Deep

Lost i t e

Diogo Nogueira
"We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are
older and fouler things than Orcs, in the deep places of the world."

Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien

"They have taken the bridge, and the second hall. We have barred
the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes.
rums. rums in the deep. We cannot get out. shadow moves in
the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming "

Gandalf, reading the last words of a dwarf warrior in The

Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
 Lost in the
Deep

Diogo Nogueira
 Written by
DIOGO NOGUEIRA
Graphic Design by
DIOGO NOGUEIRA
Artwork by
PUBLIC DOMAIN IMAGES, DEAN SPENCER, DANIEL COMERCI
(HAUNWORKS.IT), PAWET DOBOSZ (THE FORGE STUDIO),
BLACKIE CARBON, PUBLISHER’S CHOICE QUALITY STOCK
ART © RICK HERSHEY / FAT GOBLIN GAMES
Editing and Proofreading by
CAROL DARNELL

This work is based on The Wretched (found at http://

loottheroom.itch.io/wretched), product of Chris Bissette and Loot
The Room, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/3.0/).

THE WRETCHED™ is a trademark of Chris Bissette. The

Wretched and Alone logo is © Chris Bissette, and is used with
permission.

1st Edition - May 2020

 Who?
You are the last survivor of a band of dwarven warriors
who have come to the lost halls of the Kingdom Under the
Mother Mountain, to retake it and rebuild it in the name
of your ancestors. After months of wandering the almost
endless halls of the dwarven ruins, your band unwittingly
set free an ancient evil that lay asleep for generations, and
one-by-one, it killed your companions in the most
terrifying ways possible.

Now you are lost in the depths of earth, registering your

history in the diary of your people. You search for an exit
from the mines, but all you can find are endless halls and
the damned creatures serving that Evil in the Shadows that
awakened and destroyed your people.

Everyday you count your last remaining torches and

meals, wander through the infinite halls and mines, and
write your memories in your diary. Everyday you feel the
evil entity and its minions coming closer and closer. The
drums of its chaos army beat faster and faster. You don’t
have much time.

Can you reach the surface before the ancient evil finds
you? Was a rescue party sent to find you? Will your food
and water last as long as you need to reach the doors to
freedom? Or will you die of starvation in the depths of the
mountain?

All you know is that you’re lost in the deep…

6
 What?
Lost in the eep is a game about isolation, survival, and
perseverance even when faced with the inevitability of
our own demise.

You play as the last survivor of an expedition of dwarves

who set out to restore the Kingdom Under the Mother
Mountain, the legendary dwarven city from which all
dwarves have come and was lost a millennia ago.
However, after months exploring it and restoring part
of its structures, your band unwittingly set loose an
ancient evil that had been asleep in the depths of the
mountain. With it, the entity brought forth the legions
of chaos and, one-by-one, you lost your companions,
brothers and sisters, in horrible incidents that still haunt
your dreams.

With your heart filled with fear and desperation, you

seek a way out of these cursed halls. Your band never
found a map, and the one you were making was lost in a
battle against the minions of the Evil in the Shadows.
You don’t know if you can find the stairs to the surface,
but you will keep going, fighting for survival and to—
one day—tell the story of your people.

Lost in the eep was inspired by The Wretched and ealed

Library games using the Wretched and Alone SRD
engine. It’s also inspired by The Lord of the Rings trilogy
written by J. R. R. Tolkien, especially the history of the
dwarven expedition to Moria and the encounter with the
Balrog in its depths. I am sure the work of other fantasy
writers and my experience with dungeon crawling games
will seep through as well.

7
 How?
Lost in the eep is a solo narrative game, played with a deck
of cards (minus the jokers), a d , a block tower, 0 coins,
paper and pencil.

As you play, you, as the surviving dwarf, wanders through

endless corridors looking for stairs to take you to the
surface and records your journey in your diary. You may
face obstacles, hear the hordes of chaos approaching,
make tough choices regarding your few resources and
think about your fallen companions in this terrible place.

Everyday your escape seems less likely. The drums of

chaos beat stronger, faster, closer. The shadows around
you seem thicker.

Your only hope is to find the many sets of stairs that will
lead you to the surface, outside of this nightmare. Or,
maybe, find the rescue party that you hope the dwarves
from the Iron Mountains would have sent after so many
weeks without any new messages. Both alternatives seem
unlikely though.

But you keep going. You’re a child of the Mother

Mountain after all.

8
 Begin
Before play starts, do the following:

▪ Set up your block tower as you would normally do

for a game of that type.

▪ Roll a d and pull that many blocks from the tower.

The tower represents the state of the mines and its
degradation due to the forces of chaos. If it comes
tumbling down, the game is over and your
character dies falling into a pit, under tumbling
rock, or cut in half by an ancient trap. Use the
cards you drew as inspiration for determining how
it all ends.

▪ Shu e the deck of cards (without the jokers) and

place it face down near you. For a game with
improved chances of success, put the Ace of Hearts
at the top.

▪ Write your first entry on your diary copying from

the script that follows: ay since we arrived at the
ingdom nder the Mother Mountain. ow , O R
W R M , am the last survivor of our band. My
companions have all fallen victim to the machinations of
that ancient evil we unwittingly awakened in our foolish
search for the secret treasure left by our ancestors. ow the
vil in the hadows and its minions are behind me, ever
near. must nd the stairs that will lead me out, but
have no idea where they are. still have water and rations
for a few days. hope can make it.

9
 The Days
You play in rounds, and each round represents a day inside
the labyrinthine halls of the Kingdom Under the Mother
Mountain. You do the following at each round:

▪ Roll a d and draw that many cards from the deck,

putting them face down in order in front of you.

▪ Turn over the first one and consult the Dwarven

Runes tables to see what they mean. Each card
represents an event, a vision, or an encounter. They
may ask you to do something in the game or ask
you about some detail of your journey.

▪ Repeat the procedure described above with each

card you drew from the deck.

▪ After you’ve turned over and consulted the

meaning of all the cards you drew, discard them
(unless the Dwarven Runes say otherwise).

▪ Now write an entry in your diary, taking into

consideration all that has happened during the day
(the cards you drew). You begin following this
model: ay , B T T R O L since
we arrived at the ingdom nder the Mountain.
continue to wander the halls looking for a way out

10
 Dwarven Runes
Everytime you turn over a card you drew from the deck
each day, you will consult the Dwarven Runes to
determine what exactly it means. Sometimes they ask you
to pull blocks from the tower, other times they ask you to
re ect on what happened and ask uestions about your
story. A few complicate your character s life and very few
will give you hope of escaping.

HEARTS - THE MINES

Hearts cards represent events that happen while you
wander through the endless hall of the Kingdom Under
the Mother Mountain. When you draw Hearts, you might
stumble upon an ancient trap, find yourself in a dead end
corridor, escape a cave in or—if you are lucky—find a set of
stairs that leads you closer to the surface.

DIAMONDS - STRENGTH AND RESOURCES

As you wander through the dungeon that once was the
greatest dwarven citadel in the world, you get tired,
hungry, and thirsty. When you draw Diamonds, you feel
exhausted, and need to stop to rest. You might lose part of
your remaining rations. Your water might be spilled. Or, if
you are lucky enough, you might find something that
gives you a boost to keep going.

12
 CLUBS - MEMORIES AND HOPE
You saw your brothers and sisters fall one-by-one against
the Evil in the Shadows and its minions. Now you are
haunted by these sinister visions and the memories of what
you’ve lost. When you draw Clubs, you see something that
reminds you of your fellow companions. You might hear
their voices calling you in the dark. You might circle
around and stumble upon their rotting remains.
Sometimes, though, those memories can bring you hope,
as you remember the camaraderie and feel their spirits
pushing you forward and up to light and to freedom.

SPADES - THE E IL IN THE SHADOWS

The Evil in the Shadows is everywhere, always close by,
ready to swallow you whole if you don’t keep the darkness
at bay. When you draw Spades, you may encounter signs
of the evil entity, its minions, or just feel its cold embrace
closer and closer to you. You may see its thousands of evil
eyes observing you from the shadows at the edge of your
lantern’s light. You may face some of its minions as they
try to cut you into pieces. If you are lucky, you may also
find one of your people’s ancient relics that gives you a
way to repel the shadows that try to su ocate you. But that
won’t help you forever.

13
 Hearts - The ines
After days wandering through the endless halls of the Kingdom Under
the Mother Mountain, you finally find a set of stairs leading to an
upper level. PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER AND DON’T DISCARD THIS
CARD. Instead, put it to your side and place 0 coins on it. At the end of
each day, after writing in your diary, roll a d . On a result of , remove
a coin from the card. Each coin that is removed means you found
another set of stairs taking you closer and closer to the surface.

N Iftheyoulastever remove all the coins from this card, that means you found
set of stairs that will finally lead you to safety. P
ULL A BLOCK
FROM THE TOWER one last time. If the tower remains intact, you reach
the surface and feel the warmth of the sun on your skin and the
caresses of the wind on your hair. You are safe. If the tower tumbles
down, the light you saw coming from the surface was all an illusion,
you died, but your spirit went to the afterlife instead of being
absorbed by the shadows.
You see cracks in the walls and oors as you walk by, and you can hear

O
new cracks forming with every step you take. How does it feel to know
the very place you walk upon can fall down on you and crush you to
death?
As you crossed a bridge over a great chasm of which you can’t even see

P
the bottom, the bridge collapsed and you barely made it to the other
side. What did you let fall into the chasm? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE
TOWER.

Q
As you wander through the empty halls you see a great wall inscribed
with runes of warning written long ago. What do they say?

After a few hours following a long corridor, you reali e it was built

R
with an almost imperceptible inclination leading deeper into the
mountain. You don’t remember any tunnel like this in the records.
Who built this? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
At the corners of your vision you see passages and doors that, when

S
you turn to look at them, are not there. Is your mind playing tricks on
you or are these doors and passages really disappearing due to the
in uences of the Evil in the Shadows?
The corridor behind you collapsed and you cannot turn back anymore.

T Something tells you it was not an accident. Why do you think so? PULL
A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.

You travelled these great halls before, but with your companions. How

U does it feel to walk around this place all alone, in silence, and knowing
there is an evil behind you?

You keep hearing steps coming near you but you cannot see anyone or

V anything approaching. You know there is something near. What’s it

waiting for? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
W snu ed out, but there is no wind. How does it feel to walk in the dark?
For some reason you cannot light your torch today. It keeps being

You are pretty sure you passed through that statue two days ago. Now,

X for reasons you cannot comprehend, it creeps you out. Why? PULL A
BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.

As you enter a room that has no exit, the door behind you closes

Y
suddenly, preventing you from getting out. You spend a few hours
figuring out how to open the door and escape. What did you have to
do? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
Tired and afraid, you trigger an ancient trap left behind by your
ancestors. You are wounded but nothing that will prevent you from
keeping going. What was the trap? How badly hurt are you?

Z fourth
DO NOT DISCARD THIS CARD. Place it where you can see it. If this is the
King you have drawn from the deck, the trap was poisoned and
you die after a few hours wandering the ruined halls of your people
and being haunted by the Evil in the Shadows. What did it make you
see? The game is over.

1
 Dia on s - trength an
Resour es
Wandering through the endless halls of the Kingdom Under the
Mother Mountain, you found a legendary artifact of your people. It
gives you strength and you feel it guiding your path even in the
deepest shadows. What is this artifact? Why haven’t the Evil in the

AP
Shadows taken it?
ULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER. DO NOT DISCARD THIS CARD. Put it to
one side so that you will remember you have found it. If you have also
drawn the Ace of Hearts, a roll of or is su cient to remove a coin
from it.
You are having trouble breathing this far under the surface. Sometimes

B it feels like someone is su ocating you. How do you keep going? PULL
A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.

You have lost some blood in a battle against a couple of undead

C dwarves and feel very di y. What did you feel when you fought the
remains of your ancestors? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
Suddenly, a deep and biting cold overtakes you. You’re chattering your

D teeth and moving very slowly. What does this cold make you think of?
PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
You pass through a portion of the mines that has been covered by a

E
strange and malignant fungi. Their spores fill the air and you start to
feel weaker and hopeless. What were your thoughts when that
happened? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
While you rested for a while, some insects you’ve never seen before,
ate part of your rations. For some reason they seemed to be acting in

F coordination with whispers you heard in the shadows. What are you
going to do now that you have lost part of your food? PULL A BLOCK
FROM THE TOWER.

You are really sleepy today and can barely keep your eyes open.

G
However, you know you must find a hidden place to rest, or the Evil in
the Shadows will find you. Where did you go to rest a little? PULL A
BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.

Part of the oor falls down and you injure your leg. You can still

H
walk, but with a limp. You are sure something sabotaged the
structure for you to fall. Who did this? How do you know? PULL A
BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.

As you open the door to a new room, you find the remains of some

I
terrible creature, and the smell of death and rot overtakes you. You
cannot help but to throw up in disgust. What was that? PULL A BLOCK
FROM THE TOWER.

16
 You wake up to find your waterskin gone. You are thirsty and your

J throat seems covered with sand. Where will you find water down here?
PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
A strong wind that you cannot figure out its source prevents you from

K
keeping your torch lit. You keep going with the sensation that
something or someone is observing you from the deep shadows. PULL
TWO BLOCKS FROM THE TOWER.

A wound that you got from an early fight with some of these creatures

L
inhabiting the halls of your people opened up again and is in amed.
You feel a lot of pain and are feverish. What does the fever make you
see that is not there? PULL TWO BLOCKS FROM THE TOWER.
A wall collapses and your hand gets stuck under tons of rocks and
stones. You cannot move, and the pain is unbearable. Without an
alternative, you cut your own hand out and cauteri e the wound with
fire. What else will this nightmare take from you?

M Dfourth King you have drawn. Place

O NOT DISCARD THIS CARD it where you can see it. If this is the
from the deck, you lost too much blood
and even though you cauteri e the wound, you are too weak to keep
going and die in your sleep having a terrible nightmare. How was it?
What did it make you see? The game is over.

17
 u s- e ories an Hope
After roaming through many empty halls, you find a shrine to the
Mother Mountain, the goddess of all dwarves. There you find a holy
symbol that fills you with hope and strength. How has the shrine

nD
resisted the in uences of the Evil in the Shadows? What does the holy
symbol look like?
O NOT DISCARD THIS CARD. Place it where you can see it. Now,
everytime you are told to pull a block from the tower you can roll a d .
If you roll a , you don’t need to.

o
You find a great and beautiful mosaic telling the mythical story of the
first dwarves. How were they created?

p was its last entry?

You find the diary of a fallen companion forgotten in a room. What

q send to them if you could?

You miss your family and friends back home. What message would you

r
What did you do when your companions died? Did you ee? Did you
try to save them?

s
How did one of your companions sacrifice themselves to save you?
How did that make you feel?

t for. What room is that? What does it make you remember?

You found one of the rooms the leader of your expedition was looking

You found a helmet that was once worn by the King Under the Mother

u Mountain. For some reason, you decide to wear it. How does that
make you feel connected to your ancestors?

v
You find a great statue that strangely resembles yourself. Who was that
dwarf? How else does this individual resemble you?

You remember a friend who warned you before you came on this

w expedition. They talked about a nightmare they had of a demon

hidden in darkness. Why did you all forget about it?

18
 You find the bodies of some of your companions who were ambushed

x
by the minions of the Evil in the Shadows and decide to give them a
proper burial. Do you say anything as you seal them under the earth?
PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
You wander into a burial site of kings of your people and spend the

y
rest of the day going through the records and treasures buried with
them? Who were they? How did they die? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE
TOWER.

As you pass through a great hall filled with the remains of hundreds of
dwarven soldiers, they begin to rise. Undead surround you, with their
eyes glowing bright red. How did you escape?

z Dfourth King you have drawn. Place

O NOT DISCARD THIS CARD it where you can see it. If this is the
from the deck, they don’t stop chasing
you and you eventually succumb to exhaustion, letting them devour
your esh. How many did you destroy before falling? The game is over.

19
 pa es - The vi in the
ha ows
You have a dream about the Evil in the Shadows and your ancestors. In
it, the high priest of the Mother Mountain draws a holy rune, intoning

aI
sacred dwarven words to repel it back to darkness. For some reason,
you feel safer now. What were these words?
F YOU HA E DRAWN THE KING OF SPADES IN A PRE IOUS DAY, YOU MAY
SHUFFLE IT BACK INTO THE DECK OF CARDS.

All around you, you start to notice the presence of many insects and

b
parasites, crawling the walls and oors of the Kingdom Under the
Mother Mountain. Were they there the day before? PULL A BLOCK
FROM THE TOWER.

You are sure there are deeper shadows moving in the darkness. You see

c them following you. Stalking. Ready to attack you when you least
expect. Describe them. PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
You hear whispers coming from the shadows. Calling you. Tempting

d your sanity with promises. What are they saying? PULL A BLOCK FROM
THE TOWER.

You hear the drums of the hordes of chaos that serve the Evil in the

e Shadows getting louder and louder. Faster and Faster. They are
coming. What do you do? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
You hear war screams coming from below. The minions of chaos are

f preparing for battle and already celebrating their upcoming victory.

How are you feeling? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
As you open the door to a room, you are faced with a deformed

g
creature of chaos and it jumps over you. After a uick skirmish, you
manage to get away, scarred. What did it look like? PULL A BLOCK FROM
THE TOWER.

Tendrils of shadow are forming at the corners of your vision, grasping

h
for you. You can’t let your torch go out, or it will certainly strangle
you. How do you make sure you’re always within the light? PULL A
BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.

You remember a passage written in the ancient scriptures of Mother

Mountain that talks about perseverance in the face of inevitable doom

i and you keep repeating that to yourself whenever you feel the Evil in
the Shadows approaching. How does the passage go? PULL A BLOCK
FROM THE TOWER.

You find signs of a recent battle and the remains of the victims left

j behind. Who were them? What disturbing thing made you wish you
never saw? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.

20
 No matter how far you go from it, or how fast you run, you know the

k Evil in the Shadows is always near, watching you every move. What does
it want? Why won t it let you escape? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
You have no idea how you know this, but you are aware of how the Evil

l in the Shadows calls itself. Its true name. What is it? Why shouldn’t
you say it out loud? PULL A BLOCK FROM THE TOWER.
The Evil in the Shadows found you. You see its shape in the shadows. A
darkness deeper than the void. You cannot move. You feel the coldness
of death taking over you. Can you gather the strength to ee?

m
DO NOT DISCARD THIS CARD. Place it where you can see it. If this is the
fourth King you have drawn from the deck, your willpower isn’t
enough to escape the entity and it devours you. You feel more pain
than you could ever imagine it is possible. You don’t know how it is
doing it, but you re kept alive for as long as it enjoys making you
su er. What are your last thoughts? The game is over.

21
 The n
Take a moment to recover from this claustrophobic and
desperate journey.

What happened? Did you manage to escape? Did you find

the stairs that took you into the warmth of sunlight? Did
the rescue party sent by the dwarves from Iron Mountain
find you?

You hoped for that rescue party. Every single day you
imagined stumbling into them. You really believed your
people would send help. But you never found them.

They never came. Deep down you knew they would

never come.

You have been creating this story during the game, but the
story has started even before you picked up the block
tower, your dice, etc. The rules of this game have begun
the story for you, telling what has happened and feeding
you information and hope. A hope that may never come
true, but that has instilled you with a desire for survival
and the will to fight against insurmountable odds.

However, your chances were slim at best. And you knew

that. Deep down, you know you would succumb to the
Evil in the Shadows. Every step you took inside the
Kingdom Under the Mother Mountain took you closer
and closer to your demise. The stairs were really hard to
find and help would never come.

You probably died, but the record of your last days were
registered in your diary and, one day, a group of
adventurers and explorers may recover it when the shadow
recedes once again to the depths of the earth. Will they
tell the tale of your band to the people of the world? Or
will your history fade away like your soul?

22
And if you miraculously found your way out of that
shadowy labyrinth, did you share your story with anyone?
Did they believe everything you saw in the mines? Will
anyone ever come back to these cursed halls? Or will it
remain forever covered in shadows, forgotten forever?
Now that the game and the story are over, what will you
do with the experience you had? What can you share? How
did it make you feel?

23
...if thou ga e long into an abyss, the abyss will also ga e into thee.

Friedrich Niet sche