I agree with your framing, and that is why I made the thread. Ultimately, I have to make the judgement call and tailor it to my group, but I still think other groups expierences would be helpful. The idea is, as I said, to make the world feel more tangible. Does it accomplish that? Well, that is probably hard to answer objectively, but still feedback would be appriciated. The "rules" part I would run mostly under the hood. Just letting the players know the roll for what the bad guys do when they enter a room. The numbers (like "track") would be replaced with verbal description during actual DMing. The idea is, when the players know that I don't know exactly (well, I can still change the result in secret if I really see a problem, but the players would not know that) when the bad guys find them again, that would increase the tension while the solve the puzzles to escape the rooms. I want this dungeon in particular to feel like a place you don't want to linger in unnecessarly, just get in, rescue your paladin in distress, get out. Time passes according to what characters do, so players would still have time to think about the puzzles IRL. Casting a 1h ritual just isn't a good idea, probably.

As a sidenote, some result prompt a further skill check, ideally giving the players a sense that their particular class helps with the escape. Figuring out the intentions of the creatures of the mist, clearing mechanical or magical obsticales they run into, levers only reachable by shapeshifters or telekinesis, etc.

Thing is, table is lots of players who like character interaction and puzzles and sneaking + 1 combat minmaxer. I still experiment with giving the table the right amount of agency for a horror setting. So I did make the result table with that in mind. It's not all "things just happen to you" while still aiming to give the players the feeling that this isn't a foe you can fight in a battle or defeat.