TEXT: Hectic Electron
  Compatible With
  RPG
  
  Prison 
  Mad Gods
  0-level funnel or 1st-level adventure
  compatible with DCC RPG
  Written & Illustrated
  by Chris Sellers
  This product is based on the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, published 
  by Goodman Games. This product is published under license. Dungeon Crawl Classics 
  and DCC RPG are trademarks of Goodman Games. All rights reserved. For additional 
  information, visit www.goodman-games.com or contact info@goodman-games.com.
  Copyright © 2019 Hectic Electron, LLC
  
  INTRODUCTION
  T
  his 0-level funnel starts in a small village, but 
  the main part, the prison, is a 20-sided tesseract 
  with access to far-flung planes. If the players 
  don’t automatically think to map the dungeon, suggest 
  they do so. Of the many things that can kill the charac-
  ters, most are also useful tools. Players will have more 
  fun if they boldly step through the doorways, drink the 
  potions, and put on the rabbit masks.
  NEMORIA, AT PEACE
  Y
  ou live in a lush green valley, in a village called 
  Nemoria. It is ringed by five soft round hills 
  on the north, west and south.
  The hills make good grazing land for sheep and cows. 
  A river flows from the distant spiky mountains in the 
  west, between two of the hills, through your village, 
  and down over rolling meadows toward the distant 
  sea in the east. About 500 souls live in Nemoria. 
  Once upon a time, an imperial tax collector used to 
  come through here annually. There’s a stone statue of 
  the emperor in the center of town, but all the features 
  are worn off of it. It’s customary to rub it for luck. Once 
  a season, a small caravan of traders comes through 
  town from the east.
  As you were taught from a young age, the village is 
  protected by the One-Eyed God of Order and his at-
  tendant, the Warthog of Peace. The village has lived in 
  this way for generations.
  (If any players roll up elves, dwarves or halflings: 
  These beings live on the outskirts of Nemoria, in the 
  woods and underground, but have lived in proximi-
  ty for so long that they are considered villagers. Their 
  woods and burrows do not connect to any larger elf-
  dom or city.) 
  A SHATTERED PEACE
  O
  ne fine morning, when everything seems nor-
  mal, a mighty horn blast fills the valley. It is 
  the loudest sound you’ve ever heard. It is im-
  possible to tell where it’s coming from.
  Then an earthquake erupts. Spire Peak, the white-
  topped hill directly to the north, shudders. Cows and 
  goats break their corrals and run in terror through the 
  fields and houses. Stoneware bowls and cups fall from 
  the walls. One old lady’s chimney collapses.
  Then the top third of the hill explodes in a shower of 
  white stone. A nightmarish shape emerges, growing in 
  size as you watch, from perhaps 20 feet long to over 
  a hundred feet long. It looks like an enormous blue, 
  spiny caterpillar. It curls into a ring and rolls down the 
  hill, shaking the earth.
  Ugly Urkel, the town’s champion, is standing in the 
  caterpillar’s path with the village behind him. He yells 
  “You shall not pass!” and raises his sword, barring the 
  way. The caterpillar rolls over him and keeps going.
  The caterpillar’s path runs square through the mid-
  dle of town. It crumbles the riverbank, and water fills 
  its wake. Buildings crumble. It clears the village and 
  heads off east, down to the sea, and it’s gone.
  A 30-yard-wide river now bisects the village, and no 
  one has an immediate means of getting across. The one 
  bridge has been smashed. 
  You are surrounded by concerned people and bleating 
  animals. 
  Thomas the Village Elder is directing relief ef-
  forts. He approaches you and talks about what a disas-
  ter this is. The town is split in two, but thankfully no 
  one seems to have been hurt – except for Ugly Urkel, 
  of course. What worries him is Spire Peak – from what 
  depths within it did the caterpillar emerge? The world 
  has gotten much bigger than it seemed this morning. 
  Someone needs to go and investigate. The characters 
  look like just the sort of people Thomas needs.
  Dark clouds begin to gather over the split village, and 
  ominous thunder booms in the sky.
  Next, Sonia the Wise Woman lets out a wail. She 
  rushes up to you with a broken stone head in her arms. 
  The temple was crushed by the caterpillar, and now 
  the One-Eyed God has been smashed. His statue was 
  made in ancient times and cannot be replaced. She 
  says: 
  
  The balance of Order and Chaos has been disrupted, and 
  our old god of Order has been deposed. We need a new 
  god – whether Lawful or Chaotic – to protect us. Please, 
  find a god who will protect the village, who will be our 
  advocate before the old powers of the universe.
  She gives you an apple wrapped in a strip of linen, with 
  indecipherable runes written on the linen in silver ink.
  If you find a god, give it this apple. It will form a con-
  tract, and the god will be compelled to protect the village, 
  in the manner it sees fit. 
  (After you get the amber lens or one of the rabbit 
  masks, you can read the runes, which say, “The eater 
  of this apple promises to protect the village of Peace 
  from all external threats, in its fashion.” The party can-
  not understand the runes until after you get the amber 
  lens or one of the rabbit masks.)
  The hut of Ugly Urkel: Urkel’s hut is on the north 
  end of town. He had a selection of armor and deadly 
  weapons in his hut, bartered from the  traveling mer-
  chants. His hut is surrounded by a pen, where he kept 
  four chickens and a skeptical mule. (If you need some-
  thing to carry your gear, the mule can be harangued 
  into coming with you.)
  Inside, there’s a spartan bedroll on the floor, and a 3’ x 2’ 
  board (serving as a table) fastened to the wall. Hanging 
  on the wall, there is also a chain mail hauberk (+5 AC), 
  and a shield (+1 AC).
  A cursory search finds an electrum (“green gold”) coin 
  near the bed, with a bull on its face. That is likely the 
  most money you’ve ever seen. You’ve heard of pure 
  yellow-gold “suns” that are worth four times as much, 
  but you’ve never seen those either. Under the bedroll, 
  in a small hole dug in the ground, are two more bulls, 
  two silver moons (three moons makes a bull) and a 
  flat ruby amulet carved in the shape of a skull, with a 
  sharp serrated razor where the teeth would be. 
  Ruby Amulet
  When worn, it absorbs health damage that 
  would otherwise be inflicted on you. For 
  up to 5 points, when you would normally take 
  damage, lose 1 Luck per hit point instead. Each 
  time, the amulet gets darker red. When it is full, 
  it is as black as dried blood. It can only be emp-
  tied (and reset) by cutting yourself on the teeth, at 
  which point you absorb all the points of damage 
  that had been averted, and all the Luck returns. If 
  you take it off without cutting yourself, the damage 
  goes to whoever cuts themselves, and you get no 
  Luck back. No one can regain more than their max-
  imum Luck.
  A short ways outside of town to the south is the pul-
  verized corpse of Ugly Urkel. The non-squeamish can 
  salvage a broadsword (1d8 damage) from the wreck-
  age.
  THE RUINS OF SPIRE PEAK
  A
  top Spire Peak are the ruins of what had been 
  a large keep or castle, now long buried. The 
  remaining walls are surprisingly intact, jutting 
  out of the ground for about 10 or 15 feet. The stones 
  are white as bleached bone, sharply cut to fit closely to-
  gether without mortar. (If one of you is a dwarf, it is im-
  pressive also to your trained eye. The stone is not local 
  to this valley.) The tower has a triangular plan, about 
  100 feet on a side, with the stumps of three round tow-
  ers, one in each corner of the triangle. Heaped inside 
  and above the triangle is a mound of raw mountain 
  stone and white-stone rubble. In one wall, you quickly 
  find a low, arched doorway that leads to a dark pas-
  sageway below all that rubble.
  Two identical tetrahedral pieces of white stone, less 
  than a foot on a side, silently rise up from the stump 
  of one tower. They wobble in mid-air. Then a red eye 
  opens up in each stone. Roll initiative as they attack 
  with searing red blasts of mystic fire.
  
  Defense Tet
  Init +6
  Attack magical blast +4 ranged
  Damage 2d4
  AC 16
  HP 8
  MV 30’ (flying)
  Act 1d20
  SV Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +0
  AL Neutral
  Each stone is hollow and has a carved ruby inside. 
  However, if the sun is allowed to touch a removed 
  ruby, it refracts the sunlight, shooting wild 2d4 blasts 
  at anyone in line of sight.
  INNER CHAMBER
  T
  he passageway leads to a chamber. It may have 
  once been a bedroom. Many creatures have 
  made their home in here over what seems to 
  be a very long time. There are the ruins of a bed on one 
  side, and the ruins of a wooden desk in one corner. A 
  DC 5 search test finds a scroll that, before it crumbles 
  into dust, says: 
  Our only rule is Law. Our only law is Order.
  On the far side of the room is a verdigris bronze door.
  A DC 10 search of the bed lets you find something 
  shaped like a lemon, made of heavy metal like lead. 
  There are strange, indecipherable runes engraved on 
  the lemon. (After you get the amber lens or one of the 
  rabbit masks, you can read them: “Explosive arms on 
  impact and detonates 10 seconds afterward. Blast radi-
  us 30 feet. NOT A TOY.”)
  THE BRONZE DOOR
  T
  he door is cast bronze, with a bas-relief of an 
  arrow running from bottom to top, and a six-
  inch circle set in the middle at head height. 
  Filling the circle is a smooth, round amber crystal, and 
  behind the crystal appears to be a bronze bas-relief of 
  an eye, with a cat-like slit. The door does not have a 
  keyhole.
  As you look at the bronze door, the eye blinks, with 
  a large bronze lid that scrapes across the amber lens. 
  The slit bronze pupil expands and contracts, then flicks 
  around the small room to take in all of you. A voice 
  from inside the door speaks in a foreign tongue, in 
  warning tones. If you speak at all (or, after waiting a 
  moment, even if you don’t speak), the voice changes to 
  the Common tongue: “Say the password.”
  The correct password is “Law.” If you say it, the lid 
  closes, and the door opens. 
  Alternately, the amber lens can be taken out with a lit-
  tle work (after prying the lid open, which is not itself 
  hard). A DC 10 Agility test (or applicable skill) will do 
  it, DC 5 if anyone has a blade of any kind. If you look 
  through the lens at unknown text (e.g., all the runes), 
  you can read unknown tongues and make sense of 
  them. 
  A DC 15 strength check (allowing combined rolls from 
  multiple adventurers) forces the bronze door open. 
  INSIDE THE BRONZE DOOR
  I
  nside is a small room. On the wall facing you is 
  a five-foot-high triangular opening, about two 
  feet above the floor. One corner of the opening 
  has a large crack in it, running outward for several feet. 
  Inside is a dimly lit room. Entering that room takes you 
  into the Torch Room (next page).
  
  T
  he rooms are all precisely tetrahedral, 20 feet 
  on a side. Any room bordering the current one 
  seems to have a floor that is tilted up by 40 
  degrees, because the slanted walls of adjoining rooms 
  are coplanar. There is also a large, 20-sided room-be-
  tween-rooms, whose sides are made up of the floors 
  of each tetrahedral room. In two small rooms, you 
  can exit through ragged holes in the floor and enter 
  the 20-sided room-between-rooms. Exiting through 
  the top of a tetrahedral room, however, will take you 
  into the Astral Plane, where this prison is suspended; 
  this is possible in one room. Also, in three rooms (plus 
  the Torch Room), a dimensional gateway is set into the 
  floor, which leads to other planes.
  This was one of many outposts run by the Lords of Or-
  der in a previous age, where Chaos Lords were both 
  imprisoned and harnessed for their product. After Sa-
  ricar (the caterpillar) escaped, three Chaos Lords re-
  main imprisoned in this tesseract, and one malicious 
  Lord of Order. They may all break free during the ad-
  venture. Any one of them could become the village’s 
  new god, as could Tarqu the Lawful djinni (who lives 
  in the sapphire).
  1. Torch Room (Ruined): Once inside the trian-
  gular opening, you are pulled against the wall you just 
  stepped through. The change in orientation makes you 
  briefly dizzy, but then it becomes clear that the “wall” 
  with the triangular opening is in fact the floor. You are 
  in a precisely tetrahedron-shaped room, 20 feet on a 
  side. Below you, through the triangular opening, you 
  can see the other members of the party standing on the 
  other side of the triangular opening, at right angles to 
  what you now know to be “up,” as if their floor were 
  vertical.
  The room is partly ruined. The crack extends from a 
  corner of the triangular opening on this side as well. 
  On each of the two uncracked corners, there is a 
  glass orb half-sunk into the floor, but one is broken. 
  The unbroken one is a reflective green, with a glowing 
  light inside.
  There is a triangular doorway in each of the three walls, 
  seven feet high: one behind you (Room 8), to your left 
  (Room 5) and to your right (Room 2). Through those 
  doorways, you can dimly see floors that slant upward 
  at about a 40-degee angle. Each room is perfectly tetra-
  hedral, like this room. 
  However, as soon as any living creature enters this 
  room, three torches, one in each corner, light them-
  selves. There is a sculpture of a closed mouth carved 
  into the wall directly behind each torch. All three 
  mouths open; as they do, the flames of the torches are 
  sucked inward slightly, just for a moment. Then the 
  mouths speak: “Say the password.”
  The correct password this time is “Order.” Unless 
  you say that immediately, the mouths continue: “You 
  have entered a forbidden zone. You are not permitted here.” 
  (The torch flame blows outward in short gusts as these 
  words are said.) Roll initiative.
  Immediately upon finishing those words, all three 
  mouths open, inhale briefly, and blow the torches’ 
  fire strongly into the center of the room: +6 to hit, 1d6 
  damage, 1d6 additional burning damage until a DC 
  10 Reflex save is made to put out the fire. The mouths 
  continue to blow once per round for up to 5 rounds, at 
  which point (if anyone is left alive) the torches blow 
  out, and the mouths simply complain (“You shouldn’t 
  be in here…I’m telling… just wait until the wizard gets 
  back…”). With the torches out, you are in darkness, un-
  less you brought your own torches. Inside each mouth 
  is a small rock that can be removed. The rocks are rid-
  dled with holes; each rock blows a strong gust of wind 
  out of it continuously, enough to knock over a three-
  foot-tall creature or distract a human-sized creature. 
  With a little practice, you can aim the gust.
  Stone Mouths
  Init +0
  Act 1d20
  Attack blowing +6 to hit
  Damage 1d6, 
  Special: 1d6 additional burning damage until a DC 
  10 Reflex save is made to put out the fire
  2. Hall (Ruined): This is another tetrahedral room. 
  There is an open triangular doorway to the left (to the 
  cloak room, Room 3) and a closed, triangular bronze 
  door on the right, with an ornate knocker (to the Study, 
  Room 10). In the middle of the floor is a large, jagged 
  hole about 20 feet across. There is about a three-foot 
  ledge on the far side. 
  On the left or right, there is a six-inch-wide remnant of 
  floor: make a DC 18 Agility check to try to cross to the 
  far side that way. Using the ladder (from the supply 
  closet) will allow you to cross if you extend it, requir-
  ing a DC 8 Agility check. Press the “Extend” button to 
  make the ladder longer. Pouring the orange potion on 
  the ladder will also make it twice as long as its current 
  length, but also doubles the distance between rungs.
  If you can get to the far side of the Hall without fall-
  ing, you will find the door to the Study (Room 10). On 
  the door is an ornate knocker in the shape of a paper 
  THE PRISON OF THE WIZARDS OF ORDER
  
  1. Torch Room (ruined) [entrance]
  2. Hall (ruined)
  3. Cloak Room
  4. Supply Closet
  5. Chest Room
  6. Aerie
  7. Saricar's Prison
  8. Scrying Room
  9. Study (cages)
  10. Study (desk)
  11. Entrance to Argenta/Aureus/Algoloth
  12. Othon's Prison
  13. Siphon Room A (ruined)
  14. Entrance to Library/Lyncara/Chroneos
  15. Digun's Prison
  16. Entrance to Aer/Watr/Earth Planes
  17. Storage Room with Emil (ruined)
  18. Abraxas's Prison
  19. Siphon Room B
  20. Room for Talking with Abraxas
  1
  5
  6
  4
  8
  9
  7
  2
  10
  11
  12
  13
  3
  14
  15
  20
  16
  17
  18
  19
  open doorway
  closed, unlocked door
  locked door
  lockable, open door
  gate in floor
  broken opening in floor
  desk
  chest
  looking
  glass
  
  clip with eyes. It talks to you, of course, in a chipper 
  voice. It offers unasked-for tips on formatting spells 
  and mixing potions. It cannot tell you anything useful. 
  It says things like, “It sounds like you’re trying to open 
  a door.”
  Anyone who falls into the hole will enter an 
  icosahedral room-between-rooms 38 feet across, with 
  two glass tubes and one bronze tube going through it. 
  White stone rubble seems glued to several of the facets. 
  Each facet of this spherical room has gravity attracting 
  you to it, so that you may fall back to the Hall (Room 2) 
  or instead fall through a hole on the far side that leads 
  you to the Storage Room (Room 17) that contains Emil. 
  In any case, take 1d6 falling damage, unless you de-
  scended deliberately on the ladder or climbed careful-
  ly onto the room-between-room’s inner surface. If you 
  survive, make another DC10 Agility test. If you suc-
  ceed, you avoid hitting the glass tubes and go through 
  the hole on the far side, landing in the Storage Room. 
  If you fail, you will hit and break one of the glass tubes, 
  freeing Othon, who will quickly coalesce in the middle 
  of the faceted room and pronounce his doom upon all.
  3. Cloak Room: There are two doorways in this room: 
  one to the Hall (Room 2) and one to the Supply Closet 
  (Room 4).
  On the floor is a decayed cloak that falls into dust as 
  soon as you touch it, and amid the cloak is a good-
  as-new, wooden, painted, white rabbit mask. It fits 
  over most of the head. Donning the mask requires a 
  DC 10 Will save. Failing the save confers 1d4 damage 
  and mild madness (permanent -1 to Personality). 
  Whether you succeed or fail, the mask confers knowl-
  edge: 
  The password to the Bronze Door is “Law”; the pass-
  word to the Torch Room is “Order.” The warthog’s name 
  is “Nemo.” The bat’s name is “Petar.” Your manager’s 
  name is “Horst,” and he’s a jerk. You work for the Pyra-
  mid of Order. You feel cheerful.
  While wearing the mask, you can read all the 
  runes in the tower, you have a +1 Intelligence, 
  and +2 defense against harmful spells cast against 
  you. You can only remove the mask with another 
  DC 10 Will save. Failing a DC 10 Will save, you will 
  also resist anyone else who tries to remove the mask 
  from you. The mask has two charges of Magic Shield 
  stored in it, which you can use automatically.
  4. Supply Closet: This room contains a 10-foot lac-
  quered (and therefore intact) wooden ladder, eight in-
  tact bronze torches, and four rusted, crumbling iron 
  buckets. In one bucket is a glass flask containing a 
  green liquid. The silver seal on the top of the flask has 
  a rune on it. If you can read it, the rune says “Cure.” 
  Drinking it will stop and even reverse the effects of the 
  gold snake, and restore 1d4 health (and regenerate any 
  part of you that was cut off). It will also reverse the ef-
  fects of the poisonous blue spines.
  A deliberate examination (no roll required) of the lad-
  der shows two buttons on the outside of the ladder near 
  the middle, each with a rune on it: one says “Extend” 
  (5 feet to 10 feet to 20 feet) and the other says “Retract” 
  (20 feet to 10 feet to 5 feet). When the ladder expands or 
  contracts in this way, the distance between rungs stays 
  the same, but the number of rungs changes. The mini-
  mum length of the ladder is 0.625 feet, with one rung.
  5. Chest Room: Through the Torch Room’s (Room 1) 
  left doorway (as you first entered it) is another tetra-
  hedral room. It contains a mostly-intact wooden chest 
  with rusted iron fittings, sitting in the middle of the 
  room.
  If you try to move or open the chest, its fittings fall 
  away in a rusty pile. Inside is an egg-shaped sapphire, 
  twice the size of a man’s fist, resting on what used to be 
  a fine cushion. The gem seems to have a blue flame in-
  side it. Wrapped around the gem is a pure gold band, 
  sculpted to look a snake, with two small emeralds for 
  eyes.
  If you try to take the sapphire by hand, the gold snake 
  suddenly uncoils and bites you, unless you make a 
  DC 15 Reflex save. If you take the sapphire by first 
  placing a sack, hood, or hat around it, the gold snake 
  will thrash around wildly, but a DC 5 Agility check 
  every five minutes will keep it from getting out. To 
  get access to the gemstone or use it in any way, you 
  have to let the snake out, at which point (unless you do 
  something clever) it will try to attack the holder and 
  everyone else. The snake can be charmed with a flute 
  or put to sleep with the purple potion.
  
  Gold Snake
  Init +4
  Attack bite +3 melee
  Damage 1d4
  AC 8
  HP 5
  MV 40’
  Act 1d20
  SV Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +0
  AL Lawful
  If you are bitten by the snake, the area where you were 
  bit turns into gold. It doesn’t hurt, but the gold part is 
  numb and immobile. Every round, the area expands 
  by one inch in every direction. A Dispel Magic spell 
  will reverse it, as will a Cure Poison spell. Other than 
  that, all that will halt its inexorable advance (which 
  will eventually turn you into a dead, very heavy gold 
  statue that is theoretically worth 2000 gold suns) is cut-
  ting off the body part ahead of the spread. If the cut is 
  made, lose 1d3, 1d5, 1d6, 1d7, or 1d8 hit points, de-
  pending on how big a part needs to be cut off. No hit 
  points are lost until it is cut off.
  Holding the large sapphire in your hands allows you 
  to speak with a powerful Lawful djinni named Tarqu, 
  who lives in a realm of blue flame and who used to be a 
  Patron to Emil. Tarqu speaks precisely and impatient-
  ly. He can answer questions: This is a prison belong-
  ing to the Pyramid of Order, a militant organization of 
  Lawful wizards which was destroyed 5,042 years ago 
  (a lazy afternoon from Tarqu’s perspective). The Wiz-
  ards of Order, the group’s leaders, have retreated to the 
  upper firmament, living on the sun and the moon, and 
  amid the stars. The Hordes of Chaos may be mounting 
  a new offensive. Tarqu doesn’t care.
  Tarqu tells you that, if you meditate on the stone for 
  a week, you can gain access to the spells Patron Bond 
  and Invoke Patron for Tarqu. (He can also make for an 
  exacting god of the village, but getting him to accept 
  the apple is difficult, requiring you to overcome his in-
  tense apathy and get him to exit his realm via the gem.) 
  Tarqu cannot be bothered to help you overcome any 
  of the challenges in the prison and will simply retreat 
  into the gem.
  The doorway on the right (as you enter from the Torch 
  Room) leads to the Supply Closet (Room 4). On the left 
  is a doorway to the Aerie (Room 6).
  6. Aerie: The smooth floor of the Aerie has a silver 
  circle inlaid into it – actually a pair of concentric circles, 
  with strange symbols inlaid between them. (If you find 
  a way of reading them, either with the bronze door’s 
  amber lens or one of the masks, they’ll be shown to say 
  “Contain Bird – Landing Zone – Attract from Afar”). 
  Getting to any of the other doorways without crossing 
  the circle is a DC 10 sneak/athletics/Agility attempt.
  There are two doorways: the open one you walked 
  through and a locked door (to Room 15). 
  The locked door may be made of wood. You can see 
  the scattered, rusted remains of an iron portcullis that 
  used to cover it. On closer inspection, it is not wood; 
  rather, it is made of several cut sections of horn, like 
  a spiraling goat’s horn, but much, much larger. If it is 
  really natural horn, it comces from the biggest goat in 
  the world. In the center is a keyhole. It is locked. 
  On the floor next to the silver circles is a gold bell. A 
  niche in the wall is above it, where apparently it once 
  hung. Engraved on the bell is a triangle, with an up-
  ward-pointing arrow inside it. If you ring the bell, it 
  makes a loud, clear sound, after which a seven-foot-tall 
  spectral bird with a 10 foot wingspan appears in the 
  circle. The bird is a deep translucent blue, with a bright 
  light in its chest and dozens of smaller, shimmering 
  lights inside it. It sits and waits. If you ring the bell a 
  second time, it steps to one side and lets you cross the 
  circle. You can also mount the bird, at which point it 
  will take you to anywhere you imagine.
  If you step into the circle without ringing the bell, the 
  bird appears immediately inside the circle and starts 
  to attack anyone who is in it. If you step into the bird’s 
  circle after summoning it but before ringing the bell a 
  second time, it does the same. In these cases:
  Roll initiative. Anyone who throws themselves 
  through the doorway to the Chest Room (Room 5) be-
  fore the bird can act escapes immediate harm – the bird 
  will not attack outside the circle. It pecks at one head 
  per round, doing 1d6 points of damage.
  Giant Astral Bird
  Init +2
  Attack bite +6 melee
  Damage 1d6
  AC 6 (in close quarters)
  HP 10 
  MV 30’ (walking/hopping)
  Act 1d20
  SV Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +4
  AL Neutral
  Killing the bird causes its form to evaporate; the lights 
  inside it fall and tinkle on the flagstones; they turn out 
  to be 30 small crystals and a single large one. 
  Carved on the large crystal are four strange runes (say-
  ing “Travel – Commute – Transport – Find Landing 
  Zones”). The small crystals are worth a copper penny 
  (one quarter-moon) each, and the large crystal is worth 
  
  1
  Emil’s Prison
  Ruined prison of the Wizards of Order (current location)
  2
  The Old Capital
  Once the seat of the Emperor (now ruins)
  3
  Ghonza
  Pomp-filled city of canals, merchant dukes & secrets
  4
  Phaistos
  Lighthouse city: brass domes, veiled clerics, silk & spices
  5
  Lyncara
  Mountaintop city where the all-hearing lynx “Albertus” dwells
  6
  Mandat
  Underground city of the goblins
  7
  Fair Niam
  Forest home of the elves
  8
  Greddik
  Underground strongold of dwarves
  9
  Fuming Mountain
  Wyrm-eaten caves, infested with dragons, full of stolen gold
  10
  Setillia
  Sunken city, home of mer-people
  11
  Hyperborea
  Ruined city in the cold wastes beyond the north wind, once a verdant magical paradise, 
  now a den for frost giants
  12
  Pyramid of Order
  Mountaintop home of the Wizards of Order, the militant wizards
  13
  Crooked Tower
  Mountaintop home of a consortium of angry wizards dedicated to stopping the Wizards 
  of Order
  14
  Chronos
  The Palace of Time: a castle full of archways. through each arch is a different age.
  15
  The Eternal Library
  Plane of books containing all knowledge (except spells)
  16
  Plane of Earth
  Realm of branching caves, behemoths, bulettes and xorns
  17
  Plane of Watr
  Undersea realm of leviathans, krakens, and bewitching anglerfish
  18
  Plane of Aer
  Vortex-filled kingdom of Aeolius, who commands the winds
  19
  Algoloth
  Shadow plane, connects to all our shadows; home to the Night People, carnivorous 
  phantoms
  20
  Fae
  Airborne realm of pure magical energy, which sustains short-lived faeries. Borders on 
  Aer.
  21
  Telu
  Realm of blue flame, inhabited by djinn: inquisitive, godlike
  22
  Choria
  Swamp realm of spent & spoiled magic, where giant maggots and spiders eat evil spells 
  and magical items. Borders on Tartarus.
  23
  Singularum
  Mostly empty plane of Order, a white flat plain with a single black tower. Emotions are 
  torn away from you here
  24
  Panviae
  Stormy plane of Chaos. Coming here drives you incurably insane
  25
  Tartarus
  Land deep underground, home of the shades of the dead
  26
  Pandæmonium
  Sprawling city in the Abyss, home of Chaotic demons
  27
  Dis
  Iron-walled capitol of Hell, home of Lawful devils
  28
  Hermopolis
  Small city on a disk that Hermes flies through the sky between the homes of the gods. 
  Home of all magical spells, written on scrolls
  29
  Argenta
  City of the moon (built on a silver disk in the sky)
  30
  Aureus
  City of the sun (built on a golden disk in the sky)
  Table 1: Locations inscribed on the astral bird’s smaller crystals:
  
  one silver moon. The keeper of the large crystal has a 
  25% chance of being pulled into the Astral Plane, once 
  per room (or whenever you remember to check). This 
  can allow you to see other parts of the prison, but you 
  will always return to either your original spot or, your 
  choice, the landing in the Aerie. 
  Each little crystal has a rune carved on it, each one rep-
  resenting a different place (see Table 1). These are all 
  places in the world or on a nearby plane. If you hold 
  the large crystal at the same time as any of the smaller 
  crystals, make a DC 5 Will save. If you make it, you 
  will see a whirling panorama of stars against blackness, 
  then be transported to the place inscribed on the small-
  er crystal. If you fail, your spirit will be smeared across 
  the Astral Plane, resulting in incurable madness. After 
  being transported, it requires another DC 5 Will save 
  to return to the prison unharmed. After 1 minute in the 
  new location, return also requires having crystal #1.
  7. Saricar’s Prison (Ruined): The marble door to 
  this room is busted open, from inside this room. On 
  the floot is a silver circle with runes painted on it (the 
  runes say “Contain – Imprison – Hold – Reduce Size 
  – Prevent Cocooning”). The room is otherwise empty. 
  The floor is buckled upward and the stones cracked 
  slightly apart, enough to break the silver circle. Blue 
  spines, three feet long, are stuck in between the 
  floor’s flagstones. Each one is poisonous to the touch 
  (DC 14 Fort Save vs. 1d4 Strength loss and turn puffy 
  & dark blue), unless you cover your hand before grab-
  bing it, in which case it can be used as a 1d4 rapier plus 
  the poison. If you get to 0 Strength, you cannot move. 
  The Strength loss, as well as any regular damage it in-
  flicts, can be reversed with the green potion. 
  8. Scrying Room: This room has only two doorways: 
  the one you came through and another to your right. 
  The latter one (to Room 7) was once sealed with a mar-
  ble door, but the door has been shattered from inside 
  the next room, and blue-veined marble chunks litter 
  the floor. On the third wall is a round, faintly glowing 
  looking-glass, about four feet acoss. The glass is solid, 
  but images play across it: at first ripples like a pool of 
  water, which quickly resolve into a giant bee’s head 
  made of crumbling and re-forming sawdust. The head 
  says, atonally: “You have – three – messages. Monday:” 
  Then a bizarre human face fills the pool, the upper half 
  of which is made of smooth stone. He says:
   “Emil? Emil it’s Horst. Pick up… Okay, look, there’s a 
  new subject coming in on Thursday, and you’re next in 
  the rotation. The bird will bring you a new silver can-
  ister. Just throw it in the middle of the room and toss 
  the restoration potion in afterward. I think even you can 
  manage that. Bye.” 
   “Tuesday:” “Emil, pick up. Come onnn, don’t be like 
  that. Anyway… There are rumors that those butt-heads 
  in the Crooked Tower might be planning something. The 
  higher-ups think they could try a jail break. Just let us 
  know if you see anything, okay?” 
   “Wednesday:” “Emil! It’s Horst! Oh dear gods, they’re 
  killing us! They’re killing us! Lock your doors! Whatever 
  you do, don’t let your prisoners get free! We—” 
  The pool goes blank. You can speak to the bee, who 
  will answer simple questions (like how long ago the 
  messages were recorded – 5,042 years). You can ask the 
  bee to return Horst’s call, but there is an image of a 
  ruined pyramid on a butte or mesa, and nobody an-
  swers. You can ask things like “Directory” or “Return 
  last call,” but none of the wizards in the list answer. 
  If you try to call the Crooked Tower, a hydra-headed man 
  answers and tries to get answers from you. Then the 
  image fixes on what appears to be a twisted black tree 
  on a rock. But no, the scale is much bigger: it is really a 
  branching, many-turreted black tower on a mountain-
  top.
  9, 10. Study: Each of the three entrances into this 
  room has a bronze door, on the outside of which is the 
  knocker shaped like an animated paper clip.
  The Study is a two-part room with four sides. The floor 
  seems to tilt upward in the middle at a 40-degree an-
  gle. In the (9) section is a pair of small cages on the 
  wall. In the (10) section is a desk.
  
  The desk is four feet wide, made of lacquered wood, 
  with a thin bronze sheet nailed to the top and sides. On 
  a bronze shelf above the desk are four silver cylinders, 
  about six inches high. Each one is etched with the same 
  symbol (that says “Contain”). (The silver cylinders are 
  canisters for transporting, by bird, shrunken prisoners 
  and test subjects.)
  Next to the cylinders is a pile of glass phials: 
  • three blue liquids (with a rune that says “Shrink” 
  (small enough to fit in the canister, same hit points, 
  for 5 minutes or until uncanned))
  • four red liquids (with a rune that says “Restore 
  Size” (undoes Shrink or Enlarge potions))
  • one orange liquid (with a rune that says “Enlarge” 
  (2x size, 2x hit points, for 5 minutes))
  • one dark brown liquid (with a rune that says “Stay 
  awake” (+1 Reflex saves, for 20 minutes))
  • one dark purple liquid (with a rune that says 
  “Sleep” (DC 15 Will save or sleep for 20 minutes))
  • one white liquid (with a rune that says “Swallow If 
  Captured” (2d12 damage))
  • one green liquid (with a rune that says “Heal” (1d6, 
  up to max hit points)).
  There is also a thin vellum book, untouched by time, 
  with runes on and inside it. The runes on the outside 
  say “Enchantments.” Inside are several spells, incom-
  prehensible to 0-level characters. (Magic Shield, Feath-
  er Fall, Magic Missile, Charm Person, etc.) If you make 
  it out alive, you can begin to learn them.
  Also on the desk is a jar of silver ink, a metal stylus, 
  a brush that’s in good shape, and a small green 
  bronze key (for the cages on the wall).
  The two locked bronze cages, each about two feet tall, 
  are bolted to the wall. The cages are made of a wire that 
  looks like it’s barely holding together. The one on the 
  left contains a two-foot-tall cloth cylinder, stitched to-
  gether out of bands of alternating red and white cloth. 
  The one on the right contains a black and white cat, 
  still very much alive, that stares at you with baleful 
  green eyes. The small, ancient locks are fastened, but 
  you can use the green key, or even break them easily. 
  Upon seeing you, the cat mews piteously and quickly 
  breaks apart the cage and tumbles to the ground.
  (The cloth cylinder is a hat. Once the cat gets out, it will 
  try at anything to get at the hat, and if not prevented, it 
  will soon get to the hat’s cage and break it apart. If the 
  cat and the hat are not prevented from coming togeth-
  er, the cat will put on the hat, grow to human height, 
  and stand on its hind legs. Then it will talk to you in 
  sing-song rhyme and start causing chaos. In answer to 
  any suggestions or requests that you make, the cat will 
  cheerily come up with a much more complicated and 
  destructive alternative.)
  The Cat in the Hat (Minor Chaos Lord)
  Init +3
  Attack bite or claw +4 melee (but prefers to pull 
  things from hat)
  Damage 1d6
  AC 8
  HP 16
  MV 30’
  Act 1d20
  Special: The hat is a bag of holding. The cat can 
  reach into it and pull out virtually anything, includ-
  
  ing creatures much larger than the hat, limited only 
  by the cat’s whim. Examples are: a fish in a bowl, 
  a contraption with a single wheel and a seat, small 
  (numbered) imps with blue hair, bugbears (DCC 
  RPG p. 397), and a dragon (DCC RPG p. 406).
  SV Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +6
  AL Chaos
  Spells: Summon creature, summon object
  If the cat is killed, the hat remains. The hat cannot be de-
  stroyed by anything except magical fire (e.g., Digun’s 
  breath). If you (or any other creature) put on the hat, 
  you will be charmed to the extent that you will not re-
  linquish the hat, or willingly remove it for more than a 
  few moments, and will seek to prevent others from tak-
  ing it. Resisting the charm requires a DC 20 Will save. 
  After 1d6 minutes of wearing the hat, you will speak 
  only in rhyme. Over the course of 1d6 more minutes, 
  you/they will transform into a large cat. At the end of 
  this period, the transformation will be irreversible. As 
  the Cat in the Hat, you can (at will) retrieve anything 
  from the hat that was already placed in there; it is the 
  judge’s discretion what has been put in there, but gen-
  erally they are things and creatures consistent with the 
  period and setting. Living creatures that were placed 
  in the hat are in suspended animation while in the hat.
  The Cat finds your apple boring. If you somehow con-
  vince the Cat to accept it, it will become a whimsical 
  guardian of the village, creating enormous messes that 
  it invariably cleans up.
  11. Entrance to Aureus/Argenta/Algoloth: 
  This room has a triangular hole in the floor, with a 
  glass orb in each corner of the hole. One is silver, one 
  is gold, and one is black. The gold one is glowing. 
  There is the doorway you came in through (to the 
  Study, Room 10), which has an animated paper clip-
  shaped door knocker on it. There is also an open door 
  made of ivory (to Room 12).
  Seen through the hole is a golden, shining city, Aureus 
  the City of the Sun. If you enter, you can learn that it 
  rests on a giant golden disc that is the sun we see in 
  the sky. It is full of immortal poets, manticores, and 
  many of the Wizards of Order who fled the Pyramid 
  of Order.
  Touching the silver ball replaces the city with a silver, 
  shining city, Argenta the City of the Moon. It rests on 
  a giant silver disc that is the moon we see in the night 
  sky, but it is constantly being eaten by the Night and 
  then being rebuilt, resulting in the waning and wax-
  ing of the moon. It is full of bat-people, intelligent in-
  sect-people, and some of the Wizards of Order. 
  Touching the black ball replaces the city with a 
  dark, shadowy world of half-light, Algoloth the 
  City of Shadow. You can see crowded wooden build-
  ings and alleys, with distant hills in the background. It 
  is full of vampires, phantoms, and ghosts. Any place 
  in the prison or in the world that has a shadow can be 
  accessed from Algoloth.
  The door made of ivory is carved in a bas-relief wel-
  ter of twisting, serpentine shapes. You can distinguish 
  several shapes of animals and men, but you can’t tell 
  where one ends and another begins. (Some ivory can 
  be broken off and sold to merchants for a couple silver 
  moons.) In the center is a keyhole. The door is open.
  12. Othon’s Prison: Inside is a silver circle with 
  runes painted – not inlaid – on it (the runes say “Con-
  tain – Imprison – Hold”), containing a shimmering 
  quicksilver ball six feet across, pulsing and swirling, 
  suspended in mid-air. It seems to strain against its 
  shape and position.
  In the middle of the floor (inside the circle) is a round 
  opening, and the top of a glass tube is fitted into it. 
  There is also a small ragged hole in the floor, with rub-
  ble strewn around it. 
  Lying on the floor, against the wall, is a brass man 
  with a warthog’s head, with big curving silver tusks. 
  Its left arm is torn off, crushed under rubble next to 
  him. The space inside the shoulder is full of brass and 
  silver gears. In its right arm is a bronze battle-axe; in 
  its crushed left hand is a ring with an ivory key. If you 
  address the warthog-man, or touch it, it stirs. It speaks 
  gruffly, interspersed with grunts.
  Minotaur-hog (“Nemo”)
  Init +0
  Attack axe +5 melee
  Damage 1d6
  AC 4
  HP 10
  MV 20’
  Act 1d20
  SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +4
  AL Lawful
  Nemo can answer questions about the Wizards of Or-
  der and this place. Nemo knows that much time has 
  passed, without Petar or Emil, during which he has 
  made his home in these halls. After the earthquake that 
  killed Emil (see Room 17), he continued to watch over 
  this place and keep it secure, and to watch over the 
  realms bordering this prison, like your world. A few 
  minutes ago, a second earthquake knocked him down 
  while he was checking this room, and he has been 
  drifting in and out of consciousness since then.
  The quicksilver ball in the center is a powerful Chaos 
  
  Lord, a protean shape-shifter named Othon. Staring at 
  the ball for any length of time causes it to coalesce into 
  the shape of someone familiar to one of you, although 
  constantly shifting and rippling. It speaks in a hollow, 
  distracted voice.
  Othon
  Init +3
  Attack: Warping touch +18: a body part (1d4: 1. 
  Arm, 2. leg, 3. head, or 4. whole body) changes 
  into (1d5: 1. bubbling swirl of molten flesh; 2. mis-
  shapen insect; 3. cobbled-together chunks of stone; 
  4. bulbous, warty lizard; or 5. hairy, tooth- and 
  claw-sprouting dog-like shape)
  AC 30
  HP 180
  MV 20’ (outside the circle)
  Act 1d20
  SV Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +15
  AL Chaotic
  If the quicksilver spider escaped from Room 19, it is in 
  this room, actively smearing out the characters on the 
  silver circle so as to free Othon. If Othon gets free with-
  out taking the apple from you, it will immediately at-
  tack, then burst out the door and escape into the world.
  If the spider did not escape, Othon will try to talk to 
  you, to convince you to give it something – preferably 
  a means of escaping the circle (e.g., the pendant, found 
  near Emil in Room 17). If you give it the pendant, it 
  will escape out the door, through one of the gateways, 
  and out into the world. 
  Othon can answer questions. You can also negotiate 
  with Othon, and convince it to accept the apple and be-
  come the god and protector of the village, your advo-
  cate before the old powers of the universe. It will also 
  offer to change the shape or substance of any of you, or 
  of anything you hold. It merely needs to be free. But its 
  shaping is not perfect: it is always warped and messy. 
  Othon can be compelled to become your Patron if you 
  allow it to touch you.
  Once freed, Othon becomes a destructive god who 
  twists and warps the countryside. If it becomes the vil-
  lage deity, it will demand its worshippers allow them-
  selves to be warped by its touch. Othon’s priests will 
  have the same warping touch.
  13. Siphon Room A: Just inside the door, hanging 
  on the wall, is a key made of horn. It unlocks Digun’s 
  prison (Room 15). In the center of the floor is a two-
  foot-wide round hole with a bronze valve on it, sur-
  mounted by a four-foot-tall, five-foot-wide glass tub, 
  full of murky water. The tub is open at the top, and a 
  bronze step-ladder leads up to its lip. The valve has a 
  large crank on it, and strange symbols (“Extract trans-
  dimensional water from lizard”) written on it. The 
  valve is closed. Opening it makes the tub fill up more, 
  as it sucks water from Digun, causing him to howl in 
  pain.
  As you look into the water, each of you sees a different 
  scene: a verdant forest where elves walk, a library full 
  of books, a shining silver city, an underground fortress 
  of dwarves, or a cave full of gold and dragons. Roll 
  a d30 against Table 1 to determine what each of you 
  sees. Anyone who enters the tub travels to that place. 
  Travel back is possible within 1 minute, but make a 
  DC 5 Will Save to avoid losing your soul in the astral 
  plane.
  The floor is strewn with rubble. As you walk through 
  the room, each PC makes a DC7 Agility test, or else 
  knocks the tub off its feet. Within moments, it cracks, 
  and greenish water spills all over the floor and down 
  the hole. This does not prevent anyone who entered 
  the tub from returning from their planar travel, but it 
  will free Digun shortly – see Room 15.
  
  14. Entrance to Library/Lyncara/Chronos: 
  There is only one doorway in this room. There is a also 
  two-foot-wide, nine-inch-high ragged hole in the wall 
  on the right (as seen from the door), at floor level. If 
  necessary, you could crawl through it.
  The room has a triangular hole in the floor, with a glass 
  orb sunk into each corner of the hole. The orbs are a 
  papery light brown, stone gray, and sandy-flecked 
  dark brown. The papery light brown one is glowing.
  Through the hole, at right angles to the room you’re 
  in (as if the triangular opening opened in a wall on 
  the other side), you see an enormous, dimly-lit li-
  brary, its shelves full of codices and scrolls. This is the 
  Eternal Library of all knowledge, abandoned by all ex-
  cept a small cadre of obsessive librarian-wizards.
  Touching the sandy-flecked dark brown orb chang-
  es the view to a long arcade extending away into the 
  distance. Each arch of the arcade shows a different 
  view through it: storms, fair skies, bustling cities, des-
  olate wilderness. This arcade is Chronos, the planar 
  Palace of Time, and each arch is an entryway into a 
  different time.
  Touching the stone-gray orb changes the view to a qui-
  et stone city that seems to be atop a remote mountain 
  peak, under overcast skies. In the middle of a plaza, 
  on a stone plinth, sits an enormous lynx that seems to 
  be listening intently to something. This is Albertus, the 
  oracular lynx that hears everything going on in the 
  world, and the city is Lyncara, built reverently around 
  its demigod. If you enter, Albertus will talk civilly with 
  you (in between listening for things), but he has no in-
  terest in becoming the god of your village, since he al-
  ready has a city to watch over.
  15. Digun’s Prison: This is a prison for a 10-foot-
  long, squat, wide-mouthed creature shaped like a 
  giant hellbender. His slick, warty skin is olive green 
  with orange spots, and he has six sawn-off stumps of 
  horns on his head and shoulders. The room is damp 
  and smells rank. He lies coiled in a silver circle. The 
  silver runes are painted, not inlaid.
  The creature’s name is Digun. He is reading damp 
  books with a wide pince nez on his nose. He speaks 
  with a deep, rumbling voice. He is frustrated at being 
  captive. His frustration causes him to breathe Greek 
  fire into the air, which stops at an invisible dome sur-
  rounding his circle. He has been waiting a long time, 
  and he has reread these books many times over. If you 
  could find him new books, he would be grateful. (Not 
  protect-your-city grateful, but won’t-eat-you grateful.)
  There is a two-foot-wide, nine-inch-high ragged 
  hole in the wall on the right, at floor level. If necessary, 
  you could crawl through it.
  The runes on his circle say “Contain – Imprison – Hold 
  – Shrink – Moisten – Provide Books.” 
  There is a one-foot-wide round hole in the floor, inside 
  the circle, and the top of a glass tube is fitted into it. 
  Digun says that water is extracted from him via this 
  tube, a painful process. When he was free, he used this 
  water to travel between worlds. If you have visited Si-
  phon Room A (Room 13) and broken the jar, there is 
  water bubbling up from the tube, pooling across the 
  floor, and smearing the runes beyond legibility. As a 
  result, in about 10 minutes, Digun will be free. If he 
  gets free without eating the apple (or without getting 
  new books from you), he will eat you.
  If Digun takes the apple, he breaks free, climbs down 
  Spire Peak to the village, and dives into the river, where 
  he burrows beneath the mud and turns the river into a 
  transdimensional highway. He also generates dozens 
  of semi-intelligent salamander guards who troop wet-
  ly around the edges of the city, and in and out of the 
  river. He is fickle and would demand sacrifices.
  Digun
  Init +3
  Attack: Bite +18, melee (2d6 damage, 2d30 damage 
  if freed)
  Attack: Greek fire breath +18, ranged (1d6 +2 dam-
  age, 5d6 +10 damage if freed)
  AC 30
  HP 180
  MV 100’ (outside the circle)
  Act 1d20, 1d20
  Special: Creates moistness, breathes magical Greek 
  fire in a 45-degree cone (that cannot leave the cir-
  cle), summons an army of salamander demons (if 
  freed), partially inhabits (if freed) an extraplanar 
  river that connects many other planes.
  SV Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +15
  AL Chaotic
  
  16. Entrance for Aer/Watr/Earth Planes: This 
  room has a triangular hole in the floor, with a glass orb 
  sunk into each corner of the hole. The orbs are white, 
  blue and gray. The gray one is glowing. 
  Through the hole, you can see an underground cave 
  with tight passageways branching away. This is the 
  plane of Earth. In it, there is no surface, only endless 
  caves populated by kobolds, purple worms, xorns, and 
  roaming bulettes.
  Touching the white orb changes the view to mid-air, 
  with vortices of clouds rushing past. Other than a se-
  ries of tiny floating islands that you can hop to and be-
  tween, there is no ground in sight. This is the plane of 
  Aer, populated by thunderbirds, phoenixes and djinn, 
  ruled over by Aeolius.
  Touching the blue orb changes the view to endless 
  depths of sea. Giant creatures swim past with sinuous 
  motions. This is the plane of Watr, populated by levi-
  athans, krakens, mer-people, and hypnotic anglerfish. 
  The triangular hole on that side is surrounded by a 
  large bubble in which you can breathe. You can also 
  breathe underwater if you enter this plane.
  An enormous bronze battle-axe is leaned against the 
  wall. It requires at least a 15 Strength to wield, but 
  does 1d10+2 damage.
  The top corner of this room has fallen apart, leaving 
  a hole four feet wide. An eerie wind blows through 
  it, and you can see a dark blue sky full of stars and 
  strange mists. Using the ladder or standing on some-
  one’s shoulders, you can just reach the lip of the hole. 
  But if you go through the hole, you will be whipped 
  away into the Astral Plane, from which you can see 
  this prison from the outside (it looks like a large stone 
  icosahedron), floating in nothingness and swiftly re-
  ceding from view.
  Make a DC 5 Will Save. If you make it, you will be 
  able to swim through the Astral Plane, possibly mak-
  ing it back to the prison. If you fail, your spirit will 
  be smeared across infinite space, resulting in incurable 
  madness.
  If you make the Will Save and have any of the crystals 
  that came from the Bird, you can sense the ability to 
  travel to their locations or even back to the prison.
  17. Storage Room with Emil (Ruined): This 
  is a mostly empty room that once served as storage 
  space. There is a ragged hole in the middle of the floor, 
  surrounded by white stone rubble. The hole is about 
  eight feet across, and you can use it to get to the facet-
  ed spherical room-between-rooms (see description in 
  Room 2).
  In one corner is a skeletal corpse. The skeleton is wear-
  ing a decayed silk robe and a good-as-new wooden 
  black rabbit mask. It is missing its left hand. If you 
  spoke to Nemo or Petar, you know that these are the 
  bones of Emil the Wizard, left where he fell during the 
  earthquake. 
  On the floor in another corner is a bony hand holding a 
  key ring and a bright gold pendant worth 5 gold suns. 
  The pendant has a rune carved in it. The rune says 
  “Exit.” Whoever wears it, whether player-character or 
  monster, can cross the silver lines in any prison room.
  If you try to move through the room or take the gold 
  pendant, the skeleton’s bones knit themselves togeth-
  er with ancient magicks, stand up, and turn to face 
  you, saying “Trespassers! You have transgressed against 
  the Lords of Order.” If you remove the mask before try-
  ing to move through the room, the skeleton still comes 
  to life, but only in reduced capacity (see second set of 
  stats), and it does not talk.
  Emil’s Skeleton (with mask)
  Init +2
  Attack Sword +2 melee (1d8 damage)
  AC 9
  HP 15 
  MV 30’
  Act 1d24
  Special: Undead; Half Damage from Piercing and 
  Slashing Weapons
  SV Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +4
  AL Lawful
  Spells: 1d4 blue flames +2 to hit on 1d24, each doing 
  1d4 damage
  Emil’s Skeleton (without mask)
  Init -2
  Attack Claw +0 melee (1d3 damage)
  AC 9
  HP 3
  MV 20’
  Act 1d20
  Special: Undead; Half Damage from Piercing and 
  Slashing Weapons
  SV Fort +0, Ref -2, Will +-2
  AL Neutral
  The skeleton has Emil’s mind by virtue of the black 
  rabbit mask it wears. Knocking it off in combat (DC 
  12 called shot) will reduce it to the second set of stats: 
  a shambling, undead idiot. Alternately, knocking the 
  skeleton into the hole will send it careening into the 
  Hall (Room 2), with a 25% chance of breaking one 
  of the glass tubes as it passes through the spherical 
  room-between-rooms.
  
  While wearing the black rabbit mask, you know the 
  same things that the white rabbit mask knows (The 
  password to the Bronze Door is “Law”; the password 
  to the Torch Room is “Order.” The warthog’s name 
  is “Nemo.” The bat’s name is “Petar.” Your manag-
  er’s name is “Horst,” and he’s a jerk. You work for 
  the Pyramid of Order; you can read all the runes in 
  the tower, you have a +2 Intelligence, and +2 damage 
  when casting harmful spells. However, the mask 
  brings an angry mood with it and tempts you to 
  do destructive things. You can only remove the mask 
  with another DC 10 Will save. Failing a DC 10 Will 
  save, you will also resist anyone else who tries to re-
  move the mask from you. It has one casting each of 
  Choking Cloud and Lightning Bolt stored in it, which 
  you can cast automatically. 
  In Emil’s left eye socket is a stone orb made of fiery 
  opal. If you take your eye out (1d3 damage) and in-
  sert this orb, you will be able to see places far away 
  by concentrating: roughly 1 DC Personality check per 
  10 miles distance away that you want to see. With a 
  DC 15 Personality check, you can see into other planes.
  On a belt around Emil’s waist is a sword. It is an 
  enchanted longsword (+6 melee, 1d8 damage). If you 
  take it, it will speak to you in a cheerful voice. “I was 
  Emil’s sword, but I wouldn’t mind being your sword.” It 
  will reveal itself to be a powerful personality, a spirit 
  of Order who guards truth. It will seek to cut any who 
  lie, by telling the wielder that a person within reach is 
  lying and filling the wielder with violent rage against 
  that person (DC 12 Will Save vs. forced attack roll). 
  18. Abraxas’s Prison: This room is accessed via 
  the locked obsidian door. In this room is a little boy, 
  maybe 8 or 9 years old, inside a silver circle. A thin 
  bronze tube juts up from the floor, inside the circle, 
  which turns sideways and ends in a flared opening.
  The boy is weeping inconsolably. He is dressed in a 
  plain white tunic. He tells you that his name is Abraxas. 
  He was taken here a long time ago by men who were 
  very angry him and left him here forever. Powerful 
  magics keep him alive. He would like to go home now. 
  He hasn’t been home in a long time. He would like to 
  be warmer.
  The symbols on his circle say “Contain – Imprison – 
  Hold.” The circle is painted on the floor.
  Abraxas
  Init +2
  Attack: Flying, Spinning Razors +4 melee (4d6 dam-
  age if freed)
  AC 4
  HP 300
  MV 20’ (outside the circle)
  Act 1d30
  SV Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +15
  AL Chaotic
  Spells: Charm Person, Drain Life, Summon Razors
  Abraxas is a Lord of Order, but a prince of Hell. He 
  does not lie, but he can tell untruths by omission or 
  through carefully chosen words.
  After initially hearing Abraxas, everyone within ear-
  shot needs to make a DC 5 test to withstand his charm. 
  After speaking with him for about five minutes, the 
  DC goes up to 10. It continues to go up by 5 every five 
  minutes. When charmed, you will, at Abraxas’s sug-
  gestion, give him the gold pendant if he finds out you 
  have it and what it does. If you don’t have the gold 
  pendant, he’ll send you to the Study (Room 10) to 
  fetch the silver ink and brush. Abraxas will guide you 
  through how to alter the painted symbols so that they 
  say “Free – Empower – Unchain.” 
  If freed from the circle, he will transform into a tall 
  young man of uncommonly good looks in a black tu-
  nic, then rip the black door off its hinges. Then he will 
  open a dimensional rift in the floor, through which you 
  can see a deep pit with a red glow at its bottom. Rush-
  ing up through the rift will come an iron chariot drawn 
  by terrifying flapping creatures that look like shards of 
  black glass. He says in a child-like voice, “Thank you, 
  friends! I’m sure I’ll see you again soon!” and disappears 
  down the chasm. He leaves behind, in the hands of one 
  of you, a three-inch-wide silver ring, inside of which 
  hangs a silver triangle. Tapping the thing makes a pe-
  culiar ringing sound that fills the room. This will open 
  a channel of speech with Abraxas, during which his 
  charm effect is immediate, unless the hearers make a 
  DC 10 Will save.
  19. Siphon Room B: There are three doorways in 
  this room: an open doorway (to Room 20); a closed 
  door with a door knocker (to Room 9); and a heavy, 
  carved obsidian door that is locked and has a keyhole 
  (to Room 18).
  The door knocker in the shape of a paper clip has eyes. 
  It talks to you in a chipper voice, offering unasked-for 
  tips on formatting spells and mixing potions. It cannot 
  tell you anything useful. It says things like, “It sounds 
  like you’re trying to open a door.”
  Just on this side of the closed door with the paperclip, 
  hanging on the wall, is a key hook with no key. In the 
  center of the floor is a one-foot-wide round hole, with 
  a large glass tube coming up through the floor and 
  pointing toward a bewildering array of casting molds. 
  However, the tube is broken, and glass shards are all 
  over the floor. Quicksilver lies in several pools around 
  
  the room. There are two work tables in the room, each 
  one in a corner.
  The casting molds are for gears and rods of varying 
  sizes.
  The first work table is empty, except for a few brass 
  and silver gears scattered around it.
  The second work table has a brass mechanical figure 
  lying on it, partly disassembled. The figure has a brass 
  head shaped like the head of a giant bat. As you enter 
  the room, the figure comes to life. However, it is badly 
  wounded: its chest has been pierced with three silver 
  spear-points. The figure (whose name is Petar) will fol-
  low your commands if you are wearing either rabbit 
  mask. Otherwise, it will attack you.
  Minotaur-bat (“Petar”)
  Init -2
  Attack +0 fist
  Damage 1d6
  AC 4
  HP 3
  MV 20’
  Act 1d20
  SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +4
  AL Lawful
  Shortly after dealing with Petar, either fighting him or 
  commanding him, the quicksilver pools merge, form-
  ing into a rippling sphere with nine to 11 spidery legs 
  and a jagged mouth, constantly re-forming. The spear-
  points in Petar’s body become liquid and flow into the 
  sphere’s mass. It attacks you, but after 1 round, it will 
  try to exit down through the hole in the floor, through 
  the glass tube to Othon’s prison room (Room 12). If it 
  manages to get down the hole, it will begin trying to 
  free Othon.
  Quicksilver Spider
  Init +0
  Attack bite +0
  Damage 1d4
  AC 12
  HP 12
  MV 5’
  Act 1d16
  SV Fort +3, Ref -1, Will +0
  AL Chaotic
  20. Room for Talking with Abraxas: Just in-
  side the door, hanging on the wall, is an obsidian key. 
  It unlocks Abraxas’s prison (Room 18). In the center 
  of the floor is a three-inch-wide round hole, with a 
  bronze tube extending from it and snaking toward a 
  small bronze writing table. Strange characters are on 
  the tube (“Dispel charm”). The tube ends in a pair of 
  flared bronze openings at head height for someone sit-
  ting at the table: one directly in front of the seated per-
  son, and one to the side. There is a small black book on 
  the writing table. It tells you many disturbing things 
  about Abraxas (see Room 7).
  If you speak into the tube, or even make noise, Abraxas 
  will answer you or call out to you through the tube. He 
  sounds like a scared child. However, unlike in Room 
  7, he cannot compel you when speaking through the 
  tube, and he knows it.
  CAGE MATCH
  I
  f more than one of the gods are freed from 
  their prisons at a time, they will start fighting 
  each other. Othon will use its warping touch 
  against the other gods, as well as on the stone and 
  other materials in the tower. Digun will use his magic 
  Greek-fire breath. Abraxas will use his charming voice 
  and, if necessary, flying spinning razors. The PCs will 
  be caught in the crossfire.
  Digun is horribly susceptible to Othon’s warping touch. 
  Othon is susceptible to Digun’s Greek-fire breath and 
  continues burning no matter what shape it assumes.
  Abraxas is the mortal enemy of Chaos. If he can charm 
  Digun or Othon, he will instruct one to kill the other. 
  Neither will die immediately, but in the confusion, Ab-
  raxas will find and take the gold pendant. Shortly after 
  Abraxas is gone, Digun and Othon will stop fighting 
  and retreat to separate ends of the tower, to sulk and 
  nurse their wounds.
  
  Each place that is accessible via the triangular portals in 
  the floor, or by holding one of the astral bird's crystals, can 
  be a scene in its own right to explore. Here is a brief list of 
  descriptions of each of those places, some with encounters, 
  numbered according to Table 1.
  1. The Prison: You are here. Anyone holding this crystal 
  sees a brief flash of infinite space and stars, and then finds 
  themselves standing right where they were.
  2. The Old Capital: You find yourself in a large stone 
  hall strewn with stone. Evening sunlight streams through 
  the collapsed vaulted ceiling. A carved-stone throne sits on 
  a dais at one end of the hall. Moth-eaten tapestries show-
  ing scenes of old glory lie in heaps around the perimeter. 
  There is a smell of rotting wood, fabric and flesh. Ghouls 
  (DCC RPG p.414) roam the wreckage. (These are tradition-
  al ghouls that feed on dead flesh and haunt graveyards, al-
  though they will eat living flesh in a pinch.)
  Buried in a crypt beneath the hall's flagstones are dozens 
  of emperors and empresses. The last in the line is a power-
  ful lich whose ability to cast magic is hampered by missing 
  body parts: The ghouls have dragged three of his limbs to 
  far corners of the throne room. As the PCs explore the throne 
  room and the crypt, they will find a skeletal torso dragging 
  itself around with one left arm. If it can find its missing 
  limbs, it will reattach them and reign supreme.
  Lich (based on the lich by Bob Brinkman in Sanctum 
  Secorum #12): 
  Dismembered:
  Init -2
  Attack: debilitating touch +4 melee (-1 Str)
  AC 6
  HP 12
  MV 4’
  Act 1d20
  SP spellcasting (-2 spell check), lethargic, resilient, un-
  dead traits
  SV Fort +0, Ref -2, Will +10
  AL C
  When reassembled:
  Init +0
  Attack: debilitating touch +4 melee (-1 Str), soul burn +10 
  missile (-1d3 Per), or spell
  AC 11
  HD 10d4+20
  HP 45
  MV 20’
  Act 2d20+1d14
  SP damage reduction 10, soul burn, spellcasting (+12 
  spell check), lethargic, resilient, un-dead traits
  SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +10
  AL C
  3. Ghonza: You appear on the lip of a canal, at the top of 
  a short flight of steps that leads down to a gondola on the 
  water. 
  This bustling city has districts connected by canal. Each dis-
  trict is dominated by a broad plaza in front of a merchant 
  lord's heavily-walled palazzo (palace). Narrow, winding 
  streets emanate from this plaza until they reach the canals. 
  There are 13 districts.
  The merchant lords are in constant intrigue against each 
  other. They jockey for influence on the council of Ursino, the 
  Duke of Ghonza. Some lords are in vendetta against each 
  other, while others have made pacts together. The richest 
  and most influential lord will be elected Duke by the others 
  when Ursino dies.
  4. Phaistos: You appear on the roof of a flat-topped stone 
  house. A dazzling panorama of brass domes glint in the 
  bright sunlight. 
  This sand-swept city is a seaport on the edge of a desert. On 
  its west side is the sea, with a blazing lighthouse 60 feet high. 
  On its east and south sides are caravanserays: taverns where 
  camel caravans meet and trade. It is ruled by the Sultana and 
  her vizier, under the watchful eye of influential clerics.
  5. Lyncara: You appear in a wide stone plaza at night. The 
  clouds are low and the air is thin. Buildings around the pla-
  za are dotted with candlelight. 
  In the middle of the plaza is a six-foot-high stone plinth, on 
  which rests a 40-foot-long, 15-foot-high lynx. This is the im-
  mortal Albertus, who hears everything in the world and has 
  protected the citizens of Lyncara for over 500 years.
  Albertus will deign to talk with you civilly, in between lis-
  tening to things you cannot hear. He has no interest in be-
  coming the god of your village, since he already has a city 
  to protect. But, per tradition, he will answer three questions 
  posed by the group.
  6. Mandat: You appear in a cave with many passages lead-
  ing away from it. A few torches are ensconced in the walls 
  here and there, lending light. A few goblins (DCC RPG p. 
  417) come in and see you, are startled, and hastily retreat.
  This is the "city" of goblins, ruled by Luggo the hobgoblin. 
  Three tribes of goblins have banded together under his lead-
  ership. The tribes are the Hunchbacks, the Dripnoses, and 
  the Rockheads. Luggo has pitted each one against the other 
  in order to remain on top – a situation you may be able to 
  exploit.
  7. Fair Niam: You find yourself in a quiet forest at evening 
  time. You hear distant singing. The leaves are silver and 
  gold. Walking a short distance will bring you into contact 
  with elven archers patrolling the forest.
  8. Greddik: You find yourself in a high stone hall, well 
  lit. You hear distant chanting. The stonework is ornamented 
  with elaborate carvings. Walking a short distance will bring 
  you into contact with dwarven miners returning home after 
  work.
  APPENDIX: ENCOUNTERS ON OTHER PLANES
  
  9. Fuming Mountain: You find yourself standing on a 
  pile of gold coins, gems, and precious objects in a cave filled 
  with them. A long, snake-like dragon (DCC RPG p. 406) is 
  slithering around in the gold, surfacing occasionally. The 
  dragon is at least 40 feet long. In the distance, you can hear 
  snorts and bellows from other, connected caves that must 
  have related wyrms in them. A cave mouth 15 feet above 
  you opens to the outside.
  Dragon Esoteryx:
  Init +8
  Attack +10 claw, claw, bite, tail slap
  AC 23
  HP 48
  MV 50’
  Act 4d20
  SP fire breath, fast reflexes
  SV Fort +8, Ref +12, Will +8
  AL L
  This dragon, Esoteryx, is starved for conversation and so 
  will talk with you rather than attack immediately. It is not 
  on good terms with its siblings and cousins who infest the 
  rest of the mountain. However, it is toying with you and will 
  eventually become annoyed enough to attack. 
  10. Setillia: You appear underwater, in a wide avenue 
  crowned with coral reefs. Bizarrely, you can breathe.
  This is an ancient city that was built by the Abarysians, 
  whom the gods cursed, sinking their city. It is now inhabit-
  ed by merpeople. In the houses lining this street, you may be 
  able to find sealed cylinders containing spells and other lost 
  knowledge of the Abarysians.
  11. Hyperborea: You appear in a city covered in snow-
  drifts. A bitterly cold wind flenses you to the bone. There is 
  a circle of warmth around you that is quickly dissipating. A 
  few doors are immediately around you.
  If you enter one of the doors, you find an abandoned house 
  with the air of a mausoleum. The bones of a dead race – the 
  Abarysians – are laid out in the main hall, where the poses 
  suggest they froze to death instantly. These bones appear 
  to be made of crystal, and they must have been for beings 
  at least eight feet tall. Taking any bones causes the spirit of 
  an Abarysian to haunt you, either telling you useful arcane 
  knowledge or driving you mad, depending on a DC 10 Will 
  save.
  12. Pyramid of Order: You are on a mesa in front of a 
  monumental pyramid. There is an entrance in front of you. 
  Inside is a windowless warren, mostly empty. The wizards 
  have all left. However, there are a few of their items left be-
  hind, perhaps in haste:
  Scroll of rough drafts: spontaneously fills with the thoughts 
  of a powerful wizard. Words appear, are crossed out, and 
  are replaced by other thoughts.
  Forgotten Automaton: A brass figure three feet tall (HP 6, 
  AC 10, Act 1d12, Attack +0) is sweeping the floor eternally. It 
  will take any new orders it is given.
  Speaking Glass: A circular mirror two feet across, with rip-
  ples on its surface. If you speak to it, an ant made of flame 
  appears. It can connect you to any wizard of order you 
  choose; they are in the City of the Sun or of the Moon.
  13. Crooked Tower: You are on a mountaintop in front of 
  a black tower with dozens of turrets twisting off of it. There 
  is an entrance in front of you. Quickly, you encounter a hy-
  dra-headed man in a black robe that is stained with sauces 
  and jellies from many meals. This wizard (named Kankreen) 
  tries to question you, but each of his seven heads has differ-
  ent things it wants to know. Other wizards come across you 
  and try to question you, possibly getting into an argument 
  with Kankreen.
  14. Chronos: You are in a long hallway with arches on one 
  side. In each arch is a different vista: storms, fair skies, bus-
  tling cities, and desolate wilderness. A seed planted in one 
  window will be a giant tree in the next. Wandering through 
  the halls, you find people from various ages who have wan-
  dered out of their respective archways. You may also find 
  older versions of yourselves, lost and confused.
  15. The Eternal Library: You are in a cavernous, in-
  termittently-lit hall made of dark wood. Immediately sur-
  rounding you are aisles of bookcases, which open up into a 
  central reading area, surrounded by a gallery on the upper 
  level. If randomly pulling codices and scrolls, roll a d10:
  1: philosophy and psionics
  2: religion, divination
  3: law, politics, economics
  4: languages
  5: mathematics, astronomy, alchemy
  6: engineering, dwarfworks, farming, healing arts
  7: arts, music, elfworks
  8: literature
  9: history and geography
  10: automata, djinn, arcane knowledge
  16. Plane of Earth: You are in a cave with many passages 
  leading away from it. Gems embedded in the walls shine 
  with colored light. Wandering through the caves, you may 
  find a bulette, a giant worm, a troll, or a xorn.
  17. Plane of Watr: You are in a bubble surrounded on all 
  sides by deep blue ocean that fades to black. The bubble con-
  fers its own light. Gigantic sea monsters 60 feet long – levia-
  thans and krakens – emerge from the depths and disappear 
  again, oblivious to you. Glowing fish of all sizes swim by. 
  There is a chain of glowing bubbles, similar to the one you're 
  in, stretching out in a few directions; you can gently push on 
  your bubble to approach another. After a while, a gorgeous 
  mermaid with rows of glowing blue discs on her skin swims 
  up to you, speaks and tries to entice you to step out of the 
  bubble; roll a DC 5 Will Save that increases by 5 every few 
  rounds. The mermaid is actually an enchanted lure on the 
  end of a stalk that attaches to a 15-foot-long anglerfish with 
  enormous, spiny jaws.
  18. Plane of Aer: You are in a realm of endless sky, stand-
  ing on a small floating island of rock. A chain of similar 
  
  rocky islands are a brave hop away. Stormclouds and giant 
  birds fly by. You may encounter a thunderbird, a phoenix, 
  or a djinni. This last is in the service of King Aeolius, who 
  commands the winds and keeps them in large chained bags.
  19. Algoloth: You are standing in a dark city of eternal 
  night, in a narrow lane surrounded by crowded wooden 
  buildings. Half-seen people rush hurriedly by. You hear a 
  faint sussurus of whispers. Doorways and odd corners glow 
  with faint light; you can walk through each one, and will 
  find yourself standing in a shadow somewhere in the mate-
  rial world. You can pass back through the shadow again to 
  enter the night city. Remaining in Algoloth for long will gain 
  the attention of a vampire or a phantom.
  20. Fae: You are in a glowing area where careening ball 
  lightning whooshes by. Tiny pixies with dragonfly and but-
  terfly wings blink in and out of existence. You feel suffused 
  with magical energy, and can roll a DC 10 Will save to im-
  bue magic into objects that you carry. The magic is benevo-
  lent and good, but its specific effect depends on the kind of 
  object, and will become clear after you return to the material 
  world.
  21. Telu: You are in a realm of blue flame as far as the 
  eye can see. The sky seems to be divided into regular fac-
  ets, each a slightly different hue of blue. If you walk very 
  far, it becomes clear that you are inside a gemstone. One or 
  more djinn appear and question you severely. They are lim-
  ited in their power only by the power of their neighboring 
  djinn. Over the eons, they have come to agreements about 
  which parts of reality each one is allowed to affect. They do 
  not have your best interests at heart; they will either forget 
  about you or treat you like a diverting rag doll.
  22. Choria: You are in a magical swamp, lit by will-o'-wisps 
  and swamp gas. Skeletal trees hang at odd angles. Sporad-
  ically, brief curtains of liquid fall from the bruise-colored 
  sky. The liquid glows in blue, purple or deep red. You feel 
  suffused with magical energy, and you can roll a DC 7 Will 
  save to imbue magic into objects that you carry. The magic 
  is spoiled rotten, and can lead only to curses and destruc-
  tiveness. Its specific effect will become clear only after you 
  return to the material world. Eventually, you may encounter 
  a giant spider or maggot, beings that eat rotten magic and 
  return its energy to the astral plane.
  23. Singularum: You are on an infinite white plain against 
  a white sky. In the middle distance is a single black tower, 
  like an obelisk a hundred feet high. Your emotions are torn 
  away from you. The gods of Order live in the tower. When 
  you return, make a DC 10 Will save to get your emotions 
  back.
  24. Panviae: You are in the middle of a violent storm made 
  of a kaleidescope of colors. While here, you are completely 
  insane. Rocks that seem inhabited careen by; in them and in 
  the storm live the gods of Chaos. When you return, make a 
  DC 10 Will save to become sane again.
  25. Tartarus: You are on a slight hillside in a vast, dark 
  cavern. Shades – dreary figures of varying translucency – 
  drift about or walk nearby. You can ask any of them ques-
  tions. Some will answer, but others will demand blood be-
  fore they answer; the blood makes them momentarily more 
  solid, feeling briefly alive. At the bottom of the slope is the 
  giant throne of Hades. If you stay too long, you will get the 
  notice of the Furies.
  26. Pandaemonium: You are standing on a bridge above 
  an endless pit. The pit extends above and below you as far as 
  you can see, and you see many other bridges from the crum-
  bling cliff walls of the pit to a glorious, many-domed city in 
  the center. The city is Pandaemonium, the abode of many 
  chaotic demons. One will eventually notice you.
  27. Dis: You are standing on a rocky outcropping a short 
  way above a black-walled maze. The sky is a pulsing, op-
  pressively hot red. In the center of the maze is a city enclosed 
  in iron walls. This is Dis, the capital city of Hell, and home 
  of the most powerful of the Lawful devils. Regular patrols 
  periodically sweep this area and will take you into the city 
  for interrogation. Once inside, finding your way back out of 
  the maze will require the help of a devil.
  28. Hermopolis: You are outside a crystalline city that is 
  only 300 feet wide at its widest. The sky is dark and full of 
  stars. You and the city are supported by a crystalline disc, 
  and below it you see more stars. You get the sense that the 
  disc and city are flying through space. This is the home of 
  Hermes, and every magical spell is recorded here some-
  where. The city sails to the homes of the gods, ferrying mes-
  sages between them.
  29. Argenta: You are outside a giant silver city, standing 
  on a smooth silver plain (the disc of the moon) that ends a 
  short way behind you. Above you is a starry night sky. The 
  city is inhabited by bat-people; incredibly smart insect-peo-
  ple; and several of the erstwhile Wizards of Order, who live 
  in comfortable exile here, as expats. The city is currently 
  being eaten, slowly, by the Night. The inhabitants take this 
  with an air of calm fatalism. Eventually, the survivors will 
  rebuild the city from a sliver of its previous self.
  30. Aureus: You are outside a giant golden city, standing 
  on a smooth golden plain (the disc of the sun) that ends a 
  short way behind you. Above you is a starry night sky. The 
  city is full of immortal poets; wise (but hungry) manticores; 
  a herd of sacred cows; and several of the erstwhile Wizards 
  of Order, who live in comfortable exile here, as expats. He-
  lios the god of the Sun rules the city.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeon Crawl Classics/DCC Adventures & Settings/Prison of the Mad Gods (DCC).pdf