TEXT: 
  Prince of Darkness
  
  
  Prince of Darkness
  PRINCE OF 
  DARKNESS
  R
  evealed herein by the pens of sages 
  lie the greatest mystery of the 
  Darkness Elementals: the nature and 
  place of the Lost City of Nem, long 
  thought a legend. Further is the dolorous 
  tale of a man brought low by lust for 
  power, how he killed his king and sought 
  to release a great evil into the world, 
  and the overturning of his plans by brave 
  adventurers from another land. Also 
  here are truths about the ancient fief of 
  Glissom, its city and towns, the reivers 
  that bedevil it, and tales of great giants 
  that live in the ice at its frozen north. 
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  Interior artwork
  Jon Hodgson
  Scott Neil
  Maps
  Andy Law (www.hapimeses.com)
  Logo
  Mark Quire
  Layout and publishing
  James Wallis
  Written by
  Oliver Johnson
  and
  Ian Sturrock
  Editing, revisions
  and additional material
  Adrian Bott
  James Wallis
  Cover
  Jon Hodgson
  PRINCE OF DARKNESS
  Digital edition
  ISBN 978-1-906402-10-5
  All text is copyright © 1986, 2009 Dave Morris and Oliver 
  Johnson. All art and maps are copyright © 2009 the individual 
  creators. All other elements of design are copyright © 2009 
  Magnum Opus Press. All rights reserved. Dragon Warriors is 
  a trademark of Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson, used under 
  licence by Magnum Opus Press. Originally published in 
  different format by Corgi Books, 1986-1987. 
  The authors have asserted their moral rights to be identified as 
  the creators of this work.
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  PRINCE OF 
  DARKNESS
  
  
  Prince of Darkness
  Chapter 1:  
  Introduction 
   
  5
  Chapter 2:  
  Glissom: Fief and City 
   
  7
  The History of the Fief 
   
  7
  The Fief Today 
   
  8
  Glissom City 
   
  8
   
  The Fort  
   
   8
   
   
  Notable Fort Locations 
   
  9
   
   
   
  Glissom Castle 
   
  9
   
   
   
  Ciaran’s Workshop 
   
  11
   
   
   
  The Temple of Flame 
   
  11
   
  The King’s Law 
   
  10
   
  The Dockside 
   
  11
   
   
  Cargos 
   
  11
   
   
  Notable Dockside Locations 
   
  13
   
   
   
  The Foreigner’s 
   
  13
   
   
   
  The Press-Gang 
   
  13
   
   
   
  Eagle Alley 
   
  14
   
   
   
  Crown & Anchor Inn 
   
  15
   
   
   
   
  Games at the Crown & Anchor  
  15
  Outside the City 
   
  16
   
  Rosmuileann 
   
  16
   
   
  Notable Rosmuileann Locations 
   
  16
   
   
   
  The Silver Stag Inn 
   
  16 
   
   
   
  The Beast Market 
   
  16
   
   
   
  Ughaine’s Town House 
   
  17
   
  The Reivers 
   
  17
   
   
  Conn, King of the Reivers 
   
  18
   
   
  Rotho Redhand, the Bloody Bitch 
   
  19
   
   
  Ardbeann Castle 
   
  19
   
   
  The Borderers 
   
  19
   
   
  Rasean Bastle 
   
  19
  Into the Wild 
   
  20
   
  The Brack Mountains 
   
  20
   
  The Lost City of Nem 
   
  20
   
   
  Constructing an Orb of Darkness 
   
  20
  CONTENTS
   
  Fomorians, Glass Towers and Tundra 
   
  20
   
  Fomorian Artefacts 
   
  21
   
   
  Magnar’s Spotted Ship 
   
  21
   
   
  Connaing’s Heart 
   
  21
  Chapter 3:  
  Adventure Hooks 
   
  22
  Chapter 4:  
  The Prince of Darkness 
   
  27
  History  
   
   
  27
  Games Master’s Introduction 
   
  28
  1. The King’s Tower 
   
  29
  2. The Inn of Chang 
   
  36
  3. The Siren Woods 
   
  40
  4. The City of Mimir 
   
  46
  5. The Mountains of Brack 
   
  57
  6. The Hall of the Frost Giants 
   
  67
  7. The Temple of Balor 
   
  71
  Maps
  Ellesland  
   
   
  4
  Glissom area map 
   
  6
  City of Glissom 
   
  12
  Rosmuileann 
   
  17
  The King’s Tower in Glissom 
   
  33
  The Inn of Chang 
   
  38
  Siren Woods 
   
  41
  City of Mimir 
   
  48
  Mountains of Brack—lower 
   
  56
  Mountains of Brack—upper 
   
  64
  Hall of the Frost Giants 
   
  68
  Temple of Balor 
   
  74
  Temple of Balor—dungeon level 
   
  78
  
  4
  Dragon Warriors
  
  5
  Prince of Darkness
  Chapter 
  INTRODUCTION
  The Prince of Darkness is a combination 
  of a sourcebook and a mini-campaign consisting of 
  seven short interlinked adventure scenarios for 4–6 
  Dragon Warriors characters of 5th-7th rank. 
   
  This book includes the core Prince of Darkness 
  adventure itself, plus supplementary source material 
  and adventure hooks concerning the fief of Glis-
  som, far in the north, where the adventure begins 
  and ends. This supplementary material works very 
  well to introduce Glissom (and its wayward prince, 
  Doron) to the player-characters, but is entirely 
  optional. If you want to set the scene and the mood 
  of the setting before starting ‘Prince of Darkness’ 
  then you can use this material to give the party a 
  reason to travel to Glissom, to meet some of its 
  notable personalities, and hear some of its history 
  and lore before the main adventure begins.
   
  As in other Dragon Warriors adventures, sections 
  of text in italics may be read aloud to the players, or 
  paraphrased by the Games Master.
   
  The adventure has been designed to be eas-
  ily incorporated into an existing Dragon Warriors 
  campaign, since the player-characters will presum-
  ably already have come through several adventures 
  before they reach Glissom itself. 
  Using this book with The Elven Crystals
  The fief of Glissom is very close to the kingdom of 
  Ereworn, the setting of The elven crystals, so these 
  two are a natural fit for each other. After The elven 
  crystals the party will probably be somewhat too 
  low-ranked to play Prince of Darkness right away, 
  but after playing through most or all of the adven-
  ture hooks in Chapter 3, they should be ready.
   
  The Games Master can either guide them to 
  Glissom via the character of Doron (see page 28) or 
  by other means. Alternatively he can be more force-
  ful: perhaps the Erewornian ports are closed because 
  of plague, so the party must head overland to Glis-
  som to take a ship home from there, rather than 
  risking the far more dangerous crossing through the 
  Pagan Mountains.
  Using this book with Sleeping Gods
  If the Games Master wishes, the adventures in this 
  book can be incorporated into the sleeping Gods 
  campaign. The easiest way to do this is to play 
  through Prince of Darkness immediately after Chap-
  ter 6 of that book, ‘Sins of the Fathers’, which ends 
  with the party leaving the area of the world where 
  they have been adventuring so far. 
   
  To bring the two campaigns together, the GM 
  can have the party’s former patron give them enough 
  money to take passage elsewhere in the world, but 
  urge them to make haste, and have the next ship 
  leaving port be heading for Glissom. Alternatively 
  their ship can be diverted by storms or pirates until 
  it arrives at Glissom. This will also mean the PCs 
  should be about the right rank to play Prince of 
  Darkness. Afterwards, getting them to another port 
  town for Chapter 7 of sleeping Gods should be no 
  problem either.
  
  6
  Dragon Warriors
  
  7
  Prince of Darkness
  GLISSOM IS THE smallest of the territories of 
  Ereworn, trapped in its position in the north-west 
  of the island by a combination of geographical 
  hardship and unruly neighbours. It is surrounded by 
  mountains (the Pagan Mountains to the east and 
  the Mountains of Brack to the north), the freezing 
  waters of the Hadran Sea around its coasts, and the 
  dark kingdom of Ereworn to the south. However, its 
  position does not mean that it is isolated: Glissom 
  attracts travellers and traders from all over Ellesland 
  and the northern parts of Legend, and more sinister 
  pilgrims from the far reaches of the world.
  The History of the Fief
  The borders of the Fief of Glissom are ill-defined 
  and inconstant. The king’s skills at war and diplo-
  macy may bring local chieftains into the Fief for a 
  while, till their descendants throw off the yoke of a 
  later, weaker king. So has it been, for as long as there 
  has been a king in Glissom. Anywhere beyond the 
  current borders—whatever they may be—is known 
  as The Wild (see p. 20).
   
  The very name, ‘Fief of Glissom’—rather than 
  ‘Kingdom of Glissom’—hints at the frequently 
  uncertain status of the land’s borders. Hundred of 
  years ago every tribal chief would call himself a king, 
  and every village headman a chieftain, though even 
  in those days there existed forerunners to today’s 
  Council of Elders: the Oenach Councils, made up 
  of all a tribe’s landowners and craftsmen, and able to 
  depose a king and install a new one. 
   
  In those days, raiding and skirmishing were a 
  way of life from the sea in the south to the Brack 
  Mountains in the north. Cattle were the main prize, 
  and a raider who could sneak onto another tribe’s 
  lands and steal away a herd unnoticed was especially 
  highly praised. Occasionally open warfare would 
  break out between tribes, as tit-for-tat raids became 
  more and more out-of-hand, a killing here or a 
  barn-burning there eventually leading to skirmishes 
  and then the destruction of entire villages. 
   
  The Selentine Legions changed that, conquering 
  all the arable lands that make up most of the pres-
  ent-day fief, and building the walled city of Glis-
  som itself, on the site of what was once little more 
  than a fishing village (albeit a fishing village whose 
  temple contained a particularly unusual relic—the 
  ever-burning Hearth Fire). The legionaries barely 
  ventured beyond the River Shadowspin at all, save 
  for the occasional punitive attack upon the more 
  troublesome Reiver clans (see p. 17), and for Dra-
  jan’s ill-fated expedition (see p. 72). The Selentine 
  commanders favoured easy, ripe conquests, and the 
  rich farmlands south and west of the river offered 
  them all they needed. 
   
  When the legions withdrew, the first king, Nudd, 
  seized power. He and his warband, though born and 
  bred in Glissom, had been Auxiliaries to a Selen-
  tine legion, and their discipline served them well in 
  ruthlessly quashing any attempts at opposition or 
  rebellion. Even he sought the support of prominent 
  Chapter 
  GLISSOM:
  FIEF AND CITY
  
  8
  Dragon Warriors
  townsmen, as a nod to the pre-Selentine system of 
  the Oenach Councils. At least at the start, though, 
  the new Council of Elders was composed predomi-
  nantly of the king’s favourites, and existed more to 
  lend him legitimacy than to provide any real checks 
  and balances on his power.
   
  In theory, Nudd claimed all Glissom as his king-
  dom, yet he and his men, like the Selentines before 
  them, rarely ventured beyond the river. Likewise, 
  most later kings of Glissom felt little need to truly 
  conquer the whole kingdom. What, after all, was 
  beyond the river? Forests and mountains, with no 
  wealth, persistent rumours of evil elves, and plenty 
  of very real human warriors willing to fight hard 
  for their independence against any upstart outsider 
  ‘king’ from south of the river. A few kings—most 
  notably Garm the conqueror—subjugated the 
  clans, and claimed the whole land as their fief, but 
  even their men ventured only warily into the Siren 
  Woods, if at all. 
  The Fief Today
  The present king, Durindar, has let the borders of the 
  fief shrink once more—particularly since his death! 
  Border clans and outlaws grow bolder: not just raid-
  ing from the mountains and forests, but burning or 
  even conquering whole villages that were part of the 
  fief in living memory. Conn, the self-styled ‘King 
  of the Reivers’ (see p. 18) is said to be behind most 
  of these raids. Though the raids have so far rarely 
  ventured within a day’s ride of Glissom city, the folk 
  in the outlying regions live in constant fear of the 
  Reivers. Mothers wishing to scare their bairns warn 
  of ‘Conn and his Reivers’ coming to carry them off 
  as often as ‘the Elves and the Sirens’. 
   
  South of the river the land is flat, a low-lying 
  limestone plateau barely more than a couple of yards 
  above sea-level in many places. The thousands of 
  farms and smallholdings of the fief grow oats, wheat, 
  rye, and tubers, as well as raising cattle, sheep, goats, 
  and pigs. In the south, apples and pears are abun-
  dant, along with the hundreds of small breweries to 
  be expected in fruit-growing country. Close to the 
  river, every farmer will also have a net, placed near 
  the shore to catch the plentiful salmon. Where the 
  river is shallower, to the south, many villagers also 
  dig clay, and craft a variety of jars, jugs and other 
  containers for their produce. 
  Glissom City
  Glissom is a partially walled city of just 10,000 souls, 
  barely enough to qualify as a large town in more 
  civilised lands. Here, though, as the largest settle-
  ment in the fief, it’s at least ten times bigger than 
  any other town in the land, even the larger market 
  towns. It sits at the mouth of the Shadowspin River, 
  welcoming traders and travellers from the interior of 
  the country, and from ports and destinations around 
  Ellesland and the north of Legend
   
  The walls were first built by the Selentines, 
  but have been repaired, knocked down, rebuilt 
  and added to by various kings of Glissom over the 
  hundreds of years since the legions departed. They 
  no longer present a formidable defence. Glissom 
  is rich, predominantly through trading the bounty 
  of the great arable farmlands throughout the fief to 
  southern lands that are less fertile. Riches have bred 
  complacency; the city’s great North Gate has been 
  widened so many times, to fit more and more farm-
  carts, that it would take a small army of stonema-
  sons many weeks to make it defensible once more. 
  Likewise the docks in the south part of the city have 
  sprawled far beyond the walls, both northwest up 
  the coast and east along the river, as well as onto the 
  opposite riverbank.
  The Fort
  The military and political centre of Glissom has, 
  for hundreds of years, been Glissom Castle. At one 
  time, only the king, his family, and the Druids of 
  the Temple of Flame (see p. 11), were permitted to 
  own property within 144 paces of the castle walls, 
  but that restriction has faded over the years. Several 
  wealthy merchant families now have homes close to 
  the castle, as well as thanes and most members of 
  the Council of Elders. The region around the castle 
  is still known as ‘Castle Side’ or ‘The Fort’, after 
  the old Selentine fort that formed the basis of the 
  east side of the current castle; a couple of the older 
  houses in the region are villas from the Selentine 
  days.
   
  The castle is reasonably central, not far to the 
  north of the docks. This inevitably causes some 
  tension, with the scum from the docks occasionally 
  sneaking into Castle Side to steal. As a result, most 
  
  9
  Prince of Darkness
  of the Castle Side residents employ at least a guard 
  or two, usually called housecarls in pretentious 
  emulation of the king’s warband. These housecarls 
  frequently attack or at least give trouble to people 
  they don’t recognise in the region after dark, assum-
  ing them to be Docksiders up to no good, especially 
  if the strangers are scruffily dressed, so adventurers 
  may run into difficulties here.
  Notable Fort Locations
  Glissom Castle
  The only true castle within the fief, Glissom Castle 
  would be regarded as little more than a provincial 
  keep in other nations. Still, it’s imposing enough 
  to the Glissom locals: an enduring symbol of the 
  power of the king and his Council of Elders. The 
  gates are guarded constantly, but rarely closed; the 
  Councillors and others often have business here.
   
  The Meadhall is the heart of the castle’s social 
  and political life. Kings (or for the past few years, 
  Kilnded) have feasts, of a greater or lesser size and 
  complexity, most nights in the Meadhall. The guest 
  list ranges from almost no one, to either the house-
  carls or Council, to great celebrations with all the 
  housecarls, the Council, and thanes and eorls1 from 
  all over the country. The Council of Elders holds its 
  meetings here, too, once a fortnight. A smaller Glis-
  som Court, made up of three Council members, also 
  sits here once a fortnight, judging crimes regarded as 
  significant enough that local nobles or their retain-
  ers cannot simply dispense on-the-spot justice, as 
  well as hearing any appeals or complaints. 
   
  The Barracks hold the king’s housecarls. At 
  present, these number seventy men, mostly first-
  rank knights, but with a few higher-ranked knights 
  among them. As with Kilnded’s men-at arms (see p. 
  35), most have two-handed swords (d10, 5), though 
  many prefer the older, more traditional weapon, the 
  battleaxe (d8, 6). In the event of a serious attack on 
  the city, the housecarls’ numbers would be bostered 
  by calling upon the local people to act as a militia 
  (unranked humans in gambesons and armed with 
  either spears, or cudgels and shields). An armoury 
  dug as a cellar beneath the barracks holds a few spare 
  battleaxes and a great many pot helms, gambesons, 
  spears and shields.
   
  of late the traditional rank ‘eorl’ has begun to be replaced by ‘baron’ 
  as younger, less traditionalist nobles try to emulate their more sophisticated 
  neighbours to the south. 
  
  0
  Dragon Warriors
  THE KING’S LAw
  The laws of Glissom were once simple, but many 
  centuries of different cultures and rulers have 
  muddied the waters somewhat. The King’s Law, 
  at least in theory, holds throughout the Fief, but 
  it certainly allows for interpretation by local rul-
  ers and trained Jurists, both of whom often per-
  form such interpretation to such a degree that the 
  original laws barely apply at all.
   
  The general principles of the King’s Law are as 
  follows:
  • All disputes are essentially civil matters; there’s 
  no obligation of ‘the state’, or of local rulers, to 
  catch criminals. Rather, the victim of the crime, 
  or their family or friends, will need to apprehend 
  the wrongdoer and then bring them before a court 
  authority (the Council of Elders, in Glissom City, 
  or the local thane or eorl elsewhere in the fief).
  • Only learned men are permitted to dispute 
  with the court, as Jurists. The accused and the 
  accuser may each hire a Jurist to argue their case, 
  citing complex legal precedents, coming up with 
  dazzling refutations, or just making up excuses. 
  Traditionally, Jurists were always Elementalists 
  (local druids), though a court may be persuaded 
  to allow a Sorcerer or Mystic to act as Jurist. A 
  Jurist affects the chance of conviction as follows:
  +/- (Rank + Looks + Intelligence, with a -5 
  penalty if the Jurist is not an Elementalist). 
  Naturally a Jurist hired by the accused will 
  subtract his score from the conviction chance, 
  whereas a Jurist hired by the accuser will add his 
  score. Hiring a local Jurist will typically cost 4d6 
  x 100 florins (which means that in many cases it’s 
  cheaper to simply admit the crime and pay the 
  fine), though of course one of the party members 
  might be willing to do the job for free if another 
  PC is involved in the case.
  • Everyone has a monetary value. Even if you 
  wound the King himself, you will probably be per-
  mitted to live—so long as you can pay the fine.
  • Damage to honour, ‘face’, or reputation can be 
  at least as important as physical injury, and some-
  times far more important than damage to or theft 
  of property. A slight to a man’s honour should be 
  treated as either Mugging or Murder, depending 
  on the severity of the slight (although it is a viable 
  defence to prove that he has no honour in the first 
  place). For example, calling a nobleman a miser 
  would be classed as a crime as severe as Mugging; 
  calling him a coward would be classed as severely 
  as Murder. This assumes that the damage to hon-
  our is significant, and public, of course.
  • There are no ecclesiastical courts, since there 
  are no clergy, other than the Druids (Elemental-
  ists). Harming a Druid, other than in self-defence, 
  is punishable by the most terrible curses, cast by 
  any other Druid who hears of this dreadful crime. 
  Right-thinking Glissom natives will also shun 
  anyone who attacks a Druid.
   
  Other than as described above and as follows, 
  the standard laws and punishments of the Lands 
  of Legend apply (see Dragon Warriors rulebook, 
  pp. 189-196). Glissom, though, has long had a 
  tradition of fining criminals rather than killing or 
  mutilating them, so punishments are as follows 
  rather than those given in the main rulebook:
  A:  Confiscation of all property; sold into slavery (or 
   
  given to the victim or their family as a slave).
  B:  1000 + (6d6 x 100) florin fine
  C: 800 + (5d6 x 100) florin fine
  D: 600 + (4d6 x 100) florin fine
  E: 400 + (3d6 x 100) florin fine
  F: 200 + (2d6 x 100) florin fine
  G: 100 + (1d6 x 100) florin fine
  H: 1d3 x 100 florin fine
  In cases B-H, confiscation of property and selling 
  into slavery are always options, if the criminal is 
  unable to afford the fine.
   
  The King’s Tower in the castle is described in 
  greater detail on p. 32.
   
  The outer walls of the castle are something of a 
  hotch-potch, much like the city walls. The Eastern 
  Wall, as well as the eastern parts of the Northern 
  and Southern Walls, are still barely changed from 
  Selentine times, when this was a large square fort 
  that housed several hundred legionaries. 
   
  The tower, Western Wall and the internal build-
  ings are all post-Selentine, though many of the 
  stones used to build those areas were once part of 
  the Selentine fort.
  
  
  Prince of Darkness
  Ciaran’s workshop
  Ciaran the goldsmith looks more like a black-
  smith—a great hulking beefcake of a man, yet pos-
  sessed of astonishingly delicate skill in his trade. 
  He works exclusively in gold and gems, mainly 
  producing arm-rings and torcs for wealthy house-
  carls and other warriors (these are often purchased 
  as gifts for good service, by the warriors’ lords), as 
  well as fine cups and necklaces for merchants and 
  their wives. Much of the gold is imported from the 
  south, though some comes from border families in 
  the Pagan Mountains or Brack Mountains.
   
  The workshop is the ground floor of a large two-
  storey house, with thick stone walls, right in the 
  heart of the Fort. Ciaran will also change money, 
  buy scrap gold to melt down (at a low price, though, 
  if he thinks there is a good chance that it is stolen), 
  keep valuables safely on his premises (from 1 florin 
  per week, depending on the size and value), and give 
  out loans. 
   
  The money-lending part of his business is lit-
  tle-known, if profitable. He will only lend gold to 
  those who are already either wealthy or very power-
  ful—usually the king or Steward, but occasionally 
  a well-established merchant. Anyone who is not at 
  the least very closely associated with the Council 
  of Elders is unlikely to get him to admit he offers 
  money-lending, let alone persuade him to put his 
  hand in his purse. He’s the closest thing that Glis-
  som has to a bank, though.
   
  Ciaran sleeps above his workshop, and retains 
  four housecarls (4th-rank Knights in AF3 mail hau-
  berks and armed with sword and shield), who also 
  sleep on the premises, as guards. His wife, Yseult, is 
  considerably younger and better-looking than he is; 
  it’s said that he has her guarded more jealously and 
  thoroughly than his gold, much to her chagrin.
  The Temple of Flame
  Dedicated to Brigantia, said to be the goddess of 
  all Glissom, this ancient temple to the Hearth-Fire 
  is still tended by Druids (high-rank Fire Elemen-
  talists), though the Hearth-Fire itself is now in the 
  king’s possession. Brigantia is goddess of fire har-
  nessed to the service of humanity: the hearth, the 
  cooking-fire, and the forge. The Druids preside over 
  seasonal fire-festivals, including the Spring Festival, 
  leading the folk of Glissom in great rituals of flame, 
  song, and feasting in the streets around the Temple.
   
  The Temple has a small school attached, training 
  carefully selected children and adults to eventually 
  become Druids, Jurists (see p. 10) and bards. None 
  of the magical training for the Druids is conducted 
  here, though; this is done by small communities of 
  Elementalists far from the cities, deep in the woods 
  or high in the mountains. 
   
  The school lessons concern legends, proverbs, 
  songs, and legal principles far more than magic. There 
  are no fees, but anyone with Intelligence under 13 
  will not be admitted to study here, and anyone with 
  Psychic Talent under 13 will not be taught Druidry 
  (but may still learn to be a Jurist or bard). 
   
  The youngsters from the Temple school are 
  eager, quick-witted scholars, and can often be found 
  near the school engaged in complex metaphysical 
  debates, or just contests of satire where each has the 
  task to insult the other in the most amusingly cut-
  ting manner.
  The Dockside
  Glissom’s dockside is probably the most dangerous 
  part of the city for a newcomer. Combine sailors—
  at best a law unto themselves when ashore, whether 
  drunk and rowdy on the spoils of a successful trip, 
  or half-starved and desperate after a voyage ending 
  in failure—with unscrupulous captains and mer-
  chants always looking for the next deal, in cargo or 
  in press-ganged crew, and you already have a vola-
  tile mix. Add in the dock’s permanent inhabitants, 
  most of whom work at every trade from loading and 
  unloading to pickpocketing, mugging, press-gang-
  ing and the occasional murder, and it should be clear 
  why this area is best avoided after dark. 
   
  Treat most of the folk here (sailors, captains, 
  merchants, and slum-dwellers alike) as unranked 
  humans, or occasionally as low-ranked Knights or 
  Barbarians, as well as a few theft-oriented Assas-
  sins among the locals. Generally, ranked characters 
  should be at least two or three ranks below the PCs, 
  so as to be a relatively minor threat—but their num-
  bers may help them win anyway, especially if they 
  are able to call on allies.
  Cargos
  Glissom ships all manner of preserved and luxury 
  foods to the south, predominantly straw-packed or 
  
  
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  Prince of Darkness
  dried apples, ciders, perries and meads, and smoked 
  meats, but also occasional bulk cargos of oats and 
  rye. It imports metals and crafted metal goods, 
  especially farm equipment. There’s little need for 
  out-and-out smuggling, since it is rare that any 
  goods are banned entirely in Glissom, but tax eva-
  sion of one kind or another is rife, since all imports 
  and exports attract fees. 
  Notable Dockside Locations
  The Foreigner’s
  Etienne, originally from Chaubrette, has only a small, 
  innocuous-looking office by the docks, its faded 
  sign reading ‘Albion Import & Export’. Though 
  he’s lived in Glissom a dozen years, it’s a mark of 
  just how insular even the docks are that his estab-
  lishment is still known simply as ‘the Foreigner’s’. 
  Merchants from all over the Lands of Legend are 
  known in Glissom, but Etienne is one of very, very 
  few who have stayed. Many locals here assume he’s 
  from some far corner of Albion, due to the name; 
  after all, all foreigners are kind of the same, aren’t 
  they? And few Glissom-dwellers have even heard 
  of Chaubrette. 
   
  Etienne is very happy with that situation. He 
  fled the justice of his liege-lord Comte Dugas, back 
  in Chaubrette. Etienne cuckolded Dugas, then 
  maimed him in an impromptu duel, before fleeing 
  town and boarding the next ship from the nearest 
  port… then the next ship from its destination, which 
  took him to Glissom. A 5th-rank Knight, Etienne 
  is careful to avoid looking anything like his original 
  profession. He gave most of his possessions includ-
  ing his armour and weapons to the first ship-captain 
  he met, in exchange for a passage, a set of sailor’s 
  clothes, and lessons in the basics of sailoring. That 
  way he was able to work his passage on the next 
  ship. He spent five years fishing and sailing around 
  Glissom before finally raising enough cash to buy 
  a small boat, then another, then make a down pay-
  ment on a ship. Now, fully fifteen years since he fled 
  Chaubrette, he runs three cogs, though he owes a 
  sizable debt to Ciaran for the second and third, still 
  (he finally paid off the first one last year). Someday 
  soon, or so he plans, he’ll sell the lot, buy a longship, 
  hire a load of tough-looking Glissom mercenaries, 
  and sail back to Chaubrette to reclaim his true love 
  and finally slay his erstwhile lord. 
   
  Etienne is wary, smart and a keen judge of 
  character. If he likes the look of the PCs (and he’ll 
  decide, one way or another, very soon after meet-
  ing them), he may well consider hiring them for the 
  aforementioned task. He’s personable enough him-
  self—that’s one of the reasons he’s a successful mer-
  chant—but what he plans is, of course, both illegal, 
  and morally questionable. In the eyes of the society 
  of the Lands of Legend, he’s a traitor to his rightful 
  lord, at least twice over. Said lord would pay a great 
  THE PRESS-GANG
  Though the press-gang is not a formal or legal 
  institution in Glissom (there is nothing resem-
  bling a ‘King’s Navy’, and will not be any time 
  soon), individual ship-captains still hire local 
  rowdies and sneaks to shanghai new crew. This 
  might be because a particular captain has a bad 
  reputation (as a harsh or uncaring master, or just 
  an unlucky one), or because he has a particular, 
  urgent need for crew. 
   
  Usually experienced sailors are preferred, so 
  the PCs are unlikely to be targeted unless doing 
  something so foolish as masquerading or disguis-
  ing themselves as sailors. Occasionally, though, a 
  captain will have need of lubbers, or a particu-
  larly dodgy press-gang will attempt to pass off a 
  group of lubbers as ‘experienced sailors’ in hopes 
  of a quick profit.
   
  There are three basic techniques used by the 
  press-gangs, singly or in combination: simply 
  find people who are already unconscious through 
  overindulgence; beat people in the head with 
  clubs till they are reduced to 0 hit points; or slip 
  a drug into their drink (a Weak Sleep Poison, but 
  treat as a Normal Sleep Poison if the victim is 
  already drunk; see the Dragon Warriors rulebook 
  p. 122). Once the victims are rendered uncon-
  scious, the press-gang will simply pick them up 
  and carry them to a waiting ship.
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  deal of money to discover Etienne’s new location, 
  though it would be difficult in the extreme to find 
  out enough of Etienne’s past to know which lord to 
  go to.
  Eagle Alley
  Eagle Alley is one of the most notorious streets 
  in Dockside. It’s most notable as the home of the 
  Scorchers gang and the closely associated crime 
  family, the Guaires. 
   
  The Scorchers are fearless muggers and killers, 
  but they are especially hated by the Glissom popu-
  lace for the practice that gives them their name: 
  arson. Anyone who crosses them will soon find his 
  home, or his shop, or even just his favourite inn, 
  burned to the ground—usually with his friends and 
  family still inside. 
   
  The Scorchers have an almost religious desire to 
  burn; it’s said that many of them are descended from 
  a rogue Druid, Diarmaid, who believed himself to 
  be the true custodian of the Hearth-Fire, and who 
  rebelled against the temple, desiring to use the fire 
  for destruction rather than warmth and craft. He 
  worshipped the ancient Fomorian war-god, Neit, 
  and the Scorchers firmly believe themselves to be 
  ancient warriors, part-Fomorian themselves, with a 
  divine right to burn people and property. 
   
  Twice in the hundreds of years since the Hearth-
  Fire fell—once under Diarmaid, once under another 
  charismatic Fire Elementalist named Oghma—the 
  Scorchers have swelled to thousands strong, recruit-
  ing lowlives from all over the city, burning whole 
  city districts and scores of outlying farms in their 
  mad urge to destroy, before being comprehensively 
  defeated by the king’s armies.
   
  The Guaires pay lip service to the Scorchers’ 
  debased fire-religion, but their main goal is profit. 
  They find the Scorchers extremely useful for intimi-
  dation and retaliation against other organised crimi-
  nals who might want to control some of the lucrative 
  Dockside crime. Eithne Guaire, the matriarch of 
  the family, is a scheming psychopath, able to appear 
  utterly charming while planning death and destruc-
  tion. She is the head of the family more because all 
  the rest are terrified of her than because she’s the 
  best person for the job; she often lets her bloodlust 
  overrule her desire for wealth, and that may sooner 
  or later lead to her removal from office (and from 
  the land of the living).
   
  The Guaires have a finger in almost every Dock-
  side pie. They are certainly no ‘thieves’ guild’, but 
  
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  Prince of Darkness
  they are powerful enough, and feared enough, that 
  only an ill-advised newcomer would dare operate 
  any Dockside business—wholly legitimate, wholly 
  criminal, or any of the vast grey area that most 
  Dockside operations fall into—without paying off 
  the Guaires somewhere along the way.
  Crown & Anchor Inn
  One of the most infamous establishments in a dock-
  side with some rough rivals, the Crown & Anchor 
  has cheap, nasty ale, but expensive and well-organ-
  ised gambling of every kind. As well as dice games 
  Mumblety-Peg
  Each player of the game takes a knife, throwing 
  it as close to his own foot as he possibly can. The 
  winner is the player whose knife sticks in the 
  ground more closely to his foot than the others’ 
  knives are to their own feet. Each player involved 
  makes an Attack Roll as usual for a Thrown 
  Weapon, with the usual +2 penalty for a small tar-
  get. The player who rolls highest, while still suc-
  ceeding at his Attack Roll, wins the game, getting 
  the knife very close to his foot. Any player who 
  rolls exactly 20 has hit his own foot, for normal 
  damage—technically he wins the game, but only 
  to the derision of every onlooker. It is possible to 
  deliberately aim for one’s foot (in which case one 
  only needs a standard Attack Roll, with +2 for a 
  small target, to hit one’s foot), though if it’s obvi-
  ous that this is deliberate, or if the character gets 
  healed right afterwards, a brawl is likely to break 
  out immediately.
  Shiv Surprise
  An especially bendy, springy, flat-bladed knife is 
  used in this game. The players all stand in a half-
  circle around a shallow crack in the wall. The knife 
  tip is shoved into the crack, then the blade is bent 
  back till the springiness causes the knife to fly off 
  in a random direction. Up to 12 players can play 
  at a time; number them from 1 upwards, then roll 
  1D20. If a player’s number comes up, she’s been 
  hit by the knife (this strikes with less force than 
  a normal thrown knife, so does only D2, 2). If 
  the number isn’t assigned to a player, the knife 
  misses everyone, though on a roll of 20 it hits an 
  innocent bystander instead (often resulting in yet 
  another vicious brawl).
  Split The Kipper
  Two players face each other, and alternately hurl 
  a knife to one side or other of the opponent’s feet. 
  The opponent must then attempt to ‘do the splits’ 
  enough to reach the knife to pick it up and throw 
  it back, and stay in the ‘splits’ position. A knife 
  ending up nowhere near the opponent’s feet (as 
  decided by the spectators) has no effect, and the 
  turn passes to the other player. In game terms, 
  a player makes an Attack Roll as usual to land 
  a knife near his opponent’s feet (with a –2 for a 
  Small Target, and a roll of 20 meaning the knife 
  hits his opponent for normal damage, with the 
  thrower forfeiting the game; again, of course, a 
  character might choose to deliberately aim for 
  his opponent, in which case normal combat rules 
  apply!); his opponent must then roll under his 
  Reflexes on 1d20 to do the splits. The loser is 
  whoever first fails a Reflexes roll.
  Crown & Anchor
  This is a simple gambling game, played with 
  three special six-sided dice, labelled with the four 
  playing-card suit symbols (club, diamond, spade, 
  heart), a crown, and an anchor. Players place bets 
  by putting coins or markers on the correspond-
  ing symbol, marked on a cloth or table. The three 
  dice are rolled. If one comes up with your symbol, 
  you get your stake back; two, and you get double 
  your stake; three, and you get treble your stake. If 
  none of the dice have your symbol, you lose your 
  stake. There’s no skill involved, but there’s only a 
  slight house advantage; these two qualities make 
  the game popular with sailors and other adven-
  turers, just drunk enough to favour drawn-out 
  games of luck.
  GAMES AT THE CROwN & ANCHOR
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  (including the nautically themed Crown & Anchor 
  game that gave the inn its name, as well as better-
  known games like Liar’s Dice and Mia), the inn’s 
  patrons will bet on anything and everything; from 
  the colour of cloak worn by the next person to walk 
  through the doors, to the winner of one of the many 
  short but brutal brawls that break out here so often, 
  to whether they or their mates can carry out any one 
  of a variety of dares, schemes, and forfeits. Games 
  and bets involving knives are particularly common, 
  with Mumblety-Peg, Shiv Surprise, and Split The 
  Kipper being favourites.
  Outside the City
  Rosmuileann
  Just south of the Shadowspin River and the Siren 
  Woods can be found Rosmuileann, the village men-
  tioned in the Prince of Darkness adventure (see p. 
  40). To a traveller, the most significant feature here 
  is the merry inn, the Silver Stag. The inn is only so 
  lively, and the village so large, because of the conflu-
  ence of two trade routes here: the main road from 
  Glissom City north to the Brack Mountains, and 
  the river Shadowspin, which often bears everything 
  from small trading barges to Reiver longships. The 
  innkeeper will readily point out that few folk pass 
  through the village from south to north, but will not 
  be drawn on the subject of those who travel to the 
  village down from the north. 
   
  This is because Rosmuileann is a centre for trade 
  with the Reivers. The well-trodden road through 
  Siren Woods is not used by the Elves, who despise 
  roads as things of mankind. The folk of Rosmuile-
  ann will happily tell the occasional traveller to stick 
  to the path, figuring that if they follow the advice, 
  they’ll still likely never come back—either the dan-
  gers of Nem, or the Reivers, will see to that, depend-
  ing on the way they go. And should the unthinkable 
  happen, and someone return from the Lost City, 
  laden with treasure? Well, they have to pass through 
  Rosmuileann on their way to anywhere, and more 
  wealth coming through town is never a bad thing.
   
  Other than regarding the Reiver collaboration 
  issue, the Games Master may use Rosmuileann as 
  the basis for any of the other half-dozen or so small 
  market towns and large villages that are scattered 
  across Glissom, usually on the river.
  Notable Rosmuileann 
  Locations
  The Silver Stag Inn
  This is considerably larger and livelier than one 
  might expect of a country inn, even one on a trade 
  route. Perhaps the locals are just a happy, boisterous 
  lot? In fact they are—but largely because the major-
  ity of them are either actively or tacitly in league 
  with the Reivers. 
   
  The landlord, Padraig, is the biggest rogue of 
  the lot. Unlike many of the villagers, some of whose 
  families have been intermarrying with Reiver clans 
  since before there was a fief, Padraig doesn’t have any 
  strong family connections with the Reivers. He just 
  loves flouting the law, and making a large quantity 
  of cash while doing so. He has no particular other 
  vices on which to spend his ill-gotten gains; money, 
  along with the status and power he has gained from 
  always knowing about every dodgy deal in town, is 
  its own reward. Most of his cash is buried in various 
  places just outside town, though he keeps a ready 
  purse of gold and gems in case any opportunities 
  arise.
  The Beast Market
  Once a week a great field just to the northwest of 
  Rosmuileann is given over to the beast market. 
  Farmers and peasants from miles around drive cat-
  tle, pigs, sheep and goats to sell, here, and there are 
  usually horses, dogs and mules for sale, too, of vary-
  ing quality. Deals, scams and haggles are the order 
  of the day, with dozens of heated discussions being 
  conducted over price at any one time.
   
  Though it was originally solely for livestock, the 
  beast market has expanded over the years to include 
  sellers of farm produce, hot food, and other goods. 
  Availability chances for Livestock and Adventuring 
  Gear are doubled on market day, to a maximum of 
  100% (see the Dragon Warriors rulebook, p. 134).
   
  Market day, inevitably, is also a good day to look 
  out for Reiver bands selling stolen herds. They may 
  
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  Prince of Darkness
  call themselves ‘drovers’, but they’re exceptionally 
  tough-looking and well-armed (‘to keep the Reivers 
  away’, of course).
   
  Though there are no formal organised entertain-
  ments on market day, young men will often create 
  ad hoc contests. Horse races, cockfights, wrestling, 
  and bare-knuckle boxing are the most common 
  such activities, with the occasional quarterstaff bout 
  or singlestick match (treat the latter as cudgels).
  Ughaine’s Town House
  This is the modest-sized but well fortified two-
  storey dwelling of Baron Ughaine, whose small fief 
  includes Rosmuileann. He has a castle twelve miles 
  west of the village, too. Ughaine spends little time in 
  the village. He is well aware of the extent of the cor-
  ruption to be found here, though he has so far had 
  little success in uprooting it. If he appoints a Warden 
  or Steward, even supported by armed housecarls, to 
  clean up the village, they either end up dead, or on 
  the take from the Reivers like everyone else. 
   
  Ughaine is a 5th-rank Knight. He commands a 
  couple of dozen housecarls, and another dozen or 
  so thanes and their own retainers, but can in theory 
  call upon several hundred levies too.
  The Reivers
  Since the days of King Nudd most of Glissom has 
  been civilised, at least by the standards of the Lands 
  of Legend. It’s been ruled by one central authority, 
  it makes war in the civilised way with knights (how-
  ever primitive those knights are by the standards 
  of Algandy or even Albion), its farms are feudally 
  organised rather than just managed by the local 
  tribes, and so on. But beyond the fief, in the Wild, 
  matters are very different. Outside civilisation’s 
  reach lurk the Reivers: bandits, brigands, broken 
  men, border raiders, pirates, and often worse, sav-
  ages with a reputation for merciless torture and 
  slaughter of any outside their bands.
  
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  Dragon Warriors
   
  Many of the Reiver bands have a proud history 
  of never having bent the knee to an overlord from 
  outside their tribe—even back in Selentine times. 
  If one were to live long enough to ask them, they 
  might claim—with some degree of accuracy—to be 
  the only true-bred Glissom natives left. Any visi-
  tor to Glissom who believed that the ‘old-fashioned 
  ways’ somehow had a purity or goodness to them, 
  though, would rapidly be disabused of all their 
  ‘noble savage’ notions. 
   
  The Reivers are Barbarians, to all intents and 
  purposes, like most inhabitants of the Pagan Moun-
  tains. These, though, are the kind of barbarians who 
  give other barbarians a bad name. They will rob, 
  rape, torture, maim and kill, taking great delight in 
  actions that others would rightly regard as the most 
  heinous crimes. Not only that, but whenever one of 
  them sets his mind to some evil more hideous and 
  abhorrent than even their usual atrocities, his band 
  will support him without question, piling into the 
  fray with gusto. 
   
  For a Reiver, the only crime is to betray your own 
  clan. Even there, there can be some flexibility. Slay-
  ing your chieftain and assuming command yourself 
  is no betrayal—clearly the old chieftain was weak, 
  and you are doing your clan a favour by installing 
  yourself in the position. Even slaying your brother 
  might be justified, if he’d looked at you funny, or if 
  you just felt like it, or if you thought you could get 
  away with it. ‘History is written by the victors’ is 
  especially true for the Reivers; few will dare raise 
  a blade against a fellow Reiver who demonstrates 
  exceptional brutality and indifference by occasion-
  ally killing one of his own. (They might still poison 
  him or arrange to have him stabbed in the back, 
  though; it’s a risky business, being a Reiver.)
  Conn, King of the Reivers
  Conn is a 10th-rank Barbarian, and the chieftain 
  of the Gar clan, always one of the largest and most 
  influential Reiver clans. They’re renowned especially 
  for their castle, Ardbeann, nestled in their heart-
  land at the joining-place of the Pagan Mountains 
  and Brack Mountains. Conn has spent most of his 
  six decades persuading neighbouring clans to work 
  together, to mount more and more ambitious raids. 
  He has no objections to them still raiding each 
  
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  Prince of Darkness
  other, so long as they will flock to his banner when 
  he wants to sack a town. 
   
  Conn is a tough-looking warrior, tall, scarred, 
  and weather-beaten, wiry of limb but with a solidity 
  of body and strength of arm that combine to make 
  him one of the most formidable fighters in Glis-
  som (Strength 18). A great matted mass of grey hair 
  and beard atop layer upon layer of furs and skins 
  completes his savage appearance. This appearance 
  is deliberate. Conn finds he has to kill fewer people, 
  if everyone is terrified of him. He has no particular 
  love of killing for its own sake, but he does love the 
  power of being chief, of having a dozen Reiver bands 
  at his command. He will kill anyone who threatens 
  that power without a second thought. He cannot 
  afford to ever lose face in front of other Reivers, so 
  will rapidly repay any serious insult with death.
   
  He’s secretly pleased with the informal title ‘King 
  of the Reivers’, though he won’t use it himself, pre-
  ferring to loudly explain to any who might ask that 
  the Reivers have no king, that every Reiver is as free 
  as any other. Still, he might consider invading the 
  fief and setting himself up as king of all Glissom, if 
  he sensed a power vacuum there and felt he could 
  count on the support of the other clans.
  Rotho Redhand, the Bloody Bitch
  Rotho is regarded as the worst of the sea-borne 
  Reivers, a red-haired witch (a Warlock of rank 9) 
  typically to be seen wielding a bloody sword and 
  shield in battle anywhere on the Hadran Sea. It’s 
  said that her base is on an uncharted, windswept 
  island in the sea close to the western end of the 
  Brack Mountains, far enough north to be icebound 
  for much of the year. Indeed, her raids take place 
  only in the spring and summer, and occasionally 
  early autumn. 
   
  Rotho leads a band of Reiver cutthroats from her 
  own island, as well as sometimes working with other 
  clans, though not so frequently as does Conn. Her 
  reputation for bloodthirstiness is an extreme one, 
  even for a Reiver, and many clans are wary of her. 
  It’s not so much that she’s deliberately treacherous, 
  but more that she herself feels easily betrayed, and 
  rewards any failure or error with death.
   
  Her own islanders look at her with near-rever-
  ence, thinking of her as an incarnation of Babh, one 
  of the more terrifying, older, demonic goddesses of 
  this land.
  Ardbeann Castle
  Ardbeann Castle is a small square castle, of but four 
  towers and with walls just 3 metres tall, but it’s still a 
  castle, utterly incongruous in the barbaric sparseness 
  of the Pagan Mountains and Brack Mountains. The 
  Gar Clan’s base is hard to find, and the journey to it 
  will inevitably be perilous; Conn and his ancestors 
  have counted on those factors to discourage most 
  heroes who might want to bring them to justice, but 
  the surprise of facing an actual castle usually dis-
  heartens those few who make it this far.
   
  Conn and his immediate family occupy the castle, 
  most of the time, but given even a few hours’ notice 
  he can call in a couple of hundred of his clansmen 
  from the surrounding hills. In the past, he has had 
  that notice; few ever get as far as his castle without 
  word of their arrival reaching the Gar Clan. 
  Rasean Bastle 
  Rasean Bastle is a more typical Reiver or Borderer 
  dwelling, barely more than a well-fortified manor 
  house, a three-storey squat round stone tower with 
  its main entrance on the middle floor, and the lower 
  floor used solely as a storage area or animal pen. 
  Reiver and Borderer communities tend to be spread 
  The Borderers
  For the most part, ‘borderer’ is simply a polite 
  term for Reivers; it’s what a captive might call 
  a Reaver, in the usually vain hope that he may 
  retain his head. Still, there are a few clans who 
  prefer the term ‘Borderer’, and regard them-
  selves as a sight less villainous than the Reiv-
  ers. Borderers will still raid the old-fashioned 
  way, taking cattle and wealth but leaving their 
  victims alive and more-or-less unharmed if 
  possible. 
   
  They may even still appear to betray a 
  supposed ally, but only according to their 
  own codes of honour. So while they may des-
  ert you after taking your hiring fee, melting 
  away into the hills when you are attacked by 
  an overwhelmingly powerful foe, what they 
  will not do is sell you out to that foe.
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  out, and so each extended family will have its own 
  bastle-house to retreat into should their lands be 
  raided.
  Into The wild
  The Brack Mountains
  These icy, forbidding peaks are inhabited by few 
  humans other than the hardiest and most savage of 
  the Reiver clans. Most Reivers prefer to be on the 
  edge of nowhere, just beyond the borders of human 
  kingdoms. Many live in the foothills of the Brack 
  Mountains, or in the marginally less cold and hos-
  tile Pagan Mountains. The Brack Mountains them-
  selves, though, are covered in ice and snow, with few 
  game animals and no possibility of farming. Frost 
  Giants and other monsters can be found here. Treat 
  it as Arctic terrain for random encounter purposes.
   
  A number of underworlds exist in the moun-
  tains—ancient tombs, long-abandoned Fomorian 
  fastnesses, Frost Giant lairs, and all manner of 
  strange delvings. There are probably easier pickings 
  to find, where the temperature is above freezing, but 
  to some, that only makes the Brack underworlds all 
  the more appealing. They might still be undisturbed, 
  after all.
  The Lost City of Nem
  As well as Balor’s region of Nem, as described on 
  pp. 72-86, several other small areas of the Lost City 
  can be found by the persistent explorer. Most have 
  long been buried deep beneath the ice, but a few can 
  be entered from naturally occurring tunnels, holes 
  or fissures. A few parts of the Lost City, on what 
  was originally the high ground or forming the upper 
  floors of what were once high towers, will some-
  times be exposed above the shifting surface of the 
  ice-sheets. 
   
  Some adventurers tell of climbing down such 
  a tower to discover a network of passages leading 
  through the icebound streets and buildings of Nem, 
  filled with ancient riches and inhabited by bizarre, 
  terrifying creatures. However, because of the fickle 
  nature of the ice, anyone who investigates these tales 
  invariably finds that such entrances are never where 
  the adventurers’ charts indicate they should be.
   
  The Lost City is occasionally visited by Darkness 
  Elementalists, usually just to construct their Orb of 
  Darkness (see below). However, these black-hearted 
  Elementalists rarely work together, or form anything 
  resembling a community. A Darkness Elementalist 
  encountering another such, here, is at least as likely 
  to treat him as a rival to be killed and robbed, as to 
  offer any assistance.
  Constructing an Orb of Darkness
  Every Darkness Elementalist needs an Orb of Dark-
  ness, if she is to fully control her powers. This item 
  can only be made in Nem, as follows:
  • 
  The maker must be an 8th+ rank Darkness 
  Elementalist.
  • 
  She must have a perfectly spherical crystal ball, 
  costing 3d10 gold crowns. This is later used as the 
  basis of the Orb, though it will be considerably 
  altered both in physical form and in appearance by 
  the time she is done.
  • 
  She must perform certain rites at the Darkness 
  Totem (see p. 76), involving drawing forth the 
  essence of the Totem into the Orb. This takes 2d4 
  weeks. 
  Fomorians, Glass Towers and 
  Tundra
  Tales of Balor and his Fomorians become more 
  and more common the further north one goes in 
  Glissom. In the foothills of the Brack Mountains, 
  though, greybeards will mutter into their ale, and 
  make the sign of the Evil Eye if the subject is brought 
  up. The land gets far colder the further and higher 
  you travel, and the foothills are frequently blasted 
  by hailstorms and snow: ‘old Gulro’s breath’. ‘Gulro’ 
  is the name these folk will use for Balor—an old 
  nickname, meaning simply ‘killer’, but without—so 
  these people think—any risk of calling upon him or 
  empowering him, as you might risk if you said the 
  name Balor itself. 
   
  Track down an Elementalist in these hills, 
  though—probably a druid or witch—and you might 
  get more information. Balor is seen as the embodi-
  ment of winter, darkness and cold. Entombed in 
  
  
  Prince of Darkness
  Nem, you say? In his own place of power, surrounded 
  by the ice that he so favoured? How could this be 
  anything other than a part of some long-term ploy 
  by Balor, biding his time, building his power… and 
  if you think the other Fomorians are done, too, you 
  have not explored beyond the Brack Mountains. Can 
  you not feel their icy breath on your back, every step 
  you take further north? Dare you venture beyond 
  the mountains, to the coast at the north edge of the 
  tundra, and there spy the shifting ice floes and great 
  Fomorian towers and citadels of ice, or is it glass, 
  floating in the chill ocean? 
   
  Those are the tales, anyway. The Games Mas-
  ter must decide how much truth there is in them, 
  if any, in his own campaign. Are the Fomorians 
  entombed in their glass towers, still? Or do they, as 
  some say, sometimes raid the far northern settle-
  ments? Or are these especially vicious raids carried 
  out only by particularly savage Reivers, and the true 
  Fomorians are lost far beneath the ice of history? In 
  any case—what of these glass towers? What great 
  treasures could still be found there, if the Fomorians 
  have truly passed from this world, abandoning all 
  their wealth and their magical knowledge, ready to 
  be plundered by the plucky?
   
  In appearance, a Fomorian can vary from an 
  eerily beautiful, unusually tall human, to a mon-
  strous human-like creature but with the head of a 
  goat. Many look somewhere in-between—very like 
  the True Faith’s depictions of demons, in fact. Their 
  height varies from 2–3 metres, though some of the 
  more monstrous-looking ones are hunched over. 
  They exude seductive, otherworldly evil.
  attack 19, Spear (2d4 +2, 6),  Armour Factor depends
  or Horns (1d6 +2, 5) (goat/  
  on worn (usually 0)
  demon-headed Fomorians 
  only)
  defence 14  
   
   
   
   
  Movement: 10m (20m)
  magical attack 18 
   
   
  Reflexes 10 +2d6
  magical defence 12   
   
  evasion 6
  Health Points 4d6 +12   
   
  stealth 7
  Rank-equivalent: 8th   
   
  perception 6 (normal)
  In addition to their formidable combat prowess, 
  many Fomorians have the powers of either an Ele-
  mentalist (usually Darkness) or Mystic of 8th rank. 
   
  A Fomorian who looks like a beautiful human 
  has no Horns attack, but does have a magical power 
  identical to a Transfix spell except that it can affect 
  only one person, and only one who is of the opposite 
  gender to the Fomorian.
  Fomorian Artefacts
  Magnar’s Spotted Ship
  This sleek vessel is unusually narrow, even for 
  a longboat. Its sides are made not from the usual 
  planks, but from great smooth circles of something 
  like scale, as though from an enormous sea snake. 
  These circles give it a spotted, serpentine appear-
  ance. 
   
  The ship is said to have been constructed on the 
  orders of Magnar, a powerful Fomorian warlord. 
  His wizards worked strange magics for many years 
  to build it. According to legend, it slides through 
  the water with unusual speed and agility, as well 
  as performing far better than most ships when the 
  water is partially frozen. Magnar used it to lead a 
  fleet of a thousand longboats from the north in an 
  early attack on Glissom. 
   
  Still, if it ever existed, it must surely have rotted 
  away or sunk beneath the waves, aeons ago… unless 
  it can still be found, eerily preserved, in an icy dry 
  dock somewhere beneath a glass tower. If it could 
  be found, it would strike terror into the hearts of 
  Glissom’s ordinary people and Reivers alike (treat 
  as causing a Morale Check, with an Attack of 10, in 
  anyone who sees the ship and knows the legends). 
  Connaing’s Heart
  Connaing was an early Fomorian conqueror of Glis-
  som, from before the days of Balor. The tales have 
  it that his great lust for gold and meat caused him 
  to enslave the folk of Glissom and tax them harshly, 
  spreading poverty and starvation throughout the 
  land. One old hero, Angus, wrapped his last piece of 
  good beefsteak around his last piece of gold jewel-
  lery, cooked it to perfection, and offered it to Con-
  naing. The gluttonous Fomorian gobbled it up in 
  one bite. When Angus told him he had swallowed 
  the gold, Connaing dropped dead of a broken heart, 
  on the spot.
   
  His heart is said to be shiny, solid black stone. 
  It can’t be penetrated or damaged by any known 
  force, and is staggeringly heavy. Used as a slingshot, 
  or tied up in a bag and used as a flail, it acts as a +1 
  enchanted weapon, but with the additional property 
  that a Fomorian struck by it is affected by a Dis-
  hearten spell cast with a Magical Attack of 20.
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  THE FOLLOWING ADvENTURE hooks can 
  be adapted for use with characters of more-or-
  less any rank, since no game stats are given for the 
  antagonists (use the NPC game statistics in the 
  Fellow Adventurers section of the Dragon Warriors 
  rulebook, pp. 117-120).
   
  Adventure hooks with an asterisk (*) after the 
  title are designed to involve Prince Doron in some 
  way (see page 29), and so would be useful to intro-
  duce him to them prior to the events in the main 
  adventure. If the party are much lower-ranking 
  than Doron during an adventure in which he plays 
  a major role, consider adjusting his rank and game 
  statistics (as found on p. 29) down to better match 
  the characters’ rank.
  Getting to Glissom
  Some ideas for getting your party of characters to 
  Glissom are given in the introduction on page 5, but 
  there are many other ways that you can make the 
  fief part of your campaign. 
  Prince among Men*
  The easiest way to get your party of adventurers 
  involved in ‘Prince of Darkness’ is to use Prince 
  Doron. The wild heir to the throne spends most of 
  his time outside the fief of Glissom, as a high-liv-
  ing adventurer. He travels incognito and without a 
  retinue, and the PCs can meet him almost anywhere 
  in the world of Legend, at any stage of an adven-
  ture. He may join them for a while, so that they get 
  to know him, enjoy his company and value him as 
  a fellow-adventurer. Then their paths will diverge 
  and the party will not hear of Doron again until 
  they receive a message from him, inviting them to 
  Glissom. The fact that he is a prince should be a 
  surprise. They could arrive a day or two before the 
  beginning of ‘Prince of Darkness’, or with enough 
  time to explore the city and the fief, and experience 
  a few of the adventures suggested below.
  Over the Hills
  If you don’t want to use Doron as a connection then 
  the easiest way to get a party into Glissom is as 
  escorts for an important traveller or contact who has 
  to cross the dangerous Pagan Mountains and get to 
  Glissom City before a certain date. The journey can 
  be used to introduce key elements of the area. Once 
  they arrive, they will find all the ways out are tem-
  porarily blocked—if it’s winter then the mountain 
  passes will be snowed up and the seas treacherous 
  with ice; and summer is the season of the Reivers 
  and pirates. They will be stuck there, long enough to 
  get embroiled into some local trouble at least.
  Bad Lands*
  One or more of the adventurers comes into posses-
  sion of some lands in Glissom. They may inherit 
  it, or be given it by a destitute nobleman from the 
  Chapter 
  ADvENTURE 
  HOOKS
  
  
  Prince of Darkness
  fief (quite possibly Doron) in exchange for services 
  rendered, or they may find a warrant granting them 
  ownership of it. It’s not till they arrive in Glissom 
  that they discover the lands are deep in Reiver-held 
  territory, and the house or castle at its centre is either 
  a ruin or strongly defended by other people. Worse, 
  they may also find they’re obliged by the laws of the 
  local eorl to keep the area clear of undesirables, or 
  face punishment themselves.
  Glissom City  
  Adventure Hooks
  Laying the Foundations
  Part of the ancient walls of the Fort collapse, reveal-
  ing a hidden chamber and a long-mummified 
  corpse. Who was this mystery, and why is Kilnded 
  so eager to keep people away from the area? Is it 
  related to the folk-tales told in the slums, of people 
  stolen away from the poorest areas and sealed up, 
  still alive, in the foundations of buildings so their 
  souls will keep the fairies at bay? Or is it closer kin 
  to the stories of Wailing Jane, a ghost who walks the 
  boundaries of the Fort, whose appearance is said to 
  foretell a death in the ruling family, and who was 
  seen last week for the first time in sixty years? 
   
  There have long been stories of tunnels and hid-
  den rooms in the thick walls of the Fort, perhaps 
  extending down to underworlds that criss-cross 
  the city and may pre-date the Selentine invasion. 
  Kilnded has been using them for his research in 
  acquiring the Hearth Fire. Now, with his plans so 
  close to fulfilment, he is terrified that someone will 
  discover what he has been doing, and will go to 
  almost any ends to stop them. 
   
  This adventure could be used as a prelude to 
  ‘Prince of Darkness’, to build an atmosphere of ten-
  sion around Glissom, a sense of foreboding, and to 
  foreshadow some of the things that will happen in 
  the main body of the adventure.
  Fey Gold
  Someone has sold Ciaran (p. 11) a batch of items 
  that turn out to be fey-gold: after a certain time they 
  transform into iron or lead. He hires the PCs to 
  track down the miscreant and retrieve the price he 
  paid for the items. Perhaps this was a hapless travel-
  ler, perhaps someone cursed by the fey, or perhaps a 
  fey visitor making mischief or seeding some curious 
  scheme of the little folk. 
   
  Or maybe the gold that Ciaran bought was under 
  a fairy curse, which he unknowingly melted down 
  and recast into other pieces, which have been sold 
  on. The PCs must hunt down the purchasers and 
  exchange the cursed items for new, uncursed ones 
  without the buyers knowing, or Ciaran’s business is 
  ruined. Or perhaps that’s the story that Ciaran (or 
  one of his apprentices) tells the PCs, while the truth 
  is the other way around and the items they are sub-
  stituting are in fact the ones that are cursed.
  Darkness Calls
  The adventurers are approached by Finley March-
  band, a trader of esoteric items, who says he has 
  recently returned from the far north of the country. 
  Among his wares are a couple of items that any ele-
  mentalist will recognise as part of the magical acces-
  sories of a Darkness Elementalist. Finley is not what 
  he seems: he is a Dark Elementalist himself, using 
  these items as a lure to find others of his ilk, for a 
  scheme or expedition he is hatching, or to dispatch 
  potential rivals, or possibly to recruit the curious to 
  his school of magic. If the party are not drawn into 
  his web now, they may well encounter Finley later, 
  as his plans come closer to fruition.
  Scraping the Barrel
  Because they are low on cash, or to pay off a debt or 
  favour for a friend, the PCs agree to spend a night 
  guarding a valuable cargo in a dockside warehouse: 
  casks of imported spirits for the rich cellars of Castle 
  Side. At the night’s darkest hour, they hear a faint, 
  rat-like scratching. It grows louder. It is coming 
  from inside one of the casks.
  Beyond The Purple Mountains
  A Cornumbrian monk, Ethelred, has arrived in 
  Glissom clutching a map covered in ancient, closely 
  written text. He claims it shows the lands to the 
  north of Glissom, beyond the Brack Mountains; 
  furlong upon furlong of tundra, great shifting ice 
  floes beyond, and more: the other cities and iceberg 
  castles that Balor once ruled over from his seat at 
  Nem. They are deserted now, but unlike Nem, are 
  
  4
  Dragon Warriors
  no more than naturally frozen. Perhaps they are 
  accessible still, containing who knows what trea-
  sures? The greedy monk offers equal shares of the 
  (hypothetical) loot to any who are willing to share 
  the risks of what could prove an incredible journey.
  Small Beer*
  The party are drawn in to a tavern brawl. This is 
  a perfect way to introduce Doron (whether in the 
  form of his fist crashing into a player-character’s 
  face, or in the shape of the characters rescuing him 
  from a probably well-deserved beating). It’s also 
  something that will doubtless feature quite often 
  in the party’s future, if they continue to associate 
  with the prince; thus, several different tavern brawl 
  opportunities have been provided below:
  • Doron argues, drunkenly but persuasively and 
  charmingly, that the barmaid should give up her 
  dreary drudge-life and run away with him (‘I’m a 
  prince, you know….’). Her husband disagrees.
  • Some regulars at the Crown & Anchor inveigle 
  a drunken Doron into a gambling match involv-
  ing increasingly convoluted and legally dubious 
  dares. His latest task is to persuade the next 
  people through the door (the characters) to carry 
  him on a table through the streets, proclaiming 
  him to be Emperor of All Ellesland; he’s not 
  allowed to offer them money.
  • The father of one of Doron’s former mistresses 
  tracks him and the party down, bringing a num-
  ber of brothers, sons and cousins with him. All 
  are ordinary humans but armed with cudgels; 
  they want Doron to marry the disgraced daugh-
  ter, or receive a severe beating at their hands. 
  Doron just might be willing to marry a com-
  moner, especially when drunk, if only because he 
  knows it would seriously annoy the Council of 
  Elders; however, there’s not a hope in Hel that 
  he’ll marry this particular commoner, as he will 
  loudly declaim.
  Doron’s Eleven*
  Doron claims that the owners of the Crown & 
  Anchor Inn in the city of Glissom (see p. 15) have 
  cheated him once too often. He’d like the PCs to 
  work with him on his planned heist of the place. 
  Doron’s blood is up; he’s keen to just swarm in 
  there at a quiet time, all masked up for disguise, and 
  demand the takings at swordpoint. 
   
  He might—with some difficulty—be convinced 
  to try more subtle methods first, but running in and 
  cracking a few heads will always be, at best, his very 
  favourite back-up plan, to which he will revert with 
  eagerness at the first excuse.
  Fire in the Hold
  A building or vessel belonging to Adwin Olmheed, 
  a contact of the PCs, catches fire and burns to the 
  ground. No witnesses can be found. Clearly the 
  Scorchers have been at work here, but the contact 
  is (or claims to be) completely unaware of what he 
  has done to rouse their ire. A respectable citizen, 
  he cannot even make the necessary enquiries, but 
  adventurers are a different matter. 
   
  They will discover that Olmheed is not as 
  upstanding as he claims, but that turns out to be 
  a red herring. A disgruntled former business part-
  ner of Oldheed’s has been ripping off the Guaire 
  family and making it look like someone else—Old-
  heed—is to blame. This is an old grudge that may 
  end in death: the Guaires don’t like to be told that 
  they have made a mistake, and may demand that 
  the true culprit is brought to them or made to suf-
  fer, or that some other favours or proof of loyalty are 
  performed before they will rescind their murderous 
  instructions to the Scorchers. 
  Pressed and Repressed*
  After a particularly hard-drinking night on the 
  town (perhaps drowning their sorrows following a 
  failed quest, or celebrating after a big pay-off), the 
  PCs awake to the sound of their fellow press-gang 
  victims vomiting over the side of the ship. They, 
  and Doron (presently just deeply uncomfortable, 
  but soon to be more and more angry) are in chains; 
  and their fierce new captain, Ulf Larson, also known 
  as ‘The Sea Wolf’ (a Mercanian Barbarian, two or 
  three ranks higher than the PCs), is standing over 
  them. 
   
  Ulf is determined to revive the old Mercanian 
  tradition of raids all around the coasts of Ellesland, 
  once he has a sizable enough fleet, though to begin 
  with he’s just another seaborne Reiver like all the 
  rest. His crew is a mix of Mercanians and Reivers to 
  do the serious sailing and slaying, and pressed men 
  to work the oars. He’ll kill the weakest-looking new 
  oarsman (not a PC, though he may well hint that a 
  PC is next, if there’s a low-Strength Sorcerer among 
  
  5
  Prince of Darkness
  them) when he first falters, just to prove a point. 
   
  Whether the PCs and Doron lead an oar-slave 
  revolt, or just break themselves out somehow in the 
  night and flee overboard (to new adventures, no 
  doubt!), or are eventually tried out as full-blown 
  pirates themselves, winning Wulf’s respect and their 
  own freedom, is up to them.
  Fief of Glissom  
  Adventure Hooks
  Shipwrecked*
  The party and Doron wash up on an island out in 
  the sea somewhere west of Glissom, the last sur-
  vivors of their ship (possibly they were passengers, 
  but this could also be a follow-on to ‘Pressed and 
  Repressed’, above). The island appears uninhabited, 
  though the ruined city of pale blue stone, left behind 
  by a long-lost civilisation, must conceal dozens of 
  underworld treasures… or perhaps horrible doom? 
  Most likely both.
  Field of Glory*
  The baron of Rostry is hosting a tourney (see the 
  Wargames section in the Dragon Warriors rulebook, 
  p. 196), after the fashion of the southern king-
  doms, and all knights are invited—even foreign 
  ones (especially foreign ones, in fact, since they will 
  presumably know how one is supposed to behave at 
  these tournament things). A visored knight in bat-
  tered, oil-blackened plate armour proves to be chiv-
  alrous and magnanimous in victory, but angry and 
  threatening in defeat; he is, of course, Prince Doron, 
  attempting to be incognito.
  Underworld Trouble*
  Doron might well be encountered in an underworld 
  almost anywhere around Glissom, or beyond. He 
  and the party could both be seeking the same trea-
  sure, and end up having to come to some arrange-
  ment (Doron is not the greatest of negotiators; he 
  will be easygoing and agreeable enough if he decides 
  he likes the PCs, or dangerously violent if he decides 
  he doesn’t), or be working at cross-purposes, or find 
  themselves in the same sticky situation.
  Bloody vengeance
  Oiseann, an outsider from Glissom city, brought in 
  by Baron Ughaine (see p. 17) to police Rosmuileann, 
  is under threat. He was successful at first, bringing 
  in several Reivers and collaborators, and hanging the 
  lot. Then, he captured the brother of a local Reiver 
  chieftain, hanging him out of hand too. 
   
  Since that point, Oiseann has been a marked 
  man. Assassins seek him out by night, and arrows 
  have even been shot at him in the streets of Ros-
  muileann by day. He needs protection, and Ughaine 
  is prepared to pay handsomely if anyone will take on 
  the task of keeping Oiseann alive.
  Reiving is Believing
  The party meets representatives from Unswester, 
  a northern village. Reivers have targeted them for 
  years, stealing almost all of their harvest and killing 
  their young people. They have scraped together a 
  purse of gold for any group who will protect them 
  from the threat, or persuade the Reivers to leave 
  them alone. 
   
  Any player-characters who take up their offer may 
  find themselves in a straightforward seven samurai 
  scenario or they may learn that it runs deeper. The 
  villagers may have brought this bad luck on them-
  selves by an ill-judged deed in the past; or the threat 
  may be something more sinister and supernatural: 
  goblins, undead, Fomorians, or the result of a fairy 
  curse, perhaps.
  Cleaning Up Town
  Baron Ughaine (see p. 17) needs a new Warden to 
  track down the corruption in Rosmuileann, and 
  bring those responsible to justice. Perhaps because 
  they failed to protect his last Warden in ‘Bloody 
  vengeance’ (above), he makes the player-characters 
  an offer they can’t refuse: one of them is to become 
  Warden, and the others the Warden’s guards.
  whisky Galore
  A number of jars of whisky and casks of ale are found 
  floating down the Shadowspin River just north 
  of Rosmuileann. Word spreads about the ‘floating 
  gold’ and each day sees more people waist-deep in 
  the water, hoping to find more. Rumours say the 
  whisky is from the Elf-King’s own stores, or from an 
  
  6
  Dragon Warriors
  ancient fort up in the Brack Mountains. 
   
  The truth is more prosaic: one of Conn’s rivals 
  has decided to make his play for the leadership 
  of the Reivers, and his first move is to destabilise 
  Conn’s economic base, Rosmuileann. He is using 
  the whisky to lure people out of their homes and 
  away from the village. He will release more barrels 
  each day, until every evening most of the inhabitants 
  are down at the river, and then he will attack the vil-
  lage, looting the Silver Stag and any other notable 
  buildings, sending a message to Conn that it’s on.
   
  Of course, anyone who gets wind of the plan 
  could curry favour with either side by raising the 
  alarm or forestalling the attack—or sitting idly by 
  and letting it happen. Either way, the prospect of a 
  war between rival factions of Reivers is something 
  that will cause tension and upset through the whole 
  fief: if the PCs are not allied to one side or other, 
  they may find themselves enemies of both.
  Into the wild  
  Adventure Hooks
  The Beacon Fire
  A rangy old scoundrel puts a proposition to the 
  party: they are to slay or incapacitate the watchmen 
  at the village’s beacon fire, so that the scoundrel’s 
  Reiver associates can attack it without warning, as 
  they descend in large numbers to sack a whole array 
  of villages. 
   
  The man insists that no one will be harmed; 
  indeed, he will tell the characters almost anything 
  to get them to go along with his request. He is too 
  well-known to do the job himself, but he can pay a 
  bag of gold for any who will do it for him. 
   
  Of course, once the raid does come, it’s as savage 
  as the Reivers are renowned for; many homes will 
  burn that night, if the beacon fire is not lit instead. 
  What, if anything, the characters can do against 
  several hundred Reivers, a law unto themselves, is 
  entirely another matter.
  Ancient Bodies
  A great mystery has been found: the body of a 
  goat-headed Fomorian floating in the Shadowspin 
  River. It may have been preserved for millennia in 
  the ice before the spring thaw freed it to drift south 
  in the freezing snowmelt waters (perhaps hinting at 
  the location of an ancient Fomorian tower in the 
  Brack mountains) or a more recent arrival from 
  the northern tundra, brought south by a summons 
  from—well, that’s for the PCs to find out.
  Breakout
  Conn (see p. 18) has been captured by Baron 
  Ughaine (see p. 17). The Baron doesn’t know yet 
  quite what a prize he has taken, and plans to hang 
  this disreputable-looking old fellow he caught on a 
  cattle raid. If he did know, he might make the effort 
  to get Conn to Glissom City for trial there. As it is, 
  the Baron plans to simply hang him at dawn. 
   
  The Reivers are willing to hire someone to break 
  him out of Ughaine’s castle, though the Baron might 
  offer a better price for the information on just who 
  it is he has in his dungeon.
  On a Mission
  Father Erlick is a missionary sent by his church to 
  bring the word of the True Faith to the ungodly 
  Reivers and others in the rural wastes of Glissom. 
  He requires faithful bodyguards to escort him and 
  make sure he comes to no harm: he can pay little but 
  such work would be good for the PCs’ souls. As they 
  head north they will discover that Father Erlick is 
  more zealous than he first seemed, and less toler-
  ant of unbelievers and sorcery. He demands that 
  any who refuse to convert be cleansed with fire and 
  sword. And when he hears tales of the lost city of 
  Nem and the devil-worshipping Dark Elementalists 
  within, he demands it is the PCs’ duty to follow him 
  there and purge the place—or be excommunicated.
   
  Whether Father Erlick turns out to be a Dark-
  ness Elementalist bringing sacrifices (the party) to 
  Balor, we leave entirely up to you.
  
  7
  Prince of Darkness
  History
  To the north of sulphur Bay and the kingdom of ere-
  worn lies the rich arable land of the fief of Glissom. 
  The fief is bounded to the south and the west by sea, 
  and to the north by a towering mountain range. This 
  range is known as the Mountains of Brack; its peaks are 
  perpetually lost in the swirling arctic winds that blow 
  from the northern wastes. These bleak realms are never 
  travelled by man and are only talked about in relation 
  to myth and legend. 
   
  one of these mysteries concerns a time at the begin-
  ning of the world, soon after its creation. The earth was 
  then under the rule of Balor, the essence of Darkness, 
  whose icy breath covered the land with thick blizzards 
  and dark scudding clouds. The farmers of Glissom will 
  relate to any traveller with the time to spare how the 
  other elements conspired together to overthrow the rule 
  of Darkness, burying the city of nem, the seat of Balor’s 
  power, forever beyond the northern mountains. 
   
  They will tell of how the element of fire first exploded 
  at the heart of Balor’s smithy where dark engines of 
  destruction were built, and how a deep volcanic ash 
  buried the city and the land for miles around. They will 
  tell, too, of how the howling wind carried a burning 
  ember from the explosion far over the mountains and 
  how this ember fell just where the city of Glissom now 
  stands, and how to this day this sacred glowing ember 
  still burns at the heart of the king’s Tower. 
   
  Then, to the north, the earth opened up, swallowing 
  the city; and water poured down in great cataracts, sub-
  merging it, hiding it from the eyes of men. The icy wind 
  beat down upon it, turning the water to ice, imprison-
  ing Balor and the rubble of his city forever. 
   
  “Thus goes the legend,” the farmers will say, nodding 
  superstitiously to one another. “aye. Thus it is said.” and 
  they will stare down into their empty mugs.
   
  if a traveller were to buy the old men another round 
  of drinks, however, they would go on with their tale, for 
  they have yet to tell of those who have sought the city. 
  They speak of the time when the centurions invaded the 
  country with their legions encased in bronze armour, 
  and of how one of the centurions, named Drajan, led 
  his men into the mountains in search of Balor’s city. not 
  one of his thousand men was ever seen again, although 
  again it is rumoured that their ghosts stand on the road 
  to the north, begging travellers to go no further. 
   
  Two hundred years ago there was a Prince of Glissom 
  named fengil, who was much given to occult practices 
  in his youth. one day he set off towards the northern 
  mountains, claiming he sought Balor’s lost city. he never 
  returned, and although his father the king sent many 
  men to search for him, he was never found. Those sent 
  to search for him became lost in the treacherous woods 
  and the swamps at the foothills of the mountains. some 
  reported hearing strange laughter from among the trees, 
  and a few were sent stark mad, as if by some malicious 
  enchantment.
   
  The old men will seem sleepy and reluctant now, but 
  their bleary eyes still rejoice at the sight of fresh flagons 
  Chapter 4
  THE PRINCE     
  OF DARKNESS
  
  8
  Dragon Warriors
  of beer, and they may be persuaded to tell the last part of 
  the story, even to a stranger. 
   
  Many years later—indeed, in a time not yet lost 
  from living memory—a shepherd named Murvon lost 
  his way in a storm in the mountains. he took shelter in 
  a cave, which proved to be the opening into an under-
  ground labyrinth. he climbed countless stairs cut into 
  the rock and survived many encounters with danger-
  ous creatures, until at last he reached an exit at the very 
  peak of the mountain. 
   
  Below him he glimpsed the frozen lake covering the 
  Lost city of nem, and a ruined temple structure stand-
  ing at its northern end where the arctic winds blew 
  most fiercely. above this, he saw circling in the shriek-
  ing wind the legendary hawks of Balor, the Prince of 
  Darkness’s harbingers of doom in times past. seeing this 
  dreadful sight the shepherd fled the mountaintop, but 
  not before he had picked up an object that he had seen 
  gleaming on the ground. 
   
  Murvon was found dying of exposure in the foothills 
  to the south of the mountains. he told the men who found 
  him his tale, then opened his hand to reveal a piece of 
  gold pectoral jewellery, the object that he had picked up 
  off the ground. on it was etched Prince fengil’s name. 
   
  since then, the name of fengil has become a byword 
  with which to scare children into their beds, for it is said 
  that the Prince stalks outside the city gates at midnight, 
  no longer alive but trapped in undeath, calling on the 
  name of a darker Prince than he.
   
  The old men will now fall into drunken silence, not 
  wishing to continue a tale of such ill portent, and per-
  haps regretting their words. The traveller had best retire 
  to his room, or take to the road, for the folk of Glissom do 
  not care for talk of shadows.
  Games Master’s Introduction
  Old legends usually contain some element of truth 
  and this is the case with the tales related by the 
  farmers in the inns of Glissom. There was a Prince 
  Fengil who crossed the mountains two hundred 
  years before, and he did discover the remains of the 
  city of Nem covered by the ice pack. After many 
  years of exploration and living on the scraps of raw 
  meat brought to him by the hawks that flapped 
  around the one surviving building, he discovered a 
  way down under the frozen surface of the lake. 
   
  He passed through the dangers of the under-
  ground caverns and discovered the immured Balor, 
  Prince of Darkness. The arch-fiend’s icy breath 
  snuffed out Fengil’s life in an instant, but Balor 
  breathed new life into his bones and raised him 
  from the dead as an undead servitor. 
   
  Fengil sought for a way to free his new master, 
  yet the only magic that could help was the undying 
  flame of the Hearth Fire, still burning in the King’s 
  Tower in Glissom. He has plotted for years to steal 
  this and use it to thaw the icy wastes that lock his 
  master’s body in the ice pack. Unfortunately for him, 
  the Hearth Fire was locked securely inside a set of 
  three magical caskets, and only the king possessed 
  the secret of opening them.
   
  Two years ago he made a pact with the Steward 
  of Glissom, Kilnded, a fellow servant of darkness. 
  Kilnded was ordered to slay his master and by his 
  necromantic skill convince the people that the king 
  was still alive but retired from private life. 
   
  This Kilnded has done, bringing back the rot-
  ting corpse of the king as a zombie every year, and 
  by a feat of ventriloquism and cosmetic skill he has 
  convinced the crowd that a living monarch moves 
  about and addresses them from the balcony of the 
  tower on the night of the Spring Festival. Kilnded 
  originally intended to have the king open the cas-
  kets, but the king’s knowledge died with him, and 
  so Kilnded has had to puzzle out how to open them 
  by himself. After two years he has finally succeeded, 
  and the Hearth Fire may be taken.
   
  Now Fengil has determined to send the legen-
  dary Hawks of Balor over the frozen mountains 
  to steal the Hearth Fire from the tower, promising 
  Kilnded the throne of the kingdom as reward for his 
  help. 
   
  However, Fengil has no intention of keeping his 
  own part of the bargain. Once he has the Hearth 
  Fire he will release Balor, and the demon will sweep 
  south through the fief, slaying Kilnded and all the 
  other inhabitants of the city of Glissom, before 
  establishing a new city of darkness in its conquered 
  lands. The party has arrived in the city just before 
  this plot is about to be hatched.
  
  9
  Prince of Darkness
  Part  1
  The King’s Tower
  Introduction
  This adventure assumes that the player-characters 
  have spent time adventuring with Prince Doron in 
  the past. The Games Master can provide this infor-
  mation as a fait accompli, or include Doron as an 
  NPC in other adventures before this one, so that 
  the players have a chance to roleplay out their rela-
  tionship with him.
   
  Doron is the only surviving male issue of King 
  Durindar’s brother. King Durindar is childless, 
  which means that Doron is next in line to the 
  throne of Glissom. Unfortunately he is a wandering 
  adventurer with a hot temper. He spends more time 
  roaming the lands outside Glissom than he does 
  within it; while in town, he has spent as many hours 
  in the local gaols as the most common drunk. The 
  Steward Kilnded has frequently bailed him out. 
   
  He is unpopular with the Council of Elders, 
  who favour Kilnded himself as the next ruler. Doron 
  longs for the life of the adventurer in any case, and 
  although relatively young in years he is the veteran 
  of countless encounters in the inns and underworlds 
  around Ellesland, which is how the player-char-
  acters came to meet him. Doron is not the most 
  dependable fellow adventurer, being drunk much of 
  the day if he has a chance to be, but he is fearless 
  and unswervingly loyal to those who aid him.
  Doron 
  6th-rank Knight
  attack 18, two-handed sword  
  Armour Factor 5
  (d10, 5), bow (d6, 4) 
   
   
   
  stealth 14
  defence 12  
   
   
   
   
   
  perception 6
  magical defence 8   
   
   
  evasion 5
  Health Points 16  
   
   
   
  Reflexes 13
  Treasure: Although he is almost destitute in fiscal terms 
  (he possesses a mere 10 florins) Doron has been wise 
  enough to keep the fruits of his adventuring out of the 
  hands of the pawnshop owners. Unfortunately, the same 
  cannot be said for his once extensive estates and heirlooms, 
  which have been frittered away in reckless games of chance 
  or sold off to pay debts. In addition to his armour he has a 
  quiver of enchanted arrows (+1), Potions of Dexterity and 
  Strength, and an Evaporating Potion.
  The following text is a general-purpose introduction 
  to Glissom, intended for a group of characters who 
  have only just arrived in Glissom and are about to be 
  thrown into ‘Prince of Darkness’. Feel free to adapt 
  or paraphrase it for the events of your own game, or 
  alternatively let the group play through part of it.
  it is strange how events turn out. often, for those who 
  walk the path of adventure, things are not what they 
  seem. The glint of fool’s gold lures many to their doom, 
  and yet the humblest-seeming hovel may hide a treasure 
  worthy of a king. 
   
  a recent comrade-in-arms of yours, young Doron, 
  was more than he appeared to be. This scruffy youth, 
  hot-tempered and brave, was no mere fortune-seeking 
  wanderer as he claimed, but a noble of the royal line, 
  nephew to king Durindar of Glissom. now that your 
  travels have brought you to Glissom, he is home once 
  more, and in recognition of your comradeship he has 
  made you members of his household. Given his rough 
  and rowdy ways, it is no surprise to learn that you are 
  the only members…
   
  Doron’s uncle, an old, wise king, has now ruled Glis-
  som for the past fifty years. king Durindar has ensured 
  that his people have flourished and that the granaries are 
  full to bursting after each harvest. Yet two years ago, on 
  the night of the spring festival where the people pray for 
  the coming season of growth, the king came before them 
  on his balcony as is his custom and announced that from 
  that night forward he would renounce affairs of state 
  and become a hermit, occupying himself in prayer and 
  fasting in the tower that stands in the north-western 
  corner of the palace. he was too old, he said, for politics 
  and statecraft. it was time to devote his life to higher 
  things, for the good of the kingdom.
   
  for the past two years the only person to have direct 
  conversation with the reclusive king has been his stew-
  ard kilnded, who has carried his food up to him in the 
  tower and taken back down any official proclamations 
  that the king has seen fit to make. The only two public 
  appearances that Durindar has made have been from 
  
  0
  Dragon Warriors
  his balcony at the spring festival. The third such fes-
  tival is now at hand and the people of Glissom gather 
  anxiously in their capital, awaiting the address of their 
  king.
   
  Doron has a tendency to get into trouble around 
  feasting time, and kilnded has often had to bail him out 
  of the local cells where he lay in a drunken stupor. now 
  that he is back in the city, the council fears that he will 
  bring the royal line into disrepute once again. To keep 
  him out of mischief, he and his retinue have been given 
  the responsibility of guarding the king’s Tower during 
  the feasting. You will be paid 00 florins each for this 
  task, with the unspoken understanding that you are to 
  keep a watchful eye on Doron as well as on the king’s 
  Tower. 
   
  The steward indicates that your responsibility is not 
  only to guard the king, but also the sacred flame which, 
  as legend has it, was blown here from Balor’s smithy 
  and which ensures the safety of the realm as long as it 
  remains locked in the tower within its three enchanted 
  caskets. kilnded’s face is deathly solemn as he recounts 
  the old legend: it is said that if the hearth fire (as it is 
  known) is ever returned to the north, then Balor will 
  once more be released upon the world and will come to 
  terrorize men. 
   
  By the look of it, everyone here takes this legend seri-
  ously, even Doron; for your part, you have heard many 
  similar legends in the past. This is far from being the 
  only threat of ultimate doom.
   
  The steward instructs you to remain at the base of the 
  tower. all the upstairs windows are traditionally barred 
  for security, apart from that leading to the balcony on 
  the first floor where the king will make his appearance. 
  There is only one key to the single door at the base of the 
  tower, and kilnded himself has this.
   
  at moonrise you and Doron arrive at your post. The 
  guards who you are relieving cheer and slap you on the 
  back as they pass by, heading straight for the hall and the 
  sounds of exuberant revelry. Doron scowls but keeps to 
  his assigned place.
   
  a while later, you hear a click behind you as the 
  door in the tower is swung open and kilnded steps out, 
  dressed in a white robe of office with a dagger and two 
  scroll cases stuck in his belt. he locks the gate and turns 
  to you, drawing one of the scrolls from his belt. You see 
  the king’s seal dangling from it.
   
  in a voice charged with emotion, kilnded tells you 
  how it has been he and he alone who has served the king 
  over the past years, while Doron gallivanted around the 
  land seeking adventure, coming back to Glissom only 
  
  
  Prince of Darkness
  when it suited him. finally, kilnded’s long service has 
  been recognised. This very night the king has nominated 
  him, kilnded, as his heir in preference to his nephew. 
   
  Doron roars in protest and hammers on the locked 
  door, bellowing for the king to come down explain him-
  self. kilnded’s disgusted expression says without words 
  that this kind of behaviour is exactly what has cost 
  Doron his expected legacy. Doron looks to kilnded with 
  unbridled hate.
  The player-characters can be allowed to intervene at 
  this point. They may wish to calm Doron down or 
  even to protect Kilnded if it seems Doron is about 
  to attack him. Doron will not do so, but the Games 
  Master should let the tension run high. When he 
  can, Kilnded will make for the door:
  clutching the scroll, kilnded strides across the square to 
  announce the king’s decision to the assembled elders who 
  are feasting in the Mead hall before the king’s speech. 
   
  Doron merely seethes silently to himself.
   
  Moments later, there is a break in the music in the 
  hall and you hear kilnded’s high, reedy voice reading out 
  the message on the scroll. even from across the square, 
  the gasps of surprise are clearly audible, and then the 
  elders’ cheers and applause ring out through the night. 
  even the guards seem to be joining in. obviously, the 
  great majority in Glissom find kilnded a more savoury 
  choice than Doron.
   
  suddenly the moonlight that has bathed the square 
  since darkness fell is extinguished. Looking up, you see 
  that the moon has been totally eclipsed. at the same 
  time the applause falls silent, and an uneasy murmur-
  ing begins. Looking back to the hall, you see that all the 
  lights there have vanished and everything is in pitch 
  darkness. There is a movement in the sky and you can 
  just make out huge hawk-like shapes wheeling above the 
  tower. 
   
  in the next moment, two of these silhouettes detach 
  themselves and swoop down on to the balcony while 
  another two dive down towards you.
  GM: These are the legendary and fearful Hawks of 
  Balor, who have come to steal away the Hearth Fire 
  and the body of the king from the tower. Anyone 
  firing missile weapons must make an adjustment of 
  9 to their roll because of the poor light and their 
  rapid movement. There are six birds in all and their 
  stats are given below. The party will encounter any 
  surviving hawks outside the city of Nem (see page 
  73).
  Hawks of Balor
  Rank-equivalent: 7th
  attack 18, claws (d6, 4  
   
  Armour Factor 1
  and see below)  
   
   
   
  (feathers etc.)
  defence 15 
   
   
   
   
  evasion 8
  magical defence 10  
   
  perception 19
  Movement: 130m (flight)  
  Reflexes 16
  Health Points:
  attacking party   
  attacking tower  
  remaining airborne
  Hawk 1 Hawk 2  
  Hawk 3  Hawk 4  
  Hawk 5  Hawk 6
  17   
  16  
   
  14   
  9 
   
   
  17   
  21
  The hawks will either attempt to clutch their oppo-
  nents in their claws or merely strike at them as they 
  pass. Make a normal attack Roll vs. defence. If 
  the number rolled is less than half the required roll, 
  then the hawk has attempted to clutch its victim 
  with an attack speed of 12 which the victim must 
  evade. If they fail to evade, they have been clutched. 
  The birds can only rise very slowly when they have 
  a victim clutched in this manner. If they lose more 
  than half of their Health Points, they must release 
  anyone they are holding immediately. When carry-
  ing a victim, the birds rise at 6m per round.
  as the hawks fly off, you notice that one of them carries 
  a glowing brand in its beak and another a limp human 
  body. They disappear into the darkness of the night in 
  seconds. The moon comes out of eclipse and you can see 
  around yourselves in the square once more. 
   
  kilnded and the entire populace assembled in the hall 
  come hurrying out of the doorway. although some of the 
  servants attempt to light lamps, to their great conster-
  nation, none of them seems to be able to strike a spark. 
  kilnded has brought along two thick, heavyset Barbar-
  ians, along with ten tough-looking men-at-arms who 
  you have seen guarding his quarters during the day.
  GM: See page 35 for the stats of Phon, Mut and the 
  men-at-arms. The reason why no lights can be lit is 
  because Kilnded, who is a Darkness Elementalist, 
  has cast his extinguish spell. He has also cast the 
  eclipse spell and this has obscured the moon during 
  the moments of the attack. 
   
  An observant member of the party may also 
  notice that both of the scrolls that he had at his belt 
  are now missing. This will only be apparent if the 
  party member states that they are specifically look-
  ing at Kilnded’s belt.
   
  From now on, Kilnded will always be well 
  guarded by a number of men-at-arms and also by 
  his two Barbarian bodyguards—if they survive the 
  task that Kilnded is about to give them, that is. (See 
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  below for this.) All the Council of Elders support 
  Kilnded and will not denounce him unless they 
  have total proof of his guilt in the plot or if Kilnded 
  and all his bodyguards are slain.
  kilnded unlocks the door and rushes up the stone staircase 
  of the tower. from the positions taken up by the guards 
  and the expressions on their faces, it is clear that the onus 
  of suspicion is on you and Doron. all the men-at-arms 
  and the two Barbarian guards have their weapons out, 
  though they are not trained on you… yet. 
  GM: Kilnded will now go through the motions of 
  investigating the scene. This will take approximately 
  five minutes. The player-characters may use this 
  time to make cursory inspections of their surround-
  ings, or they may even initiate an attack on Kilnded 
  and his cronies. If they attempt to explore the tower, 
  the men-at-arms and barbarians will not stop them, 
  though they will follow. (Stats for these NPCs are 
  given on page 35).
  The King’s Tower
  1. Ground Floor
  This is an empty circular room that gives access on 
  to the main square through a stout oaken door and 
  up a steep flight of stairs to the first floor. The dust 
  on the floor does not seem to have been disturbed for 
  a long time, apart from in the narrow path between 
  the door and the foot of the staircase.
  2. First Floor
  A library takes up the whole floor. None of the 
  books seem to have opened, or even removed from 
  the shelves in years, apart from a couple. The first 
  is a genealogical survey of King Durindar’s family. 
  There is a marker in this book where there is an 
  entry on Prince Fengil. The other is a book of myths 
  and legends concerning the Lost City of Nem, the 
  seat of Balor, Prince of Darkness. All the other 
  books are covered in a thick layer of dust. 
   
  (The two books above have been the only two 
  that Kilnded has consulted during the long hours he 
  has had to stay in the tower pretending to be con-
  sulting with the king and attempting to open the 
  caskets.) There is another flight of stone stairs up to 
  the next floor.
  3. Second Floor
  This is the floor from which Durindar made his 
  appearances before the public at the Spring Festi-
  val. Two doors, now smashed, lean open into the 
  room, revealing the wooden balcony overlooking 
  the square outside. There is a faint smell of rotting 
  substances in the room, particularly from behind a 
  door leading to the king’s private bedchamber. 
   
  In the centre of the room stands a wooden throne 
  looking out over the balcony. A scattering of sable 
  feathers surrounds it. The feathers are not those of 
  any ordinary bird but are three times the normal 
  size. They also reek of sulphur. There is a box full of 
  cosmetics lying smashed near the throne. In it, the 
  party will find a quantity of heavy white powder and 
  some strong perfumes. (These were used by Kilnded 
  to obscure the effects of rotting on the body and 
  face of the king at his annual appearances.) 
   
  The door at the back of the room leads to the 
  king’s bedroom. The smell of rot is stronger here. 
  A quick inspection of the chests and cupboards 
  will reveal scraps of rotting foodstuffs hidden away. 
  (Kilnded usually eats the king’s meals himself, but 
  cannot always finish them, especially if he has eaten 
  already, so he has to hide some fragments away to 
  avoid suspicion.)
  4. Third Floor
  A set of stairs leads to a room where the sacred 
  Hearth Fire once burned. Now there is no sign of it, 
  and three empty iron caskets lie open on the floor. A 
  few lazy wisps of smoke still hang in the recesses of 
  the room. Examination reveals that the three caskets 
  were not smashed or forced, but opened according 
  to the proper technique. (Kilnded, of course, opened 
  them himself earlier this evening.)
   
  More of the black plumage that was found on 
  the floor below will be discovered here. There is one 
  flight of stairs leading up to the empty top of the 
  tower. This has a low parapet around it. Anyone 
  standing up here will notice that a bitter north wind 
  has suddenly blown up and is whipping up the dust 
  in the square below, where the torches and the fires 
  seem to burn only fitfully. 
   
  The party will not have long in the tower before 
  they are summoned to the Council of Elders.
  
  
  Prince of Darkness
  
  4
  Dragon Warriors
  The Council of Elders
  Doron, and you along with him, are summoned in front 
  of the council of elders, now gathered in the Mead 
  hall. kilnded doesn’t waste any time in condemning 
  Doron for his negligence in guarding the king, who is 
  presumed killed, swept up in the claws of one of the giant 
  hawks, and on the loss of the hearth fire which has also 
  disappeared. The opening of the caskets is a matter of 
  the gravest concern. he stops short of calling Doron an 
  outright traitor, yet you feel that all present are think-
  ing the same thing; who but the king’s nephew would be 
  able to open the king’s magical locks?
   
  There is no evidence to prove complicity, so Doron 
  does not stand accused of treason. however, he was 
  charged with a duty, and he has failed in it. The hearth 
  fire must be recovered, and the body of Durindar must 
  be interred with full honour in Glissom, to lie along-
  side the kings of yore. With the agreement of the council 
  of elders, kilnded has decided to set Doron the task of 
  venturing forth and returning with the body of the king 
  and with the hearth fire. if he can succeed in this, he 
  shall restore both his honour and a part of his inherit-
  ance. 
   
  To help towards this end, kilnded is sending along 
  his two personal bodyguards, Phon and Mut. They are 
  under strict orders to assist you in every way.
  A full-scale battle may develop at this stage between 
  Kilnded and his followers on the one side and the 
  party and Doron on the other, if the party have 
  already enough evidence to suspect him. If they 
  return to Glissom at any stage later in the adventure 
  but do not have enough evidence to prove Kilnded’s 
  guilt, they will have to fight all of Kilnded’s hench-
  men. If, on the other hand, they do have conclusive 
  evidence—Kilnded’s letter to Fengil, for example 
  (see p. 45)—then all Kilnded’s supporters will desert 
  him and he will have to fight the party alone. 
   
  Even if the party do prove Kilnded’s guilt before 
  setting out, the Council of Elders will still beg them 
  (and the now-vindicated Doron) to undertake the 
  mission. The Hearth Fire is said to have the heat to 
  thaw Balor, Prince of Darkness, from the ice pack 
  that covers the Lost City of Nem, and they believe 
  that it was there that the birds were flying. They will 
  pay the party 100,000 florins from the royal treasury 
  for successfully bringing back the fire.
  The Emissary: If Kilnded is still alive and Doron 
  and the party agree to take the mission, Kilnded 
  quickly dispatches an emissary while the party are 
  preparing to leave. (If they want to leave right this 
  minute, Phon and Mut delay them for a few cru-
  cial minutes by fetching supplies for the road.) The 
  party may run into the emissary in the village of 
  Mimir (see page 45). He bears a warning message 
  for Fengil, telling him that Doron is on his way, and 
  encouraging Fengil to slay him.
  Kilnded
  steward of the kingdom of glissom 
  (10th-rank Darkness Elementalist; minor elements fire 
  and earth)
  attack 17*, magical dagger  
  Armour Factor 2 
  (d4 +3, 6)  
   
   
   
   
  (leather armour under cloak)
  defence 11* 
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  magical attack 23 
   
   
  stealth 15
  magical defence 14   
   
  perception 10
  Magic Points 30/10/10  
   
  Reflexes 14
  Health Points 14 
  Treasure: +3 magical dagger; Ring of Agonising Doom (7 
  charges); Lithon Potion; Potion of Night vision; Potion of 
  Strength
  Treasure kept in strongbox in personal quarters
  Auric Pendulum; 150 florins
  In addition to the above, Kilnded has the keys to the City 
  Treasury, for which assume a Grand Treasure Hoard (see 
  the Dragon Warriors rulebook, p. 131).
  For years Kilnded has hidden his devotion to Balor, 
  Prince of Darkness. Using his position of power with 
  the king, he killed Durindar two years ago. Since 
  then he has brought his liege back to life using his 
  necromantic powers. 
   
  Kilnded is much respected by Glissom’s Council 
  of Elders, and is their preferred candidate for the 
  next king as they distrust the king’s malcontent, 
  hotheaded nephew, Doron. Kilnded believes that 
  Fengil will arrive from the north soon after the 
  hawks have stolen the sacred Hearth Fire from the 
  tower, bringing with him their mutual master, Balor, 
  to rule the southern lands once more. He doesn’t 
  realize he is merely a pawn in Fengil’s game and that 
  he will be swept aside come Balor’s appearance.
   
  The GM must assume that some or all of the 
  following guards are in attendance on Kilnded. If in 
  doubt, consult the table provided below to see who 
  is accompanying Kilnded at any given time:
  Midnight to moon-rise or -set: Kilnded is absolutely 
  alone on the roof of his quarters.
  The rest of the night: Kilnded is alone in his chambers. 
  
  5
  Prince of Darkness
  One Barbarian guard waits outside his door; two 
  men-at-arms patrol outside his chamber window.
  Dawn to midday: Kilnded is accompanied by all his 
  men-at-arms and by the two Barbarians, Phon and 
  Mut.
  Midday to afternoon: Kilnded rides out of the town, 
  accompanied only by the two Barbarians.
  afternoon, evening to midnight: Kilnded reads alone 
  in his study, with two men-at-arms outside the study 
  door and two more patrolling the grounds outside 
  his window.
  BARBARIAN GUARDS
  Phon 
  7th-rank Barbarian
  attack 21, battleaxe (d8 +1, 6),  
  Armour Factor 4
  bow (d6, 4)  
   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 13
  defence 12  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 9   
   
   
  stealth 16
  Health Points 19   
   
   
   
  perception 8
  Treasure: 150 florins, a Stone of valiance (see the rulebook, 
  p. 142)
  Mut 
  8th-rank Barbarian
  attack 22, two-handed sword Armour Factor 4
  (d10 +1, 5), crossbow (d10, 4)  
  Reflexes 9
  defence 13  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 10   
   
   
  stealth 16
  Health Points 20   
   
   
   
  perception 8
  Treasure: 350 florins, Phlogiston Potion, Potion of 
  Dexterity
  Phon and Mut are the Barbarian hirelings of Kil-
  nded. The steward buys their loyalty with high 
  wages, and they are willing to carry out his wishes 
  so long as these will not obviously lead to their own 
  deaths. 
   
  They will be charged to accompany the party to 
  Chang’s inn in the first stage of the journey to the 
  north, and there abandon them to the mercies of the 
  vampire Chang.
  MEN-AT-ARMS
  There are various ranks of men-at-arms guarding 
  Kilnded. These are Knights and all of them wear 
  chainmail armour, with an Armour Factor of 4, 
  carry two-handed swords (d10, 5) and have bows 
  (d6, 4).
  Man-at-arms 1 
  5th-rank Knight
  attack 17  
   
   
   
   
  reflexes 14
  defence 11  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  magical defence 7   
   
  Health Points 15
  Man-at-arms 2 
  3rd-rank Knight
  attack 15   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 7
  defence 9   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 5   
   
  Health Points 13
  Man-at-arms 3 
  3rd-rank Knight
  attack 15   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 
  defence 9   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 5   
   
  Health Points 13
  Man-at-arms 4 
  2nd-rank Knight
  attack 14   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 
  defence 8   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 4   
   
  Health Points 12
  Man-at-arms 5 
  2nd-rank Knight
  attack 14   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 6
  defence 8   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 4 
   
   
  Health Points 12
  Men-at-arms 6–12 
  1st-rank Knights
  attack 13  
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 10
  defence 7   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 3   
   
  Health Points: 
   
  No. 6  No. 7  No. 8  No. 9  No. 10  No. 11  No. 12
   
  11  
  11  
  11  
  11  
  11  
  11  
  11
  
  6
  Dragon Warriors
  Part  2
  The Inn of Chang
  You riDe ouT of Glissom into the increasingly bit-
  ter wind that has begun to blow from the north. noth-
  ing passes you or crosses your path. You ride hard into 
  the wind for hours. The cold creeps through your outer 
  clothing and begins to gnaw at your bones. 
   
  at around ten o’clock, it comes as something of a 
  relief when the two Barbarians see a signpost to an inn 
  up ahead, and suggest you turn off the road down the 
  track indicated. They swing their horses off the main 
  road that you have been following and canter down the 
  track. Doron looks as if he would like nothing more in 
  the world than a warm fire and a drink right now, and 
  spurs his horse after them.
  GM: Phon and Mut will use everything in their 
  power to get the party to accompany them, as they 
  have been briefed to ensure that the PCs and Doron 
  are all dead by the morning. They know the nature 
  of the inn and have taken Chang’s coin in the past.
  You see a low building in front of you, with stone walls 
  and a thatch roof. outside creaks an inn sign, and a 
  blaze of warm light shines from the front door on to 
  the wooden veranda that completely surrounds the 
  main building. in the light stands an old man, his body 
  stooped, holding his hands up to his eyes to view your 
  approach. This must be the innkeeper. he steps forward, 
  gesturing for you to enter the inn. 
  Chang will take the horses to the stables while 
  the party members make themselves comfortable 
  indoors.
  
  7
  Prince of Darkness
  There is a vat of stew bubbling at the centre of the large 
  common room you have entered. next to it stand pitchers 
  full of ale. The old man re-enters and introduces himself 
  with a bow as chang the innkeeper. he negotiates a 
  fee with you of one florin for food, and two florins for a 
  room. There are four bedrooms upstairs, and as it hap-
  pens, all of them are unoccupied tonight. he does not 
  seem happy at having barbarians under his roof, but you 
  get the impression that with the inn empty, any trade is 
  good trade right now.
  GM: The food and the drink are drugged. Anyone 
  eating or drinking must roll under their Strength 
  on 4d6 or fall into a deep sleep within the next 
  1d20 minutes. They will remain asleep for d6 hours. 
  Chang, who is immune to the drug (see below), will 
  ostentatiously sip the ale in front of the party, in the 
  hope of allaying any suspicions they may have. Phon 
  and Mut seem reluctant to eat, claiming that they 
  ate their fill at the feast before the attack earlier on 
  in the evening. They will retire immediately to one 
  of the upstairs rooms (number 6 on the map) and 
  the party will have to determine amongst them-
  selves how they split themselves up between the 
  remaining three rooms. 
   
  One of the unusual features of the rooms is that 
  they have two keyholes. The key that Chang gives 
  to each occupant only locks one of these. If Chang is 
  questioned, he will simply reply that his predecessor 
  lost all the keys to the rooms, so he had to replace 
  them when he took over running the place. There 
  is an 8-metre drop outside all the windows. Any-
  one who tries his door half an hour after retiring 
  will discover that someone has locked it from the 
  outside. Each room is fitted with a four-poster bed, 
  chairs, tables and a pitcher of water. There is also an 
  empty fireplace and a chimney flue.
   
  Chang is a vampire (see the Dragon Warriors Bes-
  tiary, page 84), feeding off the victims that ne’er-
  do-wells like Phon and Mut bring him.
  Chang 
  10th-rank vampire
  attack 25, two-handed  
   
  AF 0
  sword (d10 +2, 5)  
   
   
  Reflexes 15
  defence 19 
   
   
   
   
  evasion 8
  magical defence 13   
   
  stealth 17
  Health Points 31  
   
   
  perception 12
  Treasure: All of Chang’s treasure is hidden in a secret 
  alcove in the study (see below): the only interesting items 
  he has are a number of keys on a ring. These keys will fit 
  the second locks on all the doors to the bedrooms.
   
  The night at the inn will be eventful, unless 
  of course everyone in the party succumbed to the 
  drugged food and ale, in which case no one will 
  wake up again! The party will be shown to their 
  rooms at one o’clock. The following is an hour-by-
  hour account of what will happen next.
  1.00 AM:  Anyone still awake will hear a heavy creak on 
  the staircase leading downstairs.
  2.00 AM:  Chang will attempt to delay one member of 
  the party in conversation until all the others 
  have retired. He will then try to get them 
  through to the kitchen, indicating that they 
  should sit in the booby-trapped chair at the 
  centre of the room (see room 3 below). 
  3.00 AM:  The bed in room 7 will drop through the floor 
  to room 2 where the vampire is waiting to 
  attack anyone in it.
  4.00 AM:  The vampire will deal with the rest of the 
  party, killing any drugged members in their 
  sleep. He will come up through the fireplaces 
  in their rooms as mist, or under the doors.
  6.00 AM:  The vampire will have to return to his coffin, 
  as it is nearly dawn.
  Inn Room Plan
  1. Entrance Hall/Parlour
  This room is the one in which Chang will entertain 
  the party when they first enter the inn. A fire burns 
  in one corner of it. It is furnished with plain wooden 
  tables and benches.
  2. The Study
  This room is lined with dusty books, none of which 
  are of any but the smallest interest or value. The 
  centre of the room has been cleared of furniture for 
  some reason. 
   
  Anyone looking very closely at the floor in this 
  area may notice a small amount of dried blood soaked 
  into the threadbare carpet. One of the bookcases is 
  false, and if opened will reveal the lever by which the 
  bed in room 7 is lowered through the roof. Anyone 
  looking up at the ceiling will discern hairline cracks 
  forming a rectangle just over the cleared area. For 
  the full description of the bed mechanism, see room 
  7. The alcove also contains Chang’s treasure cache. 
  Many of the items listed are unsuitable for his own 
  use, so he leaves them stored here.
  
  8
  Dragon Warriors
  
  9
  Prince of Darkness
  Plate armour +1 magic (Such armour worn by an 
  innkeeper would certainly arouse the suspicions of the 
  party, but Chang may attempt to put it on once his 
  disguise is uncovered.)
  Theriac potion
  Potion of Strength
  350 florins
  3. The Kitchen
  A small pantry leads off to one side of the kitchen. 
  There is one outside door, which is locked, and a 
  trapdoor set into the floor covered by some thread-
  bare rugs. This leads down to the cellar (see room 
  10). 
   
  There is a large table at the centre of the room, 
  with a heavy chair set at its end with two armrests. 
  This is the chair that Chang will invite any guest to 
  sit in if he is alone with them in the kitchen. The 
  minute that they sit they will activate a pressure pad 
  at the bottom of the seat and strong iron hoops will 
  spring out of the arms, enclosing the character’s 
  arms (unless of course he specifically said he was 
  holding his arms up from them). In turn, the chair is 
  bolted to the floor so that characters cannot drag it 
  with them in an attempt to escape. Only characters 
  with a Strength above 15 have a chance of breaking 
  the iron bars holding their hands: they will have a 
  10% chance for every point of Strength above 15. 
   
  Chang will attempt to dispatch anyone in the 
  chair as quickly and silently as possible. To this end 
  the room has been soundproofed and, with the door 
  closed, only characters in the room immediately 
  above it (room 8) will hear the struggle, no mat-
  ter how loudly the victim screams. The vampire will 
  not drink their blood at this stage for fear of being 
  interrupted, and instead will drag its victim down to 
  its lair behind the wine barrels in the cellar below 
  (see room 10). It will then pull the carpet back over 
  the trapdoor. 
   
  The pantry is absolutely bare of provisions apart 
  from a few flagons of drugged ale, which will have 
  the same effect as the ale that Chang gives the party 
  on entering the inn.
  4. The Dining Room
  This is empty and cobweb-festooned. A dusty table 
  stands at its centre. Anyone looking closely at it will 
  notice a roughly human-shaped form outlined in the 
  dust on top of it. A few flecks of dry blood will be 
  found just where the form’s neck would have been. 
  (Chang enjoyed one of his victims on this table.)
  5. Bathroom/ Base of the Staircase
  There is a primitive wash place at the foot of the 
  staircase. The pump, which draws water from the 
  stream below, has been completely entangled with 
  wire wound around the handle and shaft, and it will 
  take a few Rounds to unravel it. The vampire fears 
  that someone pumping up water from below may 
  keep him at bay, as he cannot cross running water. 
  (If anyone asks, he will claim that the water has been 
  running foul of late, and so he cannot allow his val-
  ued customers to use the pump.) The staircase leads 
  up to the hall connecting the upstairs bedrooms.
  6. Bedroom 1
  This is the bedroom that Phon and Mut were meant 
  to occupy during the night. However, they will 
  depart at 2.00 AM (having concluded their bargain 
  with Chang) and will take the party’s horses with 
  them to boot. Unless the party can prevent them, 
  they will make their way back to Glissom.
  7. Bedroom 2
  The four-poster bed will sink through the floor at 
  3.00 AM. A d20 roll under the character’s Reflexes 
  indicates that the sinking movement wakes him up. 
  Chang will be waiting in the study.
  8. Bedroom 3
  The occupant of this room may hear the struggle 
  in the kitchen if Chang lures anyone into his chair 
  trap (see room 3). The room is otherwise a standard 
  one.
  9. Bedroom 4
  This is a standard bedroom (layout as shown on the 
  map).
  10. The Cellar
  A set of rough wooden steps leads down to the cool 
  flagstones of the cellar. Ancient hams hang here 
  from savage-looking metal hooks. There is a line of 
  wine barrels stacked to the ceiling along the eastern 
  wall. All of these are full, apart from one that is a 
  
  40
  Dragon Warriors
  false door giving on to the small hideaway behind 
  the barrels. Chang’s coffin can be found here. Any 
  dead members of the party will be found hanging 
  from one of the meat hooks in this room.
  Aftermath
  Assuming that Phon and Mut have made a safe 
  getaway, the party will now find themselves without 
  horses, and they may continue to be without them 
  for the rest of the adventure, as purchasable horses 
  are a scarce commodity in this part of the country, 
  apart from at the Beast Market (p. 16). They will 
  have one of two viable options: they may either 
  return to Glissom, where they will almost certainly 
  be driven out by Kilnded’s men-at-arms, or they may 
  continue to the north on foot, hoping to recover the 
  Hearth Fire and the body of the king.
  Part  3
  The Siren woods
  GM: The party journeys northwards through dan-
  gerous, elf-inhabited woods, hot on the heels of the 
  messenger that Kilnded has sent north to Fengil. 
  They will eventually catch him up at the village 
  of Mimir at the foot of the Brack Mountains, but 
  in the meantime they have enough to worry about 
  with the enchanted elven woods.
   
  At dawn, the player-characters discover a clear 
  set of hoof prints in the mud outside the inn, head-
  ing north. Obviously, someone is trying to ride on 
  ahead of them. If Phon and Mut have escaped with 
  the horses, then a medley of hoof prints on the road 
  to the south marks their passage.
   
  Assuming the party opts to continue north, 
  rather than return to Glissom:
  You rejoin the main road leading north. in the distance 
  you can see the snow-capped peaks of the Brack Moun-
  tains, looming high in the sky like a frozen tidal wave.
  GM: Roll once on the Open Country Encounter 
  Table on p. 11 of the Dragon Warriors Bestiary, and 
  play through the encounter before reading on.
  You travel on for twenty-five miles and enter a village 
  just as it grows dark. over a small river you can see a 
  vast beech forest, newly in leaf and spreading away to 
  the foot of the Brack Mountains. a lively sound of mer-
  riment comes from the local inn, the silver stag.
  Assuming the player-characters enter:
  The landlord of the inn greets you courteously. Looking 
  around, you surmise that it is filled with a cheery folk 
  who offer no threat to you or your party. The landlord 
  is jovial and talkative as he serves you. “heading north, 
  are we? curious, it is. Most folks don’t try to pass that 
  way, and yet today it seems everyone wants to.”
  If they press him for more information, he is happy 
  to provide it:
  “This very noon, a rider passed that way clad in black 
  astride a foaming mount. he stopped neither for food 
  nor drink, but rode straight on over yonder ford, the fires 
  of hell behind him it would seem. We called out to him, 
  warnin’ him ’gainst the woods, for ’tis a place of the dev-
  il’s enchantment, sirs, where the elf folk make mockery 
  with the souls o’ men. Yet we shouted at nothing but a 
  cloud o’ dust, for horse and rider were gone, into the for-
  est. now since you have stopped for counsel, hear me, for 
  none that set feet into that forest are seen alive again. if 
  it be honest work you seek, there be plenty in the fields 
  hereabouts. if you should have to travel in the woods, 
  do not leave the path, however faint it becomes, for no 
  mortal danger will befall you if you stay upon it.”
  The player-characters can stock up on provisions 
  here and take a peaceful night’s rest in the inn. If 
  
  4
  Prince of Darkness
  
  4
  Dragon Warriors
  they set off for the woods, they notice that none of 
  the villagers offers to be their guide.
  GM: The woods are inhabited by a race of elves who 
  will attempt to lure unwary travellers off the track, 
  which passes from the village to the mountains. 
  Travellers who do not leave the track will not have 
  any difficulty in reaching their destination. Charac-
  ters who do stray will be attacked by a war party of 
  Elves, the stats of whom are given in the Encounter 
  Section below.
  1. The Ivory Tower
  about a mile into the forest you see a shimmering white 
  tower to your right through the trees. a path leads off 
  towards it. There is no one visible anywhere nearby. You 
  can see an arched entrance at its base.
  GM: The tower is a magical trap, created by the 
  elves to fuddle human treasure-seekers. The first 
  person passing through the entrance will find a spi-
  ral staircase leading upwards. The further the tower 
  is ascended the more it will shrink in size, along 
  with anyone climbing up its stairs. This shrinking 
  will not be noticeable to the character or characters, 
  as their size diminishes in strict proportion to the 
  size of the stairs.
   
  Characters waiting outside will notice the arch 
  getting smaller, the walls shrinking and the top of 
  the tower apparently getting lower. The tower will 
  eventually reduce to about 1 metre in height. Any-
  one still ascending it at this time will experience a 
  feeling of vertigo as the tower seems to spin around 
  him or her, and they will suddenly find themselves 
  at the top of the tower where there is a bonded 
  wooden chest. If they open this they will discover 
  that it contains a magnificent jewel-pommelled 
  sword (this is a two-handed, +2 magical sword). 
   
  Returning to the base of the tower they will be 
  puzzled to discover that the steps now seem to be 
  monstrously large and that they have to climb down 
  them. When they emerge they will discover that, 
  relative to their comrades, they are now only a tenth 
  of their normal size! Characters on the outside of 
  the tower when it begins to shrink will be able to 
  yell out warnings to anyone climbing it. When the 
  tower has reached its minimum size they will see 
  it suddenly spin round rapidly and shoot up to its 
  original size. Anyone leaving the tower before it 
  reaches its smallest size will not themselves be made 
  smaller. The sword is also the size of the character 
  who has reached the top and is therefore useless. 
   
  To overcome the effect of the shrinking (which 
  is not durational), a Dispel Magic spell of 7 Magic 
  Points must be cast on the victim. The sword will 
  then become a normal +2 two-handed sword, as 
  opposed to the toothpick it now is. Reduce the 
  shrunken character’s stats by 90% until he is restored 
  to normality. The characters will be able to return to 
  the track without any further encounters.
  2. An Ambush
  a few miles after the tower, there is a sudden hissing 
  sound in the air and a volley of darts fly over your heads, 
  narrowly missing you. You see a group of lithe, tall folk 
  dressed in green moving away through the trees. evi-
  dently they are the ones who have just shot at you.
  GM: If anyone pursues the Elves, they will run 
  into a thick cobweb of invisible elven strands that 
  will hold them fast until they can roll under their 
  Strength on 2d10. If they succeed in doing this, they 
  have broken free. While they are stuck, a volley of 
  10 darts will be fired, this time directly at them. The 
  darts are d6, 2, but most importantly they are tipped 
  with a hallucinogenic drug. Treat this as a weak poi-
  son if 1 or 2 darts penetrate, a medium poison if 
  3 or 4 penetrate, and a strong poison if 5 or more 
  penetrate.
   
  As well as poisoning its victim, the drug may 
  have mind-twisting effects. Roll once on a d6 if the 
  victim does not save against its magical attack of 
  17:
  1.  The character will be instantly and irreversibly 
  attracted to the next person of the opposite sex they 
  meet. They will follow them with passionate devotion 
  even if this means leaving the rest of the party.
  2.  The next creature the party encounter (be it an Elf, 
  another human or even a cow) the victim will believe 
  to be a Basilisk. They will not be able to look directly 
  at it, for fear of being turned to stone. In combat this 
  will effectively lower their attack factor by 2.
  3.  The character will experience recurrent fits of vertigo 
  and will fling himself to the ground on a roll of 1 on a 
  d10 when not sitting or lying down. Roll every minute.
  4.  The character will fall into an instant slumber from 
  which he will not be able to be aroused. He will 
  
  4
  Prince of Darkness
  
  44
  Dragon Warriors
  remain asleep for 2 whole days and when he awakens 
  he will not be able to recall any events that have 
  occurred in the past year.
  5-6.The character affected will believe that all his 
  comrades are enemies and will attack them, fighting to 
  the death if necessary. This last effect is durational and 
  subject to a normal Spell Expiry Roll. The others can 
  only be alleviated by a Dispel Magic spell.
  There are four members of the Elven war-party:
  Sorcerer
  6th rank
  attack 8, blowpipe (d6, 2),  
  Armour Factor 2
  shortsword (d8, 3)  
   
   
  Reflexes 17
  defence 8   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical attack 21   
   
  Magic Points 23
  magical defence 11  
   
  Health Points 10
  Treasure: Two potions of the drug that is daubed on to 
  the bow darts. For effects, see above. There are twelve 
  applications in all.
  Three Elven Warriors
  5th rank
  attack 18, blowpipe (d6, 2),  Armour Factor 2
  shortsword (d8, 3)  
   
   
  Reflexes: all 15
  defence 13  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 7
  magical defence 8   
   
  Health Points:   
  No.1: 13 
  No.2: 13 
  No.3: 12
  The only way the party will catch up with the Elves 
  is by bringing down one of their number, whether 
  by spell-casting or missile weapons. Make an 
  adjustment of 7 to any roll for missile weapons, as 
  they are well camouflaged and are moving rapidly. 
  The remaining Elves will rally around any of their 
  number that is wounded but will attempt to avoid 
  further conflict if possible.
  3. Elven Pools
  five miles further down the track you enter a green dell, 
  its grassy sward dotted with coloured flowers. Birds sing 
  from the trees and a feeling of intense peace settles over 
  you. in the centre of the dell you see a pool just off the 
  track. a bower of honeysuckle and climbing roses sepa-
  rates it from you. cavorting in the pool is a group of 
  scantily clad women and men, all of them beautiful and 
  all in the prime of health. They call out merrily to you 
  and point to a tree at the centre of the pool. it bears a 
  number of golden apples along its boughs. They throw 
  you the golden apples and invite you to come and pick 
  some more.
  GM: The apples will retard the process of aging. If a 
  character eats one each day he will not grow old. 
   
  The character must pass through the bower to 
  get the apples. The bower is a potent magical trap. It 
  has a magical attack of 10; anyone failing to save 
  against this will immediately suffer the effects of 
  ageing. Halve their current attack, defence and 
  Health Points. Their hair will drop out, and their 
  Looks will drop to 5. It will take 1d12 months for 
  the effects to wear off. This will not happen if they 
  have eaten an apple prior to entering the bower, in 
  which case they will be able to pass through it safely. 
  The young people will disappear as they do so and 
  the character will be free to pick the 100 apples 
  hanging on the boughs. Each of these apples is 
  worth 1 crown each, because of its magical proper-
  ties. Don’t forget the encumbrance problems anyone 
  carrying this amount of apples is going to have.
   
   If the characters decide to skirt the bower and 
  head straight for the pool, the beautiful young peo-
  ple will suddenly turn into Ghouls and lurch out 
  of the now slimy, stinking mire, clutching weapons 
  concealed under the surface of the water. The tree 
  will wither and die in a matter of seconds and they 
  will see a host of worms crawling on its branches.
  Ghouls 
  Rank-equivalent: 6th
  attack 17 (weapons: see below) 
  Armour Factor 0
  defence 9   
   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 10
  magical defence 7 
   
   
   
  evasion 4
   
  number  
  Weapons 
   
   
  health points 
   
  No. l   
  Sword (d8,4)  
  11  
   
   
   
   
  No. 2  
  Dagger (d4,3)   
  11
   
  No. 3  
  Staff (d6,3)  
   
  14  
   
   
   
   
  No. 4   
  Dagger (d4,3)  
  14
   
  No. 5  
  Mace (d6,4) 
   
  15  
   
   
   
   
  No. 6  
  Staff (d6,3)  
   
  12
  Any character of 3rd rank or less in the party must 
  roll their Intelligence or less on 2d10 or flee for 
  1d20 Rounds.
  4. A Burial Mound
  a couple of miles further on to the north, you see a low 
  burial mound to your left in the shrubs and bushes.
  GM: This is the burial mound of an ancient king 
  of the Elves, who lies just below the ground waiting 
  to rise up as a Revenant and attack any intruders. If 
  
  45
  Prince of Darkness
  anyone approaches to within a metre of the mound, 
  he will suddenly burst through the thin layer of grass 
  and earth covering him and lunge towards the party. 
  They will be able to see a green-faced, humanoid 
  creature with white flowing hair and long claw-
  like nails, dressed in verdigris-stained armour of an 
  antique fashion and swinging at them wildly with 
  a halberd. Just then, a thick mist will rise from the 
  ground all around the mound, completely blocking 
  out the horrid sight. 
   
  Characters fighting the Revenant must do so as 
  if blind (–4 from attack and –8 from defence). 
  Anyone who steps out of mêlée and back on to the 
  path will find that they can no longer see or hear their 
  comrades and that all they can see of the mound is a 
  tranquil hump of grass. This is, of course, an illusion 
  and the scene of battle will return to them once they 
  have disbelieved it. 
  Revenant
  attack 26, halberd (d10 +2, 7)  
  Armour Factor 4
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  (ancient hauberk)
  defence 19  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 15  
   
   
  stealth 16
  Health Points 28   
   
   
   
  perception 17
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 14
  The Revenant is the corpse of a long-dead warrior 
  king, buried in ceremonial armour but too defensive of 
  his territory to lie quietly under the earth. It can only 
  be dispersed forever by being ‘killed’ in combat. If this 
  happens its body will disappear in a cloud of greenish 
  gas. The treasure hoard of this mound can be reached 
  after three hours of backbreaking excavation. 
    The party will discover a pile of yellow bones still 
  clad in the same verdigris-stained armour they saw 
  on the Revenant. Next to it lies a mould-covered 
  crown inlaid with gold runes, and a black ivory staff 
  has been buried alongside. The Crown will absorb 
  the first offensive spell cast against its wearer each 
  day. Thereafter it will be of no use until dawn on the 
  following day. The staff is charged with the Burden 
  spell: it will ‘cast’ this spell if it is banged on a solid 
  piece of ground. Like the crown, it will only operate 
  once a day.
  Mimir’s well
  A number of fey, blond-haired people, with a dis-
  tant resemblance to the Elves of the forest, inhabit 
  this village. They dress in white and are essentially 
  peaceful folk with no use for weapons. Kilnded’s 
  Emissary arrived at the village a few hours ago and 
  is trying to extract information from them. He has 
  penned all the villagers into the Moot Hall, where 
  he is applying hot coals to the soles of the village 
  Elder’s feet. Fortunately, the Elder is an Air Ele-
  mentalist of the 2nd Rank and is using his stargaze 
  ability to ignore the pain in his feet. The Emissary is 
  now growing extremely impatient to learn the loca-
  tion of the secret passage through the mountains. 
  This is a secret known only to the villagers, who 
  hold the passage in religious awe. 
   
  The Emissary’s warhorse will spot anyone 
  approaching the village openly. The beast will let 
  out a warning snort, which its master will hear. 
  You can now see the snow-covered, purple Mountains 
  of Brack rising up in front of you through the trees. The 
  sides of the mountains seem extremely steep and no pass 
  is visible. You also notice a wisp of smoke rising up from 
  a settlement of wattle-and-thatch houses at the end of 
  the path you are following. as you draw closer, you see a 
  village-size settlement with a large Moot hall set next 
  to a well at its centre. a black warhorse grazes off to one 
  side of the village. apart from the horse, there is not one 
  living being in sight. The wisp of smoke is coming from 
  the chimney of the Moot hall.
  GM: If the warhorse has spotted the party, the 
  Emissary will be waiting to ambush them with his 
  crossbow as they approach the hall.
  The Emissary
  7th-rank Knight of Darkness
  attack 20, crossbow (d10, 4),   
  Armour Factor 5
  two-handed sword (d10 +1, 6)  
  Reflexes 13
  defence 14  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  magical defence 10   
   
   
  Health Points 17
  The Emissary will fight to the death, as he is now 
  trapped between the mountains and the party. He 
  is clad in black plate armour and wields a +1 two-
  handed sword. He carries a scroll in an ornate case. 
   
  This is the same case as the player-characters 
  may have seen at Kilnded’s belt on the evening of 
  the attack on the tower. Each PC must roll under 
  Intelligence on d20 to determine whether he recalls 
  having seen the case before. The scroll reads thus:
  To fengil, Prince of Darkness, ruler of the city of 
  nem:
  all was done as instructed. The royal whelp was 
  present, a circumstance i had not anticipated. he and 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  his cronies are now on the trail of the hearth fire. it 
  is conceivable that they could disrupt our plans. slay 
  him, my brother in darkness, and you not only rid us 
  both of a nuisance, you remove all challenge to my 
  claim to the Throne.
  signed: k
  If the party release the village Elder and his people 
  (there are about fifty of them) they will be profusely 
  grateful. The villagers seem very sluggish and lethar-
  gic by nature, but extremely wise. They themselves 
  do not realize that this is because the well of the 
  village contains magical water. Drinking the equiva-
  lent of a litre of the water a day, as the villagers do, 
  will for one day increase a character’s Intelligence by 
  3 points but reduce his Reflexes by 3. This effect will 
  wear off after a day. Assume that this will occur to 
  any of the players who do not specifically say their 
  characters are not drinking the water. The water may 
  be carried away from the well but will only remain 
  magical for one day after it leaves its source.
  “We are grateful to you for having saved us from the 
  emissary,” the elder says. “know you now that you are 
  in the village of Mimir’s Well, named after the God of 
  knowledge, Mimir, who is said to have lived here before 
  time began. The ruins of a temple of Mimir still lie in 
  the woods close by the village. ’Twas said that before 
  the reign of Balor, Prince of Darkness, the townsfolk 
  of Mimir were a mighty people and had close dealings 
  with the people of nem, who reigned over the country 
  beyond the Mountains of Brack. ’Twas said, too, that in 
  those far-off days, men grew wings and flew across the 
  mountains.” he laughs. “This is nothing more than a 
  doubtful legend, for everyone knows that the power of 
  flight is reserved to birds!
   
  “Many years before, the Bronze-chested Legionar-
  ies came to the village and dwelt here in tents, prepar-
  ing to set off across the mountains to the Lost city of 
  nem. They set great store by a sorcerer-magician they 
  had with them: legend dictates that this man’s name was 
  fabius. The day before the expedition was due to leave, 
  this fabius and a boon companion of his and a learned 
  scribe set off to search the ruins of the temple. They never 
  returned. 
    
  “The leader of the Bronze chests was most disturbed 
  and set out to search the ruins. There he found noth-
  ing but a dropped scroll case that the scribe had been 
  carrying to map the buildings. it was soaked in blood, 
  and on the parchment there was a map and a strange 
  riddle that he had copied from a stone monument that 
  even now stands in there. it had been said that they had 
  disappeared for many afternoons during the previous 
  days and had seemed very excited about something, as if 
  they had made a discovery, which they were reluctant to 
  share with anyone. Men say the grey ghost of fabius is 
  still seen flitting about the woods at night.” 
  The map shows a rough path through the woods to the 
  ruins of the city of Mimir. it also shows a central square 
  where, next to the bloodstain, you can see a crude draw-
  ing of a stone pillar.
  If the party decide to investigate the ancient ruins, 
  the village Elder will accompany them there, but 
  will not enter the ruins himself. If the party set out at 
  night they will certainly meet the ghost of the scribe 
  whose map the Elder has shown them. Anyone who 
  has not been slain or scared off after its fright attack 
  will hear it moaning gently to itself. Those who come 
  close enough will hear it repeating time and again 
  the solution to the riddle of the pillar (see below): 
  ‘Mimir: Enter the pit, kneel there, bid me enter.’ It 
  will then wail one last time and disappear. The party 
  will not encounter the ghost during the day.
  Part  4 
  The City of Mimir
  
  47
  Prince of Darkness
  The old man leads you down a winding forest track to 
  the east. Before long the rough dirt path underfoot turns 
  to a cracked stone pavement and you can see the ruins of 
  ancient pillars rising up out of the thicket on either side 
  of you. soon you can clearly see the remains of buildings 
  not yet quite overgrown by the leafy forest floor; here 
  and there you see a crumbled wall and scattered stones. 
  at length you come to an open square area where no trees 
  are growing. The remnants of once-vast edifices stand at 
  each corner of the square, and there is a crumbling pit at 
  the centre. it is about 0 metres deep and a circular stone 
  staircase leads down to its bottom. 
    
  Before the pit stands a giant stone idol, which is 
  presumably an effigy of the forgotten God, Mimir. its 
  facial features are now completely eroded away, leaving 
  only a shapeless trunk. clearly etched into the column 
  on which the statue stands is a script that you recognise 
  as an ancient form of your own language and numeri-
  cal system. it reads: find the fourteen upright of the 
  Twenty six, followed by a succession of numbers in 
  boxes. 
  GM: There is a larger picture of the tablet at the 
  back of the book, on page 87, that you can copy and 
  show your players.
   
  The ‘fourteen upright’ are the fourteen letters of 
  the alphabet that in capitals have upright, vertical 
  lines. Nothing else of any interest is visible in the 
  clearing. 
    Translated, the message reads thus:
  10 6 10 6 13
  M I M I R
  3 11 14 3 13 14 5 3 12 6 14 8 11 3 3 9 14 5 3 13 3
  E N T E R T H E P I T K N E E LT H E R E
  1 6 2 10 3 3 11 14 3 13
  B I D M E E N T E R
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  
  49
  Prince of Darkness
  If by chance anyone should enter the pit and call 
  on the god, nothing will actually happen unless 
  they are kneeling. If someone does descend into the 
  pit, kneel and bid the god Mimir (or Knowledge) 
  to enter, then a previously concealed rock slab will 
  slide to one side at the base of the pit and reveal a 
  low, moss-covered doorway leading down into the 
  darkness. There is room for one person to enter at 
  a time.
  1. Stairs Down
  (single file only.) a flight of dank, moss-covered steps 
  leads down about 0 metres to a rusted iron gate that 
  hangs slightly ajar. Beyond it you can see a rectangular 
  vestibule.
  2. Plain Rectangular vestibule
  This room is 4 metres deep and 6 metres across. There is 
  a stone plinth with two shallow depressions etched into 
  its top, standing right in front of the grille by which you 
  have entered. There are two rusted iron pans on either 
  side of the plinth, supported by iron stands. a number of 
  begrimed copper coins lie on top of these. You can dimly 
  make out the remains of some powder in the shallow 
  depressions of the plinth. 
   
  Without warning, stone panels in the east and west 
  walls of the vestibule swing upwards with a violent 
  grinding sound, revealing corridors. You see two grey, 
  shambling figures marching towards you down these, 
  with curiously mechanical steps. in one hand each holds 
  a dish, in the other a shortsword. They wear antique 
  copper armour crusted with verdigris.
  GM: These Mummies are the ancient custodians of 
  the temple. They will not attempt to hinder anyone 
  who enters, so long as they cast the ritual powder 
  in the dishes on to the shallow depressions on the 
  plinth. The Mummy on the left holds a dish with 
  some white-looking powder; that on the right, a 
  dish containing black powder. If a handful of each 
  of these powders is thrown on to the plinths at the 
  same time, a panel directly to the north of the plinth 
  will suddenly rise up revealing the corridor leading 
  to the north. If the party either fail to take a handful 
  of the dust from each of the Mummies within ten 
  rounds of their drawing abreast of the party, or if the 
  party do not throw the dust on to the depressions 
  simultaneously, the panel will not swing up and the 
  Mummies will attack with their short swords:
  Mummies 
  Rank-equivalent: 6th
  attack 18, Shortsword  
   
  AF 1
  (d8, 3)  
   
   
   
   
   
  Movement: 10m (15m)
  defence 12 
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 9   
   
  Reflexes 6
  Health Points: 
   
  No. 1: 17 No. 2: 16
  If the dust is thrown on to the depressions one at a 
  time, the following will result:
  The White Dust: this will suddenly turn into a dense 
  blanket of fog, obscuring the vestibule completely. 
  It will not impede the Mummies in any way, but 
  the characters will have to fight them as if they were 
  invisible (–4 to attack, –8 to defence).
  The Black Dust: This will form into a choking cloud 
  of poisonous gas. Treat it as a strong poison. It will 
  not affect the Mummies in any way.
   
  If both handfuls of dust are thrown on to the 
  plinth at the same time, they will both ignite into 
  an ethereal wisp of smoke and the entrance way (as 
  described above) will suddenly swing up revealing 
  the corridor leading to 3. If the alcoves at either end 
  of the corridors are inspected, the party will discover 
  that they are choked with great heaps of the dust 
  used for throwing on to the plinth. Under a mound 
  of the black dust, which if touched will boil up into a 
  cloud of poisonous gas (roll under Reflexes on 2d10 
  or treat as a strong poison), the party will find 17 
  crowns, 164 florins, gems to the value of 225 crowns 
  and an Eye of Foreboding (see rulebook, p. 142).
  3. A Long Hall
  a long hallway stretches to the north. Just within the 
  range of your lights, you can see a large bronze-plated 
  door at the north end. as you pass over the threshold, you 
  notice a pile of what looks like discarded clothing. 
  If the party inspect this more closely:
  The pile proves to be the cloak-wrapped skeletal figure 
  of an ancient scribe. The top of the skull has been neatly 
  removed. apart from this, the skeleton is unremarkable.
  GM: The panel through which the party have just 
  entered suddenly begins to drop down. Anyone who 
  wants to dive back through it must make an eva-
  sion roll against the panel’s speed of 14. Anyone 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  who jumps back through the door will be able to 
  open it again by throwing the dust on the plinth as 
  explained above.
  The hallway is ominously silent. You notice that there 
  are ancient, dark scrape marks on the stone of the panel 
  on this side, as if the skeleton had been madly scrambling 
  to get out when he perished. You also notice streaks of 
  dark colour across the lighter stone of the floor, almost 
  certainly more blood. The hall is otherwise empty apart 
  from a discarded sword left half-way up its length. The 
  cutting edges of the sword are practically blunt, as if it 
  had been battered against something incredibly hard. 
  The bronze door in the north wall is slightly ajar.
  The door in the north wall is the obvious exit. The 
  only way to get through to room 2 again is to break 
  through the panel (a matter of several hours), or to 
  use a Portal spell.
  4. The Hall of Necrophobius
  GM: Just behind the door lurks the Necrophobius. 
  It resembles a giant praying mantis about 5 metres 
  long; it has long forelegs and razor-sharp mandi-
  bles that can cut through bone. The demon is the 
  physical incarnation of the being that the party may 
  encounter in Section 7, on p. 55. 
   
  The creature will seize the first person through 
  the door with its two long forelegs. On the next 
  round it will attempt to slice off the top of their 
  skull with its mandibles. If it succeeds, a long pro-
  boscis will appear and suck away all the matter in 
  the skull cavity. The demon will then vanish and 
  will be encountered again in Section 7, where it will 
  be found regurgitating its sickly load into the mouth 
  of the stone statue that stands there.
  Necrophobius
  Physical incarnation of the Demon Shader
  Rank-equivalent: 7
  attack 28, forelegs (d6,  Armour Factor 8
  +1, 4), mandibles (d8,10) Movement: scuttling—20m
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 14
  defence 10 
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 12   
  stealth 12
  Health Points 25  
   
  perception 16 
  Necrophobius will attack by seizing its potential vic-
  tim between its forelegs. Roll a normal Attack Roll 
  for this. The character still has a chance to break 
  free of Necrophobius’s grip. The character must roll 
  under his Strength –4 on d20. Roll to see whether 
  the mandibles manage to saw through the top of 
  the victim’s skull. Assume this only occurs when 
  the victim is dead: i.e. when the victim reaches –3 
  Health Points. Necrophobius will then spend one 
  round sucking out the skull cavity before vanishing 
  into thin air. 
   
  The being has a thick, horny carapace that is very 
  difficult to penetrate with normal weapons, hence 
  its high Armour Factor. The Necrophobius can be 
  driven away with a holy relic.
  Eight stone pillars fashioned into the shape of 
  women support the ceiling of the hall. These are 
  called caryatids and are only found in the buildings 
  of the ancient people. Each of the caryatids seems 
  to represent some branch of the arts: one of the 
  stone pillars clutches a harp, representing Music; 
  another’s arm rests on its chin as if it were lost in 
  thought, representing Philosophy; and so forth. The 
  other six pillars represent Poetry, Navigation, Danc-
  ing, Rhetoric, Painting and Animal Training (the 
  ancients had strange ideas about art!). 
   
  If the pillars are touched they will emit an 
  incomprehensible babble in a tongue no member of 
  the party will be able to recognise. The language is 
  that of the ancients and the only way to interpret 
  the message of each pillar is to put on the helmet 
  the party will find in Section 6, room iii. This will 
  convert the ancient tongue into modern speech. 
  Once this is done, the listener will learn the follow-
  ing from the pillars:
  Poetry: The character becomes able to memorize any 
  piece of verse, no matter what its length, and is able 
  to recite it verbatim. This skill would not only be 
  useful in royal courts purely for performance value, 
  but also in carrying secret messages disguised as 
  verse and recalling legends written down in ballad 
  form, as so many are.
  Philosophy: The character becomes more sceptical, 
  particularly about occult or supernatural matters. 
  In future, he has an inherent +2 resistance against 
  fright attacks, the mesmerism of vampires, and sim-
  ilar mind-affecting powers exercised by monsters. 
  His Magical Defence does not, however, change.
  Music: The character becomes adept at playing one 
  of the following musical instruments: viol, Lute, 
  Pan Pipes or Drum. (Roll d4 to find out which.) He 
  
  5
  Prince of Darkness
  can charm animals lower than his own rank with his 
  music if he can roll under the difference between his 
  rank and their rank-equivalent on a d20.
  navigation: This skill gives the character the abil-
  ity to identify any constellation or single star in the 
  night sky, or to judge his approximate surroundings 
  by the angle of the sun and the time of day. Thus the 
  character will never stray more than five degrees off 
  course during an ocean voyage, or ten miles from his 
  path during the day.
  Dancing: The character becomes adept at any of the 
  current modes of dancing at court, whether it be the 
  pavane, reel or any other dance. This skill has the 
  knock-on effect of improving the character’s eva-
  sion score by 1 point.
  rhetoric: The character may charm people of lower 
  rank than himself by rolling under the difference 
  between their respective ranks on a d20. The peo-
  ple thus charmed will then perform one act on the 
  character’s behalf, as long as it does not entail dan-
  ger to the charmed person or their family or friends, 
  nor involve the loss of their property.
  Painting: The character becomes able to paint or 
  draw good semblances of anyone, so long as he has 
  observed them at least once for at least five minutes. 
  Portraits thus obtained are useful for purposes of 
  identification.
  animal Training: Animals will respond to the char-
  acter as if they were under command (as in the 
  spell). However, if the animal is wild, it must first be 
  captured. Once trained in this way, the animal will 
  always obey its trainer.
  If more than one pillar is activated at the same time, 
  the resultant babble will become unbearable to any-
  one not wearing the helmet from section 6, room iii 
  (see page 53). The pillars continue to babble for five 
  minutes then abruptly stop. If three or more pillars 
  are activated at the same time, characters that can 
  hear the babble must roll under their Intelligence 
  on 3d10 or go insane. Consult the Madness section 
  on page 124 of the Dragon Warriors rulebook if this 
  happens.
   
  There is a single door made of black varnished 
  wood set into the northern wall. A short passageway 
  behind it leads to a longer passageway to the east. 
  
  5
  Dragon Warriors
  A wide set of double doors lie right in front of the 
  door on the opposite side of the corridor.
  5. Long Passageway
  Two shallow depressions in the floor run the entire 
  length of this passageway; they both end in a hole 
  in the floor right in front of the door through which 
  the party will have entered. The echo of a slow 
  monotonous drip can be heard from the end of the 
  passageway. Looking into the runnels, the party will 
  see that they are full of a fluid that looks like blood. 
  The runnels are only a few inches across and can be 
  stepped over easily. 
   
  Anyone who stares down into the hole set in 
  the floor will have to make a magical saving throw 
  against an attack of 15. If they fail, it will seem to 
  them that invisible hands are grasping them around 
  the throat and throttling them. They may attempt 
  further saving throws, each time at –2, –4, –6 and so 
  on, until they eventually save. Every round on which 
  the character fails to save, he will lose three Health 
  Points for strangulation damage. Once the charac-
  ter manages to save, all this damage will disappear. 
  A character killed by this damage is, however, still 
  dead.
   
  The liquid in the runnels has the consistency of 
  blood and is a mild poison. There is a large bronze 
  head set into the wall at the end of the corridor. 
  The red liquid runs down its chin into a bowl from 
  whence it drips on to the floor and into the runnels 
  in the centre of the corridor. 
   
  Half-way down the corridor leading back to the 
  south lie the treasure vaults of the city of Mimir. 
  Anyone walking down the corridor will feel a 
  drowsy torpor coming over them (magical attack 
  8). If they succumb to the spell, they will approach 
  the leering bronze head, believing it to represent 
  a benevolent deity. On each side of the head is an 
  alcove in which dwell two pink Succubi. These will 
  leap out as the character approaches, surprising him. 
  They will drag off victims by their hair to the bronze 
  head. 
   
  The bronze head will suddenly become animate, 
  staring greedily with large metallic eyes and chisel-
  like bronze teeth. Anyone in a stupor will not resist 
  the Succubi, but their comrades may attempt to do 
  so:
  Succubi
  attack 18 (d8, 3—see below)  
  Armour Factor 0
  defence 14 
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 10  
   
   
  Health Points: 12 each
  (strength 3, reflexes 4)
  Succubi are naked, pink-skinned creatures, with 
  four long arms, a tail and a monkey-like face. They 
  have the ability to pass intangibly through walls. 
  They serve demonic masters or powerful demon-
  serving magicians, to whom they are indentured for 
  a certain number of tasks. 
   
  With their four arms, Succubi get two attacks 
  per round with their shortswords (d8, 3) and will 
  attempt to grapple once per round with their other 
  two hands. The target character is held if the Suc-
  cubi roll under their Strength + Reflexes minus the 
  character’s Reflexes on 1d20. The succubus can stab 
  a character it is holding once every round, without 
  needing to make a Hit Roll.
   
  A relic, when touched to their skin, will reduce 
  them to a pile of ashes. They regenerate 1 Health 
  Point per Round if they have taken damage from a 
  non-magical weapon.
   
  Anyone taken to the bronze head will be pitched 
  forward into the mouth and ground up between its 
  glistening teeth.
  6. Treasure Rooms
  Halfway down the corridor, behind what looks like 
  a bricked-in section, lie the treasure rooms. It will 
  take a few minutes to break the wall down. A series 
  of interlinked rooms leads off this corridor. There 
  are six rooms in all. All of them contain some sort 
  of treasure, some have guardians, and one is a lethal 
  trap.
  Room (i)
  A vase with a sealed top stands on a plinth. A Peer 
  spell will reveal that there is an amulet lying at the 
  bottom of the vase and a small Wraith sits on top 
  of the amulet. 
   
  If the top of the vase is punctured, the Wraith 
  will vaporise and escape into the room. It will take 
  two Rounds to materialize as a fully formed Wraith, 
  which will attack the party. There is a jar with a lid 
  resting against it near the plinth. This gives off a 
  faint aura of magic. If the jar is placed over the lid of 
  the vase as the seal is broken, the Wraith will fly up 
  into it and will be unable to escape if the magical lid 
  is clamped on it. 
  
  5
  Prince of Darkness
  Wraith 
  Rank-equivalent: 5th
  attack n/a  
   
   
   
   
  Armour Factor 0 (immune 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  to non-magical weapons)
  defence 4   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical attack 1d10/Round 
  magical defence 11  
   
  Health Points 3
  The Wraith has a 1d8 fright attack. It will follow 
  this with its Death spell, cast after three Rounds 
  with a magical attack of 3d10. The amulet is one 
  of Sovereignty Over violence (rulebook, p. 143).
  Room (ii)
  This is a high, vaulted room, its ceiling lost in the 
  shadows. Anyone entering the room will feel him-
  self being borne up into the air. They will have one 
  attempt to grab hold of something before they are 
  fully airborne (roll under Reflexes on a d20). Oth-
  erwise they will find themselves carried up to the 
  ceiling where they will see a number of skeletons 
  pressed against the roof, next to upside-down chests. 
  Some of the lids of the chests hang down into the 
  room. There is a deep pit underneath the stone 
  vault. It appears that whatever was in the opened 
  chests must have fallen into the abyss. 
   
  The unopened chests contain Rings of Flying 
  (one per member of the party carried up here). Char-
  acters pressed on to the roof will be able to move 
  their arms as far as the unopened chests to unclasp 
  the locks. If the clasps are opened incautiously, the 
  rings will spill out and start to fall. Characters will 
  have to grab them before they are out of reach (roll 
  under DEX on a d20). Anyone catching one will 
  not necessarily know what the function of the ring 
  is unless they put it on their finger.
  The ring of flying
  This allows its wearer to fly through the air for one 
  minute at a speed of 10m/Round. Each ring has 
  d20 charges. Characters may carry up to their own 
  weight through the air whilst wearing the ring and 
  will be able to fly off the ceiling in this particular 
  room. They may even be able to explore the pit at 
  the centre of the room. It descends a hundred feet 
  into pitch darkness. At the bottom is the accumu-
  lated treasure of the adventurers whose skeletons 
  decorate the outside ceiling of the room. Assume a 
  ‘Moderate Treasure hoard’ collected for each minute 
  spent down here, (see the rulebook, page 131) with 
  the treasure being exhausted after five such discov-
  eries. Any ring found will be a Ring of Flying with 
  1 × d20 charges.
  Room (iii)
  A helmet stands in an alcove. This is the Helmet of 
  Tiphon. Anyone putting it on must make a saving 
  throw against a magical attack of 12. If they fail, 
  they will immediately hear a host of babbling voices 
  and will find that they cannot remove the helmet. 
  Their colleagues will notice that the character is 
  struggling to remove it, but will not know for what 
  reason. 
   
  If the character is able to resist the spell, he will 
  find that while he is wearing the helmet he will be 
  able to understand any strange tongue that he hears 
  spoken, including the language of the pillars in Sec-
  tion 4. 
   
  If he fails, he will begin to gabble in a strange 
  hotchpotch of languages of which only one or two 
  words will be intelligible to his comrades. Only a 
  Dispel Magic will allow him to remove the helmet. 
   
  There is also a copper box lying against one wall: 
  in it is a folded embroidered cloth, intact despite the 
  passage of ages. It has four sections and each section 
  is labelled north, east, south and west consecutively. 
  It is marked as follows:
  If the party correlate these to the bricks in the walls 
  of room (vi), they will discover the treasure hidden 
  in them. You can find a larger version of this diagram 
  on page 87, suitable for passing to your players.
  Room (iv)
  This room has slimy, moss-covered walls and its 
  floor is covered in mud. The door to it slides into 
  the lintel when characters stand on a pressure pad 
  outside it. The only treasure in it is a scroll with a 
  Portal spell. 
   
  If the scroll is read out in the room in which it is 
  found, it will have two effects. The first will be that 
  
  54
  Dragon Warriors
  the panel through which the party entered the room 
  will suddenly shoot downwards, blocking the exit; 
  the second, that a panel will open in the side wall 
  and water will pour into the room. The room will be 
  completely filled with water within ten rounds. The 
  only exit from the room is the door through which 
  the party entered. No escape is possible in the time 
  before the water covers the party unless one of them 
  is a Sorcerer capable of casting the Portal spell.
  Room (v)
  The door to this room hangs on rotten hinges. Looking 
  inside, you see that the floor is awash with liquid mud. 
  a short flight of stone steps leads down to it. Water pours 
  into the room from an ugly stone gargoyle. The mud is 
  at a level with its large, cavernous mouth. it looks as if 
  it would be possible for a man to pass through it. You 
  can see a skeletal hand sticking up from the mud in a 
  far corner.
   
  GM: Assume a good treasure hoard for the entire 
  room: half of this will be scattered beneath the mud 
  on the floor, the other half will be found in the Mud 
  Wyrm’s lair.
   
  Treasure
  Room  
   
   
   
   
   
  Lair 
   
  Scrollcase with scroll 
   
   
  Suit of +2 chainmail
  of shadowbolt inside it    
   
  armour
  4380 silver pieces   
   
   
  1000 silver pieces
  520 gold pieces  
   
   
   
  360 gold pieces
  3000 florins’ worth of gems  
  1200 florins of gems.
  An ancient Mud Wyrm has been set to guard this 
  room. It lurks in the den behind the stone mouth. If 
  anyone enters the mud, the Wyrm will immediately 
  shoot out of the gargoyle’s mouth and attack. The 
  mud is just over 1 metre deep (chest-high on most 
  characters). Movement in the mud is reduced to one 
  quarter of normal, and all Evasion rolls suffer a –1 
  penalty.
  Mud Wyrm
  attack 16 Fangs (d8, 6 and   
  AF 2
  if penetrates armour, magical   
  Movement 12m
  attack causing Paralysis)  
   
  Reflexes 14
  defence 9   
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical attack 8  
   
   
   
  perception 15
  magical defence 2 
   
   
   
  Health Points 22
  The Mud Wyrm resembles a large brown eel. Its 
  body is 6 metres long, and its only distinguishing 
  features are two pin-sized eyes and a huge circular 
  mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. 
   
  Characters will only see a disturbance in the mud 
  as it approaches them, and then, if the Wyrm strikes 
  them and penetrates their armour, they will feel a 
  terrible pain in their leg. The Wyrm discharges an 
  electric shock into its victim: this has a magical 
  attack of 8 and induces paralysis for 1d6 Rounds. 
  Failure to save against this will result in the char-
  acter collapsing and sinking below the level of the 
  mud.
   
  In addition to the treasure listed for this room, 
  there is a +2 magical battleaxe lying next to the skel-
  etal hand in the far corner. Anyone leaning over the 
  hand will have to evade the hand’s speed of 12 as 
  it makes a sudden grab for their throat. The hand 
  is not attached to anything below it. Further hands 
  will begin to appear at the surface of the mud at the 
  rate of 1d4 hands per Round, and these will also fly 
  at the character’s throat, or anyone who approaches 
  within 2 metres of them. 
   
  The speed of all the skeletal hands is 12. They 
  do d6, 2 damage and have 2 Health Points, Armour 
  Factor 1, and a magical defence of 8. Once they 
  are attached to someone’s throat, weapons cannot 
  remove them for obvious reasons. The hands will 
  continue to do d6, 2 damage per round that they are 
  attached to a character.
   
  The Mud Wyrm’s lair is behind the stone mouth 
  of the gargoyle; behind this is a stone passageway 
  leading down into liquid mud. If characters hold 
  their breath for two rounds and swim through the 
  mud, they will reach the empty, brick-lined room 
  described below.
  Room (vi)
  GM: This is a totally empty and perfectly square 
  room, its walls marked with single letters denoting 
  the cardinal points of the compass: N, E, S and W. 
  The walls sound solid when they are tapped. 
   
  Twelve of the bricks in the walls, three in each 
  wall, are filled with treasure. These bricks corre-
  spond exactly to those marked on the embroidered 
  cloth that the party may have found in Section 3. 
  It is extremely unlikely that the party will discover 
  any of the treasure just by prising bricks off the wall 
  randomly, or whilst looking for other exits from the 
  room (assume a 2% chance). Taking the treasure 
  from the north wall first, this is what each brick 
  contains:
  
  55
  Prince of Darkness
  Brick 1  
  Contains a solid gold core worth 500 crowns
  Brick 2  
  Contains 2 doses of Potion of Occult Acuity
  Brick 3  
  Contains 2 doses of Potion of Night vision
  Brick 4  
  Contains 2 doses of Potion of Healing
  Brick 5  
  Contains 2 doses of Potion of Strength
  Brick 6  
  Contains an amulet: The Ankh of Osiris
  Brick 7  
  Contains a Ring of Agonising Doom with four 
   
   
   
  charges
  Brick 8  
  Contains a +1 magical dagger
  Brick 9  
  Contains a solid silver core worth 20,000 
   
   
   
  florins
  Brick 10  Contains a scroll: resurrect 
  Brick 11  Contains a scroll: Pentacle of entrapment
  Brick 12  Contains a Ring of Sentinels (4 charges)
  There are no exits from this room.
  7. The Sanctum of the God
  GM: The God Mimir does not exist, and never has. 
  He is merely the outward mask of a grisly demon, 
  who has dwelt in these dark vaults since time imme-
  morial, demanding human sacrifice of the ancients 
  who came and worshipped here, and dreaming of 
  the vast treasure hoards hidden in the bowels of the 
  temple. Only the face of the demon is visible, leer-
  ing from one of the walls. It is from here that the 
  demon sends forth his physical emanation to feed 
  on the brains of men. 
   
  The mummified corpse of the scribe Fabius, the 
  top of his skull neatly removed, lies on the floor in 
  front of the mocking demon. If the party have not 
  already defeated the demon’s physical emanation, 
  Necrophobius, they will encounter it here. For sta-
  tistics, see p. 50. 
   
  The mere gaze of the demon is itself an attack, 
  which can turn people mad. It has a magical 
  attack of 15; anyone who looks directly at it must 
  save or go insane (Dragon Warriors rulebook, p. 124). 
  After his servant is defeated, the demon will disap-
  pear from this plane. 
   
  There are no further rooms in the underworld.
  
  56
  Dragon Warriors
  
  57
  Prince of Darkness
  As soon as the player-characters are ready to con-
  tinue, the village Elder will give assistance:
  The elder tells you that if you want to journey to the 
  Lost city of nem, he will show you the only way through 
  the mountains. no man has ever returned back from the 
  way he is about to show you, but he hopes the small gift 
  he is about to give you will help. it is 30 metres of elven 
  rope, won from the elves of the forest and kept against a 
  time of true need.
  GM: This magical rope effectively increases the 
  Reflexes of anyone climbing up it by 5 points, thus 
  making Climbing Rolls easier for anyone using it. 
   
  The player-characters now have a choice to make. 
  They may either journey on into the mountains (and 
  try to discover the Lost City of Nem) or they can 
  return to Glissom and confront the treacherous Kil-
  nded. If they are hesitant about pressing on to the 
  mountains, Doron (if he is still alive) will remind 
  them of the legends concerning Balor and his prison 
  of ice, which he certainly believes, whether the rest 
  of the party do or not. 
  If the party members decide to continue:
  The old man leads you off through the light mists that 
  clothe the forest in the early hours of the morning. after 
  about two miles you stop at the bottom of a high cliff-
  face. above it soar the mountain peaks of Brack. You 
  have to strain your necks backwards to see their sum-
  mits. The old man gestures to you to stop. he turns and 
  addresses you:
   
  “Long ages ago, this was the way the Bronze chests 
  came when they sought the Lost city; none of them ever 
  returned and we know not what happened to them. We 
  call the cavern entrance the Mouth of the Gods.”
   
  in front of you, you can see the dark slash of a cave-
  mouth in the face of the cliff. from it you hear ghostly 
  ululations on the wind, such as would make the spines of 
  men to shiver. The old man shudders at the noise. “Many 
  men have perished here and a host of ghosts and spirits 
  haunt the cave. Those few of us who have entered this 
  place and returned have been struck stark mad, with 
  hair turned the colour of driven snow. i must leave you 
  now. it is bad luck to linger in this place.” he bids you 
  farewell and disappears into the mists.
  Area 1
  GM: The cave extends back about 30 metres. Half-
  way down it, a flock of bats (see the Dragon Warriors 
  Bestiary, p. 26) will suddenly swoop down at the 
  party, disturbed by the noise. At about 25 metres, 
  the party will start to stumble across the bronze-
  armoured skeletons of the lost Legion.
   
  At this time, the ghostly emanations of the 
  legionaries will rise up and begin to emit low keen-
  ing sounds, very much like those that the party 
  heard outside the cave-mouth. They are, however, 
  not about to make a fright attack on the party. Any-
  one casting an oracle spell will hear the spirits tell of 
  their sad fate. 
   
  Looking up, the party see a dark funnel leading 
  upwards through the rocks. A very faint glimmer of 
  light can be seen at the top. A rotten rope attached 
  by large, antique pitons snakes up it. 
   
  The skeletons in the heap are obviously those of 
  legionaries who fell during the ascent. The ropes are 
  now too rotten to be of any use but the pitons are 
  still securely moored and a rope can be attached to 
  them. The climb with a rope is an easy one (diffi-
  culty factor 6) but anyone climbing without the aid 
  of a rope will find that it is very hard (difficulty fac-
  tor 16). The best strategy is for one player-character 
  to lead the climb, securing the rope on the pitons 
  as he goes. After the first piton is secured, he has 
  insurance against a fall. 
   
  The cave ends in a rock wall a further 10 metres 
  down the tunnel. A lone skeleton lies at the end of 
  it, having apparently dragged itself here after its fall. 
  Part  5 
  The Mountains of Brack
  
  58
  Dragon Warriors
  It has scratched a message in Bacchile into the rock 
  with a stone: “Comrades, if you find my body, do 
  not follow. Only death awaits above.” Anyone roll-
  ing the legionary’s skeleton over will find an ancient 
  dagger wedged in his rib cage. 
   
  There is a vast monolithic carving of a figure cut 
  into the rock face at the end of the tunnel. The sym-
  bol of the eclipsed moon is carved on to its forehead, 
  just beneath a colossal crown of stone. Its eyes are 
  sunken and seem to produce the deepest shadows 
  imaginable. The statue’s face is lean and melancholy 
  looking. It is carved into a sitting position, with 
  its two arms stretched out into the room. In one it 
  holds a disc carved into the shape of a stylised sun; 
  in the other is what looks like a similarly stylised 
  representation of an eclipsed moon. The hand hold-
  ing the sun symbol is raised about 45 degrees from 
  the horizontal, the other 45 degrees in declination. 
  There are no other interesting features around the 
  carving.
   
  If the party push down on the uplifted arm they 
  will find it will drop down slightly. At the same time, 
  the downward arm will rise up. A total Strength fac-
  tor of 25 will be required to push the uplifted arm 
  down as far as it will go. When the arm is pushed 
  right down, the light in the tunnel (if it is daylight) 
  will gradually become very misty and dim, and the 
  dreadful ululation of the ghosts will now rise up 
  again and become fierce. Evidently, some force of 
  darkness has been released into the tunnel.
   
  Looking down the corridor, the party will be 
  able to see the skeletons of the warriors rising up in 
  the murk, armed with their rusted weapons. Their 
  bodies glow with a faint greenish light and their 
  intentions seem to be hostile.
   
  Treat these skeletons as normal Skeletons (see 
  the rulebook, p. 250, or the Bestiary, p. 83). There 
  are twelve in all. The party will find that the skel-
  etons pursue them even if they attempt to flee.
  Skeletons
  attack 11  
   
   
   
  Armour Factor 0 (except 2 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  versus stabbing weapons)
  defence 5   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 9
  magical defence 3 
   
  evasion 3
  stealth 13 
   
   
   
  perception 7 (gloomsight)
  Health Points:
   
   
   
  HPs  
   
  Weapons 
   
  1st   
  5 
    
   
  Two-handed sword (d10, 5) 
   
  2nd  
  4    
   
  Shortsword (d8, 3)  
   
   
  3rd  
  2    
   
  Mace (d6, 4) 
   
   
   
   
   
  4th  
  6    
   
  Two-handed sword (d10, 5) 
   
  5th  
  3    
   
  Two-handed sword (d10, 5) 
   
  6th  
  4   
   
  Cudgel (d3, 3)  
   
   
   
  7th  
  6 
   
   
  Battleaxe (d8, 6) 
   
   
   
   
  8th  
  5   
   
  Morning star (d6, 5) 
   
   
   
  9th  
  6    
   
  Sword (d8, 4)  
   
   
   
  10th  4    
   
  Battleaxe (d8, 6) 
   
   
   
   
  11th  5    
   
  Spear (2d4, 4)
   
  12th  4    
   
  Flail (d6, 4)
   
  13th  6    
   
  Cudgel (d3, 3)
   
  14th  4   
   
  Halberd (d10, 5)
   
  15th  5   
   
  Battleaxe (d8, 6)
   
  16th  3   
   
  Mace (d6, 4)
   
  17th  2   
   
  Staff (d6, 3)
   
  18th 
  7   
   
  Dagger (d4, 3)
   
  19th  7   
   
  Staff (d6, 3)
   
  20th  2   
   
  Spear (2d4, 4)
  At the same time as the Skeletons are animated, a 
  panel in the monolith’s chest will slide up. Behind it 
  is a Shadow Gaunt. The party will not see it, though, 
  for a curtain of night obscures the way beyond. The 
  Gaunt is a 6th rank-equivalent Darkness Elemen-
  talist, placed here by Fengil to protect the way to the 
  city of Nem.
  Shadow Gaunt
  attack 22, talons (automatic   
  AF 0
  4 points damage: see below) 
   
  Reflexes 12
  defence 22 
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 10
  magical attack 22 
   
   
   
  stealth 25
  Health Points (see below)   
   
  perception 15
  Gaunts are creatures of shadows, brought together 
  by the highest necromancy known in the occult arts. 
  A mage will enter an unconsecrated burial ground 
  and, using a summoning ritual, bring the shades 
  from the graves and merge them together till they 
  form a dark, almost solid body. This gradually takes 
  a humanoid shape with two small holes where light 
  can pass through, where the creature’s eyes should 
  be. Someone seeing a Gaunt flitting down a dark 
  alleyway would take it to be a tall, cloaked figure 
  until it turned and they saw the hollowness of the 
  creature’s eyes. Sometimes, if there is light behind 
  them, rays of light will pass through these eyeholes, 
  but no light will pass through the creature’s inky-
  black body.
   
  Gaunts do not have Health Points as such. Being 
  creatures of shadow, they are insubstantial and can 
  move under shut doors and through the narrowest 
  of cracks. However, a magical weapon will dispel 
  them instantly if it strikes successfully. Unfortu-
  nately, Shadow Gaunts are evasive and difficult to 
  see clearly; any blow struck at a Gaunt, be it with a 
  magical or non-magical weapon, has a 25% chance 
  
  59
  Prince of Darkness
  of failing to inflict any damage, even if the Hit 
  Roll succeeds. If the Gaunt does evade in this way, 
  the attacker will suddenly find that he has struck 
  through thin air; the Gaunt is now behind him 
  and ready to attack with surprise next Round. The 
  Gaunt will always get surprise in this manner even 
  if a character has challenged it previously. At the 
  instant the Gaunt is dispelled, a curse (see the rule-
  book, p. 82) will be cast on the person who struck 
  the blow, with the Gaunt’s full magical attack.
   
  Gaunts fight with shadowy talons. If they strike 
  a blow, automatically deduct 4 points from their 
  opponent’s Health Points (armour is ineffective). All 
  Health Points thus lost will be recovered once the 
  Gaunt is defeated. However, if a character’s points 
  are reduced to –3 by this damage, he will stay dead. 
  All Gaunts have the magical powers of a 6th rank 
  Darkness Elementalist. In this particular instance, 
  the Gaunt has cast shadowfall on the cavern, caus-
  ing the premature darkness. 
   
  The room behind the monolith is square with 
  black granite walls; there is a set of stairs leading 
  upwards in the northeast corner. Painted in round 
  silver sigils on the black walls are four strange signs. 
  A sickle-shaped sword (value: 100 florins) lies on a 
  black granite plinth in the middle of the room. It 
  seems not to have been touched for some time. If 
  the characters look carefully, they will find that the 
  circular bend in the sword will fit around the circu-
  lar sigil on each of the walls. If this is done to any 
  one of them, a panel will slide out of the wall bear-
  ing on it an item intended for use by the disciples of 
  darkness:
   
  1.  A Mace of Darkness: a +1 magical mace made 
  of jet-black iron with an added bonus. Once the 
  wielder has struck an opponent, a thick cloud of 
  rolling smoke will envelop them, making them 
  unable to see. The wielder, however, can see his 
  opponent perfectly. Treat this as the Benight spell. 
  Normal Spell Expiry Rolls apply. The mace’s 
  power takes twelve hours to regenerate until it 
  can be used again.
  2.  A jar with a particularly loathsome-looking pink 
  lizard suspended in a solution of grey liquid. 
  On closer inspection it can be seen to be alive: 
  it has tiny, razor-sharp yellow teeth. The use of 
  this reptile will not be immediately apparent to 
  anyone picking up the jar. However, if the jar is 
  unstoppered the lizard will instantly disappear, 
  
  60
  Dragon Warriors
  leaving only the murky grey solution. If this 
  solution is then poured into water or any food or 
  beverage below blood temperature, and the food 
  or beverage are consumed thus raising the tem-
  perature to that of blood, the creature will appear 
  in the victim’s stomach and start gnawing away 
  at his innards, causing a loss of 5 Health Points a 
  day. This damage will not be recoverable through 
  rest and can only be treated by magic. A Dis-
  pel Magic will void the creature from the victim. 
  Failing that, a mixture of ground glass and grey 
  solution drunk by the victim will act as a purga-
  tive. However, this solution must be treated as a 
  strong poison!
  3.  A coin, which does not appear to be any of the 
  coins of the kingdoms known to the party. It 
  glows with a magical aura. Its enchantment is 
  that the last person who touched it and handed 
  it on to another person knows instinctively in 
  which direction the coin lies anywhere in the 
  world. This knowledge will be lost when a third 
  party picks it up. It is thus quite a useful tracking 
  device, but not an infallible one.
  4.  Grappling hook and 50 metres of rope. This 
  is an Assassin’s grappling hook. It will land on 
  walls silently. The rope has a magical affinity to 
  its user’s hands, reducing the difficulty factor of 
  all climbs by half.
  Area 2
  A long flight of rough-hewn steps leads up to this 
  section. The only other way up is by climbing the 
  steep slopes of the chasm itself. 
   
  There are four rough tunnels leading off from 
  this circular area. The tunnel to the north leads to 
  a flight of rough steps leading down (see Area 1, 
  on p. 57). That to the east slopes upwards and is 
  littered with boulders and scree. That to the south 
  seems to open out into a large cavern. To the west, 
  a massive set of cracked stone steps leads upwards 
  to a platform. The ceiling has evidently collapsed 
  at some stage in the past, as the top of the dais is 
  covered with large boulders. The party can make out 
  the hand of a buried statue sticking out of the top of 
  the rubble.
   
  Exits lead to the north (back to Area 1), to the 
  east (up the long curving tunnel to Area 8), to the 
  south (to Area 5), and to the west (up the steps to 
  Area 3). There is a 3-metre wide ledge around the 
  lip of the chasm; the drop down the chasm is 20 
  metres. The skeletal remains of the legionaries’ bod-
  ies can be seen lying below in the dim light of day.
  Area 3
  Broad, cracked stone steps lead up to a rubble-choked 
  dais. Your breath steams in the suddenly freezing air. 
  The roof appears to have collapsed on top of a 3 metre-
  tall ice statue. on the other side of the mound of rubble 
  you can see a door set into the west side of the cavern. it 
  is made of iron-bound wood and has a large, prominent 
  keyhole. although it is shaped like a normal keyhole, the 
  area around the hole is actually made of ice instead of 
  metal. You see a large key in the statue’s hand, and it too 
  is made of ice instead of metal. There is a smashed coffer 
  just to one side of the door: a number of scroll cases can be 
  seen spilling out of it.
  GM: There are five scrolls in all: fossilize; stasis; 
  Destrier; firestorm; and Deathlight rune.
   
  The correct way to open the door to the next 
  room is by removing the ice key from the statue’s 
  hand: as long as the key is inserted into the lock 
  within ten rounds, it will turn the lock and the party 
  will be able to pass through. However, removing the 
  key will activate the statue. It will start to throw off 
  the boulders surrounding it and then move on to 
  attack the party. It will take five Rounds to break 
  clear. If the fossilize spell is used, the Ice Statue may 
  be turned to stone. However, if the statue is still 
  holding the key when the fossilize spell is used, the 
  key will also be turned to stone and will be useless 
  unless the party also fossilize the ice lock.
  Ice Statue
  attack 20, fist (d8 +1, 5)  
   
  Armour Factor 6
  defence 8  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 2
  magical defence 11  
   
   
  Reflexes 6
  Health Points 33
  The Ice Statue takes double damage from any fire 
  weapons or spells. It regenerates non-fire-induced 
  damage at the rate of 1 point per round, as its 
  wounds freeze over in the cold.
  Area 4
  This is a long rectangular room, at the centre of which 
  stands an altar with a green globe set on it covered with 
  lace-like fronds of ice. a heap of gold coins and jewellery 
  lies in front of the altar. You estimate its value to be 
  roughly 200 crowns.
  
  6
  Prince of Darkness
  GM: If anyone touches the altar, the green globe 
  will vaporise, leaving a shimmering cloud of white-
  ness that spirals up and forms the shape of a ghostly 
  being. This is a Frost Djinn, which will not attack 
  the party unless the pile of treasure is disturbed. 
   
  It attacks with cold shock. Match the Djinn’s 
  speed of 10 against the character’s evasion. If the 
  character fails he will lose 5 Health Points. After 
  three rounds, the Djinn will disperse. Anyone who 
  has been struck by the Djinn will find that his 
  armour has gained 1 Armour Factor point. They 
  will now be able to pick up the treasure safely. 
   
  The room is otherwise empty and there are no 
  exits behind the frost-covered walls.
  Area 5
  This is a large cavern with a frozen pool at its centre. 
  There is a fountain in the middle of it, its frozen column 
  of water rising 2 metres up into the air. a number of 
  bronze-clad warriors stand in attitudes of flight about 
  the room; they seem to have been frozen solid. You notice 
  that a number of them have gold rings in their hands or 
  on their fingers.
   
  approaching the pool, you see a primitive stone font 
  in front of it, with a single shallow step just before it. 
  You can just catch the glint of gold in the font. You would 
  have to step up on to it in order to get a better look.
  GM: Anyone standing on the step will find that it 
  sinks into the floor slightly. As this happens, the 
  bronze warriors will begin to thaw out and the foun-
  tain will gush with water. The character on the step 
  will notice a number of interesting gold rings at the 
  bottom of the fountain. He will also see a purple, 
  many-tentacled monster rising out of the water, its 
  body covered with mauve polyps and suckers. It has 
  two octopoid heads. The warriors drip with water 
  for one round and then spontaneously disintegrate 
  into a muddy sludge.
   
  If the character moves off the step, everyone in 
  the room will be subject to a freeze attack, with a 
  magical attack value of 17. The fountain will 
  freeze over again, putting the tentacled monster out 
  of action. However, if the character remains on the 
  step, he will have to fight with the tentacled mon-
  ster, which will drag him into the pool if it success-
  fully strikes twice in a row with its tentacles. There 
  is no saving throw against this. The character will 
  be slain instantly by the freezing of the fountain and 
  the water, unless someone else has moved on to the 
  step, in which case the water will remain liquid.
  Ice Octopus
  Tentacle 1   
  attack 13  
  Health Points 8
  Tentacle 2   
  attack 13  
  Health Points 8
  Tentacle 3   
  attack 13  
  Health Points 8
  Tentacle 4   
  attack 13  
  Health Points 8
  magical defence 12
  evasion: not applicable; the Octopus will not leave the 
  pool. If the four tentacles of the Ice Octopus are severed, 
  it will disappear forever into the depths of the fountain. If 
  it is defeated, the freeze spell will not operate in the room 
  once the character has got off the step.
  Each of the gold rings is worth 10 crowns. There are 
  18 in total, either in the pool or scattered amongst 
  the legionaries.
  Area 6
  The rubble-filled cavern snakes upward to a flat plat-
  form. To the north of this platform a set of crudely carved 
  steps curves up into the darkness. To the extreme east is 
  a large stalactite hanging from the cavern’s rocky ceiling. 
  You see the frozen remains of a legionary encased in the 
  ice at its base. his bronze armour appears to have been 
  crushed, as if by an enormous vice.
  GM: The legionary fell into the crevasse at Area 10 
  (see p. 63). If the party hack the body out of the 
  ice they will find that he is carrying a +1 magical 
  shortsword.
  Area 7
  The rough-hewn steps spiral upwards for many metres. 
  at this point there is a narrow fissure in the left-hand 
  wall. it looks as if it would be possible for an average-
  sized person to squeeze up this.
  GM: Treat this as a moderate climb. Only one per-
  son may go up at one time. If a character slips at any 
  point up the 30-metre climb, he will take half the 
  falling damage (i.e. he will have fallen the equiva-
  lent of 15 metres), as the slope is not vertical. 
   
  The fissure eventually opens out into a small 
  cavern 4 metres high and wide. Another narrow fis-
  sure continues upwards from its ceiling. Slumped in 
  one of its corners is a skeletal figure clad in bronze 
  armour. The figure still clutches a battle standard 
  with an ornate flag at its end.
   
  The moment anyone enters the cavern, they will 
  be assaulted by a flight of eight vampire Bats. These 
  
  6
  Dragon Warriors
  should be treated as normal bats in combat, except 
  that their razor-sharp teeth give them superior 
  armour penetration. The bats’ teeth are also infected 
  with a strong poison which, if it does not kill, will 
  have the added effect of making the victim’s skin 
  turn a deathly pale and give them a strong aversion 
  to sunlight. If an infected victim is forced to fight 
  in sunshine, he must do so at –3 to attack and 
  defence.
  Vampire Bats
  attack 11, bite (d3 +3,1 point) 
  Armour Factor 0
  defence 9   
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 2 
   
   
   
  Reflexes 13
  Health Points: 1 each (i.e. one 
  successful blow will kill one bat)
  Treasure: The standard has a strong aura of magic 
  about it. Anyone standing within 2 metres of it will 
  be protected by a Warding spell at all times; this will 
  work for both spellcasters and warriors. The stand-
  ard also possesses an innate power to turn undead 
  creatures. Once an undead creature is confronted 
  with it, they are attacked with a magical attack 
  of 20; if successful, this attack causes them to flee in 
  panic for 1d10 minutes. 
   
  Unfortunately, the standard is some 2 metres 
  long and therefore must be held by at least one hand 
  while in combat. When carrying it, a character’s 
  normal movement rate and evasion are halved. If 
  the flag is removed from the end of the staff, the 
  whole item will be rendered ineffectual. No matter 
  how skilfully it is repaired, its magic has been per-
  manently drained away.
   
  The fissure leads to Area 8.
  Area 8
  The stone steps continue upwards in a wide arch. about 
  20 metres up it, you come to a section where both sides 
  of the rugged tunnel wall are frozen, the ice practically 
  touching in the middle. an intense chill plays across the 
  space between the two walls. it looks as if one person at 
  a time could squeeze through the gap.
  GM: As the party approaches, spectral arms appear 
  and reach out from the frozen section of the wall 
  towards them. These arms will fly out at anyone 
  approaching the gap, striking with a speed of 14. 
  Anyone failing to evade will be grabbed by one of 
  them and drained of 2d6 HP if they fail to save 
  
  6
  Prince of Darkness
  against a magical attack of 19. The icy, spectral 
  hands feed upon the warmth of the living, drawing 
  away life to sustain themselves. 
   
  Once the arms have drawn away 10 Health 
  Points in this fashion, an Ice Spectre will suddenly 
  congeal in the icy air and attack.
  Ice Spectre
  attack 19, icy claws: when these strike, treat as a 
  magical attack. Chill claws will clutch at the victim’s 
  heart and they will take damage as shown by the table 
  below.
  defence 9  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical attack 19 
   
   
   
  magical defence 9
  Health Points 10 (but see below)
  roll (2d6): 2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6 
  7 
  8 9 
  10 11 12
  Damage  
  1 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6 7 
  8 
  9 
  Death
  (in hps) 
  Ice Spectres feed off the life heat of the living. They 
  become progressively more powerful as they do 
  this, increasing their own Health Point total by the 
  number that they drain from their victims. As can 
  be imagined, an Ice Spectre that has defeated many 
  victims is a truly horrendous entity and nigh invin-
  cible apart from in magical combat. Ice Spectres can 
  only be manifested by human contact, however, and 
  can therefore often be found as frozen puddles bar-
  ring a passageway or clusters of ice clinging to the 
  walls. 
   
  The party may retreat back to Area 7 and take 
  the route up the fissure, or attempt to fight their way 
  past the Ice Spectre to the cavern beyond; see Area 
  9, below.
  Area 9
  a vast cavern opens in front of you. Like many of the 
  other caverns in this complex, its walls are covered in a 
  thick layer of ice, as is its floor. What looks like a shallow 
  depression forms the westernmost part of the cavern. 
  set into the southwest wall are two glowing, blood-red 
  ovals. in front of them a heap of metallic objects gleams 
  in the ruddy light. The cavern stretches away to the east 
  beyond the reach of torchlight.
  GM: A giant Ice Snake forms the shallow depres-
  sion. Its circumference when coiled encompasses 
  the whole western extremity of the cavern. The two 
  red lights in the southwest wall are its eyes, staring 
  intently across the room. It will not react adversely 
  to anyone who crosses directly to the easternmost 
  part of the cavern.
   
  On closer inspection the party can see that the 
  heap of metal objects is made up of crushed bronze 
  suits of armour. Inside them, some splintered bones 
  can be found. 
   
  If the party approach the glowing eyes, the coil of 
  the snake will immediately begin to constrict. The 
  party may attempt to evade the coil’s speed of 10. If 
  they fail to do so, they will be swept into the centre 
  of the circle formed by the Ice Snake’s vast body. 
  The Ice Snake will then blow Freeze spells from 
  its fanged mouth at anyone in the circle. The giant 
  armoured tail will lash anyone outside the circle.
  Ice Snake
  attack 19, tail (d10 +3, 6)  
  Armour Factor 9
  defence 6   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 0
  magical attack 15 
   
   
  Health Points 46
  magical defence 15
  The party does not stand much chance of defeating 
  this monster in straight combat and there is little to 
  be gained by trying. The Ice Serpent is a 20-metre 
  long, crystalline being that can achieve a 100% cam-
  ouflage ability when set against ice or snow. Its eyes 
  are its only giveaway, glowing with a dim red light.
   
  The party may retreat back to Area 8 or try to 
  escape the Ice Serpent by running towards the east-
  ern end of the cavern. See Area 10, below.
  Area 10
  GM: A crevasse 2 metres wide stretches across the 
  easternmost end of the cavern. It was down this 
  crevasse that the legionary in Area 6 fell. The same 
  fate will befall any character who fails to notice it. 
  Give each character a basic 20% chance of spotting 
  it, modified by +10% for every one point of Intel-
  ligence they have over 12. If they fail to make this 
  roll, assume they have fallen 10 metres unless they 
  make a roll under their Reflexes on d10. If they suc-
  ceed, they manage to grab hold of the edge of the 
  crevasse.
  Area 11
  Beyond the crevasse there is another flight of cracked 
  stone steps leading upwards. a deathly stillness hangs 
  in the air and wreaths of icy mist linger in the corners 
  of the winding stairway. halfway up there is a recess, 
  with a mirror rimed about with frost covering its entire 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  
  65
  Prince of Darkness
  back wall. a crystal mallet about a metre long lies on a 
  low stone plinth to one side of the alcove.
  GM: The mirror will glimmer with a strong magical 
  aura if anyone casts a Detect Magic spell on it. If a 
  character stares into it, nothing apart from a rather 
  faint and bad reflection of the character’s face is vis-
  ible. It is a one-way gateway to an icy, windswept 
  ridge on the mountainside. 
   
  A hero of the Golden Times named valhar was 
  buried here in a rock-cut chapel along with his suit 
  of enchanted armour and sword. A guardian protects 
  the tomb (see below). It is easy to put one’s hand 
  through the mirror and feel beyond it the biting 
  wind of the mountainside. A character who pushes 
  his head through the mirror will be confronted by 
  the dizzying spectacle of a 300-metres drop down to 
  the ice-bound chasms on the northern sides of the 
  Mountains of Brack. 
   
  Narrow ledges lead off to the right and to the 
  left. The one on the left leads to the Tomb of valhar 
  (see p. 69); the one to the right leads to Area 14. If 
  the character steps through the mirror he will find 
  that it is impossible to return through it unless he 
  has the crystal mallet in the recess. If he has brought 
  this, he will find that he is able to smash the crys-
  tal pane and step back to rejoin his comrades. The 
  alcove will then be open to the full force of the chilly 
  blast of the outside air. A Rime Wraith (see below) 
  will appear through the broken pane in d6 Rounds 
  after the pane has been shattered. 
   
  If the character turns left, he will have to make 
  a Reflexes roll to avoid slipping on the icy ledge. 
  He must roll under his Reflexes on a d20 (with a 
  –2 penalty to the roll). If he does slip, he still has 
  another chance (another Reflexes roll but this time 
  without the -2 penalty) to clutch hold of the edge 
  of the icy ledge before he falls off. However, he will 
  then have to roll under his Strength twice consecu-
  tively to haul himself back on to the ledge. If he fails 
  to do so, assume he will gradually slip off in as many 
  Rounds as he has Strength points.
   
  If the character manages to crawl down the ledge 
  without slipping, he will reach a small rock-cut ledge 
  at the centre of which stands a rectangular stone 
  tomb with a low entrance facing the mountainside. 
  Icy blasts of wind howl around here and hurl ice 
  particles into the air, forming wraithlike shapes. As 
  the character draws near, the ice particles will gather 
  into a manlike form and the character will dimly 
  perceive a warrior clad in gleaming white armour, his 
  visor up and his face deathly white, wielding a dou-
  ble-handed sword. The Rime Wraith is the ghost 
  of the warrior valhar, who is buried in the tomb. 
  Like a normal wraith, a Rime Wraith will deliver 
  a 1d8 fright attack (see the rulebook, p. 122) to its 
  victim, but otherwise it fights in its near-physical 
  form. valhar bears the sword he wielded in life. 
   
  Their insubstantial shape means that Rime 
  Wraiths are often difficult to spot in combat and 
  their opponent may strike through where they were 
  standing, only to find that the wraith is now right 
  behind them. Only magical weapons will harm 
  them. Indirect attack spells do no damage, with the 
  exception of sword of Damocles.
  Rime wraith
  attack 25, sword (d12, 5)  
  Armour Factor 0 (but see 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  above)
  defence 12  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 7
  magical defence 16  
   
  stealth 24
  Health Points 36  
   
   
  perception 14
  Rank-equivalent 6
  The Rime Wraith has a chance to evade any oth-
  erwise successful blow. The chance of this is 50%. 
  After any successful Hit Roll against the Rime 
  Wraith, the GM thus rolls d100 and, on a roll of 
  01–50, the Wraith (unharmed by the blow) flick-
  ers behind its opponent and is able to strike at him 
  before he can turn to defend. 
   
  After the Rime Wraith has been defeated, the 
  gleaming silver-handled sword will be found lying 
  in the snow outside the tomb. It is a magnificent 
  prize as a weapon (a +3 magical two-handed sword) 
  but in addition to this, its beautiful construction 
  and silverwork make it worth 200 crowns in its own 
  right. Anyone holding the sword will also find that 
  he has the Mystic ability of Allseeing Eye open to 
  him at all times, allowing him to see invisible objects 
  or people. The tomb also contains some extremely 
  tarnished silver metal armour that is now so oxi-
  dized that it just crumples like paper-thin foil when 
  touched.
   
  The only way back out of the tomb area is to 
  return down the ledge and through the mirror if 
  the character has brought the mallet with him and 
  wants to break it, or by continuing up the ledge to 
  the right. The ledge to the right leads to the larger 
  ledge at Area 14. A saving throw under Reflexes on 
  a d20 similar to the one above will be necessary for 
  anyone trying to pass along it either way (whether 
  from Area 14 or from Area 11). Those who have 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  not passed through the mirror may continue up the 
  stairway to Area 12.
  Area 12
  The stairway opens out into a vast hallway. a large 
  tunnel turns off to the right, but the hall itself continues 
  to a ramp covered with ice, which leads up to a massive 
  set of double doors bonded with iron and brass. at the 
  foot of the ramp lie a heap of skeletons, still wearing the 
  bronze suits of armour of the Legion. The vaulted ceil-
  ing is covered with giant, hanging stalactites. The air is 
  deathly still. 
  GM: Any loud noise will set up a tremor in the hall-
  way that has a 50% chance of dislodging some of the 
  giant stalactites on the roof. Unless characters spe-
  cifically state that they are looking up at the ceiling 
  of the hallway, they will not be aware that the sta-
  lactites are dropping on to them. Assume that 1d6 
  stalactites will fall immediately over the area where 
  the noise has occurred. Treat the stalactites as if they 
  were javelins for damage purposes (d8, 4) and with 
  a speed of 14 for evasion purposes. If the player-
  characters examine the heap of skeletons, they find 
  that many of them appear to have been impaled by 
  fallen stalactites.
   
  The ramp is broad and slopes at a 20% angle, but 
  it is possible to hack holes in the ice with weapons 
  and climb up it. The door has two giant round iron 
  handles set into it. These can only be turned with a 
  combined Strength of 30. The moment this is done, 
  a blast of biting cold air will pour into the hall with 
  a mad ululation. Anyone standing at the top of the 
  ramp must deduct the wind’s Strength of 10 from 
  their Strength and roll under the resulting figure on 
  a d20 to stay in place. Otherwise, they have been 
  blown back down the ramp. As the doors open, all 
  the stalactites in the room begin to drop from the 
  ceiling. The reason why all the legionaries’ skeletons 
  are at the foot of the ramp is that this is where their 
  captain, Drajan, ordered them to halt while he and 
  a lieutenant inspected the doors. 
   
  Assume that 1d4 stalactites fall per person, 
  although characters may attempt to dodge them. 
  Anyone who has been blown back down the ramp 
  will also find that 1d4 stalactites fall towards him 
  but that he cannot attempt to dodge because he is 
  flat on his back.
   
  The exits from this area lead through the double 
  doors to Area 14, or through the right-hand passage 
  to Area 13.
  Area 13
  here is a long, curving section of corridor that ends with 
  a massive wooden door bonded around with thick layers 
  of ice. it looks as if it might take several hours to break 
  down.
  Exits: The door leads through to the Hall of the 
  Frost Giants. It is the northernmost entrance in 
  room 4 (see page 70 for a description).
  Area 14
  You emerge on to a wide, snow-swept ridge command-
  ing a spectacular view of the valleys and chasms stretch-
  ing off to the north of the Mountains of Brack. The 
  grisly sight in front of you interrupts the view: two poles 
  wrapped in a cocoon of ice stand immediately in front 
  of the doors. in each of them you see the bronze armour 
  of one of the legionaries, still encasing their forlorn 
  remains. Both stare out from shrivelled skulls, grinning 
  in the desperate rictus of death. You see that one of them 
  still carries his Legion baton in his skeletal hand.
  GM: The baton is a magical artefact that will allow 
  a Sorcerer with the ability to cast the enslave spell 
  to do so at a cost of only 3 Spell Points.
  The view stretches from here over a few intervening 
  foothills down to a windswept frozen lake where will-
  o’-the wisp ice particles dance upon the surface. in the 
  distance is a low, squat building made of black granite, 
  which must be the one that you have heard spoken of 
  in the ancient tales. a long sloping ledge traverses the 
  mountainside to your left, zig-zagging down to the lake 
  surface. 
   
  To the right, a short rubble-strewn path leads to a 
  squat granite structure, the roof of which barely pro-
  trudes from the vast bank of snow in which it is buried. 
  The entrance to the building is just around the corner 
  from the ledge on which you stand.
  GM: Read on if the party wish to investigate this 
  building. If they do not, turn to page 71.
  
  67
  Prince of Darkness
  Part  6 
  The Hall of the Frost Giants
  Two Frost Giants dwell on the lonely mountainside 
  here, feeding on the few creatures that stray this 
  way, supplemented by the frozen bodies of unfor-
  tunate travellers who strayed this way many hun-
  dreds of years ago. The Frost Giants are not choosy 
  about their food, and the climate produces adequate 
  refrigeration. See the map on page 68.
  A
  Bounding the corner of the ledge, the path drops sud-
  denly and you see the front of a large grey granite hall 
  with two convoluted pillars holding up a primitive arch 
  over a doorway. The arch is 3 metres high. steep banks 
  of snow cover the path leading up to the entranceway. 
  Beyond it is a stone vestibule filled with snowdrifts. at 
  the far end you can see a sheet of ice completely blocking 
  off the far wall. There are no footprints on the snow.
  The ice wall covers the entire western end of the 
  vestibule. It seems quite thick to the touch and 
  it cannot be seen through, but the barrier can be 
  smashed very easily.
  B
  As the player-characters break through the ice bar-
  rier, six Mastiffs that have been silently lying in wait 
  
  68
  Dragon Warriors
  behind it suddenly leap upon them. Unlike ordinary 
  dogs, their breath is cold. Their hollow, sepulchral 
  barking fills the characters with dread; a morale 
  check is required for each of them. 
   
  The dogs go for the throat, ignoring other poten-
  tial targets on the body. To represent this in combat, 
  assume that the Mastiffs have a low attack value 
  (see below), but that when they connect, armour 
  does not count and the victim takes serious dam-
  age.
  Mastiffs
  attack 12, Bite (6 points,   
  AF 0
  and see above)  
   
   
   
  Rank-equivalent 2
  defence 3  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  magical defence 3
  health Points:
   
  Mastiff 1: 16 
   
   
   
  Mastiff 2: 16 
   
  Mastiff 3: 8  
   
   
   
  Mastiff 4: 16 
   
  Mastiff 5: 10 
   
   
   
  Mastiff 6: 15
  The mastiffs will fight to the death unless their 
  masters at the far end of the hall call them off.
  Two frost Giants, their leather armour, pallid flesh and 
  red hair partially covered by hoarfrost, sit at the end of 
  the hall. They might have been good targets for missile 
  weapons if it wasn’t for the bunch of curs that are now 
  attacking you. it seems that they themselves disdain the 
  use of missile weapons. one carries a vicious-looking 
  trident and a hunting net, the other a double-handed 
  axe.
  Thumir, frost giant 1
  Rank-equivalent: 10th
  attack 24, trident (d8 +2,   
  Armour Factor 4
  4 points per prong, so roll 
  1d3 × 4); hunting net (see 
  below)
  defence 16  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  magical defence 12  
   
  Health Points 34
  Equipment: hunting net. The Frost Giant will use this 
  in the first Round, hitting if his attack is successful and 
  if the character that the net is thrown at fails to make 
  an evasion throw versus the net’s speed of 14. Once a 
  character is netted, the trident always deals full damage 
  (i.e. 12 points)
  
  69
  Prince of Darkness
  Grun, frost giant 2 
  Rank-equivalent: 10th
  attack 24, axe (d8 +2, 8)  
  Armour Factor 4
  defence 16  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  magical defence 12  
   
  Health Points 35
  Equipment: Key to room 5 (see below)
  Any character in the party (10% chance) may recall 
  that Frost Giants never decline a challenge to a per-
  sonal duel. If they issue such a challenge, the Frost 
  Giants will call off the dogs and Thumir, the first 
  and larger of the giants, will accept the challenge. 
  If he is defeated fairly in single combat, then Grun 
  will award the victor the Snow Gem (see below), 
  500 crowns and a Potion of Control. The full list of 
  their treasure may be found below on page 70.
   
  A character who succeeds in breaking free of the 
  hounds and running at the giants may easily find 
  himself falling through the layer of thin ice that 
  covers the pool in the centre of the room. Assume 
  that anyone heading straight towards where the 
  Frost Giants are sitting will do so. The water of the 
  pool is 2 metres deep and will therefore immerse 
  all human-sized characters. It is also practically 
  impossible to climb out of, as the edges of the ice 
  keep breaking away. Characters who fall in lose 1 
  Strength point and 2 Health Points per Round that 
  they are immersed. Although this loss is not perma-
  nent, it will take a full night’s rest to recover.
   
  The Frost Giants are carnivorous and, on special 
  occasions, consume the human flesh that they keep 
  on ice in their larder (see Section 4, p. 70). At the 
  moment, they are consuming the haunch of a shep-
  herd’s thigh on the table, which has sword-sized 
  daggers stuck into it. If the party members attempt 
  to flee, the giants will set their hounds after them, 
  following on behind at a more leisurely pace.
   
  In addition to the vestibule where the party first 
  entered, there are six other arched entrances off the 
  central hall. Some have doors and others do not.
  Area 1
  Here are two giant-sized beds covered with hoar-
  frost, with icicles hanging off their massive sides. 
  various articles of personal clothing lie about the 
  room, including a large flagon of elderberry wine of 
  massive potency. If anyone drinks this, treat it as if 
  it is a medium poison. However, its mental effects 
  are so great that if the drinker does succumb, they 
  will also suffer a permanent loss of one Intelligence 
  Point.
   
  Assume there are 1d10 crowns scattered around 
  the room. There is also a thick rug made of sabre-
  tooth tiger skin worth about 5GPs as a curio, 
  although it is very moth-eaten. A strange tapestry 
  hangs on the wall; it is coarsely woven and represents 
  scenes where domestic servants go about the various 
  mundane tasks of their profession. In front of it is a 
  brass gong. If the gong is struck, a homunculus will 
  appear from the tapestry. It is long, thin and pale 
  with cold, an icicle hanging from its red beaky nose. 
  It is dressed in fustian, and chatters and complains 
  interminably. Paying no attention to the party, it 
  will set about righting the mess in the room. If the 
  player-characters question it, it will merely sniff and 
  complain of its lack of sleep caused by the giants’ 
  prodigious snoring every night. It will also ask them 
  if they would like to join the other guest. (By this it 
  means the prisoner in room 3.) If the party decline 
  the homunculus’s offer, it will fade back into the 
  tapestry and will not be able to be summoned by the 
  gong for another twenty- four hours. 
   
  If the party do decide to go with it, it will pro-
  duce the one key to the door in room 3 and admit 
  them to where the giants are holding Tabian the 
  Darkness Elementalist imprisoned (see below). The 
  homunculus will attempt to use all his cunning to 
  lock the party in with Tabian. It will prove impossi-
  ble to break out of the room if the Frost Giants have 
  both been slain, and anyone locked in will perish.
  Area 2
  This room is a shrine to some long-forgotten deity 
  devoted to the principles of ice and snow, no longer 
  worshipped by anyone. The only decoration in the 
  body of the room is a frozen fountain, the water in 
  it still arching up into the air but frozen into ice. A 
  wall of ice covers the eastern wall. Beyond it, barely 
  visible through the hoarfrost, can be seen the tomb 
  of the warrior valhar. Anyone stepping through the 
  wall will find himself teleported to the ledge outside 
  the tomb (see page 65). 
   
  If a character manages to defeat valhar’s wraith 
  and return with his sword, the ice in the room will 
  thaw and the fountain will begin to flow again. At the 
  bottom of the fountain, previously concealed by the 
  ice, lies a small casket containing two amulets: both 
  seem to be Amulets of Sovereignty over violence. 
  One of them is in fact an Amulet of Soul Storing 
  and anyone donning it must resist valhar’s magical 
  attack of 19 or be taken over by his soul.
  
  70
  Dragon Warriors
  Area 3
  The door to this room is locked and is made of a 
  strange metal unknown to any of the party. This is 
  adamantine and its bulk is worth its weight in gold, 
  as it is rare and indestructible. No amount of batter-
  ing will break down this door; anyone locked inside 
  it cannot hope to escape without the key to its only 
  lock. The key is in the possession of the homunculus 
  in area 1.
   
  Inside this prison is a human named Tabian, one 
  of Fengil’s former cohorts, who has been captured 
  by the Frost Giants on one of their hunting expedi-
  tions over the mountains. Tabian is very sharp and 
  quick-witted; he will swiftly guess that anyone from 
  Glissom not in the employ of Kilnded is likely to be 
  his master’s enemy. He will consequently use all his 
  skill and cunning to destroy the party before they 
  reach the temple at the end of the lake. If questioned, 
  he will claim to be a fellow adventurer seeking the 
  city of Nem. 
  Tabian 
  5th-rank Darkness Elementalist 
  (minor elements: air, water)
  attack 12   
   
   
   
   
  Armour Factor 2
  defence 6  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical attack 19 
   
   
  Magic Points 15/5/5
  magical defence 9 
   
   
  Health Points 10
  Tabian will appear to be unarmed, but concealed in 
  his robes is a dagger with a rune matrix in it. Cur-
  rently this contains a Paralysis spell. A successful 
  strike will result in this spell being cast on the vic-
  tim.
   
  Apart from a few bones and rats, the only inter-
  esting article in this cell is Tabian’s cloak, which is 
  now bundled up in a corner. Tabian will attempt 
  to dispose of this ragged and dirty cloak before 
  the party see it. It has been embroidered with the 
  symbol of the eclipsed moon, as used by the cult of 
  darkness. 
  Area 4
  A gruesome sight meets the eyes of those who 
  enter this room. Of all the rooms in the freezing 
  hall, this is the coldest; in it hang the humans slain 
  during the giants’ hunting expeditions. The bodies 
  are mainly those of adventurers, but there are some 
  wrapped in sinister dark robes. One frozen corpse, 
  in the far recesses of the shadowy room, is still clad 
  in the bronze armour of the legionaries. Beyond all 
  this carnage there is a rusted metal door. Behind it 
  is the passageway leading to Area 13 in the Brack 
  Mountains.
  Area 5
  The door to this room is locked and the key to it 
  can be found on the second Frost Giant. It is from 
  this room that he will fetch the treasure if someone 
  manages to defeat his comrade in single combat. 
   
  A selection of outsize weapons lies rusting against 
  the wall. One of these is a heavy crossbow built to 
  giant proportions, which would actually function as 
  an arbalest if any human had the strength to wind 
  it up. There are also several coffers lying about filled 
  with treasure. In addition to the 500 crowns and the 
  Potion of Control, the Treasure Room contains the 
  following: a +1 magical shield; a set of +1 hardened 
  leather armour; a love philtre; 1110 crowns; 16 jewels 
  worth 3600 florins; and the following two items:
  The hand of saint craddock: This skeletal hand sev-
  ered from the arm of St Craddock at the time of his 
  martyrdom has long been sought by members of his 
  monastery, after one of their members disappeared 
  with it one dark and stormy night. The monk’s greed 
  led him to the Hall of the Giants and he has duly 
  joined the line of moveable feasts in the freezer room.  
   
  The hand is trussed in a purple velvet bag. 
  Although its use when withdrawn from the bag may 
  not be evident, St Craddock’s Hand, once pressed 
  against any wound or diseased part of the body, or 
  against the head if the person is suffering from mad-
  ness, will cure that person of that affliction once. A 
  second attempt at a cure will lead to the reappear-
  ance of the first affliction; the Hand can only ever 
  heal any one person once. This quality would tend 
  to make it more valuable to a monastery looking to 
  attract pilgrims than to an adventuring party, at least 
  once each member of the party has used it once.
  The snow Gem: This gem, carved into the shape 
  of an icicle, will allow a Water Elementalist to cast 
  any of his spells that are directly linked to cold and 
  freezing: i.e. icewall, icespear, Blizzard and freeze, at 
  half the normal Magic Point cost.
  Area 6
  These are the hounds’ kennels. The stench in this 
  room is horrendously pungent and stomachs will 
  revolt at the sight of the half-consumed haunches 
  
  7
  Prince of Darkness
  Part  7 
  The Temple of Balor
  of human meat that are scattered over the floor. In 
  one corner a mastiff pup huddles, shivering. This is 
  worth some 30 crowns to a trainer who could rear it 
  to become a savage hunting dog.
   
  There are no paths leading past the hall, and the 
  only route back towards the south is via the ledge in 
  front of the final cavern of the Mountains of Brack 
  section.
  Descending the Mountain
  The path down to the frozen lake is visible only as 
  a thin ledge carved into the snow-covered moun-
  tainside. The going is extremely tough and the party 
  may think it is advisable to rope themselves together. 
  The climb has a difficulty factor of 14: anyone fall-
  ing off without being roped to someone else will fall 
  several hundred metres and will have virtually no 
  chance of survival (assign 5d20 damage). 
   
  If a character is roped to another member or 
  members of his party, then add up their combined 
  Strength totals and deduct from this that of the 
  fallen member of the party. If the number is zero 
  or less, then the falling member of the party has 
  pulled the other members over the precipice along 
  with him. If the number is positive, the members of 
  the party at the top may attempt to hold their fallen 
  comrade by rolling under that figure on a d20.
  Example: Blockard the Barbarian, climbing with his 
  companions Gothon and Baz, slips on a steep section of 
  the climb and goes over the edge. Blockard’s strength is 
  4; his two companions have strengths of 0 and 5, 
  making a total of 25. Deducting Blockard’s strength 
  from this figure leaves : this is the figure that Gothon 
  or Baz must roll under on a d20 to haul Blockard up. 
  There is nothing to prevent the first of the roped charac-
  ters from cutting the rope and letting their comrade fall 
  if they opt to do this rather than trying to haul him back 
  up as outlined above.
  Random Encounters while Descending the 
  Mountain
  It will take at least six hours for the party to inch their 
  way down the treacherous ledge to the frozen lake. 
  For every hour, there is a 20% chance of a random 
  encounter on the table below. The party will meet 
  two of these encounters at specific locations later on 
  if they have not already dealt with them here. Carry 
  over any damage sustained by the creatures from the 
  random encounter to the set encounter later on.
  d20  
  Encounter
  1–4  
  1–6 Sabre-tooth Tigers (Rulebook p. 251 or 
   
   
  Bestiary p. 45)
  5–7  
  1–3 Snow Apes (Rulebook p. 250 or Bestiary p. 
   
   
  24)
  8–9  
  1–2 Bears (Rulebook p. 238 or Bestiary p. 26)
  10–11 1–6 Ice Snakes (Bestiary p. 39 or below)
  12–13 2 Frost Giants (for stats see p.68, unless they have
   
   
  already been encountered, in which case roll again)
  14–16 A ghostly legionary (see below)
  17–18 A Yeti (Rulebook p. 253 or Bestiary p. 49)
  19–20 1 Sufiriad (Rulebook p. 251 or Bestiary p. 72)
  Ice Snakes
  These are the same size and shape as an ordinary 
  grass snake, except that they are made entirely of a 
  frosty, crystalline substance and powered by some 
  ancient sorcerous magic. Their armoured skin makes 
  them very difficult to kill despite their small size. 
  Ice Snakes do not attack unless someone steps very 
  
  7
  Dragon Warriors
  close to their nest. If their bite penetrates, the victim 
  will be subjected to a freeze spell with a magical 
  attack behind it of 10.
  Ice Snakes
  Rank-equivalent: 2nd
  attack 14, (bite d6, 2 and   
  Armour Factor 6
  see above) 
  defence 6  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  Health Points 3
  A Ghostly Legionary
  This is the ghost of the centurion Drajan, who led 
  his men over the Brack Mountains centuries ago. He 
  will appear in a mini-whirlwind of snow in front of 
  the party and they will be subject to a ghost’s normal 
  fright attack. However, if they survive that, Drajan 
  will begin to tell his story in a low, moaning voice 
  that reminds the party of the wind keening over a 
  barren hillside:
  “heed me, travellers. My lieutenant, servitus, and i 
  were the only two who survived the trek through the 
  mountains. The others, through one calamity or another, 
  perished to a man. The falling ice in the caverns struck 
  servitus down and his wound was a grievous one. i 
  helped him down to the lake yonder, but there he perished 
  and i buried him under a pile of rubble. May Mars be 
  propitiated! i then set off across the frozen surface. 
   
  “Presently, two great whirlwinds of ice and snow 
  arose and rushed towards me. knowing them to be evil 
  things, i hastened towards yonder building at the end 
  of the lake. There, black hawks hovered overhead and a 
  feeling of black dread passed over me with their shadows. 
  Then i was under the cover of the building, although i 
  could still hear the fierce cries of the circling hawks. i 
  found a stairway at the centre of the maze by taking the 
  sinister way; all was deathly quiet and i descended. 
   
  “i cannot say what i found—terrors such as i cannot 
  describe even from beyond the grave lurk there—but i 
  may say this. Do not enter the room of the Black star, for 
  there you will perish as surely as i have perished, meet-
  ing one more fearsome than i. Though the rewards may 
  seem great and the peril meagre, do not go….”
  So saying, he fades from view. If the party try to 
  attack the ghost, he will fade away immediately with 
  a low, warning moan before he can tell his story.
  
  7
  Prince of Darkness
   
  On the way down to the lake, the party will pass 
  a low mound of stones on top of which, flapping 
  in the wind, is a battered battle standard. If they 
  push these away they will find a perfectly preserved 
  (though somewhat shrunken) corpse, dressed in 
  bronze armour with a terrible wound gouged into 
  the side of his head. His sword has been laid flat 
  across his chest. There are a few ancient gold coins 
  in a pouch at his side but nothing else of interest.
  The Lake
  This can only be Lake nimmur, frozen since the begin-
  ning of time when the icy wastes flooded over the remains 
  of the city of nem, the seat of Balor, Prince of Darkness. 
  nothing is visible beneath the ice. at the far end, you 
  can now see the low squat building that you saw from 
  the mountain peaks above. it seems that it must have 
  been a temple at one epoch of history, raised up higher 
  than any of the surrounding land by a series of stepped 
  terraces that are just visible beneath the surface of the ice. 
  The top of this pyramid is made entirely of black stone. 
  a colonnade of pillars supports the roof in front of you. 
  You can see the dark shapes of giant hawks wheeling up 
  and around the top of the building. The wind bears their 
  horrible screeching to your ears.
  GM: The party will encounter at least one Sufiriad 
  as they approach the temple, and two if they have not 
  already encountered one on the Random Encounter 
  Table. (If the party decide to avoid the lake, hav-
  ing been warned off it by the centurion’s ghost, then 
  they must skirt the steep slopes that flank either side 
  of it. This will take another three hours and they 
  will have a 25% chance per hour of another random 
  encounter while they do so).
  as you approach the temple across the frozen ice, you see 
  what looks like a white whirlwind hurtling towards 
  you over the ice.
  Sufiriad 
  Rank-equivalent: 10th
  Attack: Whirlwind (see Bestiary,  Armour Factor 5
  p.72)
  defence 0   
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4 
  Health Points 30   
   
   
   
  Movement: 10m
  The hawks of Balor nest on the top of the grey building 
  at the end of the lake. as you draw nearer, you see that 
  the porticos of the temple are cracked and worn. Two 
  twin trails of black smoke filter up into the still air from 
  the building. Beyond this, there are no other signs of life. 
  suddenly the hawks take off and swoop overhead, not 
  attempting to attack. as their shadows pass over the 
  party, you are filled with a sickening sense of dread, as if 
  all hope had been quenched forever.
  GM: Roll as if the party were being subjected to 
  a magical attack of 12. Anyone failing to resist 
  must make a roll on the Madness Table to see how 
  he is affected.
   
  A second later, an eerie, premature twilight will 
  settle over the area and the party will have to save 
  against the shadowfall spell or run in panic for 2–12 
  Rounds. The Darkness Elementalist (see below) has 
  cast the spell with a magical attack of 28.
  within the Temple
  There are four worshippers of Balor lurking amongst 
  the columns of the upper temple, although they are 
  almost impossible to see in their grey-black cloaks 
  in the twilight; this places a –3 Hit Roll penalty on 
  missile attacks against them. The Darkness cultists 
  will fight individually, ambushing the party if and 
  when they take wrong turnings in the labyrinth that 
  leads to the centre of the temple. Their ambush 
  points are marked with an ‘X’ on the map on p. 74. 
  All the passageways into the centre of the temple 
  are single-file only. You may show the party the 
  unmarked map of the labyrinth at the back of the 
  book and they may attempt to trace the route to the 
  centre by looking at it (don’t let them spend too long 
  on it!). Any cultist who is still alive when the party 
  reach the centre of the labyrinth will attack then.
   
  At the southern entrance to the maze, half choked 
  by strange mauve ivy that grows entangled around 
  some of the columns, is the timeworn description 
  ‘Touch the hand of darkness’. (This refers to the 
  left-hand, or sinister wall, as the only infallible way 
  of reaching the centre of the maze is by keeping 
  one’s left hand trailing along the left-hand wall all 
  the way.)
  Fengil
  Fengil has dwelt here for hundreds of years, dead 
  and yet alive, stoking the fires around Balor’s fro-
  zen body in the sulphurous pit beneath the lake, 
  his only companions the solitude of the waste and 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  
  75
  Prince of Darkness
  the screeching of the undead hawks. His dreams of 
  power have grown stronger as he himself has weak-
  ened, with his insubstantial body fading to a mere 
  wisp of its former self.
  Fengil 
  Undead 15th-level Darkness Elementalist (minor 
  elements: earth and fire)
  attack 17, spear (2d4 +1, 5)1 AF 0 and immune to
  defence 11  
   
   
   
   
  non-magical weapons 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  (permanently intangible)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 15
  magical attack 34 
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 24   
   
  stealth 15
  Magic Points 45/15/15  
   
  perception 11
  Health Points 162
  It is unlikely that the party will catch up with Fengil 
  until he reaches the pit of Balor (see below). If they 
  do get close at any time, he will use the Javelin of 
  Darkness spell to make them keep their distance. 
  Fengil has a bald, highly domed head, upon which 
  corruption has left a strange yellow-and-green 
  sheen. His eyes are lined and deeply recessed. He 
   
  The spear is magical, therefore fengil can use it in combat.
  2 
  unaffected by non-magical weapons and indirect-attack spells.
  bears all the stigmata of a senior Darkness cultist: 
  he has no shadow; his eyes are sensitive to sudden 
  bright lights, such as aimed flame spells; he cannot 
  fight with physical weapons, as his body is intangi-
  ble; he bears black, sooty stains on the inside of his 
  palms; he has a phobic hatred of direct sunlight and 
  bears a shadowy half-moon on his forehead. 
    Over the years he has recruited three acolytes, 
  the guards who protect the upper levels of the tem-
  ple. These will fight to the death to protect the way 
  down as Fengil hurries on to make his final prepa-
  rations for bringing Balor back with the tenth and 
  most terrible of the Darkness spells. All the cultists 
  have Assassin skills.
  Darkness cultist 1
  6th-rank Assassin
  attack 18, sword (d8, 4),   
   
  Armour Factor 2
  Throwing spikes (d2 +1, 2 and   
  Reflexes 9
  poison)  
   
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  defence 0  
   
   
   
   
   
  stealth 
  magical defence 8   
   
   
  perception 
  Health Points 16   
   
   
   
  Darkness cultist 2
  6th-rank Assassin
  
  76
  Dragon Warriors
  attack 20, Sword (d8 +2, 6),   
  Armour Factor 2
  spike (d2 +2, 3)  
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 14
  defence 11  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 8   
   
   
  stealth 23
  Health Points 12   
   
   
   
  perception 13
  Darkness cultist 3 
  7th-rank Assassin
  attack 19, sword (d10, 5),  
   
  Armour Factor 2
  spike (d2 +1, 2)  
   
   
   
   
  Reflexes 12
  defence 11  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 9   
   
   
  stealth 24
  Health Points 15   
   
   
   
  perception 14
  Any surviving cultists will attack the party in the 
  final courtyard, where there are excellent opportuni-
  ties for concealment (see below).
  Courtyard of the Four Graven Images
  This is a wide courtyard open to the twilight sky 
  above. Its flagstones are splattered with the ordure 
  and shattered bits of bone dropped by the hawks 
  nesting above. The courtyard is enclosed by a clois-
  ter on the ground floor, its arches overhung by rich 
  growths of mauve-coloured ivy. There is another 
  gallery along the top of the cloister, similarly over-
  hung by ivy and reached by a staircase in the north-
  west corner. There is a green, stagnant pool of water 
  at the centre of the courtyard.
   
  Four totemic pillars just wider than a man stand at 
  the four corners of the pool. They are carved crudely 
  to represent all the elements apart from Water. There 
  are narrow doorways in the totems’ faces that one 
  person can squeeze through at a time.
  fire: The fire totem represents a sharp, angular 
  being with hair carved into the shape of flames and 
  fierce red marks scored into its cheeks. Anyone step-
  ping through the doorway will suddenly find that 
  they suffer a heat attack: they must roll under their 
  Reflexes to escape being burnt for 4 Health Points 
  of damage. Metal armour magnifies the effect of the 
  heat, and all those wearing metal armour take 1 fur-
  ther point of damage. Nothing occurs otherwise.
  earth: The totem is shaped like a rough-hewn rock, 
  with two monstrous arms outstretched on either side 
  of its entrance. Anyone stepping into it will find that 
  the two arms swing together, crushing inwards. This 
  hold will continue for two rounds, during which the 
  character trapped inside will take (2d6, 4) damage. 
  The arms will then revert to their original position, 
  ejecting the character.
  air: The Air totem is shaped like a crude repre-
  sentation of a bird. Anyone stepping through the 
  entrance will find himself suddenly caught by a tre-
  mendous whirlwind, which spins him about as if he 
  were a rag doll.
   
  Every round that the character is trapped in this 
  whirlwind, he will take 1 more point of damage than 
  he took in the previous round: first 1, then 2, then 
  3 and so on. Each round, he will have the chance 
  to throw himself back through the narrow entrance 
  through which he came. However, this becomes 
  more and more difficult as the centrifugal force 
  increases. The effective speed of the door begins at 
  12 but gets quicker by one each round.
  Darkness: This black monolithic totem has no 
  outside markings to distinguish it. Anyone enter-
  ing here will be surprised to find that although it 
  is twilight outside, the darkness inside is total (and 
  will cause a fright attack on anyone with a dark-
  ness phobia). The character is then subjected to a 
  magical attack of 12. He may attempt to resist 
  this if desired, but if he succeeds he will find him-
  self ejected from the totem as if he had been pushed 
  out bodily. He will be propelled into the pool (see 
  below). If the character does not resist the magical 
  attack, he will be teleported down to room 1 on 
  the dungeon level below.
  The Pool
  The pool is covered with a thick acidic scum that 
  will burn anything with which it comes into con-
  tact. It will burn away two points of exposed flesh 
  or one point of armour protection, permanently. 
  The moment the surface of the pool is disturbed, 
  an Obsidiak (see the Dragon Warriors Bestiary, p. 
  42) will rise up out of it and lunge at whoever has 
  disturbed the surface.
  Obsidiak
  Rank equivalent: 2nd
  attack 14, bite (d8, 3)  
   
  Armour Factor 3
  defence 6  
   
   
   
   
  Movement: flying—8m
  magical defence 6 
   
   
  evasion 3
  Reflexes 6  
   
   
   
   
  stealth 15
  Health Points: 12   
   
   
  perception 6 (darksight)
  There is a blue-stained copper casket at the bottom 
  of the pool. If this is dredged up and opened, a scroll 
  case will be found inside it. It contains a powerful 
  scroll of freeze. Unlike the normal Elementalist 
  spell freeze, which only affects a one-metre wide 
  
  77
  Prince of Darkness
  
  78
  Dragon Warriors
  area, this will affect an area of 20 metres radius and 
  can therefore be used as a means of freezing over a 
  large body of water, such as a small lake or a section 
  of a river.
  Dungeon Level
  Section 1
  You are in a vaulted, granite-walled hall, with two 
  black quartz statues towering some 4 metres high on 
  either side of a raised podium. a single beam of black 
  radiance pours down from a black circular hole in the 
  ceiling. steps lead down from this podium to a pool filled 
  with a matt black liquid. smoke rises up in wraithlike 
  forms from the surface of the water. The only exit to this 
  room is an archway at its end. The pool ends just where 
  the archway begins, but it looks like one could squeeze 
  rather clumsily around the edge of the pool and through 
  the archway by stretching one’s legs across. a grey swirl-
  ing barrier of energy, nacreous and completely opaque, 
  obscures the archway.
  GM: The beam of black radiance is a teleportation 
  shaft, down which anyone will pass who has stepped 
  into the statue in the courtyard above. Anyone wad-
  ing through the 10-metre wide pool of dark viscous 
  water will reach the archway and pass through it 
  unharmed. Anyone who does not first immerse 
  himself in the water will find that when he reaches 
  the barrier and tries to pass through it, it will sud-
  denly seem to congeal in a hood around his head. 
  The character will be subjected to a high-pitched 
  screaming sound as the creature begins to suck away 
  its victim’s life force.
  The Grey Hood
  attack n/a  
   
   
   
   
  Armour Factor 0
  defence n/a 
   
   
   
   
  evasion 0 (when attached 
  magical attack 16 
   
   
  to victim)
  magical defence 8
  Health Points 8
  The Grey Hood endeavours to penetrate its victim’s 
  brain through his eyes, ears, nose and mouth and 
  there suck away until the brain is totally replaced by 
  the Hood’s own grey matter. Although it does this 
  physically, the spell to remove its victim’s brain actu-
  ally kills the victim, so roll the creature’s magical 
  attack against its victim’s magical defence each 
  Round. Failure means instant death.
   
  The character, to all intents and purposes, will 
  look perfectly unharmed after the grey hood has 
  disappeared down one of his orifices. However, the 
  character will be under the hood’s control perma-
  nently. The only visible sign of his possession will be 
  a greyish film covering his eyes. 
   
  Grey Hoods can only be removed by metal, 
  as bare flesh passes through them. However, it is 
  extremely dangerous to attempt to remove them 
  from a victim’s head with a weapon, as the blow is 
  just as likely to hit the victim’s head as it is to slice 
  through the Grey Hood. To avoid this, the attacking 
  character must roll under his Reflexes on a d20. If he 
  fails, assume the victim has taken twice the weapon’s 
  normal damage rating as the blow will have struck 
  him on the head. The best way to get rid of a Grey 
  Hood is to rip it off with a mailed glove: this deals 2 
  points of damage per round. 
   
  The Grey Hood, once it has possessed a body, 
  will do all in its power to slay the rest of the party 
  and then return to the surface to lure as many peo-
  ple as possible into its grey web.
   
  A Grey Hood will attack every person who passes 
  through the archway who has not been immersed 
  in the black water of the pool; this water acts as a 
  strong repellent. A man-sized hole will appear in 
  the web when anyone covered in the water attempts 
  to pass through it. 
  The only exit is through the archway or back up the 
  teleport beam on the podium. The latter will return 
  the character to the black statue in the courtyard 
  above.
  Section 2
  There is a walkway on the other side of the arch. it is 
  raised some 6 metres above a layer of swirling mist that 
  covers the entire floor of a large hallway. This stretches 
  away into the distance. at the end you can see a dull 
  bronze-and-gold gleam and the frame of a massive 
  throne. Two walkways lead down into the mist on 
  either side of the hall, and passages lead off to the east 
  and west. 
   
  Just before the stairs leading down into the mist, there 
  is a bracket on the west wall holding curious, hooked cro-
  siers, with a strange pungent web of resin hanging from 
  a string at the end of their curved portion. Just before 
  the eastern stairs, again attached to the wall, is a long 
  
  79
  Prince of Darkness
  row of chains. on closer inspection, you see scratch marks 
  on the wall and traces of blood on the floor.
  GM: The hall is one vast sacrificial pit set in front 
  of Balor’s throne at the other end of the room: for 
  a description of it see 4 and 6. The brackets on the 
  west wall contain lamps that allow the priests to see 
  in the occult darkness below. Once a flame is applied 
  to the resinous material, it flares up into a blue light, 
  illuminating the way through the mist; all other 
  non-magical light sources will gutter (see below). 
  The chains on the right-hand wall are where slaves 
  were kept before the sacrifices and the scratch marks 
  are evidence of their desperate attempts to escape.
  	
  Anyone attempting to go back through the grey 
  portal will find that they can do so unmolested if 
  they have either already waded through the pool of 
  black liquid in room 1, or used the black liquid in 
  the pool in room 3 to sprinkle over themselves.
  Section 3
  This is quite a large tiled room, with what appears to 
  be a pool of the same black liquid that you saw in an 
  earlier room. There is a bench along the west wall, and 
  lying in heaps around it you see grey-black cloaks woven 
  with the symbol of the eclipsed moon, the now-familiar 
  emblem of darkness. hanging on pegs on the wall are 
  dark iron circlets that would fit around a man’s head. 
  They, too, have the darkness symbol engraved on them. 
  The room is otherwise totally bare.
  GM: A bronze key will fall out of one of the cloak 
  pockets if the party search through them; this opens 
  the way to room 5. The cloaks will protect their 
  wearers from the weapons of the demons in the pit, 
  while the circlets will allow the characters to see the 
  demons, as they are otherwise invisible (see Section 
  4, below).
   
  There are no other exits from this room and 
  characters must return to room 2.
  Section 4
  The left-hand stairway leads down into the swirling 
  mist at the foot of the west wall of the hall. The 
  mist is cold and clammy. All non-magical lighting 
  will immediately gutter and be extinguished under 
  this layer of mist. If the party have any of the lighted 
  crosiers (see 2) they will be able to see through the 
  mist to torchlight range. 
   
  Suddenly the sound of shrieking fills the air. 
  Characters who are wearing the circlets from Sec-
  tion 3 will be able to see the terrible, half-formed, 
  floating skulls of the demons that haunt the pit. 
  They rip at anyone in the pit with birdlike claws 
  that still have bits of gristle and bone stuck in them. 
  Those wearing one of the black robes found in Sec-
  tion 3 will be able to walk through this horrifying 
  spectacle unharmed. Anyone wearing the circlet 
  but not the cloak will have the dubious comfort of 
  knowing what is attacking him as the creatures lash 
  at him with their talons. 
   
  The hall is 60 metres long; it will take the aver-
  age human character 3 rounds to reach the end of 
  it at full speed. Those not wearing the protective 
  cloaks will take the following damage per round:
  Number of demons attacking: 2d6. 
  Each demon strikes for (d10, 3) each Round.
  Although the demons can attack, they are almost 
  entirely intangible and cannot be attacked back.
  Section 5
  The door to this room is locked and will require a 
  combined Strength of 50 to push down. The key to 
  the door can be found in one of the cloaks in Sec-
  tion 3 (see above). 
   
  The room is bare except for a long row of shackles 
  along the eastern wall. There are a number of skel-
  etons still hanging from these. If the party decide to 
  investigate the skeletons, they will find that a mes-
  sage has been etched into the wall next to one of 
  them:
   
  “Today the black-cloaked priests came to take 
  away my brothers. They had donned iron circlets and 
  carried the crooked staffs with blue lights. They took 
  my brothers to the pit and we heard their screams. 
  The priests returned alone and unharmed.”
   
  There is little else of interest in the room, and 
  the only exit is back on to the walkway outside.
  Section 6
  The right-hand stairs lead down into the swirling 
  mists by the right-hand walls of the hall. All non-
  magical lights will immediately be extinguished 
  once the party members have become immersed in 
  the mist. Just at the foot of the stairs they will stum-
  ble upon enormous mounds of human bones that 
  crunch underfoot. 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
   
  At this moment, the demons of the pit will 
  mount an attack. (For the effects, see above in Sec-
  tion 4). All magical artefacts and the like provide 
  protection as described there. Movement is halved 
  if anyone tries to race through the demons to the far 
  end of the hall, as the bones of previous sacrifices are 
  piled up to a level of about 1 metre on the floor and 
  progress is thus severely impeded.
  Section 7
  a broad set of steps leads upwards out of the mist-filled 
  pit. at the top of the stairs there is a massive, ornately 
  wrought throne of bronze and gold, with swirling 
  demonic figures arranged in a circle around the titanic 
  bronze headpiece. The back of the throne rises some 5 
  metres up into the air, practically touching the dim 
  shadows at the top of the hall. under the throne’s gigan-
  tic legs there is enough clearance for an average-sized 
  human to walk upright.
  GM: If the characters inspect the area under the 
  throne closely, they will find a small wooden door-
  way that is slightly ajar, as if someone had passed 
  this way a short time before. (This was Fengil.) The 
  doorway is the only exit from room 7 apart from 
  returning through the sacrificial pit back to room 2.
  Section 8
  This is a short section of corridor. Just by the door through 
  which you have entered, you discover one of the oddly 
  shaped crosiers that you have seen before, still smoulder-
  ing with a strange blue light at its tip, and a dark cloak 
  and iron circlet seemingly dumped hastily. ahead of you 
  in the corridor is a barrier of shifting blackness.
  GM: Any Elementalist will recognize this to be a 
  curtain of night spell. 
   
  Fengil has cast the curtain of night across the 
  corridor just where there are two doors in the east 
  and west walls, thereby obscuring them. If anyone 
  manages to pass through the barrier, they will find 
  that the only obvious route is straight forward to 
  Section 16. However, a close inspection of the floor 
  along this stretch of corridor will reveal that no 
  one has disturbed the dust for quite a considerable 
  time. 
  
  8
  Prince of Darkness
   
  A large wax seal has been placed across the bronze 
  double doors at the end of the corridor and this has 
  not been broken. The door is not locked, however, 
  although the wax seal will emit a low and dismal 
  moan if it is broken. Fengil himself has slipped 
  down one of the side corridors, and the party will 
  see no more of him until they catch him up in Sec-
  tion 20.
  Exits: The concealed exits to Sections 9 and 14 
  behind the curtain of night, and the double bronze 
  doorway at the end of the corridor, which leads to 
  16.
  Section 9
  a wooden doorway gives on to a room full of strange 
  bric-a-brac: old wooden wheels and platforms that 
  might once have served as carts in a religious ceremony, 
  faded garlands of black ivy, and the leering death masks 
  of the deceased priests of the temple.
  GM: One of these masks, when donned, will grant 
  its wearer the gift of perfect ventriloquism, although 
  the character will have to talk through the mask first 
  to discover this. It will mimic the last person to have 
  spoken to the wearer. After this, the wearer will be 
  able to choose whom he would like to mimic and 
  will be able to imitate their voice perfectly, provided 
  that he has heard them speak at least once. 
   
  There are no apparent exits from this room, but if 
  the party explore a low crawl-way that runs between 
  some stacked junk they will come across a small 
  clear space where there is a door in the west wall. As 
  they enter the area, a Giant Spider will drop down 
  on the last member of the party and attack.
  Giant Spider
  attack 15, bite (d6, 3)  
   
  Armour Factor 1
  defence 2  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 4
  magical defence 4 
   
   
  Reflexes 10
  Health Points 10  
   
   
  Rank-equivalent 2nd
  There is only room for one member of the party to 
  wield his weapon in this confined space, so either 
  the victim or the next person behind him will have 
  to fight the spider.
   
  There are two curiously shaped weapons lying 
  against the wall near the door. They are the length 
  of halberds, with a black, star-shaped protuberance 
  at the end. 
  Section 10 
  The Hall of the Passing Shadows
  The hall is 60 metres long and 0 metres across. five 
  pairs of torches burn with an eerie light on brackets in 
  equal stages up both walls. a red line connects one torch 
  with another across the room. There is a red line across 
  the room right in front of where you emerge.
  GM: Each time a character crosses one of the red 
  lines, a shadowy bat-like creature will wing its way 
  down the hall towards him from the darkness at 
  the far end of the hall. The bat-like creatures emit 
  a faint piercing scream and aim themselves right at 
  the first character to have stepped over the line. 
   
  Match the character’s evasion against the crea-
  ture’s speed of 12. If the character fails to dodge, 
  the creature strikes him, imploding for 2d8 dam-
  age (armour protects by absorbing its AF). If the 
  character’s Reflexes are higher than the creature’s 
  (14) then he will have one chance to strike back at 
  it before it closes with him. He may only do so with 
  a long weapon, like those black halberds the party 
  came across in Section 9. 
   
  One successful strike will destroy the creature, 
  which only has the equivalent of 1 Health Point. At 
  each successive red line, the creature’s whining will 
  intensify. It will approach the first character step-
  ping through the red line at 1 extra speed and will 
  do an additional d8 worth of damage if it implodes 
  on him. 
   
  Standing just beyond the fifth line is a set of black 
  armour. This will fit the first person to cross the fifth 
  line and survive. It is a +3 set of plate armour. It also 
  has the ability to absorb all spells up to 3rd level that 
  are cast at its wearer. Despite the fact that it is plate, 
  its weight is almost negligible and it has the encum-
  brance value of a set of hardened leather armour.
   
  There are two exits from this room. On the right 
  there is a doorway leading through to the passage-
  way at 12. Right behind the set of armour, there is a 
  room with a black door and a star painted on it. The 
  door is unlocked and leads through to Section 11.
  Section 11 
  The Room of the Black-Pointed Star
  The black door silently gives way into a room illumi-
  nated by one eerie green lamp. it burns beneath the relief 
  of a face that stares back at you with baleful red eyes. 
  Two vast horns protrude from its forehead into the room 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  and the face’s features seem to rearrange into a sneer as 
  it looks at you. 
  GM: The door now slams closed at a speed of 14 
  and the mouth opens, spewing out a black cloud 
  of gas. Gradually the cloud takes shape and a fig-
  ure stands in front of the party clad in the bronze 
  armour of a bygone age, his eyes wide and staring 
  with a desperate madness. 
   
  If the party have already encountered the ghost 
  of Drajan the centurion, they will recognize this 
  apparition to be him. He is now a creature of super-
  human strength. He carries a black-bladed, two-
  handed sword and will slay everyone in the room if 
  he can. The door back into room 10 will only open 
  if Drajan is defeated.
  Drajan, undead centurion 
  Rank-equivalent: 13th
  attack 27, sword (d10 +2, 7) Armour Factor 4
  defence 20  
   
   
   
   
  evasion 6
  magical defence 14   
   
  stealth 16
  Health Points 30  
   
   
  perception 17
  If Drajan is defeated, his soul will be released to 
  travel to another plane of existence, his body slowly 
  crumbling to dust, leaving the Black Sword on the 
  ground.
   
  The Black Sword is a sentient sword that will 
  attempt to take over the body of anyone who picks 
  it up. To do this it uses its magical attack of 14, 
  much like the soul stored in an Amulet of Soul 
  Storing. If characters succumb to the sword’s spell, 
  they will suddenly evaporate into a cloud of dense 
  black smoke and be sucked into the mouth, emerg-
  ing 1d10 Rounds later as a mummy.
   
  The door back into 10 will open automatically 
  once Drajan has been defeated, or all the members 
  of the party in the room have been overcome.
  Section 12
  This is a section of corridor lined with ancient 
  bricks. At its western extremity it ends in a blank 
  brick wall, although a careful search will reveal the 
  hairline cracks of a secret door, which leads back to 
  Section 10. At its eastern end it leads to the hallway 
  of the bronze chest at 13.
  
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  Prince of Darkness
  Section 13 
  The Hall of the Bronze Chest
  entrances lead in to this square, granite-faced room 
  from the east, the west and the south. Double bronze 
  doors with a black seal placed cross them bar the way 
  to the south (unless the party have entered the room 
  from that direction). at the centre of the room is a huge 
  bronze chest whose embossed sides illustrate scenes from 
  repellent demoniacal rites. 
   
  in the eastern and western sides of the chest are two 
  wide bronze doors. each of them bears the image of 
  half of a fierce monster with turkey-like wattles of flesh 
  about his neck and an elaborate horned breathing appa-
  ratus that connects his nostrils with his mouth. Wide-set 
  eyes, a row of spiky mounds on top of his head, a long, 
  lizard-like tail and an armoured, scaly body complete 
  the horrible picture. There is an inscription across the 
  top of both the doors, which reads: “Both together or not 
  at all.” 
  GM: Both doors swing to the south if pushed. 
  When both doors are opened together they swing 
  back and join as a set of double doors blocking the 
  way to an underground pit where Krang the flesh-
  eater dwells, waiting for humans to pass. The bronze 
  doors will lock tight, joining together the two sides 
  of the picture of Krang. 
   
  There is a steep staircase leading north, down 
  into the depths of the dungeon, inside the huge 
  bronze chest. If the party fail to open both doors, 
  thus closing off the steps down to Krang’s lair, the 
  creature will come shuffling up the stairs after ten 
  Rounds. If the party have since moved on, it will 
  follow them.
  Krang, the flesh eater
  Rank-equivalent: 8
  attack 30, pincers (d8 +2, 7),  
  Armour Factor 6
  acid spittle (at short range). This 
  will eat away 1 point of armour 
  or 2 Health Points if it strikes.  
  Reflexes 12
  defence 16  
   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 5
  magical defence 22  
   
   
  stealth 3
  Health Points 46   
   
   
   
  perception 29
  Krang was a creature fettered here by Balor, Prince 
  of Darkness, countless centuries ago and here he 
  has remained since the city of Nem was covered by 
  ice. His lair is a frozen grotto a long way beneath 
  the ice pack that holds the city in perpetual thrall. 
  Once he has scented human flesh and established 
  who is the owner of the scent, he will not relent in 
  his pursuit of that person unless a Sorcerer places 
  a Dispel Magic upon them. Krang can eat his way 
  through the thickest of walls and any metal to get 
  at his victim.
  Section 14
  The right-hand turn through the Wall of Darkness 
  leads to a square room with oak-panelled walls. 
  A desk stands in the north side with a number of 
  scrolls laid out on it. The first scroll stretched out is 
  a rune of stasis, with a magical attack of 23. The 
  other scrolls are of sword of Damocles and nova. The 
  room is otherwise empty. There is a door in the east 
  wall leading to Section 15.
  Section 15
  The stairs lead down to a cold passageway, where the 
  floor is totally covered with ice. it seems that the frozen 
  lake-water from outside has broken in here. half-way 
  down the passageway, the bricks appear to be bend-
  ing inwards under a tremendous outer pressure. four 
  alcoves, two on either side, lead off the corridor, one 
  before the bulge and one after.
  GM: This was a laboratory of the Sorcerer whose 
  study the party may have passed through at Section 
  14. The first set of alcoves contain highly volatile 
  acids that will begin to burn with a blue light if a 
  naked flame, such as torchlight, is brought near them. 
  The acid vats will burst into flame, causing anyone 
  within a 3-metre radius of either of the alcoves to 
  take 1d8 damage, although armour protects against 
  this. If the light source is anything other than naked 
  flame, then the party will be able to safely extract the 
  contents of the vats. These will be useful in making 
  10 firebombs if they are placed in the correct glass 
  containers. They will act like grenades when thrown 
  over short distances, dealing d8, 6 damage. 
   
  If there is an explosion from the volatile liquid, 
  then the ice in the passageway will begin to give way 
  and freezing water will rush into the corridor, flood-
  ing it and rising at a rate of 0.5 metres per round. 
  In four rounds it will reach the level of the ceiling, 
  and will continue to rise until it is lapping at the 
  entrance to room 14. 
   
  The second set of rooms contains a number of 
  potions mixed in with flasks of uninteresting or 
  poisonous liquids, all stacked on shelves around 
  the room. Assume a 50% chance of an interesting 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  potion: roll three times on the Potion Table on page 
  139 of the rulebook.
  Section 16
  The double doors open on to a circular room swimming 
  in a mauve aura, although there is no identifiable light 
  source. There is a pit in the centre of the room full of 
  a frothing, roiling liquid. ramp ways lead up to the 
  northwest and northeast, and there is another set of 
  double bronze doors directly to the north.
  GM: After six rounds in this room, the roiling 
  motion in the liquid in the centre of the room will 
  increase and a giant octopoid creature with quiver-
  ing greenish-mauve skin will rise out of its depths, 
  unravelling its eight long translucent tentacles. The 
  arms will try and draw anyone they catch into the 
  liquid, which is a strong acid. This will deal 1d10 
  damage per round. Armour counts as a defence 
  against this at first, but after one round it is com-
  pletely eaten away and the character takes a full 
  1d10 damage per round.
  Ganglion
  attack 16 per individual arm  
  AF 1
  defence 0 (Characters who dare  Movement: 0
  to stand at the edge of the pit 
  may strike it at will)
  magical defence 12  
   
   
  evasion 0
  Health Points of body: 40
  Health Points of arms/tentacles:
  No 1  No 2  No 3  No 4  No 5  No 6  No 7  No 8
  5 
   
  5 
   
  5 
   
  5 
   
  5 
   
  5 
   
  5 
   
  5
  Characters may strike at the tentacles or (if they are 
  on the very edge of the pit) at the body. All wounds 
  are deducted from the creature’s overall Health 
  Points total of 80 and, when these points have been 
  exceeded, it dies. However, if enough points are 
  taken from the body (i.e. 40 Health Points) it will 
  die regardless of other wounds. Additionally, 5 or 
  more Health Points inflicted on a given tentacle will 
  sever it. 
   
  A character seized by a tentacle must roll under 
  his Strength on 2d6 to break free before he is pulled 
  into the pit. Each further tentacle adds another 1d6, 
  so a character gripped by three tentacles would have 
  to roll under his Strength on 4d6.
  There are three possible exits from here: the party 
  can go up either of the ramps to 17 or 18, or back 
  through the door to 8.
  Sections 17 and 18
  There are two tunnels on either side of the room; 
  two long ramps gradually ascend from them, curv-
  ing to the north.
   
  After three rounds of ascent, the adventurers all 
  feel a tremor travel down the corridor, followed by 
  a blast of stale, fetid air. Not only does this air act 
  as a medium poison to anyone breathing it in (to 
  determine this, roll under Reflexes on a 2d10) but 
  also anyone inhaling it will be subjected to an attack 
  on his sanity (see the rulebook, page 124). The party 
  will be able to hear a gigantic sigh at the end of the 
  ramp of the corridor. The sigh has made the whole 
  tunnel shudder. Another breath will come down 
  the corridor after another six rounds; roll again as 
  above. 
   
  After this, the party will reach a large, sealed 
  lead door. various wax seals and symbols of warding 
  have been plastered over the door. Every time there 
  is another breath from beyond the door, they bend 
  slightly inwards and bits of masonry detach them-
  selves from the ceiling and fall amongst the party. 
   
  At every breath the black doors seem to take on 
  the features of a gigantic horned face leering out 
  into the corridor. It is as if darkness were shining 
  through like an intense negative radiation. Anyone 
  looking directly at the face will be subject to a fright 
  attack of 1d20.
  Section 19 
  Balor’s Head
  GM: Anyone forcing the doors to the next chamber, 
  despite the warnings, will almost certainly have con-
  demned himself and all his party to death. First of 
  all, they will momentarily see the face of Balor, taller 
  than a house with his chin resting on the black mar-
  bled floor in front of them. His black horns reach 
  up and almost touch the ceiling, and black globes of 
  radiance float about the room in the air. Balor’s eyes 
  burn with coal-red fire. Anyone involuntarily star-
  ing into them (for not even a worshipper of Dark-
  ness would dare to look their Prince straight in the 
  eye) will be subject to the equivalent of a magical 
  attack with a strength of 30. 
   
  To determine who is looking directly at Balor, 
  roll for all the members of the party who have 
  entered the room: anyone who fails to roll under 
  their Reflexes on 1d20 will have looked straight at 
  Balor. If they fail to resist the attack, their body will 
  
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  Prince of Darkness
  automatically disintegrate in a rush of black flames 
  that spontaneously consume them. Anyone who 
  has managed to avert his gaze may still be dragged 
  towards Balor’s jagged maw by his next intake of 
  breath. They will have to match their Strength 
  against the Strength of Balor’s breath; if the number 
  obtained from deducting the latter, which is 12, 
  from the former is negative, the character has been 
  sucked into the maw of the demon and his fate is 
  sealed. Anyone with a positive result will have to roll 
  under that figure on a 1d20 or be sucked in. 
   
  Those outside the room will have a chance of 
  grabbing hold of one of the walls or the doors as 
  they are sucked in (roll under Reflexes on 1d20). If 
  they do so, add 5 to their effective Strength factor 
  above. If the doors are pulled to again then the party 
  will only have to deal with the blasts of fetid breath 
  that still seep under the door of the room. 
   
  No stats are given for Balor, as no weapons or 
  spells known to man can defeat or injure him in any 
  way. However, the description in Section 21 explains 
  how the party may stop him from rising from the 
  frozen city of Nem to terrorize the land of the living 
  once more.
  Section 20
  The steps lead down to a pair of ancient wooden 
  doors; these appear to have been blasted inwards 
  by some powerful spell and now hang loosely from 
  their hinges. Beyond is a dark hallway with schist 
  statues of the four elemental forces carved in human 
  form at each corner of the room. All these statues 
  have been defaced, their heads knocked from their 
  torsos and their arms lopped off. At the far end of 
  the room stands a pair of double, lead-lined doors. A 
  golden chain was once stretched across these, seal-
  ing them, but this too has been broken and one of 
  the doors stands slightly ajar. A black roiling smoke, 
  smelling faintly of incense, seeps through the gap. 
   
  As the party watch, a figure slips out of the door 
  and walks towards them, his hand outstretched in a 
  peaceful gesture. It is Durindar, the King of Glis-
  som! He walks stiffly towards the party, his hand 
  still upraised. In the gloom, they will only notice 
  his empty eye sockets and his mechanical, stiff gait 
  when he is within 10 metres of them. 
   
  This is the reanimated husk of the dead king: his 
  body has only 2 Health Points. If anyone has fired 
  
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  Dragon Warriors
  a missile weapon and hit him before he approaches 
  too close to the party, assume that he has been slain. 
  Once the reanimated corpse comes within range he 
  will open his mouth as if to speak but, instead, a 
  tongue of black churning flame will shoot out of it. 
   
  Treat this like a Dragonbreath spell, except that 
  it creates a swathe of black flame 5 metres wide in 
  front of the caster and has a range of 15 metres. 
  The spell’s speed is 12. It deals (d8 +2, 10) dam-
  age. The black flame sears the victim, seeming to 
  glide through armour with little difficulty. The husk 
  of the king will spontaneously crumble to ashes. 
  Immediately after this, the party will come under 
  fire from heavy crossbows from the doors through 
  to the next room (see below).
  Section 21
  Four Zombies created by Fengil bar the door as 
  their master attempts to complete the ceremonies 
  to bring Balor back to life. The party will have to 
  fight their way past these before they can get any 
  further into the room.
  Zombies
  attack 12, crossbows  
   
  AF 0
  (d10, 4), swords (d8 +1, 5)  
  Reflexes: 7
  defence 5   
   
   
   
   
  evasion 2
  magical defence 2 
   
   
  Rank-equivalent: 1st
  Health Points  
   
  No 1: 21 
   
   
   
   
  No 2: 21
   
  No 3: 21 
   
   
   
   
  No 4: 28
  The entire room within is a vast chamber of ice 
  carved out of the depths of the frozen lake. At the 
  centre of the room is the vast trunk of a gigantic 
  being covered with coarse, goat-like hair. It is 
  trapped from its waist down in the icy floor, and its 
  neck has been thrust through a high ceiling sup-
  ported by black pillars that rise up to a height of 
  20 metres above the floor. The body reeks with a 
  sulphurous smoke. 
   
  Set around the vast trunk are five fires, roiling 
  with the same black smoke as the party have seen 
  from the other room. Surrounding these five fires 
  are mysterious pentacles carved into the icy floor.
    The party will see Fengil moving amongst the 
  fires as they enter. In his hand he carries an ember 
  burning with an occult flame, the Hearth Fire that 
  has been stolen from the King’s Tower in Glissom. 
  He will stop moving among the flames when he sees 
  the party and will attack them. If it looks as if he 
  will be defeated, however, he will use his shadowself 
  enchantment to try to escape. If he does manage 
  to escape, be sure that the party will encounter him 
  again in future adventures. For Fengil’s stats, see 
  page 73.
   
  After they have defeated Fengil, the party can 
  set about destroying the fires surrounding the body 
  of Balor. The body now throbs with a hidden life 
  although it is still locked securely in the ice pack. If, 
  however, the party neglect to remove the pentacles 
  surrounding the fires, they will continue to burn 
  until the ice pack is completely melted, and Balor 
  will rise out of the icy pit below the lake where he 
  has been imprisoned for aeons and will march across 
  the lands of the living causing untold destruction. 
   
  However, if the pentacles are destroyed, then the 
  body will grow cold again and the ice pack will once 
  more shrink in size, enclosing the body. Likewise, 
  Balor’s head that rests in the room above this cham-
  ber (section 19) will grow quiet and his breathing 
  will stop again.
  After the Adventure
  The party may return to Glissom as heroes. If they 
  have not already overthrown Kilnded, the amount 
  of supportive evidence that they now have will be 
  enough to condemn him to the executioner’s stake 
  without the party having to fight him. If Prince 
  Doron is still alive, he will resume the throne of the 
  country and will reward the characters bountifully 
  from his treasuries. If he has perished, the kingdom 
  may be offered to the member of the party who has 
  been most influential to the success of the mission. 
   
  It may be best to assume that the adventurers 
  have no encounters on their way back to Glissom. 
  However, for an extended adventure, roll on the var-
  ious Random Encounter Tables for all areas through 
  which they must travel on their journey back.
  
  87
  Prince of Darkness
  Embroidered cloth  (page 53)
  Tablet on pillar (page 47)
  
  88
  Dragon Warriors
  Players’ map of the labyrinth (page 74)
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  Glisson is the northernmost of the countries 
  of Ellesland. Trapped between its sinister 
  neighbours to the south in Ereworn and the 
  ice-pack beyond the Mountains of Brack to the 
  north, it is an unquiet place where the old ways 
  are crashing head-on into the new.  
  Outside the walls of Glissom City, the old ways 
  hold. Reivers raid rural settlements, killing and 
  pillaging, making honest trade impossible.
  Beyond their forts lie forests populated by elves, 
  ruins left by the Selentine Empire a thousand 
  years ago, and the mountains with their strange 
  inhabitants. And in the north people still talk 
  of the ancient Fomorians and their glass towers, 
  and abandoned cities under the ice. 
  It is a wild land, in need of strong leadership. 
  But King Durindar has been seen only twice in 
  two years. With the heir to the throne a reckless 
  adventurer, many are saying that it is time for a 
  change in Glissom. And a change is coming.
  Prince of Darkness combines source-material 
  on the frozen northern kingdom of Glissom with 
  a thrilling campaign in seven parts. 
  Caught up in a scheme to steal the throne of 
  Glissom, the adventurers must journey from the 
  city northwards into the Mountains of Brack, to 
  prevent a ritual that will awaken an ancient evil 
  of hideous, world-changing power.
  Along the way they will befriend the true heir to 
  the kingdom, and encounter Reivers, vampires, 
  giants, forgotten gods, and bizarre monsters of 
  many forms. Finally they must locate the Lost City 
  of Nem, where the Darkness Elementalists conduct 
  their most secret rites, and descend into its frozen 
  depths to confront what lies below the ice.
  Prince of Darkness is designed for a party of 
  Dragon Warriors characters of ranks 5-7. 
  With great new artwork from Jon Hodgson and 
  Scott Neil, and maps and hand-outs by Andy Law.
  prince of darkness is a supplement for the dragon warriors 
  role-playing game,  designed in the uk and jointly published by 
  magnum opus press and flaming cobra
  isbn 978--90640-0-5
  all rights reserved. for news and information on other dragon 
  warriors books, please go to www.magnumopuspress.com
  Under the ice, ancient things are waking
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dragon Warriors (osr)/2nd Edition/Dragon Warriors 2e - Sourcebook - Prince of Darkness (oef).pdf