The Hollow Reclaims Its Roads
A Cairn 2e Hexcrawl of Flux and Flood
With thanks to Nick LS Whelan, creator of Flux Space
The rains have broken.
The lowlands lie drowned, shining like tarnished mirrors.
The old roads are gone. The shrines burn faintly through the fog.
The folk of Hearthvale say the light dimmed first—and then the weather followed.
This is where our hexcrawl begins.
We build in the language of Cairn 2e, guided by the principles of Flux Space, first written by Nick LS Whelan.
Each hex holds one thing seen and many things unseen: a landmark fixed in truth, and a finite number of secrets waiting to surface.
Play advances in a single, patient rhythm:
Chart → Deplete Resources → Resolve Event Die → Point of Interest → Choose Next Action.
That rhythm is the Hollow's heartbeat.
The Shape of the World
Each hex bears two faces.
The Landmark
A single feature can always be seen from afar: a windmill above the flood, a tower half-swallowed by mist, a flame that refuses the rain.
It anchors the players. It shows that the world is still turning.
"Through the wet haze, you glimpse the bell tower, its spire dark against the sky.
From the west comes the scent of woodsmoke."
The Hidden Depths
Everything beyond that sight lies in waiting.
Ruins, voices, trails, relics; each revealed through Flux.
A hex holds only a handful of these Points of Interest, and once all are found, the place becomes Fully Charted.
It is no longer perilous, merely remembered.
The wilderness changes into a road.
The FLUX Turn
Each watch inside a hex follows the same quiet cycle.
1. Chart
Describe the land and its landmarks. Then give three sensory cues; sound, smell, and sight that lead elsewhere.
"The bell tower leans east above the flood.
You smell woodsmoke drifting from the west.
To the north, water rushes through broken stone.
To the south, fireflies glimmer like trapped stars."
Players decide which sign to follow.
2. Deplete Resources
Mark torches, rations, Fatigue. The world asks what they are willing to spend.
3. Resolve Event Die
Roll 1d4.
1 – Encounter 2 – Rest / Fatigue 3 – Local Effect 4 – Omen or Sign
4. Point of Interest
Interpret the result through Flux. The world answers back, paths close, relics surface, something stirs beneath the mud.
Write new discoveries onto the map. Once revealed, they remain until changed again.
5. Choose Next Action
The players act. The cycle continues. Time bends with their footsteps.
When the Event Die result is 3 – Local Effect, you roll on the FLUX Table.
The FLUX Table
The FLUX Table is not rolled every watch, only when the fiction or Event Die demands change. It's the how and what of the land's response.
d6 The World Shifts
1–2 Connection Lost. A road floods or is forgotten. Erase a link.
3–4 New Sign. A ruin, den, or survivor emerges. Add a Point of Interest.
5 Dormant Wakes. Something long silent moves again.
6 Landmark Changes. Its light brightens—or fails. The mood of the hex turns.
Finite Discovery
Discovery has edges.
Each revealed point brings the land closer to stillness.
When all is known, the hex calms. Travel becomes easy—one watch, no Event Die unless the players tempt fate.
Mystery yields to memory. The map becomes a journal of what was risked and found.
Example of Play
Hex: Sunken Fields
Landmark: A bell tower half-drowned.
Undiscovered POIs: Drowned Orchard, Reed Maze, Candle Barge, Ringer's Roost.
Chart – The tower looms east. To the north roars water; to the west drifts woodsmoke; to the south glow fireflies.
Deplete Resources – A torch guttered out. The guide marks Fatigue.
Resolve Event Die – Roll 3 (Local Effect): rain surges, water rising.
Flux Table – Roll 4 (New Sign): something floats from the west.
Point of Interest – A barge slides from the fog, lanterns guttering, its cargo unknown.
Choose Next Action – The party rows toward it or seeks higher ground.
The Event made the change. Flux gave it form. The POI made it real.
Relics as Verbs
In this darker Zelda-like world, relics aren't upgrades; they're verbs.
Each changes how players interact with the environment.
Lantern of Hollow Flame (3 uses): Burns without oil; reveals what hides in reflection.
Reed Whistle (3 uses): Mimics any sound heard that day; each use invites attention.
Cloak of Rain (1 use): Wrap it around the dying; they speak one last truth.
Each one is a small word in the world's language, verbs that reshape what follows.
Preparing a Hex
One page per hex.
Landmark – The visible anchor.
Theme – Three words (e.g., Flood / Memory / Hunger).
Flux POIs – 3–6 unchecked discoveries.
Trail Seeds – Short phrases for routes (standard, hidden, conditional).
Event Prompts – 4–6 Local Effects for the Event Die.
Costs – Light, time, blood, quiet.
Keep it terse. Let the world finish your sentences.
Why It Works
Landmarks root the fiction.
Sensory Cues turn arrival into decisions.
Flux keeps the world responsive to both choice and rest.
Finite POIs give discovery an ending worth reaching.
Cairn's clarity keeps every risk honest.
The Hollow lives as the players do: by change, by consequence, by memory.
Closing
Cairn's woodlands were never still.
Flux Space merely lets them breathe.
Each watch rewrites the map.
Each rest alters the world.
When the final road is charted and the last light rekindled, you'll see the story written in pencil and mud across your map; a record of every flood, every fire, every choice made when the light was faint.
That is the proof of Flux.
That is the Hollow reclaiming its roads.
Flux Space by Nick LS Whelan.
Adaptation and implementation for Cairn 2e by Richard Markert (2 Gorblins in a Studio).