Solo Aetherdark Session 3 - Bloodshed

February 28, 2026

Setup

After defeating Amelia and scouring the ship for weapons to use against the cosmic beast that is tearing the ship apart, the crew ready themselves to free themselves for good. Unbeknownst to them, a group of pirates below have rallied to retake the ship, and the captain of the ship, injured, waits in the cabin to ambush whoever enters. The entire situation teeters on the brink!

At the end of our last session, most of the people on board the ship were shaken to the ground by the convulsions of the astral kraken. I will say that it takes the full round for everyone to regain their footing, which will advance the kraken timer and call for yet another random encounter check.

[E:Kraken Timer 7/10]
d: d6=1 Random Encounter!

Let's address this after we reintroduce the party!

The Party

Our current party of four includes:

1. Ra'Wyn'Lek'Ka'Nir, or Rawyn for short, Solarian Gnoll
2. Leith, Devlienner Orc Serf
3. Amchutchen, Calrivian Hardback
4. Bi'De'Nir'Wyn'Lek, or Bide for shirt, Solarian Kobold

A note about the party and future characters!

When this level zero funnel is over, I intend to take the characters that survive and give them full backstories, personalities, and more. Right now, they are informed by a singular character trait that was rolled on tables in the Knave 2e book. They will become more real once I know who is going to make it into the full time party.

So what is our random encounter?

d: d6=4 -> Kraken tentacles break through the floor, attacking a character and then retreating. Who do they attack?
d: d4=4 -> Bide
d: d20+2=9 -> Miss!
=> A tentacle bursts through the floor and tries to wrap itself around Bide, who manages to duck below the tentacle just in time.
Leith corrals the group together, including Rawyn, who is holding a second bottle. Three of the group push the bombard to angle it towards the kraken's body, while the last shoves the bottle into the bombard.
[E:Kraken Timer 8/10]
The group holds their breath as Rawyn strikes the glyph on the rear of the bombard, triggering the arcane reaction that fires the spell bottle's energy at the beast.
@ Rawyn fires the bombard at the kraken
d: d20=17 -> Serious damage!
=> The kraken screams, a sound like tearing sheets of metal and the background static of the universe. Its tentacles whip out at the deck, two of them towards the group.
@ Tentacle 1 attacks a random party member
d: d4=3 -> Amchutchen
d: d20+2=16 -> Hit
d: d4=4 -> 4 damage
=> A tentacle whips out, grabbing Amchutchen, crushing him in its monstrous grasp, and flings his body into the void
@ Tentacle 2 attacks another random party member
d: d3=2 -> Leith
d: d20+219 -> Hit
d: d4=3 -> 3 damage
=> Leith is crushed underneath one the weight of the tentacles, body broken against the deck.

As the group covers their ears in a futile attempt to drown out the nightmare sound of the kraken, two tentacles whip over the gunwale, furiously seeking out prey. Amchutchen and Leith are made quick work of, dust in the eyes of this vast and unknowable creature.

Their deaths shock the group, but Rawyn seizes the other bottle and loads it into the bombard.

@ Rawyn loads the other bottle into the bombard
[GM: This bottle needs to deal at least 8 damage to drive the kraken away. If it doesn't, the kraken will rip the ship in half and leave with its prize.]
d: d20=1 -> The bottle flies off into the abyss, missing the kraken entirely.

Rawyn fires the bombard again. The bottle sails through the aether, trailing aether dust behind it. It careens off course, missing the kraken's body by inches, before exploding harmlessly in the abyss behind it.

The party stares in horror as the kraken's tentacles wrap around the fore of the ship in its entirety.

[GM:Let's grab the next two characters.]
[C:Ilan] - Navidemi Goblin, former merchant.
[C:Zasha] - Colonial Half-Orc barbarian
[GM:The kraken is going to rip off the front of the ship, where the group is now. We need to roll to see who makes it to the back of the ship before the kraken is done tearing it apart. It will be a DC 12 DEX check.]
@ The whole crew runs towards the back of the ship
d: [C:Rawyn] d20+1=18 -> Pass
d: [C:Ilan] d20+1=20 -> Pass
d: [C:Zasha] d20=13 -> Pass
d: [C:Bide] d20+2=14 -> Pass
=> With little time left to spare, the crew hurdles over debris and fallen bodies, reaching the aft of the ship. The kraken tears the front end of the ship off entirely, and drifts away into the astral sea, vanishing as it returns to the depths from whence it came.

The survivors are in disarray. Some are screaming at nothing, others vomiting over the railing of the ship. Some sit silent, clearly in shock.

[GM: I almost forgot about the sailors below decks. I had previously said they were moving to the fore of the ship. I think it's unlikely any made it out alive. I'll roll a d20 - if it lands on the numbers 1-7, that's how many sailors made it safely back. If it lands 8-20, none of them do.]
d: d20=19 -> None survive
=> All of the sailors scream as they vanish into the the aether in the wake of the kraken. Tentacles whip out from the depths and pull them all down, down, into an infinite nightmare sea.

The crew surveys the wreckage. The cabin is still on the deck, but everything fore of that, including all four bombards, are gone. Below deck, the front of the ship where the kraken's maw was feeding has been torn free as well.

? What does the group do in the aftermath?
Obvious: Search the ship for any surviving pirates
Option: Spread out to find supplies and the controls
Odd: Collapse into infighting and power struggles
d: d6A=3,3 -> Doubles! The option is chosen with emphasis.
=> The crew is going to split up wordlessly all over the ship.

The survivors stare at each other silently. None acknowledge the insanity of the trauma they have just endured; none state the obvious - that they are marooned and none of them are equipped to pilot the remains of this vessel. Wordlessly, one by one, they separate, finding different places to search, to salvage what little they can from this situation.

Initiative Order:
1. Bide
2. Zasha
3. Ilan
4. Rawyn
@ [C:Bide] heads to search the cabin. The door opens into the gruesome scene of Amelia's depraved butchery. Covering his mouth and nose, he pushes through the viscera and through the door behind. He searches the room.
? Does Bide notice the hiding captain before he is ambushed? DC 12 INT
d: d20-1=12 -> Success
=> Bide hears the panting, labored breathing of the captain hiding underneath the desk. He holds his cutlass at the ready and slowly turns the corner of the desk.
[GM: Initiative! Neither is surprised but, since the captain would be assuming he is inspotted, Bide will roll with advantage.]
d: [C:Bide] d20A+2=6,18 -> 18
d: [C:Captain Ca'Resh] d20+2=15 -> 15
=> The captain is surprised to see a drawn cutlass in his face.
@ Bide swipes at the hiding goblin
d: d20-1=4 -> Miss
=> The goblin deflects the blade with his own and then madly lunges at Bide
d: d20+2=14 -> Hit
d: d8=5 -> 5 damage
=> The captain's engraved saber plunges into Bide's stomach, leaving him wide eyed in shock. He slides off of the blade and to the ground, dead.
@ [C:Zasha] searches the rune engines at the back of the ship. DC12 INT check to find something useful.
d: d20-3=17! (Natural 20) -> Zasha finds multiple useful things
d: 3d12=2,3,11 -> Dagger, Pole, Club
=> Zasha finds a weapon cache at the back of the ship and hands them out. He keeps the club for himself.
@ [C:Ilan] searches the former prison cells below for anything that might have been searched over. DC12 INT
d: d20+2=5 -> Nothing
=> The devastation in the cells below hides nothing. Everything that was here had already been taken by the survivors.
@ [C:Rawyn] searches the overturned life boat. DC 12 INT check
d:d20=2 -> Nothing
=> The overturned small boat, pinned down by a fallen beam and smoldering from earlier explosions, contains nothing of value.
? Does the group hear the struggle between Bide and the captain?
d: d20=1 -> No, but
=> The group returns to the upper deck to regroup, and realizes Bide has not returned. They decide to investigate the cabin together.
[GM: New Character!]
[C:Ibishalak] - Volpithi Scion (Volpithi are Gnome-ish), Orphan
@ The group moves to the cabin, through the bloody butchery, and sees the captain standing over Bide's body, holding his own sabre in one hand and Bide's cutlass in the other.
[GM: Initiative!]
d: [C:Rawyn] d20+1=17
d: [C:Ilan] d20+1=5
d: [C:Zasha] d20=2
d: [C:Ibishalak] d20-2=4
d: [C:Captain Ca'Resh] d20+2=18

Captain Ca'Resh howls, both through his own injury and his rage. "This is my ship! Mine! I won't let it be taken over by scum! It's mine!" The words are halting and pained, and the captain holds his left shoulder. But then his grimace contorts into a grin and he launches himself with fury at the group.

@ [C:Captain Ca'Resh|injured] throws himself at the nearest survivor
d: d4=2 -> Ilan
d: d20+2=22! (Natural 20) -> Critical Hit
d: 2d8=7 -> 7 Damage
=> Captain Ca'Resh, in a berserk rage, cuts with his sabre straight into Ilan's side, who collapses with a soundless grunt to the ground.
@ [C:Rawyn] stabs wildly with his dagger
d: d20+3=22 -> Hit
d: d4=2 -> 2 damage [C:Captain Ca'Resh|8-2->6]
@ [C:Zasha] swings his club at Ca'Resh's head
d: d20+2=21 -> Hit
d: d4=2 -> 2 damage [C:Captain Ca'Resh|6-2->4]
@ [C:Ibishalak] looks around the room to find something useful to attack with. DC12 INT
d: d20+4=13 -> Success
? Does she find an actual weapon?
d: d20=8 -> No
=> Ibishalak looks around the room in a panic. She finds a length of cord, and tries to wrap it around Ca'Resh's neck.
d: d20-2=5 -> Fail
=> She tries to loop the cord around the goblin's neck, but he elbows her in the stomach and pushes her away from him.
@ [C:Captain Ca'Resh|4] pounces on Ibishalak in retaliation
d: d20+2=10 -> Hit
d: d8=1 -> 1 damage
=> The captain's wicked sabre cuts deeply across Ibishalak's face and down her arm, and she falls to the ground, where she perishes.
[GM: More survivors push into the fracas]
[C:Aylvrik] Devlienner Indentured Orc, Drover
[C:Daeniel] Colonial Elf, Cult Initiative
d: d20+3=8 -> Initiative 8
d: d20-1=17 -> Initiative 17
@ [C:Rawyn] tries to stab the captain in the back as the captain assaults Ibishalak
d: d20+3=17 -> Hit
d: d4=2 -> 2 Damage [C:Captain Ca'Resh|4-2->2]
@ [C:Daeniel] picks up the wooden pole that Ilan dropped and tries to jab it at the captain's head
d: d20+1=19 -> Hit
d: d2 (improvised weapon)=2 -> 2 damage
=> The wooden pole cracks loudly against the back of the captain's head, who then lies motionless atop the body of Ibishalak

A stunned silence settles over the room. Only loud breathing and the crackling of dying fires elsewhere on the ship. The survivors wipe blood from their hands and faces.

After surveying the room and seeing the controls of the ship, the rest of the remaining survivors, few as they are, sweep the rest of the vessel. No more stragglers remain, and there is no sign of the astral kraken.

The survivors will be left to pick up shattered pieces and try to make their way back to some form of civilization.

That leaves us with our party!

Ra'wyn'lek'ka'nir, or Rawyn, the Solarian Gnoll.
Zasha, the Colonial Half-orc.
Aylvrik, Devlienner Indentured Orc
and Daeniel, the Colonial Elf

Tune in next time as we meet our first level characters, introduce them to the remaining survivors who become the ship's crew, and discover what choices they will make to find their ways home!