TEXT:  
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
  Deep Delving 
   
  By Ken St. Andre 
   
  Art by David Ullery 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Trollhalla Press 
   
  
  Deep Delving is a mini-solo adventure written 
  expressly for play with the Tunnels and Trolls 
  7.5tm roleplaying game system. 
   
  Text copyright January 2011 by Ken St. Andre 
   
  Art copyright January 2011 by David Ullery 
   
   
   
   
   
  A Trollhalla Press publication 
  
  Foreword   
   
  This is a short adventure for trolls.  It takes 
  place more than a mile beneath the surface of 
  Trollworld, and it is part of the secret war 
  between Trolls and Dwarves that is completely 
  unknown to dwellers of the surface world.  Your 
  character must be a rock troll, and it should be 
  a powerful one—or your adventure will be very 
  short indeed.  To play Deep Delving, you should 
  either make a character using the T & T 7.5 
  rules or look at the appendix and choose one of 
  the sample trolls included.  When you’ve got 
  rules, dice, and character sheet ready to go, turn 
  to Paragraph <1>. 
   
   
  
   
  <1>  You are a mighty rock troll, and you have 
  wandered away from the surface of Trollworld.  
  You are on a Walkdown trek—your goal is to go 
  as deep under the surface as you possibly can 
  and try to find one of the Great Old Ones—those 
  trolls who have lived since the beginning and 
  have grown to gigantic size.  It is said that when 
  the Great Old Ones walk, the world trembles 
  and the mountains shake.   
   
  You have been walking for months now, always 
  working your way deeper underground.  When 
  you couldn’t find a passage, you dug.  You dug 
  by shapeshifting your hands into a pick and a 
  hammer.  You have long since discarded any 
  unnatural tools or clothing or armor—at these 
  depths it is just you and the world.  And the 
  occasional enemy . . .  You have reached a place 
  where Men couldn’t live at all—a place where the 
  rocks are warm to the touch and glow dimly, a 
  place where the air is hot, searing, and 
  poisonous.  But that doesn’t bother you—rock 
  trolls don’t have to breathe.  The spaces down 
  here are not like the Upper Caverns.  These 
  spaces are cracks and crevices and gaps in the 
  stone, made by the shifting of the planet itself.  
  Sometimes they are so narrow you can barely 
  squeeze into them—sometimes they are so vast 
  you cannot see the other side. 
  
   
  You are deep beneath a volcano.  There are a lot 
  of volcanoes on Trollworld.  This means there 
  are great lava tubes and underground rivers of 
  magma.  You like these places—you were born 
  in such a place long ago.  As this adventure 
  begins you are following a river of lava on a 
  winding downward slope, and you are hungry.  
  There isn’t much food for a rock troll where the 
  stones are mostly volcanic in nature. 
   
  You come to a small side passage, one that is 
  barely large enough for you to squeeze into it, 
  but one that carries a faint aroma of aluminum.  
  If you could find a vein of the light mineral, it 
  could provide you with the food you are starting 
  to need.  But the passage is narrow and could be 
  dangerous, and it leads you away from your 
  downward destination.  If you choose to explore 
  the side passage, go to Paragraph <13>; if you 
  decide to stay with the river of lava, go to 
  Paragraph <22>. 
   
   
   
  <2> As you make your way back to the River of 
  Lava you see a raw diamond glittering in the 
  ceiling of the shaft.  Although you have no use 
  
  for the gem, you know it could be valuable on 
  the surface. Do you wish to reach up and tear it 
  from the stone, or will you simply continue your 
  journey?  If you take the gem, go to Paragraph 
  <25>.  If you continue your journey, you soon 
  reach the tunnel beside the river of lava, and 
  continue walking downhill—go to Paragraph 
  <22>. 
   
  <3>  Slowly and with great difficulty you make 
  out the message on the monolith.  It says: RIDE 
  THE RIVER OF LAVA TO THE HOME OF THE 
  GREAT OLD ONE.  What a strange message!  
  What can it mean?  As you ponder this enigma, 
  you accidentally kick a small chunk of rock off 
  the path and into the current of slow moving 
  stone.  You notice that it does not sink, but is 
  carried along on the surface.  Could that be the 
  meaning?  You should create some kind of stony 
  boat and use it to ride downstream on the river 
  of lava?  The more you think about it, the more 
  you think that may be the answer.  If you decide 
  to make a boat and try a hot river ride, go to 
  Paragraph <10>.  If you don’t like that idea and 
  you think it will get you killed, go to Paragraph 
  <22> and just follow the trail. 
   
  <4>  You back off and get as big a running start 
  as you can.  Then you start a lumbering run, 
  shaking the cavern, picking up speed with every 
  
  step.  The end of the path comes closer and 
  closer, and finally you take that last step and 
  hurtle yourself into space.  You use all your 
  strength, but did the rock crumble slightly 
  beneath you as you leaped.  Make a L10SR on 
  STR.  (65 – STR).  If you made it, turn to 
  paragraph <23>; if you missed it, turn to 
  paragraph <15>. 
   
   
   
  
  <5>  The boat floats on down the river of lava.  
  With some difficulty you keep your balance, but 
  when it enters a narrow tunnel, there is no 
  longer room to stand up in it.  You have to 
  crouch, and then lie flat on your stony platform.  
  The heat is incredible.  If you had to breathe, the 
  poisonous fumes would certainly kill you, but 
  rock trolls don’t have to breathe.   Go now to 
  paragraph <18>. 
   
  
  <6>  You just haven’t been getting enough iron 
  and magnesium in your diet.  The lava is too 
  much for you.  You melt.  You liquesce and 
  become part of the stream.  You lose 
  consciousness and never regain it.  The End. 
   
   
   
  <7>  The rock rumbles and a little dust gets in 
  your eyes, but the gap you are wedged into does 
  not close on you.  When the shaking stops, you 
  edge your way deeper and deeper into this 
  lightless passage, but you don’t really need light 
  here.  Your rock sense shows you the rock in 
  different colors and smells.  You are getting close 
  to the aluminum and you find it in a grotto at 
  the end of the passage.  It takes a while, but you 
  shapeshift your hands into digging tools, and a 
  bit later you are happily munching on the light 
  ore.  You can feel yourself gaining mass and 
  
  power.  (Regenerate to your maximum attribute 
  values at this time, then roll 1D6 and add that 
  number to both STR and CON to get new max 
  scores.)  After your meal, you lie down to rest 
  and digest for a bit, and it is while your ear is 
  pressed against the stone that you hear the 
  strange noise—a kind of rhythmic clanking.  If 
  you would like to investigate the noise, go to 
  <20>.  If you’d rather just return to the river of 
  lava, go to <2>. 
   
  <8>  The rock rumbles and groans, and then 
  slowly the crevice that you are in closes.  You 
  are very tough, but you are not tougher than 
  millions of tons of rock in motion.  The walls 
  slowly close and compress you into a darker 
  stain on the bedrock.  Your trollish hearts are 
  the strongest part of your body.  Perhaps some 
  day the very earth will split and release them 
  into the air once more, and you will regenerate, 
  but right now, you are dead, dead, dead.  What 
  rotten luck!  The End. 
   
  <9>  The Dwarves reel back from the unexpected 
  fury of your attack.  One of them has lost his 
  pickaxe.  (If you do enough damage to the party 
  to actually slay any of the Dwarves, you may kill 
  one or more outright, and thus take their 
  weapons and adds out of the following rounds of 
  combat,   Example:  There are 6 Dwarves in the 
  
  squad, and you manage to beat their combat 
  total by 65 points.  Dwarf 1 has a CON of 30—
  he’s dead.  Dwarf 2 has a CON of 31—he’s also 
  dead.  Dwarf 3 has a CON of 32—he has taken 4 
  hits of damage.  Dwarves 4, 5, and 6 are 
  untouched.) 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  But Dwarves are fearless warriors and they rally.  
  All surviving Dwarves get into the combat on the 
  second round and all subsequent rounds.  With 
  battle cries of ―Bharoo Kharrrg!‖  (roughly 
  translated as ―Pulverize the troll!‖) they swarm to 
  the attack.  On this round and all following 
  rounds, the Dwarves get to use both weapons at 
  
  the same time.  Starting with this round, and for 
  all following combat rounds, you get to 
  regenerate in combat—that is you will get one 
  tenth of your current CON back each round after 
  all the damage has been assigned.  Dwarves 
  don’t regenerate—at least not swiftly.  If you ever 
  lose a round of combat, go to paragraph <12>.  
  Keep track of how many rounds of combat there 
  are.  If you get to round 7, turn to paragraph 
  <11>.  If you slay them all before round 7, turn 
  to paragraph <27>. 
   
  <10>  Working volcanic stone without any form 
  of tools is not an easy thing to do, but you can 
  do it.  It takes a long time and great 
  concentration, but you morph one of your arms 
  into a cutting tool.  Working slowly and 
  carefully, you etch an oval pattern into a flat 
  rock floor.  Then you make yourself bleed into 
  the gouged lines and your acidic blood softens 
  the stone beneath it.  Then you use the blade 
  that used to be your hand to chisel out more 
  stone and throw it aside.  Then you use your 
  blood to soften the rock again, and you dig out 
  more hardened lava.  And so forth.  Roll 2D6.  
  This is how many days it takes to pull a boat of  
  stone out of the floor.  Give yourself 100 times 
  your dice roll in adventure points.  Once your 
  stony boat has been extracted from the floor, 
  you hollow it out, and balance it so that you will  
  
  have a place to stand inside it.  Having now 
  created a boat that might ride the lava river, you 
  slowly bring yourself back into your own proper 
  form.  You realize that it has been days since 
  you’ve last eaten, and that you’ve used a lot of 
  
  your own essence in fashioning this stony 
  coracle.  (Roll 2D6, doubles add and roll over, 
  and subtract that number (temporarily) from 
  both your STR and CON attributes.  It occurs to 
  you that perhaps you should get some food 
  before starting your lava ride.  If you decide to go 
  look for food, turn to paragraph <14>.  If you 
  throw the boat down onto the lava and get ready 
  to jump into it, go to paragraph <24>. 
   
   
  <11>  After a long hard fight, the noise of the 
  battle has attracted reinforcements for the 
  Dwarves.  The mining cart that has blocked their 
  retreat is suddenly pulled out of the way, and a 
  stream of Dwarven warriors pours into the 
  battle.  These are dwarves in full battle armor—
  steel and mithril that will take 20 hits of damage 
  for them.  They are armed with Dwarven great 
  axes, and each one gets 30 adds in combat.  
  Their CON ratings are 40 apiece.  1D6 of them 
  pours into the battle each combat round.  This 
  is a battle that you cannot win.  If you decide to 
  run, make a L4SR on SPD  (35 – SPD).  If you 
  make it, go to <28>.  If you miss it, you will die 
  here under an ever increasing horde of Dwarves.  
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  <12>  You are surprised by the fighting power of 
  these small miners.  Realizing that more of them 
  will be attacking soon (combat round two), you 
  think you may have made a mistake.  You must 
  choose now whether to stay and fight on, or if 
  you wish to run away.  Live or die?  The choice 
  is up to you.  If you decide to fight on, turn to 
  paragraph <9>.  If you decide to run away, make 
  a L2SR on SPD.  (25 – SPD).  If you succeed, you 
  escape back down the tunnel that brought you 
  here—go to <28>.  If you fail, you are cut off and 
  must keep fighting—go to <9>.  
   
  
  <13>  You squeeze your way into the narrow 
  passage.  The going is very slow.  You advance 
  by millimeters at times, but you make your way 
  deeper into the rock.  The aroma of aluminum is 
  stronger now, and you begin to salivate as you 
  think of the delicious meal that will soon be 
  yours.  Suddenly, the rock begins to shake—
  such tremors are not uncommon in volcanic 
  regions.  They open and close hundreds of 
  narrow cracks in the stone just like the one 
  you’re currently in every year.  You are in 
  danger.  Make a L1SR (Level 1 Saving Roll) on 
  Luck.  If you make it, go to Paragraph <7>; if you 
  miss it, go to Paragraph <8>. 
   
   
  <14> On your search for food, you find a side 
  passage that you somehow missed before.  
  Venturing down it, you find a twisty crevice of a 
  path that leads back toward the surface.  After a 
  while you begin to faintly hear a strange ringing 
  
  noise—could it be the sound of metal striking 
  stone, coming to you as vibrations in the rock.  
  The further you go, the louder it gets.  You think 
  you know what is causing the strange noise—it’s 
  the sound of food and also of enemies.  You 
  think you hear some Dwarves at work.  Louder 
  and louder grows the tapping, the clanking, and 
  then it begins to fade away.  You have passed 
  the closest approach.  You backtrack until you 
  reach the optimum point.  Whatever is making 
  the noise is just beyond this rock wall.  Turn to 
  paragraph <20>. 
   
  <15>  Your leap falls short.  Whatever you 
  missed the saving roll by is how many feet you 
  missed the jump by.  Now you plummet down 
  into the blazing lava below.  Roll 3D6 (triples 
  add and roll over) and take that much damage 
  on your CON.  If it kills you, it’s the end.  If not, 
  you are definitely feeling the heat.  You have 
  never been so hot in your life.  Make a L20SR on 
  CON (115 – CON).  If you make it, go to 
  paragraph <18>; if you miss it, go to paragraph 
  <6>. 
   
  <16>  The wall of stone crumbles under your 
  relentless attack, and you break into another 
  cavern.  You smash through and discover that 
  the clinking noise is indeed caused by a squad of 
  Dwarven miners.  They have been following a 
  
  rich vein of true silver (mithril), and have also 
  been creating a Dwarven tunnel behind them.  
  It’s about eight feet square, and has a mine cart 
  behind them blocking their escape.  Roll 1D6 
  and add 2.  That is how many Dwarves are in 
  this mining squad.  Then just roll 1D6. If that 
  second number is higher than the total number 
  of Dwarves rolled, then you have to fight all of 
  them. That’s how many are in position to fight 
  you on the first combat round.  On the following 
  rounds, they will all be able to fight.  [You will 
  have to take a moment now and create your 
  Dwarven foes.  Each Dwarf in the squad is 1 
  point stronger, and 1 CON point tougher than 
  the previous one.  The first Dwarf has STR of 18 
  and CON of 30 and 17 combat adds.  That would 
  give the second Dwarf a STR of 19, CON of 31, 
  and 18 combat adds.  And so forth..  They are 
  armed with Dwarven pickaxes (3D6) and 
  Dwarven scoop daggers (2d6 + 7).  They have 
  neither shields nor armor—why would they need 
  that way down here?  On the second round of 
  combat the Dwarves can fight two-handed using 
  both weapons (total of 5D6 + 7).]  
   
  Time now for elemental combat.  Trolls and 
  Dwarves really hate each other, and you can 
  only think of how satisfying it will be to slay 
  them and feast on their rocky bodies.  No magic.  
  Your arms are the equivalent of weapons—one is 
  
  a war hammer and the other is a kind of sword.  
  These are weapons made for Trolls, and you are 
  a troll four times the size of dwarves.  Your right 
  hand is worth 15D6 +6; your left hand is 15D6 + 
  3 for a total of 30D6 + 9 and your combat adds.  
  Dwarven pickaxes and scoop daggers are made 
  to cut stone—that means you have no armor 
  against them either.  FIGHT!  Be sure to count 
  spite damage for both sides.  If you are winning 
  after combat round 1, turn to paragraph <9>; if 
  you are losing, go to paragraph <12>.  If you are 
  dead, close the book because it’s the end. 
    
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  <17>  The runes are just so many weird 
  scratchings to you.  You keep walking beside the 
  river until the trail comes to an end.  You can 
  see that it continues deeper and downer into the 
  
  rock on the other side of the river of lava.  There 
  is no way to get there except by making a mighty 
  jump.  The distance is twice your height, and 
  Trolls are not known for their jumping ability.  If 
  you dare the feat, go to Paragraph <4>; if you 
  turn back, go to Paragraph <26>. 
   
  <18>  Agony!  The river of lava carries you into a 
  tunnel that bores through solid rock.  It turns 
  downward and slowly takes you beyond agony 
  into a changed mental state where you are at 
  one with the universe—i.e. you’re dead, but you 
  don’t know it, so it doesn’t count, and what is 
  death to a rock troll anyway?  Mere words are 
  inadequate to convey the transcendence of being 
  melted into slag by molten lava.  Some time later 
  a gigantic hand plucks what’s left of you out of 
  the lava and carries you like a baby through a 
  vast dim cavern.  Then you are deposited in a 
  warm, comfortable pool of limestone rich water.  
  Fed by rich rocky nutrients, your body begins to 
  heal.  When your eyes are healed you see a 
  gigantic troll sitting beside you, dangling his foot 
  in this immense pool of water.  It must be at 
  least 300 feet tall, and it glows with an inner  
  
   
  
   
  light that illuminates the cavern.  When you can 
  think and behave normally, you feel/hear the 
  giant troll welcoming you to the true Trollheim.  
  You have made it to the legendary Troll Haven.  
  Your trollish childhood has now come to an end.  
  If you ever bring this troll out to adventure on 
  the surface again, you may double all its 
  beginning attributes and its size.  You’re a real 
  monster now, baby!  The End. 
   
  <19>  As you make your way back toward the 
  surface, you reach a point where you hear a 
  kind of clinking—like metal beating on stone.  If 
  you decide to investigate it, go to paragraph 
  <20>.  If you ignore it and continue your 
  journey, go to paragraph <21>. 
   
  <20>  The clinking sounds like metal striking 
  stone.  It has a rhythmic pattern.  By pressing 
  your ear to the stony walls in various places, you 
  locate a spot where the noise is the loudest, and 
  the rock is the thinnest.  You are going to have 
  to make a passage through this stone, but that’s 
  not really a problem.  You have made such 
  passages before.  With a mental effort that 
  seems to get a little easier each time you do it, 
  you concentrate mass into your arms, and form 
  one hand into a large chisel, and the other into a 
  hammer.  Attempt some saving rolls on STR.  
  
  You have ten tries to make 3 L5SRs on STR.  If 
  you make the three saving rolls, turn to 
  paragraph <16>; if you fail, then you will give 
  up, change back into your normal shape and 
  move on to paragraph <2>. 
   
  <21>     You make it safely to the upper caverns 
  and the surface of Trollworld.  Your adventure is 
  now over.  Take 300 adventure points for all 
  your exploits.  You may continue to use this 
  character in other adventures.  The End. 
   
  <22>  The heat increases and the path you are 
  following gets narrower and narrower and you 
  follow it deeper into the earth.  You can see 
  perfectly well here, as the lava exudes a fiery 
  glow.  There is a monolith ahead of you that 
  seems a bit strange.  You stop and take a look at 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  it.  Yes, there are trollish runes—borrowed from 
  the Dwarves but in Khargish, not Rocktongue.  
  The question is, can you read them?  Make a 
  L3SR on INT to attempt their translation.  If you 
  make it, go to Paragraph <3>.  If you fail, go to 
  Paragraph <17>. 
   
  <23>    That was one great leap.  You didn’t 
  make it all the way across in the air—trolls can’t 
  (usually) fly, but you did crash into the opposite 
  wall of the chasm quite close to the top.  As you  
   
   
   
  start to slide down the wall, one hand reaches 
  out and catches the edge of the trail, and one 
  foot finds a knob of rock that will bear your 
  weight.  That’s all you need.  You quickly 
  scramble up and find yourself at the beginning 
  of a tunnel that slopes steeply downward into 
  the darkness away from the river of lava.  
  Undaunted, you forge your way onward.  Soon 
  you are in pitch darkness.  The rock around you 
  has cooled so that it is no warmer than you are.  
  As good as your darkness vision is, there doesn’t 
  
  seem to be much to see.  You grope your way 
  forward and down with one hand in front of you.  
  Is that a sort of strange, concentric pattern on 
  the rocks ahead of you?  Does the tunnel dead-
  end here?  Attempt a L7SR on INT (50 – INT).  If 
  you succeed, turn to paragraph <30>; if you fail, 
  turn to paragraph <31>. 
   
  <24>  As carefully as you can, you lower your 
  boat into the lava.  There really isn’t a launching 
  point around here, so you have to drop it about 
  10 feet.  Make a L5SR on Luck.  (40 – LK).  If you 
  make the saving roll, the boat lands well, floats, 
  and is ready for you to leap down into it.  If you 
  missed the saving roll, the boat is poorly made, 
  and it cracks apart when it hits the molten lava.  
  It breaks into pieces and floats away.  You can 
  return to paragraph <10> and try again if you 
  wish, or you could make another choice. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  If the boat is intact, you can try jumping into it.  
  Leaping into a crude boat of stone slowly moving 
  along a river of molten lava is a difficult feat, but 
  you’re willing to try it.  You get slightly ahead of 
  the boat on the path above it, calculate your 
  flight path, and jump!  You may rely on either 
  your Dexterity of Luck to succeed.  Attempt 
  either a L10SR on DEX (65 – DEX) or a L12SR 
  on Luck (75 – LK).  If you have a Talent such as 
  Leap, Dodge, Balance, or something of a similar  
  nature based on your DEX, you may use it for 
  the saving roll at level 8.  (55 – TAL)  [Note to 
  players who haven’t tried Talents.  If you haven’t 
  given your character any Talents, and you wish 
  to improve your chances of making this saving 
  roll, then give your troll the Talent of Balance.  
  Write it on your Character sheet like this Talent: 
  Balance = DEX + 1D6—roll 1D6 and substitute 
  whatever you rolled; example: Balance = DEX + 
  3.   Talents are best used for attempting 
  unusual feats—sort of like jumping successfully 
  into a moving boat on a river of lava.—grin.]  If 
  you make the saving roll, turn to paragraph <5>; 
  if you miss it, then you missed the boat—you fall 
  into the river of lava—turn to paragraph <15> 
   
  <25> 
  Make a L10SR on STR.  (65 – STR).  If 
  you made it, you got the gem, a raw, uncut 
  diamond that is the size of a small egg.  It would 
  be worth 2D6 times 1000 gold pieces on the  
  
  surface world—here it’s just a 
  pretty rock.  If you missed the 
  saving roll, you hurt yourself 
  and were unable to get the 
  rock.  There is now a cut in 
  your rocky hand oozing your 
  own volcanic blood.  This will 
  heal soon, but for the next 5 
  paragraphs, your DEX is 5 
  points lower than it is right now.  
  Whether you get the diamond or not, 
  continue down the path to <22>. 
   
  <26>  A troll with common sense—
  what will we see next?  You seem to have 
  reached the end of your trek into the bowels of 
  Trollworld.  Reluctantly, you turn around and 
  begin the long walk up to the upper caverns and 
  the world of kindreds.  Make a L3SR on Luck.  
  (30 - LK).  If you make it, turn to paragraph 
  <21>; if you miss it, go to paragraph <19>. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  <27>  After a while you realize that your small 
  foes aren’t fighting back any longer.  You have 
  won.  Each Dwarf slain is worth 50 a.p.  For 
  winning the battle against the odds, you get 500 
  a.p.  The scoop dagger is a new weapon for you.  
  Scoop daggers are made of mithril, and their 
  edges are so fine, hard, and sharp that they can 
  punch into and cut stone itself.  Such weapons 
  are reserved for the Dwarves who work far 
  underground and have never been seen on the 
  surface of Trollworld.  You may take them if you 
  wish—they would be worth 1000 gold pieces 
  each to buyers in cities like Khazan.  The mining 
  cart contains 5D6 rough gems—a fortune on the 
  surface—just so many pretty rocks down here. 
   
  Gathering what loot you wish to take, including 
  a carcass or two for a feast later on, you leave by 
  the same way that you entered.  The Dwarven 
  tunnel is really too small for you.  Luckily they 
  were working in a larger space when you 
  attacked them.  Turn to paragraph <29>. 
   
  <28>  
  The Dwarves are brave, but not foolish 
  enough to pursue you into your own troll 
  tunnels where they can’t bring superior 
  numbers to bear.  They heave a sigh of relief and 
  watch you leave.  Then they call for 
  reinforcements.  Meanwhile you get away.  Take 
  
  200 adventure points as you leave.  Turn to 
  paragraph <29>. 
   
  <29> 
  Such is life and death in the deep 
  caverns far below the surface of Trollworld.  You 
  return to your wanderings.  Do you return to the 
  surface?  You may if you wish by going to <21>.  
  Or you can remain in the tunnels.  If you do 
  that, you will wander for a long time, always 
  trying to make your way deeper into Trollworld.  
  Make a L3SR on Luck (30 - LK).  If you make it, 
  go to <22>.  If you fail, go to <31> 
   
   
  <30>   You have seen this pattern before 
  somewhere, and in darkness like this also.  It 
  takes a moment, but you remember, this is the 
  web of a rock spider, one of the most feared 
  predators of the deep trollworld caves.  A fierce 
  predator, but also good eating—you’ve been 
  hungry for days now.   It’s a good thing you 
  didn’t blunder into that web—those strands are 
  as strong as steel and would greatly reduce your 
  ability to fight.  You must decide whether to stay 
  and tackle the rock spider by going to paragraph 
  
  <32>, or to turn back by going to paragraph 
  <26> or to try and find a way to bypass the web 
  and the spider by going to <33>. 
   
  <31>  You have blundered into the web of a 
  giant rock spider, one of the fiercest predators of 
  the deep tunnels.  The strands are sticky and 
  strong as steel.  In a few minutes you could tear 
  yourself free, but the spider feels your thrashing 
  and emerges from its lair and leaps upon you.  
  The rock spider is like a creature of living 
  obsidian, all sharp planes and angles.  Its 16 
  legs are like spears, its mandibles are like 
  clashing sabers, its body is like an avalanche.  
  And it is fast.  The spider has a monster rating 
  of 200.  (21D6 + 100).  You can only fight at half 
  strength because you’re caught in the web 
  (15D6 + Adds/2).  If it kills you in a single 
  combat round, then your adventure is over--
  close the book.  On the second combat round, 
  you will be 
  able to tear 
  yourself free 
  and use your 
  full might.  
  Turn to 
  paragraph 
  <34> for the 
  battle. 
   
  
  <32>  Realizing that you are going to be 
  attacking a rock spider, you stop and take the 
  time to turn your arms into fierce weapons.  It is 
  a creature of stone, so war hammers would be 
  best against it.  You also have to chip some 
  boulders out of the walls or floor.  You will use 
  them to crash and break the web.  When you are 
  ready, you hurl a two hundred pound boulder 
  into the webbing.  It emits a twanging sound, 
  and the boulder is caught in the web like an 
  insect.  A huge and hideous rock spider of living 
  obsidian (monster rating 200—21D6 + 100 
  combat adds), all angles and facets, and 
  stabbing legs rushes forward to see what prey 
  has come to it, and when you see it clearly, you 
  attack it .  For the battle, turn to paragraph 
  <34>. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  <33> 
  Searching carefully, you discover that 
  the web doesn’t quite reach the floor in one 
  place.  It might be possible for you to get down 
  on your stomach and slither through like a 
  snake.  But if you failed, you would be helpless 
  against a spider attack.  If you decide to try and 
  slide by, make a L6SR on either DEX or any 
  Talent that might apply here.  If you make the 
  saving roll, go to paragraph <35>; if you miss it, 
  you will get caught in the web and the spider 
  will attack you at paragraph <31>.  If you decide 
  you’d rather fight your way through, then go to 
  paragraph <32>. 
   
  <34> 
  Now begins an epic battle between two 
  primordial titans—you the mighty rock troll and 
  the fierce obsidian rock spider.  This will be a 
  fight to the death.  If you have had time to form 
  your limbs into weapons—then each one is 
  worth 15D6 and you get your combat adds.  You 
  regenerate one tenth of your current CON each 
  combat round.  So does the spider—it gets one 
  tenth of its monster rating back each round.  (It 
  also gets 21D6 + 100 combat adds to start with.)  
  Luckily, there is no poison to worry about.  If 
  you win the battle you get 200 adventure points 
  and turn to paragraph <36>.  If you lose, well, 
  even rock trolls can be eaten by some things.  
  That would be the end. 
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  <35>  You slither beneath the spider web and 
  continue down the passage.  You gain an extra 
  100 a.p. for being wise enough to avoid conflict.  
  Go to paragraph <37>. 
   
  <36>  Victorious, you smash open the obsidian 
  carapace and feast on the softer, tastier, earthy 
  parts inside the spider.  This food is so 
  nourishing and rich that you will have fully 
  regenerated by the time you can turn to 
  paragraph <37>. 
  
  <37>  The passage continues for a bit, and then 
  turns steeply downward.  You grope and slide 
  your way along until it finally levels off and 
  opens up into a huge cavern.  This place is 
  enormous.  It’s an underground world.  In the 
  distance you see gigantic glowing THINGS 
  moving around.  As one comes closer you realize 
  that it is a tremendous troll, one over 100 feet 
  high.  It sees you, and a gigantic hand sweeps 
  down to gather you up.  It holds you up to its 
  face, more than 100 feet off the cavern floor.  It 
  smiles and says, ―Oh, look, one of our babies 
  has come home.‖  You feel like a baby inside its 
  mighty paw. 
   
  The BIG troll carries you deeper into the cavern 
  and sets you down in a warm and shallow pool 
  of nutrient-laden water.  It sits beside you and 
  answers your questions, and you learn the true 
  history of the trolls of Trollworld.  You are 
  congratulated for having found your way down 
  so deep.  And you learn that your childhood is 
  now over, and you have finally attained trollish 
  adulthood.  You are still young compared to the 
  ancient ones in this cavern, but when you 
  return to the upper world you will be twice your 
  current size and power  (That is all of  your 
  attributes will double, but your weight will 
  quadruple.)  Congratulations on reaching Troll 
  Haven.   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  THE END 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Trolls for the Delving 
   
  Just in case you don't have any big rock trolls 
  for this adventure, I'm putting in the stats for a 
  few of the champions of Trollhalla.  You don't 
  need weapons, armor, or money.  This is all 
  about your basic trollish self going way down 
  deep.    
  --Ken St. Andre    1/12/2011 
  ________________________________________________ 
   
  STR - 104 
  CON - 101 
  INT - 64 
  WIZ - 59 
  LK - 90 
  DEX - 90 
  CHR - 68 
  SPD - 83 
  Adds - 319 
   
  STR - 50 
  CON - 105 
  INT - 80 
  WIZ - 51 
  LK - 46 
  DEX - 54 
  CHR - 72 
  SPD - 45 
  Adds - 147 
   
  STR - 159 
  CON - 36 
  INT - 7 
  WIZ - 7 
  LK - 31 
  DEX - 9 
  CHR - 9 
  SPD - 7 
  Adds - 164 
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  TROLLHALLA PRESS 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Tunnels & Trolls (osr)/Adventures & Settings/TnT - Deep Delving.pdf