Madness Beneath the Flanaess
Date: Mon, September 24, 2007
Topic: Adventures & Modules


What lies in the dungeons beneath Greyhawk? This article presents a few sample encounters to confuse and disorient your players, as well as the places where they may be found.

Castle Greyhawk is known as the great dungeon of the Flanaess. There are probably many variants of it in Greyhawk Campaigns: inspired by the printed modules Castle Greyhawk, Greyhawk Ruins, and/or Expedition to Castle Greyhawk, or by just the fiendish imagination of one or more DMs!

Travellers to the Castle in my campaign report the following:

The Welcoming Speech - a permanent magic mouth spell greets all who descend to the first level of the dungeons. "You are not welcome in Castle Greyhawk; Zagyg, Lord of this Realm, bids you depart! Leave, or perish!"

On occasion, the mouth will give another speech, perhaps directing intruders to a deadly trap, or a new area that has been opened up...

The Room of Animals - this great chamber contains many stuffed and mounted animals, large and small, most of the deadly. Travellers report of friends that have touched an animal, only to become a stuffed exhibit themselves, freeing the animal to lay waste to their companions! Upon the death of the animal (or its prey), the process reverses itself and the poor fool is released.

Malcolm the Wary relates of small groups of goblins using this room to slay pursuers... releasing beasts to overwhelm them...

The Medusa's Chambers - many fine statues of adventurers, beasts and other creatures adorn this chamber, but be wary of the medusa who lives within! However, there is one empty pedestal in this room that can be bane or blessing... any living creature who stands on it will be turned to stone, but a petrified creature that is placed upon will be restored to flesh!

The Crypt-Maze of Karak'zhn - this haunted structure is placed in the hills just to the north of the Bright Desert. It was discovered by the adventurer Gerald of Trithereon as he cleared the land around his stronghold. Several of his adventuring comrades vanished within its structure, and now he sponsors expeditions into the depths.

The Great Throne of Karak'zhn - deep within the structure can be found this gem-encrusted throne. To those who sit on it, it often gives a great number of gems - perhaps 1,000 to 10,000 gold pieces worth or even more, or occasionally improves their mental or physical attributes! However, it is a trap for the unwary, as it gives the Hell Knight Karak'zhn, who is trapped somewhere further down, access to the thoughts of any who seat themselves upon it. To some, he will seize control of them and take them as his servants... as discovered the elven rogue Guevera of Mitrik...

The Gates of Karak'zhn - It is rumoured that Karak'zhn himself is behind these adamantine portals, but none has yet been able to break the magics that ward them. Those who have tried have found the hallway before them to become a deathtrap, with lightning, fire and acid filling it in great bursts and streams.

The Greater Caverns of Chaos - these caverns can be found in the hills of the County of Ulek, and represent the great stronghold of the servants of the Fhoi Myore, the Priests of Chaos.

The Pit of Bone - soon within the tunnels of this complex can be found a balcony that overlooks a pit in which thousands upon tens of thousands of bones are piled - of all sorts. Human, humanoid, bestial and monstrous. The bones are used as raw materials by the necromancers of the Priests, but they've also drawn many other creatures who work with bones to nearby caves, from which they launch looting expeditions. Rumours also talk of a Pit of Flesh nearby...

The Archers of Doom - a terrible deathtrap that can assault those unfamilar with the caverns, this 100' corridor appears dangerous but important, with great rolling boulders rocking back and forth along it, and a pair of great doors at its end.

However, the doors are false, and twin invisible skeletal archers, once proud elven rangers, but now servants of Chaos, rain down death upon any attempting to cross. To make things worse, glyphs of paralyzation are scribed near the archers, to foil any attempting to close to melee. Sir Willem of Ulek met his end here, though he was later reincarnated by his companions.

Are there more dungeons and dangers beneath the surface of the Flanaess? You'd better believe there are, and perhaps further traveller reports will soon grace these pages...





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