Dreaming Amon-Gorloth is a dungeon and wilderness adventure campaign for a party of six to ten characters, levels 1 to 9, intended for use with any old-school edition of the world’s most superlative role-playing game.
As Melqart and the Company of the Blind Seer explore the Deep Halls, I make notes and stock the dungeon. The results are given by dungeon level and wilderness area. Information for each includes necessary background information, details of encounter areas, and wandering monster tables.
I play the campaign solo, running a main character and two companions, plus an entourage of hirelings and henchmen, using Holmes Basic with Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules.
Forbidden Knowledge
If you want to explore the Deep Halls as an adventurer, stop reading here. The tunnels beyond are twisted and nightmarish. Therein lurk creatures yet unimagined, neither living nor dead but dreaming—dreaming dreams of unknown ages, ages long past, ages that never were, ages that were never meant to be. The author of this work bears no responsibility for the perils that may befall the casual explorer in the Deep Halls.
“Information about the previous culture may require research…. Information that may be learned through this method is noted in each room accompanied by the domain(s) to which it belongs: arcane, history, or religion.”
Characters may conduct research at the Magic-User’s Guild Library and the Temple Archive. While history may be learned at either institution, arcane knowledge may only be discovered at the Magic-User’s Guild Library, and information about religion only at the Temple Archive. All knowledge concerning religion is recorded in Sacred Signs.
Access to the Magic-User’s Guild Library is free for guild members. Non-members must pay 10 g.p. per day. Only devout tithers may enter the Temple Archive. A tither gives 10% of all income (usually treasure) before taxes (including the gate tax). A devout character, generally, is one who regularly attends rituals and services, but the exact definition is left to the discretion of the bishop. A rich tithe tends to encourage leniency.
Conducting Research
Every four hours of research earns one Intelligence check. When researching arcane knowledge, a successful result yields some information.
Researching information about religion, a successful Intelligence check must be followed by a Wisdom check made by a character who reads Sacred Signs. Failure means no sense can be made from the signs. Success means the character has correctly interpreted the signs. Only then is the information imparted.
A character may work up to 12 hours, but no character can have more than two successes in a single day.
Research Question
Research usually begins with a question and a choice of research institution. The research question guides the character’s line of inquiry as well as the DM’s choice of knowledge to impart. If there is no related knowledge in the domain accessible at the institution, the check fails automatically after the required period of study. The DM should inform the player that no pertinent information about the question is available.
Without a research question, a character has a 1-in-20 chance to find something interesting at the end of the research period. If successful, the character may follow the lead to continue study and earn an Intelligence check at the end of the next period.
Player Knowledge
As the culture represented in Dreaming Amon-Gorloth is derived from Egyptian and other ancient Near Eastern mythologies, players might guess some information based on their own knowledge. This is wonderful and to be encouraged.
But, because the culture here is not an exact copy of those mythologies, only through research can the character prove or disprove the player’s hunch. Thus, using real world knowledge, the player interrogates the fantasy world.
Alternatively, the DM might confirm the player’s information, if correct, or inform the player that it works differently here.
The Research Puzzle
Research is intended not as an encounter, role-playing or otherwise, but as an extended puzzle. A bit of information alone, or a couple bits together, might be a clue to help the party to overcome an obstacle or avoid disaster. Some information is only a piece of a puzzle the players put together over the course of the campaign.
The interesting part of research is puzzling out the clues. So, while the players may spend as much time as they like in this discussion, the research periods should pass with a dice roll.
Created by Thawt and revealed to the priesthood by Amon, Sacred Signs constitute a pictographic script. Similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs, each sign or glyph represents a discreet thing, action, or idea or serves to clarify another sign. Sacred Signs are carved or painted on stone, painted on papyrus, and pressed into leathery clay tablets. Those pressed into tablets are often fired, as the information they convey is intended to endure. All religious texts are written in Sacred Signs.
Learning to read and write Sacred Signs was once reserved for the clergy. Through interpretation of the signs, the priesthood leveraged the power of the temple against that of the throne. Since the rise of the Sun King, who embodies the divine power of the Solar Goddess, non-clergy are permitted to learn Sacred Signs. The temple frowns on the practice, though, and only teaches Sacred Signs to its acolytes. Temple priests are fond of saying that anyone can learn what the glyphs represent, but only one endowed with the wisdom of the Solar Goddess may correctly interpret Sacred Signs.
Characters of other classes may learn to read Sacred Signs from a sage. Non-clerics who make it known they can read Sacred Signs suffer a -1 penalty to reaction checks when dealing with any temple priest.
Sacred Signs is a written language, not a spoken one. Like any other language, learning to read and write Sacred Signs takes an added language from high intelligence.
Herein is described a sublevel of the Deep Halls, the site of our dungeon exploration in Dreaming Amon-Gorloth. Numbered encounter areas refer to the keyed map in “Keys to the Deep Halls.”
During the war, Menturoc, Ardent Champion1 of the Solar Goddess, and the Nine Companions led an assault on 132. Gate of the Inner Redoubt (5G). The assault succeeded, and the dreaming priests were vanquished. But Menturoc and the Nine Companions fell in battle, all slain except the ardent champion, who was in a state of profound unconsciousness.
Though his wounds were slight, Menturoc appeared dead. The Radiant Host entombed the comatose body in 6. Hall of Menturoc’s Tomb and interred the Nine Companions in sarcophagi in 5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions.
α2 A sour odor of offal pervades the corridor between areas 4, 5, and 6.
4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess
The odor in this room smacks the face. The opposite wall is painted with symbols around a blank central area. The symbols are pitted and cracked, as if by blunt instruments, and smeared with offal. The blank area is marked by two stonework protrusions. Before it, an open pit is filled with refuse and crawling with giant beetles, mandibles sawing.
This room was originally a shrine to the Scarab God. Before the redoubt’s storming, when victory was close at hand, Menturoc converted it to the worship of the Solar Goddess. He modified existing symbols to fit the chief divinity and mounted a lion’s head, carved from stone and gold-plated, on the northeast wall. Menturoc fixed a decanter of endless water within the lion’s head to make a fountain. Digging through the floor, he built a bath, where the faithful might cleanse themselves.
Returning after the war, the dreaming priests desecrated the shrine and removed the lion’s head fountain. Not taking the time to reconsecrate the shrine to the Scarab God, they now use this room to keep bombardier beetles3. Adepts dump the priests’ organic waste into the former bath. They sometimes lead a few beetles out of the level. The beetles then roam the Deep Halls until they find their way back to the feed trough.
Inspection of the mural reveals many scarab symbols showing through fading over-painted areas.
Bombardier Beetles (3-12)
The beetles stay in the pit unless lured out. If they are disturbed in any way, or if a light source remains for more than two turns without a feeding, they release a defensive cloud of noxious gas with an explosive noise.
Common Knowledge:
The scarab is a heretical symbol, for it was thought to push up the sun each morning—a task reserved for the Solar Goddess.
Research:
The scarab is the symbol of a god who represented the rising sun and the daily renewal of life in the Amwan Culture (religion).
5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions
Stinking offal is piled high just inside the door. Beyond, nine open sarcophagi line the walls of the room. The lids are on the floor, some broken.
After removing the heads from their corpses, the dreaming priests animated the Nine Companions, who now roam the Deep Halls in search of their skulls. (See 2. Reliquary, 2A.) Now, adepts use this room to store refuse that will be fed to the beetles in 4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess.
Other than refuse in the near sarcophagi, all are empty.
Refuse Heap: Searching through the offal may reveal the following items (50% chance per turn).
Treasure (d6)
1-3
Pouch containing 50 c.p.
4-5
Gem (10 g.p.)
6
Scarab, faience (25 g.p.)
6. Hall of Menturoc’s Tomb
Murals on the north and south walls, stretching into darkness, depict ibises, papyrus plants, tablets and styluses, apes, and moon discs. In the middle of the hall, a stairway descends.
On the other side of the stair well, an anthropoid sarcophagus rests on a 10' × 6' dais, 1' high. The sarcophagus is 8' × 5' and 5' high. Carved from limestone, its cover depicts a male figure in armor and headdress, a sword upon its breast.
Each door in this room is framed by a carved motif of repeated symbols.
East Door: Ibises.
North Door: Tablets.
South Door: Styluses.
The murals continue on the walls of the west corridors, wrapping around the ends and coming back, to meet at the wall behind the sarcophagus, which hides the painting’s lower portion. On that wall, just above where the sarcophagus meets it, is the symbol of a tablet and stylus above an inscription in Sacred Signs [described later].
A TOOL TO REMEMBER A TOOL TO FORGET
Menturoc’s Tomb
The sarcophagus rests against the far wall between the west corridors. It’s three exposed sides bare the following decoration.
East
An inscription:
ARDENT CHAMPION OF THE SOLAR GODDESS MENTUROC
North
Another inscription:
MENTUROC
VANQUISHER OF THOSE WHO DREAM BUILDER OF THE FOUNTAIN SHRINE
FELL IN THE STORMING OF THE INNER REDOUBT
THE SOLAR GODDESS SHINES FOREVER ON THE SUN KING
South
Representation of a door, 5' × 3', carved and painted with images of a warrior wielding a sword, confronting enemies. Vanquished foes lay beneath his feet. The door is framed by a series of ram-headed humanoids with long, curling tongues extended.
Formerly a shrine to Thawt, god of wisdom, writing, and magic, this hall now houses Menturoc’s tomb, constructed by the Radiant Host.
Some time after the Radiant Host’s departure, a dreaming mage known as “the Renegade” reentered the Deep Halls. Discovering Menturoc’s comatose state, the Renegade spoke to the ardent champion in dream. The two agreed that Menturoc should remain entombed until the time is advantageous to take on the dreaming priests again.
Door to Dreams: The Renegade set a dweomer upon the tomb. Touching the false door triggers a sleep spell. In that way, Menturoc may speak with any visitors. See Menturoc’s Quest, below. The spell effects all creatures within the hall.
Menturoc’s Quest
Any characters who sleep or otherwise fall unconscious in this room slip into a dream. As the dream begins, the characters are lying on the floor in the same position as when they went to sleep. Looking around, they can see everything in the chamber, except any waking characters—that is, any creature not dreaming. Though there is no light, they can see anything within line of sight, as if physical objects are illuminated from within. They hear a hissing noise and a slither as a giant snake enters from the southern west corridor.
Dreaming characters have all equipment and resources, including hit points and spells, as at the moment of sleep. They can perform any action, as normal, but may interact only with other dreaming creatures.
Waking characters do not see into the dream. In the waking world, their dreaming companions are sound asleep. They may of course rouse their companions in the usual way. But events in dream happen quickly; play out the full encounter before the characters wake.
Upon waking, any character who took damage or cast spells in the dream must make a save vs. Death Ray. Success indicates any damage is ephemeral and any spells cast are remembered. Failure means any damage manifests in the physical body as the character wakes, and any spells cast in the dream are forgotten.
Any other resources expended in the dream, such as ammunition or oil, are present.
The states waking and dreaming are fully explained later.
Snake, Rock Python (1)
The dreaming priests discovered the sleeping trap and put a dream guard in the hall. The giant snake attacks any dreaming characters. In the first round of combat, the ardent champion exits the tomb, ducking through the door. He is armored and fights with a sword, attacking the snake in the second round.
Dreaming Ardent Champion, Menturoc
After the combat, Menturoc addresses any dreaming characters:
“If you will defeat the dreaming priests, cleanse the defiled shrine and reconsecrate it to the Solar Goddess. For it will then serve as a haven for those worthy of its protection.”
After delivering the quest, Menturoc dispells the sleep spell with his sword, a holy sword +5, and the characters wake only moments after having fallen asleep.
To complete Menturoc’s quest, the PCs must rid 4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess of the beetles and remove all refuse. A cleric of the Solar Goddess must then perform a consecration ritual. But first, the PCs must restore the lion’s head fountain, which is in 17. Pit of Heavy Hearts.
Opening the Tomb
The sarcophagus cover and its seam bare no marks or any other indication that the tomb has ever been opened. The 8' × 5' lid with the anthropoid relief, is 1' thick. It weighs three tonnes. To the DM to adjudicate attempts to remove the cover or break through it. The dreaming priests used a passwall spell (cast by a dreaming mage) to enter and remove all grave goods, including Menturoc’s armor and sword.
Common Knowledge:
Demons are commonly depicted as humanoids with animal heads and out-stuck tongues.
Often depicted on tombs, a false door is the means by which the soul departs on its journey to the underworld.
Research:
Demons guard a series of gates through which a soul must travel to the underworld (religion).
Thawt, inventor of the tablet and stylus, presented them to Amon, who said, “Thawt, with the stylus, man writes memories on the tablet and forgets them” (religion).
7. Forgotten Archive
Threadbare rags and broken pottery litter the floor.
Here, the dreaming priests discard useless items that cannot be fed to the beetles. The clay is shards of tablets and a broken cup. The few visible glyphs on the shards are too fragmented to be deciphered. The inside of the cup is stained dark green.
8. Workshop
Three large bowls on the floor are filled with water and clay. Hanging from a wooden rack, a couple of filled linen sacks drip water. Two small mallets lay next to several damp clay tablets on a wooden table.
In the west end, carved into the wall, a human male figure with an ibis head stands eight feet high. He holds a tablet in one hand. The other hand rests on the mounting frame of a lever, which resembles a stylus and protrudes from the wall at an upright angle.
The dreaming priests recycle unfired clay tablets in this room.
Thawt’s Lever: Pulling the lever has two effects: One, the character who pulls the lever forgets everything that happened in the last 24 hours. No memories remain, including all spells, clerical or magical, acquired during that time. Two, any objects or creatures in 7. Forgotten Archive are teleported to 143. Labyrinth of Forgotten Dreams.
Sometimes, in their interpretation of the channeled dreams of Amon-Gorloth, its priests make errors. To rid themselves of any unfortunate manifestations as well as purge their memory of the error, a priest places the artifacts in 7. Forgotten Archive then pulls this lever.
Thawt’s Lever of Forgetfulness
Wandering Monsters
Wandering monsters on this level are Dreaming Priests, adepts (1-3), from level 4D on an errand.
Wandering Monsters, Level 2B (2d4)
2
To dispose of an item in 7. Forgotten Archive
3-4
To haul refuse to 5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions
5-6
To feed the beetles in 4. Shrine of the Solar Goddess
7-8
To fetch tablets in 8. Workshop
1 An “ardent” is a paladin; a champion is 7th-level.
2 I use lower-case Greek letters to denote details within a level but outside encounter areas. I’m not sure that I’ll put them on the keyed map.
3 Given the bombardier beetle’s description in Blackmoor (OD&D Supplement II, 18), I assume its appellation is an alias for dung beetle, a species in the subfamily Scarabaeinae. In Egyptian mythology, the Scarabaeus sacer, or sacred scarab, is associated with the rising sun.
Herein is described a sublevel of the Deep Halls, the site of our dungeon exploration in Dreaming Amon-Gorloth. Numbered encounter areas refer to the keyed map in “Keys to the Deep Halls.”
A century ago, after the war in which the Radiant Host eradicated the dreaming priests, the nomarch ordered the entrances to the Deep Halls blocked. Departing troops broke the lintel and provoked a cave in, which barricaded the entrance under rubble. To further discourage entry, the nomarch had engraved a warning message on the cliff face. The dreaming priests, on their inevitable return, made a way through the rubble. They left the message intact.
1. Entrance
A spur of the track leads to a level yard of packed dirt. Beyond it, a hill rises in an abrupt slope. A narrow passage opens in the hillside, dark, like an empty eye. On the ground, a long, carved stone, broken in three, edges the entry, which is shored up by a wooden beam on two posts. Outside to the left, in the face of a rock cliff, is carved an inscription:
DANGEROUS DUNGEON DO NOT ENTER
Inspecting the broken rock at the entry, characters may note the following:
It is a lintel carved from granite.
The lintel bears a maker’s mark: the silhouette of a stepped pyramid.
(Dwarves only) The lintel’s exposed breaks and the inscription on the cliff face are the same age, several decades old and much younger than the lintel itself.
Through the doorway, the corridor is 15' wide. The barrel-vaulted ceiling is 10' high. On either side, murals, painted in once-bright hues, depict hyena-headed humanoids dancing, naked, in two rows, above and below a wavy line. Below the line, the humanoids all face down the corridor southwest. Above the line, they face the opposite direction, northeast.
Mural with Hyena-Headed Humanoids and Moon-Disc Motif.
The murals are trimmed at top and bottom in a moon-disc motif. The bottom edge shows the moon’s waning phases, from full to new. The top edge shows the waxing phases, from new to full.
North Wall: A small stone, painted dark within a lower half-moon, opens the secret door when pressed.
Common Knowledge and Research
Information that is commonly known among the general populace, given under the heading Common Knowledge, should be given out as characters interact with the environment. Common knowledge often concerns the present culture.
Information about the previous culture may require research. I’m working on a simple system for use when PCs conduct research in the base town at the temple archive and the magic-user’s guild library. Information that may be learned through this method is noted in each room accompanied by the domain(s) to which it belongs: arcane, history, or religion.
Common Knowledge:
Hyena-headed humanoid figures escort the soul of the dead to the underworld and back to the world of the living, where it is reborn.
The soul’s journey is completed in a day.
Research:
In contemporary writings, the Amwan Culture refers to that of the peoples who lived during the time of Amon. (See “the Myth of Amon-Gorloth.”)
In the Amwan Culture, the soul travels to the underworld and returns in one month (religion).
The Amwan Culture divides a lunar cycle into 12 phases, with five phases between each full and new moon (arcane, religion).1
2. Reliquary
A flame burns in a rough-hewn depression in a central floor stone. It casts light in a 15' radius to fill the room. Fashioned in the north and west walls are twelve niches, six in each wall, at chest height. In nine of them, a skull is set, upside down.
Torches, lanterns, and light and continual light spells do not shed light in this room.
Upon reinvesting the dungeon, the dreaming priests found the decaying remains of the Nine Companions who fought aside the Ardent Champion Menturoc in the redoubt’s storming. The priests removed the heads, boiled them to remove remaining flesh, and mounted them upside down in niches.
They carved the depression in the central stone, cast continual darkness on the stone, and bid a fire kobold [described later] to protect the skulls.
Continual light cast on the central stone dispells the continual darkness.
If any skull is disturbed, the fire kobold extinguishes itself, leaving the room in darkness. The kobold then causes mayhem in its invisible state.
Fire Kobold (1)
Common Knowledge:
Decapitation prevents the soul’s return from the underworld.
Turning its skull upside down prevents the soul’s rest.
3. Grand Entry Hall
The dimensions of this chamber are lost beyond torchlight. Footfalls echo off unseen walls. Just within range of illumination, a wide central column, engraved and painted, reaches into the darkness.
Out of sight, two more columns in a line beyond the first support the vaulted ceiling 90' up. Painted engravings on each column show lunar phases and a symbol on the near and far sides. They also show, wrapping around the column, various scenes with human and non-human figures.
First Column
Lunar Phases (Near/Far)
Symbol
Scenes
Full
Ankh
Human figures, male and female, adult and child, in common tasks, such as sowing grain, baking bread, picking flowers, catching fish.
Full
Second Column
Lunar Phases (Near/Far)
Symbol
Scenes
Greater Waning Gibbous1
Eye
Hyena-headed humanoid figures dancing (as in corridor 1. Entrance).
Greater Waxing Gibbous1
Third Column
Lunar Phases (Near/Far)
Symbol
Scenes
Lesser Waning Gibbous1
Scales
Large hyena-headed figure, this one human male wearing a kilt, weighs a heart on a scale against a feather. A smaller human figure stands in a boat. Other human figures, still smaller, walk through a gate. Another small figure hangs above the open jaws of a crocodile head atop a lion body.
Lesser Waxing Gibbous1
West Door: Crude scratches shape the form of a scarab beetle on this door. Smell of offal.
South Door: Skillfully engraved into this door and embellished with inlaid silver is a glyph in the form of two diamonds, one inside the other. Close inspection of the door reveals a faint odor of lavender and ammonia.
Hartshorn Gas: When the south door is opened, gas spews from above. It smells of lavender and ammonia. Any characters in the doorway must save vs. Poison (+4 on the dice) or die. Dreaming characters within 20' must save vs. Spells or wake. [The states dreaming and waking are explained later.]
Wandering Monsters
Wandering Monsters, Level 2A (2d4)
2
Dreaming Priests, adepts (1-3)
3
Bombardier Beetles (2-5)
4
Gnomes, trading caravan (6-36)
5
Gnolls (1-3)
6
Goblins (2-12)
7
Orcs (2-8)
8
Harpies (1)
1 In our world, we generally describe eight lunar phases, with three phases between new and full moons. In naming the additional phases, I split each gibbous and crescent phase in two and add prefixes lesser and greater.
A narrow band of craggy rocks breaks through the semiarid plain to form the foothills of the northern mountains. Scattered throughout, heaps of lose stones appear to have been piled high by giant hands.
Tender grasses and thorny scrub brush push up between rocks. Orb-weaver spiders stretch webs between the brush. Feral goats, escaped from plains herders, crop the grasses to the root and trim the lower leaves of the thick-branched lentisk trees that block passage through narrow ravines.
An old cart track runs northwest out of town. Apart from the Radiant Host, which patrols the border of the Shunned Cairns, few tread its path.
Stela
About three miles from town, a granite stela rises above a briar thicket in the middle of the track. The brush is cleared away from the stela’s near side coming from town. Breaking through the thicket, PCs may examine the other sides.
South: Interdiction
West: History
North: Sigil
East: Commemoration
Traces in the dust circumvent the thicket to rejoin the track opposite the stela.
Interdiction
On the stela’s near side, the nomarch’s seal is carved above an epigraph in the glyphic script of the common language:
FORBIDDEN NONE SHALL PASS BEYOND THIS MARK
Below the inscription is engraved the Resplendent Medallion, the Great Seal of the Sun King, which lends the weight of the monarch’s authority to the nomarch’s edict.
History
IN THE TWELFTH YEAR OF HIS REIGN THE SUN KING AKHOTAHN CAME FORTH AT THE HEAD OF THE RADIANT HOST
THE SUN KING ANNIHILATED AN EVIL CULT IN A WAR THAT LASTED THREE MOONS
THE SUN KING LAID LOW THOSE WHO DREAM
NINE HUNDRED MERCENARIES WHO FOUGHT FOR THE CULT WERE CAPTURED AND BEHEADED
ALL OTHERS WERE OUTLAWED
THE SOLAR GODDESS SHINES FOREVER ON THE SUN KING
Sigil
Facing the Shunned Cairns, the stela’s north side bares a symbol in the form of an open eye beneath an inscription:
NO DREAMER SHALL APPROACH
Detect magic reveals the eye to have an aura of protection.
Commemoration
THE SUN KING RELINQUISHES TO THE WEIGHER OF HEARTS THOSE WARRIORS OF THE RADIANT HOST FALLEN IN BATTLE
THE SUN KING HONORS THE ARDENT CHAMPION MENTUROC AND THE NINE COMPANIONS WHO FELL IN THE STORMING OF THE INNER REDOUBT
Outlaw Hideouts
A band of outlaws scrounges a living within the Shunned Cairns. The outlaws move frequently, holing up in numerous remote locations. They hunt feral goats and raid demi-human trading caravans, who travel to and from the town and the Deep Halls.
Faneforlorn
Where the Shunned Cairns climb into the mountains, a stonework barbican projects from the base of a cliff. Behind it, a dwarf clan carved homes from a series of natural caves and set up workshops in the larger caverns. Over the centuries of their habitation, the dwarves have left no surface unchiseled, for they are skilled stonemasons and sculptors. The dwarves sometimes take commissions for work in the town, but they are hesitant to interact with the human community. The clan symbol and maker’s mark is the silhouette of a step pyramid.
The Deep Halls
A couple miles after the stela, the track leads by a dark opening in a hillside. This is the main entrance to the Deep Halls (Level 2A). Atop the hill, about 200 yards west, is a secondary entrance (Level 1B).
Upstream Egress
A half mile southeast of the Deep Halls is a narrow gorge. One side suffered a landslide some long time ago. Obstructed by the escarpment, where a tangled copse of lentisk trees now hold the scree, a narrow tunnel winds down to the subterranean river that flows into the Deep Halls. The exit is not discernible from the exterior. It must first be dug out from the inside.
Wilderness Encounters
On or off the track within the Shunned Cairns, roll a 6-sided dice in the morning and the evening. A 6 result indicates a wilderness encounter. The Radiant Host, marked with an asterisk (*), is encountered only on the town side of the stela.
Wilderness Encounter Table: The Shunned Cairns, Track (2d4)
2
Dwarves (3-18)
3
Radiant Host (20)*
4
Elves (2-12)
5
Outlaws (4-16)
6
Gnomes (6-36)
7
Gnolls (2-12)
8
Trolls (1-2)
Wilderness Encounter Table: The Shunned Cairns, Off-Track (2d4)
2
Outlaw hideout, occupied (60)
3
Outlaw hideout, unoccupied
4
Outlaws, hunting party (3-12)
5
Giant Centipedes (2-5)
6
Cockatrice (1)
7
Gnolls (2-12)
8
Trolls (1-2)
Dwarves:1
Stonemason work crew from Faneforlorn.
Avoid contact with humans.
Radiant Host:
Patrol of soldiers (chain mail and sword) led by a warrior (2nd-level fighter).
Patrol does not go beyond the stela.
Leader warns any citizens (all humans are citizens) headed toward the Shunned Cairns that entry into the territory is forbidden.
Penalty is one year of indentured servitude.
Patrol arrests any citizens coming out of the Cairns and takes them before the nomarch.
Elves:1
Reconnaissance patrol from elf-land (northeastern forest).
Elves monitor activity in the Shunned Cairns.
Parley with travelers to discover news.
Gnomes:1
Trading caravan from the northern mountains, pushing carts, makes stops at the Deep Halls and the town.
One cart for every six gnomes.
All wear chain mail, armed with light crossbow and war hammer.
Leader 2nd to 7th level.
These gnomes are metal smiths.
All goods (fine metalworks and jewelry) are hidden and trapped.
Gnolls:
Attack any party using hit and run tactics.
Trolls:
Hunt on the trail when hungry.
Outlaws:
Treat as bandits.
Raiding party:
Attacks weaker, treasure laden parties, from ambush.
Otherwise, surveys from hidden position.
Hunting party:
Avoids confrontation.
If party carries wealth, outlaws survey movement while reinforcements arrive.
Outlaw Hideout:
Outlaws move frequently, staying not more than 10 days in a place.
Move hideout whenever discovered.
Take care to remove evidence of occupation when leaving.
Occupied:
60 bandits.
Plus 15 non-combatant females and 25 children (100 total).
Live under rocky overhangs and in temporary, make-shift tents.
Make small cooking fires in pits.
Unoccupied:
1 in 6 chance to discover a discarded burnt branch, other burn mark, or forgotten bit of human detritus.
Otherwise, only evidence of occupation is small fire pits covered by stones.
Stela on the Old Cart Track into the Shunned Cairns.
1 I am considering ancient Near Eastern variants for demi-humans. They may not stray far from their special abilities given in Holmes, but their culture and appearance should not be medieval European.
Urgent cries in distant dark. Dying echoes, fading into empty space. A spark—a flash of light, flickering orange. Columns rise high above, stabbing gloomy shade. Tunnels twisting out of sight.
Stumbling, lost, behind lumbering figures, purple-cloaked. Under arch, stepping down. Between close walls, beneath heavy vault, cauldrons crouch on red coals. Chanting priests raise green goblets to a shadowed image. All eyes are closed…
Many are troubled by such nightmares. Some wake, seeking respite. Some lie yet in fitful sleep. Those who talk about them report the nightmares always end with a vision of the Sign of the Oneiromancer.
A glyph in the form of two diamonds, one inside the other, marks the entrance to this public house. Until recently, it was a quiet establishment, doing enough business but not over crowded. Since the nightmares began, townsfolk come here, seeking solace. They share their dreams and quench their fears in barley beer. Some stay through the night, when they can’t bear to surrender consciousness to the horror.
The Sign of the Oneiromancer is an inn, where adventurers can rest between expeditions. In its upper rooms, characters may sleep in relative comfort and safety. In its ground floor entertainment hall, they may restore themselves, meet prospective hirelings, and gather and spread rumors, true or false, about the nearby dungeon.
Oil lamps cast a yellow glow in the long, low hall. Wooden rafters support mud brick construction. Plaster walls bare painted scenes of the Solar Goddess on one side and the Sun King on the other. The warm, still air is filled with scents of citrus and flowers and fresh baked bread.
Patrons crowd around low tables, sitting on floor cushions. Some, in pairs or groups, play games: senet, mehen, and hounds and jackals.
Others share a meal. They eat with their fingers: grilled fowl, glistening with grease, roasted vegetables and green scallions, and date cakes drenched in honey. With long knives, they cut thick slices from hot loaves of wheat bread. They drink beer from ceramic cups and talk in subdued tones and close whispers.
At the hall’s far end, a harpist plucks a languid tune. A trio of dancers bestows lily flower collars to new comers and offers a dance in exchange for coin.
Background
At campaign start, player characters who live in town, or who have spent a night there, are troubled by the nightmares. All PCs are familiar with the Myth of Amon-Gorloth, and they are aware of the following legend. In addition, each PC might begin play knowing one rumor from the table below. Otherwise, rumors may be learned through interaction with townsfolk.
Legend of the Dreaming Priests
Long ago, evil cultists, called the “dreaming priests,” built a dungeon in the Shunned Cairns. The dungeon is known as the Deep Halls, and within its depths, they sought to revive a long dead god, until the Sun King’s Radiant Host destroyed the cult. Details of the story are lost to history, for to talk about the priests is to wake them from dream.
Rumors
The following rumors circulate in town and especially at the Sign of the Oneiromancer. Some of them are true.
Rumor Table (d12)
1.
Some folks don’t talk about it, but everyone in town is having these dark dreams.
2.
An old track leading northwest into the Shunned Cairns goes to the Deep Halls.
3.
The Deep Halls are like a maze: once you get in, you can’t get out.
4.
Getting out of the Deep Halls is easy; just keep right.
5.
The Radiant Host vanquished the dreaming priests in a war a hundred years ago.
6.
Since the war, it is forbidden by the Sun King’s decree to enter the Shunned Cairns.
7.
Now the dreaming priests have come back as walking dead.
8.
In the Deep Halls, the ever-flowing waters of a fountain shrine to the Solar Goddess heal the wounded and cure the sick.
9.
Demi-humans are known to traverse the Shunned Cairns.
10.
A dreaming priest once wielded a powerful magic staff, but after he was defeated, the staff was never found.
11.
An old hag, hunched and grumbling, is sometimes seen hobbling along the streets at night on a cane.
12.
Outlaws in the Shunned Cairns waylay travelers and raid unguarded sites.
In “Channeling Amon-Gorloth,” we took a first look at what we can divine from the map god’s text. Now, I want to mine the sleeping god’s name for clues to its mythology. Here we deconstruct the name, and drawing inspiration from the constituent parts, we make the myth.
Deconstructing Amon-Gorloth
Amon, from Egyptian mythology, is god of air, fertility, and the creative spark. The name means “invisible” or “the hidden one.” Amon began as a tutelary god, protecting a city and its region. The Egyptian Amon later merged with Ra to become Amon-Ra, chief god of the pantheon.1, 2, 3
Gor appears in ancient Armenia and India. According to baby name websites, Gor has various meanings: “shout, attack, word,” “proud,” and “wild ass, grave, desert.”4, 5, 6
Loth, in English, is another spelling of loath, which means “reluctant.” It comes from an Old English word for “hateful.”7, 8
The Myth
The following myth is commonly known among all people. The text is vulnerable to a redraft, but the essential is there.
Amon
In the time before Gor united the peoples who lived by the Great River, the Hidden One moved across the land. The god came to a river’s edge, where grew the papyrus grass. It breathed upon the surface of the waters and so held the Great River in its bed.
To the people there the Hidden One spoke: “You shall build here beside Ankhet’s waters a city. You will till the soil and reap the harvest. You will have many children, and your children’s children and their children after them will be prosperous. The city will be called House of Amon, and Amon shall be your god.
And so it was that the city named Amwan, which means “House of Amon,” grew. Amwan’s people worshiped Amon as their god. With its breath, Amon held Ankhet, the Great River, in its bed and brought the rains but kept the floods away. Amon bestowed upon the people the creative spark, and Amwan became a great producer of crafts, arts, and engineering, and so was prosperous. From among the clans, Amon chose a line of kings. The kings worshiped Amon, and Amwan became a powerful city-state.
Gor
Then came Gor. Returning from long travels, the hero-mage, heir to the throne, entered the city riding an ass.9 When Gor came into the kingship, he sought ever greater power. He united the peoples who lived either side of the Great River and up and down its length. The whole land became known as Amwan.
Amon-Gor
Gor became the most powerful king the land had ever known, but he was filled with pride. He wanted more. Leaving the city one day, Gor entered the wilderness. After forty days, Amon found him among the brambles and brush grass.
The god addressed the hero-mage. “Why do you seek me in the wilderness?”
Gor said, “Make me a god and let me live in your House.”
But the god refused, saying, “These things are not for the vessel of man.”
Gor replied, “Then I will destroy you and take your place in the House of Amon.”
And the hero-mage and the Hidden One fought. Gor shouted a word of power that would have destroyed the god, but Amon poured its spirit into Gor’s body. Thereby, the god lived in the vessel of man.
But a man’s life force was not sufficient to sustain the god. Weakened, Amon-Gor rested, falling into slumber.
When the people discovered Gor’s body in the wilderness, limp as though without life, they mourned his death and buried him in the mausoleums of his forefathers.
When the Great River dried up the next year and flooded the year after, the people of Amwan knew their god had deserted them. The Great River Ankhet left its bed and no longer flowed by the city-state that was once the House of Amon. The people departed, and the city fell to ruin.
Amon-Gorloth
Now, the people worship the Solar Goddess. The Amwan is ruled from Irthmalq, the great city-state whose name means “Throne of the Sun King.” The Sun King embodies the Goddess’s divine power, and he is ever vigilant.
For while Amon-Gor slept, it appeared to Amon’s priests in their dreams. These priests formed a cult, who now seek to wake the sleeping god, whom they call Amon-Gorloth, which means “the Hidden One, Word of Power, the Loathe,” for the god is reluctant to wake from its dreams.
The priests now lie in the mausoleums where sleeps the dreaming god. Through dark magic, they channel Amon-Gorloth’s dreams and restore its power. When wakened, Amon-Gorloth shall make terrible war on the Solar Goddess.
“The Amwan,” Land of the House of Amon. Map from Outdoor Survival. Scale five miles to the hex. The ancient city-state Amwan lies in ruins within the central forest (Base 5). The Sun King resides at Irthmalq, the city-state on the banks of the Great River Ankhet (Base 3). The other bases are town-sized capitals of subordinate regions, called nomes, each governed by a nomarch, who is appointed by the king. The campaign begins in [yet unnamed town] (Base 2). In the adjacent hex northwest, the dreaming priests constructed the twisted halls, of which the cyclopean original is somewhere in the Valley of Kings, the central desert region.
Notes 1 through 8 are tertiary sources found on the web. Though uncertain, they are good enough for our game purpose. I cite them for easy reference.
9 Buried in the myth, though not lost in the campaign setting, Gor is credited with the domestication of the ass. Using pack animals instead of human labor (possibly slaves) to carry trade goods is more efficient, both less expensive and with a greater range. Here “riding an ass” implies that Gor united the land of Amwan, not by conquest but through trade. Compare Narmer.
“I’m starting with the most deadly dungeon level configuration and an overly generous treasure sequence to see if it’s possible that player characters might survive to reach 2nd level. If it doesn’t work, it won’t take long.”
After the second foray into the Deep Halls, in which the party descended briefly to Level 4, they hauled out goodly treasure. Four characters advanced to 2nd level. One of those, the party leader, is blind, and two party members did not survive.
The Gygax Tax or Where Does All the Treasure Go
Different methods to reduce excessive wealth are discussed under the heading Wealth Extraction in “Running the Campaign.” Our recent delve yielded sufficient treasure to make an example.
Money Changer
All told, the party ported 7,600 coins of ancient mint—in silver, electrum, and gold—and two bejeweled necklaces out of the dungeon storeroom-cum-den of thieves.
The coins are declared at the town gate and taken to the money changer. Their total value, 3,375 g.p., is taxed 10%. The jewelry, worth 4,000 g.p., is not taxed.
Gygax suggests a 1% import duty on goods, such as jewelry (AD&D DMG, 90), but in the campaign we ignore single-digit percentages. The full value of gems and jewelry may be bartered. The money changer collects a 10% luxury tax should they be sold for coin.
So while experience is calculated from the full gold.jpgece value, the party comes away with 4,000 g.p. in jewelry and 3,038 g.p. in coin of the realm.
Restorative Spells
Hathor-Ra escorts Melqart to the temple. They learn that a cure for blindness requires 16,000 g.p.
Blindness from cobra’s spittle may be healed with a cure serious wounds spell (house rule). With the overly generous treasure stocking method, a restorative spell costs its level squared times 1,000 g.p.
Bank
Melqart, cursing ill luck, and Hathor then proceed to the bank, where they rent a small coffer (10 g.p.) to store the gold and jewelry.
Professional Expenses
From their shares, Hathor-Ra tithes 176 g.p. to the temple, and Melqart joins the Magic-User’s Guild, paying 500 g.p. in annual dues.
Upkeep
Upon receiving experience point awards, each PC immediately pays 1% of earned XP—that is, earned during the adventure, not total—in g.p. for upkeep. This includes room and board. PCs pay upkeep for their hirelings.
I pull this rule from OD&D (Vol. 3, 24). Though beneath our 10% threshold, taking a percentage from earned XP is less tedious than a daily or weekly payment.
Inability to pay one’s upkeep in full indicates a level of impoverishment, reflected in the character’s standing and reputation, i.e. NPC reactions. Failure to pay a hireling’s upkeep provokes an additional loyalty check.
I find upkeep’s impact on town encounters to be worth the effort. If a group feels otherwise, upkeep is easily ignored. In that case, we assume that PCs have in pocket whatever small sums are necessary for daily needs.
Company Charter
After a good night’s rest, Melqart considers the options. He proposes that the party form an adventuring company. The party agrees that Melqart will manage the company, with a hired assistant, until his sight is restored. Thereafter, the manager role will rotate through party members.
Treasure division:
All treasure obtained on adventures belongs to the Company.
Monetary treasure is divided into shares, which are disbursed by the Company.
Adventuring party members earn one share, while the Company Manager earns one-half share.
Magic items are distributed to individual members to the Company’s best benefit.
Company Manager responsibilities:
Submits to member oversight.
Keeps financial records.
Directs research in the absence of the party leader.
Organizes rescue parties.
The Company pays:
Necessary adventuring equipment, including that for hirelings.
Hireling advances on share.
Restorative magic to heal injuries suffered while on party business.
Research, magical or scholarly, conducted for party benefit.
The Company does not pay:
Upkeep.
Hireling fees or bonuses.
Professional expenses (tithes, guild fees, gambling debts).
Any other extras.
The Spitting Cobra, Melqart’s Last Visual Memory. With 40 g.p. Melqart commissions an artisan to carve an ornament from acacia wood. It is to be affixed on a staff’s head. The spitting cobra becomes the symbol of the Company of the Blind Seer.
Current Party Composition
The following character records include those for the deceased, three new hirelings, and Melqart’s assistant Ur-Zaruund.
The party is not overly wealthy, I think, for 2nd-level characters. Especially considering that they are essentially 16,000 g.p. in debt to the future restoration of Melqart’s sight.
Melqart and Hathor-Ra loaded treasure. The medium held a sack open at the hem, while the acolyte dumped the contents of an iron coffer into it. Gold coins rattled and clinked, like a stream of metallic pebbles.
Plate-armored Iltani, with sword and shield, stood over a sharper. The thief, bloody hands bound and tethered to an ankle, crouched beside a wall. The charmed harpy fed on three others in the room beyond a door, which was guarded by Zagros, also armor-clad with sword and shield.
The party’s own thief, Idan Thyrsus, lay face down. A dagger protruded from between shoulder blades.
Coins sacked, Melqart and Hathor strung necklaces around their necks, sequestering the jewels beneath robe and tunic.
Iltani, Zagros, and the hobbled sharper would each carry a large sack, Melqart a small. Hathor, otherwise unburdened, would port the corpse of Thyrsus back to base town, where she hired him the previous day.
“Wait,” said Melqart. “Where’s the papyrus?”
Hathor raised her eyebrows. “The oneiromancer said it would be in this room.”
“Maybe here…” Melqart approached the frieze, pushing aside an empty coffer with a foot.
The frieze covered the wall up to fifteen feet high under the barrel-vaulted ceiling. A line of life-size human figures, one foot before another, faced a larger figure, seated on the left. The upright figures were male and female. Males were bare chested, wearing only kilts. Females wore long gowns to the ankle. All were barefoot and held some object in both hands before them: the first a scroll, the second a tall jar, followed by a cornucopia, a jug, a bowl, and so on. The seated figure, male, wore a kilt. Two concentric circles haloed the head. Straight lines, like rays, protruded from the outermost.
Hathor stepped closer with the torch. Melqart felt the relief with fingertips, tracing outlines in smooth alabaster.
“It’s a procession,” said the cleric. “Subjects bring offerings. The king’s halo represents Gor’s double crown.”
“I don’t see any—” Melqart’s fingers slipped over the lip of the tall jar. “What’s this?” He rapped on the jar with a knuckle. It rang hollow.
Melqart gripped the jar by the lip and held it at the base. A tug revealed a crack between jar and relief. Wiggling the jar from side to side, he pulled, and it gave.
“Give me a hand,” said the magic-user.
Hathor lay the torch on the floor. Shadows leapt high up the wall. Together they pulled the jar from the niche and set it down on the floor.
Hathor went for the torch. Melqart stood up to peer inside the jar. From the shadow within, a cobra’s head raised to meet his gaze. Its hood spread, black eyes glinted, and it spat into Melqart’s face.
The medium recoiled with a grunt. Hathor struck out at the snake. The mace came down hard on the jar lip.
The cobra spilled from broken alabaster, coiling its three-foot length. Iltani and Zagros advanced from either side. The serpent soon writhed in two parts.
“Are you well, Melqart?” said Hathor.
Melqart blinked his eyes, opening wide. “I can’t see.”
The blind Melqart and the hobbled sharper in tow, the limp Thyrsus over a shoulder, Hathor-Ra led the party up to the dungeon’s first level. There, she rendered the papyrus, a rolled page with magical writing on it found in the jar, to the witch who called herself an oneiromancer.
Sharpers and Cobra. Sharpers (7th-level thieves) hideout on the dungeon’s 3rd level. A spitting cobra guards a papyrus concealed within an alabaster frieze.
