dungeon magazine #008

7/28/2019 Dungeon Magazine #008

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THE FLOWE RS OF FLAME — A lost valley of evil awaitsTHE WOUNDED WORM — Injured dragons are the most deadly

IN DE FE NSE OF THE LAW — If Chaos wins, everyone loses



's Lament

short quotes that appear beneath th eontents in each issue of DUNG EON" Adventures? I

ger Moore, the widely read (and w idely read )

his magazine h ad an inex haustible supply of thes eti l he said, "We ll, Barbara, it's your turn n ow t o

."mind like a sieve for interesting quotes ,

ooks are stil l packed in storage from m y. . . two years ago .

anything interest ing lately?" h e. Unfortunately, my reading-for-pleasure has decreased

t.

. Send in short quotes on the themes of fantasy,

. (including wh o said it, the boo k

thor). If we use y our quote in a future issue ,

.

y. After a day of staring at a video screen an d

t down and h ack. This should change, though, because Roger an d I

e in the Garners ' Forum on Compu -® . W e ' ve participated in one conference on the AD&D sec-ition (transcript in the da ta library) and will be pop ping i n

quently as time perm its . If you have any questions abou t® Magazine, try t o

sage (Roger E . Moore :

; Barbara G . Young : 70007,2367) .

' t quite figured out how to do what I want in Compu -f you come upon m e in the depths of the computer,

nd . I'm probably lost .

da,dez.g.

Vol . II, No . 2

: Mike Cook AR T D I R EC T O R : Roger Raup p: Roger E . Moore CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS :

: Kevin Davies, Diesel, For to adventure is the lust of Youth ; and to leave Safety is the. Young C . Bradford Gorby, Mark

: Nelson, Valerie Valusek natural waywardness of the spirit ; and who shall reprove or

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS : regret ; for it were sorrowfu l that this Spirit of Man shou ld cease .

Marilyn Favaro, Gloria Habriga The thoughts of X

SUBSCRIPTIONS : Pat Schulz The N ight Land, Will iam Hop e Hodgson

NOVEMB ERIDECEMB ER 1987 ISSUE # 8

COVER : In atemple in a lostvalley, adventurer s

meet their ultimateadversary in fierybattle. Kevi nDavies is the cove rartist for ou rOriental

Adventures

module, "TheF l ow er s o f F l am e . "

The Readers LETTERS 2

John Nephew

Estes Hammon s

Carl Sargent

Thomas Kane

Jay Batista

THE WOUNDED WORM(ADD 4-8) Crippled, wingless, old —

and a thousand times more

dange rous5MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY(ADD 1-3) Obnoxious little problems

can easily become obnoxious big

onesFOR A LADYS HONOR(ADD 4-7) When the going gets

tough, the thieves get going 9

IN DEFENSE OF THE LAW(ADD 7-10) They sure don ' t mak e

lawful allies like they used to 1 7

THE FLOWERS OF FLAME(ADD-OA 5-8) Why are your governor ,

your Emperor, and your gods so

interested in a fairy tale? 4 6



MAP SYMBOLS LETTERShese symbols are used on most

maps in DUNGEON' Adventures .

1

DOORDOUBLE DOOR

SECRET DOO R

ONE WAY DOOR

FALSE DOO R

WW

I LOCKED DOO R

IN I

Qv►

ARCHWA Y

CONCEALED DOO R

BARRED DOO R

PORTCULLIS OR BARS

ONE WAY SECRET DOO R

W I N D O W

AR R O W S L I T

F I R EPL AC E

COVERED PI T

OPEN PI T

eFOUNTAIN

SPIRAL STAIR S

IIIU1 u ' S T A I R S

TRAP DOOR IN CEILING

nRAP DOOR IN FLOOR

SECRET TRAP DOOR

We used to hang out around the mai l

basket each morning, eagerly awaitingthe morning mail, only to be disappoint-

ed . So we asked (well, begged) for letter sand were deluged with responses .

Thanks to all of you who wrote. But

don't stop writing now . We need to kno w

what you think of DUNGEON"" Adven-

tures so that we can continue to make i t

your magazine .

Dear editor :

I ' m sick and tired of everyone com-

plaining about the articles you present

and how they want more of a specifictype . Perhaps these people would prefer

t o be spoon - fed . The fact that they cal l

themselves Dungeon Masters should

guarantee they have some minusculeamount of creativity, but I guess not . To

better exemplify my point, here ar e

some examples from your first half -dozen issues that show a DM should b eable to work with any resources :

I turned the vampire 's lair in "The

Dark Tower of Cabilar"(issue #1) int o

the stronghold of a band of dwarvis hassassins . (Who wants undead whe n

your group has no cleric?) All I wantedwas a tower layout, and I got one .

"Blood on the Snow " (issue #3) wa s

transformed into "Sweat on the Sand "when I turned the arctic adventure int o

a desert danger with my group seekin g

giant scorpion venom rather than hunt-

ing seal .

I have never played by Orienta l

Adventures rules, and one of my group

had already read "The Kappa of Pachee

Bridge" (issue #5), but that didn ' t mak

me dispose of the idea . Instead, itbecame a "Pied Piper " scenario with a

evil gnome flutist in a regular D&D®

game village (the gamer who had readit didn't even recognize the adventure"After the Storm" (issue #6) provide dme with a useful galley interior which I

plan to have attacked and searched whi

it still floats, without using any othe rpar t o f the module .

So big deal if you've got an AD&D®

game module and the huge scorpion ha

4 +4 HD and you play with the D&D ®

Expert Set rules where it only has 4HD . If you can 't change that, then it'time to give up role-playing games an dtake up checkers, where the rule s

remain constant . Don 't criticize —

improvise!

Roy MacEache

Inverness, Nova Sco

Dear editor :

I play both AD&D and D&D games .

have converted a few modules — bot h

ways — and they worked well . I reall ylove the dungeons that present a lot o f

side adventures/ideas to make into ne w

dung eons . However, I would like to se e

more regular D&D® game adventures

would also like more beginners' leve l

dungeons (levels 1-4) .

I would also like to say that I like th

artwork in the modules . They enhancethe "picture"of the dungeon .

Jim Hecht, J

Knoxville, Illino

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A D &D , A D VA N CED D UN G EO N S & D R A G O N S, A D VA N CED D &D , A MA Z I N G , D &D , D R A G O N , D R A G O NLA N CE, D UN G EO NS & D R A G O N SFIEND FOLIO, GAMMA WOR LD, STAR FRONTIERS, TOP SECR ET, and TSR are reg is t e red t rademarks owned by TS R, Inc . GEN CON and RPGA

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2 Issue No . 8



Summer 1987 was busy for John. In addi-tion to RPG-writing, he wrote scripts an d

was assistant director for Duluth, Minne-

sota's G.O.M. Street Theater. One skit,

"Sir Hugo and the Troll," poked fun atknightly stereotypes in addition to satiriz-ing local issues. (John would also like to

say "Hi !" to Credence.)

Mountain Sanctuary is an AD&D °game adventure designed for a party of3-6 characters of 1st-3rd level . Althoughdesigned as a companion to Grakhirt's

Lair (which appeared in issue #1), a

copy of that module is not requ ired t oenjoy this one .

AdventureBackground

The information that follows may b e

discovered from a variety of source ssuch as divination spells (e . g ., legend

lore o r commune), rumors, and legends .

The information may also be found i nthe journ als of the late i l lusionistArham (see Grakhirt 's Lair, lower

dungeon level, encounter 29) .

Arham, a p owerful and infamou s

illusionist, is best know n for his late r

northern exploits (the domination of th epowerful Ivirwylliw Assassins' Guild ,

for examp le), but his origins are to b efound to the south. His parents were ofvastly different heritages — his mothe r

was the daughter of a nom adic desert

chieftain, his father a rugged trappe r

from the mountains . Their pathscrossed during the con flict betwee ntheir homelands, and these same strug-gles forced them to emigrate westward .

They re located in End kynn, a prosper-ous city growing at the confluence oftwo rivers . Arham was born and raisedthere, with all of the experiences an dproblem s attendan t on life in a cityslum . Prejudice against h is foreig nancestry, clear evidence of which was i nhis appearance and a ccent, contributedto an overwh elmingly negative environ-ment . Arham grew up to be vicious ,

distrustful of others, and always s eek-ing power and control .

One old man , however, took pity o nthe young pariah . The man also sawpotential in the lad — an aptitude fo r

the arcane . Arham's schooling in thearts of illusion began at this point . Theyoung man quickly absorbed what h ewas taught and made good use of it. Heallied hims elf with a ban d of roug hyoung thieves, using his illusions todistract victims while his companion srelieved them of their valuables .

MOUNTAIN

S A N C T U A R YBY JOHN NEPHEW

I t ' s t h e l i t t l e t h i n g s t h a t

c o u n t .

Artwork by C . Bradford Gorb y

Cartography by D i e s e l

DUNGEON 3



M OUN TAI N S AN C TUAR Y

Adventuring provided an a ddit iona loccupation . The nearby mountains hel dmany opportunities, and there he foun dhis father's legacy of mountain wisdo m

most valuable . While others used theirresources to spe arhead civil ization' sdrive into the wi lderness, Arham foun d

it more profitable to join with the indig-enous races . He knew several humanoi dlanguages and learned more as h e ledthe counterattack on human sett le-ments . As a result, he gained th e

staunch support o f the hum anoids, plu s

considerable wealth . With these assets ,

he was able to construct a collection ofrefuges throughout the w i lderness .

The an tipathy of his fe l low hu man swas another acquisition . He returned toEndkynn from time to time, often asso-

ciating with h is former comp atr iots ofthe l ight-f ingered variety . On one suchoccasion, he had the m isfortune of beingcaught . The actual o ffense was m inor,but (quite accurate) rumors linke dArham to the ra ids on Endkynn 's outly-ing sett lements . Because the rumorscould not be su bstantiated, Arhamreceived a relat ively l ight sentence : t obe forever exi led from E ndkyn n, i t s

lands, settlements, and tributary states .

His wilderness sanctuaries prove dquite useful at this point . After continu-ing his activit ies with the h uma noid sfor some time, Arham m oved on to ne wurban activities in the north, associat-ing himse lf with the Ivirwyll iw A ssas-sins ' Guild . He continued his policy ofestabl ishing good personal relation s

with huma noid groups and establ ishing

sanctuaries in the wilderness . Fro mthat point, Arham ' s story becomes par tof another tale .

This adventure concerns one ofArham ' s earlier dens, a mountain sanc-tuary that he constructed with the hel p

of goblins . After moving north, Arha mhad little use for this hideout . Groups of

snyads and pesties discovered the sanc-

tuary and made i t into their own resi-dence . Other sm al l creatures now l iv e

there as wel l . Apart from these diminu-tive denizens — and a brief visit b yArham ' s son, Grakhirt — the sanctuary

has been untouched for the past f ive

decades or so .

F o r t h e Dungeon Master

There are at least three ways to uti l iz e

this short adventure . First, it ma y be

used as a sequel to Grakhirt's Lair If so ,

the information l isted in the back -

ground, as w ell as the sanctuary's loca-tion, will have been found in Arham' sjournals . The discovery of a treasur emap is a second w ay of bringing charac-

ters to the sanctuary. Finally, thi smight s imply be used as an encounter tol iven up an otherwise drab journeyacross a moun tain range . InventiveDMs are certain to dream up other way sof using the Mountain Sanctuary i ntheir campaigns .

T h e S a n c t u a r y

Read or paraph rase the fo l lowing to th eplayers :

Traveling a path along a steep moun-tainside, you find the area ah ead

obstructed by rubble . Evidently ,there has be en a rockslide of largeproportions, since much m ore rubble ,

as well as larger rocks and boulders ,

lay below the path . With your rout eblocked, you find yourselves obligedto remove the debris . To your sur-prise, the excavation reveals a pas -sage entering the moun tain .

A dwarf or any other character famil-iar with stone and construction wil lnotice that the passage did not occur

naturally . Also, the passage ' s entrancewas once concealed . The camouflage d

portal was destroyed by the heavie rboulders that accompanied the rubble inthe rockslide down the mou ntain ' s face .

Wandering monsters may be found i nthe dungeon complex . An encounte r

occurs on a roll of 1 or 2 on 1d6 . Chec keach turn that the party is in the com-plex . If an en counte r occurs, roll ld6

and consult the Wandering Monster stable on page 8 to determine what i s

encountered .

In running random encounters (andeven the set on es), the key thing t oremem ber is the s ize of the creature s

compared to the player characters . It is

almost certain that the party mem ber s

will be much larger than those crea-tures they encounter. This will not ren-der the party safe from attack ; ifanything, it will stir greater antipath y

toward the intruders . The intell igent ,

diminutive denizens wi l l s imp ly have t ouse m ethods of stealth and cleverly la idtraps to defend their home . The fo l low-ing notes should be useful in managin g

the wandering monsters .

Cave crickets are m ore a nuisancethan a threat . When the party comes

within 20 ', the crickets begin to chir ploudly . Although there aren't any larg epredators to be attracted by the noise ,all residents of the sa nctuary a re alert-

ed to the presence of intruders . The oddof encountering a wandering monste r

increase to 4 in 6 for the next tw ochecks . Characters who approach with -in 10 ' of the crickets are likely to b ejumped at and kicked (see Monster Manual II, page 23 ) .

Huge centipedes are basically mind -less and hungry . They will attack th eparty without hesitation . Fire is effec-tive for holding them at bay .

Mites are m alicious but cautious . Arandomly encountered group wil l actu-ally be seen on ly on a roll of 1 on 1d6 . Iseen, the m ites will turn to flee, and th ePCs m ay try to attack or pursue them .

Otherwise, the characters merely hea rthe scurrying of tiny feet and man y

twittering voices . The m ites wi ll hav eavoided the p arty, but will prepare fo ran offensive, cooperating with the othe rdenizens o f the lair (see The O ffensive ,below). Each mite carries 3-12 sp .

Giant rats are m ore aggressive tha ntheir smaller cousins . They are cau-tious, but 50% of the t ime are hungr yenough to attack a party of adventurersFood thrown to giant rats is enough t oprevent or halt an attack .

Ordinary rats will avoid the party,

squeaking as they run away down thepassages . They w ill f ight if cornere d bustill flee if possible .

Snyads behave m uch l ike their cous-ins, the m ites, in a t first avoiding

intruders . They will only be seen on a

roll of 1 on 1d6 . If seen , flight w ill betheir immediate course of action . O n aroll of 2, 3, or 4 the snyads attempt t osneak up on the p arty and pil fer availa-ble possessions . Treat each snyad as a

7th-level thief for its chance of succe ss-ful pickpocketing (base 60% chance ofsuccess). On a roll of 5 or 6, the snya d s

merely observe the party's presence an dwithdraw to create a strategy. Eachsnyad carries 3-24 cp on its person .

The Offensive

As noted above, the res idents of th e

sanctuary will prepare and execute a noffensive to drive off the intruders . Th emo nsters will begin to plan their strik eas soon as they are alerted to the party '

presence . Planning and preparation s

take 1-3 turns (so be su re to keep trackof time). After that, the diminutiv e

4 I ssue No . 8



MOUNTAIN SANCTUAR Y

creatures just watch and wait for themost opportune mom ent to make their

move . Some guidelines and suggestion sfor the plan of attack are provide d

hereafter .

Three sorts of creatures w i ll engage i nthe of fensive : mites (from area 13 ; up t osix will participate) ; giant rats (area 10 ;

up to four); and snyads (area 11 ; up tofive). Be sure to note which creature s

are killed in the offensive an d reduc ethe num ber to be found in their respec-t ive en counter areas accordingly . Mitescontribute to the effort by setting trap s

and en gaging in m elee . Half of themcarry three throwing darts each fo r

missile combat (one dart may be throw n

per round, doing 1-3 hp damage) . Sny-ads serve to distract the PCs and pil fe r

their pockets . Giant rats function pri-mari ly in a combat role, al though thei rsqueaking can be used for a distraction.

The first part o f the offensive will b e

aimed at splitting up the party, sinc eindividuals are easier prey for traps an d

hand-to-hand combat . To divide th eparty, several ploys may be tried . Theyinclude making noises (rat squeaks ,

footsteps, clanking, dropping things ,

etc . ) in several passageways, h oping the

party will split up to seek ou t the sourc eof the clatter. Or, several snyads ma y

sneak up an d pick the characters ' pock-ets, then run aw ay in different direc-tions . The DM should invent otherdevices which the monsters m igh temploy. Determined parties might sticktogether indefinitely ; if the PCs appea r

to be cohesive, the mo nsters will just goahead with the next phase .

Once split up, the party will be sub-jected to the m ain part of the offensive .

The basic plan is to lead the PCs intotraps, then move in for hand-to-handstruggles . The mites might set up net s

to drop on the adventurers, or they an d

the snyad s might try to lead or driv e

the party into an area strewn w ithsm all caltrops . Tripwires are a favorit e

of the mites ; the confusion o f PCs fall-ing all over each other is the p erfec tsituation for an amb ush .

Com bat tactics are as follows : Gian t

rats and melee-mites attack the partyfrom all s ides, while the mites wit hdarts attack from a distance . (Becauseof the PCs ' size, the mites h ave littledifficulty aiming over the ir compatriots '

heads .) In all this confusion, the pestie s

run in and around, being a nuisance to

the PCs and making of f with theirgoods .

The m onsters are fairly brave indefending their homes bu t are far fromsuicidal . The o ffensive is l ikely t obecome a major melee, but as the mon-sters sustain casu alties there will be a nabundance of deserters . They can b eexpected to regroup, however, andambu sh the party from time to t imewith gu erilla-like tactics . The idea is tokeep the players paranoid ; they won'tknow how m any of the creatures areleft, and the little buggers will pop ou tof a secret passage and attack wheneve r

a PC lets his guard down .

Dungeon Encounter Key

1.Mountainside Passage . The firstportion of the passageway is crudelyhewn from the mountainside . Sm all pilesof loose stones are scattered abou t . Th equality of craftsmanship imp roves as on etravels further into the sanctuary .

2. Small Entrances . These l itt l etunnels (2 1 /2 ' high, 1 1 /2 ' wide) are con-cealed behind piles of loose stones .Becau se there are sim ilar piles all along

DUNGEON 5



MOUNTAIN SANCTUAR Y

the passage, these will not seem unusu-

al to the PCs. Unless the adventurersare actively searching the corridor (i nwhich case the tunnels will be found) ,

there is a 2 in 10 chance per characte r(4 in 10 for halflings, gnomes, elves, an ddwarves) of noticing these entrances b y

casual inspection . Check for eachindividual .

3 . Workshop. Arham used this work -

shop for making and repairing things .

Most of the room's items are neatl y

placed in the southwest corner. A work -

bench stands there with two sawhorse s

beside it . Assorted carpentry tools lie o nthe workbench and hang on the walls .

Also on the wall is a hooded lantern ; i tis not lit and is empty of fuel . Sawdus tand small scraps of wood litter the floor .

In the northeast corner of the room i s

a large, study, iron-banded woode nchest . The chest is locked and trapped ;

the trigger mechanism is a small lever

set in the floor beneath the chest . If thechest is moved or violently disturbed, a

ceiling block slides open to dump a

small vat of acid in front of the chest .

Anyone standing there must roll hi s

dexterity or less on 1d20 or suffer 4-1 6hp damage . If the roll is successful, thecharacter manages to dodge the causticfluid and is only splashed for 1-2 h p

damage. Other people in the room mustroll their dexterity or less also, but th eroll is modified in their favor by sub-

tracting 2 . If the roll is missed, a char-

acter suffers splash damage (1-2 hp) . Al l

damage is avoided if the roll is success-

ful . This little trap might, early in their

careers, deter PCs from habitually

hacking apart chests with locks the y

cannot pick . (When Grakhirt was here,

he successfully detected the trap on th echest ; not knowing how to disarm it, heleft the chest alone . )

The chest is not very full, and what i s

there consists of bottles, vials, and

flasks . There are two glass vials ofunholy water, one of holy water, and

four of acid . All seven vials appea r

identical . A small green bottle contain s

an ingestive poison, a watery gree nliquid smelling like pine needles . Imbib-

ing this poison first causes dizziness an d

disorientation ( -3 on "to hit" rolls) fo r

one round; the character must then save

vs . poison . If the saving throw is made,

the dizziness continues for 2-5 rounds ,

but no other effects are suffered . If th eroll fails, the PC passes out and suffer s

3-18 hp damage as the toxin runs its

course . The character awakens after 4 -

16 rounds . Another flask holds sover-eign glue . This substance is useless and

worthless because it has bonded to itscontainer. Arham used the glue for hi scarpentry until he ran out of the oil of

slipperiness required for the containe revery time the glue is used .

Also to be found in the chest are thre epotions of diminution . Beings wishing

to enter the small tunnels need no timbibe an entire dose . Halflings an dgnomes might be able to function nor-

mally in the 3'-high passages, or a tmost would require a couple of sips of

potion . The fraction of a dose that i s

drunk is the fraction of height that i s

lost ; for example, a 6'-tall human whodrinks two-thirds of a dose woul dbecome 2' tall . A character cannotshrink to less than 5% of his original

height . The potions work for only nineturns per dose, so keep careful record o fthe passage of game time . Large charac-

ters could easily become trapped if they

are in the small tunnels when the effec twears off .

4. Dining Room . In the center of thi s

room is an oak table surrounded by four

chairs. Arham dined here and occasion -ally entertained humanoid leaderswhom he sought to influence. There i s

nothing of significance in this room . A

mildewy curtain of blue cloth divides

this area from the adjacent kitchen .

5. Kitchen . In the kitchen 's northwes tcorner is a fountain of briskly running

water. The water comes from an under -

ground stream that surfaces farther

down the mountainside . A stone projec-

tion from the wall, carved into theshape of a horse's head, delivers th e

water from its mouth . The liquid the n

falls into a stone basin, also hewn from

the rock . A bronze grill covers the 3" -wide drain. The grill can be removed ,

revealing a buckle kni fe +1 wedgedbetween the sides of the drain . Any

character attempting to dislodge an d

retrieve the knife must roll his dexteri-

ty or less on 1d20, modified by + 2 o nthe roll, or the knife will slip from hi sgrasp and be carried down into thestream — lost for all practical purposes.

The table by the curtain was for foo d

preparation . Rusty ladles, knives, and a

meat cleaver are on it, as well as sev-

eral small jars of decaying herbs and

spices .

A fire pit, over which is suspended a

cauldron of foul-smelling water, is in th

southwest corner. A smoke vent is i nthe ceiling above the pit . This was a

crucial part of the ventilation system ;

hot air and smoke would rise to th esurface through this vent, and fresh ai

would be drawn down through the ven

in the bedroom (area 8) . Ashes an dcinders lie beneath the cauldron . With

in them can be found 3 pp, 8 ep, and aplatinum earring set with a peridot(worth 235 gp total ; its mate is in thegiant rats' nest, area 10) . Beneath th eashes is a loose stone that functions as

trap door ; it leads to the mites' lai r(area 13) .

6. Lavatory The fixtures in this roo

are a toilet (in the southwest corner)and a bathtub (along the north wall) .

The toilet empties into the undergroun

stream past the point from which th e

water flows into the kitchen (room 5), a

does the bathtub's drain . Water for thetub was taken from the spring in th ekitchen and was heated over the firepit . Lying on the floor beside the tub i s

a pile of rotting, moldy towels an dwashcloths. Concealed behind the tub i

a small tunnel entrance . There is noth-

ing of value in the room .

7. Storage . This room was used pri-

marily for the storage of foodstuffs ,although some timber (for use in th eworkshop) is also to be found . Most ofthe food has been taken away and eate

by the snyads, mites, rats, and th eroom's current residents . What remain

is fairly decayed and entirely unfit for

consumption .

Living in the room, having made the

nests in the sacks of rotting grain piledby the north wall, are six spectramice

(AC 8 ; MV9" ; HD 1 / 4 ; hp 2 ( x 3 ) , 1 ( x 3# AT 1 ; D m g 1 ; SA illusion; AL N ; s e eend of module for complete description)

Anyone looking around the room wil l

observe an albino mouse or two comingout to see the visitors and squeak a tthem. The mice are hostile only if they

are attacked or if their homes are dis-

turbed (for example, if the PCs begin t o

prod with weapons or search throug hthe grain sacks) . In such a situation, th

mice attempt to create a phantasmalkiller against the first person to distur

them, and follow with other illusions (o

biting) as appropriate . In designing

illusions, the DM should keep in mind

the experiencesthat these mice would have had . For

6 Issue No . 8



MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY

Wandering Monster slthough the trap helps the m ites byblocking the party's progress and per-haps b y woun ding or killing a PC, it als oeliminates one of their escape routes .

Therefore, after triggering the trap, th emites aband on their lair. If it seems thatthe party rema ins strong, the mites exi ttheir tunnels by way of the trap door inthe fire pit of the kitchen (room 5) an df lee the san ctuary . If they are led t obelieve that they stil l have a reasonabl echance of defeating the characters, theywill engage in melee in the tunnels .

Because of the tunnels ' size and shape ,

only one creature from each force ma yf ight at one time, and th e only weapon s

usable are those of the thrusting andstabbing variety . (Other weapons maystil l be use d for parrying b y cavaliers

and paladins . )West Entrance . A strong si lk fi lam en t

is stretched across the w est entrance . Iftripped, a small poisoned dart fl ies ou tof the wall on either side of the passage .

Each of the two darts makes an attac krol l as i f thrown by a mite ( i .e ., as a 1- 1HD m onster ) and does 1-2 hp d amage ifit hits. A character struck by a da r tmu st also mak e a saving throw vs .

poison a t +2 . If the save is su ccessful ,

the PC p erforms as i f under a haste

spell for two rounds; then, being verytired, the character acts as if under a

slow spell for the four subseq uen trounds . If the saving thro w fails, theaffected character goes berserk . Hemoves as if under a haste spell an d

assaults the nearest creature, be i tf r iend or foe . After four rounds of thi s

activity, the character collapses ,

exhau sted, and is immob ile for 1-4turns . In addition, the chara cter suffer s

-1 on "to hit " and d amage rol ls for th enext 1-4 h ours because of exhaustion .

The m ites of the sanctuary kno wabout this trap, of course, and will nev-er be so foolish as to spring it them -

selves . I t is worth n oting that the m ite s

and their kin ( i .e ., snyads an djermlaine) are immu ne to the poiso nmentioned above .

From 2-8 mites ( AC 8 ; MV 3 " ; H D1 -1 ; hp 4 each; #AT 1; Dm g 1-3 ; AL LE ;

three carry darts as missi le weapon s fo r

1-3 hp dam age), depending on wha thappens in The Offensive (see page 4) ,

can be found in the lair i tself . Theirtreasure hoard is also to be found here ,

kept in small sacks . It consists of 189cp, 546 sp, 20 5 ep, and a gold-platedsilver brooch set with five amber stones ,

worth 515 gp .

ld6 Encounte r

1 Cave crick et (1-2):

AC 4 ; M V6", hop 3" ; HD 1+3 ; hp 8 each ;#AT nil ; Dmg nil ; SA jump/kick ;

AL N .

2 Centipede, huge (2-12) : AC 9 ;

MV 21 " ; hp 1 each ; #AT 1 ; D mg

n il ; SA poison (save at +4 o r

take 4-16 hp damage); AL N .

3 Mite (1-4) : AC 8 ; MV 3" ; HD1— 1 ; hp 4 each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1 -3 ; AL LE .

ld6 Encounter

4 Rat, giant (1-6:

A C 7 ; M V 12 "6" ; HD 1 /2; hp 3 each; #AT 1 ;

Dmg 1-3 ; SA disease ; AL N(E)

5 Rat, normal (1-20) : AC 7 ; MV

15 " ; HD 1/ 4 ; hp 1 each ; #AT 1 ;Dmg 1 ; SA disease ; AL N(E).

6 Snyad (1-2) : AC -4 ; MV 21" ;

HD 1—1 ; hp 4 each ; #AT ni l ;

Dmg ni l ; SD +3 on sav in gthrows vs . spells which can b edodged ; AL N .

Spectramouse

FREQUENCY Rare

NO. APPEARING : 1 -1 2

ARMOR CLASS : 8MOVE : 9 "HIT DICE : 1 /4

% IN LAIR: 70 %

TREASURE TYPE : Ni l

NO . OF ATTACKS : 1DAMAGE/ATTACK : 1 hit point

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Illusions (seebelow )

SPECIAL DEFENSES : Ni l

MAGIC RESISTANCE : Standard

INTELLIGENCE : Very or better

ALIGNMENT : Neutra l

SIZE : SPSIONIC ABILITY : Ni l

LEVEL/XP VALUE : 1 1 / 3 0 +1 per hp

The spectramouse — also known a s

the terror mouse and i llusion m ous e— appears to be a perfectly norma l

rodent of the albino sort . Curiously ,

all recorded specimens have been

albino ; this leads m any sages tospeculate that there is a connectio nbetween the lack of pigment and th ecreature ' s magical powers .

Spectram ice are generally peacefu l

herbivores, concerned only with food ,

shelter, and reproduction . Perhaps as

a result of a magical mutation, thes eintell igent rodents can util ize

remarkable powers of i l lusion whe nprovoked . When m ore than one spec-tramouse is en countered, the grou pis able to cooperate and create eve nmore potent phantasms . The powersare as follows :

A single spectramouse is able t oevoke an audible glamer (as per th espell o f the same name) and can als omake itself appear larger . This illuso-ry enlargement can make the spec-

tramouse seem the size of awolfhoun d, but it grants no a bilitie s

beyond deterring less-daring preda-tors . Two ' mice in cooperation ca nduplicate a phantasmal force spell ,

four can e ffect a spectral force, an d

six can create a phantasmal killer

The limits to the exercising of thei r

i l lusory powers are the number o f' mice required and 1-3 segments of

"casting t ime" for the 'mice to com-mu nicate and create the illusion ;

also, the spectramice mu st concen-trate to m aintain an i llusion .

It appears that spectramice com-

municate through squeaking sounds .Judging by the com plexity of som ei l lusions that have been witnessed ,

this squeak-language must be verycomplicated . It is believed to h av esubtle pitch inflections, una ble to b edistinguished by human ears, tha tcan convey much information very

quickly .

8 Issue No . 8



OR ALADY'SHONOR

BY ESTES R HAMMONS

When theGuildmaster speaks ,

everybody listens .

Valerie Valuse k

Estes Hammons sent the following i n

answer to our request for a short biogra-

phy: "Iam a high-school English and

history teacher and administrator, an d

have been involved in role-playing games

for seven years, mainly as a DM . I amcurrently working on a historical nove l

about the Crusades, and have writte n

and submitted several fantasy andscience-fiction stories to various publica-

tions. I am grateful to the origina lAssassins of Ansbach (Reid, Scott, Tom ,

and Charlie) for their playtesting an dadvice ." This is Estes's first appearanc e

in DUNGEON' Adventures .

For a Lady's Honor is designed to giv e3-6 thieves of levels 4-7 the opportunit yto practice their uniqu e skills in a set-ting conducive to the art of thievery .

While only thieves should participate i nthis adventure, m ulticlassed character smay be used, but their primary focusshould be directed toward their thievin g

abilities . It is recomm ended that a tleast one of the adventurers have som espell-casting ability (a thief/magic-use r

or a thief/cleric, or both) .

Stealth, secrecy, and cleverness arevalued above force and bloodshed in thismodule ; a successful venture wou ld fin dthe m ission accomp lished w ithout th eloss of a s ingle life . This adventure i sdesigned to be played in a s ingle sessionand can therefore be used between ongo-

ing campaigns, or by chan ging th enam e of Ansbach and relevant NPCs ifnecessary to f it the current cam paign .

AdventureBackground

Read or paraphrase the following to th eplayers :

You've just completed another some -what su ccessful trek into the wilder-ness, and now you seek a moment o frepose in the city of Ansbach at noon -t ime . As you sit in the Aardvar kLounge enjoying the lunch specia l

and floor show, you see a beggarpeering in through the windo wacross from your table . He signalsyou with the sign language of th e

local thieves ' guild . As the man ager

chases the beggar from the premises ,

you p ay your b i ll and leave for th eclandestine m eeting to which yo uhave been summoned . The bac k

streets of Ansbach have swal lowe d

up Blind Tom , the beggar, but fortu-nately you know the location wher e

DUNGEON 9



FOR A LADY 'S HONO R

you are to meet w ith the gui ldm aste rwho has called you .

After being adm itted to on e of th e

"safe houses " of the guild, you fin d

yourselves facing th e gui ldmaste rthrough the darkness of shadows i nwhich the order prefers all its meet-ings to be held . The shadows ar ef ixed so tha t only the gui ldmaster 'sdesk, the parchments before him ,

and the r i tual dagger can be seen .The guildmaster's face is in shadow ;

his identity must remain a secre teven from you .

The master acknowledges your pres-ence but continues to peruse a docu-ment before him . Upon completion ofhis reading, he raises his head to loo kat you in silence, and you wonder if h e

can see you clearly enough in the darkto recognize you. After what seem s aneternity, he breaks the qu iet by speak-ing in Thieves ' Cant . You realize thenthat you are being given a job of th ehighest importance, as the cant i sspoken only to prevent detection o fone's self or purpose .

"The gui ld has been contacted by aperson of some wealth and inf luencewithin the ci ty, one wh o seeks aid o fa particular nature which you broth-ers may b e able to provide . Contact i s

to be ma de at the Club Ettin with ago-between for this person. You wi llneed to b e at the Ettin within hal f a nhour. Once inside the club, order

Blue Dragon ale in short mugs an dremain there for one hour, during

which time the go-between wi l l con -tact you . A code phrase has beenestablished for identification . Your

contact w ill say, `The long sobs of th eviolins of autum n . . .' to which yo uwill reply, ` . . . wound m y heart wit ha monotonous languor . ' Once contac tis established, the go-between wil l

comp lete the br ief ing for the mission ."I must add that I bel ieve the m is-

sion wil l involve the recovery of som eitem . No matter what other instruc-tions are given to you b y your con -tact, you must br ing the i tem to m e . Iwill see to its delivery to the contact .

Your deadl ine for del ivery is daw ntomorrow morning — an d no later .

"You were chosen because of your

reputations . I trust you won 't le tyour gui ld down . Unless there ar e

any qu estions, this meeting is at a nen d . Farewel l, and m ay your reac hbe long and qu ick this evening ."

If the players ask questions, the D Mshould no t reveal any informatio nexcept that the thieves ' share of the fe ewill be substantial, and that successfu l

performa nce of this venture w ill ingrati-ate the PCs w ith the gui ldmaster . If th ePCs have no questions, the meeting i s

ended. The PC s exit into the alley b ythe same door through which theyentered . The PCs have just enough tim eto walk qu ickly to the Club Ettin, wit hperhaps one random encounter of th eDM 's own devising, if he so wishes .

F o r t he Dungeon M a s t e r

The city of Ansbach is a medium-size d

inland town with a population of sev-eral thousand . Sitting astride the cross-roads of two major trade highways i n

the region, it is a market cen ter with ahigh volume of caravan traffic an d

intense competition among local busi-nesses . In some cases, actual violencehas bee n the result of these competitiv eforays . Because of this corporate war -fare, thieves (either local guild mem ber sor independents) have managed to gai nsome influence in the marketplace . Thi s

particular mission w ill give the An s-bach thieves ' guild a stronger positionwithin the town hierarchy and lesse nlaw-enforcement pressures against th eguild as well .

The city is ruled by a governor -

general, who is supported by a ta xadm inistrator and the lawful hig hpriestess of the dom inant faith of th ecity . A coun cil of 12 elected official s

(chosen by districts) handle da y-to-dayadm inistrative activi ties and patronag e

— building permits, business stamps ,

etc . There is a 10% city sales tax on al l

purchases (including adventuring gear) .

No m ap of the ci ty of Ansbach ha sbeen included in this adventure ; th eDM may either play out encounters in a

free-style man ner or provide his ow nmaps , based upon a generic or specifi c

city from an existing cam paign world .The Aardvark Lounge an d other speci f icareas m ay be given a precise location o na city map, or the assumption may bemade that 20-50 rounds are required t omove from location to location in town ,

through ma in streets, secondary roads ,

side streets, or alleys . Random encount-ers are described in the "Ansbach Ran-dom Encounters" section . Pursuit ,

evasion, and escape attempts may b egoverned in a free-style mann er usin g

the Pursuit Results Table .

Final ly, the DM shou ld remembe rthat the focus of this ad venture is th euse of stealth and cleverness in accom-plishing the mission . Experience point s

should be calculated with this concep tin mind . Encourage the PC s to plot andplan, disguise and devise to theirhearts' content . Remember, the absenceof bloodshed is almos t essential for th emission to succeed ; the PCs should beresourceful, clever, and careful .

The Contact

The Club Ettin is in one of the lowes tand dingiest parts of town . The playe rcharacters are assum ed to have visite dthe club previously and know its loca-tion . They may also know som e of thepersonages who frequent the place . The

DM may p rovide a f loor plan of the clubif desired . During the hour that the PCare present, they will have 1-3 encount-ers with various bar patrons — mos tunfam iliar, as caravan traffic has bee nhigh and man y new faces are in town .Roll for encoun ters as per the s ection"Ansbach Random Encounters," assum-ing there is a 20% chance that the per -sons involved are known to one or m orePCs (as determined by the DM) .

The PCs kn ow that few people orde r

Blue Dragon ale in short mugs becauseeven though the m ugs are short, the yare extremely wide an d h old a ful l li terand a half of l iquid . The ale itself is s opotent that any PCs who drink i t mus tsave vs . poison at +1 or, upon finishin g

the first mug, become greatly intoxi-cated and su bject to the penalties o npage 82 of the DMG A successful sav-ing throw mean s the PC is slightl yintoxicated . The bonus to saving throw s

disappears after the second drink (lead-ing to moderate intoxication if the sav eis made), and subsequent mugs incur acumulative -1 penalty to the savin g

throw (the PC remains moderatel yintoxicated if the save is made) . Wise

PCs w i ll merely sip at their dr inks o ravoid dr inking altogether, al lowing th emugs to s it before them untouched o r

disposing of the liquid som ehow .

Five minutes before the hou r is up, adrunken laborer reels away from th ebar, bumping into several patrons an dcoming to rest half-draped in chum m y

overfamiliarity on the back o f one of th ePCs' chairs . In a breathy whisper suspi-ciously free of alcohol fume s, the seed yfe llow intones famil iar wo rds into th eadventurer 's ear : "The long sobs of th e

10 I ssue No . 8



FOR A LADY'S HONO R

violins of autum n . . . "The seedy "drunk " is Corrin of the

Dark Blade (A C 6 ; M V 1 2 " ; A5 ; hp 21 ;

NAT 1 ; Dmg by weapon type ; S 13, I 16 ,

, C 12, Ch 14 ; AL NE ; dagger

+2, ring of protection +2, short sword) ,an assassin w hose foreign gui ld wa s

destroyed by paladins some s ix mon th s

. He escaped, survived, and flour-e

in the capacity of "los s" for certain mer-ing as a bodygua rd

el l-known cityinistrator .

If no response (or the wrong one) i sen to C orr in, he shrugs and leave s

n — and the PCs are out o fir gui ld . Once the correc t

to Corrin 's phrase, hesignals ton him in a bac k

s

.

n

After the characters and Corrin ar eof the

ls them in o n th e:

"In my role as advisor to some o f

the more influential citizens of Ans-

bach, I ' ve found m yself privy to cer-tain information . One recentlyoverheard tidbit has led me to cal lupon your association . It seems thatone of our city councilmen has com e

into possession of a certain item of arather personal nature, belonging t oLady Miranda , the wife of Chief TaxAdministrator Iago — my boss . Need -less to say, the lady desires thereturn of the i tem . However, th ecounci lman has refused to return i tand is attempting to compromise th elady's honor by threatening to revea l

the i tem 's existence — and the identi-

ty of the person wh o gave the lad ysuch an expensive and personal g ift— to her husband, Lord Iago . Milordis not noted for either understandin g

or forgiveness, as you m ay wel l

know .

"Very simply, it is necessary t orecover the i tem from the cou nci l -m an 's possession and return it qui-et ly to Lady Miranda . This must be

done with extreme care and haste ,

for the counci lman is now attemp ting

to force his attentions upon the lady

under the threat of exposing he r

former imprudent love affair shoul dthe b lackmailer 's odious overtures b erejected . Stealth and a minimum of

violence are necessary to avoi dattracting the attention o f the cityauthorities . Additionally, I would n o twant Lord Iago to learn of this l ittl eescapade from someone captured b ythe councilman 's guards or the citymilitia. Surely you understand why .

"I have quoted your guild a fee o f5,000 gold pieces, but if you cansuccessfully perform the operation ,

I ' ll include a bonu s of 500 gold piecesfor each of you . Once you have thei tem, contact me imm ediate ly a tLord Iago's office in the governmen-tal buildings .

"As for the nature of the i tem a n dthe man wh o has it — Lady Mirand a

received this item by courier yester-day morning . It should answer al l

your questions . I must take my leaveof you, as I have other appointment s

to make tonight . Good luck . "

With this , Corrin produces a smal l

wooden b ox and places it before thecharacters . He then rises and leaves insilence. On ce the door is closed, th e

characters may open the box to find aminiature p ainting of a garter, inlai d

with s ix gems that appear to be je t .Lying under the painting is a car d

inscribed with the w ords : "You havel ittle tim e left . I await your reply —

Haster Brunt ."

Ansbach Random Encounters

If no city map is used for this adven -ture, the DM m ay (as previously noted )

assume that 20-50 minutes are requiredfor movement from one location t oanother . The ma jor areas of interest i n

town are the Aa rdvark Lounge, th e"safe house " where the gui ldmaster ' s

briefing occurred, any supply and equip-men t shops visited by the PCs, the Clu b

Ettin, and Haster Brun t 's man or . A n yother locations that the PC s desire t ovisit (such as the offices of Lord Iago )

may be similar ly treated .

Random encounters in Ansbach ar emet on a roll of 1 on 1d6, rolled ever y

three game turns (half hour) . If a n

encounter is indicated, another ld6 i s

rolled . A roll of 1-2 indicates a m eeting

with a group from the selection give nbelow ; these are en counters specific to

this adventure and the city of Ansbach .

I f the ld6 rol l is 3-6 , make an other rol lusing percentile dice and check theCity/Town Encounters Matrix on pag e191 of the DMG Extremely toug h

encounters (as with vampires, demons ,etc . should be rerolled to avoid disrupt-ing the adventure .

The encounters below are designed toaid the DM in running an interestin g

game as the characters try to gain infor-mation concerning their m ission . Someencounters are more detailed than nor-mal random encounters because of theirspecific purposes .

Since this is not a simple hack-and-slash adventure, the characters shoul dattempt to handle each encoun ter ascleverly as possible . It is recommen de dthat there should be at least four

encounters before the actual theft i sattempted, as th is wi ll al low the PCs t ointeract with som e of the diverse char-acters who inhabit Ansbach . Eachencounter should occur in an appropri-ate location (i .e ., a street, alley, bar ,

etc .) .

The DM should also plot out severa l

minor, mun dane incidents for the char-acters to cope w ith while in the city .

These en counters are le ft to the individ-ual DM to create to fit within his ow nsystem .

1 . The Young Turks . Eleven of thes e

street-gang de linquents have the fo llow-ing statistics : AC 10 ; MV 12" ; Fl ; hp 7 ;

MT 1; Dmg by w eapon type ; AL CN -CE ; small clubs, daggers . Their leader,

Oliver, has : AC 8 ; MV 12" ; A 5 ; hp 20 ;

NAT 1 ; Dmg by w eapon type ; D 16 ; A LCE ; dagger +1 . Each gang member hasld6 coins on his person , with th eremainder of the group's wealth h iddenin their clubhouse .

On the streets , the gang m embers ar eabusive and rude toward anyone wh oappears weaker than themselves . This

description could include the PCs, wh oas thieves are generally considered t o

be nondescript persons . Any jostling b ythe Turks is always followed by a nattempt to pick pockets (22% chance ofsuccess) . If an actual scuffle breaks ou t ,

the city guard arrives in 2-5 rounds .

(See encounter 6 for guard statistics . )

The Turks are not controlled by any o f

the independent thieves in Ansbach ,

nor do they work for the characters '

guild . However, i f approached in theproper mann er, they may divulge apiece or two of information about Haste r

DUNGEON 11



FOR A LADYS HONOR

Brunt. (The DM should choose some bi tof information from the section o n

Brunt for the Turks to know . )

2. City Official — Haster Brunt .

While it is true that Brunt is the targe tof the mission, there should be no rea-

son for the characters to accost hi m

before they raid his manor. See "TheVillain" for Haster Brunt 's statistics .

The DM may choose his destination i f

the characters want to follow him . O nthe streets, Brunt is guarded by four

bodyguards (AC 5 ; MV 9" ; F3 ; hp 1 8each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon type : dag-ger, long sword; AL N) .

There is a 5% chance that the PCswill be noticed for each turn that they

follow Brunt . This chance is cumula-

tive, increasing the risk for lengthy

shadowing .

3. City Watch. A city watch patro lconsists of 3-8 guardsmen (AC 5 ; MV

9 " ; F2 ; hp 11 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapontype; AL LG-LN ; chain mail, shor tswords) commanded by a sergeant (A C

5 ; MV 9" ; F3 ; hp 17 ; #AT 1; Dmg byweapon type ; AL LG-LN ; long sword

+1; chain mail) . Each patrol also ha s

the support of a patrol cleric (AC 4 ;

MV 9" ; C5 ; hp 29 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weap-

on or spell type ; AL LG-LN ; hammer

+1, banded armor; spells : bless, com-

mand (x2), hold person (x 2) , silence 15 '

radius, and cause paralysis) .

There is a 10% chance that any patro l

stops and questions the PCs in a ver ygeneral way, asking questions about

their plans and occupations, etc. The

DM should use a charisma check durin geach round of questioning to see if thewatch is unusually suspicious of th ePCs . If so, they take one or more of th e

group to the watch house for 30-18 0

rounds of questioning.

4. Pilgrims . These five pilgrims ar eon their way to a shrine in the far west .

They wear no armor, carry no weapons ,and have only traveling expenses(approximately 100 gp) on their persons .

As with all true pilgrims, they are with -

out horses or provisions, as they trus t

their deity to supply all their needs . If

the PCs initiate a conversation, th epilgrims attempt to convert them t o

their religion . They have no usefu l

information, but this encounter serve s

to keep the characters on their toes .

Five pilgrims : AC 10; MV 12" ; Cl ;

hp 5; #AT nil (unarmed and pacifistic) ;

AL CG ; spells : cure light wounds each .

5. City Merchant . This particularindividual is familiar to the PCs . He i s

a retired thief, now a fence for stolenarticles. The merchant (AC 9; MV 12" ;

T3 ; hp 12 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon type ;

AL CN ; ring of protection +1, dagger,

belt pouch with 75 gp and two smal lgems worth 50 gp each) may be able t ogive the PCs some information about

Brunt and the type of person he is . TheDM must decide what pieces of informa-

tion he has .

6. City Guard. This patrol consists of11 individuals . There are nine regular

soldiers (AC 5 ; MV 9" ; F1 ; hp 5 each ;#AT 1; Dmg by weapon type; AL LG ;

chain mail, crossbows, long swords) .

They are led by a lieutenant (AC 3 ; M V

6 " ; F5 ; hp 35 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo n

type; AL LG; long sword +1, plat email) . The patrol is accompanied by a

magic-user (AC 8 ; MV 12" ; MU2 ; hp 7 ;

#AT 1 ; Dmg by spell or weapon type ; D

16 ; AL LN ; dagger ; spells : sleep and

friends) . The DM may add a few mino r

scrolls to the magic-user's possessions i f

he chooses, as well as allocating 1-10 gp

worth of coins to each individual .

This type of patrol arrives first at theoutbreak of any disturbance, anywherein the city. The patrol's magic-user cast shis spells from a safe distance to neu-

tralize as many opponents as possible ,

while the guards use their crossbow s

before going into melee .

7. Laborers . These six men are typi-

cal workers (AC 10; MV 12" ; zero-levelhumans ; hp 4 each ; #AT 1; Dmg by

weapon type ; small clubs). There is a

10% chance that one of the laborers als o

serves on the city watch. The laborer s

can be polite or ready to brawl, depend-

ing on the situation confronting them . If

they are treated decently by the PCs ,

they may volunteer information abou t

Brunt (especially about the house inwhich he lives) or other information

concerning the city or its people. Thisencounter can be extremely importantfor the PCs, as it is one of the safest an d

surest means of gaining some informa-

tion about their victim and the high

regard in which he is held by the city 's

inhabitants .

8. Doppleganger This creature ha s

taken on the persona of one Olcry Mun-

chen, a coppersmith in good standing in

the city. Having slain the coppersmit hseveral months ago, the dopplegange rhas acquired a taste for the mercantil epolitics of Ansbach, and plans to main-

tain and improve his position . Unlessthe PCs are protected in some way from

his ESP ability, the doppleganger read stheir minds and discovers their truenature and mission . It is possible thathe may try to hire one or more of thePCs to perform a minor robbery of a

rival in town . (Remember that there i s

intense competition between merchant s

in the city, and it is not uncommon fo r

them to make use of thieves against on

another. )

The doppleganger offers 300 gp for th

job, which will be no real problem forthe PCs to accomplish. If the character s

refuse the job, the doppleganger relay s

his suspicions about them to the prope r

authorities, thereby putting the thieve s

in an extremely tenuous situation .

There is also a good chance that thedoppleganger can give the character s

some information about security mea-

sures at Brunt's home (see "Haste rBrunt 's Manor"), as he has been a gues tthere several times . Under no circum-

stances will the doppleganger reveal histrue nature .

Doppleganger : AC 5; MV 9" ; HD 4 ;

h p 2 2 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1-12 ; SA surprise on1-4 ; SD save as 10th-level fighter, notsubject to

s leep or charmspells

; AL N.

9. Mumph, an Independent Thief .

Mumph and his three accomplice s

appear to be nondescript individuals . Asindependents, they follow no rules excep

those of the profit motive . Mumph (AC

4 ; MV 12" ; T6 ; hp 19 ; #A T 1 ; D m g b yweapon type ; S 12, I 15, W 10 , D18, C 12Ch 14 ; AL CN) wears leather armor + 1and carr ies a short sword +1 and a dag-ger. His three accomplices (AC 10 ; M V

1 2" ; T1 ; hp 3, 4, 6 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weap-on type ; AL N-CE-CN) are armed wit h

two daggers each .

These thieves watch the PCs and wai tfor an opportunity to attempt a robbery .

The DM should allow a 10% chance pe r

round for the characters to becom eaware of Mumph and company. If Mum -ph is spotted and questioned, he may beable to bribe himself out of any conflict

by offering information to the charac-

ters . The DM should decide what infor-

mation Mumph knows and ho waccurate it is. Mumph and his associ-

ates will not work with the PCs or ai dthem in their mission .

12 Issue No . 8



FOR A LADY'S HON O R

10 . Wolgar Kin, a Wine Merchant .

Kin is one of the wealthier merchant sin the city, and for this reason he may

attract the thieving interests of thePCs . This encounter is designed as a

temptation for the players, to swaythem from their mission . Kin is alway s

accompanied by 2-5 guards (AC 5 ; MV9 " ; F4 ; hp 22 each ; #AT 1; Dmg by

weapon type ; AL N ; chain mail, broadsword, dagger) . The guards ' presenc eshould make any attempt at robbing

Kin difficult. However, if the character s

approach the wine merchant carefull y

and in a businesslike manner, they may

learn a few bits of information that th eDM chooses to reveal concerning Bruntand his home . The PCs might learn tha tKin has been paying bribes to Brunt fo ryears concerning an unrevealed an d

illegal business deal .

The Villai n

Haster Brunt (AC 2 ; MV 12" ; F7/MU6 ;

hp 24 ; NAT 3/2 ; Dmg by weapon type; S9, I 13, W 12, D 15, C 13, Ch 16 ; AL CN ;

bracers of defense AC 4, ring of protec-

tion +1, dagger +1, long sword) is one

of the 12 councilmen who govern th ecity of Ansbach . This makes him a pow-

erful force to be dealt with . Because h eis often seen in public, and his move-

ments are closely watched by both th e

curious and the envious, he must b eextremely careful of his behavior or ris k

defeat in a future election . Brunt i s

serving the third year of his second five -

year term . He is a 40-year-old widower

whose wife left him a huge fortune . Hehas continued to add to this considera-

ble sum through his position in th e

government and by other means, includ-

ing blackmail . Brunt is discreetly

involved with two mistresses and hope sto make Lady Miranda the third . He

has a passion for fine art and good wine ,

is very supportive of the local temples ,

and is well respected by the magical

community of the city, having had som e

experience with magic himself. He livesin his district, near the east wall of th ecity, where he employs a small body -

guard force . Recently, Brunt had a ne wsafe installed in his home by dwarvenmetallurgists .

The above details about Haster Brunt

should be given out to the characters a s

the DM sees fit, though most of th einformation should come from carefu l

and deliberate inquiries made durin g

the remaining hours before sunset. The

H as t e r B r u n t 's Manor

Brunt 's home is located on the east sid e

of Ansbach in his upper-class electoraldistrict, one of the more fashionablesections of the city. It is a two-story,wood-frame house, similar to m an yothers in Ansbach. The grounds ar esurrounded by a smooth, 10'-high, stonewall which is canted outward at such a nangle that any climb walls attempt

must be made with a -15% modifier .

Grapples can catch the top of the wallon a roll of 13 or higher on 1d2 0(bonuses for dexterity-based missile fir eallowed). Continual light spells havebeen cast upon small stones atop eac hcorner of the wall .

Each turn that the characters areengaged at the wall and not hidden ,there is a 40% chance that they are seenby guards inside the grounds or b ypatrols outside the walls . If the PC s

remain at the wall or attempt to per -

form their mission after being spotted ,

they are attacked and might be over-

whelmed by the sheer numerical super-

iority of the forces against them. Ther e

is a 5% chance per game turn for a

random encounter outside the walls of

information on Haster Brunt's two mis-tresses comes from numerous rumors ,

not all of them unfavorable as Haste r

Brunt is, after all, a single man . He has,however, been seen to favor Lady

Miranda 's attentions, to her husband' s

burning jealousy (and, it is said, to Lady

Miranda 's revulsion). The exact natur e

of any magical possessions he ha s

should only be hinted at, not given ou tfreely. The DM should add a fewuntruths to confuse the situation aboutHaster Brunt 's personal powers as awarrior or spell-caster.

Brunt was formerly a 6th-level magic-

user before entering the military on a

commission and gaining some actua l

combat exper ience . Additionally, he ca n

hear noise, move silently, an d hide i n

shadows as an 8th- level thief, as a resultof guerilla activities he was involved withdur ing his t ime in service . He keeps thespells alarm, charm person, light, magic

missile, detect invisibility, w eb, hold per -

son, an d suggestion memor ized . Thoughhe is n ot evi l , he has l i t t le m ercy for thos ewho fal l into his clutches . Rather tha nslaying captured foes outr ight , he m a y

quiet ly ransom them or sel l them int o

slavery elsewhere.

DUNGEON 13



FOR A LADYS HONOR

Brunt's manor at night (see "Ansbac hRandom Encounters") . If an alarm i sgiven, 1-6 city guards arrive 1-3 turn s

later

There is an iron gate on the west side

of the wall which is the only visibleentrance or exit into the courtyard . (Th e

concealed exit in the east wall can b e

found only from inside the complex .)The iron gate is always locked ( – 1 5 % t o

pick the lock) and is guarded by two ofBrunt 's bodyguards (see AnsbachEncounter 2 for statistics) .

At its closest point, the house is 30 '

from the wall and is surrounded by a

courtyard planted with ornamenta l

trees and shrubs. As added protection ,

Brunt purchased five trained war dogs(AC 6 ; MV 12" ; HD 2+2 ; hp 13 each ;#AT 1 ; Dmg 2 -8 ; AL N) to constantly

patrol the courtyard. These dogs cansmell intruders within 90' with 80 %accuracy and have an 80% chance t o

hear any movement except a thief mov-

ing silently Each animal wears a stud-

ded leather collar and light leathe rarmor. The dogs will not maul an unre-

sisting opponent, but will bark an d

growl loudly instead, awakening every -

one in the neighborhood. The dogs ar e

wolflike in appearance .

A barracks for the guards has bee nerected on the north side of the house . Itis a single-story building, 15' wide and

30' long. There is a 7' gap between thetop of the wall and the roof of the bar -

racks. From the barracks, it is only 13 '

to the house . The barracks are hiddenby several leafy shrubs from the view o f

anyone standing at the front gate. A tthe rear of the barracks are the do gkennels, one cage for each dog .

The guards at the house have a fixedorder for patrolling the grounds . Five

guards are on active patrol on th e

manor grounds at all times ; the guar d

shift is changed every six hours (start-

ing at midnight), when a new group of

guards leaves the guard house and th e

old shift comes in for a rest . Of the fiveguards on duty, two stand outside thewall of the manor grounds, weapons not

drawn or unslung but kept fully at the

ready (one segment reaction time) . Asone guard stays at the gate, the other

takes a full turn to walk around the

wall, then stands by the gate for a tur nas his partner walks around the wall .

The other three guards patrol the

grounds inside the wall, playing withthe dogs or inspecting the trees and

shrubs . Their positions within the

grounds at any time are quite random ,

though they do tend to wander (Raster

will fire them if they stand in one plac eall day) . Because of two attemptedbreak-ins in the past year (one a possi-

ble assassination attempt), the guardsstay fairly alert and have norma l

chances for being surprised, even whe nthey appear quite bored or tired .

Of the guards who are not on duty, 10are on the grounds, asleep or resting inthe barracks; the other five are off-duty

and elsewhere in town, to return whe nthe next guard-shift changes .

The main door of the house faces west

toward the iron gate. It is made of

heavy oak and is locked (norma lchances to pick) . It is also trapped witha poisoned arrow, which fires through a

small space just below the keyhole an d

strikes its target as if fired from a 6th-

level fighter (1-6 hp damage; save vs .

poison or take 4-24 hp damage, or 2-1 2hp if save is made) .

There are various windows about thehouse on both stories . All windows arelocked from the inside but may be

forced open on a bend bars roll with a

+15% modifier (roll score to removetraps to avoid making noise) . Of course ,

the windows may be broken open b yrocks or weapons, but the splintering ofglass is 80% likely to be heard by

guards or dogs. There is a 10% chanc e

per window that one of the upper-stor ywindows has been accidentally leftunlocked . Lower windows are checke don a 20% chance per hour by the thre eguards on the grounds .

First Floor

Several rooms are noted to have curio s

in them. To generate the type and valueof a curio, roll 1d6. On a roll of 1, thecurio is from the Magic-User Furnish-

ings table, on page 218 of the DMG, an d

has a value of 2-40 gp . On a rol l of 2-5 ,

the curio is from the Miscellaneous

Utensils and Personal Items table, p .219, DMG, and i s wor th 1-20 sp . On a

roll of 6, the curio is from the Jewelry

and Items Typically Bejewelled table, p .

219, DMG, and the item is worth 1-10 0gp . In all cases, make the item rolle d

consistent with the area in which it i s

found, and detail it as desired.

1 . Entry Hall . This is a 5' x 20' area

with light curtains dividing the nort hand south 5' to create cloak rooms .

There are always several coats, cloaks,

and hats in these areas ; any treasur efound here is minor (a few coins at best)

One curio can be found here in a cloakpocket. The area is illuminated by tw olamps set on the east wall to either sid eof the opening which leads into area 2 .

Stairs going up can be seen through theopening to the east . The floor in thisentry hall is constructed in such a way

that any weight placed upon the boardsproduces squeaks, causing attempts t omove silently to function at -20% . Anynoise from this area alerts the occu-

pants of areas 3 and 4 . A detect trapsroll will locate this "trap." See area 8 ifa PC causes a "squeak ."

2. Vestibule. This small hallway

opens north to area 4, south to area 3 ,

and onto a flight of stairs up to area 8.These stairs have been constructed t o

squeak when weight is placed upo nthem (like the entry hall, area 1), s othat any attempt to move silently suffer s

a -15% penalty. See area 8 if the PC s

climb the stairs at night .

A small table in the southeast corne r

of the vestibule holds a crystal bal l(nonmagical) as a decoration, worth 40 0gp . Above the table is a painting of

Haster Brunt ' s deceased wife . On thenorth wall is a painting of Haster in hi s

military armor, done some years ago .

Either painting is worth 10-40 gp .

3. Sitting Room . This is a 20'-squarechamber with two windows (south an d

west) and one door leading east to are a6 . It is furnished with two couches an dseveral chairs and tables. Three oil

portraits (20-50 gp each) hang on th ewalls, and four curios are locate d

throughout the room . There is a 35 %

chance that Brunt's personal servant ,Ygori (AC 8 ; MV 12" ; F3 ; h p 19 ; #AT 1 ;

Dmg by weapon type ; S 17 , D 16 , Ch 7 ;AL N ; dagger +2), is here. Otherwise ,

he is found in room 9, his bedchamber .

If Ygori is here, his first action is t o

alert the guards outside with a shout ;then he attacks intruders . He carries 5

ep and 4 gp in a belt pouch . Ygori i s

incredibly loyal to Raster Brunt (he i s

an old military buddy whose life Raster

saved), and cannot be bribed . He is veryshort and may, at a distance, appear t o

be a beardless dwarf.

4 . Library. There is a window in th e

west wall and a single door on the eas twall of this 20' square chamber. Theroom contains high shelves holding

1 4 Issue No . 8



FOR A LADYS HONOR

various tomes and parchments . The DM

may fill these shelves with volume s

which are applicable to his campaign ,

although the majority of the booksshould be of little use to the PCs . There

are several chairs and one table locate din the room, as well as five curios placedhere and there .

In the northeast corner of the roo mstands a full suit of plate armor whic hhas been enchanted by one of Brunt 'smagic-user friends to serve as a guard-

ian for the library. With any sound fro m

area 1 or with the entry of any perso nbut Haster into the library, th e

enchanted armor (AC 3 ; MV 6" ; HD 4 ;

hp 25 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1-10 with its hal-

berd ; AL N) animates and begins tomove into position to attack . Because ofthe armor 's size and composition, th e

PCs (and any other nearby occupants )can hear it moving and will not be sur-

prised . This armor can be dismissed by

Brunt or by any other person by simpl ysaying, "Go away, Harold," in whic hcase the armor returns to its corner. Thearmor has no mind of its own, and so isimmune to all spells involving mind -control or mental influences. If th earmor moves at any time, see area 8 .

5 and 5A. Hallway and Bathroom.

Each of these areas is 10' square . The y

are simply what they appear to be. Two

pastoral paintings adorn the hallwa ywalls (10-40 gp each) as well as a

mounted curio . The bathroom has a

bowl-and-table sink, a large wooden tubwith a bucket beside it, and an innova-

tive flush toilet . A mirror and two

mounted curios hang on the wall by th esink .

6 . Dining Room . This is a 20' x 30 '

)

e. The chamber serves as Brunt' s

l

.

f

. On e

p

; the other set is much more ornat eh

1,450 gp ) . A huge chandelier hangs

10 people . The china,

a

l . Either

(sprea d

extremely fragile . The chandelier,

which is made of glass, is too heavy an dcumbersome to transport in any mannersave by wagon and draft horses .

The door to the west leads to area 3 ,

and the door on the north leads int oarea 7. There is a 20% chance to find aservant (AC 10 ; MV 12" ; zero-levelhuman; hp 4 ; #AT nil ; AL N) in thischamber during the day (5% at night) . Ifhe gets the opportunity, the servan tflees to warn the guards in the court -

yard (who in turn alert the city watc hand city guard) .

The dining table is in the center of th eroom. Three curios sit upon it when it i s

not in use for dining . Four paintings of

Raster 's ancestors hang on the wall s

(value 20-50 gp each) .

7. Kitchen . The kitchen is 30' x 20' ,

with entries from areas 5 and 6 . A con-cealed door, behind a mobile cabinet o nthe east wall, leads out into the court -

yard . The chimney, oven, and fireplac eare built against the north wall of th e

chamber. The usual kinds of cooking

utensils and implements found inkitchens are neatly stored about th e

room. Four curios are present here .

A door in the west wall leads to a 10 '

square pantry (7A) which is filled wit hvarious foodstuffs and wines. The DM

may place specific foods and wines her e

as he desires, but at least some of th eprovender should be exotic and expen-

sive . Use the Food & Drink table on p .

219 of the DMG for randomly examinedcontainers or items found here . Thre ecurios are present in the pantry .

During the day a cook, 1-3 servants ,

and 1-3 guards are present . At night ,

there is only a 15% chance of the cook, a

servant, or a guard being here . The coo k

and servants have the same statistics a s

those of the servant in area 6 . Anyon e

in the kitchen after midnight is eithe r

cleaning up or getting a snack . HasterBrunt has a 5% chance of being here at

night, pouring himself a drink .

Second Floor

8. Upstairs Hall . This hallway leadsto all the rooms on the second floor .

There are five doors leading to the fiv eseparate chambers . At any time after

dark, there is an 80% chance that a

special guardian is present in the hall -

way, taking it easy for the night : Petey

Brunt's favorite guard dog (AC 6 ; MV

12" ; HD 2+2 ; hp 18 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 2-8 ;

AL N). He has a 95% chance of being

alerted to any unusual noises down -

stairs or on the stairwell during the

evening, but he has been trained not t oattack until all intruders have reachedthe top of the stairs . Like the courtyarddogs, Petey wears a spiked collar an dleather armor. Petey, who is much like aGreat Dane, will be in room 13 if he i snot in the hall . Because he is a solid

black in color, Petey looks remarkabl y

like a hell hound in dim light .

Any noise in this area alerts the occu-

pants of the other rooms 30% of thetime. They arrive to investigate or aler tthe guards in the courtyard . Brunt, if

awakened in his bedroom (room 13) ,

makes sure that his door is locked, the n

screams for help from his window .Five paintings of Raster Brunt 's

ancestors (10-40 gp each), three mount-

ed curios, and three small corner table s

in the northeast, northwest, and south -east corners of the hall (each table wit hthree curios) are present . The hall andall other rooms on this level are car-

peted (+ 10% to move silently attempts) .

9. Ygori's Chamber This 10' x 15 '

room is furnished in spartan simplicit ycompared to the rest of the house . It

DUNGEON 15



FOR A LADYS HONOR

contains a bed, a small table, and tw ochairs . A small chest under the bed i s

locked and trapped with a poison needl e

(save vs. poison at +2 or be paralyze d

for 10-60 rounds) . Inside the chest ar e

45 pp , 61 gp, and five curios of a person -al nature . There is a 65% chance thatBrunt 's m anservant, Ygori , is in thi s

room at n ight (see room 3 for his statis-tics) .

10.Servants ' Quarters . This 15 ' x30' chamber has two windows on th esouth and a s ingle window on the west .

Six servants live in this sparsely fur-nished chamber which contains six cot s

with straw m attresses, one large table ,

six wooden chairs , and s ix sm all chests(one at the foot of each cot) . The chest s

contain all the servants' worldly posses-sions (which is to say, not much) : extrawoolen clothing, 1-20 coins (copper ,silver and electrum), etc . One minorcurio per servant is also present .

Any servant in this chamber (1- 6present at an y time, the rest being

elsewhere in the hou se or off-duty intown) has the same statistics as listed i nroom 6 . Their response to any intrusio n

is fear and timidity . If given the oppor-tunity, they f lee and alert the guards i nthe courtyard . If taken p risoner by th ePCs, they are of no use in tel ling wher ethe garter can be found, though there i s

a 15% chan ce for any of them to hav eknow ledge of the wal l safe in Brunt ' s

chamber. I f threatened, they brea kdown into hysterics if they fail a savin gthrow vs. p aralyzation . Al l are lower -class res idents of Ansbach who ar etrying to improve their stations in l i fe .

I t might be possible for the PCs t ocapture one of these servants outs idethe house complex and gain entranc ethrough him . Each DM should decide ifthis is possible or desirable and the ncreate the appropriate encounter .

11.Guest Room . This is a 15' x 20 '

chamb er with a single entry from area 8and windows on the south and east) . Itcontains a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, a

table, and two chairs . The wa l ls ar ehung w ith som e of the less expensiv epieces of Bru nt's art collection (fiv e

paintings worth 10-40 gp each) . Th eroom is unoccupied in the evenings .

12.Haster Brunt's Private Study .

This room is 20 ' x 25 ' , with windows o n

the north and west and a secret door inthe east wa ll, leading to room 1 3 . The

door from area 8 is locked ( — 10% t opick) and trapped with four darts set tof ire into the back o f the PC in the h al lclosest to the door when the trap i s

activated ; the darts are fired from th eceiling, coming down at an angle . Thes edarts cause 1-4 hp dama ge each, an deach has the sam e chance to hit a door -opening PC in the back as a 2 nd-leve lf ighter (note that dexter i ty an d sh ieldbonuses are of no help here ) . None ofthe servants w ill open this door, as the y

all know of the trap . However, they alsoknow that the trap can be deactivate d(as can the one on the door to room 13 )

by pressing a button under the carpet ,

in the northeastern corner of the roo munder the hall table . Unknown to allservants, the trap has already bee ndeactivated by Brunt (to prevent acci-dents), and won 't be activated unless h e

leaves the house .

The study contains a large desk, sev-eral cushions, three lamps, six pieces ofartwork, two small tables, and a coa track . Papers and writing implements li eon the desk . The papers are of no inter-est, but the writing kit is worth 150 gp .

Three of the desk ' s f ive drawers are notlocked and contain extra paper, scrollcases, and other writing supplies . Theother two drawers are locked ( — 10% t opick) and trapped with poison needle s

(save vs . poison or sleep for 2-5 turns) .

Twelve curios are present in the room .Each artwork piece is worth 20-120 gp .

In the first drawer opened, the PC sf ind Brunt 's legal documents : his wil l ,

property papers, two sets of accoun tbooks, and IOUs from various peoplewithin the city (including Olcry Mu n-chen and W olgar Kin) . The secon ddrawer contains three scrolls : protectionfrom edged weapons, protection fro m

poison, an d a cursed scroll which cause s

all paper within 10 ' to disintegrate

(magical parchments receive a saving

throw vs. disintegration at +4 to avoiddestruction) .

There is a 15% chance that Haste rBrunt is present in this room du ring th e

night, working on governmen tpaperwork .

13.Brunt's Bedroom . The door intothis chamber is locked (–15% to pick )

and trapped w ith darts s imilar to thoseused on the door into room 12 . Ther eare windows on the north and east, an d

a secret door on the west leading intoroom 12 . The button in the hall (men -tioned in room 1 2's description) also

deactivates the darts aimed at thi sroom's door. As noted before, this trap i sdeactivated unless Haster Brun t is no tat home .

This room is elegantly furnished withthe best and m ost expensive pieces of

Brunt 's artwork and furniture : a largebed, ornate tables, comfortable chairs, anightstand, two lamps, and a room ywardrobe . Twenty curios are presen tthroughout the room .

There are two paintings (1,000 g peach) on each wall ; behind one of the m(DM's choice) is a wall safe which ca n bediscovered only if a character activel ysearches behind the pictures. The safe i s

locked (— 20% to open) and is trappe dwith a sleeping gas which spews int othe room for a radius of 15' . The P C

closest to the gas suffers a -1 to hi ssaving throw vs . poison, but other s

within the a rea of ef fect are al lowe dregular rolls . Failure to save causessleep for 3-12 turns and a reduction o fall hit points by half for 4-16 turn safterwards .

Inside the safe are a pouch with 1 0

gems (each worth 10 0 gp) and four piec-es of jewelry (worth 2,500 gp, 1,900 gp ,

1,000 gp, and 750 gp) . There is no signof the jewelled garter that is the objectof the quest .

The four-poster bed is hung w ith sid edrapes and covered by a canopy so tha t

PCs cann ot immediately see within . A tnight, there is a 75% chance that Brun tis sound asleep in the bed . If he is no there, he has a 5% chance of being in th ekitchen (room 7), a 15% ch ance of beingin room 12, and a 5% chance of not evenbeing home .

H<,ster Brunt keeps a dagger +2under his pillow, and he will not hesi-tate to use it on any lone intruder . He isnot, h owever, w illing to risk h is l ife for

material goods, and i f obviously at adisadvantage he cooperates with th ethieves in locating the safe and empty-ing its contents . He will not willingly

hand over the garter and w i ll disavowany knowledge of such an item, suggest-ing that the PCs have been duped b y

some person who is envious of his posi-tion . If the PCs choose to listen to Hast-er Brunt, he may attempt to make a

suggestion to them ( "Let 's go meet m yguards ." ) .

Haster Brunt 's spell books are h idde nin a fa lse panel on the u nderside of hi s

bed . In addition to the spells he ha s

mem orized, he knows read magic, write,

and 2-5 ran dom spells of levels 1-3, al l(continued on page 34 )

1 6 Issue No . 8



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DUNGEON17



I N D E F E N S E O F T H E L A W

You are only passing through th e

coastal town of Ranaan, seeking

adventure in more exciting places —

or so you think . A young ma napproaches you in the tavern where

you have taken rooms and politely

asks if the mayor might have a wordwith you. It would certainly be churl-

ish to refuse .

Maralan, the mayor, is seated wit hyou in a back room of the inn within

minutes . His expression is grave, hi s

manner somber as he explains th e

town's predicament:

For many years, Ranaan wa s

affected by severe weather condition s

— late spring frosts, storms, evenflooding — which made life very

difficult for its people. By magicalscrying, it was discovered that a

chaotic-evil magician had enchanted

two great, subterranean banes t o

distort the forces of nature in thearea . (No statistics are given — o rpossible — for these banes as the y

are primeval essences with no intelli-

gence or form of their own .) Thetownspeople suffered in silence until ,

20 years ago, mutated animals and

deformed monsters were seen in th enorthern foothills . That was the last

straw, and help was sought .

Lord Paladin Justinian and a

group of lawful-good adventurersentered the catacombs wherein themagician dwelt and slew him, an d

they placed there an artifact, the Orb

of Law, which countered and neutral-

ized the effects of the chaotic banes .

Nature returned to its normal pat -

tern, and the people of Ranaan coul d

once again farm, fish, and carry on

their normal business .

But now there is fear in the tow nonce again . Varek the Mage discov-

ered that a group of chaotic creature s

had entered the catacombs bent o ndestroying the Orb and making cha-

os supreme once more. Varek spok e

of chaotic-evil clerics and the involve-

ment of a powerful demon . He

warned that, at the new moon, th e

Orb would be destroyed unless hel p

could be found. The very next day, h e

was assassinated by an unknownperson who escaped capture .

It is now only five days until th e

new moon, and Mayor Maralan i s

desperate. Messengers sent out to

recruit assistance have not returned,

and matters seem hopeless. Maralanhas a map which pinpoints theentrance to the catacombs, and he i s

prepared to give all the magical aid

the town has (not much, but thi s

illustrates his desperation) to a part y

of adventurers who will swear to d o

all in their power to overcome th e

chaotic forces and protect the town .

He also promises as reward a gem -

encrusted mace which is the mayo r 'straditional symbol of authority, and

the town council has agreed to thi s(the value of the mace is 7,000 gp) .

Will you take on the adventure?

For the Dungeon Master

Maralan, a 3rd-level cleric of lawful -

good alignment, is mayor of Ranaan

(AC 10 ; MV 12" ; C3 ; hp 9 ; #AT 1 ; D m g

by weapon type (mace) ; S 10 , I 12 , W 13 ,

D 12 , C 11 , C h 16 ; AL LG; spells : light ,

detect evil, sanctuary, know alignment) .

He casts his know alignment spell fro m

the adjoining room before requesting

the PCs' aid . Maralan wishes to b ecertain that there are no chaotic or evil

PCs in the group before requesting their

help. Even chaotic-good characters are

not acceptable .

The magical items he donates ar ethree potions of healing, two of extra-

healing, and a scroll of three clerica l

spells (at 9th level of magic use) : cur e

light wounds, cure serious wounds, and

dispel magic . These are given when th ePCs promise to do all they can to over -

come the chaotic forces . The mace will

be given over when they return .

If inquiries are made about the mag eVarek, the adventurers can learn tha t

his possessions were stolen by his assas-

sin. He has been buried close by th erectory where Maralan lives . If the PC s

carefully ask permission to "dig up" themage, and if the PCs are able to us e

speak with dead or a similar spell, theycan question Varek and learn tha tchaotic-evil clerics revering Siinkinar a

(the regional goddess of bloodlust,

marauding beasts, and mayhem) hav e

occupied the catacombs . These cleric s

are accompanied by chaotic-evil undea d

and humanoids, and they also keep wil d

animals . A powerful demon will b esummoned at the new moon to destroy

the Orb of Law . Varek does not specif y

his sources of information but is ada-

mant on these points. If the PCs some -

how have the resources to bring the

mage back to life, the mage will b eexhausted and require weeks of rest

before he can even speak (he has als o

been poisoned, so the toxin will have to

be dealt with as well). The DM maycreate his statistics, making Varek anaged, lawful-good, 16th-level magic-use rwith very few hit points .

Maralan can give the PCs the map o f

Ranaan and environs showing the loca-

tion of the entrance to the catacombs.

He arranges for normal supplies (food,packs, oil, ropes, and nonmagical weap-

ons such as arrows, bolts, daggers, etc . )

to be provided at no charge .

The nature, disposition, and strategie sof the chaotic forces in the dungeon ar edescribed for each level . The chaotic-evi lclerics are far from stupid, but thei r

organization is not all it might b e(reflecting their chaotic nature), and

they are beset by internal rivalries .

However, the highest-level cleric among

them is a formidable opponent : a 10th-

level cleric vampire . A group of drow

has also learned about the activities of

the clerics, and a representative of thedark elves is present as the drow ar enaturally interested in liberating th e

chaotic banes to evil effect .

The clerics are served by a rabble o f

chaotic-evil humanoids and undead wh o

perform guard duties and menial tasks .

And, as marauding beasts are revered

by Siinkinara's clerics, a number of wil danimals of rather savage disposition arealso to be found in the dungeon . While

there is some strength in the structureof the chaotic forces, these forces ar erendered less formidable in some case s

by virtue of poor organization, low intel-

ligence, factional disputes, or petty

jealousies and hatreds. Descriptions of

monsters and their strategies reflec tthese factors, and you should keep them

in mind in confrontations with the PCs .

The distance from Ranaan to th ecatacombs is about 13 miles as the crow

flies . The land has low, rolling hill s

covered by light woodlands after th efirst four miles of fields . Use the DMG

travel-time tables on page 58 . Wander -ing monster checks should be dispensed

with so that the PCs reach the cata-

combs unharmed, but if an encounte r

(beyond the first four miles) is desired ,

the Catacombs Random Encounter s

Table may be used in reduced scale. Rol l

ld6 and translate 1 = 1, 2 = 5, 3 = 9, 4

= 16, 5 = 17, and 6 = 18 to select a

monster from the 20 listed in the table .

Within the catacombs themselves, a

1 8 I s s u e N o . 8



IN DEFENSE OF THE LAW

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wandering monster check should b emade every game hour (s ix turns) wit ha 10% chance of an encounter takin gplace . If an encou nter is indicated, rollld6 to determine wh ich turn during th

ehour the encoun ter takes place, an d

consult the Catacombs RandomEncounters Table . These monsters may

be found roaming the corridors, a s

either wanderers from outside, "pets" o fthe inhabitants, hired guards, or a ssudden underground encounters (umbe rhulks can tunnel through earth an d

break into the catacombs, for example) .

Be careful with such encounters, how -ever ; i f a rand om roll indicates a tricky

encounter for a beleaguered party, yo umay decide that it should not tak eplace .

The catacombs have been develope dby hum an construction work and m agic ,

accounting for the regularity of cham-bers and corridors . Ceiling height varie s

between 12' and 16' ; important excep-tions are noted . Cham bers are l it withoil-burning lamps, corridors with brack-eted wall torches unless otherwis e

stated . Metal armor clanking dow nstone stairs and corridors (unless som eprecaution such as m agical silence i s

used) creates a lot of noise and alert sguards (+3 on surp rise rolls ) .

Note that some NPCs can m ov e

around, reorganize forces, and so forth .

Likewise, the final combat is tough, a sthe NPCs are smart and power fu l

(many with permanent magical i tem scomm ensurate with their experienc elevels) . If you feel that posses sion ofthese i tems by you r PCs would unbal-ance your campaign, you may wish t odevise a cover story to claw some o fthem back (e .g . , many have been stolenand m ust be returned), but experiencepoints for these items should be aw ard-ed i f they are used and kept .

The Lawful NPCOpponents

This group of adventurers w i ll b eencountered by PCs on the secon ddungeon level . Statistics are given i nful l for the six NPC s, but detai ls o fnormal, nonm agical equipment is no ttabulated (you may assum e the norma lrange of such possessions or outfit themas you like) .

These NPC s are vi tal to this adven-ture . They can be used to help, hinder,

delay, or combat the PCs . Their individ-ual descriptions should help you pla ntheir actions in specific circumstances .

What do the NPCs want? The law -fully al igned m embers o f this party( three LE, two LN) wish to com bat th echaotics just as the PCs d o . However ,

the lawful-evil characters (particularlythe cleric) will also wan t to do aw a ywith the PCs, given the chance . Con-sider carefully if and when they attac kand what r isks di fferent individual s

within this group are prepared to take ,as per the individual NPC descr iption selsewhere in this adventure .

Why are the NPCs here? They wer etravel ing in th e locale when their thief ,

while on a scouting mission, chanced

upon one of Maralan's m essengers . S h esurprised him and stabbed him in th e

back, but the other NPCs caught u p

with her before she could check all th emessenger's possessions. Thus, Mara-lan's plea for help fell into th e NPC s 'hands . This note informed them of th eactivities in the catacom bs, generatin ga desire among the lawful NPCs t ocombat the chaotic clerics .

Making their way to Ranaa n to f in d

more information (notably, how to locat e

the catacombs), they were attacked by asmall group of ogres and made shor twork of them . The cleric Suzerean cast

DUNGEON 19




a detect magic spell at the ogres' posses -sions, since these included some item s

clearly taken from deceased adventur-er s . By chance, she detected a magicall ycamouflaged portal in a nearby hillside .

The portal led to a p assage which, i nturn, led down to the second level of thedungeon . The NPCs did not know tha tthis was an entrance to the catacomb s

they were seeking, but i t seemed d is-tinctly possible, and they decided t oinvestigate .

The NPCs ha ve just entered th edungeon when they encounter the PCs .

They have ki lled one set of guards, an d

the unholy symbol worn by the junio r

cleric they have slain has warned the mthat they h ave overcome a chaotic-evi l

cleric .

What do the NPCs know? On lywhat they learned in the note — that a

group o f chaotic clerics are a ctive incatacombs of un specified location nea r

Ranaan , and that an artifact of Law i sthreatened (no details on how it i s

threatened are given) . They decided t oburn the note after reading its contents ,

since if they entered Ranaan a nd pro-duced i t they would have to explai nwhat happened to the messenger. They

will, if approp riate, tell the PC s tha tthey met one of Maralan's messenger sand h ave responded to h is plea for helpThey state that they did not know th elocation of the catacombs an d are truthful about th eir stroke of luck in gettin ginto the dungeon .

Role-playing the NPCs . The leader

of the party, the lawful-evil cleric Kan-driasin, is both strongly lawful an dintensely evi l . He certainly wan ts to d oaway w ith good-al igned PCs i f at a l lpossible and attempts to do this unles sthe odds a re badly stacked against himSom e of the other NPCs are l ikely toally them selves f irmly w ith him (se eindividual descriptions) . He may als owish to destroy or sub jugate lawful -

neutral characters .There are tw o lawful-neutral charac-ters in the NPC party . The cleric Suze-rean, in particular, is here only toovercome the chaotics . She does what -ever seems necessary to maximize he r

chances of doing this . She wil l a lly withKandriasin i f the PCs are incompetent ,

weak, or careless . However, if the P Cparty is clearly stronger than the NP Cparty, and i f the PCs h ave fought wiselyand sh own good tactical sense, Suzerearesponds wel l to them and joins them ifthe PCs state that they cannot accep tthe presence of the evi l NPCs .

Dungedan Stoneheart, the dwarve nNPC, is too dumb for such an approachbut if a trace of anything less than fairtreatment and h onesty from h is fellowNPCs can be dem onstrated, he wil l jointhe PCs in al lying against the evi lNPCs and may demand that the PC s

join him in f ighting his forme r group . Itis even possible that the magic-user an dthief in the N PC p arty might join th ePCs against the other evi l NPCs, bu tneither is trustworthy .

These NPCs should be played careful-ly, taking into account both the overal l

state of play and their individual char-

acteristics . For exam ple, Kandriasin i sintelligent and charismatic . He won ' tmake unnecessari ly hostile remarks t oPCs . He tries to persuade his associate s

to take on the PCs at the best possiblet ime, and he plots quietly and secretly ,

in whispers and out of earshot . Yo ushould foster suspicion and paranoia o nthe part of the PCs about him , but noth-ing too overt .

I f the demon Ki-Baaz is present dur-ing the f inal combat, the PCs m ay nee d

the assistance of Suzerean the cleric .

Persuasiveness and good role-playing b

2 0 Issue No. 8




the players will certainly affect later

combat strength .

Armor-class note : In the statisticsprovided for some of the NPCs encoun-

tered in this adventure, two armor-classfigures are given separated by a slash .

The first figure is the being's armor

class from the front, counting all magi -

cal, shield, and dexterity bonuses . Thesecond figure is the being ' s armor clas s

from the rear, without shield or dexteri-

ty bonuses or certain magical ones (a s

would be encountered in surprise o r

rear-attack situations) . Special bonusesfor attacking these characters, such a s

from surprise attacks, attacks on pron echaracters, charge attacks, rear attack s

by thieves, etc ., must be added on .

DungeonLevel One1. Entrance Passage . This tunnel ,

cut into the hillside (though somewhatovergrown and crudely camouflaged )

can be readily found . A ranger or other

PC with tracking skills may observe th efootprints of several large humanoid s

and two humans near the entrance . Th epassage slopes down at a 30° angle fo r

the first 80' and is very dark once pas tthe area where sunlight can penetrate .

The main east-west passage (connectin gareas 2, 3, 4, and 6) is dimly lit .

2. Ogre Guards . The door to thischamber is always open . One of theguards is asleep at any given time bu tmay be roused in one round ; he is ready

to fight one round later . The chamber

contains only poor-quality bedding, a

crude table and chairs, pewter tan-

kards, copper eating utensils, and thelike .

Ogres (4) : AC 5 ; MV 9" ; HD 4+1 ; h p

26 , 23 , 20 , 14 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon

type (two-handed swords) +2 ; AL CE .

3. Ghouls . This chamber containsonly bones, shards and fragments of

pottery, rotting cloth and wood, and th eundead guards that have been traine d

not to attack the ogres (but will attac k

intruders when alerted by any sound i nthe corridor) . If alerted, one of th e

ghouls flees to tell the clerics in area 4 ,

and the rest move to attack. They havebeen trained to divide their forces, half

of them attacking the rear of an invad-

ing party via the west door, corridor ,

and secret door.

Ghouls (8): AC 6 ; MV 9" ; HD 2 ; hp 14

(x 4), 12 (x 4 ) ; #AT 3 ; Dmg 1-3/1-3/1-6 ;

SA paralyzation; SD immune to sleepand charm ; AL CE .

4. Junior Clerics . This living cham-

ber is furnished with plain tables,chairs, a bearskin rug (value 180 gp), a

wall mirror, silvered pewter eating and

drinking utensils (value 30 gp), and

shelving holding minor bric-a-brac (pot-

tery jugs, pipes, etc .) of trivial value .

Several evil clerics reside here .

Shuvaka, human female : AC -1/4 ;

MV 9" ; C3 ; hp 17 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weap-

on type ; S 15 , I 13 , W 16 , D 18 , C 10 , C h14 ; AL CE ; banded mail, shield, foot -

man 's mace ; spe ll s : command, cure ligh t

wounds, darkness, sanctuary, aid, augu-

ry , hold person . She wears silver ear -

rings (value 40 gp) and has a belt pouc h

with five tigereye gems (value 10 gpeach) and a small silver key (this opens

the coffer in area 5) .

Marras, human male : AC 1/4 ; MV 9" ;

C3 ; hp 16 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon type ;

S 17, I 9, W 12, D 15, C 16, Ch 9 ; AL

CE; banded mail, shield +1, footman's

mace ; spells : darkness (x 2 ), silence 15 '

radius; 5% chance of spell failure .

When alerted, Shuvaka casts hersanctuary and aid spells upon herself

and the pair come out to support theogres and ghouls. But, if the PCs ar e

obviously powerful (e .g ., the clerics seea magic-user PC firing off four or more

magic missiles at once), the chaoti cclerics retreat and alert Magath (area 8 )

and Rhadesse (area 11) .

5. Bedchambers . The private roomsof Shuvaka (5A) and Marras (5B) ar ehumbly decorated (pallet beds, poor-

quality wall hangings, minor icons, a

small collection of bestiaries of trivia l

value, cotton robes, etc.). Underneat h

Shuvaka's bed is a small coffer, locke d

but untrapped (Shuvaka carries th ekey), containing two gold bracelets(values 125 gp, 75 gp) and 12 pp .

6. Falling Slab Trap. This north -

south corridor is unlit . A door is cun-ningly painted on an unstable standingrock slab that fills the corridor fro m

side to side . The slab stands 10' outfrom the dead-end wall . Any attempt t o

open the fake door causes the slab t o

fall and crush all those within 10 ' in

front (3-18 hp damage ; saving throw vs .

wands negates damage only if the P Cwas at least 5' from the slab when it

began to fall) . Past intruders have been

chased into this cul-de-sac, which

appears to be an escape route north ,only to be crushed by the slab . Any

character taking damage from the fall-

ing slab is pinned beneath it for 5- 8

rounds unless other PCs help to fre ehim. One helper reduces the escapetime to two rounds ; two or more helperscan extricate a trapped PC in on eround. Anyone with the means to detec

normal traps or unsafe stonework has a

chance to find this trap .

7. Storage Chamber This unli tchamber contains extensive wall shelv-

ing filled with 86 flasks of oil, 12 lamps

sixteen 10' poles, fourteen each 50' an d

20' ropes, and many tins and sacks o ftacks, iron spikes, etc .

8. Magath's Chamber This well -appointed room contains a good bear -

skin rug (value 240 gp), a solid-topped

writing table by the north wall (with

inks, quills, paper, and a crystal paper -

weight ; total value 140 gp), comfortabl echairs, silver cutlery and plates (valu e80 gp), two silvered goblets (value 60 gpeach), a crystal decanter of averagequality wine (value 200 gp), and a bed

with a silk coverlet (worth 180 gp )

beside which stands a table holding asilvered mirror and an ivory comb se t(value 100 gp) .

Magath, human male : AC 1/4 ; M V

9 " ; C5 ; hp 32 ; #AT 2 ; Dmg by weapo ntype; S 14, I 13, W 17, D 16, C 17, Ch 8 ;

AL CE ; banded mail, shield, ham-

mer+1 ; spells : command, darkness

(x 2 ), detect magic, sanctuary, aid, hold

person (x 2 ), know alignment, silence 15

radius, bestow curse, cause blindness .

He possesses potions of extra-healing

and fire resistance, and wears a zirconand silver ring (value 125 gp), a goldbracelet (value 70 gp), a silver brooch

set with a moonstone (value 100 gp) ,

and a small silver dagger with a lapi s

lazuli in the hilt that he uses as a letteropener (value 90 gp) .

If Magath is attacked without warn-ing, he fights as best he can . If givenwarning of the intruders, he joins Rha-

desse ( ar ea 11 ; see strategy notes for

that location) .

9. Chapel. This room is dominated by

a statue of Siinkinara in werewolf form ,

which stands behind an altar that is 10 '

away from the west wall . The alta rbears silver-threaded black cotton cloth s

(value 50 gp), two bronze candlestick s(value 4 sp each), gray tallow candles ,

DUNGEON 21




and the tails of wild animals . Cotto nwall hangings show scenes of wild crea-

tures attacking and devouring men an delves . The chapel is always occupied b y

three huge worgs (AC 6 ; MV 18" ; H D4 +4; hp 32 , 30 , 27 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg 2 -8 ; AL

NE), creatures revered by Siinkinara's

clerics, that attack any intruders wit hgreat ferocity. They sit quietly unles sdisturbed, awaiting their next meal .

10 . Ghast Chamber In this irregu-

larly shaped and undecorated chamber ,

four ghasts (AC 4 ; MV 15" ; HD 4 ; hp23, 20 (x 2), 13 ; NA T 3 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4/1-8 ;

SA paralyzation, stench ; SD immune t osleep and charm spells; AL CE) areengaged in excavation work, using

picks, along the north wall . Rhadess e(room 11) got a positive reading herewith a detect good spell and wishes tolocate and destroy the anathema . If thePCs are able to penetrate 6' of solid rockin the correct location (the middle of th enorth wall), they find an old tomb inwhich lies an ancient skeleton in corrod-

ed chain mail bearing a mace +1 . Themace, if used by a character of good

alignment, is a +3 magical weaponagainst all evil-aligned beings .

11 . Rhadesse's Chamber This room

is decorated both lavishly and religious-

ly. Rhadesse is fanatical and is also thesenior cleric on this level . Above th e

tables, chairs, wolf-skin rugs (two, each120 gp value), and pallet bed are many

animal heads mounted on wooden wal l

plaques, all posed in attitudes of feroci-

ty. There is a small wall alcove with a

secret door in the western wall, 2' x 3 '

in size and 7' above the floor, about 4 '

from the south wall . The secret door i s

covered with a bear skin (value 200 gp )pinned to the wall . The door is als otrapped with a glyph of warding which

inflicts 14 hp cold damage (save vs .

spells for half damage) and paralyzes a s

a hold person spell for 11 rounds unles sa successful save vs . spells is made . Th ealcove contains a small, locked woodencoffer (Rhadesse has the key) containin g

pouches with 65 pp, 320 gp, 120 ep, and

14 gems (value 10 gp each) .

Rhadesse, human female : AC 1/3 ;

MV 6" ; C7 ; hp 44 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg by weap-

on type ; S 12, I 12, W 17, D 16, C 16, Ch

14 ; AL CE ; plate mail, footman's flail ;

spells : command, curse, darkness, detec t

good, detect magic, aid, detect charm,

hold person, silence 15' radius, wyver n

watch, animate dead, dispel magic, meld

into stone, obscure tongues . S he has apotion of healing and a scroll of tw ospells (at 9th level of magic use) : besto w

curse and cure serious wounds . Rha-desse wears silk robes with ermine trim

(value 200 gp) over her armor, a silver

neckchain with a wolf's-head amulet(value 100 gp), and a belt pouch with 4 5

gp and a small silver key (which opensthe coffer in the secret alcove) .

If the alarm is raised, Rhadesse an dMagath (if alive) command the ghast s

from area 10 to enter the north-southcorridor and attack intruders headin gnorth from area 4 . The clerics liberatethe worgs from area 9 after the ghast shave gone to attack the PCs (so that theanimals are not affected by the stenchof the ghasts) and stand, with the worg s

before them, just south of the corrido r

leading to area 10, preparing thei rdefensive spells. The chaotic cleric s

attack with offensive spells and use thewolves as cover. However, despite Rha-

desse 's training of the wolves, thes e

animals are so ferocious that they are50% likely to break ranks and attack a

likely PC target .

If the ghasts are overcome, the worg s

attack at once down the corridor . Th eclerics will not surrender, but if Rha-

desse is in serious trouble she tries t oretreat into area 10 and use her meld

into stone spell (if she can do this with -out suffering an attack in the back fro m

a melee opponent), hoping that the PC swill head west (through the glyph -

covered door at area 12) . She can thenescape north via the secret door andalert the guards on level two .

Rhadesse will not immediately send a

messenger to the lower level, becaus eshe hates the commander of level tw o

and hopes to overcome any intruder s

with her own forces . She wants to clai m

the credit from Siobhana, her com-

mander on level three, for herself. Her

zeal and evil convictions are so strong

that she continues to believe she ca ntriumph until her position is clearly

quite hopeless . Her subordinates fight

to the death, fearful of Rhadesse's wrat hif they do anything less .

12 . Parting of the Ways . The door to

the west is unusually stout (of thic k

wood, with heavy black iron hinges an d

fittings which may be seen to be slight-

ly rusted if a very careful visual checkis made) and is trapped with a glyph of

warding that inflicts 14 hp electrical

damage (save vs . spells for half damage)

and paralysis for 11 rounds. Severalsets of footprints aproach this door an dreturn the way they came but do not

enter the room . The tunnels beyond th edoor are unlit, as are the chambers i nthis area. Any remaining torches arebroken and rotted in their wall brack-

ets . The floors are dusty and strewnwith small rocks at irregular intervals .

It should be obvious that this part of thecatacombs is not occupied by the chaoti cclerics or their vassals, and it has no tbeen explored or renovated by them .

There is a secret door in the northwall of the corridor at area 12 . Behin d

this door, a staircase leads down to leveltwo of the catacombs .

13 . Margoyle Chamber. These tw omargoyles (AC 2; MV 6"/12" ; HD 6 ; h p24 , 19 ; NAT 4 ; Dmg 1-6/1-6/2 -8/2-8 ; SDcamouflage, magical weapon to hit ; AL

CE) were originally attracted by a (no wdecayed) sympathy spell designed t oattract beings of chaotic-evil alignment .

They remain here, unable to escape pastthe glyph that was placed at area 12 t okeep them out of the main living areas .

Having triggered a glyph there once ,they learned to avoid the door .

The margoyles live in a state of per-

petual conflict with the meazels to th esouth . Being outnumbered by the latter ,

they have become very cunning in orderto survive . Given their camouflageability and cunning, they surprise fiv etimes in six unless the PCs have someadvantage negating this. The margoyle sfight fiercely, hoping to slay the PC sand escape east . This chamber is unre-

markable, its only treasure a pile of

coins (85 gp, 330 sp) hidden behind a

rock in the southeast corner .

Having lived upon scraps tossed

through the door at area 12 by the cha-

otic clerics, these monsters would relis ha meal of adventurers, and attack with -

out question or thought .

14 . Pool Chamber. Stalactites dri p

water from the ceiling of this rock -

strewn cavern. A hairline fault can b edetected in the chamber ceiling during

a careful check . The pool in the center

of the cavern (maximum depth 9' i ncenter) contains 15 small, sightless ,

albino fish which are quite harmless .

There is nothing of value here .

15 . Skulk Chamber This chambe r

contains the skeleton of a humanoid

body, covered in rusted chain mail an d

2 2 Issue No. 8



IN DEFENSE OF THE LA

almost w holly rotted scraps of cloth ,ly ing by the middle of the south wa l l .The bo dy bears a gold bracelet (valu e200 gp), a horseman 's flail, a rustedshield, and a split and rotten leathe r

pouch w hich has spil led coins over th efloor (8 pp, 4 gp, 2 0 ep) .

By the en trance lurk the two crea-tures who did in this foolish adventurer .

They we re once two elderly retainers o fthe m agician who dwelt in these cata-combs long ago . By virtue of their cow-ardly, embittered nature an d residua lmagical ef fects, they ha ve becom e

skulks ( AC 7 ; MV 12 " ; HD 2 ; hp 10, 7 ;

/ # A T 1 ; Dmg by weapon type ; SA +4 tohit from behind for tr iple damage ; S Dcamouflage ; AL CE) .

The sku lks wi ll not attack a sizeabl e

PC party but have a 50% chance tobackstab a PC who is not wearin gmetal l ic armor i f such a PC is at th erear of the group as the adventurer sleave this area . They may try to se ttraps for fleeing or injured adventurers .

16.Rockfalls . At these points, rock -falls block the pa ssages . These block -ages are of varying thickness (5-30 'each), and it should be obvious that th emethod of ingress to the deeper levels o fthe catacombs is not to be found here .

17.Secret Door. This is only 4' wid e

and 4 1 /2 ' high . The corridor beyond is n ohigher.

18.Meazel Chamber This chamberhas a cei l ing height of 9 ' . Stretchedacross the entrance is a tr ip wire wh ic hthe two meazels (AC 8 ; MV 12" ; HD 4 ;

hp 17, 16 ; NAT 2 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4 ; SAstrangulat ion ; SD 4 th-level thief abil i-ties ; AL CE) that lair here are wel laware of. They leap over this trap i frunning in re treat . Since the trip wir eis only 12" of f the ground, this leap i sonly 50% l ikely to be noticed by an ypursuing PC . The occupants have

sharp hea ring, and i f the PCs wal kpast the secret door the m eazels ar e75% l ike ly to hear them and em erge . I fthe mea zels gain surprise, they ar eequa lly l ikely to try to rob a PC u sin gtheir thief ta lents or to a ttempt a

strangulat ion attack .

One o f the meazels has a si lver rin g( va lue 40 gp ) and the other carr ies apouch w ith seven gems (value 10 g peach) and a small peridot (value 2 0 0gp ) . A small borehole near the sout hwall of this cham ber is a 3 ' diameter

tunnel leading 8' straight down to acrawlway, also of 3' diameter, whichdescends at a 25 ° angle to the south -west . PCs wou ld have to be very foolis hto enter the hole ; if they do so, the y

wil l meet almost certain death . A tintervals, small chambers open ou tabove the crawlway ; a meaze l reside s

in each, ready to strangle any inquisi-t ive explorers . The crawlway eventu-al ly leads to a warren of m eaze l

tunnels (not shown on m ap) inhabitedby a total of 20 un usual ly socia l

meazels . The DM may m ap out an dpopulate this area as desired .

Dungeon Level Two

If Rhadesse escaped to level two an draised the alarm, she and the thre ejunior clerics on this level (rooms 21, 26and 2 9) organize their defenses in an d

around room 2 5, using the worgs ther eas physical protection while they deplo yspells to their best advantage . Lifarian ,

the half-drow (area 26), seals off areas26-30 with wizard lock spells . One of thebugbear guards in area 19 is instructe d

to get word to the junior clerics whe nthe PCs attack this level . The junio rclerics cast defensive spells and wait inambush . If the PC s do not attack the m

DUNGEON 23



DEFENSE OF THE LAW

ight be lost (spell expiratio n,

. They do no t

's second-in-d (area 34 ), of the PCs' presenc e

.

I f the PCs enter area 23 , they

party that is alsong the catacombs . If not, the D M

tet th e

e. I f the PC s are i n

e

,

e. Should this happen, the junio

rC

. Howeve r, if therty is greatly weaken ed, th e

ay at tack them after overcom -d

fortunate dem ise for the PC s

dual NP C d escript ions for th e' reactions) .

The steps leading dow n to this leve l

't . Metal armo r

the stairs can alert th e.

19.Humanoid Guards . This larg e

pare clubs and weapons, and th ebugbears (AC 5 ; MV

; HD 3+1 ; hp 19, 17, 16, 14 ; #AT 1 ;

-8 or by weapon type ; SA 50 %; AL CE ; morning stars) . A hil l

(AC 4 ; MV 12" ; HD 8 1 / 4 ; hp 51 ;

; Dmg 2-16 ; SA hurl rocks (but no t; SD 30% chance t o

; AL CE) is used fo r

dg

. He also tyrannize s

t. If th e

n, any surviving bu gbear s

.

Giant's Lair . This cham ber (ceil-: poor qu ality ,

nfested, animal-skin bedding ; two; two large potter y

lain-topped table ;

ds w age s

d

sp, 1,15 0

A badly mou nted dwarfs head on a

wood plaque decorates the east wall .

21. Fallirani's Qu arters . Harania n(see area 34) particularly dislikes thi s

half-elf and has given him the un envia-ble job of supe rvising the giant an dbugbears (room 19), who scorn him an ddispute everything he says . Fallirani isdeeply embittered and would betra yHaranian at the drop of a hat ; he migh teven join the PCs, but he is completelyuntrustworthy. He will not, in an y

event, betray anyone else on this leve lsave for Haranian and his bodyguard .

His quarters are fastidiously decorated ,

with cotton covers on his bed a long th enorthern half of the west w all, a silver -fox patchwork rug (value 500 gp), pol-

ished table and ch airs, silvered uten sil s(value 150 gp ), and the like .

Fallirani, half elf male : AC 1/4 ; MV

9 " ; C4/MU4 ; hp 21 ; #AT 1; Dm g by spel lor weapon type ; S 16, I 16, W 16, D 17 ,

C 16, Ch 10 ; AL CE ; chain m ail, ring ofprotection +1, d agger +3, footman 'sf lail ; spells : cure light w ounds (x 3) ,darkness, sanctuary, aid, hold perso n(x 3) , magic missile (x 2), shield, detectinvisibility, invisibility . He has a potio nof levitation and a scroll with two spell s

(at the 9th level of magic use) : Melt'sacid arrow and mirror image . Falliran iwears silk-lined robes (300 gp value), an

amethyst and silver neck pendant (val-ue 40 0 gp), and a gold ring set with a

tourmaline (value 200 gp) .

22 .Jackalweres. This bare chamber

smells slightly musky (10% chance per

PC of detecting this from outside) and i s

unlit . The three jackalweres (AC 4 ;

M V 12 " ; HD 4 ; hp 27, 13 (x 2) ; #AT 1 ;

Dmg 2-8 ; SA sleep gaze ; SD iron or + 1

or better weapon to hit ; AL CE) thatlair here are important to the clerica l

cult at certain religious rites, but ar eregarded a s unp redictable and danger-ous, and w ill not be pressed into guar dservice automatically. However, if th ejunior clerics (rooms 2 1, 26 , 29) ar ewarned by a b ugbear ( from area 19) o f

the PCs ' entry into this level, they dis-patch that bugbea r with instructions t oopen the door to this chamber . The jack-alweres promptly put the bugbear t osleep and eat him, then prowl around i nthe east-west corridor outside this room .

23.Ghast Chamber. Along the eas tand west w al ls are four tombs, open an d

empty ; the undead forms of their former

occupants guard this largely bare cham-

ber. Wall etchings and murals, mostl yfaded, bear a va riety of sigils which th eoriginal catacom b inha bitants bel ievedhastened the souls of the dead on theirjourney to the Ou ter Planes .

I f the PCs are in comb at with the fou rghasts (AC 4 ; MV 15" ; HD 4 ; hp 2 3(x 3), 11 ; #AT 3 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4/1-8 ; SAparalyzation, stench ; SD immune tosleep an d charm spells ; AL CE) in thi s

chamb er, the door leading to room 2 4

bursts open after 2-5 rounds of combat ,

and the NPC party (see individua ldescriptions) enters the cham ber, weap-ons at the ready. They spend one roun dfiguring out what is going on, obviousl ysurprised . They then aid the PCs with -out taking any unnecessary risks . After

the com bat is over, they he al thei rwounds (assume that their fighters an dcler ics are 10-50% down from m aximu mhit-point totals) and begin discussions .This is a good point for the PCs t o(guardedly) rest and recuperate .

24.Guard Chamber This room con-tains four pallet beds and two plain -topped tables with chairs . The NPCparty has killed the guards here (fou rbugbears and one junior cleric) . Th esecret door in the east wall was origi-nal ly trapped with a glyph of w arding ,

but the passage out is now clear . It lead s

up to a m agically concealed exit on th enorth side of the foothills, 200' away .

25.Worgs . This large chamber ismostly bare except for two large statue s

of huge wolves in the northeast an dnorthwest corners . The seven worg s(AC 6 ; MV 18" ; HD 4 +4 ; hp 28, 2 6

(x 2), 25, 24 (x 2), 22 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 2-8 ;

AL NE) that lair here are large speci-mens and very aggressive, but the yhave been trained to respond to simpl ehand signals given by the cleric s

(instructions such as "attack this crea-ture," " defend me against attack," an d

the l ike) . The worgs are sacred toSiinkinara an d are w el l treated by th eclerics ; they w ill fight to the last toprotect the clerics if so instructed .

The leader of the p ack is a chaotic -evil, animal-form werewolf (AC 5 ; M V15 " ; HD 4 + 3 ; hp 30 ; #AT 1; Dmg 2-8 ;

SA surprise on 1-3 ; bite causes lycan-thropy ; SD si lver or magical weapon t ohit ; AL CE), a savage creature tha tattempts to engage any P C cleric i nmelee .

Each of these eight creatures wears aleather col lar with bronze studs and a

2 4 Issue No . 8




silver pendant with an etched sigil ; thependants are each worth 10 gp .

26. Lifarian's Chamber This cham-

ber is unlit and decorated with macabr e

humor. Outlandish self-parodyin gscenes of triumphant evil are depicte d

on two wall tapestries (value 1 gp each )and three oil paintings hung on thewest wall (gilt frames worth a total of

2 4 0 g p ) . There are standard room fur-

nishings: table, chairs, footstool, uten-

sils on table, etc .

Lifarian, half-drow male : AC -1/2 ;

MV 12" ; F7/C7/MU7 ; hp 50 ; #AT 3/2 ;

Dmg by spell or weapon type ; S 17, I 16 ,W 16, D 17, C 17, Ch 15 ; AL CE ; drow-made elfin chain +3, long sw ord +2 ,

dagger +2; spells : command, cure ligh twounds (x 2), resist cold, sanctuary, aid ,

hold person, know alignment, resist fire ,

silence 15' radius, dispel magic, prayer,spell immunity (cast against hold per -

son), alarm, magic missile (x 2 ), shield ,

invisibility, Melt 's acid arrow , w izardlock, lightning bolt, Melt's minute mete -

ors, minor globe ofinvulnerability .

Lifarian can fight with two weapons ,

incurring no penalty on "to hit" roll s

with the long sword and a -2 penalty

with the dagger. He has several magicalitems: a dart of the hornets' nest whic hdivides into seven darts (each +3 to hit ,

Dm g 1-3/1-2 , can be used but once (non -

magical afterward), XP Value 500, gp

Value 4,000); potions of extra-healing(x2 ) ; a wand of negation (11 charges) ;

winged boots ; and, a scroll of thre espells (at 8th level of magic use) : detectinvisibility, w izard eye, and w izard lock .

Lifarian is a cynical, ambitious half -

elf who despises virtually everyone els ein Siinkinara 's cult but who has allied

himself with the other junior clericsagainst Haranian, hoping that in tim ehe will rise to Haranian 's position. He is

also a distant relative of Xintilla, thedrow envoy (area 37) . It was he who

alerted the drow to the goings-on here ,

hoping to acquire some credit in theeyes of powerful drow which might beuseful in the future . He is courageous ,

but if seriously injured in combat hemay seek to escape to level three of th edungeon, taking refuge with Xintilla .

27. Lifarian's Lair The door to thischamber (which is also unlit) is wizard

locked at the 7th level of ability. Thisbedroom contains a silk-covered be d

(covers worth 300 gp), a wardrobe wit hspare clothes (robes, boots, belts, etc . ;

total value 500 gp), a small table wit hornaments (marble snails, conches ,

three silver-banded crystal vials of

unholy water, and the like; total value300 gp), a commode, and a wizard

locked (7th level) coffer beneath the bed .Three hematite plaques are set int o

the top of the coffer (which is not physi-

cally trapped) . Unless these plaques ar edepressed in the correct order (right t o

left), the coffer, when touched, simpl ydisappears into the Ethereal Plane ,reappearing 24 hours later. The spellbooks of both Lifarian and Fallirani ar enormally kept in this coffer, but a care -

fully worded limited wish ensures thatPCs will not be able to obtain them. Thespell causes the books to disappear int othe Ethereal Plane for 24 hours if any -

one other than Lifarian opens the coffer .

The other items in the coffer are bag scontaining 150 pp, 350 gp and 550 sp ,

and a casket containing two gold ring s

with diverse gem settings (values 70 0

gp, 650 gp) . Clarissa's treasures (area

30) are within this coffer if the junior

clerics here received warning of th ePC s ' incursions from guards on the firs tdungeon level .

28 . Lounge . This cozy room is used byall the junior clerics on this level . Com-fortable chairs and a table bearing fin e

silver utensils, two silvered crystal

decanters (total value 650 gp), a chais elounge, and scatter cushions decorat e

this chamber. The southern door i s

w izard locked (7th level) .

29 . Clarissa's Chamber Althoug hthis room contains standard furnishings(including a bearskin rug worth 240 gp) ,

a great copper bowl filled with water

and set on a stout table dominates th e

chamber. The bowl is surrounded by 1 2

crystal vials (value 40 gp each) an dbundles of herbs, two blocks of incense ,

an oil burner, an unholy symbol of

Siinkinara, and similar implements .

Clarissa has been engaged in the manu -

facture of unholy water for the demon -

summoning ceremony .

Clarissa, human female : AC 1/4 ; MV

12 " ; C6 ; hp 38 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by spell or

weapon type ; S 16 , I 11 , W 16 , D 15 , C

16, Ch 11 ; AL CE ; chain mail +1 ,

shield +2, hammer +1 , quarterstaff;

spells : bless, curse, darkness, cause fear,

protection from good, aid, hold pers on ,

resist fire, silence 15' radius, spiritua l

hammer, continual darkness, dispe l

magic . She possesses a scroll of protec -

tion from electricity, and a second scro l lwith two spells (at 8th level of magicuse ) : animate dead and spell immunity(which she will cast against a magi c

missile spell). She wears a silver tiar a

set with moonstones (value 1,200 gp),silver earrings (value 40 gp), and match

ing silver bracelets (value 100 gp each)

30. Clarissa's Bedchamber . Thi s

room holds a notably luxurious bed wit

silk and fur covers (total value 1,10 0gp), a wardrobe with robes, blouses, etc

of silk and cotton (total value 400 gp), a

table with crystal vials and jars o f

unguents and perfumes (total value 30 0

gp), and a casket containing five divers

minor jewelry items (values 200 gp(x 3), 300 gp, 450 gp). Finally, there is awall-mounted (and very heavy) mirro r

with silver filigree edging (300 gp val-ue). If there is time, Clarissa may mov ethe more portable items of treasure toLifarian 's lair (see room 27).

31 . Great Chamber. The ce iling

height in this room is 20', so echoes areespecially loud here . Two great stonepillars, with sculptured wolves andwolverines upon them, support the roof

Wall and floor mosaics show scenes o f

Siinkinara's clerics commanding legion

of snarling wild beasts and groups o f

undead, pouring down hillsides toward

human settlements . The two room s

located through the east and west arch -

ways contain undead attendants whic hadvance and attack any who enter, sav efor clerics of Siinkinara or character s

accompanied by same .

Six ghouls (AC 6 ; MV 9" ; HD 2 ; hp 1 2

(x 2), 9 (x 2), 7 (x 2) ; #AT 3 ; Dmg 1-3/1-3 /

1-6 ; SA paralyzation ; SD immune t o sleepan d charm spells ; AL CE) hide in roo m

31A, and four ghasts (AC4 ; MV 15" ; Hd

4 ; hp 27, 15, 13, 9 ; #AT 3 ; Dmg 1-4/14/1-8SA paralyzation, stench ; S D im m une t o

sleep an d charm spells ; AL CE) lurk in3 1 B , eager for warm, living prey .

The height of the archways is 8', an d

the ceiling is 12' high in the side cham-

bers. The main chamber is dimly lit by

two small lamps burning along th enorth wall, but two great oil-burning

braziers stand against each of the east

and west walls to either side of th earchways, with four vials of oil and si x

torches on wall shelves beside eachbrazier

32 . Bodyguard . This antechamber i s

mostly bare, containing but two chair s

DUNGEON 25



I N D E F E N S E O F T H E L AW

and a table located before the northdoor. It is occupied by Shirek, Hara-nian's brutal bodyguard, a massive an d

ous hal f-orc m ercenary . He is pai d

l lowed to exe-ial victims, so h e is ha pp y. Shirek has a special hatre d

e' hatred of Haranian .

irek will, i f possible, focus me le e

. The,

e in turn alerts Haranian (area 34 )

itable defensive an dng spel ls b efore th e

. The ha lf-or c

oil of sharpness on his sword s

.

Shirek, half-orc male : AC -1/1 ; M V

; F7 ; hp 80 ; NAT 3/2 ; Dmg by weapo n; S 18/70, I 8, W 8, D 16, C 18, Ch 7 ;; full plate armor, basta rd sword ,

oil of sharpness +3

. Shirek prefers the bastardd

. He possesses a periaptand a scroll

protection from paralyzation, whichmediately before engaging

.

33. Shirek's C hamber. This small; a tabl e

s

; a med ium-sized firkin o f; and, a coffer (with a poiso n

; save vs . poison or die) contain-s accum ulated wages (12 0

.

34.Haranian's Quarters . Decorate dly by i ts

y repellent . Hanging above Hara-f

gp) in the northeast corne r

,

l ls by silver chain s

ue 30 0 gp each) . A badly stuffe d

lding a p ewter tray oft in the n orthwest corner ,

southwest corner contains aoccupant (absurdl y

. Close by the bed is a ward -using a collection of very brigh t

ee

ue 70 0 gp) . Shelves an d

paperweight, waste b aske t,

c .) . After some searching, silver uten -

sils, filigree-decorated quills, and th e

l ike can be gathered (total value 30 0

gp) . There is no chest or coffer; Hara-nian keeps his treasure on his person in

the form of jewelry.

Haranian, human male : AC -3/-1 ;

M V 9 " ; C 9 ; hp 70 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg by spel lor weapon type ; S 18, I 9, W 16 , D 16, C17, Ch 12 ; AL CE ; full plate armor +1 ,

ring of protection +1, footman 's mace

+1; spells : bless, command, detect good

detect magic, cause fear, resist cold,

detect charm, detect life, hold person ,

resist fire, silence 15' radius, withdraw ,animate dead, continual darkness, dis-

pel magic, detect lie, poison, flame strike .

He possesses a ring of mind shielding,three beads of force, one potion each ofextra-healing an d invisibility, an d a

scroll of three spells (at 9th level o fmagic use): dispel good, protection fro m

good, an d true seeing . He wears a hugegold neckchain (value 1,200 gp), thre egold r ings with diverse gem setting s

(values 715 gp, 450 gp , 400 gp), a soli d

platinum bracelet (value 240 gp), and abelt pouch with eight assorted gem s(values 500 gp (x 2) , 100 gp (x 5) , 50 gp) .

Haranian is large (6'3", 245 lbs .) and

is an arrogant bully . He is the perfectsecond-in-command for S iobhana (leve l

three) — too dumb to ask awkwar d

questions or be a threat to her, bu tstrong enough to keep h is place an d

bully subordinates into submission . IfHaranian cannot reach level three an draise the alarm, he will f ight to th edeath here — and will probably enjoy it .

Dungeon Level Three

This level is dangerous indeed . Thereare two powerful enemies here, and o nthe day of the new moon there will be athird — a sum moned demon . If Lifaria nescaped to this level from level two ,

Siobhana wi ll summon the dem on Ki -Baaz, on the morning of the game da y

after Lifarian's retrea t, even if this da y

is not the day of the new m oon . Threat-ened by the attack of a strong PC party ,

Siobhana has no other choice.

If Lifarian did not esca pe from leve l

two, the DM m ay wish to delay the PC s

unti l the day of the n ew moon . Some (or

even al l ) of the NPC party m ember s

may decide that they can r isk attacking

the PCs . Keep in mind that Xavandra ,

the NPC magic-user, and E ldoriel, th eNPC thief , have high regard for thei r

personal safety, and that Suzerean, th e

NPC cleric, wishes to overcome the

chaotics above everything else . It i s

l ikely that i f any ser ious dam age i s

suffered by mem bers of the NPC party ,

there may b e defections from thei r

ranks or a determined attempt at peace -making by Suzerean . Combat with th eNPC party might not decimate the PCs ,

but it can be used to delay them and se tthem up for further bargaining, role -playing, and ultimatum s .

I t may be that the PC s have alread ydealt with the NPC party by exp el lin gthe evil adventurers or forcing them t oleave, and may have recruited one o r

both of the neutral NPCs . If this hashappened, Suzerean the cleric suggest swaiting unti l the day of the new m oo nto attack the third dun geon level . Sh e

cautions that if the problem is to b e

dealt with finally, it ma y we ll be tha tthe demon will have to be encountere d

and overcome, and that any othe r

course of action may on ly delay th echaotics . She will, of course, stress tha tresting for a time will permit physica lrecovery, the casting of information -gathering spells, and so on .

I f the PCs, with som e help from th e

NPC party, attack level three before th edemon arr ives, the f inal combat ma ynot b e terribly difficult for them . Hence ,greater enjoyment of a closer comba tmay be h ad i f the demon is present .

However, if the occupan ts of level thre e

have not been warned of an invadin gforce and the PCs have m ade very goo d

t ime, the DM should al low them t oenjoy their good fortune .

Alternatively, it is possible that th e

PCs have been so slow that the night o fthe new m oon passes before they reachlevel three . If this happens, the demonand Xinti l la the drow have dep arted, ashas Siobhana (in gaseous form, he r

treasure buried somewhere outside) .

Only the mindless undead guard s

remain (together with an y lucklessrefugees from level two) . The Orb ofLaw has been destroyed (see area 43) ,

and th e PCs' mission has failed .The steps leading down to this leve l

from level two descend 40' over a 160 '

distance, but the guards in area 3 5 d onot respond to arm or clanking dow nthem or to any other noise ; they onlyrespond to entry into room 35 .

35.Monster Zombies . In this barechamber, four monster (bugbear) zom-bies stand guard (AC 6 ; MV 9" ; HD 6 ;

hp 30 , 29, 28, 25 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg 4-16 ; S Dl imited spell immunity, half damag e

2 6 I s s u e N o . 8




DUNGEON LEVEL 3

1 square = 10' 4 4

f rom blunt weapons ; AL N) . They wer ecreated by S iobhana with her animat e

dead monsters spell . One zombie hold s

the rope of a great brass bell f ixed to th eceiling . In the event that anyone othe r

than a cleric of Siinkinara (or accompa-nied by same) enters from the east door ,the m onster zombie at once r ings th e

bell . If the occupa nts of this level hav ebeen wa rned of the PCs' presence, th ezom bie r ings the bel l i f anyone enters .

The noise m ade by the bel l is deafen-in g . Al l within 150 ' can hear i t, an danyone present within the chambe rwhen i t is rung m ust save vs . spells o rbe unable to cast spells for 2-5 rounds .

The zom bie rings the bell for just on e

round, then joins its fellows in mindless-ly attacking the intruders . The rope can

be severed i f it receives 10 hp d amage ,

causing the bell to drop on the zom bi eand destroy it .

36.Troll Guard . This room is undec-orated and malodorous, dark, and utter-ly filthy. The huge troll (AC 4 ; MV 12" ;

HD 6+6 ; hp 40 ; NAT 3 ; Dmg 5 -8/5-8/2 -1 2 ; SA attacks multiple opponents ; S Dregenerat ion ; AL CE) that l ives her ewas captured in the hills by the hil l

giant and bugbears ( level two), wh owere able to beat him unconscious andbind him . Siobhana decided not to sacri-f ice the troll by fire but to u se it as a nextra guard .

The very few visi tors here are usua l lyshown to Siobhana's quarters (room 41 )by the trol l , who gives them mea ningfu l

glances as it l icks its l ips en rou te .

Siobhana has found that this intimida-t ion helps her to get what she w ants innegotiations . Xinti lla the drow repre-sentative, for one, was intimidated b ythe huge hum anoid . The trol l is g ive ntreasure (and an occasional bugbear) tokeep it happy, and — being sm arte r

than th e average trol l — i t accepts it s

lo t . It attacks at once upon hearing th esound of combat from area 35, but i freduced to 8 hp or less, it attempts to

f lee east u p the stairs to level two a n dthe outside world beyond .

Amon g the f i lth on the f loor can b efound 145 gp, 420 sp, 76 0 cp, and tw ogems (values 200 gp, 100 gp) . There isalso a gold bracelet (worth 160 gp )

around the wrist of a partial ly eate nbugbear .

37.Drow Envoy Xinti lla has bee n

here only a week . He is an old acquaint-

ance of Siobhana (room 41) and was

warned of what was going on here b y

Lifarian (room 26) . He is here as anunofficial representative of the d row ,

who are not displeased with the activi-ties of Siobhan a 's group but want mor einformation . He and Siobhana ar e

friendly but a little wary of each other .

Xintilla 's chamber is m odestly fur-nished with a cotton-covered bed, awardrobe holding spare garments, a

table and chairs, two cotton wall -hangings depicting desolate landscapes ,

and the l ike . Minor ornamentation andsilver utensils (total value 200 gp) ca nbe garnered after searching .

Xintilla, drow male : AC -3/1 ; MV

12" ; F6/MU11 ; hp 38 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg byspell or weapon type ; S 11, I 17, W 9, D

18, C 15, Ch 10 ; AL CE ; drow-mad echain mail +4, short sword +3, tw ojavelins +3; spells : charm person,

grease, magic missile, read magic, con-

tinual darkness, detect invisibility, invis-

ibility, stinking cloud, dispel magic, fly,

phantasmal force, protection from nor-

mal missiles, ice storm, minor globe of

invulnerability, wall offire, feeblemind,

hold monster, teleport . The two javelins

+3 are tipped w ith paralyzing veno m

(save vs . poison at -1 negates effects)

that lasts for 3-30 rou nds .

Xintilla has a ring of shocking grasp

(7-14 hp damage by touch), a w an d of

magic missiles (10 charges), and tw oscrolls (at 11th leve l o f magic use) . Thefirst contains Melt's minute meteors andsepia snake sigil; the second has teleport

and detect illusion . His pack holds twosmall traveling spell books which con-tain all of his listed spells plus 2 -8 oth-ers (randomly chosen) . Xint i ll a wears afine platinum and opal neckchain (valu e3,000 gp), a gold and sapphire rin g

(value 4 ,000 gp), and fine s i lk robeswith si lver embroidery (value 1,600 gp) .

In one belt pouch, he has five gems (10 0gp each) and a silver ring with a smal l

diamond (value 2,100 gp) ; in a second

pouch he has four sm all via ls of analkaloid drug (colorless and odorless )

which causes nausea (half norma l

strength for 5-8 hours) if ingested b yanyone not hab ituated to the drug 'seffects. Xintil la is add icted to this drug .

It has affected his m etabolism so tha this magic resistance is only half norma l

(now 25%) . The d rug will affect him i nworse ways in time, but this is its onl yeffect to date .

If Xintil la is warn ed or h ears th e

DUNGEON 27




sound of the bell from room 35, he fleesat once to room 43, alerting Siobhan a(room 41) en route . If trapped within

this chamber, he will teleport to area 43

(which he has studied very closely) .

38.Great Chapel . This chamber isvast and forbidding, with a ceiling

height of 30' . Wall frescoes and murals ,tapestries and hangings portray scenesof chaos in nature : volcanoes, tidal

waves, savage electrical storms, herd s

of marauding wild beasts . A massivealtar set before the east wall i s

engraved with similar scenes and mor eabstract sigils and arabesques . Two

r

,

l

,-

. A row of 12 black cotton0

h. Large pews are arranged at irreg-

. Evi l

e

Orb ofLaw. A success-exorcism effectively destroys the

r

wish can be used to

.

39. Secret Chamber The secret door

a glyph of warding that inflicts 2 0

e

. spells for half damage).

r

a

. This is one of Siobhana' s

.

's: a silver tiara se t

k

pendan th0

in g.

40 . Vampire Coffins. Each of thes e

la

r

. The doorways have been,

bend bars/lift gates roll t o

,

" in diameter waseach doorway

gaseous

form, could travel in an emergency .

Siobhana will use these rooms as neces-

sary if attacked and unable to escape in

any other manner .

41 . Siobhana's Chamber This roomcontains standard furnishings and fit-

tings but is only very dimly lit . Th ewall hangings are of unusually finequality (value 900 gp, but bulky). Thereis no bed and no mirror. A bearskin rug

(worth 200 gp) and a patchwork quilt of

great cat furs (value 700 gp) lend an ai r

of barbaric splendor to the room . Thereis a collection of silver and crystal gob -

lets (eight pieces, total value 1,000 gp )on a silver tray (value 120 gp), and a

(nonmagical) crystal ball on a silver

base, held by silver claws with tigerey e

and topaz settings (value 1,200 gp) .Siobhana (p ronounced shu-vah-nuh ) ,

female vampire : AC -1 MV 12"/18" ;

C10; HD 8+3 ; hp 50 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg 5-1 0

or by weapon or spell type; SA energydrain, charm gaze ; SD magical weapo nto hit ; immune to sleep, charm, hold

spells, poison and paralyzation ; halfdamage from cold and electricity ; save sas 10th-level cleric ; W 18, D 17 for

saving-throw purposes; AL CE ; cloak of

displacement; spells : darkness (x 4 ) ,detect good, detect magic, hold perso n(x2 ), know alignment, silence 15' radiu s(x2 ), withdraw, animate dead, contin-

ual darkness, dispel magic, glyph of

warding, detect lie, cloak of fear, poison,protection from good 10' radius, animate

dead monsters, slay living .

Siobhana possesses three scrolls o f

spells (all at 10th level of magic use) .

Scroll 1 has continual darkness (X 2 ) .

Scroll 2 has dispel good and true seeing .

Scroll 3 has flame strike and magic font .

For scrying purposes with the magic

font spell, assume that Siobhana i s

familiar with all areas occupied by her

clerics . She wears fine, flowing violet

robes of silk with ermine trim (valu e

2,000 gp) and magnificent silver an dmoonstone necklace, earrings, and

bracelets (total value 4,000 gp) .

Siobhana is the commander of th e

entire catacombs and is a ruthless ,

ingenious, and fast-thinking enemy . Shewill most certainly fight until destroye d

and will make her last stand in area 4 3

with the guards (and Xintilla and Ki -

Baaz, if summoned). For her tactics in

combat, see area 43 .

42 . Antechamber Attached to th e

door inside this room are two ropes

connected to huge bells . Any creatur eentering automatically announces itspresence. This "doorbell" is not a trapand cannot be detected by a find trapsspell or a thief's find traps skill .

This chamber is quite bare, save for a

trestle table along the east wall ,

although wall and floor mosaics o f

abstract design cover every flat surface

43 . Chamber of the Orb . This vas t

chamber has a ceiling height of 35' an d

has been cunningly constructed . Th egreat landing area at the south end ofthe chamber is 20' above ground level ,

and the only ways to reach it are b y

using the stairs or by a spell such as fly(a thief using his climb walls ability is

in for a nasty surprise — see below) .

Two great, hemispherical, marble pil-lars stand in the middle of the southwall, each 5' wide and set into the wall

There is a 10' gap between them . Thepillars are carved with many runes an d

sigils of an extinct chaotic cult .

Between the pillars, motionless inmid-air, floats a bronze sphere abou t10 " in diameter. This is the Orb of Law

(see description at end of module), and i

is protected by a wall offorce thatstretches between the pillars and can -

not be dispelled (by the PCs, at any

rate) . Both the wall of force and the Or

can be assumed to be immune to magi -cal damage in the context of PC 'sactions here (except for obvious spellslike disintegrate) .

The defense of this chamber has beencarefully planned. At the bottom of each

10'-wide sta ircase stands a monste r

(bugbear) zombie guard (see room 35 for

statistics), able to block the bottom of th

stairs. If Xintilla is here, he uses hi s

grease spell to make running up one se tof stairs (determine randomly) extremel

hazardous. Further, the entire shaded

area of the main ground section (seeDungeon Level 3 map) is a covered pit ,

20' deep and filled with spikes. Anyonefalling into the pit takes 3-18 hp fallin g

damage and is impaled on 0-5 (ld6 -1)

spikes, each of which inflicts a further 1

4 hp damage . If a character is impaled

on four or more spikes, he is unable t o

escape without aid . Since the main illu-

mination in this chamber comes from

two large, oil-burning lamps at the top o

the stairs, the shadows cast by the pro-jecting landing area make it difficult to

see the covered pit for what it is (hal f

normal scores for nonmagical trap detec

tion abilities) .

28 Issue No . 8




I f mechanical means, a thief usin gclimb walls, or a PC w ith gauntlets of

swimming and climbing, are used toclimb the 20 ' sheer face of the projectin g

landing area, an unpleasant surprise i s

in store . As soon as the wall is touched,

the stones imm ediately below those a tthe top of the wall project outwards ,

expel ling an organic acid wh ich shower s

over al l below an d within 5 ' of the wa l l ,

causing 1-6 hp damage per round an dmaking the wal l s lippery and u ncl imb -able . The acid gushes forth for one tur nafter the trap is activated, but doe s no tadhere to characters after a round o fcontact i f they m ove away from the are a

into which acid is pouring .

There is a further mechanical protect-ive device here . At the points on th e

map marked b y arrows, there are cylin-drical holes in the stones at the top o f

the wa l l . When the lever at the poin tmarke d X is pulled, a spear is shot fro meach hole, str iking as a 6 H D m onster

for 1-8 hp dam age . Each spear wil l

strike medium -size characters in its l in e

of f light within 15 ' of the northern w al l

of the cham ber. After discharging si xspears, the lever must be pulled agai nin the fol lowing round to recharge the

device, so tha t the effective fire rate is avolley of six spears once per two round s .

After firing a total of 18 sp ears, ther eare none remaining in the device . Athird monster zombie mindlessly oper-ates the lever until commanded to stopby one of the chaotics .

If the demon has been summoned, h eis within this chamb er . The demon is a

terr ifying op ponen t : a marquis cambion .

Ki-Baaz, marquis cambion w it habilities of a 14th-level cleric : AC -2 ;

MV 15" ; C14 ; HD 14 ; hp 96 ; #AT 2 ;

Dm g by spell or weapon type ; S 18(97), I17, W 17 , D 18, C 17, Ch 16 ; S A caus e

fear; SD polymorph self, AL CE ; bastard

sword +2; spells : curse, darkness (x 3) ,

detect good, penetrate disguise, protec-

tion from good, sanctuary, aid, hol d

person (x 5) , know alignment, silence 15 '

radius, animate dead, continual dark-

ness (x 2), dispel magic (x2) , praye r

(x 2), cloak of fear, cure serious wounds ,

poison (x 2), spell immunity (castagainst magic missiles), dispel good ,

flame strike, true seeing, harm, heal .

Ki-Baaz ca rries a large silver an dbone scroll holder set with gems (tota l

value 3,000 gp) which contains a scrol l

with the lengthy and complex recitation

necessary for the destruction of the Orb.

The demon also carries pouches of mate-rial components to aid in working th espell : vials of spectre dust, opaqu eichors, etc . ) . He wears a resplenden tplatinum neckchain with a diamon d

pendant (value 6,300 gp) and gold brac-ers set with jaspers and citrines (tota l

value 2,25 0 gp), as befits his positio nwithin the dem onic hierarchy .

The chaotic forces (Siobhana, Xintil la ,

and p ossibly Ki-Baaz and Lifarian) wil l

be spread out across the landing are awhen the PCs arr ive . The monster zom-bie atop the landing wi ll be comm ande dto pull the lever to activate the spea r

trap . The DM will need to keep a care-ful check on w hich preparatory defen-sive and information-gathering spel lshave been cast by the chaotics ; t ime -keeping is crucial for this combat .

The chaotics are smart ; they fire off a

barrage of their more p owerful spellsinitially, attacking any obvious spell -

casters among their enemies and dis-rupting the con centration of clericsattempting to turn the m onster zom-bies. They then keep back one or two o ftheir most p owerful spells for late r

magical combat, partly for self -

DUNGEON 29



IN DEFENS E OF THE LA W

protection and partly to attempt to dup e

their enemies into believing that their

"bolt has been shot "

However, not all the chaotics wil l. Ki-Baaz wishes to

avoid the ignominy of being destroyedon the Prime Material Plane at al l

costs . If reduced to 15 hp or below, h eattempts to teleport back to the Abyss .

Xintilla, likewise, attempts to teleport

e

n

r

. Lifarian fights to the death if

s

.

o

. If reduced to a

escape inreforming to summon rats

n.

This combat is very challenging . If

d

smay

-

. If this is the case, you ma y

lf

l

a raise dead spell, or even a ring of

if a character cannot be raised .

e

.

It may be that, after an initial round

combat here, a number of

no

. If they flee, the chaotics pursueattack (unless the PC s

. The cha-e

e. The chaotics

n.

44 . Concealed Treasure . The secret

as

. The door is protected by

glyph of warding (20 hp cold damage ,

. spells for half damage) .

The cubicle contains a locked chest

t; the next one to

t

. Inside the chest are the followin g

: a sack with 2,200 gp ; a bag of 480

pp ; a diamond-and-silver brooch (valu e6 ,500 gp ) ; a casket containing two se a

horses sculpted in jade (1,000 gp each) ; a

black wooden mace with platinum band-

ing and moonstone settings (radiate s

evil faintly but is harmless, value 60 0gp); and, a set of silver scales used for

weighing material components for

spells (but the scales are so accurat e

that an alchemist would pay 1,200 gp

for the set) .

A secret bottom in the chest hides a

spectacular gold-and-platinum chain se twith emeralds (value 24,000 gp). Bu tthis item is cursed so that the first per-

son to touch it must save vs. spells at —

4 or lose 1-4 points from his prim eattribute score. If the character has no

such score, or more than one, determinerandomly which ability is affected .

Remove curse cast upon the item or th evictim (as against 14th level of magicuse) negates the effect . I f cast on a char-acter, only one such application of th e

spell may be attempted. If the first spel l

fails, only a full wish or an alter reality

spell can undo the baneful effect . Dispel

magic may affect only the item, but th e

spell is weaker than remove curse. Incasting it against the 14th level of mag-

ic use, the spell-caster should be treate d

as three levels lower than actual level .

Any individual spell-caster ma y

attempt the use of dispel magic on l y

once ; subsequent attempts automati -cally fail .

Concluding the Adventur e

If the PCs have been successful and

overcome the chaotic forces, they may

nonetheless wonder whether the y

should do something about the Orb . If

they are concerned about this, you ma y

wish to have the Or b communicate

using empathy with a lawful character

(lawful-neutral preferred) . The Or b

relates that, with the decimation of th echaotic clerics, its safety is secured an d

there is nothing more the PCs need do .

When the successful PCs return t o

Ranaan, the townsfolk and Maralan are

delighted at their efforts and hold a

feast night for them . Maralan offers th e

mayor's mace as reward . If the PC s

decline the mace (after all, they may

have taken a fair amount of treasur efrom the dungeon, and it is obvious that

Ranaan is not a rich community), awardthem the experience point value of themace as monetary treasure, with a

bonus if such behavior fits with align-

ment, personality, or convictions (good -

aligned PCs might well wish not to tak ethe mace, and a lawful-neutral charac-

ter might feel it wrong to take a symbo lof authority as reward, for example) .

If the PCs are defeated, they may beforced to retreat and be unable to pre -

vent the chaotic forces from destroyin gthe Orb. If this happens, the PCs willnot, of course, receive the mayor ' s mac eas reward for their efforts, and whil e

Maralan and the townspeople than k

them for doing what they could (shouldthe PCs return to Ranaan), they are coo l

toward the PCs unless it is clear thatthe adventurers have suffered seriou s

losses in attempting to overcome thechaot ics . Maralan expresses fears for

the future, and states his intention o f

traveling himself to recruit furtherhelp . It is understood that the PC s

should travel on their way before long .

You may wish to use this adventure as

a springboard for setting up others ifthis suits your campaign. For example ,

if Xintilla the drow escaped, it is possi-

ble that informed drow might investi-

gate the catacombs with an explorator y

force at some later time .

If the party has fought Ki-Baaz and h ewas forced to flee, his hurt pride canmake him a dangerous nemesis for any

PC group . He has powerful friends an d

several vassals . Even if the demon ha s

been slain, you may wish to considerthat he has only been destroyed i nmaterial form . Although only demons of

Type V status or higher are able to

return to the Abyss after such a fat e

and reform a material body on th ePrime Material at a later time, Ki -

Baaz's powers are great. He is as formi-

dable an opponent as a Type V demon ,

so you may wish to consider the possi-

bility of his return . Of course, unde r

such circumstances, he will certainly

wish to exact full revenge for his defeat .

Finally, if members of the NPC party

have been expelled by the PCs, over -

come in combat and forced to flee, etc. ,they too may seek revenge. They might

try to ambush a weakened PC party a s

it emerges from the catacombs, or the y

may seek to gain allies from other com-

munities in your campaign to persecut ethe PCs .

And if the PCs wish to borrow or stea l

the Orb . . . they are fooling with powersgreater than they, and the gods them -

selves might become interested — per-

haps the worst fate of all, if properl y

handled .

3 0 I s s u e N o . 8




The Orb of Law

The powers of the Orb of Law are usabl eonly by a lawfully aligned creature ,

with an intelligence of 9 or higher, who

grasps the Orb . Any chaotic creaturetouching the Orb susta ins 6 -36 h p co l ddamage and is paralyzed for 6-36 rounds(no saving throw, no magic resistance) .

Neutral creatures take half damage an dhalf-duration paralysis from touching

the Orb (no saving throw, as above) .

A lawfully aligned wielder of th eOrb has an effective charisma of 1 8

when dealing with lawful creatures an dreceives the benefits of a -2 armo r

class bonus and a +2 bonus to all sav-

ing throws against attacks from chaoticopponents .

No creature native to the Outer

Planes of chaotic alignments (Olympus ,Limbo, the Abyss, etc .) can approach

within 10' of the Orb-wielder. No savingthrow is granted here, but magic resist-

ance does apply if the creature is a tleast a greater demon or of equivalen tstatus . Check magic resistance against

18th-level magic use for the Orb .

The Orb-wielder may attempt to dis-

pel any elemental within 60', up to amaximum of four elementals per day .

The elemental is permitted a savingthrow vs . wands to avoid returning atonce to its native plane . Only one suchattempted dispelling is possible for an yindividual elemental . It is this power ,

magnified and extended by special

enchantments placed around the Orb ,

which makes this artifact so potent a

protective device .

The following powers are available tothe Orb-wielder (once per day each, one

per round) : beguiling an d rulership (a sthe rods, effective on nonchaotic crea -

tures only), and fear and paralyzatio n(as the wands, effective on chaotic crea-

tures only ; save at -2 against theseeffects).

The Orb can communicate by empathy

within a 60'-range, but only with law -

fully aligned creatures .

The Orb also possesses und ef inedpowers w hich al low i t to coun teract th eforces of Chaos in al l i ts forms . Rather

than speci fy what these po wers are, th eDM should be pr epared t o improv ise the i ruse and app earance, as appropriate wi th -in the campaign . For instance , a PC ho ld -

ing the Orb in the direction of a

chaotic-evil wizard might suddenly seethe wizard struck by a burst of magicmissiles, or see the pow ers o f one o f th ewizard's favorite evil devices neutralized .

This " undef ined" power is what protect s

the local region from the chaotic banesplaced underground .

Catacombs R andom Encounters Table

1d20 Monster AC MV HD hp #AT Dm g SA

1 Ettin 3 12 " 10 62 2 2-16/3-18 Non e

2 Ghouls (8) 6 9" 2 11 (x4 ) , 3 1 - 3 / 1 - 3 / 1 - 6 Paralyzatio n9(x4)

3 Gray Oozes (2) 8 1" 3+3 22, 15 1 2 - 1 6 Corrosio n

4 Subterranean Lizard 5 12 " 6 19, 34 1 2 - 1 2 Double dmg . on 2 0

5 Ogres (8) 5 9" 4+1 14(x3),19 1 1-10 or by Non e

(x3),20(x2) weapon6 Roper 0 3" 10 44 1 5-20 Poison strand s

7 Ochre Jellies (2) 8 3" 6 37, 27 1 3-12 None

8 Shadows (7) 7 12 " 3+3 21,16(x3), 1 2 - 5 Strength drai n

18(x3 )

9 Troll 4 12 " 6+6 44 3 5 - 8 / 5 - 8 / 2 - 1 2 3 opponents at onc e

10 Umber Hu lk 2 6" 8+8 47 3 3 - 1 2 / 3 - 1 2 / 2 - 1 0 Confusion ga z e

11 Xorn -2 7+7 42 4 1-3 (x 3)/6-24 Surprise 5 in 6

12 Grell 4 12 " 5 22 1 1 1-6/1-4 (x 10) Paralyzatio n

13 Sons of Kyuss (2) 10 9" 4 27, 16 1 1 - 8 Disease, worm s

14 Gibbering Mouther 1 3"/6" 4+3 26 6 + 1 (x 6) plu s1/round

Spit, confusion

15 Mustard Jel ly 4 9" 7 + 14 45 1 or 2 5-20 or 2-8/2-8 Toxic gas slows ,divides in tw o

16 Margoyles (2) 2 6"/12" 6 21, 36 4 1 - 6 / 1 - 6 / 2 - 8 / 2 - 8 80% surpris e

17 Giant Pedipalp 2 6 " 4+4 20 3 1 - 8 / 1 - 8 / 2 - 8 Toxic gas, grip

18 Rock Rep ti les (2 ) 3 6 " 5+6 21, 32 1 7-10 Surprise on 1- 3

19 Storoper 0 1" 6 30 1 1 - 1 0 6 poison strand s

20 Tunnel Worm 4 6" 9+3 40 1 2-16 +2 to hit on lunge ,eats armor

SD AL

Surprised only on 1 C ESleep, charm CEimmunityHeat, cold, spell Nimmunitie sNone NNone C E

Immu ne to electric ity, C Ehalf damage from col dLightning immunity N

Sleep, charm, hold C Eimmunity ; magic tohit ; camouflag eRegeneration ; fire or C Eacid to kil lNone C EImmune to cold, fire ; Nelectricity causes h alfor no damage ; phas e

ex i t

Lightning immunity NERegeneration ; fire, CEacid, holy water tokill ; fear to 30 '

Controls ground Ndensity 5 ' radiu sMagic to hit ; magic N

missile and electric itycause growthCamouf lage ; magic to C EhitNone N

Chameleon powers NImmune to normal C EmissilesNone N

DUNGEON 3 1




N PC PartyManstrin7th-level f ighterHuman ma l e

AC : -1/1 (plate mail +1, large shield )MV: 9 "hp : 6 3

S : 1 7I : 9 (speaks Com mon , orcish, lawful -

evil): 9

D : 1 6

C : 1 7: 1 2

o : 1 2: Lawful-evil

: long sword +2 (#AT 3/2) ,(#AT 3/2 in melee only),

.

: ring of fre e

; potions of polymorph self, extra -

; vial of oil of etherealness .

: gold ea rring in left ear (30) ; s i lver charm b racelet (60 gp) ; sil-

; belt pouch.

a

d cruel man, g iving no qu arte r

. He is intensely loya l tohis orders with -

. He will fight to the deat hdriasin, but i f the cleric is

n and the other NPCs a re disorgan-i l l try to escap e

oil of etherealness . He is par-f

f

half-elves gen eral ly .

Dungedan Stoneheart

7th-level fighte r

Mountain dwarf mal e

AC : 0 / 2 (dw arven plate mail +1, smal lshield +1 )

MV: 9 "

hp : 5 8S : 18(27)

I: 7 (speaks Common, dwarvish, gnome ,

goblin, kobold, orcish, lawful-neutral )W 1 4

D : 1 4C : 1 6

Ch: 9 (10 to dwarves )C o : 7

AL : Lawful-neutra l

Weapons : short sword +2 (#AT 3/2) ,

throw ing axe +1 (#AT 1) .

Other magical items : potions of invisi-bility an d f lying .

Other items : belt pouches (four) wit h140 gp, 61 pp, four zircons and tw omoonstones (50 gp each) ; two silverrings with spinel settings (600 gp, 40 0gp ) ; and a gold b racelet with a peridot(600 gp) .

Dungedan is a mercenary, hired byKandriasin . However, now that h eknows tha t Law is threatened, he i s

eager to see the adventure through . H eis intensely loyal and will not desert hi s

colleagues under an y circumstan ce sunless betrayed . But if he is not fairlyand honestly treated, he wi l l attac kwith utter ferocity those w ho betraye dhim . If such a (real or planned) betraya lcan be demonstrated to him, he wil lcertainly join an y other group of pre -dom inantly lawful al ignm ent . He ha s

respect for Man strin and shares th e

human f ighter 's dislike for elves an dhalf-elves. He is slow to think and mak edecisions, but he is not stupid . Hisgreatest weakness is his legendarymeanness, hence his proudly adopte dsurname . He is not, however, bribable .

Kandriasin7th -level cleri c

Human ma l e

AC : 0 (plate mail +1, cloak ofdisplacement)

MV: 9 "

hp: 3 8

S : 1 6I : 15 (speaks Common, dwarvish, orcish

lawful-evil )

W : 1 6

D : 1 1

C : 1 5Ch : 1 7Co : 1 7

AL : Lawful-evi l

Weapons : footman 's mace +2 (#AT 1) ,

staff-sling (#AT 1/2 ) .

Spells : curse, darkness, d etect good ,

resist cold, sanctuary, aid, hold perso n(X 2) , know alignment, silence 15 ' radi-us , continual darkness, dispel magic ,

poison .

Other magical items : amulet of proofagainst detection and location ; potions ofinvisibility an d speed; scroll of protectionfrom magical edged weapons ; scroll ofthree spells (at 12th level) : dispel magic ,

heal, negative plane protection .

Other items : pouch with 30 pp, 15 gp ,

three bloodstones (50 gp e ach), and on eaquamarine (500 gp) ; gold ring withgarnet (140 gp) ; ivory comb (15 gp) .

Kandriasin worships a d eity who glor i-fies rulership through guile and excel-lence of inte llect . He is adept a tappearing mediocre (sometimes affect-ing a slight l imp), but h e is fast-witte dand resourceful . He is highly persua-sive, cultured, and urbane, emphasizing

his words w ith graceful gestures an dusing his exceptional charisma to th ehilt . He is a gifted tactician and alway sminimizes r isks to h imsel f .

Kand riasin wil l certainly wish to ki l lgood-al igned PC s, by (1) attacking th ePCs outright; (2) ta lking the PCs int otaking the m ost dangerous actions t oweaken them , then attacking ; or (3 )cooperating to overcome the chaoti c

forces, then attacking the PCs .

Kandriasin needs time to assess th ePCs, time to prove to h is neutral associ-ates that the PC s should b e ki l led, an dt ime to plan his attack . He may eve ntry to swing PCs who a re not of goo dal ignmen t to his side, although th i s

could be risky .

3 2 I s su e N o . 8



IN DEFENSE OF THE LA W

n

ce

: 0 / 1 (chain mail +2, ring of protec-tion +2)

: 1 2 ": 4 6

: 1 3

: 13 (speaks Comm on, lawful-neutral): 1 7

: 1 5: 1 5

: 1 3

o : 1 3

: Lawful-neutra l

: footman 's flail +2 (#AT 1) ,1 )

: bless, cure light w ounds (x3) ,

-

alignment, silence 15' radius ,

(x 2), pray-.

: necklace of adap-of curing (7 charges), potio n

levitation .

: si lver neck ch ain wit hd peridot settings (550 gp) ;

ver earrings with jet inlays (20 0 gp ) ;

l l silver bracelet (45 gp) ; belt pouch

gp, 20 sp , two small gold r ing schrysoberyl (100 gp) .

worships a d eity of self-on, and inner strength .

is a disciplined and resi lient woma n

. It is difficult to preve nt he r fro m

ng to ki l l any su ch chao ti c

. Her lawful ethics, howe ver ,

ly to lawfully or neutrallyned creatures (and the latter ar e

. She feels agreements mad es m ay be b roken i f desired .

Suzerean is comp letely indif ferent t oevi l, and solely concerned wit h

r

. She respects Kandriasin fo r

ent judgm ent and guilefulness ,

i ll do whatever m aximizes th e

. She wil l

es with the PC s tochaotics but wil l be read y

n her view, i f cooperat ion becom e s

.

Eldorie l9th-level thiefHalf-elf female

AC : 1 / 5 ( leather armor +3 )

MV: 1 2 "hp : 4 0

S : 15 (open doors 1-2, bend bars 7% )I : 13 (speaks Com mon, elvish, gnome ,

halfling, hobgoblin, orcish, neutral-evil)W : 9

D : 1 8

C : 1 5Ch : 1 0

Co : 1 6

AL : Neu tral-evil

Weapons : short sword of quickness + 2(#AT 1), short bow (#AT 2 with si x

arrow s +1) , four throwing daggers (#AT2, 1 if used in melee) .

Thief abilities : PP 90%, OL 77%, F T

65% , MS 80%, HS 71% , HN 30% , C W

98%, RL 45% .

Other magical items : gold ring se twith pale lavender ioun stone whichabsorbs 1 9 spell levels of 1st-4th levelspells (not worn on hand wh en unde r

effects o f protective/defensive sp ells) ,

ring of feather falling, potions of ESP

an d extra-healing.

Other items : silver earrings with tour-

malines (250 gp) ; silver brooch (40 gp )and belt buckle (15 gp); belt pouch wit h20 sp, 30 ep, 20 gp, 20 pp ; secret com-partmen ts in heels of both boots, on ewith two topazes (500 gp each) and on ewith an emerald (2,000 gp) .

Eldoriel is pruden t, fast-thinking, an dquick-acting. She does not take unneces-sary risks . She is bright, amusing i nconversation, and easily bored . How -ever, she is extremely evil and sadistic ,

part icularly intrigued by destructiv eand evil magic . She trusts no one, an dfew people in their r ight minds w oul d

trust her. Eldoriel is pleasant to Xavan-dra, since the magic-user protects he r

with invisibility and supp orts her if sh eis caught in melee . In return, the thiefrefrains from steal ing from Xa vandra .

Eldoriel also respects Kandriasin for

his sharp wits . At his urging, she wil ltry to ki ll the PCs, but her o wn p ersona l

survival is her main concern. If thing s

go ba dly in a fight, she w ill try t oescape, surrend er, or offer her own(untrustworthy) al legiance to the PCs .

Xavandra8th-level magic-use r

Human female

AC : 1 / 4 (bracers of defense AC 4 )MV: 1 2 "hp: 3 1

S : 7

I: 17 (speaks Comm on, elvish, drow ,

illithid, lawful-evil )W: 1 6

D : 1 7C : 1 5

Ch : 10C o : 1 4

AL : Law ful-evil

Weapons : dagger +2 (#AT 1, used inmelee only), six darts +1 (#AT 3) .

Spells ( in traveling spell book trappe d

with explosive runes on first page) :

charm person, magic missile, read mag-ic, shield, E SP, invisibility, stinkingcloud, fireball, fly, suggestion, mino r

globe of invulnerability, w all offire .

Other magical items : wand of illusio n

(4 charges) ; brooch of shielding (wil labsorb 46 hp magic missile damagebefore cracking) ; pouch of acces sibility;

potion of extra-healing .

Other items : silver brooch with blood -

stones (350 gp) ; silk choker with gol dthreading and a pearl (700 gp) ; silkrobes (240 gp) ; silver signet ring (20 gp) ;belt pouch with 20 sp, 20 gp, and tw otopazes (500 gp each) .

Xavandra is a seeker after power, out togain magical rewards and experience .

She adm ires and respects Kandriasi nfor his intelligence and persua siveness ,

and because he u nderstands her valueas the sole ma gic-user in this group .

She w ill be happy to attack the PCs ,

especially if there is a m agic-use r

among their numb er whose spell boo kshe cou ld have, but she w ill not agree t oany attack until she has had time t oassess the PCs . If they appe ar strong ,

she wil l be reluctant to attack. Sh e willtry to gain init ial advan tage over a nunsuspecting PC party using her char man d suggestion spells .

Xavandra regards the f ighters in he r

party as uncouth and does not spea k

with them .

S

DUNGEON 33



Read t h i s w i th A L L

t h e l ig h t s o n

Watch out for those monsters that lurk in

h for them in the

darkat

M O N S

T d a p l a c e s . from TSR, Inc .

dS Tnew collect' on of eeri etheThis bran

s stories reveals the beginning s

eatures that are now movi

e

horrible c rtiesbyTheodore to

stars—sorRobbertBloch, and ROY

name a few .lights ,

And after you turn on ALL the d o n ' t f o r g e t t o c h e c k u n d e r t h e b e d

.

CINEMONSTERSEdited by

Frank

DWaugh Martin H . Green ber g

Charles G. Waugh, Jr

.D .

T h e T S R l o g o i s a t r a d e ma r k o w n e d b y T S R , In c

.

All Rights Reser ved .

o1987 TSR . Inc .

FOR A LADY'S HONO R

(contined from page 16 )

written in his books .

The f inal piece of furniture in th e

chamb er is the large wardrobe . Insid eit, PCs can find the usual pieces of extr aclothing as wel l as hats an d boots . On

the f loor of the wardrobe is a small iro n

chest . It is locked with a pad lock ( — 15 %

to pick), weighs 35 lbs ., and contain s

350 sp and 400 gp . A false bottom in th echest can be found w ith a find traps roll .

The velvet and jet garter (worth 8,70 0

gp) which is the ob ject of the thieves 'mission lies under th is false bottom . O nthe inside of the garter, the nam e"MIRANDA" is sewn in gold thread . I nletters so small that they will only b enoticed on a 10% chance (or a 60 %

chan ce if a careful search is mad e), thename "CORRIN " is sewn below .

After they recover the garter, al l tha tremains for the thieves to do is toescape from the h ouse, which they mu s taccomplish with as m uch stealth as wa s

used upon entry. The DM shoul d

remem ber not to end the game u nti l th ePCs are safely outside of Brunt's com-plex and ha ve del ivered the garter t o

their guildmaster .


There are many ways in wh ich th i s

adventure may be run, and each D Mshou ld feel free to alter any section t of i t his camp aign and s tyle . In any event ,

basic thieving skills should be empha-sized over killing . Blundering thieve swho simply plan to attack and raid th ehouse should meet considerable opposi-tion (as you would expect) , and the y

most d ef initely wo uld face punishmen tfrom the city and their guild, as well a s

from survivors of their raid, citizens 'defense groups, etc. Exp erience point s

should be awarded for creativity an dingenuity, perhaps up to 100 xp per act ,

as the DM sees f it .Any nu mber of spin-off adventure s

may occur. Corrin will be furious t ohear that the PCs turned the garte r

over to their guildm aster rather than to

him, but he is not likely to act directl yagainst the PCs as the situation w il l

quickly resolve in Lady M iranda 's favo r

(assuming the PC s were successful) .

Any of the above NPCs could someda y

f igure p rominen tly in the l ives of th e

PCs once again — for better or worse! S 2

34 Issue No . 8



Thomas Kane writes : "I live in rural

Maine amid pits, forests . . . and fero-

cious bears. Furthermore, my parents

taught me at home until college, an d

these two factors gave me the ideas andenthusiasm to want to write . Luckily fo

me, some of my work has ended up inprint." Thomas has written numerousarticles for DRAGON® Magazine . Hislast module in DUNGEON'" Adventure

was "Blood on the Snow" (issue #3) .

Look for his work in future TS R

products.

The Wounded Worm is suitable for a

group of 4-10 characters of 4th-8th leve

with one experienced magic-user. Th eassistance of one or two higher-leve l

characters (up to 12th level) might be

helpful to smaller parties . A cleric wit ha widely known reputation would behelpful but not necessary.

The DM should have access toUnearthed Arcana for the full explana-

tion of some of the spells and magical

items used in this adventure . Other

spells can be substituted at the DM's

discretion.

TH EWOUNDE D

WORMBY THOMAS M . KAN E

Surely, a cripple dd r a g o n i s l es s

dangerous than ahealthy one . . . .

n

AdventureBackground

The PCs (particularly any well-knownclerics) are contacted by letter to meet

scholar in a small wayside inn . No othe

information is available . When the PCarrive at the proper address, read or

paraphrase the following to the players

Rain beats on the windows of thelittle inn. Scrolls and woodcuts li ehaphazardly about the gray-bearde dman' s second-f loor room . A piece of

oak etched and painted with th eimage of a huge red dragon hangs on

the far wall . The little man you havecome to see fumbles with a leather -

bound book as he speaks.

"Foul weather, is it not? Let us b e

brief. I am known as Marcu sSkinscribe, a student of great worms ,

and I must ask your assistance withmy research. I have long desired to

dissect the corpse of a great drake —once it is safely dead, of course. Thu s

I might find the answers to many of

the riddles which hereto have been

known only to dragons themselves —

or, indeed, to none at all . "For a moment you detect some -

thing stilted in his voice, as if he had

rehearsed those lines many times .

"On the Sparock Peninsula, a war-

rior of my acquaintance has hunted

DUNGEON 3 5



M

out and fought a dragon . From hisdescription, I believe it was a spe ci-men o f Draco conflagratio horriblis .

He sheared off the drake 's wing s

with his mighty blade . Not only didthe beast suffer this loss, but th ewarr ior 's priest ly com panion bore astaff which cou ld shrivel a victim' sl imbs . The dragon lost his two power-ful back legs to this device . However ,the party was also sorely wounded ,and the dragon's f iery gout route dthem . The worm now l ies upon i tshoard, maim ed and barely alive .

Nonetheless, my friend and his com-panions refuse to return to the lair .

"Here is an op portun ity for al l o fus . I have no interest in treasure, bu t

I would l ike the corpse of such aworm . I cannot protect myself fro mits final breath, but you can easil ykil l i t and take its hoa rd . So, let u s

assist one another ."Outside, the rain has stopped and a

soft breeze stirs the leaves . The oldman b rings out a map show ing th e

location of the peninsula . Somewhereon that b it of land l ies the dragon —

and its treasure .

For the Dungeon Maste rMarcus S kinscribe is not the t imi dscholar that he appears to be . He i s

actually Astain, (AC 8 ; MV 12" ; F5 ; h p

36 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon type (dag-ger) ; S 17, I 10, W 12, D 16 , C 12, Ch 15 ;

AL CG), a sailor who h as been charme dby the very dragon he d escribed . Astainacts out his role as a sage, but if presse dfor more information, he nervouslychanges the subject . While pretendin gto be M arcus, Astain refuses to trave lwith the PCs .

If his charm is detected and removed ,

Astain admits that he is not a sage bu ta sai lor who was l if ted from the deck o fhis ship by a f lying black dragon . H estill maintains that there is a dismem-

bered red dragon on the peninsula, th every one that enspelled h im . In hi s

charmed state, he gave the dragon hi sring of water walking . He also remem -bers that the bugbears who guarded th edragon could make water breathabl ewith " a silver baton . " Being somewha taddled from his capture, he recalls littl eelse about the dragon 's lair. The woo d -cuts, all of red dragons, were given t ohim b efore he left the lair, to further hisimage as a scholar of dragonkind .

If offered a share of treasure and the

return of his ring (if it is found), Astaiwill travel with the p arty . During theadventure, he is helpful ; the dragon oi ts servants may believe him to sti ll b

charmed, although As tain wil l no tthink of th is tactic . If betrayed or m is-treated, he attempts to flee . Astain islusty and likes to drink, becoming rasand violent when intoxicated . He coulmake serious trouble i f the PCs tak ehim to an inn or tavern . Also, he wil lattack any opponent who provokes himAside from this, he is a good and loyalcompanion .

I f the PCs m ake inquiries along th eway, they should hear rumors about thmaimed dragon . What "Ma rcus" sa id often repeated : a maimed dragon missing its wings and both back legs is spo-

ken of by gnol ls and bugbears roam inSparock Peninsula . Also, the scorchedbodies of several armed men h ave washed ashore nearby. Presumably, theyfought the dragon and lost . A few sail -ors have sighted a large black drago nf ly ing about the peninsula, leading t ospeculation that there ma y be at leas ttwo dragons residing there . Old-timerrecall that a red dragon used to m ak ethe peninsula his home, but som ebelieve he w as slain by adven turers f ivdecades ago ( the adventurers were alsbelieved slain) . No further (correct )

information is ava ilable .Although Ancagaling, the red dragon

was maimed many years ago in a f igh tsimilar to that which Astain describedhe is far from defenseless . The attackewere slain to the last hireling, but no twithout taking a dread ful toll on th emarauding dragon . A cleric ' s staff ofwithering not on ly shrivelled th edragon 's legs, it increas ed his age . Th edragon's enforced imm obil ity ha senabled him to master spell-castin g

more effectively than o ther dragons ,

though his absence from sight led to thrumors of his death .

Ancagaling 's ultimate hop e is t ocharm various creatures, mustering a

group powerful enough to coerce regen

erate spells from a high-level cleric .

Then, with his magic and renewed ph ysical might, he would be almost indomi-table over a vast region of the world .

Therefore, Ancagaling ' s servantsattempt to take prisoners . He hasalready forced Cathan, a fog giant, t oserve as guard on the peninsula . Th egiant is supposed to bring all intruderunh arm ed directly to Ancagaling. It i s

important to play these episodes wit h

Peninsula Random Encounters Tabl e

1d6 Encounte r

01-05 Cathan*06-10 2-8 wild firedrakes (AC 5 ; MV 6"//18" ; HD 4 ; hp 18 each ; #AT

1;Dmg 2-8 ; SA breath weapon ; AL N) .

11-58 Patrol* *

59-79 Patrol*" or 2-12 land lampreys (AC 7 ; MV 12" ; HD 1 +2 ; h p7 each ; #AT 1; Dmg 1 hp/round ; SA drain blood, encumber; A LN).

80-95 2-12 crabmen (AC 4 ; MV 9"//6" ; HD 3 ; hp 14 each ; #AT 2 ;

Dmg 1-4/1-4 ; AL N).

96-97 2-12 witherstenches (AC 7 ; MV 6" ; HD 2+2 ; hp 11 each ; #AT2 ; Dmg 1-6/1-6 ; SD nau seating odor ; AL N) .

98-00 1-6 thorks (AC 3 ; MV 6"//6" ; HD 3 ; hp 13 each; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1 -6 ; SA breath weapon ; AL N).

* See area P6 for details of Cathan and his bodyguards .

** The patrol is made u p of 2-8 gnolls from area P4 . Each has a spear and a naklys . The patrol is led by a Hind (see area P4), who wields a flindbar a sdescr ibed in the FIEND F OLIO° Rime . A group of six or mo re gnolls has atame firedrake (see stats for wild f iredrake above) . If the PCs se em too s trong

for the patrol, one gnoll flees to get help from areas P4, P5, and P6 . If possible ,

the patrol tries to capture the PCs rath er than kill them . When a patrol isencountered near area P1, it attempts to d rive PCs into the boil ing pools .

*** This patrol is identical to the on e described ab ove . It is encountered only

on the paths in the forest. Elsewhere, 2-12 land lampreys appear .

3 6 I ssue No . 8



THE WOUNDED WOR M

SPAROCK

PENINSULAForest

Building

care . Cap tivity is not the end of th eadventure for PCs . Not only is ther eample chance for escape, but the PC smay gain m uch important informatio n

(such as the location of Ancagaling' s

lair) as prisoners . It is quite possible fo rthem to be charmed and escape the spelllater in the adve nture .

In order to protect himself in hiswoun ded state, Ancagaling used move

earth an d wall of stone spells (and muchman ual labor from his servants) to bui l dan underwater lair in the lee of th eSparock Peninsula . Then he researche dand created a m agical plant, whos eroots extend through the ether to th eElemen tal Plane of Air. The bush there -by kee ps the la ir f i lled with a b reath -able atmosphere . Ancagaling now l ive s

beneath the ocean . The dragon 's old lair,

in a partly flooded cave, provides a neasy path to the sea f loor . I t may help t orev iew the Dungeon Masters Guide

rules for underwater adventure befor eplaying this module .

The Sparock Peninsula

Except for several hours in the afternoon ,

the peninsula is shrouded in fog . A warm ,

sulfurous vapor seems to arise from bot hthe sea and the land. D uring most of theday, vision is reduced to 30 yards by thi smist . Starting at noon, the b right sunbegins to clear the air for 1-4 hours .

Most of the pen insula is covered i nwoods dom inated by poplar trees an dthorny bushes. A druid, ranger, elf, o r

halfling is able to tell that the lan dthere was burned over about 50 year s

ago but has since regrown . The peninsu-la has no gentle beaches ; 180'-high cl if fsdrop sharply to the sea . PCs wi ll proba-bly need m agic to survive a jump fro mthe peninsula into the ocean i f they d onot f ind the cave that provides eas yaccess to the sea floor .

Check for random encoun ters everyhour . An encoun ter occurs on a roll of 1

on 1d6 ; use the Peninsula Rando m

Encounters Table .

Set Peninsular Encounters

Pl . Boiling Springs . The pools inthis area contain boiling water and giv eoff steam which does 1-8 hp damage pe r

round to any creature in the water, an d1 hp damage to an y creature splashed .

Any object dropped into the water cre-ates a splash that affects all creature s

in a 3' radius . Some pools are coveredwith a thin, solid-looking, l imestone

crust over the hot water . Character s

who walk here have a on e in six chanc e

per round to break the crust and fal lthrough, being burned for 1-4 hp dam -age . Crawling characters m ay avoi d

this chance as their weight is spread ou ton the crust . This is a favorite ambu sh

spot for Cathan 's gnolls . Searches of

this area yield a few b roken weap on sand old bloodstains on the ground .

P2 . Prison . This is a sturdily built lo g

cabin . A heavy beam is us ed to latch thedoor shut . The beam requ ires at least 1 9points of combined strength to lift from

the outside . If locked, the door may no tbe opened from w ithin without m agic .

This building is used to hold those w h ooffend Cathan . Held prisoner inside arethree gnolls (AC 5 ; MV 9" ; HD 2 ; hp 11 ,

9, 8 ; NA T 1 ; Dmg by weapon type ; ALCE) and two crabmen (AC 4 ; MV 9"//6"

HD 3 ; hp 18, 14 ; NA T 2 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4 ; A LN) . The gnolls and crabmen hate eac h

other bu t avoid fighting . The gnolls ar e

armed with sturdy clubs made frompieces of furniture .

The gnolls are being punished for

stealing food ; the crabmen were caugh tby a patrol . If the PCs release theseprisoners, the crabmen flee . The gnoll s

DUNGEON 37



THE WOUNDED WOR M

oto get in his good graces . If th e

ere, there is a 10 %our that the gnol ls wi l l

r

ubs. The crabmen ignore any suc h. A patrol (see random encount-

e

.

P3. Berry Patch. A path leaves th eand winds am ong the bushe s

arvested inn

spend in this area, there is a

% chan ce that they are attacked by a(AC 4 (stalks)/ 7

; MV nil ; HD 5 (plu s; hp 23 (main plant) ; HAT 3-6 ;

g 2-5 each ; SA trap ; AL N). Thep

. The gnol l s

here the bane is and avoid i t .

can locate the plant in th e.

P4 . Gnoll Barracks. This stockade isrracks for the gnol ls that serv e

. There are 14 gnolls within (A C

; MV 9 " ; HD 2 ; hp 10 each ; NAT 1 ;

Dmg by weapon type ; AL CE) . They ar eeach armed w ith a spear an d aklys .

Three funds (AC 5 ; MV 12" ; HD 2 + 3 ;hp 18, 13, 12 (x 2) ; HAT 2 ; Dmg 1-4 plu sdisarming ; AL LE) wield flindbars an drule the gnolls . The belongings of 2 0

gnolls and four Hinds are here, but a tany given time som e are out on patrol .

These human oids attempt to capturethe PCs a live . If in dire straits, the Hin d

leader (18 hp) uses two of his thre e

beads of force on the PCs . They arehidden in a hollow section of his flind-bars . Then, he runs to area P6 for help .

The gno lls' sacks of persona l items ar estrewn around the room . Most of theirbelongings are disgusting, but eac h

gnoll has 10-1,000 cp and 1-10 0 sp . EachHind has a locked wooden ch est with 10 -40 ep and a fur cloak worth 10 gp . If th eroom is searched, a cleverly carve d

wooden dragon is found abandoned in a

corner. It was recently made a nd i s

worth 1 sp . If the PCs state (withou tpromp ting by the DM ) that they ar eexamining the f lindbars, they f ind th eremaining bead offorce .

P5. Storehouse . This building wa sobviously once richly furnished but n ow

has been str ipped. The w al ls are cov-ered with frescoes of a mighty drago nlaying waste to vi llages — the sam edragon seen on Marcus 's woodcut and i narea P4 . A large, i ronbound chest hold s

only grain . Food equal to 500 p ortions oiron rations and 1 0 flasks of wine(worth 1 gp each) is stored in this build-ing. Any PC who eats the food m ust rol lhis constitution or lower on 1d20 toavoid a m ild bu t acute gastrointestina ldisease (see the DMG, page 14). Th e

PCs may also f ind 2-20 i tems from th eMiscellaneous Utensi ls and Persona l

I tems table on page 219 of the DMGOne to four tame firedrakes (hp 17 ,

15, 14, 13 ; see Peninsula Rando mEncoun ters Table) are chained to the farwall . They will not attack unless molest-

ed, and they have been trained not to usetheir breath weapons indoors . Withinthe firedrakes' bedding is a wooden bo xcovered with paintings which appear tohave been done by the sam e artist whopainted the frescoes on the walls . Th ebox depicts a grou p of gnolls face-to-fac ewith a fish . One gnoll holds a torch fro mwhich bubbles issue forth to surroun d

the monsters . On the other side of thebox, a dragon lies beneath fancifu lwaves . Within the box are three buds o fa black herb . This m aterial will fuel th etorch of airy water found in area G4 .

Elvish runes spell out the name " Barva-

rius " across the bottom of the box . Thef iredrakes w ill attack any ch aracter wh oattempts to rem ove this container fromthe building .

P6. Fortress . This sturdy log house i s

much larger than the others, almost 2 0 'high . PCs may at f irst bel ieve that i t ison fire, since foggy vapors leak fro mcracks in its walls . Two piles of boul-ders, or p ossibly catapult m issiles, stan d

on either side of the entry . Each pil econtains five rocks .

This is the hom e of Cathan the fo ggiant ( AC 1 ; MV 15 " ; HD 14 ; hp 76 ;

HAT 1 ; Dmg 4-24 ; SA hurl rocks to 24 0yards for 2-20 hp ; SD surprised on ly o n

1 on 1d6 ; AL NE) . Two funds (AC 5 ;

M V 1 2 " ; HD 2 + 3 ; hp 18 each ; NAT 1 ;

Dmg 1-6 ; AL LE) serve Cathan as body -guards . Each wields a long sword +1 .

In addition, two trained firedrakes (hp

21, 18 ; see Peninsula Random Encount-ers Table) are within the building an d

assist Cathan in combat . If a major

battle breaks out, one gnoll runs to are aP5 to get help . In the center of th ecabin ' s stony floor is a geothermal rift

3 8 Issue No . 8



THE WOUNDED WORM

which emits the steam .

Wh en Ancagaling f irst came to th epeninsula, Cathan fought the drago nand was defeated . But rather than kill-ing Cathan, Ancagaling forced him t o

serve as guard for the p eninsula . No wthat the dragon is wounded and isolate din his underw ater la ir , Cathan ha s

taken control of the area once m ore —but he fears Ancagaling's helpers, espe-cially the black dragon Sinequist .

Catha n greatly desires l ive prisoners ,

since Ancaga ling cal ls on him for tr ib-ute and he st i l l fears to refuse thi s

request . However, he w ill bargain wit hstrong PCs , especial ly i f he knows tha tthey oppose Ancaga l ing . He may as kpowerful characters to destroy the eb l i s

la ir at area P8 as a test of ski l l . IfCathan feels that there is any chanc e

that the PCs cou ld actually destroyAncagaling, he gives them two piece sof information : He d escr ibes the torc hin area G3 (but not the trap) an dexpla ins the na ture o f Ancagal ing 'sunderwater for tress . I f Cathan or h i s

gnolls capture a PC party, the adven-turers are str ipped and h eld at area P 2

for 1-4 days . After that, they are leftboun d at area P9 . From there, the

bugbears f rom the geothermal cav etake them to Sinequist , the blac kdragon w ho is Ancagaling 's al ly, thento Ancagal ing himse l f .

The log cabin is roughly furnished .Characters who search the steam ven t

f ind a thick cord hanging down into th ehole. S uspended from it is a heavywooden chest . In the chest are 2,500 g pand six silver flasks . Two flasks hol d

potions of extra-healing (worth 100 g p

each) . Cathan h id these from the d ragonafter Ancagaling was woun ded . Fou r

similar flasks contain watered wine .

P7 . Geyse rs . This area is bare lime -stone . Steaming cracks and pools o f

garishly colored boi l ing water are visi-ble here and there . See area P1 for

details of the boiling pools . Every fewminutes, a steaming geyser spout s

water 60' or m ore in the air . Six thorks(hp 22, 21, 16, 15 (x 2), 14 ; see Peninsu-la Random Encounters Table) l ive in th epools . Characters who search the stone s

near the edges of pools have a one i n

four chance p er round to find a plati-num piece dropped by a previous adven-turer. A maximum of 30 pieces can be

found. The thorks attack any characte r

who takes these coins . Cathan's ser-vants col lect this metal , and at ran dom

spots, the greatly decayed bodies o fgnol ls may be found . Their corpses havebeen looted .

P8.Eblis Lair This is a chaotic are a

of pale stone . A few steam vents ar evisible, but the area is domina ted b y

irregular bou lders, depressions, ravines ,

and p artially concealed pools . Thes epuddles are quite warm, but not ho tenough to cause damage . The jaggedterrain is confusing, and anyone wh oattempts to hide gains a +2 o nattempts to surprise . Characters wh owalk along th e edge of the cliff (abov ethe water) have a 30% chance per tur nof being attacked by kelpies (se eencounter U6) .

Nine eblis nest here (AC 3 ; MV 12" /12 " ; HD 4 +4 ; hp 27 each ; NAT 4 ; Dm g

1-4 (x 4); SA limited spe ll use ; SD lim-ited immunity to fire ; AL NE) . Thei rillusionist leader has the se spells : spook

(x 2), hypnotic pattern (x 2), blur, hypno-

tism, an d whispering wind — each us -able once per day at 3rd-level ability .

The eblis were brought to the peninsu-la by Ancagaling and are loyal to th edragon . They are angry at Cathan for

neglect ing An cagaling an d h ave ki l le d

several gnolls . The eblis will try toambush an y PCs in the area . If the ycapture PCs a live, they send for th ebugbears from the geothermal cave to

take the p r isoners to An cagal ing .Each of the five eblis nests contains 1

pp and 1-10 cp . PCs have only a 10 %chance per nest to discover these lairs .

Each nest has a 30 % chance of holding

an egg .

P9. Entry to the Geotherma lCavern . The cliffs here are bare lime -stone with many depressions . Some ofthese h ollows are fil led with water, bu t

none are hot . A wooden building stand salmost at the edge of the cliff . Illegibl etraces of elaborate m urals stil l decorat eits walls . Characters who enter th e

building find that th e inside is als opainted and has been better preserved .

The drawings are of a red drago nperched on piles of treasure . A humanhand dangles from the monster 's maw .

Fanci ful waves appear a bove thedragon . Al l the d rawings appear to b eby the sam e artist as Marcus 's woodcutand the box from area P5 . The mu ral i s

signed "Barvarius . "In the center o f the hut is a 5'-wid e

circular hole . Warm, humid, sulfurou s

air rises from it, obscuring the b ottom o f

the hole. Aside from the hole and th emural, the building is bare . This is th eentrance to the geothermal cave . Thereis a 10% chance per turn that the bug -bears from area G2 climb out of the h ol e

while fleeing a mino r tidal flood . Anarrow, rough staircase carved fro ml iving stone circles the hole, descend in g10' into the earth to area Gl .

The Geothermal Cave

This is a natural cave, created by th ehot springs in the l imestone . Ancagal-ing once had a la ir here, but since h ewas wounded, he has abandoned thi s

cave as unsafe . This is, however, th emos t ef f icient way to reach th edragon 's und erwater la ir and avoid along drop dow n the pen insula 's hig h

cliffs . Random en counters do not occurin the geothermal cave . Most creature s

in the cave tend to stay in areas tha tare protected from f looding .

These caves open into the ocean, an dsome areas are a lways underwater .

Every hour, there is a one in six chanc ethat the hot spring eruptions w ithi nthe cave coincide w ith the t idal condi-t ions, causing the entire cave system t oflood . Such a f lood swamps the cave 5 ' -10' above the no rmal water l ine . Th ef lood rush es in rapidly and rem ains fo r

1-4 hours . Each staircase is 10' high ,

and certain areas wil l never f loo d

because they are p rotected by sp ecia ldoors .

Geothermal Cave Encounter s

Gl . Entry Hall . This corridor is dam p

and appears to be uninhabited save for

the evidence of the rough-hewn stair-cases . Characters who venture to th eeast pass over two areas of weak crus t( treat as pit traps) . The eastern tra p

drops PCs 30 ' down a natural chute tothe corridor outside area G 8, doing 2-1 2

hp damage . The western trap drop sthem in to a very warm pool of 10'-deep

water . No dam age is taken, but charac-ters who are wearing normal armor o r

heavy backpacks may drown . A mineral

crust forms on any item which is sub -merged in this pool for more than on esegment . One round of cleanin g

removes this crust . The crus t will bin d

weapons into scabbards, seal pouchopenings, etc . These items can b e freedin one round, but this m ay be trouble -some , especially if the characters ar e

unaware of the crust .

DUNGEON 39



THE WOUNDED WOR M

G2. Bugbear Guards. Six bugbear s(AC 5 ; MV 9 " ; HD 3 + 1 ; hp 21(x 2) , 20 ,

18, 16, 10 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 2-8 or by weapo n

type ; SA surprise on 1-3 ; AL CE) stan dguard here . They serve Ancagaling an d

try to capture any strangers wh o enter

their lair . Each wields a man catcher ,

but i f an enemy seems too strong tocapture, they a ttack to kill with thei rbattle axes . Each bugbear carries a

pouch containing 10-40 sp and a painte d

carving of a dragon (worth 1 sp) . These

carvings appear similar to the one i nbuilding P14 on the peninsula .

G3. Geyser. The large pool in the

floor of this room gives off a terribl estench . There is a one in six chance p e r

round that a steam geyser erupts fromthe pool, doing 1-4 hp damage to all i nthe room . An eruption is preceded b y

one segment of steaming and hissing .

G4. Torch Room . Fanciful waves

have been painted around the first 10 '

of this room . Beneath the waves i sdrawn a wel l-muscled red dragon . Th ework was apparently done by the sam e

artist who decorated oth er areas of th epeninsula . A blackened metal torc h

hun g with two leather drawstring bag sis affixed to the w est wall . Closer exam-

ination sho ws that the torch is m adepure silver, but it is tarnished a nd saencrusted . Each leather bag containssmelly plant bud . The southern 20' o

the room appear to be a warm , salt ypool . This area actually leads to morethe complex that has been flooded b yseawater .

A careful examination of the wes twall reveals a 3' X 3' crack around ttorch . A peg in the wall f its neatly inthe side of the torch . The torch can bdetached from the peg with one rounwork . If the torch is m erely taken, thpeg comes aw ay from the wall with ireleasing a catch in the secret portalwhich falls out (doing 2-8 hp damageanyone standing under i t ) and opensstone pipe leading up to an under -ground p ool of boil ing m ineral waterAnyone stand ing in the room is blastby the broad water jet for 2-8 hp pe rround for 6-36 rounds, until the boilipool above the room is emptied . Onlyf l ight down the corridor toward area is useful in escaping the jet . Anyonestanding next to the stairs leading dointo the water toward G5 m ust save dexterity on 1d2 0 or b e swept into thwater ; hot-water damage is the nreduced by half, but drowning ma yoccur . No matter how much w ater pointo this room, the water level does n

rise because the water below connectdirectly to the sea at area G10 .

I f a bud from the leather bags i s

placed in the torch an d ignited, a smgust comes forth . This gas is breathaand contains enough oxygen to suppocombustion, even underwater. Thedevice (a torch of airy water) may b eused to crea te an effect similar to a nairy water spell with a 30' radius, lighing the same area . Each bud provideenough breathable air to support 1 0human -sized creatures for one hou r oone such creature for 10 hours of und

water activity . A normal torch or oi lflask requires as mu ch of this air asbreathing person . Magical fire uses ohour of air for every 5 hp dama ge donThe torch itself is worth 5,000 gp . If sold with the buds, an additional 500for each bud shou ld be added to th eprice . The bud s are worthless withouthe torch, and the torch encum bers a

character with 25 lbs . (250 gp) ofweight . If the torch and buds are takeand used, 40 0 xp are gained ( the torcmagical in nature) .

This torch was made by An cagalinfor his servants, so any servant of th

dragon recognizes the torch . If it is

40 Issue No . 8



THE WOUNDEDWOR

stolen, these creatures m ake ever y

attempt to regain it and punish th e

thieves. C athan is aware of the torch ,

but his gnol ls can only have guessed i t

exists from scraps of overheard conver-sations . The fog giant w ill be rathe rimpressed by any PCs that gain thi s

i tem, and h e wil l certainly try to recrui tthem in a bid against Ancagaling .

Cathan himself cannot use the torch

because of his large size and high oxy-gen requirements .

G5 . Mudpot . The water here isextremely murky an d very warm . Char-acters cannot see farther than 5 ' . Dur-ing the first round spent in this area ,

random party members see gleamin g

eyes, scaly appendages, and simila r

unwelcome sights wh ich rapidly disap-pear into the murky water . A saltwatermarine troll (AC 2 ; MV 3"//12" ; H D6 + 12 ; hp 32 ; #AT 3 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4/9-16 ;

SD regenerat ion ; AL CE) l ives un derwa-ter in this room and attacks al lintruders. The f loat ing si l t restrict s

vision, reducing all " to hit " rolls by 2 .

Gnawe d bon es l i tter the f loor of thi s

area . A search last ing one turn reveal sa human arm bone wearing a bracele tof braided gold (worth 50 gp) .

G6. Flood Barrier . The door at the to pof these stairs is molded into the wa ll . Itacts as a valve, preventing certain area sof the geothermal cave from flooding . Ifthe wa ter level rises this far, from tide s

or other causes, pressure on the sout hside of the door w ill be greater than onthe north, jamming the door un less 4 0combined strength points and one roun d

are used to open it . At other times, th edoor opens to the south easily .

G7. Guard Chambers . The two sid e

guard rooms are each the post of f ivebugbears (hp 19 each ; see area G2 fo r

statistics), armed with man catcher s

and bastard swords . Each wears a nembossed leather cap worth 10 sp an dcarr ies a b elt pouch containing 50 sp .

The bugbears try to capture intruder s

alive and hand them over to Sinequist ,

Ancagaling's black dragon ally, in are a

G8. A secret door made from a loose bi tof rock which slides on a track blocksthe corridor leading north and west .

G8 . Black Dragon's Lair This is the

la ir of Sinequist , an average adul tblack dragon (AC 3 ; MV 12"/24" ; H D

7 ; hp 35 ; #AT 3 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4/3-18 ; SA

breath weapon, fear aura at +5 o nattacking (60' radius); SD 60' infravis-ion, detect hidden/invisible objects with -in 50 yards, save as 9-HD monster ;

attackers receive + 1 to hit if usin gearth- or water-based attacks ; AL CE) .

He is a loyal ally of Ancagaling, and h emana ges af fairs above the ocean . Bot hdragons are members of the same "cir-cle," a loosely organized dragon frater-nity devoted to Tiamat . Sinequistcannot use any sp ells, but he can spea kthe common tongue .

Five empty cages han g from the cei l -ing of the cavern . If the PCs are brough there as captives, they are imprisoned i n

these cages for 2-24 hours . After tha tt ime, Sinequist orders the bugbear s

f rom area G2 to take them to Ancagal-ing's la ir (breathing underw ater thank s

to the spells of a captured m agic-user inarea G9) . If any combat takes plac ehere, the bugbears from area G7 com eto Sinequ ist's aid .

This room's floor is soft and mu ddy .The sl imy e arth is l iberally mixed w ithSinequist 's bed of treasure. Due to th emud, his 526 gp and 243 pp are indist in-guishable from the 20 ,194 cp that l itter

the floor. It requires 28 ma n-hours of

work to clean and sort all the coins . Amass of mu ddy coins is transported a tthree times i ts normal encum brance .

Sinequist has l ined h is nest with 10 r icfur robes . These are fi lthy and s omauled as to be worth but 5 gp each .

The black dragon also has a wand ofsteam and vapor which he uses in com-bat . It has 83 cha rges when th e PC sfirst encounter the dragon . The com-man d word is a spluttering and h issinnoise made in the throat. A pouch w ithf ive buds for the torch of airy water (s earea G4 ) is buried in Sinequist 's heap treasure .

Sinequist 's lair is rather treasu re poo

right now as he has been serving sooften as a sentry and helper to Ancagain g . However, he knows that he wil l

gain tremendous riches if the re d

dragon is healed and al lowed to ram -page across the world, so he works fo r

the day when his "sacrifices" will pay

off in infinite wealth .

G9. Barvarius's Hallway. Th emagic-user and a rtist Barvarius is kehere in semi-imprisonmen t (AC 6 ; M V12 " ; MU 10 ; hp 36 ; AT 1 ; Dmg by spel l

or weapon type ; S 15, I 16, W 12, D 18

DUNGEON 41



THE WOUNDED WORM

C 15, Ch 14, Co 16 ; AL CE) . He is a tall ,

dark, bearded man who cam e to th epeninsula in hopes of robbing Ancagal-ing. When the dragon's servants cap-

tured Barvarius, he w as so terri f iedthat he p ledged service to the beast .

Although he o ff icially serves S inequis tand An cagaling, the m agic-user w ill no tattack the PCs w ithout p rovocation ,

although he wil l betray the pa rty i f i tserves his interests . Barvarius is basi-cally a coward and is terrified of fleein gwithout his major spel l book, whic hhave been conf iscated . Who wants t orun from a dragon ?

Barvarius constantly complains of hi s

poor treatment by the dragons . Anca-gal ing and S inequist put up with hi mbecause they have found him to be quiteuseful . He is not on ly a spell-caster bu tthe excel lent painter and woodcarve rwhose work adorns m any of Ancagal-in g 's buildings (as Barvarius is only to oglad to point out) . Th e ma ge-artist feel s

that the paintings dem onstrate Anca-gal ing's unbearable van ity. Every featof the dragon's strength an d every mag-ical i tem he constructs must be immor-tal ized in picture . However, the drago ndoes not al low depictions that sho w hi smaimed condition . Barvarius has ofte nbeen to Ancagaling's underwater la irand can guide PCs to i t . He w ill try to

convince the PC s to escort him there s othat he can regain his spell book (no win area L3 of Ancaga ling 's lair) .

Barvarius is only al lowed to use h i s

spel l book wh en it suits Ancagaling 's. He is al lowed to mem orize

some spells so that he can help th e

' research and defend Sine-quist 's lair . When the PCs encounte r

orized th e: clean,

magic ,

of enfeeblement, web

water breathing ( x 3), stoneski n

airy water (x2) . Any spel ls

sf

.

Although he is less than conscientiouss supposed to cap-

.

s

oguard dogs (AC 6 ;

; HD 2+2 ; hp 16, 14, 12 , 11, 10 ;

; Dmg 2-8 ; AL N) . These creature s

oe n

. Bugbear ser -

vants of the dragons gather food for th edogs and dispose of their wastes . Barva-rius has no mo ney, but he has tools andpaints that are worth 100 gp to an artis t

or carver . His simple bed and othe rminor furnishings are also present .

Barvarius is not a neat housekeeper a s

he is depressed over his captivity. H ehas not been charmed as his h igh intel-l igence allows h im to cast off the sp ell 'seffects too quickly ; besides, Sinequis tcan read the magic-user's moods wel l

enough and h as l i tt le fear that he wi l lwork against the dragons at present .

G10 . Morkoth's Lair . This area is th elair of a morkoth (AC 3 ; MV 18" ; HD 7 ;

hp 39 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1-10 ; SA hypnosis ,

charm ; SD s pell reflection ; AL CE) . Th emorkoth's hypn otic pattern centers o nan open pit which is 30 ' deep . Since thi s

area is underwater, no dama ge is take nfor falling into th e pit . The morkoth i s

neither a friend nor an enem y of Anca-galing ; he has m erely found that l ivingin the geothermal caves al lows him t oobtain victims with ease . Sinequis tconsiders any plan to dr ive the morkot haway too dangerous . Besides, the crea-ture makes a good guard .

The morkoth does not always eat hi svictims im med iately, so the area i s

favored by lampreys that drain bloo d

from hypn otized captives . Some of theseeels have attained giant size . There are10 normal lampreys in this lair whe nthe PCs a rrive (AC 7 ; MV 12" ) ; HD1+2; hp 7 each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1-2 ; S Adrain blood ; AL N) . Two giant lam -

preys are also present (AC 6 ; MV 9" ;

HD 5 ; hp 23, 21 ; #AT 1; Dmg 1-6 ; SA

drain blood ; AL N) . Al l the lamp rey s

attack any warm-blooded creature .

The muddy floor of the lair hides a

packet holding a bud that will burn i nth e torch of airy water ( f rom area G4 ) .

No other treasure is here except for arotting sack from which spill 10 pp . A

staircase leads dow n to the sea floor .

The Undersea Worl d

Ancagaling 's lair is located on th e se a

bed approximately 72 0 yards from th egeothermal cave . The water is roughly40' deep in the area around the peninsu -la , and masses of seaweed dominat esome a reas of the sea floor. In thes e

areas, PCs are able to see only 5 ' ahead .

Each turn, there is a one in eigh tchance that a PC becomes entangled inthe weeds for 1-8 turns .

Normal sighting distance in broa ddaylight is 60 ' . During twil ight o r

stormy cond itions on the surface, sight-ing distance drops to 30' . Visibility i s

zero du ring nightt ime without a l ightsource, which the torch of airy waterprovides within a 30 ' radius .

There is a one in six chance of a ran -dom en counter every hour the PCs ar eunderwater . Roll percentile dice (d10 0 )

and consult the Undersea Rando mEncou nters Tab le, using statistics fromthe various monster handbooks for th eAD&D° game .

Undersea Random

Encounters Table

dlOO Encounte r

01-10 Red urchin (1-4 )

11-20 Lampreys (2-20 )

21-2 5 Lamprey, g iant (1-4 )26-30 Bunyip (1 )

31-3 2 W hale, kil ler (1 )33-4 3 Spider, water (1-6 )44-50 Portuguese man-o-war (1-6 )

51-6 0 Sea wolf (1-8 lesser plus 1greater

61-64 Shark (1-6 )

65 Bugbear (2-8) (us ing Ba rvar ius 'swater breathing spells ;

see area G8 )

66 -70 Eel , g iant (1-4 )

71-7 2 M arine troll (from U4 )73 -83 Crab, g iant (1-6 )

84-88 Manta ray (1-2 )89-90 S ting ray (1-10 )91-00 Bubble, 10' diameter *

* The gas in Ancagaling 's lair is slight-ly heavier than norm al air and som e -times drifts for som e distanc eunderwater before dissolving . Whe nthis encounter occurs, the PCs see a

bubble coming toward them from th edirection of area U3 .

Set Undersea Encounters

Ul . Seaweed Bed . This area i s

inhabited by six strangle w eeds (AC 6 ;

MV ni l ; HD 4 ; hp 22, 2 0, 18, 15, 11 ; #AT1 ; Dmg special ; SA constriction ; AL N) .

Any PC s that enter this hex ar eattacked by the strangle weeds . PCs inthe kelp have a 40 % chan ce of finding abugbear skeleton of unusual size tha tstil l wears an agate and silver wais tchain (worth 100 gp) . Hooked to thi sbelt is a box containing one bud for th etorch of airy water ( from area G4 ) .

4 2 Issue No . 8



THE WOUNDED WORM

Ancagal ing 's servants (but not Ba rva-rius) know a special path through the

seaweed bed that avoids the strangl eweeds .

ANCAGALING'S LAIR

/' p iI

_ lt,/ /3ii/ =

U2. Sunken Ship . The gut ted wreckof a merchant sh ip l ies here on th eocean f loor . It is upside d own , with th etorn sai l and broken rigging obscurin gthe inside . The hu ll is 25' wide an d 80 'long . If the PCs have an u nderw ater

l ight source, they can see the gleam o fgold from inside the ship . It takes on eround for a character to pick his way i nor out of the ship . Amid the destroyedrigging are four floating eyes (AC 9 ;

M V 3 0 " ; HD 1 / 2 ; hp 3 each ; MT nil ; S Ahypnot ism ; AL N) which go a f ter th ePCs as they pick their way into th e

ship .There is indeed a heap of gold-colored

coins inside . On it sits a giant octopu s(AC 7 ; MV 3"//12" ; HD 8 ; hp 45 ; NAT 7 ;

Dmg 1-4 (x 6)/2-12 ; SA con striction ; S Dink cloud, camou flage ; AL N) whic himmed iately attacks the PCs . At firstsight, about 40,00 0 gp appear to be inthe pile, but they are on ly copper coin s

under th e ef fect of apermanent illusion,

cast by an unknown p erson or being .

Anyone cau ght by the f loating eyes ha s

a 30% chance per round to be notice dand captured by the giant octopus .

If Barvarius is with the party, he ca n

warn the PC s about the dan gers of theship, as he has come this way man y

t imes when summon ed by Ancagal ing .

U3. Ancagaling's Lair. A shimmer-ing bubble r ises from a 10'-wide gaping

hole in the center of a large cone o fm ud . Every round , an air bubble l i ft sfrom the hole and f loats upward . Th ehole opens into area L1 on the ma p o fAncagaling 's lair . If the PCs stay in th e

area for more than one turn, they ar eattacked by 12 mud-men (AC 10 ; M V3" ; HD 2 ; hp 15 each ; NAT 1 ; Dmg ni l ;

SD magical weapon to hit , limited spel l

immunity ; AL N) . These creature s

form more slowly than usual and ma y

not hur l mud u nderwater . However, i nthis environm ent, the mu d-men slow a

vict im by 8" speed when they hu r lthemselves on a character. Ancagal-ing's servants ( including Barvarius )

know to hurry into the la ir to avoi d

these creatures .

Anyone w atching this area for som e

t ime notes the presence of many foot -prints in the silt on the ocean floor ,

though m ost have been f i lled in and

worn away . The giant air bubbles whichperiodically form and float away do no t

move qu ickly upward ; sometimes the ylaz ily bump along the ocean botto mbefore rising, as if the gas within the mwas heavy and thick .

U4 . Troll Hovel . The coral reef i sstrewn with seaweed h ere. This sl imy

mass is the home of a female aquati cogre (AC 4 ; MV 6"//12" ; HD 4+4 ; h p

21 ; NAT 3 or 1 ; Dmg 1-6/1-6/2-8 or byweapon type ; SA swimming charg egives +1 to hit, surprise 4 in 6 ; S Dcamouflage ; AL CE) and her four adopt -ed "sons," saltwater marine trollswhich she raised an d fed until the y

became com pletely loyal to her (AC 2 ;

MV 3"//12" HD 6 +12 ; hp 45, 39, 30 ,

24 ; NAT 3 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4/9-16 ; SA attac kthree different opponents in on e round ;

SD regeneration ; AL CE) . Each has a40 % chance of being "hom e" when th ePCs arrive ; others arrive 3-30 round s

later in a group .

If the pa rty is within the sphe re of anairy water spell (making s lashing weap -

ons us eful), the ogre attacks with he r

sword of sharpness (see below) . The ogr e

and the tro lls are not servants of Anca-

galing, but they do cooperate with him ,

sending him any characters who surren

der. PCs who can com municate withthese creatures may be able to bribethem, but the party wi l l probably hav eto fight .

Characters who enter the seawee dfind a large, open hovel has b een con-structed under the kelp . It is furnishe d

rather nicely, with seashells hung on

the wa lls, a coral table, and (if the ogr eis not at home) a sword han ging on on ewall . This blade is the sword of sharp-

ness that maimed A ncagaling . Th eblade was given to th e trol ls by th e reddragon to ins ure their loyalty . Strun gon the walls are 2,00 0 shells , each

worth 1 sp . Because of their sharp edgesand fragility, these shells have a nencumb rance of 2 gp each .

U5. Giant Marine Spiders . Th e

water in these areas is noticeabl ywarmer than the surrounding ocean .

Characters who search find small vent s

in the ocean f loor from which heate dwater f lows . I f PCs remain in a U5 he xfor more than one turn, they ar eattacked by 1-6 giant marine spider s

(AC 4 ; MV 15" ; HD 7 + 7 ; hp 40 each ;

1 square = 10'

DUNGEON 43



THE WOUNDED WORM

#AT 1 ; Dmg 3-12 ; SA poison ; AL N) tha tbuild their bubble nests near theseducts .

U6. Kelpie Lair. Three kelpies (AC3 ; MV 9"//12" ; HD 5 ; hp 25 (x 2), 19 ;#AT nil ; Dmg ni l ; SA charm and drown-in g ; SD fire attacks do half or no d am -age ; AL NE) make th eir la ir here . They

are not al igned w ith A ncagaling, bu tthey attempt to break up any underwa-ter party by charming members . If theycannot drown anyone, they try to dr iv ethe PCs into hexes inhab ited by gian tmarine spiders (see area U5) . The kel-pies may also attack part ies on th e cl iffabove (see area P8). Am id the kelp, is asack containing 500 sp and 25 pp .

U7. Underwater Graveyard .

Corpses and bones protrude from th esilt of this ghastly area . Ancagaling 'sservants, both above an d below th ewater, throw unwanted corpses into thesea here . Thirteen lacedon ghouls (AC6 ; MV 9" ; HD 2 ; hp 10 each ; #AT 3 ;

Dmg 1-3/1-3/1-6 ; SA paralyzation ; S Dimmune to sleep an d charm spells; A LCE) attempt to corner l iving beings an ddevour them . Many of the partial lyburied bodies are also undead . The PC s

might be attacked by 1-4 ghoul arm s(AC 5 ; MV ni l ; H D 1/2 ; hp 4 each ; #AT 1 ;Dmg 1-3 plus paralyzation) which pro-trude from the sea f loor . A blow doing 4hp dam age or more severs one of thesearms . The arm s belong to partial lyanimated lacedons, which wi l l not ar iseto attack the PCs .

Ancagaling's Lai r

Anyone looking down into the mudd y

cone forming the entrance of Ancagal-ing's lair notes a series of stairs whic hdescend 1 0' into a large, open, air ychamber below . Movement into and ou tof the airy mem brane at the top of thecone is effortless and d oes not cause th e

"seal" to be bro ken, as Ancaga ling ha senchan ted the entrance with a var ian tairy water spell . Air does escape fro mthe lair as the plant constantly produce s

re air a l l the t ime . Because the ai r

cially thick, it has a

strange and u ndef inable sm el l and fee l

have visi te d

recog-ere native to that plane .

Ll . Entrance . This area is guarde d

bugbears ( AC 5 ; MV 9 " ; H D

3 + 1 ; hp 17 each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 2-8 or byweapon type ; SA surprise on 1-3 ; ALCE) . Each has a m an catcher, a battl eaxe, and three darts . They attempt t o

capture the PCs but not ki l l them . Theocean is clearly visible above this room ,

and h ere the lair may b e exited o r

entered at wi l l . The door in the southwall may be locked from either side . Ifthe bugb ears are forced to flee, theylock the door to keep PCs from en terin gthe lair . The door latch requires 3 8combined strength points to break, or athief may try to pick the lock with nor-mal chances to do so .

L2.Prison . These areas are used a straps or prison cells . The doors may b eopened from the outside but cannot be

opened from within . Fifty points ofcombined strength wi l l break one o fthese doors, but there are no aperture sfor lockpicks . The PCs are held here i fthey are brought to An cagaling as pris-oners and his charm spells fail . Anca-gal ing has n o NPC prisoners here a tthis time .

L3. Library. This room is l ined w ithwooden book shelves . An old ma n l iveshere, and his person al effects are scat-tered about the room. He is the real

Marcus Sk inscribe (AC 10 ; MV 12" ;

NPC sage (HD 8d4) ; hp 17 ; #AT 1 ; D mgby weapon type ; S 7, I 18, W 16, D 12, C11, Ch 12, Co 10 ; AL CN), who actuall ysought out the red d ragon to offer hi s

services . The sage's m ajor fields of stud y

are fauna and the supernatural, and h e

specializes in dweomercraft and dra-gonkind . He doesn't know about th e

other "Marcus Skinscribe ." Marcus wi l lnot do an ything he feels is agains tAncagaling's wishes . Otherwise, h eignores the PCs . The sage tends to ge tquite excited about things tha t interes thim (like dragons) . His primary func-t ion is reading aloud to Ancagal ing ,

which he enjoys . I f the PCs attempt t osteal any books, Marcu s runs to get th e

bugbe ars in area Ll . He doesn 't l ik ehumans or hum anoids, but puts up wit hthem for Ancagal ing 's sake . Marcu s

carries a dagger in his belt but uses i tonly to eat w ith . Because the sage is s oloyal to dragons in general , Ancagal in gdoes not bother to charm him .

Spell books, scrolls, tomes of ancien tlore, and m etal plates of inscribed tex tare scattered throughout the room . A tfirst glance, the books appear to b epriceless . However, the library is infest -

ed with bookworms (AC 2, 9 i f motion -less ; MV 12 " (3" ) ; HD 1 / 4 ; hp 2 ; #AT nil ;

Dmg ni l ; SA eats paper ; SD camouflage ;AL N), and m ost of the works ar e

ruined . Any written matter brough tinto this room has an 80% chance o fbeing attacked by 1-6 w orms . Any bookthe PCs examine has a 90% chance ofhaving been eaten .

Ten b ooks of lore are stil l useful bu tindistinguishable from the others . Eachis worth 20 gp to a sage, or 10 gp to amagic-user or a lchemist . Four inscribe dbronze plates, each weighing 50 lbs . ,may be treated as sp ell scrolls . Theplates bear the spells web, identify ,

armor, an d grease. Hidden behind on ebookcase is Barvarius ' s spell book ,

which may be found after three turns o fsearching. It is sprink led with lye t odiscourage bookworms, and any charac-ter who h andles i t with wet skin takes 1hp damage . This tome is protected bysecret page spells, making it appear t obe a collection of bad poetry . The book isalso trapped with explosive runes . Th i s

book con tains all the spells that Barva-rius can cast (see area G9) plus write,

dispel magic, explosive runes, ice storm ,

an d secret page . Several other spell s(like charm monster) have been rippe df rom the book b y Ancagal ing, and Bar-varius may accuse the PC s of doing this .

Barvarius wi l l use any m eans n ecessaryto recover his book and escape .

L4.Barracks/Storeroom . Two bug-

bears (AC 5 ; MV 9" ; HD 3 + 1 ; hp 16 ,15 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 2-8 or by weapon type ;

SA surprise on 1-3 ; AL CE) guard thi s

room . They each wield a halberd and abroad sword . The bugbears try to cap-ture intruders for Ancagal ing but w i l lkill them if necessary .

The p ersonal belongings of al l thebugbears in the lair are kept in thisroom ; PCs can find a total of 50 sp pe r

bugbear present (400 sp total) . This area

is also a storeroom . Salted carcasses o fman y creatures (mostly cattle, deer, andpigs, but a few still-clothed hum ans a swell) lie about the area, ready for eat-in g . PCs can garner enough food for 10 0people to eat in one m onth if they ca ncarry i t . Magic may be detected on thi s

mea t, as much of it is under the effect s

of a preserve spell . One of the huma ncorpses wears an iron holy symbol ; in aside pocket is a scrap of pap er with th eword "Narone " written on it . This is thecommand word for the staff of withering

found amon g Ancagal ing 's treasures in

4 4 Issue No . 8



THE WOUN DED WOR M

his la ir (room L6) . The cleric was th eson of the one who withered th e

dragon's legs ; his quest to find hi s

father obviously failed .

L5.Ethereal Trap . This room is shu twith a one-wa y door l ike the one in areaL2 . Each turn, there is a 30% chanc ethat a random minor creature from th eEthereal Random Encounter Table(Monster Manual II, page 13 8) wi l lappear ; no monster with more than 8HD wil l show u p . These monsters van-ish again after 1-10 roun ds . The magi -cal plant w hich fills the lair withbreathable air attracts these creatures .

Rather than constantly repel them ,

Ancagaling d eveloped spel ls to d ivertthem into this area . If intruders are

trapped here, so much the better .

L6. Ancagaling's Dwelling . Ancagal-ing is stretched out full length on hishoard and dominates the room . H iswings and hind legs have beendestroyed, and the rest of his body i s

covered with scars . He looks almos tpitiful — but he is not . As soon as th e

PCs a rrive, he w eaves his agile foreclaw s

in the air to cast sp ells, beginning wit heyebite. Ancagaling attem pts to contro l

the party and uses suggestions to deter

PCs from attacking him . He can use hisbreath weapon normally, if he must, an d

is allowed to decide wh en to breathe an dwhen to attack otherwise as the D Mdesires, without use of a die roll .

Ancagaling is a huge, ancient re ddragon (AC -1 ; MV 9"//24" ; HD 11 ; h p88 ; NAT 3 ; Dmg 1-8/1-8/3-30 ; SA breathweapon, spell use, fear aura uponattacking (60 ' radius) ; SD 60 ' infravis-ion, detect hidden/invisible objects with -in 80 yards, save as 22-HD monster ,

immu ne to sub dual attacks, attacker s

receive -1 to hit i f using a ir- or fire -based attacks, -1 hp/HD damage take nfrom air- or fire-based attacks ; +1 to b ehit by water- or earth-based attacks, + 1

hp/HD taken from water- or earth-basedattacks ; AL CE).

Ancagal ing ha s the spel l powers of a16th-level magic-user, as his studies andmagical experimen tation h ave gi fte d

him with superior abilities in this area .

His spells are : charm person (x 2 ), detect

magic, read magic, write, deeppockets,

forget, invisibility, scare, wizard lock ,

hold person, protection from norma l

missiles, suggestion (x 3), charm mon-

ster (x4 ), fear, airy water, fabricate ,

feeblemind, hold monster, telekinesis,

enchant an item, eyebite (x 2), limite dwish, truename, an d mass charm H eunderstands dig, preserve, wall of stone ,

move earth, and permanency, but doe s

not have these memorized when thePCs encounter him . Ancagaling canmem orize spells selectively, l ike ahum an magic-user using a spell book ;

his own s pell books, written on thic kparchment and bound by heavy m eta l

covers, lie under his treasure "bed ."Ancagal ing is also very knowledgeabl eon the subject of crafting magical items ,

but un less it directly benefits the DM 'scampaign (and An cagaling) , he shoul dnot give the PCs any such lore .

A character who falls into Ancagal-ing's power su ffers a fate rolled on theCaptured PC Events Table . Most

charmed characters are summoned backperiodically so that the dragon m a y

renew the spel l . Roll percentile dice(dlOO) to discover how each PC is affect-ed by A ncagaling 's spells .

The dragon's hoard contains 27,00 0

c p ; 744 sp, 575 ep, 1,120 gp, 326 pp, an dthe seaman Astain 's ring of w ater w alk-ing . Ancagal ing has a huge leather

flask containing a potion of extra-

healing, which he wil l bite , chew, an d

swallow if he needs it . Also in the pile isan elderwood staffof withering with 1 0charges left . The staffs comm and wordi s "Narone ." Near the center of the p il e

is a mother-of-pearl-encrusted scabbard .From this scabbard hangs a gold chai n

attached to a merman figurine made o fsolid pearl with silver decorations ,

emerald eyes, and a ruby-encrusted tai l

(worth 4,000 gp) . The sword that this

scabbard held is now in area U4 .

Also within the pi le are a few m agicai tems w hich Ancagal ing m ay use in hi s

defense if attacked . A cube offrost

resistance, eversmoking bottle, net ofentrapment, and a spear +5 are presen tbeneath the treasure, within easy gras pshould the dragon need them in a pinchNote that An cagaling can easi ly se ethrough the smoke from the eversmok-

ing bottle due to his incredible senses .

Ancagal ing 's lair is filled w ith air b ya black, leafy plant in the southwes tcorner of the room . This odd p lant growout of a brazier of hot coals and requireno maintenance . Each mon th, it pro-duces one bu d (useful in the torch ofairy water, see area G4). Because it wa s

brought to l ife through A ncagaling' s

ma gic, it will perish sh ortly after hi sdeath . The air from thes e plants sup -ports all air-breathing life in the under -sea lair .


About on e hour after Ancagaling 'sdeath, the plant which fi l ls his lair wit hair shrivels and dies, but the PCs ar e

able to recover 2-16 buds from it . After

5-8 hou rs, the air in the lair will hav ebubbled ou t, to be replaced with se awater. S inequist and Cathan wil l con-t inue to struggle for power after Anca-gal ing 's death, and the DM may w ish t o

design future adventures around thisconflict. Astain returns to h is forme r

seafaring life and may convince the PC s

to ship out with him on a voyage todistant lands .

Captured PC Events Tabl e

dlOO Even t during time of captur e

01-35 PC recovers from charm 1-10 w eeks later in a random nearby city. P C

has n o m emories of events following the encounter with Ancagal in g

except tha t he left all of his possessions b ehind for "safekeeping . "36 -55 PC is kept for mund ane service, spending 1-100 weeks in Ancagal ing's

lair . If the PC has n ot been res cued after this time, roll again for

fate during next p eriod of captivity .

56-60 PC is ambu shed, to be ki l led and eaten by Ancagal ing or his servants ;

set-up to be determined by DM .

61-65 PC is sent to coerce Catha n 's gnolls to Ancagalin g's service . *

66 -76 PC is sent to dupe NPCs into being charmed by Ancagaling .

77 -87 PC is sent to "collect " (i .e ., steal) items wh ich Ancagaling desires .* *

88-00 PC is sent to persuade a high-level cleric to cast a regenerate spell o nAncagaling . *

* When an adventure is assigned, the PC m ay be al lowed to role-play th e

affair, with possible DM intervention if a player forgets the charmed state of

his character .

** If this would offend the PC's alignment, he may save vs . spells to cast offth e charm. Ancagaling is unaw are of this sort of resistance .

DUNGEON 45



HE

FLOWER S

OF FLAM EB Y J A Y B A T I S TA

In s e a r c h o f adangerous f a i r ytale .

s

byD i e se l

An 8th-grade class in Oriental history

first enticed Jay into the mysteries of theEast. Years later, when he became a DM

Oriental lands were always in hi s

worlds, even ifthe PCs wouldn ' t gothere! Recently, Jay gave an engineering

seminar in Mexico, where he ate "polio

con sausa de Montezuma." We hope he

recovers soon .

The Flowers of Flame is an AD&D°game Oriental Adventures moduledesigned for a group of 4-8 player char-acters of levels 5-8. The party shoul dinclude a samu rai who is a jito or has apost in the provincial government, an d

a learned and respected shukenja ; ayakuza would also be helpful . Thisadventure gives the groundwork for a

new Oriental campa ign area (Tabot, th efantasy ana log for ancient Tibet) andoffers some high-level intrigue as well .

The adventure begins in Shou Lung, i nKara-Tur. Note the time of year an d

t ime l imit for the adventure, as given i nthe next section .

Adventure Background

Governor Chan Sung Yu has spent thelast few months at the capital o f ShouLung, in pursuit o f one of the Em pero r'snieces . He recently returned home i ndisgrace, banished from court for annoy -ing the Emperor. The h umil iation of hi s

disgrace so upset Governor Chan tha the ordered the execution of all hi s

attendants who witnessed the event .

In this angry state of mind, Chan isinformed that, wh ile travel ing throug h

his province, a visiting ambassador an dhis companions were caught in a stam-pede of catt le . The ambassador was

thrown in the mud , and his wi fe wa sfr ightened by a pack of hou nds tha tchased the herd . Two of the party wer einjured, and the am bassador's wifetwisted her ankle while trying to clim ba tree .

The governor, furious at this furthe r

blot on his honor, calls for the sam ura i

(a player character!) in charge of th edistrict where this fiasco occurred . Chanthen gives the samurai an impossibletask — the very task that the Em pero r

has decreed Chan mu st complete i norder to be w elcome at court again . Thesamurai mu st travel to Wu Pi Te Sh a r

Mo — the Peerless Mountains — to f indthe legendary Flowers of Flame an dbring back their seeds . The governor

ma kes it clear that he expects h is jito t ocom plete this absolutely ridiculou s

quest or die trying .

4 6 Issue No . 8



THE FLOWERS OF F LAM

The seeds are from f lowers spoken o fin tales told to ch ildren . The tales men -tion a secret valley, a beautiful paradis ewhere peop le never grow old. It is saidthat these f lowers grow and thrive onl y

within the heat of a f lame . They areboth beau ti ful and extrem ely rare ,because they die imm ediately upo nbeing removed from the f ire . The seed s

of these flowers, however, can be gath -ered and planted later in another f i re ,

recreating the aesthetic beauty of thes eexotic blooms .

The governor gives the samurai ascroll that guarantees safe passag ethrough the barbarian lands tha t l ie a tthe base of the Peer less Mountains ,

south of Shou Lung and w est of T 'uLung . He deman ds that the warr ior an dhis party leave tomorrow, the fourt h

day in the month of Ju, and retur nbefore the Dragon Boat Fest ival in th emonth of Kao I I — 90 days away . Thescroll is bound in leather, and two set sof ornate wax seals are strung to it b y

long silk r ibbons . The samurai mayrecognize the imperial seals (80 %chance) but does not know the origin ofthe other set of seals . A yakuza may us ehis connections to d iscover the origin o f

the unknown seals ; a wu jen or shuken-ja may have spe l ls that wil l dispel th emystery of the seals (see below) .

The PCs are of fered ample oppo rtuni-

ty to gather gear for the trek as the ypass through civil ized lands, and th e yare given a rudimentary map to th emost accessible slopes of the " Moun-tains that Touch the Heavens," but n oone knows an ything more about th eFlowers of F lame .

For the Dungeon Maste rThere is much m ore going on beh ind th escenes of this bizarre quest than firs tmeets the eye, as both heavenly an dearthly powers are involved . Part of th ebackground to this story can b erevealed i f a wu jen or shu kenj aresearches the matter, or if a well -connected yakuza uses his contacts inthe capital city to glean informatio n(35% chance) . I t is comm on knowledg e

that the mountainous land to the sout his called Tab ot, and it is ruled by mo nk s

( lama s) and landed nobi l ity . Centurie s

ago, the Lord of Oceans — the Hig hLama, bel ieved by h is followers to be areincarnated god on earth — took com-plete control of Tabot, establishing hi s

own government and appointing his

own spokesman, the Chi-kyap Khempo ,to represent the nobles .

Unknown to the PCs, the current Chi-kyap Khem po (also cal led the LordChamberlain) has been bribed by th e

nobility, who plan to usurp the power o fthe centuries-old Lord of Oceans . T h enobles have amassed an arm y to attackT 'u Lung an d garrison the closest citiesin the neighboring province . Their plo tis based on two solid truths : the peopleof Tabot love the Lord of Oceans , an dthey hate the inha bitants of T 'u Lung .(Of course, if the Lord of Oceans reallyis a god, the plan w ill either neatlyma nipulate this foreign power intotransferr ing the governm ent back int othe hands of the " innocent" nobility —or it will fail miserably . The nobles haveaccepted the risk . )

Unfortunately, T 'u Lung is more pow-erful militarily than Tab ot, though it s

main troops are comm itted to borde rskirmishes in the south . With a littl e

outside aid (see below), the m en of Tabo tcould hold off T ' u Lung's arm ies for afew mon ths, but the capital of T'u Lun gis too distant to conquer, and all o f

Tabot could not provide the m anpower .

Eventually, T'u Lung could bring all it smight to bear and s laughter the Tabo-tans, invading Tabot afterwards on apunishment raid .

Just before that hap pens, it is the

Lord Cham berlain ' s plan to send envoy sto the court of T ' u Lung to sue for peace ,

demanding that Tabot be established a s

a district of the T ' u Lung governmen tunder the con trol of the Tabot n obility .

He plans to send his most persuasiv eambassadors, who will imply that th einvasion was planned by the Lord o fOceans, swearing that the nobilitywould never le t such a thing happen i f

they were put in command . The Lor d

Chamberlain has collected a huge brib efrom the nob les to be given to the ruler sof T'u Lung as an exam ple of the tith-ings Tabot would pay as a province o f

their strong neighbor.T'u Lung needs the tax revenues an d

would welcome saving i ts army for mor eimportant threats . With much coaxin g

and promises of retribution from th eTabotan ambassadors, T ' u Lung m igh tagree to the plan . The Lord Cham ber -lain could then hail the agreement as a

grace from heaven, saving their countr y

f rom the savage reprisals T 'u Lung ha dundoubtedly planned . The n obilitywould replace the clergy as rulers ofTabot, hop efully without offending the

people of the coun try or implicatin ganyone in the coup, and a more definit edivision of church and state would com eabout. As for the Lord of Oceans — if heis a god, he will do as he pleases ; if he i s

a ma n, he will be able to do noth ing .

The em peror of Shou Lung secretlywelcomes the chance to influence th egovernmen t of T 'u Lung through a

powerful internal district (Tabot) and s osupports the nobles of Tabot in theirplans . He had decided to provide addi-tional manpower for the Tabotan raid sinto T ' u Lung if the nobles allow Sho uLung to place spies posing as Tab ota ndelegates in the high council of T' uLung, once the plan ha s borne fruit .Even if the plan fails, it allows th eemperor of Shou Lung to harass th eforces of T ' u Lung without causing war

,as would happen if he attacked openly .

The Lord Chamberlain was recentl yat the Shou Lung court securing troop s

to back up the Tabotan armies . Whilethe Em peror of Shou Lung w as wi l lin gto provide the troops, he was concerne dthat their movement across the borde rinto Tabot would endanger certain trea-ties between the two countr ies . Such amass m ovement of men with no visibl epurpose w ould also alert the Lord o fOceans to the p lot against him . The tw owily old politicians — emperor an dchamberlain — put their heads togethe r

and cam e up w ith a daring idea to al lo wfree movement across the border s

between Shou Lung and Tabot .

The Lord Cham berlain composed adocumen t permitting free passag eacross the borders "for all traffic neces -sary to complete the task of finding an d

retrieving the Flowers of Flame," anidea that popped into his he ad fro msome long-suppressed childhood mem -ory. The Em peror, playing along wit hthis ridiculous cover-up, gave the non-sensical task to the bothersome an dinept (but conveniently han dy) Gover-nor Chan . Mean while, court scribe s

worked night and day to produce hun-dreds of copies of the documen t, each tobe given to a compa ny of soldiers t oallow them to cross the border unde r

cover of this ridiculous que st .

No troops, howe ver, are to move befor eKao I I , which gives the Tab otan nob le st ime to prepa re their invasion . Thescroll the PCs carry is the original docu-ment drawn up by the Lord Chamber -lain . It is written in the Tab otan cour tlanguage as wel l as an indecipherabl escript, a direct translation into th e

DUNGEON 47



THE FLOWERS OF FLAME

unknowingly upset all of the abov eplans. News of the success ful recoveryof the Flowers of Flame w il l sprea d

quickly, and later documents will thusbe disregarde d by border officials . See

"Concluding the Adventure " for moreinformation .

NPC statistics: The statistics give nfor many NPCs in this adventure hav ebeen abbreviated and standardized fo r

ease of re ference . All personal statistics ,

unless otherwise noted, are assumed tobe e ither average (11) or the minimu mrequired score ( i f higher than 11); seethe table for further information . No k i

powers, special attacks or defenses,

NPC Statistics: Tabotan Encounters

Class S I W D C Ch AL

Barbarian 15 11 11 1 4 15 11 N-C N

Sushi 11 11 11 1 1 1 1 11 Variabl e

Bushi/ninja 1 1 15 11 1 4 1 1 14 LN

Kensa i 12 11 12 1 4 11 11 LN

Monk 15 1 1 15 1 5 11 1 1 LG-LN

Shukenja 1 1 11 12 1 1 11 11 L G

Sohei 13 1 1 11 1 1 11 11 LG-LN

combat bonu ses, and so forth are give nfor NPCs if such are integral to a partic-ular character of a given level (such as akensai 's imm unity to fear ) .

Travel Through Tabo t

It will take 2-7 u neventful days o nhorseback to reach the border with th e

lands of Tabot — but even be fore thePCs leave Shou Lun g, the secret agentsof Tabot are alerted . The Lord of Oceansand his loyal government in the Tabo-tan capital of Koko Nur are aware tha tthe Lord Chamberlain and the noble s

are plotting a coup . The CouncilKashag, ruled by one monk and thre elaymen w ho report directly to the Hig hLama, has m obil ized three separatearms of the government to determin e

the real pu rpose of this fa iry-tale searchinto their lands (see The Governmen t o fTabot chart) . The actual status an dstatistics of the long-lived High Lam a ,

as deity or m ortal, are le ft to the DM ' s

discretion, though they will not be need-ed for this adventure .

As the PCs travel through Tabot ,

there is a chance that they encounter

representatives of the Tabotan govern-men t, with the results l is ted below . Rollpercentile dice for each governm en tbranch when ever the PCs enter a town .

Modify the chance to encounter by

+ 15% w hen reentering any city .

The Chi-gye Le-Khung (Foreig nBureau). The PCs have a 40% chance toencounter Fore ign Bureau agents beforethe adventurers reach the m ountains .

Two or three agents (4th-leve l bushi /ninja) trail the party (90% effective) ,

fo l lowing all the way to the guard sta-t ion at the entrance to the hidden valley(encounter 6) where they accuse the PC sof being thieves, thus ruining an y

chances the adventurers have of gain-ing surprise . The chance to encounter

agents of the Fore ign Bureau on th ereturn trip is 20%, when 3 -8 4th-leve l

kensai guards attempt to arrest the PC sand con fiscate the seeds (and any trea-sure) . When the kensai, who are loyal t othe Lord of Oceans, read the PCs' docu-men ts and realize that the border wil l

be closed once the task of finding th eseeds is com pleted, they return twoseeds to the PCs and escort the party toShou Lung .

Bushi/ninja agents : AC 7 ( leather

scale ); MV 9" ; bus4/nin4 ; hp 28 each ;

#AT 1 ; Dmg by wea pon type (lon g

sword) or martial art (karate) ; AL N .

Kensai agents : AC 8 ; MV 12" ; ken4 ;

THE GOVERNMENT OF

TABOT

T h e L o r d o f Oc e a n s

IT h e Lo r d C h a m b e r l a i n

(Chi-Kyap Khempo )

IT h e N o b l e s

1Chief Ministers

(Lon Chen )

M o n a s t i c(Tse-Khor )

F o r e i g n B u r e a u(Chi-Gye Le-Khung )

T r e a s u r e r s(La-Cha)

C o u n c i l K a s h a g(1 monk, 3 laymen )

D i s t r i c t O f f i ce r s(Dzong-Pon)

1M o n k C o u n c i l

(Yig-Tsang )

M i l i t a r y O f f i c e(Mag-Chi Le-Khung )

N a t io n a l A s s e m b l y(Tsong-Du )

common tongue of Tabot . The scrollcarries Tabotan and Shou Lung im peri-al seals .

The DM should use discretion inal lowing the PCs to discover any or al lof this information . It need no t all belearned in one lump, but may b erevealed in the course of their travels ,

in conversation with local vil lagers ,

army troops, drunken diplomats, andthe l ike. Rather than playing out eac hencounter sep arate ly , general informa-t ion may be d istributed to PCs wh ocheck for rumors on the way to Tabot .

Note that i f the PCs actua l ly comp let ethe quest by the deadl ine, they wi ll

48 I ssue No . 8




hp 23 each ; #AT 3/2 ; Dmg by weapo ntype ( long sword) or m artial art (karate) ;

AL LN .

The M ag-chi Le-Khung (MilitaryOffice) . The PCs have a 10% chance t o

encounter soldiers of the Military Offic ebefore the party reaches the moun tains .

One 6th-leve l bushi comm anding 2- 5barbarian warr iors attempts to arres tthe PCs on suspicion of plotting agains tthe High Lama . If overpowered , the PC sare held in sepa rate detention cells for

three days, then re leased and hande dall their belongings . Some noble inauthority has ordered the soldiers not t ointerfere . On the return trip, the PC s

have a 20 % chance to encounter sol-diers . The sam e size force tries to arres tthe party on sight . If successfu l, all th eadventurers' possessions are confis-cated, and they are held in separat ecells for two w eeks, effectively preven t-ing them from com pleting their ques ton time . The PCs are then sentenced t ohard labor in the quarries for unspeci-f ied il legal activities — only to b ereleased two wee ks later, with all pos-sessions returned and w ithout explana-t ions for why this happened .

Bushi commander : AC 4 (chainmail ) ; MV 9" ; bush ; hp 29 ; #AT 3/2 ;

Dmg by weap on type (katana) or mar-t ia l art (karate) ; AL LN .

Barbarian warriors : AC 8 (leather ) ;

M V 1 2 " ; bar3 ; hp 24 each; #AT 1 ; Dm gby weapon type (broad sword) ; AL N .

The Dzong-Pon (District Officer) .

Before the PCs reach the moun tains ,

there is a 20% chan ce to encounter thelocal "sheriff," a 6th-level barbarian . He

follows the PCs a nd attempts to detai nthem with legal papers, threats, an d

local laws, but only succeeds in makin g

a nuisan ce of himself. If the DistrictOff icer meets the PC s on their retur n

trip (50% chance), he deputizes a poss e

of 5-8 5th-level barbarians, and the y

ride horses out to arrest the party . Theofficer can be bribed to leave the PC s

alone, but he immediately reports th e

PCs actions to the Military Office (giv-ing the soldiers + 35% to their roll t oencounter the PCs) .

Barbarian "sheriff" : AC 2 ( leather) ;

M V 1 2 " ; barb ; hp 47 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by

weapon type ( long sword) ; S 17, D 17 ;

AL N .

Barbarian deputies : AC 7 (studded

leather) ; MV 12" ; bar5 ; hp 42 each ; #AT

1 ; Dmg by w eapon type (broad sword) ;

AL N .

Of course, player reaction can avertany of these outcomes. Player charac-ters have the opportunity to learn an dbe wary of these government agents —the government structure is comm only

known, and all the PCs nee d do is as keven a peasant .

The PC s travel from their hom ethrough civil ized lands u ntil they reac hthe heavi ly guarded border betwee nTabot and Shou Lung. There, they mayconsult the crude map the governo rprovided (the DM can trace the map o fthe Peerless Mountains) and note a roadto the mountains that passes throughthree Tabotan towns — Darka, Khampo ,

and Thok — each about one day's rid efrom the next . These towns offer thecomforts of warm, dry beds, but the PC s

are sure to stand out as foreigners

there . The towns might be avoided ifthe group decides against ques tioning

the natives and the possible side-effects

of alerting the autho rities .

The land is fi l led with many peasant stoil ing in the fields and padd ies, an d

chasing herds of goats. The terrainbecomes increasingly more rugged a s

the PCs push on farther . Most peasant s

l ive in low , circular h uts of clay bricksand thatched roofs, and they dress i ndull-colored wools and pou nded leath-ers . They speak a common Tabota nlanguage with thick local accents an d

know very l itt le of the trade tongue . An

interpreter is needed for m ore thansuperficial conversation . There is a 60 %chance to find an interpreter in eac hvillage ; interpreters comm only charge10 yuan per day for their services, butwil l not leave their vi l lages .

Bushi interpreter : AC 10 ; MV 12" ;

bus2 ; hp 15; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo ntype or m artial art (kung fu) ; AL LN .

The Tabotan nobles live in two-storyhouses m ade of heavy stone and brick ,

rough-hewn beam s, and tiled roofs .

While the noblemen dress in somber-

colored silk gowns and style their hai rin jeweled knots, their women wea r

elaborate gowns and rainbow-colore dheaddresses decorated with bells an d

chimes . All children and th e ever -present lamas have shaved heads, butwarriors sport long braids and dress inmail shirts and bron ze skullcaps, often

decorated with the eye of a peacock

feather. Most nobles can understand th e

language of Shou Lung .

Pressed into the sides of hills along th eroute are m onasteries, large stone con-structions rivaling the largest castles of

Shou Lung . The lamas — w hether

monks, sohei, or shukenja — wan de r

everywhere, on the roads and through-out the towns . They provide a network ofspies for the Lord of Oceans, but they do

not report to the Council Kashag an dremain relatively aloof to the party' s

passing . The lamas, esp ecially the sohei ,

do not he sitate to attack any "foreigninvaders " if provoked . The DM shouldprovide encounters as desired .

FindingaGuide

Before entering the mountains, th eadventurers should f ind a guide . If th ePCs do n ot think to do this, the D Mshould subtly encourage them to do so .It would be easiest to find a guide i nThok, at the foot of the Peerless Moun-tains . Thok is a sm al l v il lage of goat

-herds, a single trading post, and th ehomes of three minor nobles . Thei r

manor houses form the town cente rabout a cobbled court and a sh allow ,

spring-fed well . In Thok, the adventu r-ers can sell their horses for goats orburros, and stock up on climbing tool sand supplies for the journey. The swa p

of fine horses for slower beasts of bur-den m ay rankle some of the PCs, but a s

the slopes become narrow paths to osteep and t ight for a horse, a nim blegoat or cautious pack burro will prove a

better cl imber .

No one in Thok kno ws how to find th efairy-tale valley or the Flowers of Flame ,

but all advise the PCs to get a good guide .

When the adventurers decide to hire aguide, six applicants present themselve sto the group wh en they are at the tradin g

post. The PCs, es pecially any yakuza inthe group, m ust exercise their ability t ojudge the local men and determine th ebest choice .

Guide 1 .

"My name is Chang-chub . I hav emany recom mend ations, for I am th e

best moun tain guide in these parts . Iwill not work for less than 20 tae l

per week? '

This guide increases the party' s

chance of a safe tr ip and h elps the groupmo ve quickly. Although quiet and w ise ,

he is a poor fighter . He w ill lead th eparty past the o ld shrine at encounter 1 .

Chang-chub : AC 10 ; MV 12 " ; bus l ;

hp 4 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon typ e

(katana) ; I 15, W 15 ; AL LG .

DUNGEON 49




1 large hex = 20 mile s

1 small hex = 5 mile s

Contour lines show

1,000' changes i nelevation .

Shaded areas are

mountainou sterrain .

Unshaded areas inmountains are

glaciers .

TABOT: THE "ROOF OF THE WORLD"

Guide 2 .

"I am Sakya, a poor farmer . Thi s

year has been very bad, and I need t of eed my fami ly . I have no recommen -dations, but I have l ived here a l l m y

l ife and can guide you through thes ehills . My wages are 10 tael per week ,

but we can discuss it ."

This guide is a l iabi li ty to safety an dspeed. He is nervous and awkward ,leading the party south, then west .

Each day in the moun tains, he has acumulative 5% chance of dying in a naccidental fall .

Sakya:

AC 6 (brigandine) ; MV 9" ;bus2 ; hp 11 ; #AT 1; Dmg by weapo ntype (kama and two javel ins) or mart ial

art (karate); W 7, D 7 ; AL N .

Guide 3 .

"They cal l me Tshal, and I wan tabout 18 tael a week . I have thi s

written recommen dation, and I gre wup in these mountains . "

The recomm endation is forged, and

this barbarian is a l iar . Cocksure, h ewill lead the party south and waste tw o

weeks getting them thoroughly lost .Then he w i ll steal all he can carry an d

runs away .

Tshal : AC 8 ( leather) ; MV 12" ; bar2 ;

hp 17 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon typ e

(club) ; W 6 ; AL CE .

Guide 4 .

"My nam e is Pagmotru, and I hav etraveled and traded w ith the fros tbarbarians . I want 16 tae l per wee kto lead you through the m ountains . Ihave two good recomm endations ,

including one from the own er of thi s

trading post ."

Pagmotru speaks the truth, and he ca nensure safe passage through the fros ttribes' territories . Most of the time on th etrail, he sulks — he 's only happy after agood battle! While he brings no bonuse s

to safety or speed, he will lead the p art ypast the old shrine at encounter 1 .

Pangmotru : AC 8 (leather ) ; MV 12" ;

bar3 ; hp 25 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo n

type (tetsubo); AL CN .

Guide 5 .

"My name is Gedun, and I mu st hav e18 tael a week . I studied as a m onk inthese hills, and I know them w ell . Ihave these three recommendations . "

This NPC is a bushi/ninja who i s

searching for a lost group of adventur-ers (see encounter 4). He knows there i ssafety in numb ers, and he will lead th e

PCs past the shrine (encounter 1) . He isvery quiet and watchful, always search-ing for the lost party . Three days int othe journey, he starts to lead the adven-turers in circles while he looks for th e

lost group .Gedun : AC 8 ( leather) ; MV 12" ; bus /nin4 ; hp 28 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo ntype (katana and j i tte ) or martial ar t( tae kwon do) ; AL LE .

Guide 6 .

"I am Karm apa, and I guess I nee d15 tael a week . I used to be a shep-herd, and I'd chase m y flocks acrossthe glaciers and m ountains . I kno wI 'm youn g, but I work hard — jus task anyone . "

50 Issue No. 8



THE FLOWERS OF FLAM E

While this young man has no recom-mendations, he is energetic, work s

hard, and of fers suggestions . He wi l l

lead the party past the shrine (encount-er 1) and wi l l f ind th e tunn el to th e

hidden val ley (encounter 6) immed i-ately. Cautious during battles, Karma -pa has the best chance of accompanying

the group through the entire journey .Karmapa : AC 7 (studded leather ) ;

M V 1 2 " ; bus3; hp 12 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg by

weapon type (katana) ; I 13, W 17, D 15 ;

AL LG .

All of the guides ap pear confident i ntheir choice of direction, and all wh ovisit the shrine (area 1) cut north int othe mountains. The rest take moresoutherly paths. Once into the moun-tains, the trails disappear and all th e

guides head west. All believe the quest i sridiculous, but w ill guide the pa rty a slong as the adventurers' money hold s

ou t .

Mountain Encounter s

Table 1, Mountain Encounters (see en dof module ) should be used to determin e

random encounters . Rol l percenti le dic eand check the table once each day an donce ea ch n ight. If the dice roll calls fo r

an en counter, it is best to fit it into th ejourney. A day encoun ter, for examp le ,

may h appen just as the p arty stops fo r

lunch or after a gruel ing cl imb to anarrow ledge . A nocturnal monster

might f ind the group as the PCs gathe r

twigs and bran ches for their evenin g

fire . These wandering mon sters addexcitement to the plodding toils o f

cl imb ing but aren ' t the main adventure ,

so it's best not to get carried away .

Mountain and Glacier Climbin g

The fol lowing three-step system al low s

the DM to gauge the PCs' trave l

through the Peer less Mountains .

Whether the day 's move is over moun-tain or glacier is determined b y th e

group 's location on the map and i sessentially a judgmen t cal l by the D M .

Above al l , don ' t get bogged down in"chart chasing " but ap ply the spirit o f

the rules . The purpose of this system i s

to keep the PCs m oving quickly, kee p

the gam e exciting, and test the p layers 'common sense and judgment . (Optional-ly, the DM can use var ious pages in th eWilderness Survival Guide and theDungeoneer 's Su rvival Guide that applyto mou ntain and glacier travel . )

It is assumed th at the party finishes aclimb ing turn at a s uitable restin gplace, a ledge or rock chimney, to giveshelter . The maximum a group ca nmove before collapsing from fatigue i s

two m ountain climbs, three glacier

climbs, or one mountain and one glacierclimb . Traveling with h aste (to escap epursuit) halves this m aximum move-ment . Glacier traveling is blinding ; ithurts the eyes and causes cuts fromsharp ice . Mountain climbing leads t ocold fingers and toes, and w indburn o nany exposed skin su rfaces.

Repeat the following three steps a s

many times as necessary until th egroup reaches their goal . The basechance of becoming lost is 30%, with th efollowing modifications : -28% if led b yguide 1, +20% i f led by guide 2, -15 %

for all other guides . Check for becomin glost every three moves .

Step 1 . Using tables 2 and 3 at th eend of the m odule, determine the s lopeahead and the weather for the day an d

inform the PCs .

Step 2 . Noti fy the PCs of conditions

ahead and allow them to discuss theirtravel plans . Determine the group 'stravel mode (for example, " haste, withropes, leaving anim als behind " or " w it hropes and pitons, using slow diligence " ) .

The players may opt to w ait out ba d

weather or turn b ack to look for a betterroute . The following mod ifiers app ly t odice rolls in step 3 .

Modifiers to Adjust

Climbing Safety/Distance

With ropes + 15/ - 1

With pitons +25/— 2

With animals -51— 1

With slow di ligence +30/— 2

With haste — 3 0 / — 2

Party fat igued — 2 0 / — 2

Guide 1 leads +50/+ 2

Guide 2 leads -10/— 1

Korobokuru with party* +35/+ 3

Slope adjustment see chartWeather adjustment see char tHigh altitude (above 2 5,000 ' ) — 5 / - 1Party size > 10 -31— 1

Party size > 20 — 7 / — 2

Party size > 3 5

* See encounter 2 .

- 1 2 / — 3

Step 3 . Ask one player to roll percen-ti le dice for the group 's unmodified

safety roll. Mod ify this score by th eresults of steps 1 and 2, and see tables 4and 5 at the end of the module . Tell theadventurers how the climb went, the nmake the distance roll, modify it, an d

move the party on the map . Wi th al ittle preparation, you should be able t omove yo ur players across the Peer les s

Moun tains with excitement, mom en-tum, and speed . Remem ber, it 's impor-tant to keep track of the game tim espent in crossing these m ountain s

because of the governor's dead line .

Glaciers are often eroded by the win d

into fantastic shapes, caverns, and tun-nels, forming perfect hiding places fo rnasty monsters . Travel on glaciers i sslower and demand s more attention .Use you r imagination to create a trulyepic journey for the players .

S e t E n c o u n t e r s i n t h e M o u n t a i n s

The following are set encounters in th emountains . The f i rst and sixth are th emost imp ortant, with the fourth bein g

noteworthy i f a PC ninja is present .

1 . The Shrine . Four of the guide s(numbers 1, 4, 5, and 6) lead the PCspast an ancient shrine as the grou pbegins i ts trek into the m ountains . Th e

bricks of the altar are tumb led, and th eroof leans precariously forward over th eentrance . Birds roost in the eaves an d

caw at the passing adventurers, an dgrass sprouts up b etween the floor ti les .

The shrine seems to have been aban-doned for a long time .

If a shukenja PC stops at the shrine ,

repairs the altar, and prays to th emou ntain spirits, a spirit appea rs t ohim . Al l others see on ly a br ight f lash o f

l ight sh ining from the a ltar, but th eshukenja sees a tall, copper-skinnedman with shimmering red hair . H i s

gown is em broidered with fantasti c

dragons and tangled flames . The spir itsmiles at the priest and recites th efol lowing :

"By the hand of Celestium, Bureau-crat Supreme, and by the Emperor o fHeavens, I am sent am ong you! You r

quest is ordained by above, an dthrough mortal means you havearr ived to br ing harmo ny to the land .

"To the w est l ies Fire Ring . Seek it !

Hidden in i ts misty green heart ar ethe blossoms you desire and dee pmines of pure gold . Be wings on th e

DUNGEON 5 1




wind, for a spir it hath broken th esky ' s rules ; it festers in silence an d

plots evil, and it has spaw ned a nabomination that must be wipe dclean . Beware of the f iery garden ; i t s

master has poisoned men's souls . Gowest wh ere the icelands are spl i t b ythe flames and, with the blessing o fheaven, f ind the Valley of Wings .And take ye m y thum b, luck fro mcopper forged — w ith a glyph of aname , a bott le and stopper . Open the

bottle and speak the nam e . It is writ -ten a wise m an wil l a lways tr iump hover vain and evi l vipers ."

As the sp irit recites the last few lines ,

his thumb glows red hot and falls off t oform a sm al l copper bo ttle with a tigh tstopper. On one side of the bottle is a

strange and u nrecognizable g lyph . Th e

spirit disappears in a pu ff o f smoke an d

the smell of ozone, leaving the shukenj awith the distinct impression that he h a sspoken with an im portant spirit — per-haps a dragon . None of the other adven-turers see anything bu t the bright l ight .

The spir i t cannot be attacked by an ymem ber of the party, as it is a holy

emissary from the Celestial Empero r

and s imply vanishes without a trac e

upon the fa l l o f the f irst blow . Attempt-ing to strike the spirit brings instan treprisal as the power of the attack i s

magically reflected into the attacker' s

chest! Let the PC roll his damage, the ntell him he did it to himself .

This spirit was sent by th e Celestia lEmperor to aid the PCs in defeating hi swayward minion, the fire spiri tdescribed at area G9 . The bott le ha s

been forged in the heavens and holds a nirresistible compulsion for the spiri twhose nam e it carries . Anyone whocalls out the spirit 's name can com pel itinto the bottle with the weight of th eCelestia l Empire behind the comm and .

Once inside, the spirit cannot escap e

again . The "abomination " refers to th eshukenja Ko Hung Ch o (area G4) wh ohas fallen prey to the m onster's influ-ence and become evil .

2 . The Destitute Korobokuru . On

the second day of the trip, one of th ePCs spots a short, manlike figure hig hup the m ountainside, waving his cape t ocatch their attention and rush ing dow n

the slope to overtake the party . As the

f igure approaches, it becom es obviou s

that he is not a man at all but a korobo-kuru . When he is about 100 yards awayhe collapses from hunger and weaknessunable to go an y farther. He lies on th e

ground , calling for aid in the trad in glanguage . Upon exam ination, th eadventurers find that this dwarf i scompletely destitute . He owns n othin gbut his cape and a thin, patched robe .His scrawny frame is fever ish, and hebegs for food and water. If given suste-nance, he thanks the PCs and promptlyfalls asleep . The korobokuru remain scomatose for the rest o f the day and allthe next night .

In the morning, the korobokuruawakens and asks for more food . H eexplains that he is Loni Dormarku fro mthe far south . Loni tells of becoming los

while trading with the frost tribes fo rcertain rare herbs . He expresses his

gratefulness for the PCs' f ine treatmen tand explains that he is indebted to th e

group for saving his l i fe . According tothe code of his peop le, Loni says, hemust repay his rescuers in some man-ner . It will take two day s ' rest for him tobe well enough to travel, but he claim sto be a very good guide (note his m odifi-cations to climbing safety and distance)He can tell the party the app roximat elocation of the two closest frost tribes ,

but he warns them that these tr ibes arecannibals and very dangerous . Loni ha s

never heard of a " fire ring," but he ha s

friends in a frost tribe many days' jour-ney away w ho have to ld him of a volca-no tha t l ies far to the west .

The real reason the korobokuru i s

destitute is because he recently escape d

from one of the frost tribes (encoun ter 3 )

where he is known as a ch eat and a l iar,

and there is a p rice on his head! If th eparty decides to take him along, two o fthe frost tribes will attemp t to kill all o f

them on sight for associating with Lon iDormarku . He can, however, help the mto reach the tribe far to the west, wher ehis welcome is assu red for cheating th eother two tribes . Along the way, Lon i

steals from the party if given th echance . True to his race, the korobo-kuru delights in pranks and practica l

jokes (like dropping messy food o nclimbers below) but his jokes are never

fatal . If the party arms him, he fights —but only to save himself . Once h eregains his strength, he is able to ru naway and wil l take f l ight if a batt le i s

going against the group .

Loni Dormarku : AC 8 ; MV 12" ;

5 2 Issue No. 8




bus3; hp 24 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo ntype ( i f given an y) ; S 10 ; I 14 ; W 8 ; D 16 ;C 16 ; Ch 12 ; AL CN .

3. The Frost Tribes . Rumored to b ecannibals, these warlike barbarians liv ein hidden vi l lages in the m ountains .They attack any pa rty that enters thei rterr itory (approaches w ithin 15 miles )unless the group travels with guide 4 ,who can sp eak their language and h a s

brought beads and jewelry to buy safepassage . The frost barba rians figh tvaliantly but will run from a superio r

force unless their enemy, Loni the koro-bokuru, is among the party ; then theyf ight to the d eath . Two eastern tribe swere cheated by Loni Dormarku an dhave been hu nting him for weeks . Theywil l rest only when his head hangs froma pole .

The 20 -80 tribesmen of each tribe wh oappear are short and stocky, have m at-ted hair and beards, and dress in pad-ded armor from arctic animal skins ,

rendering the men almost invisibl eagainst the snow and ice (surprise 5 in 6

t imes). The w arr iors are armed w ithclubs, spears, and stone axes . (Note :

These are no t the frost men described inthe FIEND FOLIO ® Tome . )

The northeastern tribe is ruled b y

Horj the Deadly (AC 4 ( leather); MV12 " ; bar4 ; hp 30; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo ntype ; D 16 ; AL CN ; long sword +2), a

huge brute easi ly impressed by w ealth .The sou theastern tribe is controlled b yNakar the Rider (AC 8 ( leather ) ; M V12 " ; bar3 ; hp 29 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo ntype (hand axe); AL CE) who owns agreat herd of shaggy white sheep . Thesetwo tribes know nothing of the Valley o f

Wings, but they know of the volcano t othe west .

I f the players reach the w estern fros tbarbarians in the compan y of the koro-bokuru, that tribe gives them a heroes 'welcome with a feast, wrestling per -formances, and fire-eaters. This trib ebenef i tted from the other tr ibes ' prob-

lems and encouraged the korobokuru t owreak his m ischief on their neighbors .

The village is a series of rock and snow -block huts — cold, drafty, smoky, an d

dirty — f il led w ith goats and toothles s

women . The tribe is lead by Choton th e

Cold Eater (AC 6 ( leather ) ; MV 12" ;

bar4 ; hp 38; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapo ntype (club) ; I 17, D 15 ; AL N), an ol d

patr iarch who watches and l istens mor ethan he speaks .

This tr ibe knows where the entrance

to the hidden valley may be found, bu tthe tribesmen consider the valle ycursed because none who have venture din have ever returned . Sixteen me nhave disappeared while hunting nea rthat area in the last three yea rs . Th etribesmen b elieve there is a horribl ecurse associated with the valley but wil lvery reluctantly lead the friends of Lon iDormarku to the place they seek .

4. The Dead Travelers . While climb-ing these arduous slopes, the PCs stum-ble across frozen travelers, lost anddead for some t ime . They appear to b eadventurers who came to a gruesomeend. Their clothes and persona l equip-ment are frozen to their bodies, andpossessions must be pried loose .

If Gedun the n inja (guide 5) is wit h

the group, he quietly steals an enam-eled box and a scroll from one of th ebodies, then disappears . If the PC sattempt to stop him , he fights to escape .

The box contains a small amount ofdeadly poison and two scrolls . One ofthe scrolls is written in a secret code .

Each PC wh o is not a ninja has a 15 %chance to decipher the code after 1-6hours . The second scroll contains afinely detailed drawing of a man 's face .

If there is a ninja PC in the group, h erealizes that the coded scroll contain s

the comm ands of a rival ninja clan an d

has a 70 % chance to read the scroll . Th e

text of the scroll reads as follows :"Memb er of the Tankaro family, sus-

tain our honor. The face of our enem y isfound ; his feet pass through our m oun-tains . The poison of the marrow rootshall prolong his cursed death . When ithas happened, bring his head to ador nthe pole . "

This message calls for the death of a

well-known en emy o f all ninja, T uHsein Lo, believed to be hiding in th es every mountains . Driven by con ceit, T u

Hsein Lo hunts and reveals ninja clans ,causing the do wnfall of the Kwai an d

Hojuru families. An y ninja PC wi l l hav e

heard of him but m ay not know his face .The sketch of the man 's face is recogniz-able from stories told of Tu, but a ninj aPC wi l l not have heard where he m ightbe found. It would be a pleasure as w el l

as an ho nor for a ninja of any family topresent Tu Hsein Lo 's head at the feet ofhis clan master .

Except for the items the ninja seeks ,

the dead travelers have nothing of val-ue except a few coins and som e jewelry.

If used on a we apon or in a drink, the

poison forces a victim to save vs . poiso nor else suffer the e ffects of a symbol of

pain for 2-20 turns before dying ; a suc-cessful save causes su ffering, but athalf-strength effects and doubled du ra-

t ion, though w ith eventual recovery .

5. The Dying Monk . If the PC sapproach from the east and have no tcontacted the th ird frost tribe, the ydiscover a dying m onk, freezing in asnowdri f t. His bare hands and feet arebloody stumps . He has lost much bloo d

and is frostbitten so badly that there i s

no way to save him short o f a heal spell .

The PCs can otherwise only comfor thim as he passes on . Before he dies, h e

gasps ou t the following tale :

"My name is Phags-pa, and I hav e

f led the cruelty of Ko Hun g Cho, wh ohunts my gentle people in the forest s

of Lo Chi, the Valley of Wings . F o rgenerations, my p eople lived in th erain forest and were h appy . The ncame the m en who perverted thegood mon ks of Lo Chi . Greed reign s

over the valley, and my people hid elest they be caught and forced t owork in the mines . I took this formand jo ined the hunters to learn theirsecrets, only to be cast ou t into thi s

frozen waste land by those murderers .

Beware Ko Hung Cho an d his ava-rice. Bew are the fire spirit, he o f

many nam es . My people l ie to th eeast within the val ley . Once throug hthe gate . . . find them . . . go west . . .

to the gate . . . west . . ."

The monk sh udders and transformsinto a hare . The small creature breathe s

once deeply and dies . Phags-pa's peopl eare the hengeyokai of encounter C i nthe valley . The shape-changer leavesbehind only a yel low habit and a bel tfashioned from the bark of a tree . Aspeak with dead spell yields no furthe rinformation . If saved by a heal spell orthe like (such as a w ish), the monk must

rest for two weeks before being ab le t omove again . In this case, he mu st b ecarried by the PCs b ack to his home .

6.The Gate to the V alley. Smoke ca nbe seen rising in the northwest . As th ePCs approach, a hu ge volcano (area 7 )

can be discerned in the distance. Ifguide 6 or the frost barbarians lead th e

party, the PCs travel directly to th etunnel gate at the base of the volcani c

mountain. If not, for every hour the y

DUNGEON 5 3



T H E F L OW E RS OF F L A ME

Strange writ ings, which t ime and th ewinds have eroded past any decipher-ing, are carved into the walls of th e

entrance .

This tunnel is over s ix miles long an d

-meanders up through the mountain t oopen into the hidden valley at encount-er A on the Lo Chi map . The tempera-ture gets hotter as the party movesdeeper into the moun tain, leve ling off atabout 85° F . and causing all PCs toremove th eir winter gear or suf fer a – 1penalty to "to hit " and saving throw s

from their discomfort . For every mil ethe PCs travel, ro l l on table 6, Tunn el

Encounters, for random monsters .

Though the tunnel is fairly straight, th eDM m ay introduce branches, dead ends ,etc . if he decides to d raw the en tiretunnel out. However, the tunnel shoul d

not daunt the party greatly , as the rea lmission lies beyond in the Valley o fWings .

The wa y is clear of obstructions . Anycorridors that break off from the mai ntunnel are narrow an d foreboding, an dany character investigating a s ide pas -sage encounters one of the tunnel mon-sters in its lair. As the end of the tunnelgrows near, the adventurers hear asound , a rushing chatter that gets loud-er until it can be recognized as the nois emade by thousands of birds .

Though the tropical valley rests in th emiddle of a volcano 's crater, the centra l

throat of the volcano has ceased to beactive . A num ber of smaller coneswhich put out amounts of steam an d

smoke ring the parapet of the crater ;

various earth spirits have created thi s

effect to hide and protect the valley ,

leaving the main crater floor habitabl edespite occas ional light falls of ash . Th eparapet is s l ightly over 16,000 ' abov esea level ; the entrance to the tunnel an dthe valley floor in the central crater ar e

about 9,00 0' in altitude .

Lo Chi : The Valley of Wing s

As note d earlier, statistics for the NPC s

in this adventure have been abbrevi-ated . The following notes ap ply specifi-cally to inhabitan ts of the valley .

The ru lers of the valley are lawful-evi l

in nature, and as a result are highlyorganized . The monks and kensai wear

only simple clothing with no distinctio nbetween them . Sohei wear studde d

leather armor . Monks, kensai, and sohe i

each carry a s ingle 7 ' spear ; all weapon s

specialization and w eapons of ch oic eapply to the use of the spear .

Monks, kensai, and sohei have take nproficiency with tae kwon do as well . Th e

DM sh ould assign special maneuvers t ovarious NPCs as desired (NAT 1 ; Dmg 1-8 ;

AC 8 ; Principal Attack = feet) .

Because the weapons an d martia l art s

training received b y the lawful-evi l

rulers of the Valley of Wings is so stand-ardized, the abb reviation "spear/TKD "is used to describe damage ("D m g" ) i nstatistical groups .

All slaves here are male hum ans cap-tured from local tribes and villages, an dforced to work at menial tasks . Slave s

wear on ly loincloths, and (of course) non e

search, there is a 20% cumu lativ e

chance that the ad venturers f ind th e

gate . Neither the frost barbarians no r

the koroboku ru wil l travel any farther.

They m ay await the party 's return here .

The gate is a hu ge arch, ornatelycarved with birds an d scroll ings, tha topens into a dark tunnel . The tunne l

appears to delve underneath the grea tvolcano, and the passage narrows to a

10'-wide corridor imm ediate ly insid e

the entrance . Only one set o f footprint s

(be longing to the mon k in encounter 5

above), almost drifted over with snow ,

leads out of the cavernous mouth .

54 Issue No . 8



THE FLOWERS OF FLAM E

of them are armed . Slaves have th efollowing statistics : AC 10 ; MV 9" (hob -bled by chains on feet) ; zero-leve lhuman males ; hp 1-6 (4 average) ; H ATn il ; unarmed and unarmored ; AL varia-

ble but usua lly lawful ; no possessions .

A. Gateway to Paradise . At night, a

huge stone is levered into place fro minside the val ley to block the tunne lmouth . This rock keeps monsters out o f(and slaves in) the Valley of Wings . A tdaybreak, the stone is rolled away by 2 5

slaves who then go to area F, and th eentrance is guarded by five 5th-leve l

sohei from the Lo Chi mon astery . Th ejob of tunnel guard is not very exciting ;

these guards are bored with their postand easily surprised on a 1-4 on 1d6 .

Solei guards : AC 6 ; MV 9" ; soh5 ; h p

33, 31, 30, 29, 22 ; HAT 1 ; Dmg spear /TKD .

Even before the adventurers see th el ight of the entrance, they hear th enoises of the b irds that fi ll this Shan gri-la. Not only w ild birds live in the valley ,

for the warr ior pr iests who l ive her ehave domesticated birds to aid them .

Each sohei guard has tethered a nostrich, used for transp ortation, by th emouth of the cavern . The five ostriche sare completely dom esticated and wea r

blinders, carrying up to 200 lbs . each(AC 7 ; MV 18" ; HD 3 ; hp 16, 14, 13, 13 ,10 ; HAT 1 peck or 1 kick ; Dmg 1-4 per

peck or 1-8 per kick ; AL N) . A homingpigeon (AC 8 ; MV 1"/24" ; H D 1 /4; hp 1 -2 ; HAT nil ; AL N) in a cage is brough tout from the mon astery each day an dcan be re leased to carry messages backin emergencies . Five trained herons ,

their bil ls armored with sharp m eta l

cuffs, are also leashed to the ga teway .The 4 '-tal l herons wield their metal -clad bills like sma ll sword s (AC 7 ; MV

15" ; HD 2 ; hp 15, 14, 11, 10 ; HAT 1

peck ; Dmg 1-6 ; AL N) .

Upon n oticing intruders, one sohe i

immediately releases the caged pigeo nto raise the alarm . Al l the sohei f ight t o

subdue the invaders and enslave themfor digging in th e gold m ines . (Thepigeon doesn't get far ; see encounter B . )

Once the guards are overcome, th ePCs m ay survey the val ley. A roa d

stretches off to the northwest betwee nthe ta ll, thick foliage of a trop ical rai nforest . The trees are fi l led with every

type of bird imaginable, from tiny hum-mingbirds and multicolored finches t opeacocks and fancy parrots . One type ofbird, however, is missing ; there are no

hawks or vultures, no birds of prey. Thebirds seem to be th e only wi ldl ifearound . They are friendly and easilycoaxed down to play and feed from aPC 's hand . The w arm air is fi l led w it h

the noises of these avian singers as theycrowd the vines and branch es and flut-ter through the air .

Behind the party is a steep basalt wal lrising up to a volcanic crest thousandsof feet above, a fiery ring that encircle s

this hidden valley . The sky above i sf i lled with sm oke boiling from the cra-ters around the parape t of the volcano .

At this point, guide 6 suggests tha tthe party covers its tracks by draggin gthe sohei bodies into the tunnel andmaking it look like some monste rattacked the guard post. Then theadventurers can slip off into the rai n

forest to observe this land before caus-ing more trouble. Any other guide wi llbe of no help in planning a cou rse of

action .

B. The Shan Sao . About a quarter o fa m ile down the dirt road, the partycomes u pon a large black crow that ha s

caught a pigeon . (If a mess enger pigeonwas released by the guards, it is theunlucky bird . ) The crow holds the strug-gling captive by the n eck and w ing as i twatches the PCs approach down thelane. W hile the adventurers approach ,

the crow blinds the bird with two quic k

beak thru sts, then releases it to flutteruseless ly about the roadway. With aflick of its foot-long wings, th e crowperches on a limb before the PCs an d

cocks its head to the side . "Greetings,"it rasps in a rough approximation of th ecommon tongue .

A wu jen using a detect magic spell cansense a magical aura about the creature .This bird is Bai Tso-bo, a shan sao . H e

and h is kind live in this forest . Bai hate s

the monks and warriors of the monastery ,

but he can on ly plague them by stoppin gtheir communications or stealing thei r

food and trinkets . He knows much, but is

greedy and demand s a jewel for every bi tof information .

Bai knows only a few words in th ecommon tongue . "Fol low" and "pa y

me" are his most comm only used phras-e s . The only words he h as to describ e

anything are "monks, " " dark," " fire,""green," and "pretty ." To supplementhis meager vocabu lary, the crow ges-tures and points , coaxing out answ ersfrom the PCs as in a gam e of charades .

He answers yes-or-no questions with anod or a shake of his shiny black head .

Bai can count by tapping or counting

out the num ber with cawing sounds ( forexample, "caw-caw-caw monks " meansthree monks) .

If sufficiently paid, the sh an sa o willshow the players a map of the monks 'val ley by d rawing with his beak in th edust of the road . He tries to convey th e

routine of l i fe in the valley : work in th erice paddies and herding the s laves into

NPC Statistics : Lo Chi Monastery

Class S I W D C Ch AL

Kensa i 1 2 1 1 12 1 4 11 1 1 L EMonk 1 5 1 1 15 1 5 11 1 1 L ESlave 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 11 1 1 VariableSohei 1 3 1 1 11 1 1 11 1 1 LE

DUNGEON 5 5




the m ines by day, worshiping in th epagoda and protecting the compoun d b ynight . If he is given even more jewelry ,

he wi l l lead the PC s through the wood sto the mona stery and point out th e

guards, avoiding al l other encounters .He will go no farther, but h e does kn o wtwo mo re important facts : Al l the gol d

is offered up to th e spirit in the p agoda ,and the pagoda is where strange f lower s

grow in eternal f lames . These last tw osecrets he tells are the hardest to con-vey, and the PCs as a group have only a40% chance to understand .

Bai Tso-bo, a shan sao : AC 4 ; MV6"/15" ; HD 3 ; hp 18 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1-6 ;SA disease ; SD summ on tigers , imm un eto fear ; AL CN .

C . The Hengeyokai . I f the PC s hea d

north along the wa l l of the great craterand walk for about a mi le , they round aspur of rock and come upon a sm al ltemple hem med in by the thick forest .

Inside the temple si ts an old man wh owatches the adventurers, nodding an dsmil ing as i f expecting them . Two largehares scamper out the back of the tem-ple as the PCs enter .

This old man is Notia T'ong, a 9th -level hengeyo kai wu jen with the fol low-ing spells : cloud ladder, hypnotism ,

know history, magic missile, wall offog,

hypnotic pattern, smoke shape, stinking

cloud, haste, hold person, steam breath ,

dancing blade, polymorph other, an dconjure elemental . He is the guardian o fthe hen geyokai tr ibe that l ives in thisforest and protects the temple from th e

evi l shukenja, Ko Hung Ch o, and hi s

monks . Notia T 'ong sent his son Phags-pa to learn of the ways of the mon astery(set encounter 5 in the Peerless Moun-tains) . The old m an w i ll f ight any wh oenter the tem ple with intent to disturbor destroy, and h iding in the forest ar e10 h engeyokai in hum an form, awaitin g

Notia 's cal l .

The wu jen questions the adventurers ,

nodding at each of their answers . H ewants to know their place of or ig in, th epurpose of their journey, and details o fthe trek . He compares this informatio nto the knowledge he gained from a kno w

history spell. Notia is looking for right-eous men of good manners . If he judge s

the PCs not to his l iking, he order sthem to leave or else calls his warrior s

and attacks . If he feels the PCs are o fgood appearance and presentation, h eoffers them food an d lodging for th enight . Notia knows immediately that

the PCs are not from the monastery. Hehas labored for years to keep the mon k sfrom raiding this temple, and his con-stant vigilance and m ental concentra-t ion has aged him prem aturely . He cries

if told of the death of his bra ve son .The other people of the tribe neve r

show them selves. The next morning ,

the o ld wu jen leads the PCs throughthe woods and shows them areas D andE Notia will travel no farther, his dut ybeing to his temple and his tr ibe . H e

knows only rumors of the Flowers o fFlame and almost nothing about th emonks of the Lo Chi monastery .

Notia T'ong : AC 10 or 5 (hare form) ;MV 1 2" or 18" (hare form) ; wuj9 ; hp 34 ;#AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon type (dagger) o rspells ; S 8, I 16, W 12 , D 13, C 11, C h14 ; AL LG .

Hengeyokai guards : AC 8 (leather )or 5 (hare form) ; MV 12 " or 18" (har e

f orm); bus4 ; hp 20 each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg byweapon type (katana) ; AL LG .

D . The Rice Paddies . At night, th elong house at the end of the floode d

fields stands em pty, but during the da yits roof provides shade for the guard s

that watch over the slaves who w orkknee-deep in mud . Mosquito clouds buz z

above the stagnant water of the pad -dies, and birds swoop down to raid th eseedlings . Two 7th-level monks sit atease within the w all-less building .

Interestingly, a slave oversees th eplanting, a cruel straw boss trading hi sown kind's misery for favors . This slav eis the infamous ninja-hunter Tu Hsei nLo, who was caugh t in a s lave raid som e

t ime ago . The 14 s laves in the fields ar e

those men who w ere deemed too weakfor the mines . They will run and h ide inthe forest if set free .

One or m ore of the PCs m ay recognizethe straw boss as the person mentioned

in the scrolls found with the dead trav-elers (encounter 4) . Allow a 60 % chancefor a ninja (15% for others) to recogniz ehim . A ninja can effect this man 's deathin typical ninja style if he wishes, bu tcompleting this task m ay m ean leaving

the group . Tu Hsein Lo has his ownshack, with a real bed an d good food, inthe slave compound outside the walls o fthe m onas tery. He is universallydespised . His fellow s laves hate h im ,

and the m onks find him contemptible .

Tu Hsein Lo is paran oid and w ill raisean alarm at the s lightest sound . He s itsawake late into the night, worryin gover his past and his dismal future . He

is surprised on ly on a roll of one in six .

If he does call for help, the guards tak e2-8 rounds to respond due to theirintense d islike for him .

Monk guards : AC 5 ; MV 21" ; mon7 ;

hp 21, 19 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .Tu Hsein Lo : A C 9 ; M V 1 2 " ; bush ; h p

37 ; #AT 3/2 ; Dmg by weapon typ e(spear) ; S 16, I 15, W 6, D 11, C 12 , Ch10 ; AL NE .

E. The Crossroads . Two 7 th- leve l

kensa i sit at the intersection of th emain trai l with a sma l ler path tha tleads northeast. The two kensai wea ronly loincloths an d sit perfectly stil l ,

meditating day an d night . They do no tfee l the rain 's damp or the sun 'swarmth in their silent and watchfu lvigil, and their elaborately designe d

spears lie in ceremonial fashion on th eground before them . These two warrior s

are guards of a sort, a lthough theirposit ion is m ore honorary than functional. I f they are approached by the PCs ,

the kensai grasp their weapons an d risef luidly to their feet, their rigid postur eand m enacing glares an unspoken chal-lenge to a psychic duel (see Oriental

Adventures, pages 100-101) .

Whatever the outcome of the psychi cduel, the kensai attack with thei rspears as soon as concentration is bro-ken . They use their k i powers to d omaximum damage for their first seve nstrikes .

Kensai guards : AC 7 ; MV 12" ; ken7 ;

hp 39, 36 ; #AT 3/2 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

F.The Smithy and Mines . By th eearliest l ight of da wn, four 5 th-leve l

sohei and five 6th-leve l monks lead 5 0

slaves to the ore refinery and mines .

Cracks with spear butts rule over th emotley crew of diggers, who move wit hpurposely slow and clumsy steps, seeth-ing with hatred for their captors . Theseslaves are ripe for a re volt and will figh ti f given an y weapon s . However, they

wil l not assau lt the m onastery for fearof Ko Hung Ch o, the evil shukenja wh ohas take n over the valley, and his l ieu -tenant, the sohei Mo Tsung .

Sohei guards : AC 6 ; MV 9" ; soh5 ; h p28 each; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

Monk guards : A C 6 ; M V 20 " ; mon6 ;

hp 18 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

The refinery is a wooden util ity build-ing housing the f ires and bellows fo r

puri fying the ore . A pal l of gray smok ehangs over the building, and the smel l

and noise of the m achinery drowns ou t

5 6 Issue No . 8



THE FLOWERS OF FLAM

the joy of the birds' singing . The slave swork in f ive groups of 10, each watche d

closely by an arm ed guard . One grouptends the machinery, another groupchops wood for the furnaces, and th eother three groups go down the shaftsinto the hot volcanic rock .

Beatings are frequent, and cave- in s

occur with aw ful regularity, sometime sburying two or three helpless me nunder tons of earth. When the slav epopulation d rops of f , the m onks cap-ture replacements from the frost tr ibe s

as they wander the barren m ountain shunting for meat . Ko Hung Cho con-siders the slaves lazy and raises thei rore quota w eekly, cutting back food ifthe gold isn't brought up fast enoug hto suit him . The slaves also dig for

exotic gems an d stones, though the y

are rare . Often, a slave wi l l hide th ebest stones from the m onks . Some ofthe more brazen s laves may attempt t obribe the PCs to take them out of th e

valley.

The m ines are simp le shafts fol lowin g

haphazard veins of ore through therock. At night, the shafts afford a have n

that 's warm, dry, and deserted. A nescaped slave might be h iding here

(20% chance) ; if fed by a though tful PC ,

he can give a description of the monas-

tery buildings . He knows nothing mor eand only wishes to escape and retu rn tohis own tribe . It would be an honorabl edeed to lever the boulder away from th etunnel mouth and es cort this peasan tand his fellows to freedom . . . and wha ta formidable and loyal escort throughTabot they would make !

The Lo Chi Monastery

Discipline is the lesson of Ko Hun gCho, the sohei Mo Tsung, and the h ea d

monk, Makow Tzu — the three tha ttend the Pagod a of Fire . The monks

and sohei revel in their discipline, wit hthe entire compound u p before dawn i nmeditation or p racticing ceremonies i nthe courtyard . Mo Tsun g assigns dutie s

at the m eager breakfast, served on th e

veranda of the ba rracks and often leftuntouched by fasting initiates an d

monks . As the sun r ises, the monk s

and warr iors scatter , leaving the m on-astery to see to their prescribed duties .

The m onastery comes al ive at night .

In the evening, lanterns are lit and th epractice field is filled with sohei train-

ing in their wa rr ior arts . The slavecompound and the monastery precinct s

are guarded by eight sohei who sleep i nthe barracks by day. Each evening, themonks take part in the shukenja cere-monies honoring the fire spirit . Manymonks and initiates wander the forma lgardens a t late hours, forsaking sleep incontemplation . Nighttime encounter s

are met on a 10% chance per turn in th egardens (choose a random m onk orinitiate for the en coun ter itself) .

Sohei night guards : AC 6 ; MV 9" ;soh3; hp 17 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

If guide 6 is with the ad venturers, h eadvises hiding in the jungle to observ ethe routine of the monastery. The

group's actions, of course, should b edecided by the players and must takeinto account the t ime already spent on

the journey and the PCs general level o ffatigue . Contrary to typical monas-teries , the Lo Chi stands weakest dur-ing the day, when its inhabitants ar ebusy with tasks outs ide the 3 0'-hig hstone walls . Those left behind rest ,meditate , and study throughout the daycreating a false "deserted" atmosph er eto any who might spy .

DUNGEON 5 7




G1. The Slave Compound . Emptyby day, six long buildings hudd le togeth-er behind 15 '-high wal ls of sharpene dbamboo staves. Four high platforms ,

one at each corner of the compound, ar eaccessible by rickety ladders and over -look the squalor within . Tu Hsein Lo'sprivate house is the bu i lding to the lef tas one enters the gate . The open area s

within the walls are gravel covered an dbarren . As the sun sets, the slaves ar emarched back, and food is passedthrough the gate (Tu Hsein Lo takin gthe f i rst and largest portion) . Themonks call these slaves "unbelievers "and hob ble the men with iron shackle s

as punishment . Four 3rd-level sohe i

mou nt the platforms for long vig i l s

under a smoke-clouded sky. Exhausted ,

the slaves fal l imm ediately into a dee psleep .

Sohei slave guards : AC 6 ; MV 9 " ;

soh3 ; hp 17 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

G2. The Gate and the Towers . Tw o

3rd- level mon ks armed with spear sstand guard by the gate, in shadedalcoves to ei ther side of the h eavy ,

brass-banded door. The key to unloc kthe door is held by a 4 th- level mon kwho stands on the north tower, a solidplatform overlooking the gate, w ith a

spear in his grasp and two more close a thand . He is the "gate-eye " and i s

responsible for the safety of the com-pound. Once an hou r, he walks the topof the wall, circling the compound t ocheck al l areas for trouble . A fina l

guard, a 3rd- level mon k armed w ith tw ospears, stands on the south tower. Th e

door can be unlocked and un barred fro mthe inside only (unless m agic is used) . I tis opened on ly after the "gate-eye " haslooked over those who wish to enter .

The "gate-eye" : AC 7 ; MV 18" ;

mon4 ; hp 13 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

Monk guards : AC 8 ; MV 17" ; mon3 ;

hp 10 each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .The tow ers and walls of this fortifica-

tion are made of rough-hewn volcani c

blocks, g iving the massive structure a

dirty-gray appearance u nder the cloud y

sky . Wide steps lead up to the towers .

The wa lls can be scaled, but unless th e

"gate-eye" is distracted, he has a 60 %chance (30% at night) to spot invader s

and sound the alarm .

I f the gate is opened, the PCs can se e

down the avenue between the bui lding s

to the pagoda a t the back of the fortress .

Tb the r ight of the gate is Ko Hun g

Cho's private house, and b ehind it is the

hulk of the m onastery. To the left arethe verandas o f two long, one-storybuildings .

G3. The Aviary and Stables . Eightstable doors face the south tower acros s

the p ractice field . During the day, one5th-level monk is assigned to tend th ebirds in the aviary, with two slaves o fweak d isposition to clean ou t the stall s

and collect fresh eggs for mea ls . Th efour main room s are fi lled with dom esti-cated and w ild fowl, and the secre trooms hide feed grain and fresh wate rfrom the slaves . The monk in charg ecarries a spear to k eep the slaves in lin eand a d agger to slaughter the birds .

There is food here and a few o stric hmou nts (see statistics in area A of th e

valley), but n othing else of value .Aviary keeper : AC 7 ; MV 19" ; mon5 ;

hp 16 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

G4. Ko Hung C ho's Residence . Th espiritual leader of the m onastery is th eshukenja Ko Hung Cho .

Prolonged contact with the fire spiri thas warped Ko Hung Cho 's mind andcaused him to become an evil shukenja— an abomination and outrage to th eCelestial Bureaucracy (hence, the tru epurpose of this mission : to destroy KoHung C ho an d pu nish the evi l fi re spir i tthat corrupted him) . Ko Hung Cho no wgains his spells from an unspe cified evi l

deity, an enemy of the ben evolent god s

of Kara-Tur .

Ko Hung Cho : AC 1 ; MV 9" ; shulO ;hp 58 ; #AT 1; Dm g by spell or weapo n

type ; S 17, I 14, W 12, D 16, C 17, Ch 7 ;

AL LE (once CG ) ; spells : cause light

wounds, curse, snake charm, benefi-

cence, attraction, hold person, know

motivation, snake summoning, warning,

cause blindness, prayer, cause seriou s

wounds, protection from good 10' radi-

us, slay living; 5% chance of spell fail-ure . Ko is armed with a bo staff and apoisoned sai (two uses ; save vs . poisonor take 6-36 hp damage, or 3-18 hpdamage with a saving throw), and h ewears studded leather armor and a ring

of protection + 3 .

During the da y, Ko stays closeted inhis residence, working on his spells andincantations . He has created four

undead sohei that are treated as sk ele-tons for attack purposes (AC 7 ; MV 12" ;

HD 1 ; hp 7, 6, 5 , 5 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1-6 ; AL

N) . He keeps them hidden in the bac k

rooms of his house .Fifteen years ear l ier , Ko Hu ng C ho

arr ived at the solemn m onastery as a

vagabond shuken ja carrying a hug eglass bottle strapped to his back . Th epoor and holy monks w ere then led b y

the lama Hein Chun g and h is pupi ls ,Tbipan and Makow Tzu . The Lo Ch i

mon astery was a quiet col lection ofbuildings by a small vil lage, and th e

peaceful val ley was truly a Sh angri- la .

Welcomed as a holy man, Ko Hun gCho was given the guest house for hi s

brief stay . The unsuspecting monk s

didn ' t know that the once-pure shuken-ja had been tr icked and slowly pervert-ed by the evi l spiri t who resided in th ebottle . Ages ago, the spirit had bee ntrapped in the bottle, then ab andoned ithe wilds . When Ko found the bottle ,

the spirit was desperate to escape . It

of fered him anything he desired, wit hno success . Finally, the spirit trickilypleaded : "I' ll do anything you ask, bu tplease don 't take me to the Val ley of L oChi and throw m e in the eternal flamesor I will be des troyed! "

The good shukenja of course immedi-ately set out to f ind the h idden val leyand dispose of the evil spirit he carried .

But the way was long, and the spiri tpreyed on Ko 's m ind, searching out hi s

weaknesses and describing scenes ofincomparable riches, power, and author-ity. At first, Ko listened to the s pirit t olearn ways to use this power to mor e

effectively work for good, but so on th espirit had poisoned his thoughts .

Months later, the evil being had com-pletely converted the shukenja . Stil lthey traveled on, seeking th e val ley ofLo Chi, their goal now to release th ef ire spirit into its natu ral hab itat in th eeternal flames .

The very n ight he arrived in the val-ley , Ko was an honored guest at ceremo-nies in the Pagoda of Fire, wher esparkling orange roses grew in th eeternal blue flames o f a volcanic ga s

vent. Later that night, Ko led th eunsuspecting head lama to the pagod aand freed the spirit into the flames . Th espirit brought forth his flame tigers an d

slew the good monk . In what remaine dof the night, Ko Hung Cho concocted a

charm poison, then served it to th emonks and sohei in their breakfast . Itwas a su btle potion m ade from a bit o f

Ko's blood and a very addictive drug .

Later that day, as the men lay moanin g

in deathlike pains, Ko offered them a nantidote good for one week, and he tol dthem their l ives were now h is — i f h e

died, they wo uld all die as well . Th e

5 8 Issue No. 8



THE FLOWERS OF FLAM

confused men called on their lama fo r

aid, but he was nowhere to be found .

Ko Hung C ho took control o f the mon-astery that day, and when he calle dforth the f i re spir it before the ama zedholy men, they fell to their knees an dworshiped his power . Makow Tzu wa sallowed to continue his study and teach-ing, but Toipan spoke against the evilshukenja and was placed under "housearrest?' The few good warriors wh oraised arms w ere destroyed by Ko Hun g

C ho 's magic . Over the n ext year, thelocal vi llagers were rounded up a s

slaves, and hunting began in the val ley.

The fortifications were started and, a

few years later, the mines w ere opened .

The evi l spir it began to pervert others ,l ike the sohei leader Mo Tsung, influ-encing his training and deadly ski l ls .

More and more of the men had bee nweaned f rom Ko 's blood poison and no wwil l ingly se rve the evi l spir it .

Soon, Ko Hung C ho's evi l arts wi l l

al low him to cal l forth an army o fundead mon sters to f ight for the f i respirit , and he is m ad with desire fo r

power and riches . He is devoted to th ef ire spirit and will try to destroy an ywho attempt to harass it, especially

anyone trying to catch it in a bottle !

Unless called by the fire spirit or

disturbed in some other way, Ko Hun gCho can be found studying in his hous eby day . The building is roomy, with awide veranda over looking the forma l

gardens . Secret panels open from th e

veranda onto his bed mat room an d

from the house 's central room onto th ecloset where the undead h ide . His res i-dence has spartan furnishings, wit honly a few scrolls of religious writing sand personal items to be found . Th eshuken ja, by his own decree, has al l

valuables offered up to the fire spiritand kept in the pagoda .

G5 . The Monastery. The Lo Ch imonastery is a wide, two-story buildingof somber black rock and timber . Its roofis tiled and d ecorated with iron an dcopper awnings, each carved into pat -terns and gargoyles . Gongs han g fro mthe main veranda and chimes j inglefrom the open doorways . the entiresecond floor is one large classroom .

During the day, Makow Tzu can b efound there with 10 1st-level monks an d12 young initiates . All wear loincloth s

and study their lessons intently .

Low-level monk s : AC 8 ; MV 15 " ;m o n l ; hp 2-8 each ; N A T 1 ; Dmg spear /

TKD .Initiates : AC 10 ; MV 12" ; ze ro -leve l

humans ; hp 2-5 each ; Dmg by weapo ntype (spear); AL LE .

Makow Tzu is a Master of the SouthWind wh o never carries weapons, re ly-ing on his mastery of tae kwon do . Hehas mastered a unique special maneu-ver, a flying kick that allows h im t orebound off a primary target and attac ka second target in the same round . Theprimary target can be d amaged for 2-1 6

hp or used as a springboard and leftunharmed. The second target can be upto 15' away and receives the same leve l

of damage . This ma rtial art form i squite acrobatic and often involves flip s

and twis ts in m idair (AC -2 in mot ion) .

Makow Tzu w il l not teach this maneu-ver to anyone .

Makow Tzu: A C 2 ; M V 25 " ; monll ;

hp 32 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg by m ar t ia l ar t(TKD) ; S 18, I 13, W 17, D 17 , C 13, C h

11 ; AL LE .I f aroused, Makow Tzu organizes hi s

novices and leads them in a charge . Hi s

fo l lowers respect his leadership andf ight fearlessly un til he falls . Then their

DUNGEON 59




morale drops by 10% per round until a

morale check is failed and they ru naway to hide .

The m onastery 's f irst f loor is deserte d

during the day except for an occasiona lslave sweeping (5% chance to encount-er) . Along the east w all are four identi-cal prayer chamb ers for the higher-leve lmonks, each with a sh uttered windowand a leather mat for sleeping . Th enorth door opens on steps that leaddown to the formal gardens, and th esouth door ex its onto the long fron tporch that faces the main avenue of th ecompound . Two staircases lead from th e

main room to the second floor . Sleepingmats for the novice m onks are pile dneatly against the northeast wal l . Foodis cooked in the barracks an d carrie d

over by initiates and slaves . At night ,the monks s leep in this main chamber .

The two wooden doors on the west s id e

of the room are kept locked . The smallerroom holds sacred scrolls of the mona s-tery, including m any beau tiful tapes -tr ies and paintings (worth 10-60 ch ' ieneach in civil ization), but they are larg eand awkw ard to carry . The second roo mappears em pty, but secret doors in twopanels conceal a hidden chamber tha tholds the ceremonial gowns of the mon-astery. These heavy rob es are of sil kbrocade decorated in gold thread, m ulti -colored embroidery, and jewels . Ther e

are also helmets of hammered copperwith fantastic plumes and savage ant-lers . The farthest end of this room is acloset that holds the ceremon ial wine sand offerings not yet consecrated — fou r

solid-gold trays holding gold and silve r

ingots pi led into pyram ids .The eightgowns and helm ets are worth 200 ch' ieneach, and the trays and ingots ar e

worth 800 ch ' ien per tray .

G6. The Formal Gardens . The gar -dens contain shrines and juniper bonsa i

trees forced into fantastic shape s overhundreds of years. The sparse, raked

gravel is swir led into styl ized w av epatterns, gleaming white in contrast t othe dark bulk of the monastery and th efortress wal l . During the day the gar -

dens are vacant, but this is a favorit eresting place for some of the monks andsohei in the evening (20% chan ce pe r

hour for 1-4 of either class bein gpresent ; if so, choose at random ) .

G7. The Barracks . Long and somber ,

the barracks are wrapped on three s ide s

by a 10 '-wide porch. This is a s imple,

one-story, long house with a plank roof .

The structure has no windows . The tw orooms that face the south wall are thekitchen and food stores for the com-

pound . By day, they are man ned by tw oslaves under the direction of a lam emonk . The two large rooms also haveoccupants ; four sohei sleep in the dar kof the closed room, and Ko Hun g Cho ' s

lieutenant, Mo Tsung, and his compan-ions can be foun d in the front hall prac-t icing m ental and physical exercises .The four sleeping warriors are thos ethat guard the slaves by night, and the y

sleep soundly (see area G1 for thei r

statistics) .

Mo Tsung investigates any distur-bances . He is an 8th-level sohei whoenjoys tae kwon do an d will use it an d

his spells after hurling his spe ar at thenearest foe . If called on to defend thefire spirit or his leader, Mo Tsung fight sto the death, inspiring all who see h imwith his battle lust, adding +15% t otheir morale . There are three compan-ions with him, 5th-level sohei arme d

with spears, who fo llow him into batt le .

Unless the PCs are hu ngry, the bar -racks hold nothing of value .

Lame Monk : AC 8 ; MV 6" ( lame) ;

m o n l ; hp 3 ; #AT 1 ; Dmg by weapon typ e(spear; cannot use martial arts) .

Mo Tsung : AC 3 ; MV 9" ; soh8 ; hp 41 ;

#AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD or by spell ; S

17, I 12, W 13, D 17, C 13, Ch 12 ; spell sknown : augury, curse, cause ligh t

wounds, hold person .

Sohei : AC 6 ; MV 9" ; soh5 ; hp 28 each ;

#AT 1 ; Dmg spear/TKD .

G8. The Ma ster's House . Toipan, Mo

Tsung, and their teacher, the murdere dlama Hein Ch ung, once l ived in thi s

manor h ouse, and it is believed to b e

haunted by the spirit of the missing

master. Only Toipan lives here now , ahermit within the monastery, neverleaving his shuttered rooms . The sohe i

think him mad and avoid him, bu t

sometimes the o lder monks leave foodfor him on the veranda . The house i s

roomy, and buried under the floorboard s

are weapons that the old monk has be e ncollecting over the years s ince Ko Hung

Cho came to power .The weapons are inaverage condition and include 22 knives

and 13 bamboo spears .

lbipan 's visage is ancient . He onc espoke with the now-depa rted spirit o f

Hein Chung and knows the truth abou tKo Hung C ho and his powerful fire spir-it . This truth gives him the pow er to

resist the spirit 's evil influence . Throughdeep meditation and years of learning tocontrol his internal functions, Toipan ha s

weaned h is blood of Ko's poisonous brew ,

and he awaits an opportunity to avengethe murd er of his master .

Toipan is a Master of the North W in dwho uses no weapons . He has prayed fo r

a way to u nseat the tyrant f ire spiri tand Ko Hung C ho for 15 long years . KoHung Cho ignores Toipan in his dilapi-dated house, be lieving the monk to be a

senile coward . This is the only haven oral ly the P Cs w i ll f ind inside the Lo Ch imonastery. Toipan wil l conceal PCs inhis house, although he knows nothin gmore than the history of the monas-tery's fall into disgrace and avoids thefire spirit since he was on ce attacked b y

the f lame tigers .Drawn to the noise of any f ighting i n

the courtyard, Toipan attempts to ai danyone losing a battle with Ko Hun gCho or Mo Tsung . There is a 45 %chance that the s ight of Toipan sidin gwith the PCs w i ll stop Makow Tzu an d

the monks from defending the shukenja ,

leaving only the sohei in the fray .

Toipan : AC 3 ; MV 23" ; mon9 ; hp 24 ;#AT 1 ; Dm g by m artial art (tae kwo ndo ) ; AL LG .

G9. The Pagoda of Fire . A pagoda ofpolished obsidian squats at the rear of

the compound . Elegantly f luted colum n ssupport the arches over the fou r

entrances, one black hole framed i neach of the walls . The bu ilding is ringe dwith b r i ll iant quartz letter ing se t int othe shining black rock . The building ismade of solid rock; each doorway is a

shallow landing at the top of a curlin gset of stairs leading down .

I f a shukenja exam ines the writ ings ,

he realizes that all the words are asingle name translated into man y

tongues . The name is "Karkung" — th ename of the f ire spirit — spread every -where in vain display. The glyph on th e

small copper bott le received from th espirit o f the dilapidated shrine matche sone of the translations . Each PC has apercentage chance e qual to f ive t ime shis intelligence score to m atch up th enames .

The four staircases circle down to anopen room, a 40' x 40' squar ecavern lit by a huge blue flame tha tspouts 30 ' into the air from a jagged riftin the center of the floor . Inside the

f lames are little sparkles of orange . Te nfeet in front of each entran ce is a blac k

6 0 Issue No. 8



THE FLOWERS OF FLAM

stone al tar. An enameled box stands o neach altar. Each box is of exquisiteworkman ship, engraved with designs o f

f ire dragons, and possessing a m agi c

aura .

The boxes to the north and south arenot trapped and a ppear to be very ligh tand small . They are iden tical in size ,

shape, and m arkings — all 1' square andonly 2" deep . When a PC rem oves the l i dof a box, he finds another box . The sec-ond box fits snugly into the first, bu twhen the PC pulls on the handle inset inits top, a 6" deep box pulls out! Insidethis box is another box — this one 18 "deep . Inside the third box is yet anoth erbox ; this container is difficult to pull out ,

requiring incredible strength (19 o rhigher total strength points ) . This fina lbox is 4' dee p and is filled with gold ,

silver, and gemstone offerings. When th efull box is slipped ma gically into th esmaller ones, the enameled outer box(itself a treasure) w eighs only a fe wpoun ds and is easily carried . The trea-sure inside is worth 4,000 ch'ien, and th eboxes are priceless — gifts for an emp er-or . The DM sho uld create the contents ofthe treasure trove as desired, adding a s

much va riety as possible .The other two boxes a re taller and ar e

trapped with poisoned needles . One boxholds ma gic items gathered from los tadventurers now enslaved : scrolls ofmind blank, commune with greater

spirit, and ironwood, an d a ring of fly-

ing. The other box contains a katana +2

of ancient design that possesses theabi l ity to warn i ts owner of approachin gdanger (within 60') by rattling its scab -bard (AL NG, ego 15) .

Along the four wal ls hang n ine gold -inlaid suits of armor and nine heav ymasks of gold and s ilver . All are orna-men tal and of high value, each objec tworth 120 -180 ch' ien, but they ar eunwieldy and do n ot f it into the magi cboxes. Each suit o f armor weighs 5 0

lbs ., and each mask weighs 10 lbs .

The fire spirit attacks anyone enter-ing his temple and getting within 20' ofhis fiery pit . He appears as an angry red

f laming torso w ithin the b lue f lam e saround him . He conjures two flamet igers to attack anyone in the temple .

Any character attempting to hi tKarkung has a 10% chance per round ofslipping and falling into the flaming rif tto disappear, burned to ashes. If th e

spirit seems to be los ing the batt le , he

pretends to cast a curse upon the nextone to attack him . Though this appears

to be a genuine curse, i t is meaningless .

Any PC can com mand the f ire spiritby name into the copper bottle if withi n20 ' of him . The fire spirit cries out an d

begs to be allowed his freedom , but he iscompelled by the C elestia l Heavens t oobey . Like a h owling wh irlwind, the fir espirit swirls sm aller and sm aller until itis entire ly sucked into the bott le , whichthen caps itself tightly . The bottle, whe ni t contains the spirit, is warm to thetouch .

The Flowers of Flame, resemb lin gf laming orange rosebuds, seem to growon vines that snake up from the f ire s

below . Their seeds can be ha rvested b yplucking a bloom (causing ld4 hp bur ndamage). As soon as it leaves the flame ,

the bloom turns to black ash . The cooledashes of each flower yield 2d6 smal l

black pellets, the seeds of the Flowers ofFlame . If the flame is stopped for an y

reason, the flowers all turn to ash an dfall down into the pit .

Karkung: AC -2 ; MV 9" ; HD 14 ; h p83 ; NAT 2 fists ; Dmg 4-24/4-24 ; SD + 1or better weapon to hit ; AL NE .

Karkung h as the fol lowing spel ls at hi scomm and, useable at the 7th level o f

ability and once pe r melee roun d (on espell at a time) : animate fire, fireenchantment, fire shuriken, fire rain ,

wall of fire, true sight, an d vanish .

Flame tigers : (AC 0 ; MV 12" ; HD 6 ;hp 35, 32 ; NAT 3 ; Dmg 1-4/1-4/1-6 + 1- 6

f lame damage ; SD hit only by magi c

weapons, immune to fire ; water doe s

double damage ; AL NE .

Concluding the Adventure

Outside the temple, the evil shukenj adirects his forces to set up an am bush ,f ighting to recover or avenge th e f i respirit and ham pering any escape plans .

The PCs m ust escape with the seeds an dreturn through the mountains an d

across the lands of Tabot to Shou Lung .

They can escort the s laves to freedom ifthey so desire . I f they have gathere d

some treasure, a yakuza m ight brib etheir way through Tabot to safety(assume a 10% chance of success per 10 0tael expended on bribes) .

It may be possible for the PCs to bu yback their horses at Thok, but the ymu st enter the city to do this . If theguide is brough t back alive, he part scompany h ere after being paid . How -ever, until the PCs reach S hou Lung ,

they are wanted men — sought after b y

secret agents and Tabotan soldiers . The

Tabotan nobility wants to stop the PC sfrom com pleting their task and thu s

closing the borders prematurely, andthe Lord of Oceans' men wi ll act a s

outlined in "Travel through Tabot ."Time is important as well, for th e

adventurers mu st return with the seed s

before three months have passed .

When the seeds are given to the gov-ernor and their authenticity is assure d

by a court wu jen, the governor ride s

imm ediate ly to present him self to th eEmperor and reclaim his place at court .

It will not ma tter that he did not com -plete the task himself, as it was beneathhis dignity to personally pursue th equest . The success of his loyal men ha s

the sam e effect as i f he himself had

found the Flowers of Flame . The happygovernor gives each adventurer, regard -less of birth or station, 100 ch ' ien and af ine war horse . The samurai leader ofthe group is honored by assum ing con-trol of one of the largest and most profit -able districts in the province . Any othe rPCs of honorable families are give nestates within that district .

Later, the samurai and PCs of prope r

standing are invited to Governor Ch an' s

wedding to the Emperor ' s niece . Moreimportant, the samurai receives a ninvitation to spend the M oon Festival a tthe Emp eror 's court as the guest of aminor official . The true reason for th einvitation is that the Em peror wishes t omeet the person w ho can make fa iry-tales come true . The Em peror 's polit ica l

machinations may have been thwarte dby this unkn owing and loyal warriorwho m ade the impossible happen —

truly a s ign from the heaven s that th epolitical endeavor involving Tabot wa s

worthless an d i l l-advised . The Emperoris a shrewd leader ; he was impressed b ythe feat and wi l l want to evaluate thi ssamurai with his own eyes and n ot fro mthe tongues of court, which are notori-ously full of gossip and false stories. TheMoon Festival provides a good excuse t o

invite the samurai indirectly . TheEmp eror 's personal statist ics are le ft tothe DM ' s invention ; he should obviouslybe very powerful and intell igent .

The dispersal o f h onor points fo llowsthe successful completion of the adven-ture . Of course, all the awards listed i nOriental Adventures apply to P C

actions, so if a bushi sav es the life of a

companion on the glacier, he receivesthe honor points he deserves . Additiona l

aids for awarding honor points to th echaracters appear in table 7 .

DUNGEON 61



THE FLOWERS OF FAME

Table 1 : M ountain Encounter s

dlOO Encounter s

01-10 1-2 yeti (AC 6 ; MV 15" ; HD 4+4 ; hp 22, 20 ; NAT 2; Dmg 1-6/1-6 ;

SA sque eze and chil l , paralyze with eye contact ; SD impervious

to cold ; AL N) .11-20 1 - 4 wolves (AC 7 ; MV 18" ; HD 2 +2 ; hp 14, 11, 10, 7 ; NAT 1 ; D mg

2- 5 ; AL N).

21-25 1-3 snow monkeys (as per baboons) (AC 7 ; MV 12" ; HD 1 + 1 ; h p

8, 6, 4 ; NAT 1 ; Dmg 1-4 ; SA can climb an d pick pockets as 8th -level thief; AL N) .

26-30 1 - 2 tigbanua buso (AC 4 ; MV 12" ; HD 8+2 ; hp 38, 29; NAT 3 ;Dmg 1-6/1-6/1-10 ; SA fear aura, disease ; AL CE) .

31-60 No encounter .

61-75 1 - 3 mountain goats (AC 7 ; MV 18" ; HD 3 + 1 ; hp 16 each ; NAT 1 ;

Dmg 2-16 ; SA +4 h p dam age i f charg ing ; AL N).

76-85 1-2 snow tigers (AC 6 ; MV 12" ; HD 5 +5 ; hp 29, 22 ; NAT 3 ; D m g2 - 5 / 2 - 5 / 1 - 1 0 ; SA rear claws for 2-8/2-8 ; SD surprised only on a 1 ;

AL N) .

86-95 1 - 6 bakemono (AC 6 ; MV 6 " ; HD 1-1 ; hp 1-7 each ; NAT 1 ; Dmg 1 -

6 or by weapon type ; AL CE) .96-00 1 - 2 cave kala (AC -1 ; MV 9" ; HD 8 ; hp 35, 31 ; NAT 2 ; Dmg 1-8/1 -8 ; SA pain ; AL N).

Table 2 : Slope Adjustment s

ldlOO Slope (Mountain or Glacier ) Adjust Safety Adjust Distanc e

0-10 Easy slope +5 + 2

11-30 Steep grade — —

31-60 Treacherous slope -10 - 161-85 Hand and toe holds - 20 - 3

86-97 Sh eer cliff -30 1 mile *98-00 Overhanging cl i f f -40 1 m ile*

* This set distance overrides any d istance roll . After each climb on these slopes, a1-4 ho ur rest is required .

Table 3 : Weather Adjustment s

1d6 Weather for DayAdjust MountainSafety/Distance

Adjust Glacie rSafety/Distanc e

1 Snow ; wind 20-30 mph ; high 0° F. , low 2 0° F . -20/-3 -20/- 1

2 Misty, overcast ; wind 20-30 mph ; high -10° F., low -40° F.* 0/-1 0 / 03 Sunny ; no wind ; high 25° F., low -10° F +15/+1 +10/04 Sunny ; wind 20-30 mph ; high -10° F. , low - 45 ° F .* +10/0 +15/+ 1

5 Overcast ; wind 20-30 m ph ; high 35° F., low -10° F 0 / 0 -20/- 1

6 Storm, rain, s leet ; wind 30-45 mph ; high 40° F ., low 2 0° F . -20/ — 1 -50/ — 3

* Dan ger of frostbite : 20% chance per day (Dmg 1 -2 hp, 5% chance to lose a dig it i f no gloves are worn . )

Table 4 : Mountain Climbing (1 move = 8 hours )

Modified safety R esult Distance travele d

Less than -10% Party m em ber fa lls (10 -100 hp) No m ovem ent*- 10% to 5% Party m em ber falls (2 -2 0 hp ) No m ovem ent*6% to 10% Party mem ber fa l ls (1-6 hp) 1-2 m ile s

11% to 15% Tumbles and s lips, no damage 1-4 mile s

16% to 24% Dangerous but no accidents 2-8 mile s

25% to 75% Norm al t ravel 2-12 mile s

76% to 85% Many hand- and toeholds 3-13 mile s

86% to 91% Animal paths, easy cl imbing 2-16 mile s

92% up Teamwork and stamina (optimum day) 4-22 m ile s

6 2 Issue No . 8



THE FLOWERS OF FAM E

Table 5 : Glacier Climbin g(1 move = 6 hours)

Modified safety Result Distance traveled

Party member lost in rift No movement *

Party member falls (1-10 hp) No movement *Party separated by crumbling ice floes No movement *

Dangerous travel, sinkholes 1-4 m i le s

Normal travel 2-8 m i le s

Flat terrain, easy travel 2-12 m i le s

Hard, smooth ice 3-13 m i le s

Rocky surface, sure footing 2-20 m i le s

Table 6 : Tunnel Encounter s

d100 Monsters encountere d

1-15 1- 8 bakemono (AC 6 ; MV 6" ; HD 1-1 ; hp 1-7 each, #AT 1 ; Dmg 1 -6 or by weapon type ; AL CE) .

16-25 1-10 skeletons (AC 7 ; MV 12" ; HD 1 ; hp 1-8 each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg 1 -

6 ; AL N) .


36-45 1-10 goblin rats (AC 7 ; MV 9" ; HD 3 ; hp 11-16 each ; #AT 1 ; Dmg

1-8 or by weapon type ; AL LE).

46 -54 1- 2 cave kala (AC -1; MV 9" ; HD 8 ; hp 46, 32 ; #AT 2 ; Dmg 1-8/1 -

8 ; AL N) .


70-80 1-4 giant spiders (AC 4; MV 3" *12" ; HD 4+4 ; hp 22 each ; #AT

1 ; Dmg 2-8 + poison; AL CE) .


91-00 1 common oni (AC 4 ; MV 9" ; HD 8 ; hp 43 ; #AT 2 ; Dmg 3-10/3-1 0

+ spells; AL LE) .

Table 7 : A dditional Honor-Point Awards

Award to : For Honor Point s

Each PC Successfully completing the journey + 1

Each PC Guide returned safely home + 1 /2

Sohe i Defeating warrior-priests of Lo Chi + 1

Any PC Winning psychic duel against :

—Opponent of higher level + 2

—Opponent of equal level + 1

—Opponent of lower level + 0

Any PC Losing psychic duel against :

—Opponent of higher level - 0

—Opponent of equal level - 1

—Opponent of lower level — 2

Yakuza Choosing guide 1 or 6 + 1 /2

Yakuza Choosing guide 2 or 3 -/2

Yakuza Consulting contacts and discovering + 1 /2

Ninja

true reason for quest

Eliminating Tu Hsein Lo + 2

Shukenja

(family honor increases by 1 point )

Contacting friendly spirit in shrine + 1

Any PC Commanding fire spirit into bottle + 1

Samurai Leading successful expedition + 3

(entire clan honor increases by 1 point) S

DUNGEON 63

Less than -10 %

-10% to 5 %6% to 10%

11% to 30 %31% to 70%7 1 % t o 85 %86% to 96%9 7 % u p

* Turn is spent recovering body or injured person, resting, or regrouping .



The next time your players get bored . . .

.Add these short adventures that feature the meanest, ugliest, andtoughest g iants and dragons imaginable .

Then watch your players squrm.Played as part of a

campaign or as individua l

adventures, they're

guaranteed nasty.

dungeon magazine #008

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