Delves

Delves are an automated exploration mini-game for venturing into the deeper and more dangerous reaches of the Drowned Tangle. Choose your character, starting depth, equipment, and optional partner, then spend Stamina on activities as you explore. Your choices and rolls determine what you find, how far you can safely descend, and whether you make it back with everything you collected. Delves use your character's existing Force level alongside Health, Stamina, and Sanity, with greater risks and stronger rewards becoming available as you progress. You can Delve solo or bring another character, Companion, pet, or NPC as a partner. IC writing is optional, but writing about your Delve can earn an additional prize.

🎲 Start a Delve

How Delves Work

How a Delve Works

1. Set up. Pick your character (their Force level comes straight from their profile), your starting level (any level your Marrowlight Token has unlocked), an optional partner, and up to 3 pieces of registered equipment from your inventory. To partner with someone else's character or Companion, start typing their name and pick it from the list.
2. Take turns. Each turn, choose one activity from the table below. It costs Stamina, and most activities roll a d20 to see how it goes.
3. Earn prizes. Successful activities earn a Small, Medium, Large or Special prize. Deeper levels, clever play and low Sanity all make bigger prizes more likely.
4. Get out. Extract whenever you like, or keep going until your Stamina runs out.
5. Sort your prizes. Back at the Safe Zone, merge prizes if you like (see Prizes). You can carry out up to 8.
6. Collect. Your finished Delve goes to staff, who turn each prize into a reward and add it to your inventory or talents.

Delve Availability

Every player gets 1 free Delve per month, usable on any character. After that, each character posted during the month becomes eligible for 1 additional Delve.

Each player can start up to 3 Delves per day, across all their characters. Every Delve you start counts, however it ends. The Delve page tracks both limits for you.

Your Stats

Characters receive 10 Health and 20 Stamina per Force [Magic, Tech, Primal, etc.] level. A Level 0 character starts with 10 Health / 20 Stamina; a Level 8 character starts with 80 Health / 160 Stamina. Partners have their own Health and Stamina, based on their level.

• Health: Failed and partly failed activities can cost Health. At 0 Health, your character faints and is automatically extracted to a Safe Zone near the entrance, losing some of the prizes they collected. Your partner gets one final activity before their own necklace triggers and pulls them out too. An outstanding result on that final activity revives the fainted character, and the Delve continues.
• Stamina: Spent on every activity, by both you and your partner. Your necklace auto-extracts you at 0 Stamina, or you can trigger it voluntarily at any time; neither causes you to lose collected prizes. Your partner can continue after you leave, though their risk increases now that they're alone.
• Sanity: Shared by you and your partner. See below.

Rolls and Results

Most activities roll a d20 and add:

• half your Force level (rounded down),
• +2 while your partner is with you (−2 once they've left),
• +3 after a successful Observe,
• +2 once per piece of equipment you brought, when you choose to use it.

The number to beat rises the deeper you go: 10 at Level 1, 15 at Level 10, 21 at Level 25.

Result	When	What happens
Triumph	A natural 20, or beating the target by 6 or more	A prize with better odds of being bigger, sometimes two. Restores a little Sanity.
Success	Meeting or beating the target	A prize. Restores a little Sanity.
Partial	Missing by 4 or less	Sometimes a Small prize, and dangerous activities cost some Health.
Failure	Missing by 5 or more, or a natural 1	Costs Health (for dangerous activities) and Sanity. A natural 1 is worse.

Meditate and Descend don't roll.

Activities & Costs

Activity	Description	Tier I	Tier II	Tier III	Tier IV	Tier V
Descend	Move deeper into the Delve. Blocks previous layers.	5	6	8	9	10
Combat	Defeat enemies, clear corrupted rooms, fend off invasions.	8	10	12	15	16
Forage	Gather natural resources: mosses, glowing fungus, reef shards, bonefruit.	4	5	6	8	8
Meditate	Recover 10–20% Sanity and reduce emotional strain. Risk-free — cannot trigger Instability.	4	5	6	8	8
Observe	Study flora, architecture, and fauna behavior. Only a Triumph earns a prize, but any success gives +3 to your next roll and better odds of a bigger prize.	3	4	5	6	6
Salvage	Scavenge ruined structures, shipwrecks, or ancient equipment.	6	8	9	11	12
Creature Capture	Attempt to tame, trap, or disable Delve fauna without killing them.	—	10	12	15	16
Puzzle	Hack locks, copy reactive rune patterns, solve riddles.	—	8	9	11	12
Advanced Combat	Fight elite or highly corrupted threats in more dangerous rooms.	—	—	14	17	18
Stabilize	Repair ward pillars, awaken inert obelisks, reroute energy flows. Restores up to 5% Sanity.	—	—	11	13	14
Advanced Creature Capture	Tame or trap unusually intelligent or volatile fauna.	—	—	—	17	18
Purify	Cleanse Delve cores or unstable zones. Restores up to 10% Sanity.	—	—	—	18	20
Rare Salvage	Scavenge high-level materials from ancient tech, gear, or cursed relics.	—	—	—	13	14

Costs depend on the level you're currently on, not your Token.

Special Events

• Random Task Chain: A multi-step event (e.g. Stabilize → Puzzle → Combat) that must be completed in sequence. Cost is random, 6–12 Stamina. Can appear from Tier III and is most common at Tier V. Finishing every step earns a bonus prize; a failed step breaks the chain.
• Dual-Activity Node: A hybrid event combining two activities (e.g. Salvage + Combat). Cost is random, 9–15 Stamina. Can appear from Tier IV. Succeeding at both earns a bonus prize.
• Hidden Passage: When your Sanity drops below 60%, you may notice a way that shouldn't be there. Cost is random, 4–8 Stamina.

You may proceed for the listed cost, or skip for free.

Dangers of the Tangle

Instability

Each tier has a set Instability % — the chance per activity that something unexpected happens. Low Sanity increases this chance further. Meditate can never trigger Instability.

An Instability event may:

• Go unexpectedly wrong (a worse result) or strangely right (a better result, plus an Anomaly prize)
• Mutate your activity into a different type (e.g. a Puzzle becomes a Combat encounter)
• Drain or restore Stamina, cause hallucinations (Sanity loss), or deal damage from unknown forces

At Tier I (5%), most events behave predictably. At Tier IV (25%), nearly every activity could carry a secondary twist.

Sanity

Sanity reflects your character's mental and emotional stability. It starts at 100% and depletes from corruption, anomalies, or strain — including Instability events, failed actions, and reaching levels you've never been to before. It can be restored by Meditating, Stabilizing, Purifying, or through successful actions.

Sanity	Effects
100–80%	No effect.
79–60%	Instability chance +5%. Minor hallucinations begin. Slightly better odds of bigger prizes.
59–40%	+1 Stamina per action. Instability chance +10%. Hidden Passages may appear.
39–20%	+2 Stamina per action. Instability chance +15%. Stronger hallucinations and stranger encounters. Some events randomly mutate.
19–1%	+3 Stamina per action. Instability chance +20%. Much better odds of bigger prizes, but you can no longer Meditate.
0%	Auto-extracted with one random consequence: a permanent scar, curse, phobia, or flaw a blessing and a bonus prize loss of some collected prizes reduced starting Health, Stamina and Sanity next Delve loss of one Token tier

Rewards & Progression

Prizes

Each prize you earn is labelled by size and by what earned it, for example Medium prize (Salvage) or Large prize (Creature). When staff approve your Delve, they turn each prize into a reward that fits: a material, a relic, a creature, a curiosity, or even a talent. The same size of prize can become many different things.

Prize	How common
Small	The most common, especially in shallow levels.
Medium	Common everywhere.
Large	Uncommon, more likely deeper.
Special	Rare, and very rare in Tier I.

Bigger prizes are more likely from Triumphs, after a successful Observe, from Advanced Combat, Rare Salvage and Purify, and when your Sanity is low.

Merging and your pack. When you get back to the Safe Zone, you'll see everything you earned and can merge prizes before sending your Delve to staff:

• 2 Small = 1 Medium
• 2 Medium = 1 Large
• 2 Large = 1 Special

You can carry out up to 8 prizes per Delve. If you earned more, merge down to 8 before you finish. Merging never changes the total value of your haul, just how it's split: a merged prize is worth what its two halves were. Changed your mind? Undo all merges any time before you send it off. If nothing is left to merge and you're still over 8, your smallest prizes are left behind.

Marrowlight Tokens

Every character receives a Marrowlight Token after their first Delve. Its tier determines how deep you can go — once a tier is unlocked, you may start on any level up to your maximum. Deeper levels offer bigger prizes but greater risk — activities also cost more (see the table above). Your Token updates itself each time you unlock a tier: its name, resale value and "Completed Delves" count change, but its description stays yours. You can design it yourself or ask Support to generate one.

Tier	Delves Required	Access Range	Token Resell Value	Unlocks	Instability %
I	1	Levels 1–5	125–300c	Combat, Salvage, Forage, Observe, Meditate	5%
II	3 total	Levels 6–10	175–420c	+Puzzle, +Creature Capture	10%
III	7 total	Levels 11–15	250–600c	+Stabilize, +Advanced Combat	15%
IV	12 total	Levels 16–20	375–900c	+Purify, +Rare Salvage, +Advanced Creature Capture	25%
V	18 total	Levels 21–25	750–1800c	All activities; Random Task Chains & Dual-Activity Nodes more likely	35%

A Delve counts toward your Token once staff approve it. If you sell your Token, let Support know so they can replace it when you next level up.

IC Post Bonus

Write an IC post or thread about your Delve, then paste the link on your finished Delve's page. Staff will add a bonus prize once they've read it.