naïve delvers often fail to recognize the Hungering Dark for what it is (a mistake that is never repeated). You may think of it as vapor, or a blob, although it is neither. You will recognize it through the following signs:
- Light sources become "thin" and "greasy". (This is a genuine sickness inflicted on light itself. It has no analogue within the surface world, and no adequate vocabulary exists to describe among the surface languages.)
- Shadows deepen and thicken. Faces appear old and eyes appear dim, reflecting no light.
- Dark apertures (pits, doorways, long hallways) inspire an immediate and palpable dread. This sensation is entirely unnatural, and those who experience will correctly realize that this is an external emotion, not an internal one.
- As it approaches, torches seem to grow dim. They dwindle until they are no brighter than candles.
- Mirrors fail.
It is only capable of blinding a light after it has completely surrounded it. When the lights are extinguished, they are all "turned off" simultaneously. Larger lights sources take longer for the poisons of the Hungering Dark to work.
Please note that the darkness isn't capable of extinguishing a flame. It merely prevents it from emitting light. A torch that has been blinded in this way emits no light, although it can still burn. A blinded torch can be "healed" by placing it near another light source. A blinded torch can be healed after a single turn adjacent to another lit (unpoisoned) torch. Spells that cure poison will also work.
If a creature is enveloped by the Hungering Dark while in total darkness, roll a d6. Add +1 to the result on each subsequent round, cumulatively. (So the third time this triggers, roll 1d6+2).
1-6 Each creature takes damage equal to the result of the roll. If this would deal lethal damage, that person is utterly consumed, including their equipment.
7+ Roll on the Exultations of the Underworld table below. This result can only occur once. On subsequent rolls of 7+, just treat it like damage (as described above).
The Hungering Dark cannot "see" creatures that are incapable of sight. A human can become "invisible" to the darkness by completely removing both of their eyes and any other visual senses they possess. This protects the person from being noticed by the Hungering Dark, but it doesn't protect them if they are in a group of people that are currently being attacked by the darkness.
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| Vantablack thing by Anish Kapoor |
Exultations of the Underworld (d20)
1 Abduction. A random player goes missing. Their companions heard nothing, saw nothing. If they were restrained by ropes, the ropes are now cut. They were snatched away by troglodytic paws, or perhaps tumbled down a rocky embankment. Their cries were muted by the dark. (This may require two alternative timelines, now converging.)
Now they are held captive on some other part of this floor, or perhaps one floor deeper. If they are not rescued within 24 hours, they will never leave this place. They will die, or join with it (50% of each).
2 Panic. Everyone must make a save vs Fear. Failure means that they will run in a random direction, ignoring each other and ignoring all threats. If they are restrained by ropes, they will cut the ropes. Everyone who is affected can make a new save each round to end the Fear.
3 Rapture. Everyone must make a save vs Charm. Failure means that they will attempt to murder themselves in the quickest possible way. They will hurl themselves from cliffs and drink poison. If they possess a bomb, they will detonate it. Everyone who is affected can make a new save each round to end the Charm.
4 Dispersion. If you are crossing an underworld hex-crawl, the party is moved 1 hex in a random direction. If you are in a dungeon, you are moved 1d4 rooms in a random direction. This occurs even if the intervening movement would be impossible, e.g. through solid rock or locked doors. The Hungering Dark comes with you.
5 Unburdening. Every character must make an Int check. If a character fails, random items vanish from their inventory. They may find it again, with light. It is somewhere on this floor, or perhaps the next. The number of items lost is equal to the amount that the roll was failed by.
6 Lapse. Time spills from the rupture. The party travels into the future 1d6 hours, days, or weeks. (Equal chance of each.) Apply the effects of time to their persons and their possessions as best you can. At a minimum, (1) enchantments with fixed durations will expire, (2) food will spoil, (3) players will grow beards, and (4) their eyes will grow accustomed to the darkness. The first light they see will be painful. Any lit torches they are holding will also be dead and cold.
How To Use This In Your Game
The Hungering Dark is a monster, but one without HP. (Not the first time I've written about one.)
I would place it in a single room within your dungeon, and thereafter add it to the wandering monster table. The second time the players encounter the Hungering Dark, it shouldn't be a surprise.
"Your torchlight looks thin and watery. The darkness of the hallway ahead swells and thickens. Looking at it, you can feel your intestines strangling each other with dread."
"It's that darkness thing! Let's get the fuck out of here."
The simplest way to escape the Hungering Dark is simply to run away. It runs as fast as a human. (See the Quick Rules for Fleeing, below).
Closed doors don't slow it down much (and give the party a mere +1 to escape) but if a torch is dropped in a hallway, it will delay the darkness by 1d2 rounds. Dropping a torch in a larger room is no good--the darkness can simply flow around.
And once it catches the party it still needs to surround them and poison their light sources. Only after all light sources are poisoned, is the Hungering Dark able to attack. This takes 1 round per torch, or 3 rounds per campfire. Bigger fires take exponentially longer, so a huge bonfire might take it a few minutes.
Bright light sources can hurt it, especially sudden flashes. If you are able to hurt it in this way, you'll drive it off for the rest of the day.
Quick Rules for Fleeing
Roll a d20, on an 11 or higher, you put some distance between you and the thing chasing you. If you fail, it catches up and can make an attack or something. Add bonuses if you do things to slow your pursuer (+2 if you close a door behind you, +4 if you pull down a bookshelf as you pass). Add penalties if you need to spend time on something (-3 if you have to open a door to proceed). If you're faster than your pursuer, you get fat bonuses to this roll. (+4 human escaping a dwarf, -8 human escaping a horse)
Once you have some space between you and your pursuer, you can either (a) hide or (b) try to lose them.
If you're trying to lose them, assume that your pursuer will try to follow you, guessing where applicable. If you get to a hallway and run left instead of right, your pursuer has a 50% chance to go right instead of left. (Your pursuer gets a bonus if it has a good sense of smell, or if someone is dripping blood after being reduced to 0 HP.)
When in doubt, make Intelligence checks for the monsters.
