TEXT: ®
  
  INTRODUCTION
  2
  MAAS AUCTION HOUSE
  LOT 141 — COIN, POSSIBLY LATE 
  DYNASTY EGYPTIAN
  Approximately the size and thickness of a nickel, this 
  double-sided coin shows a domed palace or possibly 
  tomb on one side and the head of a king or other 
  ruler on the opposite side. The profile of the man is 
  powerful and a “psychic” in Dover reported that one 
  visible eye “looked into her soul.” The markings are 
  so faded as to be unreadable.
  … that these priceless relics have been conscripted to 
  the back page of this catalogue, and misclassified, is 
  an affront to both my work and fortune. While my 
  academic nature recoils at the lack of effort put into 
  closely examining these objects, my pocketbook would 
  wail at the prices such artifacts would fetch if the Maas 
  Auction House knew their true origins. I have cracked 
  what savings a man of my means can muster and plan 
  to bid on as many of these portals through time as I 
  may. The Hyborian Age lives, curiously, in the dusty
   
  backrooms of collectors who do not know it for what it is.
  The following miscellany of items are to be cried at 
  the end of the auction proper. They are trinkets and 
  gewgaws that, while of possible worth, Maas Auction 
  cannot verify as belonging to any single culture. Our 
  usual guarantees do not apply. Consider these simply 
  objects of interest and not true history. Anomalies 
  in the panoply of our ongoing human tapestry, loose 
  threads at best.
  Poppycock! I have seen this coin in a photo previously. The
   
  head is that of Thugra-Khotan and the language that of ea
  rly 
  Stygian. This is a coin from the days of his rule of, or just 
  after, Kuthchemes. The psychic they dismiss so easily 
  may well be a psychometrist.
  
  3
  INTRODUCTION
  LOT 18 — BLURRY PHOTO OF “THE 
  FLYING DUTCHMAN”
  This simple photo was taken by a WWI German 
  sailor in 1915. The photo shows an exceedingly large 
  galleon wreathed in mist. It would have no value 
  whatsoever without the crew’s concomitant testimony 
  that the ship intervened on their behalf against a 
  British destroyer. The British destroyer disappeared. A 
  small group of marines sent to explore the mysterious 
  vessel came back with strange reports. In later years, 
  two committed suicide and one went mad.
  LOT 49 — CURIOUS SKULL
  Purported by some armchair academics to be proof 
  of the aquatic ape theory, this skull is alleged to be 
  the mix of a man and some sort of seaborne creature. 
  While strange ridges around the occipital bones are 
  present, we are confident this is no more than another 
  Piltdown Man fakery. It was found off the coast of 
  Massachusetts in 1919, adjacent to the cemetery of the 
  Marsh family who have inhabited the island since 
  Colonial times.
  LOT 33 — WOODEN DOLL OF 
  TEOTIHUACAN
  Jointed doll. Probably a child’s toy. Found in 
  Teotihuacan, allegedly, by a prominent archaeologist in 
  the last century. The doll displays neither the clothes 
  nor features of the native people and was cited in 
  Ignatius Donnelly’s The Antediluvian World as proof 
  of the lost continent of Atlantis. The archaeologist 
  who allegedly found the object was in some financial 
  distress for his expeditions, and this “find” brought 
  new money pouring in.
  LOT 88 — ROMAN BUST
  An unusual Roman bust found while excavating 
  catacombs in Paris, this item likely dates from the 
  time France was known as Gaul. Our experts reason 
  this because the head bears not the features typical of 
  a Roman but more those of a barbarian. Why would 
  such a fine sculpture be made of their enemies? He 
  wears no Roman garb, but something which looks like 
  a crown. Clearly, the Celts must have venerated him 
  as a leader, but they did not have the means to make 
  such a fine piece. A curiosity at best. 
  Fools! This isn’t a galleon but a quadrireme, though of such size 
  as I have never seen. In the days of piracy on the then-called 
  Western Ocean, a Hulk of the Damned was repeatedly 
  recounted by merchants and freebooters alike. What if this vessel 
  has been the ongoing source of “ghost ships” for more than ten 
  millennia? What if it still roams the seas? What if one could 
  find it? My god…
  Even the casual member of the Wanderers Club would recog
  nize 
  the name Marsh and the hybrid monstrosities that stalk of the 
  human tree has produced. What is more, this skull was not 
  “found in their cemetery,” but many, many layers below. The 
  stratification and context of its placement suggest it is at least 
  8,000 years old if not more. How far back in time does the 
  Marsh family go?
  Wood? This is terracotta! What amateurs have infiltrated 
  the so-called “proper ranks” of academia. This is not a Mexican 
  artifact nor of any culture prior to it. It dates to Alkmeenon, 
  I am sure, and was used not as a child’s toy but as a fetish 
  to worship the Servants of Bit-Yakin. If true, the famed 
  jewels may yet exist as well. Imagine finding those! A bigger
   
  question. How did an artifact from a lost city in what I belie
  ve 
  was present-day Africa get to Mexico? Perhaps Donnelly’s
   
  hypothesis is not wrong. Perhaps in the Hyborian Age, or earlier, 
  people traded across the vast ocean we now call the Atlantic.
  Their lack of proper examination is my boon! This is none other than 
  the face of Conan himself. Tarantia would likely have occupied 
  what we now call France. They didn’t venture into a Roman 
  site but an Aquilonian one! A friend described the bust to me i
  n 
  some detail. I must make for Boston immediately, verify this 
  is Conan, then track down the excavators. What if Tarantia 
  herself still lies in pieces beneath the streets of Paris?
  
  W
  ithin these moldering pages you will find 
  many notable, infamous, and obscure places 
  of the Hyborian world, ranging from those 
  celebrated in legend, feared in bedtime tales, forgotten 
  in human memory, and even places that humankind has 
  never encountered and remains safely ignorant of. With 
  this catalogue, the gamemaster may create adventures out 
  of these places, use them as backdrops for exploits of their 
  own crafting, and even create new locales to challenge and 
  torment the player characters. 
  Chapter 1: Ancient Ruins 
  Here are descriptions of antique and ancient places that 
  were once vaunted in their prime, now fallen into disre-
  pair and ruin. Among the more notable are: Alkmeenon, 
  home to the Jewels of Gwahlur, guarded as they are by the 
  Servants of Bit-Yakin; the ice-shrouded City of the Old 
  Ones; Kumari of old Lemuria; Xoc-Sastun of old Kosala; 
  Kuthchemes in the desolate wasteland of Shem and its 
  grim master, Thugra Khotan; Kamula, the demon-haunted 
  pleasure city of ancient Valusia, in whose halls King Kull 
  strode; the maddening city-tomb of dread R’lyeh; and other 
  locales of antediluvian intrigue. Story seeds are presented 
  for many of these locales to aid the gamemaster in their use. 
  Chapter 2: Cursed Cities 
  These unhallowed places differ from ancient ruins in that 
  they are still inhabited, though few by humans. Each is 
  distinguished by the dread it causes in those who know of 
  it. Few would willingly choose to go into one of these places, 
  and woe to any innocent souls that must venture there. 
  Described here are places such as the ruined Zamorian City 
  of the Ancients and its Hall of the Dead; the labyrinthine 
  Aquilonian undercity; the serpent-men haunted Sanu; 
  the alien-infested Nameless City; and dream-haunted 
  Sarnath. They are provided with story seeds and adventure 
  suggestions aplenty. 
  Chapter 3: Mysterious Places 
  These places are neither ruins nor cities, but fall somewhere 
  between the two, an assembly of unique locations that are 
  nonetheless as dangerous and intriguing as their peers. 
  Among this roster are the ancient ruins of the Black Coast 
  where Bêlit met her fate; the Zingaran city of ghouls; the 
  Arctic enclave of the snow-apes; the rotting ship-hulk of the 
  damned; the sultry ruins on Marsh Island; and the terrible, 
  desolate Plateau of Leng. As with other such entries, story 
  seeds are provided to assist the gamemaster introduce these 
  as places of high adventure. 
  ANCIENT RUINS & CURSED CITIES
  INTRODUCTION
  “You  are  young,”  said  the  palaces  and  the  temples  and  the  
  shrines,  “but  we  are  old.  The  world  was  wild  with  youth  when  
  we  were  reared.  You  and  your  tribe  shall  pass,  but  we  are  
  invincible,  indestructible.  We  towered  above  a  strange  world,  
  ere  Atlantis  and  Lemuria  rose  from  the  sea;  we  still  shall  reign  
  when  the  green  waters  sigh  for  many  a  restless  fathom  above  
  the  spires  of  Lemuria  and  the  hills  of  Atlantis  and  when  the  
  isles  of  the  Western  Men  are  the  mountains  of  a  strange  land.”
  — “The  Shadow  Kingdom”
  
  5
  INTRODUCTION
  Chapter 4: Making Ruins 
  Should the gamemaster wish to create a new place of iniquity 
  and ruin, the system presented in this chapter is designed 
  to facilitate just that. The ruins generator provided within 
  guides the gamemaster through the process of creating 
  dynamic and interesting ruins, as well as determining their 
  nature, their age, possible inhabitants, and even suggesting 
  story possibilities. 
  Chapter 5: Life in the Ruins 
  This chapter is directed exclusively at the gamemaster, 
  providing ample advice on various aspects of exploring 
  hazardous environments and their representation in game 
  mechanics, advice on Doom spends while in these places, 
  creative use of environments and their contents, and the 
  diabolical use of traps. 
  Chapter 6: Lost Treasures 
  At the heart of many fabulous places are great treasures, 
  items of incredible value — or even priceless — and no 
  few with sorcerous potency. The items presented here 
  are such rare and incredible artifacts, ranging from the 
  Stygian Book of the Dead, the Dagger of Derketa, the Eye 
  of the Serpent, the Staff of Epemitreus, and the delightful 
  Songbirds of Khitai. 
  Also within this chapter is a treasure hoard generator, 
  a means by which the gamemaster might determine the 
  contents of a great and valuable reward for daring player 
  characters. No mere piles of shaped metals and minerals, 
  these hoards have Qualities of their own, and are presented 
  for the gamemaster’s use, to characterize such potent accu-
  mulations of wealth. 
  I 
  have seen such history in my travels, enough to fill a dozen lifetimes. Yet these artifacts uncovered, every lost temple or 
  mysterious monument, or clay jar with bas-reliefs of serpent gods upon them — all were accidents. Things left over in their 
  place as the world moved past them. Even in the house of Kallian Publico, who collects the curios of the world, things are 
  prized solely for their value in coin.
  Never before this day had I seen a collection that existed for its own sake. In Shem, the daughter of a great king maintains a 
  collection of historic scraps, pieces of pre-Cataclysmic worlds as well as the beginnings of our own. Each item, be it broken 
  pottery or a bronze idol, is set behind a clay cylinder in which is written the provenance of the object and its suspected use.
  The unique series of rooms in which she keeps these objects are, much to the disapproval of her father, open twice weekly to 
  the public. She believes she keeps history alive and I, for my part, can sympathize. Yet mine are words and her preservations 
  are actual objects.
  I spent this night wondering if either matter. If, in one thousand years or ten thousand, any of this will remain or even interest 
  what comes after us. I imagined the princess’ little collection catching on, becoming a genuine point of public and academic 
  interest. I fancied entire buildings of stone dedicated to housing history for its own sake. That night I slept better than I 
  have in years.
  In the morning, though, the ruins of a forgotten Shemitish temple poked from the sand, ignored by the tribe I travel with. 
  They care about now and survival and water. Why would any man with such concerns give thought to objects which can 
  be traded for neither water or food? Are my letters and journals a waste, a self-indulgence? How can I believe futures I 
  cannot even imagine, and the people in them, should care about anything which transpired so long ago, so far removed 
  from their own experience? The sun rises over the ruins today. In ten thousand mornings hence, they will be rounded bits 
  of rubble and, further on, no more. I am a sentimentalist. The world is rough and sharp and not made for such softness as 
  I require. When the sun sets tonight, I will see in it the not-far-off closing of my own day. 
   
  Astreas of Nemedia
  
  T
  he following ruins are all defined by their quality 
  of decline and their vast age, predating even the 
  beginning of the Hyborian Age in some cases. Most 
  also have suffered abandonment by their original inhabi-
  tants, though in some cases they are inhabited by stunted, 
  diminished remnants of their builders, or they are claimed 
  by creatures unaffiliated with the city’s original popula-
  tions (or they are former servants, turned against their 
  former masters).
  ALKMEENON
  Located in a unique bowl-shaped valley at the southern 
  border of Keshan, the city of Alkmeenon is a curiosity in that 
  it is neither lost nor especially ruined — a still-intact city 
  abandoned for mysterious reasons and yet standing whole 
  and inviolate, respectfully left alone by the folk of the sur-
  rounding kingdom. Proud Alkmeenon was once the capital 
  city of Keshan, the nobles a white-skinned race of unknown 
  origin. Legends surround their downfall and flight from the 
  city. Their descendants intermingled with the folk of Keshan, 
  a lineage still bespeaking royalty amongst the Keshani.
  The city stands in stark contrast to Keshia, the capital 
  of Keshan, which is little more than a rough palace made 
  of bamboo, stones, and mud bricks retained within a mud 
  wall, surrounded by an overgrown village of thatch-roofed 
  huts. Despite its finery, Alkmeenon is for the most part 
  abandoned, save for the rare pilgrimage by the priests 
  of Keshan to speak with their oracle, Princess Yelaya, 
  the last ruler of Alkmeenon. She died over a thousand 
  years ago and remains freakishly preserved, continuing 
  to dispense wisdom, lore, and prophecy to the sincere 
  and faithful. Woe to the one who consults her falsely or 
  seeks enrichment such as the great treasure within the 
  city, the Teeth of Gwahlur (see sidebar on page 10).
  ANCIENT RUINS
  CHAPTER 1
  For this place could be no ordinary city. It must have formed the 
  primary nucleus and center of some archaic and unbelievable 
  chapter of earth’s history whose outward ramifications, recalled 
  only dimly in the most obscure and distorted myths, had vanished 
  utterly amidst the chaos of terrene convulsions long before 
  any human race we know had shambled out of apedom.
  — “At the Mountains of Madness”, H.P. Lovecraft
  While cities are the great heights of civilization, at least 
  the civilizations of mankind, other evidences of the rise of 
  primordial savagery to refinement are ever-present in the 
  history of the Earth. Lost citadels, redoubts of creatures that 
  may one day become men, and cursed lands where the taint of 
  the unnatural remains through the aeons — all these speak of 
  previous cultures. Cultures which rose and fell, whose people 
  knew joy and terror, hate and love, and who are no more now 
  than dust. Just as the Hyborian Age is nigh-legend to 20th 
  Century scholars, someday the great spires of our cities, the 
  glass and steel canyons built so proudly, will leave slim evidence 
  that we were here at all. All our lives will be but footnotes in 
  books no future men can even read. That is the fate of all but 
  the Great Old Ones. It haunts me.
  — From the journals of Jack Kirowan, Decmber 31, 1939
  
  7
  ANCIENT RUINS
  OVERVIEW
  Sitting in the middle of a great natural amphitheater sev-
  eral miles in diameter and surrounded with steep cliffs, 
  Alkmeenon enjoys the privilege of a solitude enforced by its 
  location. Getting into the forested bowl requires knowledge 
  of one of the secret passages into the city, requiring an Epic 
  (D5) Lore test to know the secret. One of these entrances 
  involves a broad pool with an underwater passage, leading 
  to a tunnel that emerges in a concealed thicket. Alternately, 
  one can attempt a Dire (D4) Survival test to find the tunnel 
  from outside the valley, or four successive Daunting (D3) 
  Athletics tests to climb the cliff-face walls that encircle 
  the valley. The distance is measured in Close, Medium, 
  Long, and Extreme ranges, and damage for a failed test is 
  as described in Falling on page 112 of the Conan corebook.
  THE CAVE OF BIT-YAKIN
  Located just below the rim on the outside face of the encom-
  passing cliff is a tiny cavern, barely an alcove inside. Within 
  it is a brown, mummified corpse bound in rotten leather, 
  sitting upright. Tucked into its hands is a rolled, yellowed 
  parchment. No clue to the mummy’s identity is visible. The 
  parchment, written in an ancient Pelishtim dialect, requiring 
  a Daunting (D3) Linguist roll to decipher. If the character 
  speaks Shemitish or Pelishtim, the Difficulty is reduced 
  by one step. Success identifies the mummy as Bit-Yakin, 
  a Shemitish priest who once came to the valley and lived 
  within the ancient city, aided by some mysterious servants.
  This valley had been their citadel. There the palace 
  stood, and there only the royal family and their court 
  dwelt. The real city stood outside the cliffs. Those 
  waving masses of green jungle vegetation hid its ruins. 
  But the domes that glistened in the leaves below him 
  were the unbroken pinnacles of the royal palace of 
  Alkmeenon which had defied the corroding ages.
  — “The Servants of Bit-Yakin”
  
  CHAPTER 1
  8
  THE CITY OF ALKMEENON
  Once into the crater-like valley, an Average (D1) Survival test 
  suffices to find the city proper. There is little in the way of 
  natural life in the valley, save for small animals, birds, and 
  insects, and the entire valley seems to emanate an almost 
  palpable silence and calm. The thick-blossomed white 
  lotus forest is dense and lush, untouched by axes or farm 
  implements for more than a millennium.
  Alkmeenon itself is a magnificent city, with jeweled 
  domes glistening in the sunlight, as-of-yet-unclaimed by 
  the encroaching forest. The groves and fields that once 
  surrounded the city are all overgrown, though their outlines 
  are still visible, and trees and grass have broken through the 
  wide boulevards and streets. Walls still stand intact, though 
  some have toppled, and vines create a tangle surrounding 
  the palace, though its walls have survived the centuries far 
  better than the rest of the city.
  The Palace of Alkmeenon
  Standing largely intact, the palace is at the center of the city, 
  and great columns upon its outside seem as if they could 
  withstand countless more eons. The palace’s double-valved 
  bronze doors are partly open, revealing a vast hall inside 
  — an octagonal chamber with a domed roof of dull white 
  material that at night reveals itself to be crystal, allowing 
  in moonlight and keeping the chamber lit wanly. Lapis 
  lazuli steps lead to a great dais opposite the entry, and upon 
  that dais is a massive throne ornately wrought of precious 
  metals, once canopied by cloth-of-gold.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The floors beneath the palace are not as secure 
  as they seem, and years of underground currents 
  have washed away much of the soil beneath the 
  tiled flagstones. The gamemaster may spend 
  2 Doom at an opportune moment to cause the 
  floor to collapse beneath any player character. 
  A Daunting (D3) Acrobatics test can avoid this, 
  but failure plunges the hapless victim into the 
  underwater streams, requiring a Challenging (D2) 
  Athletics test to remain afloat and another test to 
  catch one of the bronze ladders leading into the 
  under-stream. These in turn lead to the vast net-
  work of tunnels beneath the palace. Failing either 
  of these rolls means the player character risks 
  drowning (see page 127 of the Conan corebook). A 
  successful Average (D1) Athletics test will get the 
  player character back into the palace proper. A 
  failure (and subsequent fall) inflicts 1 Fatigue upon 
  the unsuccessful player character.
  ■
  ■ The city (and the entire valley) is riddled with 
  secret passages. The gamemaster can spend 
  3 Doom to open one of these for any priest of 
  Keshan or a servant of Bit-Yakin to escape into or 
  conceal themselves. Finding one is a Daunting 
  (D3) Observation test, unless the player character 
  sees the non-player character entering the hidden 
  door. Many of these are latched from the inside, 
  and the gamemaster can spend 1 additional Doom 
  to make the door one of these, virtually unbreach-
  able from outside.
  Departing from that room is a narrow corridor behind 
  the throne, once concealed, leading into the castle proper. 
  The bases and tops of its high walls run with gold friezes, 
  and it terminates in a large square chamber with marble 
  walls. Here is the resting place and oracle-chamber of the 
  goddess Yelaya, still intact, the alabaster skin of her limbs 
  and features as beautiful as they were in life, clad in curiously 
  undamaged silks and bejeweled golden breast-plates and 
  girdle. At the crest of her night-dark waves of hair is set a 
  gleaming crimson jewel.
  Opposite the oracle chamber is a small cunningly 
  concealed compartment — requiring a Challenging 
  (D2) Observation test to find — with a series of tiny 
  holes. Its purpose is for the priests serving the oracle 
  to observe those beseeching her and to reply, making 
  it seem as if the sleeping goddess speaks. Elsewhere, 
  concealed in another equally hidden compartment, are 
  the goddess’ garments, a closet of silken clothes stored 
  in such a manner that they are proof against the ages, 
  until exposed to the outside air. It is here that the priests 
  clothe Yelaya’s body anew, allowing her dignity that she 
  might otherwise have lost.
  Continuing into the palace are a variety of courtyards, 
  chambers, passages, porticoes, halls, antechambers, and 
  more. Doors are covered in hammered gold and jeweled 
  like the crowns of kings of lesser lands. Walls are clad in 
  arabesqued metal and polished marble or painted in frescoes 
  in the style of the Pelishtim, seemingly completed after the 
  abandonment of the city. These paintings depict sections 
  of the palace, and show the priests of Keshan worshipping 
  Yelaya, yet among their number is a Pelishtim — Bit-Yakin. 
  Should the player characters have found the parchment 
  in his cavern outside they recognize him. Serving him are 
  strange and terrible figures, inhuman things performing 
  monstrous deeds at his behest.
  The Teeth of Gwahlur, however, are not kept in the 
  palace. Instead, they are concealed within a cavern set into 
  the wall of the bowl in which Alkmeenon rests, described 
  in The Great Cavern (following).
  
  9
  ANCIENT RUINS
  The Great Cavern
  Located throughout the valley are great stone outcroppings, 
  covered with horrible carvings depicting half-human 
  figures, humans, and even gods. These are clearly ancient 
  beyond even the city’s founding and may date to some 
  epoch before the Hyborian Age itself. These were made 
  by the creatures now known as the servants of Bit-Yakin 
  (see below), the original inhabitants of the valley in which 
  sits Alkmeenon.
  At the base of the western cliff wall, at the end of a trail 
  leading out of the city, is a great door made of bronze, several 
  tons in weight, carved with the face of a dragon. Surrounded 
  with thick bolts, the secret means of opening this door is 
  known only to the priests of Keshan. Attempting to open 
  the door without this knowledge requires a successful 
  Dire (D5) Thievery test and several hours of careful work.
  Past the gate is a tunnel leading deep into the cliff-wall, 
  connecting with others, the walls of which are lit with a 
  weird, phosphorescent moss that is not uncommon to lands 
  of the Black Kingdoms. Eventually the tunnels open into 
  an immense cavern from which countless passages stem 
  and converge, many opening above the roaring underwater 
  SERVANT OF BIT-YAKIN (TOUGHENED)
  These near-immortal creatures have inhabited Alkmeenon 
  for thousands of years. They are seemingly frozen upon 
  the evolutionary ladder, neither devolving nor climbing 
  upwards towards humanity. They are intelligent, far 
  more so than apes, and are immensely long-lived, their 
  lifespans measured in millennia rather than decades.
  He ran out on the span, straight toward the 
  oncoming monster. It was no ape, neither was it a 
  man. It was some shambling horror spawned in the 
  mysterious, nameless jungles of the south, where 
  strange life teemed in the reeking rot without the 
  dominance of man, and drums thundered in temples 
  that had never known the tread of a human foot.
  — “The Servants of Bit-Yakin”
  The Pelishtim scholar Bit-Yakin made allies and ser-
  vants of them by posing as the goddess Yelaya, speaking 
  to them in ancient Pelishtim, hinting at the origin of 
  the folk of Alkmeenon. This language is known only in 
  pidgin form by the priests of Keshan, who have little 
  control over the creatures. They have patience beyond 
  human comprehension, and can still their grey-furred, 
  leprous bodies to resemble statues, until roused to ter-
  rible motion and activity.
  ATTRIBUTES
  Awareness
  Intelligence
  Personality
  Willpower
  8
  5
  7
  8
  Agility
  Brawn
  Coordination
  12
  14 (2)
  10
  FIELDS OF EXPERTISE
  Combat
  3
  Movement
  2
  Fortitude
  3
  Senses
  2
  Knowledge
  —
  Social
  —
  STRESS AND SOAK
  ■
  ■ Stress: Vigor 16, Resolve 8
  ■
  ■ Soak: Armor 3 (Tempered Hide), Courage 3
  ATTACKS
  ■
  ■ Clawed Fist (M): Reach 2, 8§, 1H, Grappling, 
  Knockdown, Stun, Vicious
  ■
  ■ Thrown Rock (R): Range L, 5§, Thrown, Stun
  ■
  ■ Bestial Countenance (T): Range C, 2§ mental, 
  Area
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Inhuman Brawn 2
  ■
  ■ Night Vision
  ■
  ■ Still as Statues: A servant of Bit-Yakin can stand 
  motionless by making an Average (D1) Movement 
  test to seem as if a living statue, giving it 2 
  Momentum on any successful Stealth test.
  DOOM SPENDS
  ■
  ■ Rain of Stone: Should the player characters 
  visit while the servants of Bit-Yakin are active, 
  they might find themselves subject to great 
  stones dropped from the darkened heights of 
  the palace’s upper levels and vaulted chambers. 
  The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom per 1§ 
  worth of a stone block or chunk of wall, dropped 
  onto a player character. The target may attempt 
  a Challenging (D2) Observation test to get some 
  warning about the dropped stone, with success 
  giving them the chance to make a Challenging 
  (D2) Acrobatics test to avoid it. Failing the 
  Observation test means the stone automatically 
  hits the player character.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  10
  river that runs beneath the palace. More than half a dozen 
  major tunnels run through the place, and several have 
  within them great altars to toad-like, repulsive gods. The 
  great cavern, a natural amphitheater itself, has many tiers 
  carven into it, balconies overlooking the main floor, and at 
  one end of this vast chamber is an immense idol of a god 
  more blasphemous and grotesque than any worshipped 
  by humankind.
  At any given time, this area will be inhabited by dozens, 
  if not more, of the servants of Bit-Yakin. They will fight 
  viciously and attack any intruders and seem to exist only 
  to worship their goddess Yelaya, made to speak through 
  Bit-Yakin’s subterfuge. The river that runs beneath these 
  caverns and beneath the palace runs from Punt, connected 
  to a lake into which they deposit their dead. Those bodies 
  wash into Alkmeenon and are the primary diet of the 
  servants of Bit-Yakin (below), though they also readily 
  eat fresh meat.
  WEALTH
  Aside from the fabulous gems called the Teeth of Gwahlur, 
  whose value would beggar even the greatest of kings in the 
  dreaming west, the city of Alkmeenon itself is encrusted 
  with gems and jewels, walls sheathed in gleaming gold, 
  silver, and bronze, furniture made of ivory and bespeaking 
  a quality of craftsmanship lost to the ages. One hour and 
  a successful Simple (D0) Observation test will yield 2§ 
  Gold in scavenged loot, and each point of Momentum spent 
  increases that haul by 1§.
  EXPERIENCE
  The experience point reward for visiting and exploring 
  Alkmeenon is 50, with an additional 50 points awarded if 
  the player characters encounter (and survive) the servants of 
  Bit-Yakin. Should the player characters recover the Teeth of 
  Gwahlur, they will each gain 1 point of Renown in addition 
  to the financial bounty.
  ATLANTEAN 
  PASSAGE TOMB
  Picture this ruin as it was, made in the wake of the Great 
  Cataclysm when small hills which had once been the land of 
  Atlantis were yet to be fully swallowed by the sea. The conti-
  nental portion of the barbarous Atlantean empire served as 
  refuge for those who fled their sinking world in boats. On the 
  fringes of what had been the civilized world, they began again.
  Picture this monument to those days in alabaster splen-
  dor, white-sheathed walls surrounding a giant, man-made 
  hill. A single entrance, which rises twice the size of a man, 
  leads into the interior of the hill. Atop the hill is grass. 
  Surrounding it are huge megaliths carved in spiral patterns. 
  These patterns are likewise on the white rocks rising 50 feet 
  upward, though one must stand close to them to read them.
  However, this site held its splendor for four lifetimes. 
  The Picts, in their wild abandon, populated the land more 
  quickly than the Atlanteans, and in time the latter were 
  thrust into stone-age barbarism followed by devolution into 
  apes. Yet even the Picts, who built no such monuments, who 
  had no need of art, left this place alone. Some foreboding, 
  perhaps atavistic fear emanated from the stones, and they 
  were left as they were found.
  Millennia have passed since that time and nature has 
  reclaimed much of the hill, so that it now appears nearly 
  as a feature of landscape. The great standing stones which 
  remain erect are weathered with age, others have fallen 
  and crumbled altogether. What was it for? Why did the 
  Atlanteans build this place? There are few remains within. 
  The entrance gives way to a long passage with more of the 
  selfsame spirals carved into its stone walls. This culminates 
  in a circular room atop which is a roof of sorts. Light streams 
  in weakly from above during the day.
  But on the Winter Solstice, the roof allows the full light 
  of the sun inside the chamber and it stretches down the cor-
  ridor behind. Is this alignment part of a sun cult forgotten 
  by modern man? Are there kings buried somewhere within?
  There is what appears to be a sarcophagus hewn from 
  a single piece of black marble. Atop it rests the effigy of a 
  man with a great sword. However, the block is solid — there 
  is no interior. No body lies inside. There is no lid to lift off 
  and no old bones to reveal.
  THE TEETH OF GWAHLUR
  Thought to have been wrenched from the very jaws 
  of Gwahlur, a demonic king of darkness, the Teeth of 
  Gwahlur are curiously-shaped jewels, each the length 
  of a human finger, pointed and slightly curved, though 
  polished and faceted by mortal hands. Whether from a 
  demon’s mouth or the whimsy of a wealthy ruler of old, 
  the Teeth are nonetheless the source of much misery 
  and bloodshed. These jewels are likely the most precious 
  set of gems in the whole of the world, and their value 
  incalculable. Each could buy a city, the whole of them 
  a kingdom in its entirety.
  Each tooth is made of a different jewel — ruby, emer-
  ald, diamond, bloodstone, opal, sapphire, and more, 
  and they burn with a non-terrestrial fire. Kept loose in 
  a smallish brass chest, they are so cunningly sculpted 
  that they can indeed fit together, forming the upper and 
  lower ridge of a great jaw-full of gleaming teeth. It is not 
  known if they have any additional properties beyond 
  their extraordinary value.
  
  11
  ANCIENT RUINS
  A Passage Tomb Into Dream
  The truth of this site is beyond the imaginings of all but 
  the most experienced sorcerers and scholars. Perhaps five 
  people now living west of the Vilayet could read the strange 
  spiral language which washes over the tomb. Yet, for a tomb, 
  it is curiously empty. There is no body, and the remains 
  and grave offerings found in the long passage were left by 
  cultures that came after, superstitious folk who sought to 
  appease the spirit of the dead within.
  The effigy on the solid sarcophagus looks like a man, but 
  he never was. He was a demon who took the form of a man 
  and fell upon the ancient Atlanteans. But the Atlanteans 
  had magic, remembered of old, by which they bound the 
  demon and cast him into the dream world. There, silver 
  cords, astral lifelines, wind round his body and trap him. 
  Yet each cord withers in time, and thus the sacrifices must 
  be maintained to keep him bound.
  Since the site was built, right up until the savage degen-
  erate men who live near there today, one thing remained 
  constant — on the Winter Solstice of each year, a chosen 
  sacrificial victim is led down the long passage and stands 
  before the great coffin. The person is led by a guard then 
  left as the sunlight comes through the roof.
  What happens next, no living being has seen. The 
  sacrifice is pulled into dream worlds where it becomes 
  disembodied, turned into yet another chain for the demon 
  within. But the demon has had ages to struggle and is 
  nearly free. One missed sacrifice and this foul thing from 
  the Outer Dark can escape. Of course, how can player 
  characters know this?
  KEY FEATURES
  The site is dominated by the large hill. Some of the dirt 
  heaped on over ages and the tangled overgrowth has been 
  hacked away by the degenerate tribe which lives nearby. 
  Inside the hill are two other areas, and a circle of cyclopean 
  stones, some fallen, surround the hill itself.
  The Tomb
  The tomb is comprised of two parts — the long passage and 
  the circular chamber. In the first, a sort of three-branched 
  triskelion imagery appears along the walls. Here, the charred 
  remains of human bones litter the floor. There is evidence 
  of human teeth marks on these bones.
  Along with them are trinkets stolen from travelers in 
  the area and offered to the god within. Gold rings, silver 
  armbands, coins from ages past and far-off nations — all 
  were placed here to help appease the tomb’s “god” over 
  the millennia.
  The circular chamber is nearly 200 feet across (the hill 
  itself being 300 feet in diameter and 50 feet in height). In 
  the center lies the black marble sarcophagus. There are 
  spirals and triskelions all over the sides. The top shows 
  the effigy of a man seven feet in height.
  Anyone inside the room when the Winter Solstice light 
  pours through the hole in the roof is pulled into the dream 
  world of the gamemaster’s choice. Only the sacrifice is dis-
  embodied, their physical shell falling to the floor. Perhaps, 
  that player character is the lucky one, for the rest may have 
  to face the demon on the other side of our reality.
  The Standing Stones
  Roughly 15 feet in height each, these standing stones are 
  covered with the same patterns found elsewhere on the 
  site. Success with an Epic (D5) Lore test reveals they are 
  Then the Cataclysm rocked the world. Atlantis 
  and Lemuria sank, and the Pictish Islands were 
  heaved up to form the mountain peaks of a new 
  continent. Sections of the Thurian Continent 
  vanished under the waves, or sinking, formed great 
  inland lakes and seas. Volcanoes broke forth and 
  terrific earthquakes shook down the shining cities 
  of the empires. Whole nations were blotted out.
  The barbarians fared a little better than the 
  civilized races. The inhabitants of the Pictish 
  Islands were destroyed, but a great colony of 
  them, settled among the mountains of Valusia’s 
  southern frontier to serve as a buffer against 
  foreign invasion, was untouched. The Continental 
  kingdom of the Atlanteans likewise escaped 
  the common ruin, and to it came thousands of 
  their tribesmen in ships from the sinking land.
  — “The Hyborian Age”
  THE POSSIBLE TRUTH
  Who can say with any accuracy what the refugees of 
  Atlantis, as they turned back into apes, thought and 
  worshipped? Who can say what the sun meant to them, 
  or who their gods were? We have little record of the 
  Pre-Cataclysmic Age. It is a distant memory, so fragile 
  and muslin-like as if to be a dream.
  Yes, a dream. That is the thing, though few could guess 
  the purpose now. Yet, as Conan sometimes received 
  visions in dream or waking dreams as visions, so can 
  the player characters. This, then, is one possible his-
  tory of this site, though its ultimate purpose lies with 
  the gamemaster.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  12
  some form of binding spell written over the entirety of the 
  location. A successful Dire (D4) Lore test after that allows 
  one to reason that these standing stones are either a sec-
  ondary, or initial, cage. The hill itself is the main binding 
  spot. One might conclude that whomever, or whatever, 
  lies within is very dangerous indeed.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Using 3 Momentum, player characters (at least two 
  with a Brawn 10+) may topple one of the weaker 
  stones atop their enemy, causing 6§ damage 
  from crushing. This provides them with a free 
  Display attack, doing 3§ to all within Medium 
  range who see the crushing attack.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ For 2 Doom, one of the degenerates can climb 
  a megalith to aid in combat. They crawl up and 
  launch themselves from the stone, doing an extra 
  3§ damage on their next attack, or they can 
  climb to the top and rain stones down upon their 
  enemies. Firing missile weapons directly upward 
  is onerous, and results in a two step increase in 
  Difficulty. If the shooter backs off out of Close 
  range and then fires, the penalty is only one step. 
  Beyond Medium range, there is no penalty at all.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  No one lives on the site. Birds and other fauna avoid the area. 
  It is eerily quiet. However, a degenerate tribe of Atlanteans 
  who never re-evolved lives in the hills nearby. They lair in 
  caves, little warrens of barely Stone Age sophistication. 
  The number of degenerate men is up to the gamemaster.
  Their religion centers around the god that lives in the 
  great hill. This is, of course, the demon, but these folk have 
  no way of knowing this. Anyone taken captive for the special 
  sacrifice is held in the caves before being brought to the 
  passage tomb. The tribe are cannibals, as is evident from 
  the human limbs and muscle tissue hanging and drying 
  in various locations. Use the stats for Degenerate Men on 
  page 315 of the Conan corebook for the tribesmen.
  The Demon
  If the solstice ritual is interrupted, the demon steps back 
  through the veil between worlds. It is not in a good mood. 
  Use the Soul Devourer in the Horrors of the Hyborian Age or 
  an appropriate Horror from the Conan corebook.
  GETTING THE PLAYER 
  CHARACTERS INVOLVED
  While any adventurous group of player characters might 
  simply pass by this strange hill and decide to investigate, 
  there is far more narrative traction if they arrive upon the 
  Winter Solstice. Perhaps one of their number is chosen 
  by the degenerates as the next sacrifice — for they are 
  directed to each sacrifice by dreams. Perhaps the player 
  characters are hired to find the son of a Vanir chieftain 
  abducted by those same savages.
  In any case, the logical action is to help the hap-
  less victim. Yet this is, unfortunately, the very worst 
  choice. If the proper sacrifice is not taken into the dream 
  worlds (see pages 17–24 of The Book of Skelos), the demon 
  breaks its bonds and returns with a vengeance to the 
  world of men.
  
  13
  ANCIENT RUINS
  TREASURE
  Various trinkets of the tribe have value in the civilized world. 
  A quick scavenging of the long passage and a successful 
  Challenging (D2) Observation test allows player characters 
  to gather 10 Gold worth of wealth. A proper excavation 
  uncovers much more, but the tribe would have much to 
  say about that. Who can say what wealth might lie in the 
  dream world where the demon is bound? Perhaps a great 
  deal lies scattered in that domain. Finding it and bringing 
  it back is another matter entirely.
  EXPERIENCE
  Exploring the area and rescuing any sacrifice is worth 25 
  experience points. Slaying the demon, or even living to 
  run away from it, is worth twice that.
  THE CITY OF THE 
  OLD ONES
  Lost on the uttermost, unmapped southern reaches, past 
  the southernmost of the Black Kingdoms and the fires of 
  the most distant south, and further still to where a vast sea 
  separates the continent from another great icy land mass, 
  is a vast ruin beyond anything humankind can imagine. 
  Encompassed on all sides by impassable mountains of ice, 
  so daunting that they instill madness in those who behold 
  them, is the ruin of a city that has rested untouched for 
  hundreds of thousands of years, seemingly abandoned by 
  the strange and alien creatures that built it.
  OVERVIEW
  According to the legends set forth in the tomes of Vathelos 
  the Blind, and in the reputed Pnakotic Manuscripts, hun-
  dreds of millions of years ago when the world was young 
  and newly cooled, its atmosphere becoming breathable, it 
  was visited by a race of alien beings, Old Ones. They flew 
  through space on membranous wings, seeking a new home 
  to colonize. In Earth, they found such a place, and these 
  creatures brought with them their immense knowledge 
  and industry, building several great cities upon the Earth, 
  and filling them with wonders beyond reckoning.
  Masters of science so complex only the rudiments are 
  now understood, they built many things, and among their 
  creations were the earliest forms of life on the planet, sculpt-
  ing animate beings out of rude proto-matter. Their experi-
  ments populated the world with a multitude of life-forms, 
  in all manner of shapes and types — mammals, reptiles, 
  insects, sea life, and even humankind. All these beings they 
  set free to wander and thrive or suffer, caring little about 
  their fates. They watched the rude, savage beasts that would 
  become men crawl and then walk away from their redoubt.
  THE LAST REDOUBT
  Eventually, a war between these Old Ones and another race 
  for supremacy over Earth cost them mightily, and they 
  retreated from some of their cities, abandoning them for 
  one final redoubt near the south pole. There they contented 
  themselves to brood and continue their sciences, growing fey 
  due to a corrupting presence nearby, some sort of primordial 
  evil beyond even their comprehension, buried within the 
  mountains that surrounded their city. Their civilization in 
  decline, the Old Ones slowly began abandoning their city 
  for a new home on the floor of the Western Sea. It was in 
  this migration that they were attacked by the greatest of 
  their servitors, a race of amorphous beings called shoggoths, 
  and the shoggoths destroyed the last of the Old Ones they 
  could find and ruled the empty city since time immemorial.
  It is said that no human has set eyes upon this city, 
  though there are whispers of it in the scrolls wrought by 
  Skelos and within other treatises, but the city’s secrets are 
  such that many sorcerers and madmen have dared make 
  attempts over the centuries to find it, in hopes of unimag-
  inable power and the secrets of life and death.
  KEY FEATURES
  The scale of the city of the Old Ones defies easy exploration. 
  It fills a great Antarctic valley and is vast beyond a scale 
  any human city can understand, being tens of miles wide 
  and nearly fifty miles long. It is broken and ruined by the 
  millennia of upheaval, with glaciers running roughshod 
  over its buildings, mountains rising and shifting through its 
  boulevards, the great glacial shift of ice and snow picking up 
  sections of the city and depositing them elsewhere. Sections 
  remain intact, but others are in utter ruin, with buried layer 
  Eons before Atlantean days in the 
  time of the world’s black dawn,
  Strange were the kings and grim the 
  deeds that the pallid moon looked on.
  When the great black cities split the stars 
  and strange prows broke the tide,
  And smoke went up from ghastly shrines 
  where writhing victims died.
  — “The Symbol”
  
  CHAPTER 1
  14
  upon layer of broken black stone, all carved thoroughly with 
  pictographic bands of ornamentation that depict the Old 
  Ones, their culture, and their history. Furthermore, while 
  the highest of the city’s intact towers stand tens of stories 
  above the ground, the Old Ones delved deep into the earth, 
  and the subterranean levels of the ruin extend much deeper, 
  every bit as expansive and, terrifyingly, more intact, their 
  alchemical and technological secrets pristine.
  Madness In the Mountains
  So great and impossible is the scale and significance of this 
  city that any who visit it and understand its place in Earth’s 
  history — the role of the Old Ones in the making of all life 
  on Earth, the vastness and impartiality of a universe where 
  even the oldest gods are but upstarts and humankind a 
  happenstance, abandoned by its creator — must succeed 
  in a Daunting (D3) Discipline test or suffer 3§ points of 
  Despair. Even success causes 1§ mental damage and inflicts 
  the same amount of Despair. An effect on either of these 
  rolls results in a bout of temporary madness, manifested in 
  either creeping paranoia, berserk fury, flight, or catatonia 
  (gamemaster’s choice).
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  Exploring the ruins of the city of the Old Ones can take 
  decades, a daunting prospect in the harshest clime on the 
  planet. The terrifying reality is that the city is not entirely 
  abandoned, and upstart shoggoths still roam its bleak, 
  ruined streets and cavernous chambers, seeking still to 
  purge the domain of their former masters. The Old Ones 
  had many secrets and were more than capable of hiberna-
  tion across millions of years. They are entombed in various 
  caches around the countryside, in icy grottoes and forgotten 
  ways, as well as in concealed facilities within the city itself. 
  Slowly, the shoggoths find these vaults and breach them, 
  destroying their sleeping creators, an ongoing attrition that 
  has continued past several world cataclysms.
  Shoggoths and Old Ones appear in Horrors of the Hyborian 
  Age, and the city can also play host to many other primeval 
  beings beyond human comprehension at the gamemas-
  ter’s discretion.
  VOYAGING TO THE CITY
  Unlike many of the places detailed within these pages, 
  the City of the Old Ones is unlikely to ever be explored 
  by player characters, save for the most extraordinary of 
  circumstances. It might be encountered in spirit form 
  with the Astral Wanderings spell, discussed by summoned 
  creatures of the Outer Dark, or even visited through use 
  of the Atavistic Voyage spell. Herein might be found trea-
  sures at a scale beyond anything the player characters can 
  imagine, or even comprehend. The secrets of their alien 
  biologic practices could be used by sorcerers and put to 
  other diabolic use, and the instruments and tools — and 
  even weapons — of the Old Ones would put anything crafted 
  in the Hyborian Age to shame.
  Should the player characters wish to set foot in the City 
  of the Old Ones, such an undertaking would be a voyage 
  worthy of shaping an entire campaign around, from the 
  planning and provisioning for such an expedition, the 
  hazardous journey down the coast of the western conti-
  nent, past the Black Kingdoms and into territory as-of-yet 
  unexplored by the people of the Hyborian Age. Such an 
  expedition will earn acclaim to any who attempt it openly, 
  but able-bodied sailors and explorers willing to risk all 
  might be nigh-unto-impossible to recruit. What kingdoms 
  would finance such an expedition, and what sort of sorcerers 
  would seek this out, and for what reasons?
  
  15
  ANCIENT RUINS
  KAMULA, THE 
  BLACK CITY
  In the bygone age before the Cataclysm wiped clean the bor-
  ders of the map and remade the world in a new and rougher 
  image, the kingdoms of humankind were among its proud-
  est, ancient even then, and their citizens built many great 
  wonders. Among them was Kamula, the City of Pleasure. 
  Resting on a mountaintop in what was once the country of 
  Valusia, Kamula was devoted to pleasure and relaxation, a 
  refuge of kings, queens, and their courts. Originally built 
  by King Eallal of Valusia, who died nearly a thousand years 
  before Kull, no expense was spared, no luxury too costly, 
  no excess too much, and no labor too onerous. Slaves by 
  the thousands carried building materials up the moun-
  tainside, accompanied by caravans of the finest goods and 
  furnishings to ensure the uttermost comfort and decadence.
  Though the character of subsequent kings and queens 
  changed, and Kamula saw varying amounts of use, it was 
  always maintained by a hereditary group of servants, left 
  intact even during the most abstemious of reigns. It was 
  only during Kull’s reign that the city was shuttered, its halls 
  no longer visited by the Valusian courts. His command-
  ment was that none would enter Kamula again stood until 
  the Thurian Age itself came to an end. The great deluge 
  washed over Kamula like all other places, and all the mortal 
  inhabitants were slain, its finery either swept away by the 
  currents or deteriorating over millennia under the ocean’s 
  surface. However, something haunted dreamy Kamula, a 
  monstrous and terrible thing at its very heart, earning it 
  the infamous title of “the Black City”.
  OVERVIEW
  Kamula now stands buried within the great mountain 
  range that divides Aquilonia from Nemedia, far from any 
  path or river’s course. If it has been discovered or visited 
  at any point during the Hyborian Age, no signs remain of 
  any trespass. The movement of continents and mountains 
  over the millennia was utterly indifferent to humankind, 
  and Kamula is no longer remotely habitable. Skewed on a 
  high slope, the city itself looks rather incongruous, a ruined 
  jumble of buildings at an angle, its once broad plazas and 
  avenues now chaotic ridges and hazards. Nearly a third 
  of the city remains intact, however — despite the incline, 
  which makes travel within somewhat difficult.
  Of the city’s one-time finery and sublime features, 
  little remains. Its nymphaeums and seraglios are buried 
  under hardened silt, halls are skewed and rubble-strewn, 
  bedchambers exposed to the indifferent sky, gardens and 
  courtyards where once the finest entertainments were 
  offered are now desolate jumbles of broken marble and 
  rock, and its baths are long-since dried and filled with dirt 
  and broken masonry.
  However, the horrible secret within the city that caused 
  Kull to order its abandonment remains: a monstrous crea-
  ture of the Elder World, a cthonian being called “Gyatha”, 
  fully capable of surviving the eons as readily as it did the 
  blade of a Valusian king. Should player characters explore 
  Kamula’s streets, they will find many rifts and cracks and, 
  intriguingly, what are obviously secret passages, once 
  concealed behind cunningly-disguised wall panels but 
  now revealed to the world.
  Most of these go nowhere, broken by geologic shifts or 
  collapsed and filled with rubble, but anyone listening at one 
  of the more intact tunnels may attempt a Challenging (D2) 
  Observation test. Success means that the player character 
  hears a thin, piping sound, unlike that of the wind whistling 
  and moaning though the city’s ruins.
  There is something natural — yet horribly unnatural 
  — about this piping noise. Attempting to track it to its 
  source requires a Daunting (D3) Observation test and a 
  Challenging (D2) Athletics test to maneuver through the 
  ruined, rubble-choked passages. Failing either of these rolls 
  means that the piping is lost, though another attempt may 
  be made later, or from a different location. A complication 
  on this roll means that the player characters encounter a 
  thick, ropy tentacle as wide around as a strong man’s wrist, 
  and multiple complications mean the player characters 
  encounter the horror itself.
  FINDING KAMULA
  The gamemaster may introduce Kamula as an obscure 
  reference in some long-forgotten sorcerous tome, or some 
  rumor reaching their ears borne on sorcerous winds. Seeking 
  it out requires a successful Daunting (D3) Survival test: one 
  attempt can be made each day of searching. However, it 
  might be encountered by happenstance, with the player char-
  acters passing through the mountains between Aquilonia 
  Dreamy Kamula — even as he waited for the 
  raging Pict to continue his tirade, Kull’s thoughts 
  drifted away and back along the lazy, dreamy 
  days that had passed since his coming to this 
  mountain city, this metropolis of pleasure, 
  whose marble and lapis-lazuli palaces were 
  built, tier upon gleaming tier, about the dome 
  shaped hill that formed the city center.
  — “The Black City”, Robert E. Howard
  
  CHAPTER 1
  16
  and Nemedia, perhaps avoiding the common routes. They 
  might even spot it from afar while seeking refuge from a 
  storm or from the notice of enemies.
  TREASURE
  Alas, the ages have not been kind to Kamula, and near all 
  its finery has long been washed away, scattered across the 
  mountain ranges, or deteriorated from the eons it rested 
  beneath the waters of the Cataclysm. Player characters 
  that are especially diligent about scavenging may attempt 
  Average (D1) Observation tests, once per day. Success 
  yields 3§ Gold’s worth in pieces of metals, gems pried 
  free from walls, or pieces of ornamentation caught in 
  corners or buried under long-dried muck. Each point 
  of Momentum spend adds 1§ to this total. If the player 
  characters have not yet earned the attention of Gyatha, 
  any effect causes it to begin searching for them, sending 
  its tendrils through the city’s passages and rifts, for their 
  warm bounty of blood.
  EXPERIENCE
  Should player characters discover and explore Kamula, the 
  gamemaster may award 100 experience points apiece for 
  this great act of adventure. Encountering and surviving 
  Gyatha should be worth another 50 experience points, 
  and slaying the monster itself (or at least sending it from 
  this realm for the time being) should be worth another 
  50 points.
  GYATHA, MASTER OF THE BLACK CITY
  Running throughout the city was a network of secret 
  passages, built by the city’s makers, hewn by human 
  hands yet expanding on the mountain’s already-exist-
  ing labyrinth of natural tunnels. The foolish makers of 
  the city did not recognize the nature of these tunnels, 
  thinking them a mere happenstance of geologic action, 
  or perhaps ancient lava tubes.
  Far from such a natural origin, the tunnels were — and 
  still are — the lair of an ancient abomination named 
  Gyatha, a creature from the underworld that crawled its 
  way to the mortal realm millions of years ago. Its vast 
  bulk concealed within the mountain still, Gyatha extends 
  long, ropy tentacles throughout the tunnels, hundreds 
  of feet from its body, draining victims of blood remotely 
  or dragging them back to its many maws.
  Battling Gyatha is a dangerous proposition, as the 
  creature knows its lair as intimately as does a snail its 
  shell, and it has dozens of tendrils to extend throughout 
  the city to flank or confront player characters directly. 
  Furthermore, the skewed nature of the rubble-strewn 
  ground makes all combat hazardous: player characters 
  must succeed in an Average (D1) Athletics or Acrobatics 
  test as a Movement Action to be able to attack Gyatha 
  successfully, whether a tentacle or its hidden bulk within 
  the cavern beneath the city. Normally, Gyatha is not a 
  direct combatant, preferring to use its tendrils to entrap 
  and choke targets, silencing them while it drinks their 
  blood, leaving their fear-stricken corpses behind.
  For Gyatha, the gamemaster should use the statistics 
  for the Unspeakable Abomination on page 345 of the 
  CONAN corebook, adding the following qualities to its 
  existing write-up.
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Many-tendrilled: Gyatha has dozens of thick, 
  ropy tendrils, and can send them through the 
  passages and crevasses beneath Kamula with 
  terrifying speed and ease. Every round, the gam-
  emaster should roll 2§ to determine how many 
  tendrils it can bring against the player characters, 
  adding 2§ on each subsequent round, to a max-
  imum of 12. Each tendril has 5 Vigor and 1 point 
  of armor. Inflicting a Wound will sever it, causing 
  it to retract back into Gyatha’s body defensively. 
  Destroying a tendril has no effect on Gyatha’s body 
  or overall Vigor or Wounds.
  ■
  ■ Exsanguinate: Each tendril ends in a cluster of 
  sharp hardened spines, which pierce the exposed 
  flesh of victims and drain their blood. For each 
  successful effect rolled when damage is deter-
  mined, the tendril does an additional 1§ damage 
  to Vigor and an equal amount of damage to 
  Resolve. This is considered as a separate attack 
  when determining any possible Wounds.
  DOOM SPENDS
  ■
  ■ Tunnel Dweller: The gamemaster can spend 3 
  Doom to have Gyatha collapse a tunnel onto 
  the player characters, using its tendrils to strike 
  at rubble on the tunnel’s ceiling. This requires a 
  Challenging (D2) Acrobatics or Athletics test to 
  dodge (or Parry if a shield is used) and causes 3§ 
  Vigor damage if it is not avoided. A Complication 
  seals the tunnel densely enough that it will 
  require hours to clear.
  
  17
  ANCIENT RUINS
  K’N-YANIAN 
  TEMPLE CHAMBER
  K’n-Yan is not a single city; it is a vast, subterranean kingdom 
  stretching on for uncounted leagues beneath the earth. 
  It was built by creatures from the stars, with science and 
  comprehension far beyond that of even the most ingenious 
  and learned of men. Even the Yaggites, that brilliant and 
  sorcerous elephant-headed race from beyond the stars, spoke 
  of those who whittled out K’n-Yan with respect. There are 
  two cities within this enormous network of tunnels — Tsath, 
  a populous, civilized place, and Yoth, a degenerate and 
  crimson-tinged cavern dwelling. This entry concentrates 
  on those tunnels that emerge, in a few places, onto the 
  Hyborian-age earth and which, if followed, will take a player 
  character into the blue-inflected city of Tsath.
  Whether that city is really buried within the earth is 
  difficult to tell; surely, there is not enough room within 
  the world to contain the full extent of K’n-Yan? Perhaps the 
  tunnels, found in remote places throughout the Thurian 
  continent and beyond, lead to other worlds, somehow 
  proximate with this. As to the K’n-Yanians themselves, 
  they are a strange people, man-like and yet possessed of 
  peculiar powers of spirit projection. They also bring with 
  them mounts — forged from a hideous melding of human 
  flesh and the tissue of animals the like of which the surface 
  world has long since consigned to nightmarish myth. Those 
  who venture below do so at their own peril.
  OVERVIEW
  The underland of K’n-Yan is implausibly vast and constructed 
  within the bowels of the earth. A single, large road wends 
  gradually downwards. The roof of the place is an array of 
  gleaming, bluish stones — though whether these peculiar 
  gemstones are of terrestrial origin, it is difficult to say. The 
  blue stones emit a dim but penetrating light, bathing the 
  full expanse of the road in sapphire radiance. If it were not 
  a place quite so suffused with wholly alien menace, the 
  gentle glow would render K’n-Yan beautiful.
  Birds and other creatures populate these underground 
  caverns. Whole flocks of creatures soar across the continu-
  ally glinting surface of the apparently infinite ceiling, and 
  the road is marked with the strange prints of misshapen 
  beasts, shuffling and striding onwards.
  The most curious feature is the enormous golden door 
  which occupies a circular chamber — the only means of 
  opening this door is from within and at the behest of those 
  strange creatures who lurk inside. But gold is freely avail-
  able and cheap here — even the floors of the chamber are 
  tiled in it. The circular chamber is, by its configuration and 
  appearance, a temple; hideous carvings adorn the walls and 
  outline scenes of strange rites. Peculiar trees surround the 
  area, and, in its center, rests an idol, made of a stone which 
  does not appear on earth. The idol is of a creature with 
  an octopus-head, gazing out into the darkness, waiting…
  KEY FEATURES
  The inhuman strangeness of K’n-Yan’s vast caverns and 
  impossible size is reflected in the features described below.
  The Stone Idol of Tulu
  There are many gods venerated and worshipped in the 
  underworld of K’n-Yan, but perhaps chief amongst them 
  is the octopus-headed dreamer called, by the inhabitants 
  of that place, Tulu. They also worship Father Set, though 
  under a different name. This statue is crafted from a stone 
  whose origin is most certainly not of this planet: indeed, it 
  might have been brought here even before the inhabitants 
  of K’n-Yan made their way across the stars. It possesses 
  magnetic properties. It even attracts other objects made 
  of the same material — not repelling them, as one might 
  expect earthly materials to do. The idol is large and exqui-
  sitely crafted, but anyone within its radius cannot escape 
  the creeping sensation of wrongness it exudes… distinct 
  and unmistakable.
  Momentum spends
  ■
  ■ Using Momentum with the Tulu idol can result in 
  player characters grabbing it and interposing it 
  between themselves and those seeking to attack 
  them — cowing them with an object of reverence.
  ■
  ■ The idol can also be used as a weapon, or as 
  a means of ripping the weapons out of the 
  hands of foes — although this will cost 2 or 
  more Momentum.
  Opening his pack, he prepared his camp on the 
  golden tiles of the temple’s floor, with the great 
  door still securely latched against all comers; 
  drifting eventually into a sounder sleep than 
  he could have known in the blue-litten spaces 
  outside. He did not even mind the hellish, 
  octopus-headed bulk of great Tulu, fashioned of 
  unknown metal and leering with fishy, sea-green 
  eyes, which squatted in the blackness above him 
  on its monstrously hieroglyphed pedestal.
  — “The Mound”, H.P. Lovecraft
  
  CHAPTER 1
  18
  Doom spends
  ■
  ■ Using a weapon too close to the idol is likely to 
  result in it being wrested from the player’s grip, at 
  the cost of 3 Doom, or an arrow no longer flying 
  true but curving out of its original path, at the 
  cost of 2 Doom. The gamemaster is encouraged 
  to expand this Doom spend in other ways, such 
  as making spells involving extra-planar contact 
  easier (for example, each Doom spent might have 
  the effects of a Fortune point).
  The Golden Door
  The entrance gate to the city of Tsath and the true seat 
  of power in the under-kingdom, the Golden Door is well 
  fortified. In future millennia, it will be neglected as the 
  K’n-Yanians cease to preoccupy themselves with the outer 
  world but, in this age of the earth, there are openable 
  arrow slits, and the vast latch that locks it can be lifted 
  high enough to allow for spear-like weapons to be used to 
  keep enemies at bay and allow reinforcements out before 
  quickly resealing the door. The fact that it is made of solid 
  gold, however, also renders it an extremely attractive 
  target to any player characters dreaming of retirement. 
  Or simply dreaming of a few decades of debauchery in 
  Shadizar the Wicked. Either way, it is a dangerous but 
  extremely lucrative proposition.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ A player character might spend Momentum 
  to drive an enemy into the door, causing 3§ 
  damage. They might also dodge out of the way 
  of a particularly furious sword or spear thrust 
  and spend 2 Momentum to have the weapon 
  which nearly killed them stick in the soft gold of 
  the portal.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 2 Doom to have 
  enemies fire on the player characters from behind 
  the door, virtually immune from reprisal, making 
  any attempts at attacking them Daunting (D3) or 
  higher. A player character too near to the door 
  might also be attacked by spear thrusts or by the 
  emergence of a new foe — again at the expendi-
  ture of 2 Doom.
  The Golden Tiles
  So plentiful is gold in the lower reaches of the earth that 
  even the floors are made from it. Tiles of gold pave the 
  ground and many are stamped with curious writings and 
  symbols, languages which man’s vocal cords are ill-equipped 
  to pronounce. The temple is also booby-trapped. When 
  the K’n-Yanians retreated beneath the earth, they did so 
  believing that they would be pursued, and that war followed. 
  These way-stations on the route to Tsath are protected… 
  and those protections might spell doom for the unwary 
  and unprepared.
  Momentum spends
  ■
  ■ The use of Momentum might allow a player 
  character to trick an enemy into setting off a 
  booby-trap. A Momentum spend might also 
  enable a player character to half-recall the mean-
  ing of some of the strange hieroglyphics adorning 
  the tiles — this can lead to them dodging the 
  arrows or pendulum-swung axes which might 
  be about to strike them or, instead, bestow useful 
  information for the next stage of their expedi-
  tion below.
  Doom spends
  ■
  ■ A gamemaster can spend 3 Doom to have a player 
  character trigger one of the ancient booby-traps 
  which the temple is sown with to discourage 
  intruders. The gamemaster should choose one of 
  the traps discussed in this book (see page 100) 
  which seems most suitable for the moment.con-
  tact easier (for example, each Doom spent might 
  have the effects of a Fortune point).
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  The K’n-Yanians are a strange race, even amongst those 
  that can be encountered in the Hyborian Age. They can 
  project themselves in spectral form and they communicate 
  only telepathically — considering speech to be a crude and 
  inexact means of communication, for use only in religious 
  ritual. To represent these creatures, it is suggested that the 
  gamemaster use the template for the Degenerate Chief 
  (see page 316 of the Conan corebook) with one exception 
  — K’n-Yanians should only have the Ancient Wisdom Special 
  Ability from those listed for the Degenerate Chief. In place 
  of these, each K’n-Yanian can project themselves as a Ghost 
  (Toughened), at the cost of 1 Doom point per K’n-Yanian, if 
  the K’n-Yanian has not performed any action that turn — see 
  page 327 of the Conan corebook for more on ghosts. This 
  projection can take place when a K’n-Yanian is engaged in 
  combat, with the physical form dropping to the floor and 
  the phantom form appearing anywhere the gamemaster 
  chooses; to perform this feat, however, the gamemaster 
  must spend 3 points of Doom per K’n-Yanian.
  
  19
  ANCIENT RUINS
  For the hybrid, human-animal mounts which the K’n-
  Yanians keep and ride, gamemasters should use the Camel 
  statistics (page 325 of the Conan corebook). Instead of 
  the listed Special Abilities, however, the mounts instead 
  all cause Fear 1. They seem so familiar… so tragically, 
  strangely familiar.
  TREASURE
  The underland of K’n-Yan is a treasure in and of itself. Gold 
  is used in almost all constructions and architecture in one 
  form or another. It is absurdly common. The issue for player 
  characters is going to be how to transport it out without 
  weighing themselves down so much that they find them-
  selves caught! K’n-Yan should be difficult to loot… it should 
  be difficult to survive… but doing so should be worthy of 
  reward. And there is a lot of reward to be had. Anything 
  the player characters bring out should be worth between 
  1–5 Gold and can be spent as such.
  EXPERIENCE
  Explorations through the ancient and forbidden caverns 
  of K’n-Yan will earn player characters the following expe-
  rience points:
  ■
  ■ 25 for utilizing the idol of Tulu in an ingenious fash-
  ion in combat.
  ■
  ■ 15 for freeing a half-human mount from its hideous 
  service with a clean kill.
  ■
  ■ 50 for defeating a K’n-Yanian after it has spectrally 
  projected itself.
  KUTHCHEMES
  Lost in the trackless wastes of the southeastern corner of 
  Shem is the wreckage of a once flourishing city. Sand shifts 
  and eddies about the blasted ruins, never fully cloaking or 
  conquering the tumbled buildings. For thousands of years, 
  it has kept its secrets… and its treasures.
  OVERVIEW
  Three millennia ago, the river flowed fresh and clear here; 
  watering green banks and wide fields. Along its winding 
  course a great city of a dark empire flourished. Rows of 
  decadent villas stretched for blocks in all directions. Slender 
  star-seeking towers and deep pillared temples, frescoed 
  with holy terrors, were angled along the crossroads. In 
  the center of it all was an ivory dome, like an immense egg 
  sliced perfectly in twain, perched atop a gigantic terraced 
  eminence. Even the glare of the fiercest midday sun failed 
  to diminish its iridescent white gleam. The Stygians hailed 
  this northern outpost as Kuthchemes. Thugra Khotan 
  ruled here; a powerful magician who held congress with 
  the inhuman brood of a shadowy elder tribe.
  Time would prove the conquerors had come too far 
  north. The familiar wash of the Styx and halls of Luxur lay 
  hundreds of leagues to the south. The master chroniclers 
  state that it was the rush of the “gray-eyed, tawny-haired 
  barbarians in wolf skins and scale mail” that brought ruin 
  to Kuthchemes. Whatever men and devils Thugra Khotan 
  summoned against the horde would not be enough. Their 
  numbers and iron swords forced a final battle in the very 
  streets of the city.
  Sensing doom, the magician went into the heart of the 
  stronghold in the ivory dome, his faithful acolytes trailing. 
  Once in his sanctuary, he ingested a potion brewed with the 
  guidance of his demonic minions. Its poison slowed his 
  frame and stilled his breath, cocooning him in unnatural 
  slumber. His acolytes carried his body beyond the great 
  door. They invoked obscene incantations, joining magic 
  to the engineer’s craft of tumbled locks, fitted gears, and 
  pressure plates; sealing their lord away to the ages. They 
  fought to the end, dying as they had lived, in service to 
  Thugra Khotan. Before one died at the end of a blade, he 
  mocked the invaders, taunting them with knowledge of 
  the magician’s survival in the sealed sepulcher, sleeping 
  among the vast heaps of gems and coins.
  The barbarians rent the city to pieces but found the ivory 
  dome impenetrable. They turned from it, returning home 
  with glory and plunder. Kuthchemes faded in memory and 
  reality, as the centuries toiled by. After a thousand years 
  the landscape soured, throwing up leagues of harsh desert 
  between it and mortal discovery.
  Obscure texts and tales have but faint mention of 
  Kuthchemes. Traders and artisans of the arcane have gained 
  more knowledge of this place from hellish bargains with 
  outer beings, to whom three millennia is but a passing 
  moment. The greatest source of lore on this forgotten relic 
  of imperial Stygia is the cult of Thugra Khotan. This is a 
  splinter faction of those who worship the vile glories of 
  On every hand rose the grim relics of another, 
  forgotten age: huge broken pillars, thrusting up 
  their jagged pinnacles into the sky; long wavering 
  lines of crumbling walls; fallen cyclopean blocks of 
  stone; shattered images, whose horrific features the 
  corroding winds and dust storms had half-erased.
  — “Black Colossus”
  
  CHAPTER 1
  20
  ancient Acheron: they revere the slumbering Magician-
  King almost as a god. Their holy rites recount tales of the 
  might of Thugra Khotan as hallowed sacraments. Another 
  potential source of information comes from clever Zamorian 
  thieves. They are ever-eager for news of ancient treasures 
  and keep a network of informants close to any who may 
  know where such a hoard is lost.
  Player characters are likely to hear some of the rumors 
  and history of Kuthchemes. For the right price (or favor), 
  they may learn of a wizard who still sleeps amid untold 
  splendor in this part of the world. With research, they 
  may uncover the tales of the great dome of ivory and of its 
  serpent guardian. Locals who live on the border may share 
  the legend that the blood of Set courses in the guardian’s 
  veins, causing it to swell to gargantuan proportions, and 
  that to fell such a creature requires a special malady — its 
  own venom.
  ZONES
  Kuthchemes is broken into two distinct zones: the desert 
  approach and the outbuildings, described below.
  Desert Approach
  The player characters endure days of especially harsh travel 
  upon the approach to the city. The zones immediately 
  around Kuthchemes are windswept, forlorn, devoid of 
  any type of life. Not even the vultures circle the ruins, nor 
  do snakes or scorpions crawl in the cracked riverbed. The 
  greatest challenge here is thirst and the elements. The hot 
  wind frequently spins off into violent storms that can easily 
  engulf the unwary.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ While in the desert approach zone, the player 
  characters can use 1 Momentum to leap 
  across a section of the old riverbed as a free 
  Movement Action.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ While in the desert approach zone, the gamemas-
  ter can spend 1 Doom to conjure up a punishing 
  sandstorm which would cut mobility and vision in 
  half. More Doom can increase the severity of this 
  elemental assault or continue the damage every 
  round spent outside.
  The Outbuildings
  Here lie the tumbled remnants of the lost empire. Perhaps 
  two dozen of the buildings still survive in some capacity. 
  Another dozen have been reduced to only cracked pillars or 
  splintered arches. The rest have fallen completely, choking 
  former streets and lanes with broken masonry, fractured 
  stone, and shattered idols. The buildings and their remains 
  reflect an older style of architecture, dating back long before 
  
  21
  ANCIENT RUINS
  the Hyborian Age, perhaps even predating the Thurian 
  Age. These ancient examples of idols, cornices, joints, and 
  brickwork are things that would be in museums back in 
  the civilized world.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ While in the outbuilding zone player characters 
  can spend 1 Momentum to trigger the collapse 
  of a building upon a foe (kicking out the last 
  remaining support, for example). This causes 6§ 
  damage to those trapped inside.
  ■
  ■ By spending 1 Momentum in the outbuilding zone, 
  the player character can use a pile of rubble to 
  launch themselves in a flying attack at their foe.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Conversely, by spending 1 Doom, the gamemaster 
  can cause the implosion of the building the player 
  characters are exploring in the outbuilding zone.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to trip up the 
  player characters with a piece of hidden debris, 
  spoiling an action or attack, while in the out-
  building zone.
  ■
  ■ A player character might be struck in the face with 
  a windborne blast of highly acidic sand, equiv-
  alent to one of the blinding powders described 
  on page 164 of the Conan corebook. The game-
  master should spend Doom equal to the powder’s 
  Difficulty, per player character affected.
  LOCATIONS
  The Temple of Thugra Khotan
  In the center of the ruins, located on what was once the riv-
  erbank is the great temple. Any who view it are struck by its 
  size and its beauty, but also because it stands undiminished 
  by the ages. Perched atop a gigantic terraced eminence is 
  an ivory dome, still shining as if freshly polished by the 
  hands of Stygian slaves. The pinnacle of the dome is capped 
  with bright gold, which defiantly throws back the rays of 
  the sun. Alien hieroglyphics, painted in gold, sprawl for 
  yards around the curve of the dome. The language is one 
  no human can decipher, although a successful Average 
  (D1) Linguistics test gives the player character a sense that 
  it reflects an intelligence inimical to mankind.
  There is but one way to enter the temple: up a flight of 
  broad steps and through a great bronze door. Unless player 
  
  CHAPTER 1
  22
  characters have learned how to open the door from some 
  outside source, unlocking the door is impossible. It requires 
  precise knowledge of pressure points on the door, and an 
  incantation which disables the locking spell. Even with 
  this knowledge, the gamemaster should require a series of 
  difficult Thievery tests and an equally difficult Discipline 
  test to successfully unlock the door.
  Upon success of these tests, the door retreats inward, 
  sliding noiselessly down a narrow corridor to rest in place 
  at its end. The floor and ceiling of this tunnel-like aperture 
  are made from the same brilliant ivory as the dome. An 
  opening, a story-high burrow, has been carved out of one 
  side of the hall. From this the horrific guardian of Thugra 
  Khotan will issue, and mindlessly attacks unto death any 
  intruders (see below). Should the player characters win 
  past the guardian, they must open the door a second time. 
  They will not need to perform the same ritual as before; it 
  will simply slide aside as any mundane door.
  Waves of crimson light, like breakers of liquid blood, 
  immediately lap over the player characters. This unnatural 
  radiance pours forth from a gigantic red jewel transfixed 
  high up in the vaulted arch of the dome. It pulses and throbs, 
  beating almost like a living heart. Inside the room are 
  countless piles of diamonds, gems, jewel-encrusted blades, 
  and silks. Gold dust shimmers on the very floor. This dis-
  play of wealth stuns even the most jaded treasure-hunter.
  In the shimmering sea, a crystal dais rests directly under the 
  great jewel. Reposing on it is the tall, lean body of a robed figure 
  — Thugra Khotan (see Approaching Thugra Khotan, below).
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ A player character might spend 1 Momentum to 
  puzzle out a section of the alien hieroglyphics, 
  but at the cost of 2§ Resolve from the disquiet-
  ing revelations.
  ■
  ■ While in the temple zone, the player characters 
  can use 1 Momentum to slide off the stairs into the 
  fray, gaining a Knockdown on their first attack.
  ■
  ■ While in the temple zone, the player character can 
  expend 1 Momentum to slam a foe against the 
  surface of the bronze door, inflicting another § 
  of damage.
  Snake Warren
  If the player characters defeat or out-maneuver the guard-
  ian they can descend into the tunnel, into the cavernous 
  abode of the monstrous serpent. Scattered about are the 
  undigested remains of its past kills: bits of metal, bones, 
  and a few odd coins. There are several tunnels branching 
  to the surface, some extending out for hundreds of yards.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  Kuthchemes boasts few inhabitants. The outer zone is 
  strangely devoid of any type of life. Once in the Outbuildings 
  Zone, the player characters encounter little unless they 
  begin disturbing the ruins. Nests of venomous snakes show 
  malevolence to any who begin inspecting the buildings 
  too closely. Perils such as scorpions can pose a nuisance 
  for any who tarry too long, or blunder in without looking.
  At the gamemaster’s discretion, there could be another 
  group of desert warrior nomads taking shelter in the ruins, 
  or perhaps they spotted the player characters and now lie 
  in ambush. Thieves have long hunted for a way to this sup-
  posed hoard and it is possible that they could encounter a 
  mistrustful, but knowledgeable, ally on this very mission. 
  Cultists of Thugra Khotan may be aware of the trespass upon 
  the holy site and seek revenge while the player characters 
  are occupied with exploration or another foe. There were 
  countless sacrifices to Set in the city, and a restless ghost may 
  still haunt some corner where their life was violently taken.
  Approaching Thugra Khotan
  Thugra Khotan sleeps on his crystal dais, unchanged since 
  the day Kuthchemes fell. He needs but a mortal anchor 
  GUARDIAN OF THUGRA 
  KHOTAN (NEMESIS)
  Whether it was the favor of Set that assigned this mon-
  strosity its task to shield Thugra Khotan, or if his cult 
  conjured it, is unknown. The beast itself sleeps languidly 
  in its warren, able to subsist on the occasional unwary 
  traveler. Use the write-up for the Giant Venomous Snake 
  in the CONAN corebook on page 330, with the follow-
  ing modifications.
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Blinding Speed: The creature may spend a Minor 
  Action to go first in a combat round, without a 
  Doom spend.
  ■
  ■ Dread Creature 3
  ■
  ■ Fast Recovery (Vigor 5): The snake regenerates 5 
  points of Vigor at the start of each turn, unless it is 
  injured by a weapon poisoned with its own venom. 
  It cannot regenerate these injuries but will still 
  recover from others.
  ■
  ■ Inhuman Agility 1, Brawn 1, and Coordination 1
  ■
  ■ Inured to Poison: Excepting its own poison, to 
  which it is highly susceptible. It takes double 
  damage from a so-poisoned weapon.
  
  23
  ANCIENT RUINS
  to pull his unconscious mind back into the world. There 
  are several conditions that may trigger his awakening. If 
  a living being approaches within twenty feet or attacks in 
  some fashion (arrow, rock) the horror in the crystal leaps to 
  his defense while the magician surfaces from his magical 
  slumber. This demon vaguely resembles a deformed camel; 
  but splits its guise into two. The other aspect is a monstrous 
  ape. What one sees and experiences the other does as well.
  The gamemaster should use the demon of the Outer Dark 
  (Nemesis, Horror) for the camel-beast and the winged ape 
  (Nemesis, Horror) from pages 347 and 343, respectively, of 
  the Conan corebook. If one is defeated, the other is imme-
  diately banished.
  ■
  ■ Thugra Khotan will awaken in two turns. He will be 
  able to understand Stygian and after a few turns, his 
  great intellect will allow him to decipher basic mean-
  ing of most tongues.
  ■
  ■ At the gamemaster’s discretion, the magician may 
  try to enlist the players in his scheme to restore the 
  ancient Stygian empire or he may just simply wish to 
  buy them off until he can concoct a suitable revenge. 
  Any alliance with Thugra Khotan will be fraught with 
  constant danger of betrayal.
  THUGRA KHOTAN (NEMESIS)
  When the Hyborians were still pulling themselves up from 
  rude savagery, Thugra Khotan was a powerful sorcerer. In his 
  time, he ruled the ancient city of Kuthchemes, which was 
  older still. He sought to conquer the world and made some 
  progress as his armies moved north. They were met by the 
  upstart, degenerate races of the north and stopped. Thugra 
  Khotan and his army were forced to retreat into their city.
  His power was legendary, and it is said that he ruled 
  Kuthchemes for the lifetimes of four mortal men before those 
  selfsame barbarians swept south and assaulted the city. His 
  sorcery, however potent it was, did not keep the savages from 
  storming the gates and crawling over the walls like vermin.
  As his city fell, Thugra Khotan entombed himself under 
  the great dome at the city’s center. There, he put himself 
  into a slumber which was neither life nor death, to wait the 
  long ages ahead until he could awaken again. He locked 
  himself inside with an ingenious mechanism on the door. 
  The city fell to ruin and was eventually forgotten. Apart from 
  the fading ink of dusty scrolls, so too was Thugra Khotan.
  In life, he was power-hungry and lascivious. Where other 
  wizards sought the supple flesh of young, comely women 
  only for their value to the demons of the Outer Dark, Thugra 
  Khotan used them to satiate his libidinous nature. There 
  was no depravity to which Thugra Khotan was immune, 
  and some fifty of Kuthchemes’ beautiful daughters were 
  imprisoned in his tomb — buried alive with him, a dark 
  and savage means of prolonging the sorcerer’s life for eons.
  Having slept for some three thousand years, the black 
  soul of Thugra Khotan now stirs. An inchoate thing, he 
  appears in peripheral glances, a shadowy inky spot in cor-
  ners and on ceilings. In such a form, he is known as “Natohk 
  the Veiled One” — none have ever seen his face. This life 
  force finds respite in the city of Akbitana but reaches out 
  to find willing minds — especially those of worthy females.
  Even for all of this, Natohk, and the body of Thugra Khotan 
  in Kuthchemes, is not alive. He still slumbers, on the edge of 
  the Outer Dark perhaps, waiting for someone to at last unlock 
  his tomb and wake him once again. On that day, he will 
  gather an army anew and tread the world under the demonic 
  hooves of the nightmare mount he will summon (see below).
  ATTRIBUTES
  Awareness
  Intelligence
  Personality
  Willpower
  11 (1)
  14 (1)
  10 (1)
  12 (1)
  Agility
  Brawn
  Coordination
  8
  9
  8
  FIELDS OF EXPERTISE
  Combat
  2
  Movement
  1
  Fortitude
  2
  Senses
  3
  Knowledge
  5
  Social
  1
  STRESS AND SOAK
  ■
  ■ Stress: Vigor 11, Resolve 15
  ■
  ■ Soak: Armor (Unnatural) 2, Courage 5
  ATTACKS
  ■
  ■ Zhaibar Knife (M): Reach 1, 5§, 1H, Unforgiving 2
  ■
  ■ Sorcerous Might (T): Range M, 5§ mental, Area, 
  Intense
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Spells: Thugra Khotan has access to any spells 
  from the sorcery chapter of the Conan corebook.
  ■
  ■ More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine: 
  Thugra Khotan is a sorcerer of impossible potency 
  and resilience. Any spell cast against him is one 
  step more Difficult than normal.
  ■
  ■ Inured to Fear
  ■
  ■ Inhuman Awareness 1, Intelligence 1, 
  Personality 1, Willpower 1
  DOOM SPENDS
  ■
  ■ More than Human: At the cost of 6 Doom, Thugra 
  Khotan can ignore all damage inflicted upon him 
  for that turn.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  24
  NIGHTMARE MOUNT 
  (TOUGHENED, HORROR)
  These creatures are not steeds in the mortal sense, though 
  they take the form of such when drawn down from the 
  Outer Dark. They may appear as horses, yaks, donkeys, and 
  camels. Thugra Khotan gained such a nightmare mount by 
  pact. His appeared in the form of a camel.
  These beasts never look quite mortal, and one need 
  only glimpse them to see the eldritch fire burning faintly 
  around them. Their hooves leave glowing tracks for minutes 
  after their passing. As unnatural mounts, nightmares do 
  not slow for any terrain. These creatures have been seen 
  running over corpses heaped like hillocks as though along 
  a smooth, paved road.
  While a pact creates a contract between sorcerer and 
  demonic mount, that arrangement is not inviolate. These 
  are demons, not animals to be cowed by the will of men. 
  The mount serves the wizard in a limited capacity only. 
  Parameters must be drawn that, if broken, cause the 
  pact to cease.
  The reason for this is very specific, though few know 
  it. These demons are not stupid, mindless minions who 
  caper like broken marionettes in the Outer Dark — each 
  of them is a real and powerful demon. They are bound by 
  other, more puissant, lords as punishment for failed service. 
  Conscription into the form of an animal is a humiliating, 
  though effective, punitive response for displeasing beings 
  man was not meant to know.
  Any of these demons’ actual appearance is abhorrent to 
  the human mind. One cannot see their true form and escape 
  with nerves intact. On occasion, the creatures evidence 
  some aspect of their true form on this earthly plane — wings 
  spread, smoky tendrils leaking from nostrils, eyes tripling 
  in size and becoming faceted like those of an insect. Even 
  a slim betrayal of the mortal coil can drive a man to lunacy.
  While these demons serve as punishment, none are 
  expected to forfeit their lives in the mortal world. Should 
  the danger become too great, they vanish into the inter-
  stices between worlds, never to return to their supposed 
  master. How long each demon so punished must suffer this 
  indignity is up to their lord. The worse their transgression, 
  the longer and more odious their servitude.
  While the demon holds this form, it cannot speak or 
  otherwise communicate with anyone. It is as if the hideous, 
  malignant mind watches helplessly behind the dumb animal 
  it now inhabits. Such is the torture of those so disciplined.
  These creatures may also pull chariots and wagons. 
  When so doing, they convey to the vehicle the same ability 
  to ignore the vagaries of terrain.
  ATTRIBUTES
  Awareness
  Intelligence
  Personality
  Willpower
  10
  8
  5
  9
  Agility
  Brawn
  Coordination
  11
  12
  11
  FIELDS OF EXPERTISE
  Combat
  3
  Movement
  4
  Fortitude
  3
  Senses
  2
  Knowledge
  —
  Social
  —
  STRESS AND SOAK
  ■
  ■ Stress: Vigor 12, Resolve 9
  ■
  ■ Soak: Armor 3 (Unnatural Flesh), Courage 5
  ATTACKS
  ■
  ■ Hooved Maul (M): Reach 1, 5§, Stun
  ■
  ■ Unnatural Aspect (T): Range C, 5§ mental, Stun
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Familiar
  ■
  ■ Flight
  ■
  ■ Mount
  ■
  ■ Sorcerer: The nightmare mount may know a 
  variety of spells, but always knows Form of a Beast 
  and Haunt the Mind.
  ■
  ■ Surefooted: Nightmare mounts are immune to 
  Hazardous and Dangerous terrain.
  DOOM SPENDS
  ■
  ■ Trample: For 1 Doom each, the nightmare mount 
  may trample man and beast underfoot for 3§. 
  This applies to anyone in the creature’s path 
  (assuming they have enough Doom). For mass 
  combat, this applies to an entire unit for every 2 
  Doom spent. The mount must have a running 
  start of at least 30 yards for this to work.
  TREASURE
  The desert approach and outbuilding zones may contain 
  small pieces of coins, jewelry, or other valuables, half sub-
  merged in the sand. Due to their antiquity, such pieces 
  would likely fetch double or even triple the usual market 
  value. The guardian’s warren would have a smaller cache 
  of various trinkets or valuables from the ages. The main 
  temple is literally full of treasure, but looting it is impossible 
  while the Horror and Thugra Khotan live.
  At the gamemaster’s discretion the player characters can 
  make off with 5 Gold worth of treasure without having to 
  slay the monstrosity that is Thugra Khotan. Should they 
  
  25
  ANCIENT RUINS
  fell that nemesis, however, they would have gold and jewels 
  with which to buy a throne.
  EXPERIENCE
  Simply finding the lost city should earn the player char-
  acters 50 experience points each. Getting into the temple 
  and defeating the guardian is worth 100 experience points. 
  Coming away with any of Thugra Khotan’s loot is worth 
  another 25 experience points. Killing or defeating Thugra 
  Khotan and his Horror is worth whatever the gamemas-
  ter decides.
  OSTANTIA, LOST 
  CITY OF ACHERON
  Ostantia, once a byword for power and influence, was a 
  legendary city that extended the rule of ancient Acheron 
  to the very Styx. Though its location was clearly shown on 
  ancient maps, none could find it, and rumors that it had 
  been turned to sand by the power of Set became generally 
  accepted as fact.
  In truth, the city lay buried for centuries under tons of 
  silt and sand until a freak storm laid bare the mummified 
  streets of this once great city. To wander Ostantia now is to 
  cross a shattered ruin of massive craters and broken roads. 
  Where once resplendent palaces loomed, there are now 
  only lonely skeletal ruins.
  OVERVIEW
  The true tale of Ostantia is one of betrayal and sorcery, but 
  to understand its demise is to understand the empire that 
  gave it birth. Acheron was an empire obsessed with sorcery. 
  To fuel this obsession the world was pillaged for offerings 
  and places of power. Where such places were discovered, 
  entire tribes were put to the sword in dark sacrifice. When 
  Acheron fell cities like Ostantia lingered on, keeping the 
  memory of that empire a glowing ember till one by one 
  they were snuffed out.
  Ostantia was crushed a century after the fall of Acheron. 
  Khayu-Seka, the Stygian king, lusted after the city’s wealth, 
  and while his priests warned him of dire portents his general 
  Si-Tayit was sent to sack the city and slay its praetor Septimus. 
  The priests’ warnings were horribly true, and upon Septimus’s 
  death a monstrous creature was freed. The shadow of 
  Septimus began feasting upon citizen and pillager alike, shat-
  tering buildings and trapping the invaders with sand storms.
  It was only through the valiant actions of the priestess 
  Amenirdis that the shadow was quelled. Through great 
  sacrifices and fell alchemy she sealed the shadow within 
  the palace and buried the city within the sands.
  THE CITY’S  
  REMAINING EDIFICES
  These locations should be used by the gamemaster to play 
  up the creepiness of a newly-uncovered city. Doom should 
  be spent to emphasize the eerie quiet, and characters that 
  talk should be wary of summoning guards deaf to any pleas 
  for understanding.
  “Aye. And when the day of reckoning came, the 
  sword was not spared. So Acheron ceased to be, 
  and purple-towered Python became a memory 
  of forgotten days. But the younger kingdoms 
  rose on the imperial ruins and waxed great. 
  And now we have brought you back to aid us 
  to rule these kingdoms, which, if less strange 
  and wonderful than Acheron of old, are yet rich 
  and powerful, well worth fighting for. Look!”
  — Orastes, The Hour of the Dragon
  STORY SEEDS
  Eyes of the Dead
  The cult of Thugra Khotan requires coins bearing his like-
  ness to be placed over the eyes of their dead. Otherwise, 
  they are unable to pay their passage over the Styx and 
  into the darkness beyond. They need mercenaries to 
  venture into the ruins and retrieve these relics so that 
  they may send off a recently deceased high priest or hero.
  Curse of the Headless
  Generations ago, an ancestor was brought as a slave 
  into Kuthchemes. In a grisly rite, he was decapitated in 
  Set’s name. Since then his shade has hounded his family, 
  always pointing to the lost city. Only by burying him, skull 
  and skeleton together, in a proper consecrated grave will 
  the family know peace.
  Storm of Sand
  While en route to another location, an unnatural storm 
  erupts over the player characters, driving them into the 
  ruins. What called them there? Was it the same force 
  that summoned the storm? Has Thugra Khotan begun 
  to stir after his millennia of sleep?
  
  CHAPTER 1
  26
  The Two Craters
  Two massive craters have ripped apart the city. Any player 
  character with an Alchemy Expertise of 2+ will suffer 3§ 
  mental damage when they realize these were caused by 
  massive explosions! Each is a quarter of a mile in diameter 
  and 200 feet deep. A layer of loose sand covers the crater. 
  Anyone traversing the crater must make an Average (D1) 
  Athletics test, with failure leading to a one-story fall before 
  they can stop their slide. Those subject to the Knockdown 
  Quality are affected in a similar manner, and player charac-
  ters fighting in the crater can add the Knockdown Quality 
  to their attacks for 2 Momentum with each attack.
  Several buildings have shattered and fallen in from 
  the lip of the crater, leading to strange accumulations of 
  walls and statues. While player characters can easily find 
  a place to hide here, there’s little to nothing in the way 
  of food or water, and a Challenging (D2) Survival test is 
  needed to remain more than a few hours.
  Unearthed Theater
  Possibly the largest remaining Acheronian theatre, capable 
  of entertaining hundreds of citizens, this edifice is filled 
  with corpses mummified by the sand. Some litter the stage 
  while others remain hiding from some unknown threat. 
  The stage has perfect acoustics, increasing the Difficulty 
  of Stealth tests by one step, allowing player characters 
  using the Threaten Action to spend 1 Doom and gain the 
  Vicious Quality. The stage has numerous broken trap-doors, 
  allowing player characters to spend 3 Doom to trigger them 
  as a one-story pit trap.
  ATAVISTIC VOYAGE AND SECRETS FROM THE PAST
  A sorcerer using the Atavistic Voyage spell has great scope 
  to both derail an investigation and unearth mysteries 
  long buried. If the player characters also have within 
  their number a sorcerer with this spell, the Wayward 
  Journey alternate effect may also be considered to situ-
  ate the player characters in the roles of Amenirdis and 
  her disciples. If the gamemaster decides to do this, the 
  journeying characters emerge in a dust storm just after 
  the two massive explosions have covered the sky in dust. 
  They need to find out what is going on. This could be as 
  simple as having a single encounter with the shadow of 
  Septimus or could be run as an adventure with the player 
  characters hunted through the carnage of Ostantia’s fall.
  Scholarly characters without the Atavistic Voyage 
  spell may also have some understanding of the Fall. A 
  Challenging (D2) Lore test provides the following.
  KNOWLEDGE GAINS
  Momentum
  Knowledge
  0
  Stygia destroyed the city to ensure control of the Styx river. The city was rediscovered a few years 
  ago and the easy riches have been sacked.
  1
  The city was an important port with a fabulous and still-buried palace.
  2
  The city was Acheronian with Shemite and Stygian populations.
  3
  The city fell due to civil infighting with Shemites and Stygians seeking independence from Acheron.
  
  27
  ANCIENT RUINS
  Unearthed Gardens
  Some unknown power has caused the gardens to bloom once 
  more. Of the entire city, this is the only color to be found. 
  To an alchemist, the garden is a treasure trove which can be 
  harvested, yielding 5 offerings or ingredients. It’s entirely 
  possible that some of these plants have a narcotic pollen 
  (requiring an Average [D1] Resistance test or suffering 1 
  Fatigue) or poisonous sap (requiring a Challenging [D2] 
  Resistance or suffer 1 Fatigue and 4§ damage).
  Furthermore, perhaps a malign intelligence waits 
  amongst the leaves (see Conan corebook, page 340).
  Ruined Streets
  The streets of the city are haphazard at best with dangerous 
  and difficult terrain being commonplace. Such metal that 
  remains has been sanded to a high polish, dazzling those 
  unfortunate to have to look past them. Combat is a dirty 
  affair of pits and sundered walls. Cover is commonplace 
  and hiding places easy to come across. Player characters 
  won’t get a stand-up fight in the streets, and chases should 
  be brutal affairs with Doom spent on niggling injuries and 
  traps hidden by fellow thieves. Momentum spends should 
  see player characters leaping over broken walls to catch 
  pursuers with a surprising blow and walls toppled with 
  relative ease.
  Player characters that take damage can, for 2 Doom, be 
  knocked into a fragile wall which will grant the attack the 
  Stun quality. Alternately, the gamemaster can spend 2 Doom 
  to have loose bricks fall onto player characters causing 3§ 
  damage with the Knockdown and Stun Qualities.
  Partially Buried Obelisk
  This obelisk shows signs that Set and Isis were both wor-
  shiped within the confines of the city. While an initially 
  intriguing and beautiful piece of carving, it becomes obvious 
  that it will take several weeks of work to excavate an obe-
  lisk which may or may not be intact. The obelisk becomes 
  more interesting when examined by a sorcerer. Its peak 
  is a thin place or a naturally occurring magical circle of 
  power (see Conan corebook, page 144). Freak occurrences 
  occur here with lost time, déjà vu, and visitors babbling in 
  unknown languages.
  The Palace of Ostantia
  While the upper floors of the palace have been shattered, 
  the ground floor is still a visible husk rising from the sand. 
  Player characters under attack here have ample cover (See 
  Ruined Streets, above) though it is here that Septimus lies 
  buried, and any player character too engrossed in combat 
  or treasure hunting will likely disturb his shadow.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  Though these are ruins of the dead, they are not entirely 
  without life. Even the most remote chance of treasure 
  brings men and women of avarice, regardless of the risk. 
  Those unnatural beings which yet lurk here are even more 
  puissant and dangerous.
  Guards and Treasure Hunters
  Where there is wealth there are thieves. A gang of desert-
  ers from a Shemite garrison have taken to hiding in the 
  ruins and looting from the dead. They do not take kindly 
  to intruders “stealing” their treasure, and ambush anyone 
  they come across. In turn, these deserters are hunted by 
  their former comrades who will happily rob the deserters. 
  All guards and deserters can use the guard from the Conan 
  corebook (page 317) although they are armed with slings 
  and short swords.
  The Shadow of Septimus
  The shadow is a Shadow on the Wall (see page 187 of the 
  Conan corebook) that has grown in power to become a 
  Nemesis. Its power has grown so great that it can now only 
  be contained. So long as the corpse of Septimus is incapable 
  of casting a shadow, the creature will be trapped and unable 
  to use its powers. The shadow is a sorcerer with the spells 
  Dismember, Venom on the Wind, and Summon a Horror, with 
  which it will summon additional shadows on the wall.
  The shadow can be used several ways — varying from 
  simple monster to a shadowy hunter that toys with the 
  player characters and haunts their steps.
  Amenirdis
  A loyal priestess of the Stygian pantheon, Amenirdis took 
  on the task of defeating the horrors of the world. If a player 
  character uses Atavistic Voyage they will be seated within 
  her body but, for simplicity, can use their own skills and 
  attributes. Non-player characters who encounter her are 
  generally deferential, but more concerned with escaping 
  the city than obeying commands.
  Stygian Warriors and Shemite Citizens
  Other player characters should inhabit a Stygian warrior 
  to control for the duration of any dalliance into the exotic 
  past. These Stygian warriors should use the Bodyguard 
  stats (page 313 of the Conan corebook) although they will be 
  armed with spears, shields, swords, and daggers and wear 
  bronze helmets and breastplates with a Soak 3.
  Players interested in a greater challenge could be granted 
  guard minions (page 317 of the Conan corebook) to symbolize 
  weaker members of the Stygian invasion force, or simple 
  citizens striving in the face of occult horror.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  28
  TREASURE
  With peril comes reward, should one first survive the peril. 
  Below are suggestions for the value of what a given group 
  may haul from these storied ruins.
  Robbing the dead
  ■
  ■ Those who stop to loot the corpses in the street 
  will find occasional pieces of jewelry worth 1 Gold. 
  Opportunistic thievery (Conan corebook, page 136) 
  can be used each scene to find additional treasures.
  The Treasures of Septimus
  ■
  ■ Septimus wears gold jewelry equal to 6 Gold per 
  player character and, if defeated during the sacking 
  of Ostantia, he has coffers of silver equal to double 
  this amount.
  EXPERIENCE
  Defeating the shadow in a more permanent fashion is worth 
  200 experience points, and forming an alliance, defeating 
  or proactively avoiding combat with the shadow or any 
  human faction is worth an additional 100 experience points.
  DREAD R’LYEH
  Consumed by the ocean, swallowed by the waves, swept 
  from the surface of the earth by the unconstrained raging 
  of the elements… and yet still, the fetid city of R’lyeh exerts 
  its influence upon the lands above, probing and insinuating 
  and corrupting all that walks upon the earth. Sometimes, 
  when the plates of the globe collide with one another, and 
  the waters recede for a time, the city of Cthulhu emerges. 
  The impossible angles of the city, its geometries of madness, 
  call to those whose minds are open and unguarded against 
  the assaults of the city’s master and beckon to those whose 
  lust for adventure and for treasure is greater than their 
  sense of self-preservation.
  OVERVIEW
  Who, or what, built the maddening city of R’lyeh, it is impos-
  sible to know. There are some scholars, those who have 
  delved most deeply into the sinister truths which underpin 
  the cosmos, who maintain that R’lyeh does not exist in this 
  plane of reality at all. That this Earth, a place where things 
  as real as the Aquilonian cities and the Stygian temples 
  stand, could sustain a place like R’lyeh is inconceivable. It 
  defies the physical laws of reality. It exists, instead, in some 
  place alongside the Hyborian era, coterminous but separate.
  The great environmental cataclysms which have some-
  times seemed to dredge R’lyeh back to the surface are not as 
  they might appear; instead, these frenetic moments of tem-
  pest and tremors are the discharge of great magical energies 
  which, temporarily, draw the dread sunken realm of R’lyeh 
  into alignment with the world upon which men stalk. This, 
  like those instances when stars and other celestial bodies 
  fall into conjunction with one another, is only temporary. 
  Yet, the residue of R’lyeh’s momentary intrusion into the 
  world is pertinacious, and it slowly erodes that which we 
  might call reality around it… one day, perhaps, it shall do 
  so permanently and the world itself will be constituted of 
  cyclopean stone blocks, arranged by an intelligence far 
  beyond the limits of anything mortal.
  FEATURES OF R’LYEH
  It is difficult to truly define one area of R’lyeh as being sepa-
  rate or distinct from the others, so bizarrely do its topogra-
  phies bleed into one another. There is, however, a tale of a 
  cartographer who made the mistake of attempting to map 
  R’lyeh; when his companions found him, a scant three hours 
  later, he had plucked his own eyes from his head. The place 
  is wholly impossible to represent in terms understandable 
  to the minds of men, and yet there are areas which recur in 
  all stories and fevered recollections of the place, bellowed 
  by dreaming men and women desperate to be awoken.
  The Impossible Staircase
  A towering, spiraling mass of stone, stretching upwards 
  and curving inexorably in on itself. Its magnitude, and the 
  perspective-warping nature of the non-Euclidean angles 
  which constitute it, mean that what the staircase ascends 
  towards is beyond guessing — if it even possesses an ending 
  and does not simply go eternally upward, into the stars and 
  He has on rare occasions whispered disjointed 
  and irresponsible things about “the black 
  pit”, “the carven rim”, “the proto-shoggoths”, 
  “the windowless solids with five dimensions”, 
  “the nameless cylinder”, “the elder pharos”, 
  “Yog-Sothoth”, “the primal white jelly”, “the 
  colour out of space”, “the wings”, “the eyes in 
  darkness”, “the moon-ladder”, “the original, 
  the eternal, the undying”, and other bizarre 
  conceptions; but when he is fully himself he 
  repudiates all this and attributes it to his 
  curious and macabre reading of earlier years.
  — “At the Mountains of 
  Madness”, H.P. Lovecraft
  
  29
  ANCIENT RUINS
  those even stranger worlds lurking behind them. Each stair 
  is substantially taller than a man but designed for creatures 
  smaller than the master of R’lyeh is purported to be. What 
  these eldritch servitors might have been is uncertain — per-
  haps the star spawn which, it is inscribed in the black books 
  of Eibon and other maddening texts, Cthulhu brought with 
  him? Something crueler and uglier still? But their mark has 
  been left in the dripping stone of the city they once inhabited.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Using Momentum can allow a player character 
  to fling an enemy from the top of one of the vast 
  stairs onto the cold, hard stone beneath. This 
  inflicts 5§ damage to the unfortunate victim. 
  Additionally, using Momentum can enable player 
  characters to scale these huge, dripping planes of 
  stone, gaining distance when fleeing or drawing 
  closer if in pursuit.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend Doom to have a foe of 
  the player characters knock one prone and force 
  them to look upwards, into the unending, unravel-
  ling madness roiling above. What the player char-
  acters witness in that illimitable space is entirely 
  up to the gamemaster and the player to determine 
  — could it be some glimpse of a dreadful future yet 
  to pass? A ravening horde of teeth and necrotic 
  flesh poised to consume the earth? An ocean of 
  blood and bone into which all living things will 
  be consigned at the point of death? Whatever the 
  case, it should be treated as a Threaten Attack 
  which causes 6§ mental damage.
  The Great Door
  The vast seal of R’lyeh, carved with the symbol of Cthulhu; 
  the door behind which the Great Priest is concealed and 
  contained and protected in his aeon-spanning sleep. The 
  substance from which it is carved is impossible to guess 
  and how it was done is likewise impossible to discern. The 
  portal is surrounded by jambs and hinges, so many and 
  of such complex design that it seems as though it could 
  not possibly be opened. Instead, it is as if each set should 
  resist the attempt to drag it open and reveal the darkness 
  within, and yet it is known to open, at certain times, with the 
  smoothness and ease with which an oiled sword is drawn 
  from its sheath. The angle at which the door lies cannot be 
  determined — does it lie flat, a vast trapdoor in the stone, 
  or does it remain upright, stark against the gulfs behind 
  it? While such a question has been known to drive men to 
  distraction, what the door hides is more maddening still.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ The ingenious player character can utilize the 
  shifting angles and perspectives of the Great Door 
  to delude, confuse, and wrongfoot their oppo-
  nents. Spending 2 Momentum can enable the 
  player characters to attack a foe for a second time; 
  this time, leaping from above when moments 
  before it had appeared the enemy towered 
  over them.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Amid combat, the gamemaster can spend 3 Doom 
  to have a single tentacle emerge from the door, 
  flailing about it — use the giant constrictor snake 
  (see Conan corebook, page 329) for the tentacle, 
  while not using any of the psychological attacks — 
  to dismiss those who would seek to wake Cthulhu 
  before the proper time.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  Little lives in the ruins of R’lyeh, and that which does is 
  fundamentally unlike any life which occupies the pure, 
  solid earth of the Thurian continent. It is twisted, warped, 
  pestilential and gazing upon it is enough to drive even the 
  most redoubtable men and women to the edge of sanity. 
  When populating R’lyeh, utilize the Otherworldly Foes sec-
  tion of the Conan corebook (page 345), but emphasize the 
  physical strangeness of the creatures, constantly change 
  the descriptions, and never let players become used to 
  their manifestation.
  TREASURE
  There is little in the way of treasure to be found in R’lyeh; 
  glinting idols depicting the unseen master of the city can 
  be purloined but beyond this, there is nothing.
  EXPERIENCE
  Visiting and escaping the sunken ruins of R’lyeh can be 
  rewarded by the gamemaster with the following experi-
  ence points.
  ■
  ■ 100 experience points for escaping alive, and still 
  sane, from Cthulhu’s residence.
  ■
  ■ 100 experience points for battling the tentacle of 
  Cthulhu, successfully — it may only be one small part 
  of the mountainous god’s form, but it is a part.
  ■
  ■ 50 experience points for bringing back some part of 
  the impossible city to the Thurian continent.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  30
  STENOPOS, THE 
  POISON CITY
  One of many towns founded by the Acheronians during 
  their age of supremacy, Stenopos sits on the banks of the 
  Pamukale River that winds through the ridge of mountains 
  that separates eastern Argos and western Koth. Lost in these 
  wilds, this site was famed for its extensive baths and hot 
  springs, but is now abandoned utterly, shunned by even 
  wildlife. Even the vegetation seems to shun it, and the 
  surrounding ground is relatively sparse of grass and trees, 
  though elsewhere within sight the area is relatively normal. 
  From a distance, it looks inexplicably intact, and even 
  inhabited, as evident in the haze of yellowish smoke that 
  hangs over it. The town itself is organized along a single, 
  central boulevard leading to the riverbank, all buildings 
  facing it and small side-streets running parallel to the 
  river itself. Squat bath-houses and small buildings stand 
  relatively intact, with wide pools standing open to the sky. 
  Curiously, the streets are empty of all vegetation. No 
  grass protrudes between flagstones, no vines or trees have 
  reclaimed the area, and no trace of paint or enamel shines 
  from the building’s surfaces. The once-white marble of 
  the town is now a dull, dingy color not unlike that of yel-
  lowed bone. 
  The Burning Haze 
  As one approaches Stenopos, its true state becomes more 
  evident — the city itself is utterly abandoned and a strange 
  and unpleasant smell hangs above it, creating a light yel-
  lowish fog. Made up of white stone and marble, the city’s 
  walls and structures are seemingly intact, but all wood has 
  disappeared, causing some collapses. 
  Close examination of the walls themselves reveal that 
  the formerly polished surfaces have been eroded away 
  almost uniformly, with pockmarks and pits where weaker 
  stone seemed to dissolve, as if the entire city was soaked in 
  some acid. A successful Average (D1) Alchemy test reveals 
  that this is not far from the truth, and that the smell in the 
  air is a sulfuric mix of gases normally associated with hot 
  springs, but these should be relatively harmless. Minor 
  exposure to the gas is harmless but staying for an extended 
  period in the ruins might be irritating to the lungs, eyes, 
  and skin. This gas is the apparent cause of the city’s decay, 
  but to a seemingly impossible degree. 
  The Baths of Stenopos 
  The baths that the city was famed for are plentiful, and the 
  markings on the entrances to each indicate a variety of ser-
  vices and their prices, though the exact language is in the 
  Acheronian tongue and requires a successful Challenging 
  (D2) Linguistics test to decipher. Each contains small pools 
  with spigots to control the flow of the hot water, empty 
  pools that were used for cooling and rinsing, tables for 
  massage and oil applications, stone basins for mixing vari-
  ous substances to be applied to visitors, and the like. Some 
  of the spigots still work, and a few still drip intermittently, 
  their stone spouts boasting mineral encrustations hanging 
  downward and solidifying below. Everything about the 
  place seems utterly innocuous, though 
  The Horror Beneath
  The gamemaster can leave Stenopos an intriguing — if minor 
  — mystery or introduce a reason for the city’s destruction 
  in the form of a gaseous entity from the same underworld 
  that birthed Thog of Xuthal, an unspeakable abomination 
  (page 345 of the Conan corebook) of a gaseous and extra-ter-
  rene nature. It lacks the Inhuman Brawn and Gargantuan 
  Maw attack but has the Incorporeal 5 Quality. The creature 
  solidifies out of the acidic haze and its Tentacle attacks have 
  the Persistent 1 Quality rather than Knockdown, causing an 
  acidic burning to those it strikes.  It will linger and skulk 
  around the fringes of vision, emerging from beneath the 
  city to strike at fresh prey. 
  TOMB OF 
  SEKHETMAATKA
  The tomb of Sekhetmaatka is a rock-cut tomb near the bend 
  where the Styx turns south. It does not lie in Stygia proper, 
  but in the desert to the northeast of that bend in the river, 
  a location once held by Stygia, but now unpatrolled and 
  unprotected by any nation.
  OVERVIEW
  The tomb of Sekhetmaatka was the burial chamber of a 
  powerful necromancer, a priestess of great wealth and 
  power from Stygia when it was a more powerful nation, in 
  the years when it built Zamboula. Sekhetmaatka’s full title 
  is Priestess of Set, Keeper of All Set’s Mysteries, Keeper of 
  the Third Mystery of Derketo, Årit Priestess in the House 
  of the Black Circle, Priestess of Horology in the Craftsmen 
  of Derketo’s Temple, and Unnu Priestess in the House of 
  the Black Circle. She was married three times in her life, to 
  men who were able to help her achieve her goals of wealth 
  and power. The tomb has been looted, either recently or 
  in the past, but the site is difficult to find and reach in the 
  desert. The Shemites fear the location and may try to keep 
  people from finding it.
  
  31
  ANCIENT RUINS
  ZONES
  There are no sources of natural light in this tomb, and no 
  sources of magical light. If the tomb is occupied, there may 
  be lit torches in various rooms. The gamemaster must make 
  that determination.
  Entry Stairway
  The passage narrows at the base the of the stairs and a stone 
  slab, which had been lowered by ropes when the priests left 
  the tomb, once barred the way, but it is now shattered, and 
  the dust and rubble from that shattering covers the steps 
  of this hall and the floor of the next chamber.
  Entry Hall
  The entry hall is at the base of the entry stairway, filled with 
  sand that has blown in since the outer door was burst open 
  by would-be thieves. Inscribed along the wall are protective 
  hieroglyphs, as well as the Sekhetmaatka’s names and titles. 
  The entry chamber is a chamber of historical record. It has 
  two large pillars holding up the weight of the room. This 
  chamber concludes with a steeply sloping passage but not 
  steep enough that it cannot be negotiated without stairs.
  Hall of the Deceased
  The Hall of the Deceased is a sloping passage. On each side 
  of this hall are images of the Sekhetmaatka and smaller 
  images of her three spouses, along with at least four rows 
  of hieroglyphs giving Sekhetmaatka’s various religious 
  names and all her titles. The rest of the images show her 
  life story. All the images are in sunken relief. The passage 
  narrows at the base the of the hall a smashed set of stone 
  doors (once closed with a bronze seal) terminates the hall.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can cause a cave-in or collapse 
  for 3 Doom. A cave-in or collapse consists of two 
  distinct areas: the bury zone (in the direct path 
  of the falling debris) and the dust zone (the area 
  the debris spreads out to encompass). Characters 
  in the bury zone always take damage from the 
  collapse and can be effectively grappled by the 
  debris (in other words, pinned down); characters 
  in the dust zone may be able to get out of the way. 
  Anyone in the collapsed room is in the bury zone. 
  Anyone in an adjacent area is in the dust zone.
  ■
  ■ Bury Zone Crush (M): 11§, Grappling, 
  Unforgiving 2.
  ■
  ■ Dust Zone Strike (R): Range L (adjacent 
  room), 4§
  Hall of Fent-fenkhu
  This is a steep stairway continuing the descent. The head 
  of Set adorns the far wall, watching the sloping hall and 
  those who ascend or descend. A spell for the deceased is 
  written out on the left-hand wall as one descends, giving 
  the deceased the power to turn into serpent so she can glide 
  unharmed to the remotest parts of the world. The ledge 
  on that side of the hall (floor level to the entry door) was 
  for the placement of mummified snakes. These mummies 
  have not been looted for their amulets.
  Along the right-hand wall another spell is written as 
  one descends, spelling out the formulae for turning the 
  deceased into a crocodile so that she can strike terror into 
  the hearts of all who sees her and so that she can seize her 
  prey when and where she wishes. The ledge on that side of 
  the hall (floor level to the entry door) was for the placement 
  of small mummified crocodiles, one of which was looted, 
  but the other five are intact. At the base of this wall is a 
  desiccated corpse — the looter of the crocodile mummy 
  above had fallen off the niche and broke his neck. Three 
  lapis lazuli amulets are clutched in his hand.
  The passage narrows at the base the of the stairs and 
  a set of stone doors (closed with a bronze seal) bars the 
  way. This doorway has been unsealed but remains intact. 
  Opening the doors requires a Challenging (D2) Athletics 
  test and is extremely noisy.
  RITUAL DEATH MAGIC
  This tomb, like many other Stygian tombs, has many spells 
  inscribed upon its wall, intended for the deceased to use 
  to guide their passage into the otherworld and afterlife. 
  The gamemaster should decide whether these spells 
  have any validity and confer any real benefit, or whether 
  they are merely superstition and meaningless ritual. All 
  these spells are written in a deliberately obscure fashion 
  in an archaic dialect of Stygian, increasing the Difficulty 
  of any attempts to read them by two steps.
  Should the gamemaster determine that these spells 
  indeed have magical properties, they should also consider 
  that the Stygians laid many traps for tomb-robbers, and 
  these spells might mask their true nature within seem-
  ingly beneficial intentions, cursing those who wilfully 
  use such magic without permission of the gods.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  32
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend Doom to activate one 
  animal mummy per point of Doom spent. Use the 
  attributes for a normal animal but add the Brain-
  dead and Unliving Qualities.
  ■
  ■ A sorcerous foe can spend 1 Doom to transform 
  into a serpent or crocodile.
  Hall of Beka-User
  This is another sloping passageway, but with at least four 
  statues of ungainly bestial gods in the corners. A power-
  ful spell, usable by the undead, is inscribed on the north 
  wall, which teaches the deceased how to take the form of a 
  golden hawk so it can fly to the sun and visit all of the sky at 
  will. Another spell is inscribed on the east wall, giving the 
  deceased the secret name of Set so that she can be reborn 
  in the afterlife in a place called the Mesqet, as well as giving 
  the deceased the power to enter and leave his tomb at will. 
  Yet another spell is inscribed on the south wall, which 
  tells the deceased how to grab the east and north winds 
  by their hair, the west wind by its beautiful body, and the 
  south wind by its eye, and force them to take the deceased 
  where they wish to go.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to topple a 
  statue onto a foe.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to use one 
  of the statues as cover to escape an attack.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Spell-casting, intelligent and unliving foes may 
  perform one or more of the following Doom 
  spends, each costing 1 Doom:
  ■
  ■ Cause powerful winds to blow toward the surface, 
  knocking the player characters prone.
  ■
  ■ Transform into a golden hawk to escape.
  ■
  ■ Teleport out of the tomb to the entrance.
  Hall of Waiting
  The Hall of Waiting is not really a hall, but is essentially 
  just a deep, dark pit. The walls are inscribed with images of 
  the gods of the afterworld. This pit is 60 feet deep and ten 
  feet across, and a loathsome demonic Horror lives at the 
  bottom, with the gamemaster determining its exact nature. 
  A wooden bridge may have been lain over the chasm if the 
  tomb is occupied by living beings.
  
  33
  ANCIENT RUINS
  Momentum Spends
  Player characters can spend Momentum in one of the 
  following ways:
  ■
  ■ Three Momentum to spring against the wall to 
  jump back across.
  ■
  ■ One Momentum catch onto the far wall if a jump 
  test fails.
  ■
  ■ Two Momentum to knock the bridge (if present) 
  into the pit while enemies are on it.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have 
  the Horror rise out of the pit and attack the 
  player characters.
  Hall of Life
  This level hall is inscribed with paintings of every-day 
  life, especially showing servants doing labor while the 
  Sekhetmaatka, in giant form, watches. The floor was once 
  littered with hundreds of ushabtiu figurines doing labor 
  or just standing, but these have all been knocked or swept 
  up against the walls in large disorganized piles. Six col-
  umns hold up the ceiling and depict gods, workmen and 
  Sekhetmaatka. Prayers entreating the ushabtiu to do work 
  for the deceased are inscribed on the walls. Five doorways 
  lead further into additional chambers.
  Hall of the Dead
  This is the burial chamber of Sekhetmaatka. Within the 
  burial chamber is a large, red granite sarcophagus containing 
  her mummy. The walls are painted with the funerary texts 
  and images of the gods. The chamber also has several statues 
  of lumbering monster-gods, including a sinister figure of Set.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can animate the statues for 2 Doom.
  The House of Gold
  This is where most of the treasure is stored. There are four 
  columns in the room and treasure is piled all over the floors. 
  Great texts of hieroglyphs decorate the walls. See Treasure 
  on page 34 for more details.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can cause a cave-in or collapse 
  for 3 Doom. A cave-in or collapse consists of two 
  distinct areas: the bury zone (in the direct path 
  of the falling debris) and the dust zone (the area 
  the debris spreads out to encompass). Characters 
  in the bury zone always take damage from the 
  collapse and can be effectively grappled by the 
  debris (in other words, pinned down); characters 
  in the dust zone may be able to get out of the way. 
  Anyone in the collapsed room is in the bury zone. 
  Anyone in an adjacent area is in the dust zone.
  ■
  ■ Bury Zone Crush (M): Reach 3, 11§, 
  Grappling, Unforgiving 2
  ■
  ■ Dust Zone Strike (R): Range L (adja-
  cent room), 4§
  Ceremony Chamber
  This chamber depicts the opening-of-the-mouth ceremony 
  in elaborate detail, allowing the deceased to occupy his 
  mummy or any of the statues in the tomb, among other 
  powers and abilities granted. Should the name of the 
  deceased be defaced entirely from this room, the deceased’s 
  ka will be seriously crippled and impoverished, if not killed.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ A mummy placed in this chamber can be ani-
  mated by expending 1 Doom.
  Shrine of the Damned
  This chamber has the Stygian Book of the Dead carved on 
  its walls. This chamber also holds a whole procession of 
  statues depicting various bestial and shambling gods with 
  small altars for living sacrifices. The floor is blood-stained 
  and black candles can be found inset within small niches in 
  the walls, candles that, when lit, release a black light that 
  make the hieroglyphs and pictures glow with an inhuman 
  intensity. Just entering this room generates a Fear 4 effect.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to 
  topple a statue onto a foe.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to use 
  one of the statues as cover to escape an attack.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have the 
  room make a Threaten attack against anyone 
  in the room.
  ■
  ■ Inhuman Intensity of Evil (T): Range M, 8§ 
  mental, Unforgiving 2
  
  CHAPTER 1
  34
  The Hall of Truth
  This chamber is empty of funeral furnishings and is deco-
  rated with elaborate hieroglyphs.
  The Chamber of the Husbands
  This is a burial chamber for the three husbands of 
  Sekhetmaatka. It has a statue of Sekhetmaatka and the 
  three husbands. It also has a statue of a shambling and 
  bestial demon-god. Three sarcophagi and the mummies 
  within lie in this chamber.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player Characters can spend 1 Momentum to 
  topple a statue onto a foe.
  ■
  ■ Player Characters can spend 1 Momentum to use 
  one of the statues as cover to escape an attack.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  There is a horror of some kind living at the bottom of the 
  Hall of Waiting. The gamemaster can choose the horror 
  desired. It will attack anyone falling into the pit. Otherwise, 
  the inhabitants are determined by the gamemaster or by 
  an appropriate story seed (see below).
  TREASURE
  The treasure held in this tomb is mostly various objects 
  owned by Sekhetmaatka during her life and various funerary 
  items, including furnishings for the deceased’s ka to recline 
  in. Most of it would only be of value to collectors. However, 
  there are often a few rare pieces to held here. There are 
  three silver bound mahogany chests, sealed with heavy 
  golden locks, a green statuette of a serpent, and bronze 
  khopeshes. The strangest item within is a strange black 
  cylinder with a heavy, carven lid. Four feet tall and three 
  feet in diameter at the point of widest circumference, about 
  half-way up its height.
  TOMB OF SEKHETMAAKA STORY SEEDS
  The Hungry God
  A cult has set up operations in the tomb of Sekhetmaatka, 
  worshipping some dark god or goddess, and sacrificing 
  people to the horror in the Hall of Waiting. The player 
  characters may be hunting the cult because they have 
  stolen a person or thing, or they have killed someone 
  the player characters would rather they not have killed.
  The cult is led by a man named Nesbu-hetep. He is an 
  intense man, appearing as impassive as an iceberg, with 
  an inapproachable air, but he seethes with passionate 
  emotions — usually a brooding, jealous vengefulness. Once 
  his emotions are engaged, Nesbu-hetep’s energy and drive 
  are legendary in their unswerving dedication toward a 
  goal. He seeks a deeper purpose in life, and always tries to 
  find meaningful patterns in events, thoughts, and actions. 
  He delves easily into the powers of the mind that others 
  are afraid of, often pondering issues of birth, sex, death, 
  and regeneration. He is subject to obsessive drives that 
  are resistant to reason, and easily dominates or controls 
  lesser wills. He has set up a cult devoted to gluttony and 
  feeds the horror at the bottom of the pit people who have 
  wronged him or his cult members in the past. He also 
  loves to ponder and meditate in front of the mummies.
  There will be an appropriate number of cultists with 
  him for the group of player characters coming for him, 
  and they are spread throughout the tomb.
  Sekhetmaatka Arises
  An enterprising Shemite is grave-robbing from Stygian 
  tombs to give the local apothecaries enough mummies 
  to make potions and ointments from. However, the 
  Stygians are hunting this man so he is now seeking old 
  Stygian tombs outside of the current borders of Stygia. 
  He is the one who has desecrated this tomb, and now 
  the spirit of Sekhetmaatka has taken over his body so 
  she can live again, wielding her necromancy to potent 
  effect. Unfortunately, she cannot be killed, as this body 
  is already dead, and if the body is destroyed, she can 
  take over another.
  To destroy her, the player characters discover they need 
  to go to the tomb and smash the amulets and funerary 
  items around her mummy. Sekhetmaatka can animate 
  her mummy or the mummies of her husbands at will. 
  She may have employed additional, mortal guards to 
  protect her tomb.
  The Horror in the Tomb
  The player characters may be chased by authorities or 
  other hostile party into the ruin, which seems to offer the 
  only chance for escape. Perhaps the authorities fear the 
  ruin, or the player characters just see an opportunity to 
  ambush or lose the pursuers. Unfortunately, the horror 
  in the Hall of Waiting awaits…
  
  35
  ANCIENT RUINS
  XOC-SASTUN
  In the earliest years of the Hyborian Age, Kosala was pop-
  ulated by a race of strong brown people, but this was not 
  always so. Before the arrival of this race, a race that sprang 
  from the Lemurians dwelled in this land, a race that was 
  olive-skinned and slender, a race with a penchant for both 
  necromancy and peace. These Old Kosalans built temples 
  and palaces, often out of strange green stones, and used 
  jade in much of their art.
  OVERVIEW
  Xoc-Sastun was a major trading city of Old Kosala, sit-
  ting astride one of the major river arteries of the jungle 
  kingdom as well as the juncture of three major caravan 
  routes. The city was a powerful hub, particularly in the 
  trade of jade. It was also well known for its jade craftsmen 
  and artisans. The Old Kosalans built Xoc-Sastun on the 
  remains of an even older ruin, a forgotten civilization 
  which died out during the Great Cataclysm or before. The 
  society eventually gave way to massive decadence, and 
  vile necromantic cults took the seats of power. When the 
  modern Kosalans began their invasion, the inhabitants 
  of Xoc-Sastun opted to undertake a powerful ritual, and 
  the whole city is said to have committed mass suicide 
  upon the promise that one day they would rise again 
  in vengeance.
  The ruin itself is oval, with chaotic streets laid out with-
  out a clear pattern, although eventually the roads converge 
  toward a temple in the center, a temple where the demon-
  god of Xoc-Sastun once dwelled. If the city had walls, they 
  have long since been used for other purposes, for none 
  now remain. Overgrown by jungle, explorers may well find 
  themselves several blocks within the ruin before realizing 
  it. Most of the ruins are of the strange green stone found 
  in other mysterious “X”-named cities.
  Cemeteries are prevalent, with entire sections of the 
  ruin devoted to tombs, stupas, catacombs, monuments, 
  charnel houses, and graves. By far the most numerous of 
  these markers are the ancient stupas — mound-like graves 
  containing the relics of powerful necromancers and mys-
  tics. Many of the overgrown blocks are gargantuan, and a 
  few of the tombs are small palace-like edifices the size of 
  Nemedian manor-houses. Toward the center of the ruin, 
  as one approaches the central temple, the architecture 
  includes groined vaults connecting the various buildings 
  and buttresses. The jungled floor of the city is littered with 
  the skeletons of explorers who did not return to tell of what 
  they found here.
  Most Kosalans avoid the ruins despite the wealth of 
  jade still held in the city’s ancient coffers, but the boulders 
  surrounding the jungled river flowing past the ruin are 
  still a major source of jade. Most treks to the ruin begin in 
  Sravasti Kan, a Kosalan city about six miles to the south. 
  The winding trails to Xoc-Sastun from Sravasti Kan are 
  nearly 12 miles long. The site is still visited by mystics 
  and cultists, who come to meditate at the funeral sites 
  within. Rumors of three stupas which were used to trap 
  three demons persist to this day, although no one has 
  definitively found them.
  ZONES
  Xoc-Sastun can be broken down into three major zones: the 
  outer ruin; the inner ruin; and the central tower complex.
  Outer Ruin
  The outer reaches of Xoc-Sastun are heavily overgrown. 
  The surrounding jungle has made considerable inroads 
  into the ruin, and travelers may well walk deep into this 
  zone before realizing they have crossed the ruin’s threshold. 
  Most of the remnants here are smashed or broken. As one 
  moves toward the inner ruin, more and more structures 
  can be seen. This region is dotted with cemeteries, with 
  small green stupas being the most common. Gargantuan 
  green blocks, low green stone walls, and bits of jade can be 
  found throughout. The green color of the jade and stones 
  helps to camouflage the ruin. There is an eldritch feel here, 
  and the trees, vines, and bushes all seem to grow and twist 
  into sinister forms. The boles of many of the trees twist 
  and form demonic visages. One giant tree growing out of 
  a particularly large (but now destroyed) stupa has no less 
  than 17 of these horrific visages. This tree is called “Matsu 
  Naga” by the Kosalans.
  There are several more-or-less intact structures here 
  as well, including many colossal mausoleums and a few 
  palatial mansions of ancient lords. The entire city was once 
  under a green stone roof, but this has long since collapsed, 
  and chunks of it lie at random, as well as many small peb-
  ble-sized flakes. The more portable and/or valuable pieces 
  have since been looted.
  “Only a few hundred folk dwelt there, decaying 
  remnants of a once great race. Tolkemec said they 
  came from the east, long ago, from Old Kosala, 
  when the ancestors of those who now dwell 
  in Kosala came up from the south and drove 
  forth the original inhabitants of the land.”
  — Olmec, “Red Nails”
  
  CHAPTER 1
  36
  Xu Kusa, the Inner Ruin
  There is no strict line of demarcation between the outer ruin 
  and Xu Kusa, the inner ruin. The number of trees diminishes, 
  and the jungle overgrowth is much less pronounced here, 
  but the remnants are much more intact. Here, the ground 
  in places is graveled with green stones from the collapsed 
  original roof. Much of the area is still festooned with vines 
  and bushes, but even these diminish the closer one gets 
  to the central tower. The stupas and monuments are less 
  demolished, and left-over offerings by mystics and sorcerers 
  paying homage to the ancient necromancers buried within 
  can easily be found. Many of the extant roofs are groined 
  vaults with grotesquely glowing stones, radiating a sickly 
  green light.
  Treta Yuga, the Central Tower Complex
  The central tower complex, called “Treta Yuga”, consists of a 
  series of round chambers surrounding a windowless tower 
  of green stone. A strange, soporific plant grows around 
  the outer chambers, its vines climbing high around them. 
  People who stay overlong in Treta Yuga are said to mutate 
  into horrible things, and legends hold that a demonic god, 
  also named Treta Yuga, once lived in this tower, worshiped 
  by the ancient Kosalans. It may still lurk within. The com-
  plex is structurally intact, and non-reptilian animals will 
  not approach it willingly.
  MATSU NAGA (NEMESIS)
  Matsu Naga is the name of a giant tree in the outer ruin, 
  a tree with the visages of 17 horrifying beings grown into 
  its trunk. Some mystics claim they can hear the voices of 
  nature spirits and others the voices of demons speaking 
  into their minds. The 17 faces are said to have their own 
  wills and may either help those around them or harm 
  them. The tree seems to respond to life energy around 
  it, but whether it is good or bad is another matter. It has 
  an evil reputation among common men.
  ATTRIBUTES
  Awareness
  Intelligence
  Personality
  Willpower
  10
  10
  13
  14 (2)
  Agility
  Brawn
  Coordination
  —
  14 (2)
  12
  FIELDS OF EXPERTISE
  Combat
  3
  Movement
  N/A
  Fortitude
  4
  Senses
  3
  Knowledge
  3
  Social
  —
  STRESS AND SOAK
  ■
  ■ Stress: Vigor 20, Resolve 18
  ■
  ■ Soak: Armor (Hardened Bark) 4, Courage 6
  ATTACKS
  ■
  ■ Branch Lash (M): Reach 3, 6§, Grappling
  ■
  ■ Sorcerous Might (T): Range M, 5§ mental, Area, 
  Intense
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Inhuman Brawn 2
  DOOM SPENDS
  ■
  ■ Blood Drain (M): If Matsu Naga has a living victim 
  grappled, it may suck the blood from the victim by 
  spending 1 Doom. Range C, 7§, Unforgiving 2.
  ■
  ■ Empower Evil: The gamemaster can spend 1 
  Doom to give villains up to 3 Momentum or 3 
  Doom for their own powers if they are in the vicin-
  ity (line of sight) of the tree.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ The player characters can spend 2 Momentum, 
  and the tree will lower its branches so they can 
  climb into it for safety — or to reach a roof.
  ■
  ■ The player characters may use 1 Momentum to 
  swing from a branch to reach a roof, the top of a 
  statue, or to land on a foe.
  ■
  ■ The player characters may use 1 Momentum near 
  the tree (line of sight to the faces) to harness the 
  magical energy of the tree to maximize their spells, 
  as though they had spent up to 3 Momentum.
  ■
  ■ By meditating in front of Matsu Naga, and 
  spending 2 Momentum, player characters can gain 
  some insight into the past — a vision, a past-life 
  memory, or a random thought that turns out to be 
  a major clue.
  
  37
  ANCIENT RUINS
  Soporific Flora
  Toward the central tower grows a quantity of soporific flora.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to climb 
  the vines to the top of structures easily.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 2 Momentum to 
  rip up a plant by the roots and use it like a whip 
  that casts Gaze of Set on foes, potentially putting 
  them to sleep.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster may spend 1 Doom to make the 
  player characters fall asleep. This Doom expendi-
  ture casts Gaze of Set.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster may spend 2 Doom to make the 
  player characters fall asleep and enter a nightmare 
  realm — they don’t realize their physical bodies 
  are asleep. This Doom expenditure casts Gaze of 
  Set and Haunt the Mind.
  Mé Nyo’s Lair
  Mé Nyo (see page 37), a necromancer, has made a home 
  of sorts in the ruin near three large stupas. Her lair is a 
  complex of four buildings linked by underground tunnels. 
  Through magic, and by appeasing the demon-god, Mé Nyo 
  has gained some mastery of this environment. However, 
  the mutability of reality in this area can also be used by 
  player characters to their advantage if they realize Mé Nyo 
  doesn’t really control the area — the area of this lair simply 
  responds to those with strong will.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Mé Nyo keeps a lot of relics, artifacts, and trin-
  kets haphazardly strewn about her lair, on tables, 
  shelves, hanging on twine, or piled on the floors. 
  For 1 Momentum, a player character can find some-
  thing useful for their situation — a pin, a rag, a 
  bone, a weapon, an obstacle, an ingredient, a clue…
  ■
  ■ Jade is strangely malleable in this place. By spend-
  ing 2 Momentum, a player character can take 
  some jade and manipulate it into a jade item of a 
  desired form, of the same mass. Once so molded, 
  the jade becomes fixed. The gamemaster may 
  require a Craft test based on the desired quality 
  and detail of the attempted item.
  ■
  ■ By spending 3 Momentum, a player character can 
  block a Doom spend made by the gamemaster on 
  behalf of Mé Nyo.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Mé Nyo can spend 1 Doom to alter the landscape. 
  She can open chasms or pits under the feet of 
  her enemies and thus separate them into smaller, 
  easier to handle groups. She can create cal-
  trop-like spikes on the ground, create ladders on 
  the walls, and make other cosmetic changes to the 
  environment by warping reality to her will.
  ■
  ■ Mé Nyo can spend 2 Doom to make her environs 
  into weapons, causing walls to collapse onto ene-
  mies, fling stones at enemies, or erupt in such a 
  way that animals (usually cobras) hurl themselves 
  at her enemies.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  Though these ruins are unnatural and twisted, they are also 
  home to many natural animals and creatures.
  Animals
  The most commonly found inhabitants of the ruins are 
  snakes. The glowing gems in the central area cause many of 
  them to grow larger than normal. In the water, such as along 
  the river or in various pools throughout the ruin, lurk marsh 
  crocodiles. Again, many are larger than normal. Cobras are 
  the most common of the snakes found slithering through 
  the slimy grounds of the ruin. The second most common are 
  green arboreal pit vipers. The pit vipers are particularly nasty 
  because their coloration matches the color of the stones.
  There is also a clan of orangutans who live in the rain-
  forest surrounding the ruin. Several are mutated, with 
  additional limbs growing out of strange places, extra eyes, 
  increased intelligence, tails, and other weird elements. 
  These orangutans are aggressive and violent unless pla-
  cated with gifts.
  Hairy, two-horned rhinoceros can also be found in the 
  area. They spend most of their time in mud wallows near the 
  river and tend to be solitary unless mating or with their young.
  Less common, but occasionally seen, are tigers. They do 
  not approach the inner zones of the ruin, but occasionally 
  roam the outer ruin looking for an easy meal among inat-
  tentive mystics meditating beside the stupas.
  Mé Nyo
  Mystics meditating beside the relics of the Old Kosalan 
  necromancers are not a common sight, but they may be 
  encountered. Tomb robbers are also a potential threat. 
  However, there is a necromancer making her home in Xu 
  Kusa, the inner ruin. Her name is Mé Nyo, and she seeks 
  the location of the three stupas said to contain demons 
  instead of relics.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  38
  Mé Nyo appears to be a modern Kosalan of roughly 
  middle age. She is of moderate height, her hair glossy black 
  and her skin almost golden. However, she claims descent 
  from a family intermarried with the Old Kosalans, so she 
  has the blood of that ancient people coursing through her 
  veins, evident in her features. Having spent too much time 
  in the central tower, she has a partially formed face on her 
  abdomen. The face can’t move, and the eyes are closed. 
  Her recurring nightmare is one where the face comes to 
  animate life, opening its eyes and growing a true mouth 
  that can speak. She fears this as her inexorable end. Her 
  long robes are arranged to conceal the face’s existence, 
  muffled in many layers of clothing.
  Adventurous and pioneering, Mé Nyo likes to take 
  on the role of leader. She has strong likes and dislikes 
  and is not shy about expressing them. Straightforward 
  and honest, being uncomfortable with lies, fraud, and 
  deception, Mé Nyo reacts harshly to being deceived. A 
  many-sided woman, she is quick in thought and action. 
  Intelligent, adaptable, and communicative, Mé Nyo is 
  endlessly curious, with a gift for persuasion. She is chatty, 
  even with strangers, driven to communicate almost con-
  stantly — a situation at odds with her decision to live a 
  solitary life within the ruins.
  Be warned, if she feels she is being deceived she does not 
  hesitate to kill — and then use magic to get the truth out of the 
  corpse. Mesmerism and necromancy are her stock in trade, and 
  she can command cobras to do her bidding — or so it seems. She 
  fears the orangutans and believes they are working against her.
  Treta Yuga
  A demon god, similar of hideous countenance and build, 
  is said to live within the central tower. Tall, muscular, and 
  hunched over, covered with iridescent scales of blue and 
  purple, its most notable features are its long white teeth 
  and lambent gold eyes. This creature occasionally stalks the 
  city in search of food — or a mate. Named Treta Yuga, the 
  demon-god bends reality to suit it, creating a nightmarish 
  world where the laws of reality become mere suggestions. 
  Unless placated, it can keep people from leaving its city, 
  create surreal events anywhere in the ruin, and even move 
  people in and out of a dreamscape.
  This demon-god is uncaring toward humanity except 
  as food or sexual playthings, and usually simply lurks, 
  brooding in the darkness, waiting. One of Treta Yuga’s 
  favorite wonts is to change the bodies of those who please 
  or displease him, permanently transforming his victims 
  into unrecognizable, degenerate forms.
  STORY SEEDS
  Shadowed City of Suicides
  The player characters find a stone tablet. Upon reading it, 
  one is immediately able to see the ghosts of the ancient 
  inhabitants who committed suicide — and worse, the 
  ghosts can now see the reader. The ghosts ignore anyone 
  who has not read the text and try to kill the one(s) they 
  can see. As a further complication, the reader sees the 
  city as it once was, not what it is now — making running 
  away from the ghosts difficult because the reader can 
  no longer see rubble in the way. The ghosts never leave 
  the city threshold. Once one person has read the text, it 
  has no effect on anyone else until the reader is dead or 
  has fled from the city.
  Aberrance
  One of the player characters is given the power to alter 
  reality within the confines of the ruin. Anything they 
  suggest suddenly becomes real but, every time it happens, 
  one of the other player characters suffers. Each use of 
  this power gives the gamemaster 3 Doom to spend, and 
  horrible things happen. Stones could fall on someone. 
  A floor gives way to an underground vault. A crocodile 
  attacks from a mucky old fountain filled with brackish 
  water from recent rains. A friend’s spine erupts with 
  stegosaur-like plates. A warrior’s arm withers. Someone 
  coughs up a swarm of live insects.
  The horrors are limited only by the gamemaster’s 
  fiendish imagination.
  The Captives of Mé Nyo
  Mé Nyo (or another necromancer) discovered a spell to 
  locate the three demon-filled stupas. To cast the spell, 
  she must sacrifice 17 captives. The player characters may 
  be there for an unrelated reason and simply discover 
  the captives, or they could have been sent by someone’s 
  relative to rescue one or more of the captives, but either 
  way, the captives are found. They have been sedated with 
  lotus drugs. Unbeknownst to the player characters, Mé 
  Nyo needs a rescue attempt — the sacrifices cannot be 
  made passively. As the player characters try to get the 
  captives out of the city, Mé Nyo stalks and kills each 
  captive one by one, using sorcery, traps, and undead 
  minions (extend the Doom spends from Mé Nyo’s lair to 
  cover the route the player characters take). Each captive 
  killed gives her 5 Doom.
  As a variant, Mé Nyo could be one captive short, and 
  decide one of the player characters would make an excel-
  lent sacrifice.
  
  39
  ANCIENT RUINS
  TREASURE
  Jade is plentiful here, both in raw form and as worked 
  treasures. Many of the tombs, stupas, and graves contain 
  jade ornaments on the bodies and relics. In addition to 
  the jade, some tombs may have other gemstones. Most 
  of the tombs have already been looted of the most valu-
  able goods, but many of the more intact tombs nearer 
  the center may have valuable treasures within. Most 
  common are jade figures of gods, snakes, apes, birds, 
  and crocodiles. Some of the tombs may include ancient 
  book covers (the pages long since disintegrated in the 
  tropical humidity), bones of prehistoric necromancers, 
  and jewelry. Assume a single player character can take 
  10 Gold worth of valuables out of the ruin without seri-
  ous encumbrance.
  XUTHLTAN
  Far in the blue mountains between Corinthia and Ophir 
  is a strange, half-buried structure is of an architectural 
  style and make unfamiliar to any other culture of the 
  Hyborian Age, perhaps predating even the Thurian Age 
  itself. Octagonal in shape and terminating in a central 
  spire that juts, spike-like into the sky above like an angry 
  black spear brandished at an unfeeling universe, the 
  structure exudes a somber atmosphere that causes those 
  to behold it to quiet their breath, as if unconsciously afraid 
  of showing disrespect.
  Made of dully gleaming black stone, the citadel’s walls 
  and vaulted ceilings show places where time and depreda-
  tion has worn away the formerly polished finish, almost 
  as if attempting to strip away the strange, angular hiero-
  glyphs chiseled in a spiral into the walls and central spire. 
  Upon close examination, the stone itself seems to have a 
  I saw its bloated, repulsive and unstable outline 
  against the moonlight and set in what would 
  have been the face of a natural creature, its 
  huge, blinking eyes which reflected all the lust, 
  abysmal greed, obscene cruelty and monstrous 
  evil that has stalked the sons of men since their 
  ancestors moved blind and hairless in the treetops. 
  In those grisly eyes were mirrored all the unholy 
  things and vile secrets that sleep in the cities 
  under the sea, and that skulk from the light of 
  day in the blackness of primordial caverns.
  — “The Black Stone”
  THE VISION OF THE BLACK STONE
  Should a player character spend the night within sight 
  of the black temple with its awful spire, they will find 
  that they are beset with an overwhelming desire to 
  sleep. Staying awake is incredibly difficult, requiring a 
  Daunting (D3) Discipline test to resist. Success means 
  that the player character stays awake.
  Failing this test sends the player character into a deep 
  sleep, into which they will be plunged into a nightmarish 
  vision of diabolical sacrifices performed in this place in 
  times long since forgotten. In this vision, the castle will 
  be visited by a throng of people in ancient and unrecog-
  nizable attire, who begin to enact a horrible ritual inside 
  the central chamber, directly beneath the central spire. 
  Before the altar is a brazier from which emerges a sickly 
  yellow flame that produces a snakelike column of smoke 
  that twists unnaturally and passes through the dome to 
  the outside sky.
  First all these votaries indulge in an orgy of debased, 
  writhing dance and flagellation to the tune of a strange 
  piping that seems to arrive on the wind, all overseen by a 
  high priest wearing goat-skins and seeming almost as if 
  half-human. The ritual proceeds into human sacrifice in 
  the form of some villager and then a human infant, whose 
  brains are dashed out upon the central altar.
  After this atrocity, the weather changes for the worse, 
  and at the peak of the spire outside, a horrific being 
  emerges, some horror from the Outermost Dark, an 
  entity of ghastly and terrible appearance. Its appearance 
  is the culmination of the ritual, and afterwards, the 
  worshippers, priest, and monster all disappear with the 
  coming of the dawn.
  The gamemaster may rule that the player characters 
  are simply witnesses to the event, phantasmal pres-
  ences unable to affect its outcome, or they attempt 
  to intervene with the ritual. If so, the gamemaster 
  can use descriptions of cultists and the cult leader 
  presented on pages 313–314 of the CONAN corebook, 
  and either an unspeakable abomination or devil of the 
  Outer Dark (pages 345 and 347 of the CONAN core-
  book). They speak no language the player characters 
  know, and will react in fury to any disruption of their 
  sacred performance.
  If the gamemaster wishes to make the encounter 
  inevitable, the Discipline test can be forgone. In this case, 
  the gamemaster must pay 1 Doom per player character 
  and has them all drift off into unconsciousness, to witness 
  — and potentially participate in — these nightmarish 
  events of a forgotten age.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  40
  vaguely translucent quality, almost as if absorbing light 
  shining upon it. Examination of the ruin’s octagonal central 
  chamber reveals a black stone altar, half-buried in rubble, 
  and in that rubble are obvious scraps of bone, broken and 
  scattered long ago.
  Those who know of the castle call it “Xuthltan”, a name 
  that predates the dawn of the Hyborian Age itself, though 
  none can say where exactly how they became aware of that 
  name. A successful Daunting (D3) Lore test reveals that 
  rumors of the place have long since circulated amongst 
  the superstitious in Ophir and Corinthia, with an admo-
  nition to avoid spending the night in or near the structure. 
  Rumors speak of travelers lost for days to emerge from the 
  mountains with their sanity broken, babbling of grim and 
  terrible rituals and loathsome monsters from beyond this 
  world. None have spoken of hidden treasure or potential 
  riches to be found, so few seek the place out.
  YITHIAN LIBRARY
  The Great Race of Yith (see Horrors of the Hyborian Age), 
  known as such due to their mastery of the intricate pro-
  cess of travelling in time, dedicated themselves to the 
  collection and collation of all knowledge in the universe. 
  It was through this process that they escaped their own 
  destruction and transferred their consciousnesses into the 
  bizarre, rugose, cone-bodies which they inhabited for the 
  millennia in which they colonized earth. Driven from our 
  planet by the looming threat of another species, against 
  whom even the ingenuity and weaponry of the Yithians was 
  virtually powerless, the remnants of their presence linger.
  In vast, crypt-like libraries, long since subsumed in soil 
  and sand, and in the strange volumes of arcane history 
  installed in cases wrought of peculiar substances, immu-
  nized to age and decay, the Great Race clings on to our 
  world. Those who stumble into those long-abandoned 
  warrens, where knowledge of the future can be sourced 
  amidst the inconceivably detailed histories of the deep past, 
  can emerge shaken by the revelation but wiser than even 
  the greatest and most determined of scholars.
  OVERVIEW
  Labyrinthine in construction, spiraling downward in vast 
  concentric circles, the Yithian library is a masterpiece of 
  architecture corresponding to a wholly alien aesthetic. 
  Every wall, whether hewn from the earth by technological 
  means, or else constructed from vast hunks of stone and 
  mortar composed according to an unknown recipe, is 
  incised with strange hieroglyphics and patterns. These 
  curvilinear symbols can seem maddeningly familiar to 
  some, as though written in a language they once understood 
  but have now forgotten. Cases filled with peculiar tomes 
  line entire corridors, though many have been dislodged 
  or toppled over in the uncounted centuries since these 
  curving tunnels were given over to dust and emptiness.
  The curious volumes the cases contain are written in 
  more languages than the human mind can easily conceive 
  of. Each page is rendered from a tough cellulose material, 
  the characters within marked on the pages in brush-strokes. 
  While the languages are alien, it seems clear that they 
  were written by skilled and intelligent hands… or hand-
  like appendages.
  The libraries of Yith plunge thousands of leagues into 
  the earth, deep beneath the crust and into the thick, boiling 
  magma of the core — only the advanced engineering of the 
  Yithians maintains the integrity of the libraries under the 
  crushing pressure of the shadowed earth and the roiling 
  liquid flames, yet within the musty chambers, one would 
  never guess what lay beyond the walls. In many of the 
  
  41
  ANCIENT RUINS
  libraries, however, behind doors openable only by those who 
  were shown the strange techniques of pressure and twisting 
  unique to Yithian physiognomy, there is something else.
  Darker abysses, covered by vast, onyx slabs, or by met-
  al-barred trap doors, conceal fouler memories of the ancient 
  world. Precisely what is concealed is now consigned to 
  legend and the primal recollections of those the Yithians 
  possessed or will possess. Some tales speak of strange, 
  polypous creatures which fly on enormous leathery pin-
  ions. Others say that the Yithians kept many dread beasts 
  confined in the black pits beneath their repositories of 
  learning. Pray to whichever gods you hold dear for those 
  who one day find out…
  FEATURES OF THE 
  YITHIAN LIBRARY
  There is much to be found and puzzled over in the aeon-
  haunted abysses of the Yithian library. The following are 
  some of the most noteworthy.
  The Fallen Cases
  Perhaps a hundred or more of the enormous, wall-lining 
  cases have collapsed in upon themselves. What disturbed 
  them is unclear… was it simply the combined effects of time 
  and gravity? Was it the upheavals of the earth, the violent 
  contractions of a new age’s birth? Or was it the violence 
  which drove the inhabitants from the library in the first 
  place — evidence of the slaughter and madness which left 
  this place, at the last, empty and filled with dust and filth. 
  The cases themselves form a maze of tunnels and peaks; 
  their size means that, even when they have collapsed, the 
  spaces left between them allow for a man to walk with 
  ease beneath. Climbing them, too, is relatively easy. But 
  things are unstable still, despite the ages that these cases 
  have pressed against one another. A misplaced footstep is 
  enough to cause the geography of this peculiar monument 
  to rearrange itself dramatically, and, for those not dexterous 
  enough to change with it, devastatingly.
  Momentum Spend
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend Momentum to allow 
  them to swarm quickly up the side of one fallen 
  case or slide down another. Alternatively, the 
  enemy engaged in combat with a player charac-
  ter might be maneuvered backwards and into a 
  gap between two or more collapsed cases — this 
  costs 3 Momentum but causes 4§ damage 
  from the fall.
  YITHIAN CONSCIOUSNESS
  The gamemaster can pick an appropriate player character 
  exploring the Yithian library and declare that they have 
  a sense they have been there before, recalling a distant, 
  long-forgotten and dormant memory. If the player char-
  acter chooses to remember this memory in detail, they 
  must spend 1 Fortune point. If they choose not to do so, 
  the memory is merely a faint recollection, perhaps just 
  a feverish and half-forgotten dream or something that 
  happened to the player character in a previous incarnation. 
  If they choose to spend the Fortune point, they will have 
  insights into the place that are otherwise unavailable.
  Doors which might have been inaccessible can now 
  be opened; uncertainty over a fork in a tunnel is quickly 
  resolved. The player character can also pick out a volume 
  of lore from one of the cases which he or she, somehow, 
  knows will be written in legible, readable terms. The 
  explanation for this uncanny gift is, of course, that at some 
  point in the past (or in the future), the player character 
  has been possessed by a Yithian mind and had their con-
  sciousness transposed into one of the huge, cone-shaped 
  bodies of the Great Race.
  There are some preconditions which the player char-
  acter must meet to allow for this.
  ■
  ■ The player character must have an Intelligence of 
  at least 10.
  ■
  ■ The player character must immediately pay the 
  gamemaster 3 Doom points.
  ■
  ■ The player character must accept one ‘Dark 
  Memory’ which the gamemaster comes up with 
  — in conversation with the player character. This 
  takes the form of a sudden, terrible memory of 
  something which the player character witnessed 
  in their period of temporal displacement — 
  whether a book written in their own handwriting, 
  a sigil carved on the wall which appears to spell 
  their name, or an image of their face carven 
  in petrified wood — this Dark Memory, when 
  invoked, causes 3§ Despair and results in the 
  player character making the next test at one 
  higher step of Difficulty.
  
  CHAPTER 1
  42
  Doom Spend
  ■
  ■ The sudden implosion of a case which plunges an 
  unsuspecting player character onto the stone floor 
  below; the slithering collapse of three cases which 
  had been perfectly positioned on top of one another 
  until the added weight of a Vanir warrior’s foot 
  causes it to overbalance… all of these can be trig-
  gered with the expenditure of 2 Doom. The game-
  master can have a great deal of fun with this feature.
  The Uncovered Abyss
  Whatever the Yithians sought to immure in the darkness, 
  beneath the weight of the vast, onyx slab reinforced with 
  unknown metals and all manner of sigils and protective 
  runes, is impossible to know. While there are many hints 
  in the writings to be found in the library, few concrete 
  examples are ever given. And whatever was contained 
  there once is now long since gone. The trapdoor is flung 
  open and all that is revealed beneath it is an apparently 
  empty pit of dizzying depth. Wind swarms out of the gulf, 
  buffeting and disorienting any brave enough to peer over 
  the edge into the illimitable depths beyond.
  Does something, some remnant, still wait in the darkness, 
  lingering, desperate and feral and maddened by millen-
  nia of enforced imprisonment and millennia more it has 
  inflicted upon itself? Who can say… and would any dare 
  to find out? The trapdoor itself is a marvel of engineering 
  and the area surrounding the pit is carven with even more 
  runes and sigils, warding against the escape of whatever 
  was once penned in here.
  Momentum Spend
  ■
  ■ At the cost of 3 Momentum, a player character 
  can seek to push or otherwise trip an enemy into 
  the abyss, killing them instantly. At the cost of 3 
  Momentum, the trapdoor might be pushed closed, 
  causing a percussive blast as the enormous object 
  slams back into place, inflicting the Staggered 
  condition on all player characters and foes within 
  the Close range of the abyssal pit. This, of course, 
  negates the ability of the characters to push ene-
  mies into the abyss!
  Doom Spend
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 3 Doom to have one of 
  the hideous, hungering beasts which the Yithians 
  sought to confine emerge after millennia of incar-
  ceration, slavering and maddened and seeking 
  something, even if it is only an approximate form 
  of sustenance.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  Conceivably, anything might be wandering the Yithian 
  Library. One or two Yithians (as noted above, for full sta-
  tistics see Horrors of the Hyborian Age) might have been left 
  here — their consciousness unable to migrate bodies or 
  else having been unwilling to leave behind some project 
  without completing it. Other treasure hunters might have 
  stumbled upon this place and be able to offer alliance or 
  hostile competition, depending on the circumstances. An 
  underground network of passages might also make a fine 
  home for ghouls (see Conan corebook, page 338) or other 
  squalid, hideous beings.
  Finally, what lies in the great abyss can be rendered as 
  the gamemaster sees fit, though using the statistics for a 
  Creature of the Far Reaches of the Skies (see Conan corebook, 
  page 347) might suit perfectly.
  TREASURE
  The Yithians left little behind them when they fled — there 
  is no gold here and only a few trinkets, worth a combined 
  total of 2 Gold. The wealth to be had from this expedi-
  tion into the darkness lies in the thousands of volumes of 
  ancient (and future) history. While most of these volumes 
  of lore will be unreadable, penned in languages entirely 
  incomprehensible to the mortal mind, there are some in 
  the common tongue. Indeed, there are tales of Cimmerian 
  chieftains being made the psychic captives of the Yithians! 
  Finding one of these books is worth 25 Gold to a sorcerer 
  or wealthy scholar, should a buyer be found (an extremely 
  difficult task).
  Alternatively, the player characters may bargain with the 
  gamemaster, earning the right to ask one or two questions 
  each about the true nature of the adventure (or campaign) 
  they are bound upon. This, of course, is at the gamemas-
  ter’s discretion.
  EXPERIENCE
  The alien, sinister confines of the Yithian library can be 
  profitable to player characters in more than one sense. 
  Below are the experience gains which a player character 
  might receive.
  ■
  ■ 100 experience points for securing a readable book of 
  Hyborian Age history.
  ■
  ■ 100 experience points for pushing an enemy into the 
  great abyss.
  ■
  ■ 100 experience points for invoking the Yithian 
  Consciousness, as described in the sidebar above.
  
  N
  othing on this earth speaks of civilization more 
  than the cities left behind. These are the height 
  of man’s achievement and, even in ruins, remind 
  the rude barbarian of the great cycles of history. For every 
  civilization began in naked barbarism and to such savagery 
  every city eventually returns. These ruined markets, houses, 
  palaces, and great roads are puzzle pieces left behind for 
  later ages to assemble. 
  While the pictures formed are similar, the details are 
  always unique. In every city, dead or living, lies a collective 
  spirit of those that dwelt there. For those souls exploring 
  the ruins left in this age, pray to whatever god will listen 
  that these spirits are still and at peace with the resolution 
  of their lives. Remember, the dead surround us, and their 
  stories demand audience with the living.
  AQUILONIAN 
  UNDERCITY
  Hyborians were not the first to settle the Thurian continent. 
  Tribes rose to empires and crashed to dust centuries before 
  the forefathers of the modern age ever set foot upon the 
  earth. Agents of time and cataclysm swallowed the memory 
  of such people. Vestiges of their existence survive in fantastic 
  song and story, and in a few places artifacts lie undisturbed. 
  Hidden beneath a thriving Aquilonian city lies an entire 
  section of such an elder place.
  When the ancient Aquilonians settled in the region, they 
  found pieces of a prior civilization left behind, likely that 
  of ancient Acheron. They moved into the ruins and even-
  tually replaced them with their own structures and came 
  to forget they had ever been there at all. Due to a geologic 
  fluke, a small section of this progenitor city still survives, 
  just below the roots of the new. This is a secret known only 
  to very few; and fewer still would brave its streets for fear 
  of ancient ghosts and chained demons.
  ZONES
  The Warehouse
  This block-long building is located on the edge of the noble 
  district, but its ugly utility is hidden by a high-planked 
  fence. On both sides are loading bays, shuttered with thick 
  oak panels; behind each is a tight grill of iron bars. Inside 
  is the main storehouse for a merchant house that caters to 
  foppish royal intriguers and ladies whose identity is defined 
  by the expense of their apparel. Every item unnecessary to 
  civilization can be found here, and in great quantity. One 
  of this merchant’s specialties is gilded mirrors.
  CURSED CITIES
  CHAPTER 2
  In the western part of the Continent, changing conditions created 
  strange forms of plant and animal life. Thick jungles covered the 
  plains, great rivers cut their roads to the sea, wild mountains were 
  heaved up, and lakes covered the ruins of old cities in fertile valleys.
  — “The Hyborian Age”
  
  CHAPTER 2
  44
  Below the warehouse is the entrance to the underground 
  city. It was discovered by accident when attempting to sink a 
  well. The head of the merchant house quickly realized what 
  he had and began cautiously raiding the treasures below. 
  The workers who found the entrance were paid off and sent 
  out of the city. Only the members of his family know the 
  secret, and the way down. If The Assassin’s Gambit seed is 
  used (see page 46), this number includes a lone assassin 
  who bought the secret from a spying servant at great price. 
  The well was capped off. A false wall made to look like a piece 
  of the well opens into a crawlspace, which leads to an iron 
  ladder that descends 30 feet to the western edge of the city 
  below. Explorers need a light source, as it is pitch black below.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to spot a 
  rusted rung before it gives them trouble.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to spot a 
  foe below or hear foes coming from above.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a 
  rusted rung break, requiring the player characters 
  to make a Challenging (D2) Athletics test or fall. 
  As the space is single-file, this would be especially 
  bad if it was the person on top.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have foes 
  ambush player characters while they are making 
  their descent; another Doom spend to allow the 
  foes to successfully evade detection.
  Fragment of The Elder City
  Six buildings and a fallow garden along two streets lie pre-
  served here, contained in the space of about a quarter league. 
  Stone gargoyles, nymphs, and dragons adorn rooflines. 
  Cavernous walls cradle the city in an area that looks like the 
  half-folded hands of a rock giant. There are two ways out 
  of the city, the iron-runged ladder to the warehouse above 
  and the damaged aqueduct to the southeast.
  The Streets
  Packed earth and oyster shells were used to make the streets. 
  This composition is muddy in some places, but overall 
  remains intact. It is generally the width of a large wagon. 
  Player characters’ boots might sink up to their heels as they 
  walk, leaving a wake of watery footprints.
  
  45
  CURSED CITIES
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to spot 
  an attacker.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to knock 
  a foe against a building, which brings a gargoyle 
  or other statue down on that foe, causing an addi-
  tional 3§ with Stun effect.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can hide in a shadowed recess of 
  a building until a foe is right next to them.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a 
  player character get suddenly bogged in the mud; 
  losing a boot and a turn of movement.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a chill 
  wind suddenly blow, extinguishing any torches or 
  uncovered lamps. In the time it takes to get them 
  relit, foes can press in for an attack.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a foe 
  get above player characters and knock a statue 
  onto their heads (as the Momentum spend above).
  The Scroll House
  This is a tiered tower, pillared eaves projecting from each 
  level. It is one central room, with library shelves of scrolls 
  extending unbroken from the ground floor to a second-floor 
  ceiling. For those willing to devote hours of research, the 
  scrolls are in an ancient unknown tongue but several hold 
  illustrations of plants, herbs, and animals that may help 
  advance their medical lore.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to intuit 
  the meaning of a manuscript — some are histori-
  cal records, others inventories of storehouses, and 
  more are census figures.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a 
  particularly promising manuscript crumble due 
  to their careless handling; or perhaps they hold a 
  torch a little too close to the paper, sparking a fire.
  The Empty Gardens
  Rare flowering beauties and stately trees once flourished 
  here. What remains is a rutted landscape of chalk-white 
  loam with the consistency of powder. Lanes of rotting trees 
  lean drunkenly against each other. A few of the older trees 
  have toppled completely, their exposed roots thrown up like 
  hands in despair. Shards of broken pots and urns litter the 
  connecting cobbled walkways.
  Merchant Center
  This L-shaped building is the main site of the merchant’s 
  raiding. He sells the wares along the shelves to his cus-
  tomers as his new finds from the “exotic East”. There are 
  barrels of exquisitely carved ruby glass beads (worthless, 
  but fashionable), crates of rare silk, and onion-shaped 
  bottles of spices and seasonings. Even after all this time, 
  some of these spices are still potent and quite rare. Some 
  are familiar, some are useless.
  Slave Quarters
  This brick structure once housed the slaves who worked 
  in the Merchant Center. The tiny room is packed with the 
  ruins of toppled bunkbeds. A soot-filled stone fireplace 
  covers the width of the north wall. A wood and metal jail 
  door squeaks on old hinges.
  Armory
  Circular like a hut, it contains a stand of short spears, a 
  crate of plumed helmets, and three medium shields stacked 
  against the wall.
  Arcane Chambers
  This building has the look of a school or place of learn-
  ing. The first set of rooms were laboratories complete 
  with dissection tables, star-charts, and jars of preserved 
  specimens. Several intact books and scrolls speak to the 
  mission of this place — the advancement of knowledge 
  by any means possible. The back rooms held cells for the 
  unfortunates carved up for spell components or medical 
  experimentation. If the merchant is present, he refuses to 
  go in, citing a sense of evil about the place. If the assassin 
  is with the party, he is compelled to come here before 
  leaving the city.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 2 Momentum to spot 
  a talisman, book, or beaker holding the malign 
  presence of an abomination (the gamemaster 
  should choose its exact nature). This being begins 
  to psychically attack the finder in attempt to 
  break free or will bargain with them if it is hope-
  lessly outmatched.
  
  CHAPTER 2
  46
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 2 Doom to have a 
  player, companion, or adversary accidentally 
  free the Abomination, which comes roaring 
  into existence.
  Horreum
  This barn-like building holds pots of seed and grains, and 
  several large casks of water all of which is intact.
  Aqueduct
  This area holds half of a piece of an ancient stone aqueduct, 
  nestled against the cavern wall. The brownish stone has been 
  ornately carved to make it look like a set of ridged pillars. 
  The calamity that dropped this section of the city sheared 
  a larger section of the aqueduct into two large pieces. No 
  trace of the missing section is present, however. The great 
  course of water moved away, leaving the ground swampy 
  but firm enough to walk through. Under the sixth bottom 
  arch is a piece of the old street hemmed in by the cavern 
  walls. It slopes up for ten feet, then opens into a wider, level 
  street that goes for another several hundred feet. It opens 
  in a swampy fen, out of sight beyond the city walls.
  INHABITANTS
  If using The Assassin’s Gambit (see page 46) there are 
  several options. One would have a group of enemies (soldiers, 
  thugs, or other assassins) trailing the player characters 
  here, discovering the city, and seeking to combat them 
  over the find. A variant of this involves the foes already 
  in place. Having knowledge of the city, and surmising 
  the failed assassin’s gamble, gave them time enough to 
  lie in wait. For a supernatural foe, an abomination could 
  be held imprisoned in the Arcane Chamber — it could be 
  freed by the careless actions of the player characters, or an 
  adversary. This being needs to feed after so long away from 
  the material world!
  TREASURE AND WEALTH
  The above individual descriptions contain any treasure 
  information for this location.
  EXPERIENCE
  Those that successfully explore the city receive 50 expe-
  rience points. Defeating of mortal foes is worth another 
  25 points. Completing The Assassin’s Gambit is worth 50 
  experience points. Defeating the Abomination (or stopping 
  its rampage) garners 300 experience points.
  STORY SEEDS
  The Assassin’s Gambit
  Over the course of a day while visiting a city, the player 
  characters notice they are being shadowed. Perhaps they 
  see the glint of a spyglass from afar or spy the same man 
  stalking behind them. The next time he appears, they 
  find he is slow to get away and easily captured. He is 
  badly wounded and desperate to lure the characters to 
  a place they can speak in private. This man is an assassin 
  hired to eliminate the head of powerful merchant guild 
  by a rival. Due to his inexperience, the assassin botched 
  the job and was wounded in the process.
  Now, he has been marked for death by his would-be 
  victim, the house that hired him, and his guild (who 
  consider his failure an ill mark on them). He has evaded 
  capture thus far but because of his enemies’ resources and 
  his injury, it is only a matter of time. His assailants have 
  eyes everywhere, and he knows they have blocked the 
  way out of the city. There is only one path left that they do 
  not guard — the undercity! The assassin needs strangers 
  who have strength and wit to escort him through the 
  perilous ruins and to the safety outside. He promises 
  he will give them each treasure valued at 50 Gold for 
  their assistance.
  Night Watch
  The player characters are forcibly rounded up by the city 
  watch. They, along with others caught in the dragnet, are 
  now part of the militia. Informants have captured plans 
  that show an uprising of hostiles is planned tonight, and 
  they need every able hand to guard the town’s property. 
  Mingled with a watchmen squad, they must protect the 
  warehouse of a powerful merchant ally. Unfortunately, 
  this cache of luxury trade goods is one of the main tar-
  gets for the disaffected commoners. The mob storms 
  the building; the player characters notice the merchant 
  slipping away in the crawlspace, and this leads to a tunnel 
  to the undercity and possibly to safety. Conversely, the 
  warehouse could be set ablaze by the mob, and the 
  floor buckles under the defenders dropping them into 
  the undercity.
  
  47
  CURSED CITIES
  THE CITY OF THE 
  ANCIENTS
  On the eastern edge of Zamora lies a city built by a people 
  known only as “the ancients”. While these ancients were 
  said to be sophisticated and wealthy, no man or woman 
  has visited their ruins and returned to verify such tales.
  Spanning many acres, the vast bulk of the city is but 
  broken ruins, the moldering leftovers of forgotten pasts. 
  Yet the great wall surrounding this city remains intact and 
  its ancient gates locked. It seems that the inhabitants no 
  more left their city in the end than simply died with it. The 
  place is cursed, or so Zamorians believe.
  Past the walls, the sprawling debris of ancient architec-
  ture looks like a museum stomped on by an angry giant. 
  Columns lie broken, homes are crushed flat as autumn 
  leaves. A virtual wasteland surrounds a plateau in the center 
  of the city upon which stands an intact palace.
  Carved from a singular piece of granite, the palace is 
  a wonder no king today could imagine. The people who 
  made it were possessed of methods lost to modern crafters. 
  It rises like the omphalos at the center of a flattened disk, 
  the radiating waves of which waste all around it. Indeed, 
  as one creeps closer to the palace, among the ruins and 
  clawing vines that reclaim this territory for nature, skulls 
  and bones — unmistakably human — appear. Their posi-
  tions suggest they were surprised by their fate which came 
  upon them of a sudden.
  In fact, these are people of ancient times, among the last 
  of their kind to survive the Great Cataclysm. However, the 
  smaller cataclysm which followed, and formed the Vilayet 
  in its wake, at last doomed the city. These ruins could even 
  be remnants of the ancient culture of the Zhemri in the 
  early Thurian Age, one of the few peoples to survive the 
  Cataclysm. That we cannot know until some brave or foolish 
  soul penetrates the city’s mysteries.
  The palace draws the eye like a lodestone does metal. 
  It alone survived the ages and the ravages that ended this 
  city and its people. Its granite is white, and gleams in the 
  sunlight from almost any point within the walls. Even the 
  highest towers, now toppled, never stood as tall as this 
  palace upon its great mound of rock.
  Transitioning from the ruined city to the palace’s pla-
  teau is like moving between war and peace, devastation 
  and perfection. Not a single stair hewn from the granite is 
  cracked. The great balustrades on either side of the stair are 
  smooth and shaped like giant snakes. Even dust, somehow, 
  fails to gather upon this strange structure.
  Once inside, the brave or foolhardy glean some clues as to 
  why. The palace does not stir. No draft finds its way through 
  open windows or doors. As with the outside, everything 
  is dust free. Some magic preserved the palace and, after a 
  fashion, those within.
  Time moves slowly inside the tomb-like palace. So slow, 
  in fact, that the human eye can barely perceive it. Dust 
  cannot collect, breezes move what debris filters in, but all 
  in such a slow progression that everything appears still to 
  the naked eye.
  While the king and queen are long dead, their stalwart 
  guardians remain, undead knights of an age forgotten in 
  the wake of the Cataclysm. These guardians, committed 
  forever to their final mission as sentinels, move normally 
  within the confines of the spell. Anyone from the present 
  age, too, moves as normal.
  The strange sorcery that caused this disruption in the 
  flow of time was designed to save the palace from the dev-
  astation of the city. However, in so preserving this rocky 
  hill, it also trapped those inside. The king and queen sent 
  others outside after the riotous quakes had ended, but 
  such time had passed as they could not guess and the 
  poor servants who stepped into the light found all their 
  age caught up with them and turned them to dust. In time, 
  even the king and queen left, maddened by the prison of 
  the palace. Their bones lie outside along the steps among 
  the detritus of their raiment and the dusty jewels and coins 
  they brought with them.
  Inside the palace much was removed by staff who fled 
  over the passing of years and centuries. Some of it can be 
  found outside, in the immediate area outside the palace. 
  As soon as any living organism native to the area leaves the 
  perimeter of the old spell, it turns into dust.
  The central treasure chamber, however, remains intact, 
  save for what the king and queen took with them. It is 
  guarded by the twelve sentinels who alone remain inside. 
  The wealth there is great but the danger greater.
  The guardians swore not to leave the palace unless the 
  site was threatened. They are aged, dead perhaps — one 
  can see bone and ligament under scale mail armor dusted 
  with rust. Yet they are well preserved, for they aged so 
  slowly and have escaped a final repose.
  Treat each guardian as a Legendary fallen as described 
  in Horrors of the Hyborian Age or a Toughened skeleton 
  from the Conan corebook (page 342), if desired. However, 
  unlike the creatures found there, these guardians cannot 
  pass beyond the perimeter of the spell which preserves 
  He had made his way to the great palace 
  which was hewn out of a single monstrous 
  hill of stone in the center of the city.
  — Untitled Synopsis
  
  CHAPTER 2
  48
  them. They, like those before them, crumble to dust outside. 
  When all the guardians are gone, the palace itself finally 
  succumbs to time, crashing in upon itself in an earthquake 
  which shakes the entirety of the city. Whatever treasure 
  player characters can carry out the first time is all that they 
  may take from this timeless hoard.
  ZONES
  The city is broken into two zones — the ruins outside the 
  palace and the palace itself. Inside the palace, the only 
  danger is the guardians. Outside, however, the terrain is 
  perilous. Both player characters and the gamemaster may 
  leverage this peril to enhance gameplay.
  KEY FEATURES
  Large Statue
  The face is long gone, the legs cracked, but it’s perfect to 
  topple on an enemy or a player character. The statue was 
  that of the first king of the city and is in the approximate 
  center of the ruin.
  Fountain
  Stagnant water lurks beneath a skin of mold. Snakes swim 
  inside but so do coins. Peeling away some of the mold 
  shows the glint of metal below. It is up to the gamemaster 
  how many water snakes attack anyone plunging an arm 
  into the water.
  Broken Ruin
  This variable location is found whenever the player charac-
  ters encounter the horror lurking in the ruins. They must 
  scale to the roof and then topple the huge, broken pieces 
  on the second floor as explained below. These huge rocks 
  can easily crush most things.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ The entire city is in ruin, and those buildings 
  which remain in part, those columns still standing 
  at awkward angles, even great statues whose 
  faces long ago crumbled — all present player 
  characters with opportunities to inflict damage on 
  their enemy. For 3 Momentum, any player char-
  acter can utilize a piece of tall terrain to make a 
  Challenging (D2) Brawn test. If passed, they topple 
  the remains of the object atop their foe, causing 
  2§ for each Momentum spent. Thus, if a player 
  character spends only 3 Momentum, they inflict 
  6§ damage. If they spend even more, they may 
  crush a monstrosity like an ant beneath the foot of 
  Mitra himself!
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Just as the player characters can utilize the terrain, 
  the terrain itself may become deadly should the 
  gamemaster spend Doom. Each point of Doom 
  spent in this fashion creates a one step increase in 
  
  49
  CURSED CITIES
  Difficulty for the resulting Acrobatics or Agility 
  tests to escape injury. The test starts at Simple (D0), 
  so it takes 2 Doom to get to even an Average (D1) 
  test. As above, every Doom spent results in 2§ 
  damage to any player character failing the test.
  ■
  ■ Just as the terrain can aid the player characters, it 
  can also kill them. The reason and specifics are 
  up to the gamemaster, but a quake could occur, 
  a player character may fall through the rotted 
  cobblestones, exploration of a building can result 
  in its collapse… there are many dangers among 
  unstable ruins. The player characters should feel 
  the influence of the curse all around them when 
  Doom is spent against them, activating latent and 
  malign qualities.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  As noted, the palace guardians are the chief threat between 
  the player characters and the treasure room, but a horror 
  also stalks the broken cobblestone streets. Evidence of this 
  creature may foreshadow what the player characters later 
  encounter. For example, the remains of other explorers, 
  bones broken like twigs, faces rotting in horrific, and recent, 
  rictuses might be stumbled upon. Further, a slime-like 
  ectoplasm drips from places the creature has passed, though 
  these don’t remain long enough to properly track the beast.
  The creature itself is a shoggoth. This immense, 
  Lovecraftian horror is found in Horrors of the Hyborian 
  Age, though an appropriate Horror from the Conan core-
  book can be substituted if desired. It was once bound in 
  the city by the same spell which preserved the palace and 
  cannot therefore leave the city limits. The wall around the 
  city serves as a circular ward beyond which the shoggoth 
  cannot pass, so long as the palace remains intact.
  WEALTH
  Outside the palace, characters can haul out 5 Gold each 
  worth of valuables, but each Gold adds 1 Doom to the Doom 
  pool. This represents digging through rubble, exploring 
  partially intact buildings, and the like. The gamemaster 
  must spend this Doom during the exploration of the city, 
  and cannot save this Doom to spend in the palace. However, 
  the gamemaster may decide to spend this Doom should the 
  horror that stalks the city attack.
  Player characters can take 10 Gold each from the palace. 
  However, anything taken from the palace turns to dust 
  within 24 hours. Such are the vagaries of treasure hunt-
  ing and time.
  EXPERIENCE
  Full exploration of the city, and concomitant encounters, 
  are worth 100 experience points per player character. This 
  is a dangerous place.
  KUMARI,  
  THE CURSED 
  LEMURIAN RUIN
  Of those peoples who survived the Cataclysm, perhaps 
  none were as unfortunate as the Lemurians. Once, it is 
  said, they had a storied history, perhaps even a great civ-
  ilization, but the barbarians who came ashore from their 
  sunken land were enslaved by a people called the Naacal. 
  Their post-Cataclysmic history was one of degradation and 
  brutal enslavement.
  Over 1,000 years after the Cataclysm, the Lemurians 
  threw off the yoke of their masters and began to live in the 
  remains of the Naacal civilization. Many, if not most, were 
  rude savages by then, barely men. Those who would even-
  tually civilize went westward… or so popular history recalls.
  In truth, some few Lemurians stayed in the ruins of 
  their Naacal masters and built their own cities. Time and 
  interloping warlords of various sorts brought this brief 
  Far to the east, the Lemurians, leveled almost 
  to a bestial plane themselves by the brutishness 
  of their slavery, have risen and destroyed 
  their masters. They are savages stalking 
  among the ruins of a strange civilization.
  — “The Hyborian Age”
  THE HALL OF THE DEAD
  “The Hall of the Dead” is a pastiche story derived from 
  an untitled Howard synopsis. In it, Conan confronts an 
  undescribed monster which he crushes using a great 
  fragment of the ruined city. The guardians are also out-
  lined, though not described in any detail. The content 
  herein is conjecture based on that outline and, while 
  approved by our scholars, is only canonical for our line. 
  The gamemaster may feel free to use or discard this 
  portrayal as they see fit.
  
  CHAPTER 2
  50
  kingdom to its own ruin, but cursed vestiges remain. Deep 
  in the jungles of Vendhya, a living Lemurian city remains. 
  It has had but a handful of visitors in the many millennia 
  since its founding, and none who left again.
  For more information on the Naacal, see Conan 
  the Wanderer.
  OVERVIEW
  Called Kumari by those who now dwell there, the city exists 
  outside of the history of Vendyha. These Lemurians dwelt 
  here as the rest of their kind were wiped out or migrated 
  north to become Hyrkanians. Yet here, in the deepest, steam-
  ing forests where few men ever tread, a thriving though 
  cursed city lives.
  The curse begins with the Naacal, a sophisticated, power-
  ful, and thoroughly evil people. When the wave of Lemurian 
  rebellion reached Kumari, the Naacal thought themselves 
  prepared, but the centuries of slavery had hardened the 
  Lemurians like iron, and their will for vengeance sharpened 
  them like a knife. They drove that knife into the center of 
  the city where the ruling family lived.
  But the Naacal had the last word, a curse pulled down 
  from the Outer Dark by strange magics. If they were to 
  fall, the Naacal made sure none of their usurpers, or their 
  descendants, would ever leave the city. This would be the 
  final home for both master and slave.
  It took centuries for the Lemurian savages to even begin 
  to understand the civilization they toppled, but they had 
  little choice. Any who ventured beyond the bounds of 
  Kumari withered immediately, desiccating and turning to 
  dust. Not a one of them lived, and soon they found that the 
  city limits were the circle that circumscribed their lives. So 
  it was for all the generations of them that followed.
  The city, however, had no food, no arable land… the 
  survivors were soon without food. Like their masters before 
  them, a group of them enslaved the others and used them 
  as food. Thus, did this strange strain of Lemurian blood 
  evolve. They are a city of vampire-like beings living on 
  human stock bred as animals in pens. The irony of the 
  enslaved becoming the slaver was lost long ago. Today, this 
  is simply how the world is.
  Kumari is therefore a completely stratified society. In 
  this aspect it mimics, or perhaps in some way informs, the 
  Vendyhan caste system. There are those who exist as food 
  and those who eat them. Over time, certain small sections 
  of the city were turned into gardens, but surely not enough 
  to feed the populace. Even the human food stock feeds on 
  its own. In fact, eating the dead has become a ritual religion 
  for both slave and master.
  The city’s walls and structures are made of blue stone 
  found far to the East. How it was brought to the jungle is 
  not remembered by the Lemurians. The Naacal made their 
  slaves quarry the stones and drag them for hundreds of 
  miles to build this outpost. Who can say how many died 
  along the way?
  Broad pathways and roads wend about the city. Once, 
  horses drew carriages down these stony routes, but the 
  horses were all used as food long ago. Today, the human 
  slaves draw rickshaws and litters for their masters.
  Leather is the dominant material for clothes, made from 
  that most obvious (and ghastly) of sources. Wood is scarce 
  and found only where part of the jungle carves through 
  the old wall. Neither slave nor master can get at the trees 
  which lie beyond.
  The result is a makeshift city built atop the stones of an 
  older one. It is an amalgam of designs, of stones recurved 
  and repurposed, of wood and leather houses, of grand pal-
  aces whittled down to modest estates. Imagine a scaffolding 
  of wood and leather huts accreted around the central arma-
  ture of old stone, and you’ll get some idea of how strange 
  a city this appears to the eye.
  It is dying. Any outsider can see that. The curious, par-
  asitic relationship which maintained the city for so long is 
  now untenable. Decay is in the air, seen in the broken statues 
  of the Naacal who, at least, held the bearing of proud men.
  KEY FEATURES
  The city is vast, and the population strange. The blue stone 
  from which it is constructed is not easily weathered and 
  has lasted the ages well. Still, the city’s roads are in ill repair, 
  and only certain buildings are maintained. Entire neigh-
  borhoods made of stone, as well as priceless monuments, 
  were pulled down by the Lemurians and repurposed for 
  newer structures. Yet even those structures eroded in the 
  millennia which have since past.
  The Palace
  Once, this palace was a massive complex, but much of that 
  was torn down in the revolt. Still more of what was left was 
  reused or rebuilt on the premises. The palace stairs now 
  lead to an internal honeycomb of hexagonal rooms, some 
  appointed with the remaining finery of the Naacal, others 
  all but empty. Old murals fade along the walls, telling the 
  story of the Naacal which even the keenest eye now has 
  trouble reading. Oddly, the masters of Kumari keep such 
  murals and memories of their former masters. They’ve 
  adopted the mantle of those they once hated. Slaves became 
  slavers, such is the cyclic nature of life.
  The Breeding Pens
  Blue stone walls surround the breeding pens where ritual, 
  orgiastic coupling takes place under the blessings of 
  Lemurian priests. Drums thunder, beat by the slaves who 
  watch in primal glee as the mating takes place. They are 
  
  51
  CURSED CITIES
  each of them indoctrinated into the cruel, cannibal religion 
  of Kumari. They are each born to feed their masters.
  The pens are always guarded by masters, and the 
  few gates are made of massive blocks of stone. The food 
  stock is raised here until they are eaten or purposed as 
  slaves throughout the city. They live in the worst ruins 
  left in Kumari.
  The City’s God
  Off center, in what was once a public square, a statue of the 
  city’s god rises ominously above the domed roofs around it. 
  This idol is forty feet high, carved in the image of a humanoid 
  vampire bat. These bats are among the only creatures that 
  come near the city. Eating them is forbidden.
  How this became the city’s god is not known in detail. 
  But it is reasonable to assume that as the populace became 
  cannibals the practice was ritualized. The native vampire 
  bats in the jungle provided a model to explain the repul-
  sive practice and ascribe it to the will of nature and some 
  horrific sky god.
  INHABITANTS
  While everyone in the city is Lemurian, they evolved into 
  two distinct strains. One is human, though weak, and 
  the other is a form of vampire — feeding on the flesh and 
  blood of the others.
  Time and again, history models itself on past cycles. As 
  the Lemurians were once slaves, they now enslave their own. 
  So, too, might the slaves one day rise and rebel, though to 
  what end who can say, for they know not how to leave the 
  city bounds. The curse remains. Perhaps this cyclical history 
  shall repeat eternally until only two Lemurians, degenerated 
  beyond human recognition, remain. One shall eat the other 
  and then starve, for there will be no one left to consume.
  TREASURE
  A player character may carry 10 gold worth of valuables away 
  with them, should they survive. However, if a clever group 
  returns later, with wagons and porters, they find the city is 
  no longer there. Did it vanish? Are they lost? Who can say?
  EXPERIENCE
  Anyone who explores the city, encounters its denizens, and 
  eventually escapes gains 50 experience points, perhaps 
  more based on the turn of events.
  THE NAMELESS CITY
  It was ancient when the Thurian continent was still inchoate. 
  The Nameless City, its true appellation as long forgotten as 
  its location, its purpose and the nature of its architects… 
  where it now lies cannot be said with certainty. There are 
  some who claim it lies in the desert southeast of Zamboula, 
  surrounded by the eternal sands of that insular nation. 
  Others speculate that it lies much further to the south, 
  perhaps in the Black Kingdoms, avoided by the local tribes 
  and given a wide berth by the most formidable civilizations 
  of that mysterious archipelago. Whatever the truth, there 
  are many who would pay well for knowledge of what that 
  forsaken metropolis might hold within its walls.
  The Nameless City is, for the most part, concealed 
  beneath the ground. While certain features still protrude 
  from the ground, like the skeletal limbs of the improperly 
  buried, the true extent of the place is immured in sand and 
  earth. The inhabitants, driven by the upheavals of the earth, 
  dug downwards. There, they remade their city, safe from 
  the shifting of the land and the sea, secure in the moist 
  darkness of the underworld. The architects and inhabitants 
  of the place made their city well, securing it against the 
  formless pressures of both age and environment so that it 
  remains intact now, and will for many centuries to come. 
  The construction of the city is ancient and peculiar, with 
  temple complexes and ranks of stone pillars stretching on 
  in the darkness of the subterranean kingdom, hiding much 
  which only the brave might bring to light.
  FEATURES OF THE 
  NAMELESS CITY
  The Great Pit
  Entrance into the Nameless City proper is possible only via 
  the Great Pit. There are a few, small hovels bored into a cliff 
  face — the first signs of any habitation — and through these, 
  the Great Pit can be found. A vast, pitiless void in the earth, 
  stretching down for several miles, light scarcely penetrates 
  “Remote in the desert of Araby lies the nameless 
  city, crumbling and inarticulate, its low walls 
  nearly hidden by the sands of uncounted ages. 
  It must have been thus before the first stones of 
  Memphis were laid, and while the bricks of Babylon 
  were yet unbaked. There is no legend so old as to 
  give it a name, or to recall that it was ever alive.”
  — “The Nameless City”, H.P. Lovecraft
  
  CHAPTER 2
  52
  more than a few feet downward. There are handholds carved 
  into the rock, though these seem proportioned to fit inhu-
  man fingers, and the remains of stairs which are prone to col-
  lapse. And as to what might lurk in the gloom… who can say?
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters might use Momentum to 
  conceal themselves in the darkness, finding a 
  narrow aperture in the rock in which they can 
  squeeze themselves, only to leap out and ambush 
  a foe. Alternatively, hurling an enemy combatant 
  into the pit during a fight is a very effective way of 
  bringing that combat to a brutal conclusion.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can utilize the darkness of the 
  Great Pit to hide any number of potential foes or 
  traps for the player characters to have to circum-
  vent. The gamemaster might like to include one of 
  the traps discussed in this book (see page 100) or, 
  alternatively, spring an ambush on the player char-
  acters which they cannot avoid. The yawning gulf, 
  just out of sight but always there, might also lead 
  to player characters having to make a Challenging 
  (D2) Fear test or suffer 3§ mental damage.
  The Portal Beyond
  At the remotest extreme of the Nameless City, there is the 
  Portal Beyond. A huge, circular door, constructed from 
  bronze. It is shaped and sized so that it fills the stone 
  corridor in which it sits entirely. Once it is closed, nothing 
  can escape past it, and it can only be opened from one 
  side. There are none living who have passed beyond it; 
  there are very few who have opened it and returned to 
  the surface, either breathing or still capable of speaking. 
  Adorned with strange devices and sigils, it seems certain 
  that this portal was not created by the things which built 
  the city but was added later by some species that sought to 
  hold back whatever lay on the other side. A howling gale 
  sweeps along this corridor, pinning the doors closed, the 
  keening of the wind almost reminiscent of words screeched 
  in an eldritch language by a desperate tongue. What dread 
  battle was engaged in to seal this doorway? What spells 
  were wrought to secure that portal’s closure, that even 
  now they shriek along this ancient tunnel?
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Spending Momentum might allow player charac-
  ters to open the door slightly and maneuver, force, 
  or otherwise trick, an opponent onto the other 
  side of the portal. What happens next is up to the 
  gamemaster. Alternatively, the player characters 
  might spend Momentum to dodge an enemy’s 
  blow and have them strike the door instead. The 
  reverberations of such a clash might shake the 
  blade from the foe’s hands.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster might spend 3 Doom to have one 
  of the player characters’ missed attacks acciden-
  tally dislodge the door, opening it and allowing 
  something on the other side to attempt to come 
  through. The gamemaster might also spend 1 
  Doom to have the player characters buffeted by 
  the wind, adding an extra step of Difficulty to any 
  challenge they might be undertaking.
  The Chamber of Memory
  With walls adorned with sinister frescoes, the Chamber 
  of Memory is the clearest proof of the inhuman nature of 
  the Nameless City. Stark images of nameless reptile gods 
  and representations of hideous rites performed in the 
  ancient past festoon every inch of exposed stone. Maps 
  adumbrate the locations of forgotten continents, ancient 
  Valusia, submerged Atlantis and others long consumed by 
  
  53
  CURSED CITIES
  the voracious earth and ravenous tides. Here, in this small 
  chamber, surrounded by the remnants of another species’ 
  defiance of time — statues, small sarcophagi, even mummies 
  — the true irrelevancy of mankind in the face of the cosmos 
  is revealed. It requires a ferocity of spirit to overcome such 
  existential terror and plunge onwards into the darkness…
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Hurling statues and mummies at foes can all be 
  achieved with the expenditure of a Momentum 
  point, as an additional attack — causing 1§ 
  damage — or as a distraction. The player char-
  acters might also use Momentum to ensure 
  that any maps or charts they make, based on 
  those inscribed on the walls, are accurate. Who 
  knows where such information might ultimately 
  lead them?
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Gazing at the frescoes is enough to cause a 
  moment of horrified revelation for even the most 
  hardened, or narrow-minded, of player characters. 
  The gamemaster may spend 2 Doom to inflict such 
  a moment of universal horror on a player char-
  acter, inflicting 5§ mental damage, should the 
  player character fail the appropriate test.
  INHABITANTS OF THE RUINS
  The creatures that built the Nameless City were of terrestrial 
  origin. Hideously long-lived and dreadful in aspect, they 
  nevertheless were born on this earth. They remain within 
  the city even now, mostly constrained beyond the Portal, but 
  a few escape and infest the other areas of the conurbation 
  — waiting for those who usurped their grip on the planet 
  to fall into their clutches. The gamemaster should use the 
  statistics for ghouls on page 338 of the Conan corebook.
  TREASURE
  Trinkets and tokens of the elder species that built the city 
  can be found in small caches throughout the city, and these 
  can be sold for between 1 and 3 Gold, depending upon the 
  buyer. Maps, images of the creatures or other tracings 
  of the frescoes in the Chamber of Memory can be sold to 
  scholars for up to 5 Gold — depending on the quality of the 
  reproduction — and may be used as a bartering method to 
  secure funding for future expeditions.
  EXPERIENCE
  A trip to the Nameless City is worth the following experi-
  ence point rewards, for those that emerge from its abyssal 
  clutches alive and, as far as possible, whole:
  ■
  ■ 50 points for navigating the Great Pit safely.
  ■
  ■ 100 points for confronting and killing at least one of 
  the city’s inhabitants.
  ■
  ■ 50 points for attaining a usable map of lost lands, 
  based on the contents of the Chamber of Memory.
  SANU, THE CITY 
  BENEATH
  At the onset of the Thurian Age, the world was ruled by 
  creatures other than humankind. Among these elder races 
  were the serpent men, children of the ancient snake god 
  called Yig, now known as Set. The Old Serpent birthed 
  many monstrous races, in forms as diverse as they were 
  terrible, and the serpent men were the most widespread 
  and populous of them, creating a dreadful empire based 
  on alchemy and sorcery.
  When the rough and savage ancestors of humankind 
  rose against the elder races, the serpent men were almost 
  destroyed. Driven from their cities, they scattered across the 
  world, taking refuge in forgotten and lonely places — deserts, 
  jungles, islands, and even beneath their former cities, inhab-
  iting the catacombs from which they had originally emerged.
  On one occasion, the serpent men tried to once again 
  exert their influence upon humankind, fostering a ser-
  pent-worshipping cult in Valusia, their former seat of power. 
  Using their natural sorcerous ability to mask themselves as 
  humans, they infiltrated the court of that great kingdom. 
  Valusia’s king, a barbarian usurper from Atlantis named 
  Kull, discovered their plot, thwarted it, and devoted many 
  years to exterminating the serpent men entirely. Kull was 
  almost successful, and the ophidian species never troubled 
  humankind until the end of the age, when the Cataclysm 
  washed away all the kingdoms of men.
  They were of the reptile kind… In size they 
  approximated a small man, and their fore legs 
  bore delicate and evidently flexible feet curiously 
  like human hands and fingers. But strangest of 
  all were their heads… in one flash I thought of 
  comparisons as varied as the cat, the bulldog, the 
  mythic Satyr, and the human being… yet the horns 
  and the noselessness and the alligator-like jaw 
  placed the things outside all established categories.
  — “The Nameless City”, H.P. Lovecraft
  
  CHAPTER 2
  54
  Hardier than humans, the serpent men survived the 
  deluge and brood from their hidden redoubts. They once 
  again vie for power and supremacy, as is evident in the 
  strength of the serpent cult of Set, which holds Stygia in 
  its iron coils. From beneath the cities of humankind the 
  serpent men grow bold, their schemes and machinations 
  increasing in scope and frequency.
  Sanu is an example of one of these serpent men hold-
  outs, an ancient labyrinth beneath one of the cities of the 
  dreaming west or nearby, inhabited by a sub-race of serpent 
  men called the Children of Yig, or Yiggites. It is suitable for 
  location in any major city beneath Nemedia, Koth, Argos, 
  Zingara, Zamora, Corinthia, Ophir, or even proud Aquilonia. 
  As such, the gamemaster should provide any information 
  linking Sanu to the location of choice.
  Located hundreds of feet below the earth, this bolt-
  hole was flooded during the Cataclysm, but through their 
  sorcerous metabolism the serpent folk of Sanu hibernated 
  and survived the many centuries, adapting to the flooding. 
  Now they are fully amphibious, as adept beneath the water’s 
  surface as they are above.
  OLD SANU
  In configuration, Sanu is an extensive labyrinth of tun-
  nels radiating outward from a great central well-shaped 
  hub many stories high. The upper levels of tunnels are 
  carved and shaped by Yiggite hands, while the levels 
  and expanses radiating further away from the great 
  central well are natural, guided and widened only for 
  ease of use. Now it is a multi-level warren of narrow 
  tunnels and open chambers, multi-level galleys and 
  subterranean vaults. The Yiggites continue their studies 
  into diabolic sorcery and alchemy, and venture to the 
  surface periodically to pull vagabonds and lone travelers 
  to the dark beneath, to use as sacrifices or as subjects of 
  unwholesome experimentation.
  Millennia of continued habitation has given the 
  Yiggites ample opportunity to decorate their abode, and 
  the walls are all inscribed and carved with the history 
  of their people, as well as depicting the blasphemous 
  rites of their ancestors in lurid detail. Most horribly, a 
  Simple (D0) Craft or Observation test reveals that some 
  of this architecture is human, made by human slaves or 
  willing collaborators with the Yiggites. Scaled patterns 
  cover the columns and walls that are not engraved with 
  the carved reliefs, and a great moist, dank smell fills the 
  entire tunnel complex.
  The deepest levels, farthest away from the central hub, 
  are partially flooded, grottoes and wet caverns filled with 
  muck, fed by underground currents. Cold and vile, these 
  places are where the most degenerate of the Yiggites 
  dwell, as well as being home to other foul entities and 
  creatures beyond even their control. Aside from the 
  Yiggites, thousands of other smaller serpents inhabit 
  Sanu, venomous as well as constrictors. Most are normal 
  in size, but a few are colossal, akin to the great constric-
  tor described on page 329 of the Conan corebook. These 
  dwell in harmony with the Yiggites, and understand their 
  hissing, sibilant language.
  The Well of Sanu
  The large central hub of the underground metropolis, 
  the “well” is a great pit, more than ten stories deep, with 
  a slight, sinuous curve to its walls. Nearly ten yards across, 
  the well has many open doors and tunnels leading from 
  it in all directions and at all levels, one great spiraling 
  ramp curling around the outside wall. Windows and 
  slight ledges open into it, and at the peak of the well is a 
  large cluster of phosphorescent moss, giving the whole 
  place an eerie, yellowish glow. The bottom is covered in 
  thousands of human skeletons, picked clean of all flesh 
  or residue, skulls staring upward in mute testimony to 
  their fate.
  The Vault of Ages
  This many-storied vault, located far from the central well, 
  is the repository of much of the sorcery of the serpent men 
  — artifacts, enchantments, alchemical works — as well 
  as serving as a trove of their collected wisdom, engraved 
  on sheets of emerald, bronze, crystal, and other precious 
  metals and minerals. To this grand collection is added a 
  fantastic array of human achievement, magical accoutre-
  ments and gewgaws, trinkets and baubles of magical or 
  even mundane worth. This incalculable wealth is strewn 
  across balconies, piled haphazardly on stairs, tucked 
  crowdedly into the hundreds of nooks and niches along 
  the walls. The Yiggites guard this place above all others 
  in Sanu, and the greatest of their ranks is always here… 
  waiting and watching. Should player characters breach 
  the vault, they will find a Nemesis Yiggite ready for them, 
  implacable and deadly.
  “Under the caverned pyramids 
  great Set coils asleep;
  Among the shadows of the tombs 
  his dusky people creep.
  I speak the Word from the hidden gulfs that 
  never knew the sun — Send me a servant 
  for my hate, oh scaled and shining One!”
  — “The Phoenix on the Sword”
  
  55
  CURSED CITIES
  CHILD OF YIG (TOUGHENED)
  The Children of Yig — Yiggites — are kin to the human-
  headed child of Set (see page 334 of the CONAN core-
  book) as well as the serpent-headed human-bodied 
  forms of true serpent men. However, the Yiggites are 
  deadly hybrids of both species, human torsos and arms 
  fused onto long serpentine bodies, topped with ophidian 
  heads. Thus, they are tool-users in a way the children of 
  Set are not, more powerful than serpent men but unable 
  to move amongst humankind the way their brethren 
  can. These slithering horrors inhabit the abyss of Sanu, 
  haunting its darkened labyrinths and occasionally 
  venturing forth into the realms of humankind to do 
  great wickedness.
  If encountered within Sanu, a Yiggite is inevitably 
  in the company of many of its brethren and if one is 
  met outside that hidden place, it is likely be working 
  in concert with children of Set or human worship-
  pers of Set. The example below is a standard Yiggite: 
  others might be more adept in sorcery or specialized 
  in some other form of deviltry, or even clad in partial 
  armor on head, torso, and arms. Nemesis versions 
  may also exist.
  ATTRIBUTES
  Awareness
  Intelligence
  Personality
  Willpower
  10
  11
  11
  10
  Agility
  Brawn
  Coordination
  12
  13
  11
  FIELDS OF EXPERTISE
  Combat
  2
  Movement
  3
  Fortitude
  2
  Senses
  2
  Knowledge
  2
  Social
  —
  STRESS AND SOAK
  ■
  ■ Stress: Vigor 13, Resolve 10
  ■
  ■ Soak: Armor 1 (Scaled Hide), Courage 2
  ATTACKS
  ■
  ■ Tulwar (M): Reach 2, 6§, Unbalanced, Cavalry 1, 
  Parrying
  ■
  ■ Target Shield (M): Reach 2, 5§, Knockdown, 
  Shield 2
  ■
  ■ Bite (M): Reach 1, 6§
  ■
  ■ Envelop (M): Reach 1, 5§, Grappling
  ■
  ■ Constricting Coils (M): Reach 1, 5§, 
  Unforgiving 1, only on grabbed targets
  ■
  ■ Eyes of the Serpent (T): Range C, 4§ mental, 
  Area, Stun
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Amphibious: Yiggites suffer no penalty to any 
  Action when swimming and can spend unlimited 
  time underwater.
  ■
  ■ Child of Set: Yiggites can speak to any reptile, 
  snake, or related species.
  ■
  ■ Coiled Horror: The creature can make a 
  Constricting Coils attack (above) as a Free 
  Action, once per turn, and then spend 2 Doom to 
  inflict 4§ damage upon a grappled target.
  ■
  ■ Fear 1
  ■
  ■ Monstrous Creature
  ■
  ■ Night Vision
  ■
  ■ Yiggian Sorcery: Many Yiggites are trained in 
  some alchemy and sorcery, and those that are 
  can cast spells such as Dismember and Enslave 
  with ease. Knowing another spell requires a 
  successful Daunting (D3) Knowledge test, and any 
  Momentum gained can be spent on additional 
  rolls to know more spells. The gamemaster should 
  determine whether any Yiggite is magically adept.
  DOOM SPENDS
  ■
  ■ Alchemical Arsenal: A Yiggite can instantly pro-
  duce a petty enchantment at the cost of 1 Doom 
  plus additional Doom equal to the Difficulty for 
  making it.
  ■
  ■ Ophidian Call: A Yiggite can perform a Standard 
  Action equivalent to the Commune with the Wild 
  sorcery spell (see page 175 of the Conan corebook) 
  as an Average (D1) Knowledge test, at the cost of 1 
  Doom per point of desired Momentum. This spell 
  only works on reptiles, lizards, and serpents, and 
  has no effect on other types of creatures.
  
  CHAPTER 2
  56
  TREASURE
  Sanu’s vault contains uncountable wealth in the form of 
  coins, gems, jewelry, and other works of art that are mere 
  dross compared to the true worth of its archive of alchemical 
  and sorcerous lore, as well as tomes and other materials 
  enough to fuel a sorcerous cabal until the end of the age. 
  Player characters gaining access to this are now among the 
  wealthiest humans in the land, complete with the difficulty 
  of holding on to such a treasure.
  EXPERIENCE
  Entering and surviving the Well of Sanu should be worth 
  at least 200 experience points, perhaps more, depending 
  on what tactics are taken and the overall goal.
  SARNATH
  Such was the glory of Sarnath, the bards sing, that it tran-
  scended the material; shifting beyond the mundane to 
  reside upon the very borderland of the waking world and 
  the kingdom of dreams. Doom may have befallen it, but 
  something of its centuries-spanning grandeur is believed 
  to survive, waiting yet to be discovered.
  OVERVIEW
  When the first men moved onto the shores of mythical 
  Mnar they found they were not alone. Preceding them by 
  centuries was an inhuman race residing in a gray stone 
  city on the shore of a vast green lake. Some of the wise 
  thought these emerald-skinned beings, with drooping lips 
  and bulging eyes, climbed down from the moon to seek a 
  kingdom upon the earth. Although these creatures spoke 
  no language, it became known to the men that their city 
  was called Ib, and that they worshipped a god called Bokrug. 
  An idol bearing its likeness, a monstrous water-lizard, was 
  their most holy of relics and when the moon hung gibbous 
  they danced and cavorted obscenely before it.
  In the beginning, the men regarded this alien tribe 
  with wonder. They lived apart, but at peace with them. On 
  The wonder of the world and the pride of all 
  mankind was Sarnath the magnificent.
  — “The Doom that Came to 
  Sarnath”, H.P. Lovecraft
  
  57
  CURSED CITIES
  the same lake, they constructed their own humble city of 
  Sarnath. The strength of men grew, and so did their hate. 
  They came to revile these strange outsiders, and knew they 
  lacked strength to defy their rage.
  The men attacked the defenseless creatures, slaughtering 
  all in one night. Unwilling to touch them with bare hand, 
  they poled the dead into the lake, sinking their corpses to 
  the bottom. The stone monoliths that made their city were 
  toppled down into the depths with them.
  Only the idol of Bokrug did they keep. This war-trophy 
  was given into the hands of their high priest, Taran-Ish, who 
  installed it as a spoil of conquest in his own temple. The 
  night afterwards, lights, weird and pale, erupted over the 
  water. Visitors coming in to worship the following morning 
  found Taran-Ish, dead, heart burst from fright. In his death 
  throes he had scrawled the sign of “DOOM” upon the altar 
  of their gods. The idol of Bokrug had vanished.
  Wealth and prosperity came to Sarnath following this 
  incident. Precious metals and its position on the trade 
  routes raised it above all others. At its pinnacle, fifty million 
  people lived within walls that stretched for leagues, strolled 
  in its exotic gardens and worshiped in towered temples. 
  For 1,000 years, all in Sarnath enjoyed riches and delight. 
  Once a year they cursed the bones of the creatures they had 
  overthrown, feasting in memory of their triumph. Taran-
  Ish’s cryptic message upon the altar came to be forgotten.
  On the turn of the millennial celebration, a thick green 
  mist rose from the lake, clouding the moon and shrouding 
  the city. Strange lights swirled over the water. The gates of 
  Sarnath burst open, and all who could, fled into the wilds. 
  The king, his court, and slaves had been transmuted! They 
  walked in the form of the green-skinned, bulging eyed-be-
  ings their ancestors murdered 1,000 years ago. The Terror 
  of Sarnath spread to every port and crossroads. None dared 
  visit it, and its reality soon, too, receded into fable. Returned 
  to dream and nightmare, some say.
  Generations passed before another tribe of men ven-
  tured to see Sarnath. They saw no sign of the fabulous city. 
  Only a placid green lake, with gray mountains overhead. 
  A thorough search of the empty vista yielded a curious 
  green idol of stone, coated with seaweed and chiseled in 
  the likeness of a great water-lizard.
  ZONES
  Approaching the Mere
  The gamemaster can place Sarnath in any part of the world. 
  Given its mythic status and antiquity, it should be far away 
  from the places of civilization and knowledge. Roads that 
  once led to Sarnath were ground to rubble by the crush of 
  time, scattered across far fields and sunk into the earth. 
  Looking closer, the player characters will find the signs of 
  a road, of which the flagstones were carved of onyx and 
  granite, with regular side pieces showing that they have been 
  worked by stonemasons, rather than being natural. Further 
  searching and a successful Challenging (D2) Observation 
  test yield more fragments of materials such as glazed brick, 
  chalcedony, and even strange flat shards of clear crystal.
  Once the winding and hidden course to Sarnath has 
  been found, the player characters come upon a lake titanic 
  enough to be mistaken for a small sea. Ringing the north-
  ern end is a range of slate-grey mountains, and even a 
  casual examination of the surrounding land reveals that 
  it is dotted with fragments of green stone and occasional 
  sections large enough to be identified as bricks, as if some 
  grand city had once stood where the lake now rests, the 
  brick the remnants of some wall or outermost structures. 
  Also here are many pieces of marble, of which successful 
  Daunting (D3) Lore test reveals that it is of a type found in 
  some deserts, though none nearby.
  The Mere
  The shore of the vast lake is pocked by marshy reed banks, 
  amidst which stand fragments of columns, small pieces 
  of broken arches, and even jagged spurs that were once 
  walls or towers. One type of especially durable stone is 
  dull grayish-purple but cannot be identified, no matter 
  how successful a Lore test is, or how much Momentum is 
  spent (if any). Vines, moss, and mold cover the ruins entirely, 
  with little of the stone surface still visible. Some parts of 
  the shore may contain malignant plants. No frogs, fish, or 
  insects disturb the still green water.
  Should any venture into the lake, they find it cold as 
  frost and it clings to clothes and armor like a sheen of oil. 
  It can be drunk but is brackish and carries a faint trace of 
  sulphur. As a rule, the rubble-strewn lake bottom slowly 
  dips in depth for the first twenty feet from shore, then 
  has a sudden plunge, plummeting hundreds of feet down.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to spot 
  footprints with clawed toes along the edge of lake, 
  or to see a pair of orbs observe them, before speed-
  ing down into the lake.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a small 
  Malignant Plant growing on the bank grapple with 
  a player, to poison or drown them.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a 
  green mist (slightly poisonous at their discretion) 
  erupt from the lake along with balls of pale light. 
  This eldritch display costs 1§ Trauma to behold if 
  an Average (D1) Discipline test is unsuccessful.
  
  CHAPTER 2
  58
  The Deep Walk
  Observant player characters note a minor eddying of the 
  water along the western rim. This is water sluggishly trick-
  ling into a submerged tunnel, about 12 feet down. The 
  tunnel appears to be natural in formation, but is lined with 
  bizarre luminescent coral, something more commonly 
  found on sea beds. The mouth of the opening is nine feet 
  high and half that wide; the interior tunnels are roughly a 
  foot shorter. Because of their sloping nature, the bottom 
  three feet of the tunnels remains underwater. The tunnels 
  are lightless except for the sallow light emanating from 
  near-dead coral formations. They corkscrew and bend, 
  branching into many directions.
  Overall, the trend is to descend, and the water rises as 
  a response. By the time the player characters get to the 
  bottom, the tunnels are flooded up to five feet in some 
  places. It is in this narrow, claustrophobic warren that the 
  Dwellers of the Deep (see Inhabitants, below) choose to 
  attack the characters.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to dive 
  flawlessly into the tunnel opening.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to spot 
  a jewelled necklace from the time of Sarnath 
  caught among the coral (value at gamemas-
  ter’s discretion).
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to 
  realize that they have gotten turned around and 
  are backtracking.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a large 
  and sudden surge that either carries the player 
  character out into the lake or sucks them down 
  into the tunnels. This can require an Average (D1) 
  Athletics test to avoid being dazed or stunned.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have player 
  characters cut themselves upon the coral — this 
  causes 1§ damage, and if not immediately 
  treated will become infected for 1§ damage.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 2 Doom to have a 
  section of the tunnel collapse and suddenly flood. 
  Use the drowning and suffocation rules on page 
  127 of the Conan corebook.
  
  59
  CURSED CITIES
  The Boneyard
  At the lake’s bottom is a diamond-shaped chamber, extend-
  ing back for yards. From a multitude of cracks, slicks of green 
  water perpetually ooze. The floor is submerged for three 
  and a half feet. Thousands of bones lie on the bottom; there 
  are jumbled heaps of bones and skulls, and entire skeletons 
  reposing in the murk. The player characters are struck at 
  the vast number of the dead, and the fact they are clearly 
  not human! These are the remains of the inhabitants of 
  Ib, struck down by spiteful men. It is unknown what force 
  collected their remains in this chamber.
  Depending on the story seed, this is either where the idol 
  is coming to rest, or being destroyed, inside its hollowed 
  niche at the point of the diamond.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to spot 
  the niche that holds the idol, or the cradle to 
  receive the idol.
  ■
  ■ If in combat, player characters can use 1 
  Momentum to impale a foe with the sharpened 
  skeletal remains or smash them with a skull, as an 
  extra attack for another 1§ damage.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to 
  expertly sprint from point to point to reach the 
  idol opening.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to animate 
  1§ of the skeletons to attack, with a result of 1 
  or 2 equaling that many skeletons, and an effect 
  equaling one skeleton and another § roll’s worth. 
  A roll of 3 or 4 means no skeletons manifest, and 
  the Doom point is lost.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to flood the 
  room for a turn, which will incapacitate the player 
  characters but not the dwellers or skeletons.
  INHABITANTS
  Sarnath is a desolate domain. A pack of almost two dozen 
  dwellers of the deep lives in the water and caves. These 
  beings are the descendants of the transmuted humans and 
  have slid further into primal savagery with each incestuous 
  generation. These human hybrids are far deadlier than 
  those first encountered by men. They are opportunistic 
  hunters, feeding on weaker prey, needing to eat only once 
  every few weeks. They avoid the player characters at first, 
  then attempt to either stop them from returning the idol or 
  from taking the idol, depending on story seed. The animated 
  skeletons also attempt the same goals, depending upon 
  seed (an interesting twist would involve the skeletons and 
  dwellers working against one another).
  Despite their water-breathing abilities, the human 
  hybrids are equivalent to degenerates and degenerate 
  chiefs (pages 315–3 16 of the Conan corebook).
  TREASURE
  Most of the wealth of Sarnath vanished along with the city; 
  some say fallen back into dream. At the discretion of the 
  gamemaster the player characters could locate valuable 
  trinkets such as golden tableware or utensils; pieces of 
  precious minerals such as porphyry, zircon, or crystal; or 
  even curiously-stamped coins that make their hardships 
  more bearable. An especially lucky find might be a largish 
  chunk of ivory, broken from a larger carving, but curiously 
  stained with the verdigris of aeons.
  STORY SEEDS
  A God’s Return
  The player characters are approached by a caravan master 
  in the twilight of his life. In his youth, he wandered to 
  Sarnath and found the idol of Bokrug in the boneyard. 
  Unable to sell the bizarre piece upon returning home, 
  he made it a family heirloom, calling upon the dragon 
  for fortune. He was wealthy and successful beyond 
  measure, but all his children died tragically, and his 
  daughters bore malformed green-skinned spawn that 
  died shortly after birth.
  Fearing losing the idol would cost him his fortunes, 
  he stubbornly refused to bring it back. With the last of 
  his line dead, he seeks to return it to selfishly save his 
  own life. The dwellers do not wish the idol returned, 
  as the pain and misery it brings to the world of men is 
  retribution for their own destruction. But they are too 
  afraid to handle it, and thus require the help of others.
  Emerald Slayers
  Militia of the kingdom are called into service, and all 
  able-bodied men capable of wielding a sword are formed 
  into patrols. Children from an outlying settlement have 
  gone missing during the last two gibbous moons. A few of 
  the little ones have been found miles away. Their bodies 
  were torn by beasts who leave almost human-like tracks. 
  Seers and holy books lay this evil upon Sarnath, which 
  tales say rose like a ghost on the border. The only way to 
  defeat these fiends is to destroy their idol, which unmoors 
  Sarnath again. The dwellers fiercely protect the idol in 
  this case; knowing to lose it means a return to their sleep.
  
  CHAPTER 2
  60
  Wealth
  The sea-green stone idol is the most unique piece in this 
  setting. It was carved to reflect the features of an ancient 
  water-lizard. To Hyborian peoples it looks like a dragon. 
  It is three feet long, two feet tall, and is surprisingly light. 
  It is magic, but not of any type that can be controlled by 
  humans. Should a player or non-player character decide to 
  keep the idol, the effect is determined by the A God’s Return 
  story seed (page 59).
  Destroying the idol requires the player characters to 
  inflict 10 Breaks upon it (see Physical Damage, page 121 of 
  the Conan corebook): the stone it is made from provides 
  Soak 4. When it is sundered, any dwellers within one mile 
  will spend one turn in paralyzing agony transmuting into 
  humans, then another turn disintegrating into shells of 
  bone and black powder. Sarnath will again recede, giving 
  player characters until dawn before they become permanent 
  occupants of Mnar. Those returning to the same spot after 
  this time find only an ordinary green lake, mountains, but 
  of the mundane kind, and no tunnels.
  EXPERIENCE
  Player characters who locate Sarnath should receive 50 
  experience points. Those that survived an encounter with 
  the dwellers of the deep should receive 150 experience 
  points. Another 50 points can be given for either returning, 
  or removing, the idol.
  THE VALLEY 
  OF ZINGG
  The ancient people of the Zingg Valley left behind numerous 
  sites of standing stones. Some are ignored by the people of 
  Zingara, and some are still in use.
  OVERVIEW
  The Valley of Zingg lies along the lower Black River, a fertile 
  farmland with many fields and vineyards. It was first settled 
  by a farming people more than a thousand years ago. The 
  Picts conquered these simple villages and settled in the 
  valley. When the Hyborians reached the valley on their 
  migration west, they conquered the villages in turn. From 
  the mixture of these three peoples, Zingara was formed. Now, 
  the valley is home to numerous farms, vineyards, pastures, 
  and estates. North of the Black River, the farmland soon 
  gives way to forested mountains marked by fortified towers. 
  The logging camps and mines in these hills are frequently 
  raided by Picts coming down from the north in search of 
  metals and other valuable goods.
  The Valley of Zingg itself is dotted with standing stones 
  and stone circles left by the ancient farming people. No 
  one living knows why they were raised, and there are only 
  rumors of what rites may have been originally practiced 
  around them. Many of the stones are inscribed with images 
  of people and animals and with runes of an unknown lan-
  guage. Some of the stones are arranged as solar calendars 
  to mark the solstices and equinoxes. The stones may be 
  decorated at these times, with ropes and garlands of flowers 
  in spring and summer, sheaves of freshly harvested grain 
  and clusters of grapes in the fall, and images of farm animals 
  at Midwinter. The priestesses of Zingg use some of the sites 
  to study the stars and to celebrate certain rites (see Chapter 
  4: Myth and Magic of Conan the Pirate).
  The Picts that invaded the valley brought their worship of 
  ancient dark deities such as Shub-Niggurath (see Chapter 4: 
  Things from the Outer Dark in Nameless Cults). As is their want, 
  the Picts appropriated the stone circles of the Valley of Zingg for 
  their own fell purposes. Remnants of Pictish practices persist 
  in some remote villages, particularly north of the Black River.
  ANCIENT SITES OF ZINGG
  However, not all the standing stones have survived the test 
  of time intact. Some have fallen to earthquakes, floods, and 
  to zealous priests of rival cults. Some have been taken down 
  to be used as building materials. Following are some of 
  the most notable sites scattered across the Valley of Zingg.
  Barcencia
  Barcencia is a trade town between Kordava and Lecindres. 
  In the temple of Mitra there, a stone lying on its side is 
  used as an altar before the image of Mitra. The priests 
  say that it is a sign of Mitra’s triumph over the old ways, 
  though some in the town grumble that it is an affront to 
  their local customs.
  Estacan
  Near the village of Estacan in the mountains north of the 
  Black River, there is a stone circle on a ridge that is aligned 
  with the rising sun of the winter solstice. The villagers in 
  To the southwest, a tribe of Picts have invaded 
  the fertile valley of Zingg, conquered the 
  agricultural people there, and settled among 
  them. This mixed race was in turn conquered 
  later by a roving tribe of Hybori, and from these 
  mingled elements came the kingdom of Zingara.
  — “The Hyborian Age”
  
  61
  CURSED CITIES
  the area stubbornly cling to the old ways. As part of their 
  midwinter celebrations, they weave an effigy from reeds to 
  represent the old year that they then set alight as a way of 
  seeing the old year out. In particularly bad years, the priests 
  of Mitra say that the villagers bind men into the effigy as a 
  sacrifice so that the new year will be better.
  Kantabria
  On a hill above the village of Kantabria north of Kordava, 
  there stands a stone with a sweeping view out to sea. Though 
  the villagers swear they have no knowledge of it, each mid-
  summer, someone stains the stone with the blood of a goat 
  or deer. For this reason, most villagers avoid the stone then. 
  Every few years, a brave or foolhardy youth will scale the 
  hill to see what happens at the stone on those midsummer 
  nights. Those youths are either never seen again or it is 
  their blood that stains the stone that year.
  Kordava
  One of the more famous, but seldom seen, stones is in a 
  garden of the royal palace in Kordava. The queen and the 
  priestesses of Zingg hold rites in the garden and few others 
  are ever allowed there. Sages say that there were once other 
  stones in and around Kordava, but they have since been 
  pulled down or built over.
  Kostancia Island
  Located just off the coast, the stone circle on Kostancia Island 
  is built on a bluff facing out to the Western Sea. The circle 
  is aligned to catch the setting sun at midsummer. Fishing 
  families on the island continue to host a celebration that 
  begins with religious rites at sunset and then continues 
  with revels and bonfires through the night. The midsum-
  mer festival honors Ashtoreth. However, it is whispered 
  that different, darker gods are worshipped there at other 
  times with sacrifices in which goats, or even young girls, 
  are hurled from the cliff into the sea.
  Lecindres
  The largest and most elaborate stone circle is on Lecindres 
  Hill, south of the Black River and more than a day’s ride 
  from Kordava. It is actually two circles. The inner circle is 
  comprised of standing stones so tall that a man on horse-
  back cannot touch their tops. This circle is aligned with the 
  solstices. The outer circle is made up of smaller, roughly 
  man-sized stones that are aligned to equinoxes. Though, 
  some sages argue that there is a third, larger ring made 
  up of four stones placed at the cardinal directions several 
  leagues beyond the outer circle. Once, Lecindres was a large 
  religious complex and the site of great gatherings. Now, the 
  priests of Mitra discourage gatherings. Dedicated followers 
  of the old ways, though, continue to come to Lecindres to 
  practice sacred rites.
  Valinsa Island
  A group of stones stands on the southern point of Valinsa 
  Island in the Black River. The local fishermen still gather 
  there during the spring equinox to offer ritual gifts so that 
  the fish remain plentiful. Priests also whisper that women 
  from the nearby villages meet there at the autumn equinox to 
  celebrate their own fertility rites. Crocodiles often sun them-
  selves among the stones, and the priests suspect that the 
  stones are still used to honor the crocodile god of the Picts.
  LURKERS AT THE 
  ANCIENT SITES
  Some of the priestesses of Zingg are soothsayers who know 
  spells such as Atavastic Voyage, Evil Eye, and Weave of Fate 
  (use the stats for a sorcerer, Conan corebook, page 321). 
  Villagers who live near a site may be represented using the 
  stats for a Cultist (Conan corebook, page 313), each with one 
  or more of the following attacks:
  ■
  ■ Club (M): Reach 2, 3§, 1H, Stun, Knockdown
  ■
  ■ Farming Flail (M): Reach 2, 4§, 2H, Improvised, 
  Knockdown, Piercing 1
  ■
  ■ Wood Axe (M): Reach 2, 4§, 2H, Intense, Vicious 1
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ The Stars are Right: By spending 2 Momentum, 
  a sorcerer may declare that the time is particularly 
  auspicious for magical workings at an ancient site. 
  This spend grants 1 Momentum to the casting of 
  spells for the rest of the action scene. Alternatively, 
  the sorcerer may determine that the stars will be 
  right at some point in the future and then make 
  arrangements to be at the ancient site at the 
  appointed time. The gamemaster could also allow 
  the characters to discover that a villainous sor-
  cerer has similar plans to take advantage of a site.
  ■
  ■ The Harder They Fall: A character can spend 3 
  Momentum to knock down a standing stone onto 
  an adversary (Reach 3, 6§, Knockdown) or to 
  block their way so that the character may escape.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Restless Natives: Villagers who live near an 
  ancient site arrive to disrupt what they see as dese-
  cration of the site.
  
  W
  hat is the nature of exploration but the reve-
  lation of mystery? We tread forth in trackless 
  forests, sail upon moon-silver seas, and cross 
  wastes all to peel away the layers of a world we’ll never truly 
  understand. But, like pieces of a Khitan puzzle box, we may 
  gain fragments of the larger whole. We may find such places 
  as our minds previously only dreamed. We may discover 
  things which only the Earth and the Old Gods remember. 
  We will never know the whole of it, but that does not stop 
  us from trying.
  ANCIENT RUINS OF 
  THE BLACK COAST
  South of Kush, a dark river bleeds into the sea. Sailors who 
  venture near the mouth of the Zarkheba swear the water is 
  poisoned. No fish swim in its foul currents, only venomous 
  reptiles are spotted sliding into its depths. Rumor holds that 
  miles upriver a city of immemorial grandeur once stood, 
  and from this fallen place the corruption flows.
  OVERVIEW
  Mankind had not yet begun its march up from the primal 
  elements when beings from another evolutionary branch 
  ruled this corner of the world. They were similar in aspect 
  to men, but remote in many more ways. Wings spread from 
  their backs, allowing them to traverse the sky. They lived 
  long millennia without dying and possessed an intelligence 
  that allowed them to construct a great metropolis of green 
  stone, nestled on a clear river. The world around them 
  changed; planetary convulsions altered the landscape, 
  miring the city in swamp and jungle.
  It was but the ghost of a city on which they 
  looked… Weeds and rank river grass grew 
  between the stones of broken piers and 
  shattered paves that had once been streets 
  and spacious plazas and broad courts. 
  From all sides… the jungle crept in.
  — “Queen of the Black Coast”
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  CHAPTER 3
  Dim doubts and vague monstrous suspicions haunted his 
  mind, but he followed her, through a labyrinthine maze of black 
  corridors that confused even his primitive sense of direction. He 
  mentally cursed himself for a fool, allowing himself to be led 
  into that black abode of mystery; but it was too late to turn back 
  now. Again he felt life and movement in the darkness about him, 
  sensed peril and hunger burning impatiently in the blackness.
  — The Hour of the Dragon
  
  63
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  Unwilling to leave their ancestral home, they continued 
  to live amid the rank squalor for centuries more, sinking 
  back into a more primitive state. Volcanic eruptions followed, 
  then a massive earthquake fractured sections of the ancient 
  city. The river ran black for days, changed at a chemical level 
  by the filth spewed out of the depths of the earth. This vile 
  water was fatal to most who drank of it. Those who did not 
  die began to change. The fall was much faster now, with 
  the water working within their veins, and they turned on 
  one another in an orgy of cannibalistic feuds. It is believed 
  that only one of the ancient winged race has survived into 
  the age of men, roosting over inconceivable glories still 
  waiting to be found in the ruins.
  ZONES
  River Approach
  The Zarkheba is marked on the maps of captains whose 
  livelihood takes them south of Kush. Finding it is relatively 
  simple. Beyond its wide muddy opening, much less is known. 
  Superstition has prevented many voyages upriver. Those 
  who have ventured a few miles up in the interior spoke 
  of seeing the ruins of a city from afar. It is impossible to 
  divine more than a series of decaying grey towers until 
  much closer. Above all can be seen the zenith of a marble 
  pyramid, spired by a single slender column. Depending 
  on the gamemaster’s discretion the master of the city; the 
  winged ape (see below) may be upon his perch, watching 
  the intruders.
  Fresh water becomes more precious than gold here. 
  None can drink the putrid water without becoming violently 
  ill. A league upriver, gargantuan river serpents are found, 
  mingling in the current along with their smaller brethren. 
  A day and a night’s sail up the serpent-haunted Zarkheba 
  takes a vessel to a bend of the river and the remnants of 
  the wharves.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Spend 2 Doom to incite riot with the crew; only by 
  disposing of the ring-leaders will the ship return 
  to normal.
  ■
  ■ Spend 1 Doom to have serpent(s) crawl from shore 
  or spring from the water to attack.
  ■
  ■ Spend 1 Doom to have the winged ape mark the 
  ship, as a prelude for some future act of vio-
  lence or evil.
  
  CHAPTER 3
  64
  The Wharves
  The nameless city once served as a bustling entrepot, host-
  ing travelers of other, stranger races faded into myth. The 
  ruins of a vast network of wharves can be found here. Some 
  of the wharves are completely gone. Time has ravaged the 
  others, leaving behind tottering stone frames or cracked 
  wooden-frame ties, planked by rotten wood. None of these 
  are suitable for tethering a ship. The safest course would 
  be to drive ashore and tie off to one of the more substan-
  tial remnants. Beyond the wharves lies the corpse of the 
  jungle-plunged city.
  The Ruined City
  Only a few acres of the once sprawling city have survived. 
  A score of crooked towers, ripe for collapse, still sprout 
  from the earth. Perhaps a half-dozen more of the smaller 
  buildings still peek up out of waist high weeds and rancid 
  river grass. The streets of marble slabs that once linked 
  these places together are practically submerged under 
  this wild growth.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use 1 Momentum to cleave 
  a path straight and true to a desired destination, 
  with no impaired movement.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a large 
  constrictor serpent drop out from a branch or 
  emerge from a ruin.
  Old Ones Temple
  This is a small rounded tower, set on a foundation of cracked 
  stone blocks, standing atop a festering cypress base. Flanking 
  columns that once provided a stately entrance lie toppled 
  and shivered. Inside, an antiquated, but intact, wooden 
  floor still supports a massive stone altar. As corruption set 
  in, the winged people turned to worship of the Old Ones 
  and offered slaves and each other for sacrifice. Channels 
  are cut across the top of the altar to drain the blood into 
  bowls or cups. These ruts remain stained black.
  Those who inspect the altar and succeed in a Challenging 
  (D2) Observation test note the handholds at either end of 
  the altar, which is the key to moving the hollow stone shell. 
  The player characters must pass an Average (D1) Athletics 
  test to begin to slide the altar to one side.
  The altar is trapped! If it is moved, the altar suddenly 
  revolves on its side, triggering the implosion of the rest 
  of the temple. This collapse consists of two distinct 
  areas: the bury zone (in the direct path of the falling 
  debris) and the dust zone (the area the debris spreads 
  out to encompass).
  Anyone in the collapsed room is in the bury zone. Those 
  in the bury zone always take damage from the collapse and 
  can be effectively grappled by the debris (in other words, 
  pinned down).
  ■
  ■ Bury Zone Crush (M): Range 3, 5§, Grappling, 
  Intense, Area
  Anyone in an adjacent area is in the dust zone. Those 
  in the dust zone may be able to get out of the way.
  ■
  ■ Dust Zone Strike (R): Range Special 
  (Adjacent Room, 4§
  Survivors can loot the altar; the treasure is detailed below.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ With a successful Average (D1) Thievery test, 
  player characters can spend 1 Momentum to spot 
  scratches in the nearby stone giving a clue to the 
  existence of the secret compartment, and divine 
  how to get at its shining contents. Another 1 
  Momentum to obtain information reveals that it is 
  likely balanced as if trapped.
  ■
  ■ If a successful Average (D1) Observation test is 
  made, player characters can spend 1 Momentum 
  to roll out of the temple before the trap is sprung; 
  or perhaps nobly save another from being 
  crushed to death.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 2 Doom to knock one 
  of the player characters unconscious in the temple 
  collapse, leaving them comatose until treated 
  and rested.
  Towers
  These towers were once holy places to otherworldly entities 
  such as Cthulhu, Dagon, and Shub-Niggurath. There is 
  little left in these places except broken altars and a sense 
  of abject cosmic horror.
  Ruined Buildings
  Shops, homes, and public buildings once occupied this 
  space. They are almost unrecognizable as such after the 
  march of ages.
  The Marble Pyramid
  This squat ivory pyramid is the best-preserved building 
  among the ruins. Three of its four sides are sleek white ivory 
  walls; the side that opens to the jungle has a set of frosted 
  
  65
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  stairs leading up a man’s height to another featureless wall. 
  There is no interior to the pyramid; the steps were for sup-
  plicants of the winged ape to deliver offerings. This beast 
  regularly perches atop the slender 30-foot column shooting 
  from the tip of the pyramid, surveying its spoiled kingdom.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ With a successful Average (D1) Athletics test, 
  player characters can spend 1 Momentum to find 
  a means to scale the side of the pyramid for a 
  vantage point (another point needed to ascend 
  the spire).
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have the 
  winged ape make a sudden appearance; it will try 
  to pick the player characters off one-by-one.
  The Jungle Beyond
  The jungle fringing the city provides a challenge to even 
  the most gallant pathfinder. It slows movement, spoils 
  supplies, and delivers a steady stream of insects, snakes, and 
  other jungle beasts. Ringing the city is a field of dangerous 
  malign plants (see Inhabitants, below).
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to 
  avoid being pulled in to the embrace of one of the 
  malign plants.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a 
  player character blunder into a thicket of the 
  malign plants, which will render them uncon-
  scious. While in this sleep, they will have a vision 
  of a group of Stygian warriors who entered the 
  field long ago and have been sorcerously trans-
  formed by the winged ape into the hyena pack.
  INHABITANTS
  Serpents do not fear the city, but all other mundane beasts 
  shun it. The winged ape takes great interest in any who 
  come too close to its domain. It does not directly attack 
  at first, instead delighting in tormenting and bedeviling 
  the player characters, supping on their pain and anguish 
  like fine draughts. It may destroy the water casks in the 
  ship while they are away, or just outright disable the ship, 
  make off with a lone watchman at midnight, try to lead the 
  
  CHAPTER 3
  66
  player characters into the field of malign plants, and then 
  attempt to transmute them into more of the hyenas. When 
  it tires of the game, it summons the hyena pack to attack 
  any survivors, letting the battle nearly play out before it 
  intervenes. If grievously injured, it flees for its perch to 
  recover and plot revenge.
  Stats for the winged ape can be found on page 343 of the 
  Conan corebook, and gamemasters can treat the hyenas as 
  Toughened dogs (page 326 of the Conan corebook).
  TREASURE
  Various relics such as cups, plates, and ornamental items 
  are still left in some of the ruined buildings and would 
  prove to be quite valuable to the right group. The temple to 
  the Old Ones contains a literal king’s ransom of jewels and 
  precious gemstones. Transporting any substantial volume 
  of the treasure from this remote place will prove the most 
  difficult task. Any player character can probably haul 10 
  Gold worth of loot away, or by ship a great deal more.
  EXPERIENCE
  Player characters who have survived an encounter with 
  the winged ape receive 150 experience points. Another 
  50 points can be given to those who are able to defeat or 
  drive away the hyenas.
  THE CITY OF GHOULS
  This nameless city of ghouls is an ancient, corrupted city 
  whose remaining inhabitants haunt the surrounding forest, 
  harrying any that stray under its boughs.
  OVERVIEW
  In southwestern Zingara, the road to Messantia passes 
  through the forest that lies between the Western Sea and the 
  hills that mark the border between Zingara and Argos. Deep 
  within the forest lies an ancient metropolis, now abandoned 
  and ruined by catastrophe. It was once one of Verulia’s great 
  cities with many noted palaces and gardens. But it was also 
  a place of sorcerers who sought to make pacts with demons, 
  offering up their own children. The city soon fell into dec-
  adence and decline. When the great cataclysm rocked the 
  world, tumbling the city’s towers of and destroying all the 
  great kingdoms of that age, here lingered the descendants 
  of men and demons: the ghouls, the eaters of the dead.
  Sites of the Haunted Forest
  The forest is a dense wood of oak, alder, and brambles 
  that stretches from low hills in the east to the shore of the 
  Western Sea. Where the road crosses through it, the forest 
  is not wide, but it is shunned by the folk of Argos and the 
  Zingarans have not settled near it.
  The White Road
  The road through the forest is shrouded and overhung by 
  trees, and the ghouls seek to ambush those that travel along 
  the road, particularly at night.
  City Gate
  The city lies well east of the road on the edge of the hills. 
  The gate is one of the few recognizable parts of the city’s 
  walls that still stand. Most of the walls are little more than 
  a mound of rubble, overgrown with trees and brambles.
  Ghouls, men called them, eaters of human 
  flesh, spawn of darkness, children of unholy 
  matings of a lost and forgotten race with the 
  demons of the underworld. Somewhere in 
  these primitive forests were the ruins of an 
  ancient, accursed city, men whispered, and 
  among its tombs slunk gray, anthropomorphic 
  shadows — Conan shuddered strongly.
  — The Hour of the Dragon
  STORY SEEDS
  Queen of the Black Coast
  The player characters are on board a merchant vessel 
  when Bêlit and her corsairs come upon them! The captain 
  has angered the she-devil in the past by escaping and 
  knows no quarter will be given. He pilots his ship upriver 
  to the one place even she will not follow!
  A Dagger’s Edge
  The player characters come into possession of an exquisite 
  dagger, a valuable weapon of great antiquity. Pitting and 
  splotches show that the dagger was likely used for grisly 
  blood sacrifice. Cleaning the blade reveals scrollwork 
  traced on the grooves. Inspection shows that it is a set 
  of coordinates deciphered by the alignment of stars — 
  a road unto the nameless city and a temple erected to 
  the Old Ones.
  
  67
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  Ruined City
  Most of the city has been overtaken by the forest. Its 
  homes and shops are now scarcely more than overgrown 
  mounds of rubble. The trees that grow in the city are dark 
  and twisted, and the brambles have longer, sharper thorns. 
  Player characters that fall or are thrown into these brambles 
  must succeed on a Challenging (D2) Survival test to avoid 
  suffering 4§ damage.
  Fallen Tower
  When the city was shaken by the cataclysm, a great tower 
  fell across houses and shops, leaving a pile of rubble that 
  remains today as a scar through the forest. Player characters 
  must succeed on an Average (D1) Athletics test to scramble 
  across the rubble. Those that fail suffer 4§ damage from 
  a fall, or the player characters can avoid damage by paying 
  1 Doom apiece.
  Necropolis
  A hill above the city is festooned with the tombs of the 
  city’s honored dead, and it is here that the ghouls now 
  reside, dwelling inside mausoleums and burrowing into 
  the hillside.
  Central Plaza
  In the center of the city, there is a great plaza whose stones 
  have scarcely been disturbed by the trees. The middle of 
  the plaza is one of the few places in the city where the trees 
  allow a glimpse of the sky. The plaza is also the one spot in 
  the city that offers the ghouls no places to hide.
  Lyceum
  On the east side of the central plaza, a building still stands. 
  Once it was a site of education and learning. Now, beyond 
  its colonnaded front, it is the center of corruption in the city, 
  where the demons supplanted the knowledge and wisdom 
  of the city’s founders. The tiered ranks of marble benches 
  that were once the site of erudite debates remain, but the 
  racks of scrolls that filled the building during its heyday 
  have been smashed and torn apart so that only the barest 
  fragments remain among the litter on the floor.
  Bathhouse
  Once the focus of civilized life in the city, the baths are now 
  polluted dens of stagnant water, and the pipes that once 
  brought water from the hills into the city now allow the 
  ghouls to move unseen through the ruins.
  NO REST FOR THE BOLD
  When in this haunted city, the overwhelming psy-
  chic miasma of dread and suffering is so toxic that 
  player characters must make a Challenging (D2) 
  Discipline test to restore any lost Stresses (Vigor, 
  Resolve, Wounds, Trauma), or to shrug off any Despair. 
  Any attempts at Healing or Counsel are increased by 
  one step of Difficulty.
  
  CHAPTER 3
  68
  Sewers
  The vaulted sewers were designed to improve the 
  health of the city. Now, many of them have collapsed, 
  and those that remain are used by the ghouls as dens 
  and pathways.
  GHOULS OF THE 
  HAUNTED CITY
  The stats for ghouls can be found in the Conan corebook 
  on page 338. Most of the ghouls that prowl the forest are 
  Minions. Generally, one Toughened ghoul may be found 
  leading 2–4 groups of Minion ghouls. Deep within the city, a 
  more powerful ghoul can be found that retains a sorcerous 
  bond to the demons that corrupted the city. Such a ghoul 
  sorcerer has the stats of a mummified sorcerer (Conan 
  corebook, page 339) with the attacks of a ghoul and with 
  Charnel Stink, Inured to Disease/Poison, and Night Vision 
  in place of Inured to Cold/Pain and Unliving. Avoiding the 
  ghouls requires a successful Challenging (D2) Stealth test 
  in the forest and a Daunting (D3) test in the ruined city.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Brambles: A thicket of brambles into which a 
  player character may hurl a ghoul, rappling it for 
  one round, or in which a character may hide.
  ■
  ■ Loose stones: The crumbling ancient masonry 
  may give way beneath a ghoul, causing it to 
  tumble from a wall or bridge, or a player character 
  might knock down a wall onto a ghoul or to gain 
  an escape.
  ■
  ■ Statuary: Statues from before the city’s fall show 
  the residents in brighter days when they were stu-
  dents of science and the arts and when they had 
  clean, clear features. These statues may be toppled 
  onto ghouls to pin them or to block their path.
  ■
  ■ Treasure: A loose stone or crumbling wall reveals 
  an ancient treasure. It may be gold coins, jewelry, 
  or an artifact that could be of great interest to a 
  sage or sorcerer.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Charnel House: A den or other enclosed space 
  long used by the ghouls is so infested by their 
  charnel stink that anyone entering the zone must 
  attempt a Challenging (D2) Resistance test or gain 
  the Dazed condition until the end of the round. 
  Alternatively, they may add 1 to Doom, in which 
  case they suffer 1 Fatigue and 1 Despair (Conan 
  corebook, page 338).
  ■
  ■ Malign Plant: The demonic taint that brought 
  down the city has seeped deep down into its 
  soil. Plants rooted in the ruins have absorbed the 
  corruption and will lash out at any creatures that 
  draw near (Conan corebook, page 340).
  ■
  ■ Collapse: The paving stones give way beneath the 
  player characters’ feet, dropping them into a room 
  or tunnel, and they suffer 2§, Stun from the fall. 
  They cannot climb out and must find another way 
  back to the surface.
  ■
  ■ Marks on the Walls: The ghouls have been defac-
  ing the walls of the city, making deep scratches 
  with their claws. A player character that succeeds 
  on a Challenging (D2) Observation test sees in the 
  scratches a sign of the corruption and madness 
  that destroyed the city, suffering a Display of 
  Dread, 2§, Stun.
  ■
  ■ Pack of Ghouls: For 2 Doom, a pack of Minion 
  ghouls may appear, joining a fight already in prog-
  ress or surprising the player characters as they 
  round a corner while exploring the city.
  DEAD MAN’S GULCH
  Tortage is a pirate’s paradise. Set apart from the mainland, 
  protected from the navies and privateers of the oceans by 
  sharp rocks and a labyrinthine path between them, Tortage 
  is a haven. Yet, even such a sanctuary must preserve itself 
  from those within who breach its codes, and those with-
  out who infiltrate it, believing it to be ripe for conquest. 
  As those foolish enough to take advantage of Tortage’s 
  apparent moral laxness often discover, to their cost, there 
  are certain boundaries which one does not cross… even in 
  a kingdom built by pirates.
  OVERVIEW
  Dead Man’s Gulch is one of many rocky valleys amidst the 
  stark, almost barren outcrops of inland Tortage. This place, 
  
  69
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  however, is unlike the other depressions in the landscape. 
  It is filled with the remains of the dead — dozens of corpses 
  in various stages of decay, bones from dozens more bodies 
  which have since been disturbed by birds, picking amongst 
  the scraps of flesh. This is where those who contravene the 
  pirate code (and get caught) are dealt with.
  Mutineers who killed their captain and put in at Tortage 
  believing themselves safe, perhaps, or those who murdered 
  a fellow pirate in cold blood — all can be found here. The 
  methods of execution are as varied and as hideous as one 
  might expect from such a depraved class of men and women 
  as pirates. Some are crucified, others staked out beneath the 
  sun with narwhal tusks driven through each hand and left 
  to the ministrations of the birds. The luckiest are garroted 
  or simply stabbed with a cutlass through the throat.
  The most common method of execution, however, is the 
  gallows. Built from the warped lumber brought to Tortage’s 
  shore over many years and built so it resembles the hanging 
  spot which many pirates have only narrowly escaped on 
  shore, it is considered cursed. As in any place where death 
  is so frequent and so bloody, strange stories have accreted 
  around the gulch — of sinister, canine creatures that steal 
  out from fissures to gorge themselves upon the flesh of the 
  dead. Other stories whisper of vengeful spirits that linger, 
  awaiting the opportunity to wreak terror upon those who 
  wronged them. The most sinister stories tell of a fine seam 
  that crosses the gulch, through which screaming voices 
  can be heard, begging for blood and death and pain. After 
  all, there must have been a reason for choosing this valley, 
  over and above the others which can be found throughout 
  Tortage’s narrow span.
  KEY FEATURES
  Amidst the crawling maggots and swarming flies, there 
  are other areas of Dead Man’s Gulch which might draw a 
  player character’s attention…
  The Pyramid of Skulls
  Who constructed this mound of skulls is uncertain; was it 
  the pirates themselves, as a macabre joke? Possibly. What is 
  certain is that the pirates have not disassembled it, however 
  much it might seem to mock them. The pyramid is nearly 
  six feet tall and describing it as a pyramid is something of 
  a grandiose term. It is, by most definitions, simply a large 
  pile of skulls — though there are other bones within it. 
  It is a sinister spectacle and some claim that the strange, 
  charnel spirits which infest this place are centered on it, 
  their totem of death.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Spending Momentum might allow a player 
  character to achieve a surprise attack by appear-
  ing from behind, or from on top of the pyramid. 
  Alternatively, it can be toppled over, dislodging 
  dozens of bones and causing an avalanche which 
  knocks those at its bottom over. A long thigh bone 
  might also be conceivably used as a replacement 
  weapon for anyone whose spear or sword or 
  dagger has snapped in the fray.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can use Doom to have player 
  characters fighting on or around the pyramid slip 
  and fall on a skull which gives way beneath their 
  feet. A spend might also allow an enemy to seize 
  an arm bone or a ribcage and use it to ward off 
  what might otherwise have been a killing blow.
  The Gallows
  This is a sinister, listing parody of those gallows awaiting 
  the pirates on the mainland. To be executed here is to be 
  officially denied the title of ‘pirate’ in death. Only the worst 
  of crimes against one’s brothers and sisters are punished 
  in the gulch, and only the most heinous are resolved with 
  the noose and the drop. Built from the wreckage of four 
  major pirate ships, all recovered on Tortage’s beaches, the 
  gallows is far from perfect in its lines and its symmetry. But 
  it is stable, resolute and, even as the condemned clambers 
  up the warped stairs, ideally suited to its grim task.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ The daring player character might spend 1 or more 
  Momentum to use the hanging rope as a means of 
  swinging, in true pirate style, over their foes, bran-
  dishing their cutlass. Opening the trapdoor at an 
  opportune moment, using 1 Momentum, can also 
  send an enemy plunging below for 3§, as well as 
  He had his opportunity to kill Conan, and 
  he let it pass, engrossed in his own gloomy 
  ruminations. He did not find it easy to think 
  any of the dogs beneath his feet constituted a 
  menace to him. He had stood in the high places 
  so long, and had ground so many foes underfoot, 
  that he unconsciously assumed himself to be 
  above the machinations of inferior rivals.
  — Zaporavo, “The Pool of the Black One”
  
  CHAPTER 3
  70
  allowing the player character to finish the job, far 
  more easily, a short while later.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Fighting atop something as tainted as the gallows 
  can visit all sorts of bad luck on player characters — 
  dropped blades, stumbles, and minor injuries can all 
  be inflicted with the expenditure of Doom. The gam-
  emaster can also spend 2 Doom to have the player 
  characters the subject of social exclusion and hostil-
  ity as a result of profaning something so steeped in 
  meaning. This can result in allies suddenly becoming 
  neutral combatants, or, at the worst, new enemies.
  Ghoul Tunnels
  This is an optional feature which a gamemaster might 
  choose to include or omit from their version of Dead Man’s 
  Gulch. At the farthest extreme of the shallow valley, there 
  is a dark aperture. Only just visible, behind the mounds of 
  the dead and the implements of their execution, it is sunk 
  deep into the rock. Too deep, it seems. And from within it… 
  there are sounds. Gibbering, meeping, inhuman sounds. 
  Sometimes, sometimes, creatures emerge from the con-
  fines of the dark — rubbery, hideous things with clawed 
  fingers reaching…
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ A player character might spend 3 Momentum to 
  precipitate a foe into the darkness of the ghoul 
  tunnel — from which it is unlikely they will 
  return. Any player characters with broken or dam-
  aged weapons or armor can spend 2 Momentum 
  to find a replacement around the perimeter of the 
  entrance to the chasm — dropped by someone 
  unfortunate enough to be carried off, while only 
  half-dead, into the underground warren.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ A gamemaster can spend 3 Doom points to 
  summon two ghouls, or 5 Doom to summon three. 
  These can be the player characters’ chief oppo-
  nents in this situation or, alternatively, they might 
  attack the player characters and the foes with 
  whom the player characters are already fighting 
  for their lives.
  INHABITANTS
  The main inhabitants of the gulch are likely to be ghouls, as 
  noted above (for more, see page 338 of the Conan corebook) 
  or, potentially, ghosts of wrongfully executed pirates (see 
  page 337 of the Conan corebook). Perhaps a tyrannical ruler 
  of Tortage used Dead Man’s Gulch as a convenient spot for 
  disposing of enemies — in which case, wrathful phantoms 
  might be plentiful, and, at least initially, unlikely to be picky 
  against whom they revenge themselves.
  TREASURE
  The pirates killed here are unlikely to have been allowed 
  to keep any significant treasure when they were sentenced 
  to execution. A few trinkets are discoverable, with careful 
  searching, which altogether might fetch 1 Gold. This isn’t 
  a place with extensive pickings.
  EXPERIENCE
  An expedition to Dead Man’s Gulch is worth the following 
  experience point rewards.
  ■
  ■ 150 points for using the gallows in combat.
  ■
  ■ 50 points for using a part of the pyramid of skulls 
  during combat.
  ■
  ■ 50 points for tricking an enemy into a ghoul tunnel.
  ENCLAVE OF THE 
  SNOW-APES
  When the Cataclysm drove the peoples of the earth into 
  far and inhospitable corners, they found many things and 
  strange creatures waiting for them. With the ferocity and 
  ingenuity of near-men, the savages slaughtered these beings 
  and drove them into near-extinction. But some creatures 
  endured. The snow-apes were one such race. Brutal, tow-
  ering beings, though dwindling in number, these beasts 
  fought with cunning and enormous strength but could 
  not stem the tide of savages from the south. Instead, they 
  retreated into the arctic north, to old places which the 
  savages would never be able to find amidst the trackless 
  tundra and freezing heights of the mountains. There the 
  snow-apes waited, for the world to change again and for 
  man’s ascendancy to be halted.
  
  71
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  OVERVIEW
  The enclave of the snow-apes is an ancient temple, con-
  structed from cyclopean blocks which were ancient even 
  before Valusia fell. Whether the ancestors of the snow-
  apes built them, before falling into decadence and, finally, 
  regressing to the state of primitive beasts, or whether the 
  snow-apes merely occupied that which had been long 
  abandoned, none can say. There are carven tablets, hewn 
  from stone with skill and craftsmanship and then set into 
  the ground about the altar. It is a peculiar, desolate place, 
  filled with an eerie sense of loss. The air is filled with snow 
  and ice and the apes can appear, as if from nowhere, in a 
  single moment.
  ENCLAVE OF THE  
  SNOW-APES FEATURES
  The sanctuary which the snow-apes created for them-
  selves in this mountainous, inhospitable region, has 
  several unique elements which might prove useful to 
  a gamemaster.
  The Altar
  The purpose this altar was originally put to has, perhaps 
  thankfully, long been lost. The stone from which it is 
  made is old and pitted but just discernible are ancient 
  markings carved upon it, in a language long since lost. 
  Faint remnants of strange sorcery are detectable, to those 
  sensitive to such things who stand near it. Coarse fur 
  clings to its sides, indicating that the snow-apes recognize 
  the potency of this carven altar and use it themselves, 
  as part of some unknown ritual. It functions in most 
  regards as a circle of power, as described on page 144 of 
  the Conan corebook.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ A player character using sorcery can spend 3 
  Momentum to cast a spell at the altar without 
  sacrificing a Fortune point. This can only be done 
  once, as the resources of power near the altar will 
  be expended by drawing on them in this way. The 
  numinous vestiges of power take some time to 
  replenish themselves. If the player characters visit 
  this spot a second time, this Momentum spend 
  may be available once again.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Snow-apes, ancient and strange creatures, are 
  susceptible to the ebbs and flows of magic and the 
  Outer Dark’s intrusion on the real. If a snow-ape 
  touches the altar, the gamemaster may ignore 
  damage inflicted upon that ape at double the cost 
  of Doom spent (that is, a gamemaster might spend 
  2 Doom and ignore 4 points of damage).
  The Standing Stones
  What the strange tablets, jutting from the ground, were 
  intended for is as mysterious and unanswerable as the true 
  nature of the enclave in the first place. They exist, and that 
  seems enough, certainly for the snow-apes who have left 
  them where they stand for the millennia in which they have 
  been the Enclave’s sole occupants. Certainly, they could have 
  torn them down with little difficulty, and yet the stones still 
  protrude from the earth — sporadic teeth in the gums of 
  a vast giant. They each possess a single engraving, though 
  again, what this engraving is meant to be is obscure. Is it 
  a rune? A crude depiction of a man-like figure? A sigil of 
  protection? None can be truly certain and indeed, there have 
  been no scholars fortunate enough to venture this far north 
  and learn of such things. Instead, they remain a mystery… one 
  more scintilla of ancient knowledge, lost to history forever.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend Momentum to hide 
  behind the stones and launch surprise attacks 
  on enemies, even if already engaged in a Melee 
  combat. Alternatively, a 3-point Momentum spend 
  can allow a player character to topple one of the 
  stones onto a foe, causing 8§ of damage.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The snow-apes are much more circumspect and 
  careful around the standing stones than a player 
  character is likely to be. The gamemaster might 
  like to suppose that this is because the apes know 
  what lies beneath. A gamemaster can spend all 
  their Doom (with a minimum spend of 4) to have 
  one of the stones tumble over and a child of the 
  They found the snow-countries inhabited only 
  by a species of ferocious snow-apes — huge 
  shaggy white animals, apparently native to that 
  climate. These they fought and drove beyond 
  the Arctic circle, to perish, as the savages 
  thought. The latter, then, adapted themselves 
  to their hardy new environment and throve.
  — “The Hyborian Age”
  
  CHAPTER 3
  72
  dark (see Conan corebook page 346) emerge from 
  where it has been contained for uncounted centu-
  ries. The snow-apes will flee at this point… return-
  ing only if the child of the dark is killed; they will 
  then carefully re-erect the standing stone.
  The Darkling Wood
  Fringed on all sides by thick pine forest, the enclave of the 
  snow-apes is protected from the depredations of civilization. 
  But the forest is a dangerous place itself; darkness gathers 
  there, amongst the trees. Little light can penetrate the thick-
  ets of branches and, once within the tree line, visibility is 
  curtailed. Instead, there are strange, animal scents — iron 
  and ozone and fetid breath — and the ominous sounds of 
  inhuman feet falling, heavily, in the near distance. The snow-
  apes know this wood with the perspicacity that any animal 
  has towards its home. Becoming separated from one’s com-
  rades in such a spot would be a truly dangerous thing to do…
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Disappearing, quickly, into the shadowed confines 
  of the forest is a good way of gaining some breath-
  ing space in a desperate battle. A player character 
  can spend 1 Momentum to make a Challenging 
  (D2) Stealth test as a Free Action to conceal them-
  selves within the forest. Alternatively, the player 
  characters can spend Momentum to climb the 
  trees and then leap onto enemies from above!
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster may spend 2 Doom to have a 
  random animal foe emerge, unexpectedly, from 
  the impenetrable wooded thickets and attack (use 
  one of the animals from Wild Beasts on page 322 of 
  the Conan corebook) and have the creature seize 
  the initiative. Being trapped in these incalculably 
  ancient forests might also necessitate a Dire (D4) 
  Stress test, at the cost of 2 Doom.
  INHABITANTS
  The snow-apes are the only inhabitants of the enclave. 
  Anything that might have lived here before them has been 
  long since killed, driven off or else dwindled away. Snow-
  apes are described on page 86–87 of Conan the Barbarian. 
  Alternately, the gamemaster can update the ape descrip-
  tion on page 322 of the Conan corebook by making them 
  Toughened foes or improving their Brawn and Combat Field 
  of Expertise to make them more formidable.
  TREASURE
  The pelts of snow-apes make highly prized clothing or 
  wall-furnishings, depending on who they are being sold 
  to. Bargaining can secure a price of 2 Gold for each pelt 
  in reasonable condition. There are also pieces of strange, 
  ancient jewelry to be found decorating the altar. These can 
  be sold for 1 Gold each. How many of the curious items and 
  amulets can be found is up to the gamemaster.
  EXPERIENCE
  Finding and exploring the enclave of the snow-apes is worth 
  the following experience points.
  ■
  ■ 100 for killing a snow-ape and securing its pelt.
  ■
  ■ 50 for killing a snow-ape and leaving its pelt behind.
  ■
  ■ 100 for killing a foe by toppling a standing stone on 
  top of them.
  ■
  ■ 50 for casting a spell utilizing the remnant sorcerous 
  potential of the altar.
  THE HULK OF 
  THE DAMNED
  A vast, rotting ship drifts upon the tides, a forgotten relic 
  from the days of old Atlantis. Centuries past, its countless 
  decks and passageways teemed with humanity, desperate 
  survivors of a bygone cataclysm. Now decrepit and water-
  logged, it is little more than a floating ruin of creaking 
  timbers and tattered sails. But it is not entirely lifeless. 
  Something old and foul nests deep within the hulk, raven-
  ous and sly, damned to drift with the waves for all eternity.
  OVERVIEW
  This ruin is a great, antique ship. Quiet and still, it drifts 
  in the sea, shunned even by gulls. Grotesque, tattered 
  remnants of sails cling to jagged broken masts, flapping 
  ineffectually in the wind. The entire ship lists markedly 
  to one side, and several holes in the hull just above the 
  waterline indicate that the hulk is partially flooded. Its 
  But as a viper in a verdant garden lay that sullen 
  black ship, anchored just outside the shallow water.
  — “The Isle of Pirates’ Doom”
  
  73
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  oars are lost. Its figurehead is naught but a ruined spur of 
  weathered timber, and its rudders have sheared off long 
  ago rendering the vessel quite unsteerable.
  The hulk is ancient indeed, a great vessel of the 
  Atlanteans themselves who built it to sail the mighty 
  oceans of the world. It survived the Great Cataclysm that 
  befell that earlier age, drifting on the swollen seas beyond 
  the shattered continent, decks heaving with hundreds of 
  desperate survivors. But lack of food and water eventually 
  became a matter of life and death, and the survivors fell 
  to fighting, murder, and finally cannibalism to survive. 
  At length, a mere handful of desperate people were left, 
  living off the meat of their fellows. Then even they fell to 
  one another, save one, more desperate, more iron-willed 
  than the rest.
  The ship’s very existence is but a rumor among seagoing 
  folk from the Baracha Isles to far Khitai. Haunted-eyed 
  pirates, deep in their cups, may mutter of the ghost ship 
  that drifts on distant tides or of foolhardy fortune seek-
  ers who set sail in search of that damned hulk and never 
  return to port.
  The hulk may be encountered anywhere on the high 
  seas drifting with the current or else briefly beached on 
  some lonely isle, reef or stretch of coastline far from the 
  settlements of men.
  KEY FEATURES
  The style of construction is alien in its antiquity, dating back 
  before the rise of the Hyborian Age. Its size and construction 
  are certainly beyond anything that the men of Argos or 
  Stygia could build today. The ship looks like it could easily 
  support a crew of two hundred oarsmen. An Average (D1) 
  Sailing test lays bare the age of the vessel.
  The hulk’s timbers are well weathered, smooth, and quite 
  old. The wood itself is of a species of tree that no longer 
  exists, save for certain walled gardens in Khitai or Vendhya. 
  This fact is noted by passing a Challenging (D2) Craft test.
  Some of the internal timbers bear signs of the ship’s 
  original splendor: flecks of gold leaf on a wall panel here, 
  a suggestion of intricately carved table legs there. If there 
  is any loot to be had onboard, it has not been left carelessly 
  lying around.
  Small traces of those who have previously boarded 
  the hulk may be found by the sharp-eyed, requiring 
  a Challenging (D2) Observation test. A Shemitish coin 
  lodged between two planks, the broken tip of a Vanir’s axe 
  embedded in a bulkhead, wispy strands of fine Ophirean 
  silk caught on a rusted nail, old bloodstains, woodwork 
  gouged by something sharp. These fragments may be 
  years, even decades old, but they are far more recent than 
  the ancient ship itself, suggesting that others have come 
  aboard the hulk before.
  THE KA-GHOUL
  An ancient survivor of the Atlantean cataclysm, trans-
  formed by centuries of cannibalism into a foul inhuman 
  horror. Use the write-up for Saadan, Ghoul King on page 
  377 of the CONAN corebook, but replace his Charnel Stink 
  special ability with the following.
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ Cursed Immortal: While aboard the hulk, the 
  ka-ghoul can spend 2 Doom to completely heal 
  all its Vigor or 4 Doom to regrow lost limbs. If the 
  ka-ghoul is moved off the ship it ages rapidly, gain-
  ing 2 points of Fatigue and taking 5§ damage per 
  round which it cannot resist or soak, eventually 
  turning to bones.
  
  CHAPTER 3
  74
  The size and height of the hulk suggests that it has many 
  decks, which is indeed the case. Explorers may discover 
  that some decks are exceedingly low, requiring normal 
  sized folks to stoop or even crawl. Add 1 Doom for every 
  deck that explorers descend toward the ka-ghoul’s nest, so 
  oppressive is the damned hulk’s atmosphere. The haunted 
  vessel may itself generate Doom as per the rules on page 
  270 of the Conan corebook.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters may spend 4 Momentum to 
  bring an entire section of the deck above crash-
  ing down. This does 4§ physical damage to all 
  within Medium range.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ For 2 Doom, the gamemaster may cause a section 
  of worm-ridden planking to give way, dropping an 
  explorer to the deck below and doing 2§ physical 
  damage and inflicting the Staggered condition.
  Some secret passageways have long since been sealed 
  off from the rest of the hulk, save for certain small, 
  hidden panels.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters may spend 2 Momentum to open 
  a small, secret passageway unknown and inacces-
  sible to the ka-ghoul.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ For 1 Doom, the ghostly, unnerving wails of 
  murdered passengers echo down the darkened 
  passageways. This increases the Difficulty of 
  Discipline and Sorcery tests by one step.
  Concealed beneath cunningly carved trapdoors in the 
  decks, several greasy chutes drop unwary explorers down 
  to the lower decks and the bilge. One can spot and avoid 
  this with a Daunting (D3) Survival test.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters may spend 1 Momentum to 
  quickly grab onto a plunging comrade and save 
  them from disappearing down a chute.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster may spend an amount of Doom 
  equal to the number of explorers minus one to 
  have a previously undetected trapdoor plunge 
  a single explorer down several decks through a 
  branching chute.
  Several sections of the hulk below the waterline are 
  flooded due to holes in the hull. Loose timberwork and 
  other debris drifts and shifts in the black waters of these 
  sections, making progress slow and perilous (see Hindrances 
  on page 111 of the Conan corebook).
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Players may spend 3 Momentum to push on the 
  rotting floorboards beneath their feet, causing 
  them to warp, causing the black waves to wash 
  everyone in Close range from starboard to port, or 
  from bow to stern.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Shifting debris blocks the way ahead at a cost of 2 
  Doom, forcing the explorers to take a longer, more 
  perilous route.
  INHABITANTS
  Deep within the hulk’s lower decks lurks the cannibal 
  ka-ghoul, the last savage survivor of the ship’s original 
  inhabitants. Perhaps he was cursed by one of his victims 
  or damned by the gods for his monstrous acts. Whatever 
  the reason, this foul centuries-old creature yet lives, sub-
  sisting on a sporadic diet of human meat. Immortal and 
  near unkillable, the stooped, emaciated ka-ghoul barely 
  resembles a human being any more. Its lean, elongated 
  flanks are blackened with caked blood, floor-length hair 
  matted into a greasy whip-like rope, hands and feet clawed 
  and iron-hard, and teeth too many and too large for its 
  distended mouth.
  Bestial and maddened by centuries of isolation, the 
  ka-ghoul grunts only in pre-Cataclysmic oaths, requiring 
  a Dire (D4) Linguistics test to decipher these whilst the 
  creature attacks. It dozes patiently in its stinking nest — a 
  low, hidden deck in the heart of the ship where it feels most 
  safe — and slumbers for months or years at a time between 
  feasts. When the hulk drifts within sight of another ship, 
  the creature awakens at the scent of approaching humans 
  and hungrily stalks the explorers.
  Cautious and sly, the ka-ghoul prefers to attack small 
  numbers of prey, stealthily shadowing explorers and waiting 
  for them to be split up before striking (see Doom spends 
  in Key Features, page 73). It favors slaying all but one 
  victim in a grisly fashion then dragging the captive sur-
  vivor down to its nest to be consumed, returning later for 
  the other bodies. If the explorers remain together, the 
  
  75
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  ka-ghoul resorts to bursting from the darkness to seize the 
  rearmost person and then leaps down a hidden chute with 
  its struggling captive.
  Once they are picked clean over a period of days and 
  weeks, the bones of the ka-ghoul’s victims are thrown down 
  a chute to accumulate in the bilge in the deepest part of the 
  hulk, where the yellowing bones of the dead shift back and 
  forth in waist-deep dunes with the endless tides, making it 
  Difficult terrain. The unquiet remains of several victims lie 
  submerged among the bone dunes, rearing up as skeletal 
  warriors (see page 342 of the Conan core book) when the 
  living disturb their tormented resting place.
  Explorers may spot, with a Dire (D4) Observation test, that 
  the ka-ghoul is careful to avoid coming too close to the rails 
  of the upper decks or to any open holes in the hull. For while 
  it remains onboard the damned hulk, it can recover from 
  almost any injury, even major limb loss, thanks to the curse. 
  But the creature cannot leave the confines of the ship with-
  out dooming itself. Should it do so, willingly or otherwise, 
  the long years of its immortality will rapidly catch up with it, 
  aging the horror to a husk and then bones within seconds.
  TREASURE
  A few treasures and trinkets from past victims are heaped 
  around the ka-ghoul’s nest. While much of it consists of 
  rotting, ruined silks and finery, there are some valuable 
  gems and jewels among the detritus, perhaps even some 
  rare Atlantean coins amounting to 20 Gold.
  An ancient, yellowing cameo lies among the trinkets, 
  depicting a man and his family in profile. The man bears a 
  faint resemblance, revealed with an Average (D1) Observation 
  test, foully distorted, to the features of the terrible ka-ghoul. 
  As a pre-cataclysmic artifact, this could be worth up to 15 
  Gold to the right collector, but perhaps its close association 
  with the ka-ghoul carries a touch of the creature’s curse.
  EXPERIENCE
  For surviving an encounter with the ka-ghoul and getting 
  off the hulk alive, the gamemaster should award each of the 
  player characters 50 experience points. Some reasons why 
  50 additional points might be handed out are given below:
  ■
  ■ Braving the ka-ghoul’s nest to rescue a captive 
  (whether the victim is still alive or not).
  ■
  ■ Surviving an encounter with the skeletal warriors in 
  the bone dunes of the bilge.
  ■
  ■ Uncovering the pre-cataclysmic origin of 
  the ka-ghoul.
  ■
  ■ Deducing the ka-ghoul’s weakness and using it to 
  force the creature off the ship.
  The gamemaster should try to ensure that no player 
  character earns more than 100 additional experience points.
  LEMURIAN 
  SWAMP RUIN
  Located far to the east, perhaps in the sultry jungles of Khitai, 
  is an ancient and forgotten place, a shrine of some sort built 
  before the Cataclysm. Once adorning a mountain-top, it is 
  on a small and rocky island, now lost in the marches of a 
  reeking swamp. Dense is the growth that surrounds and 
  envelops the site, florid with black roses and orchids whose 
  scent pervades all like a thick fog.
  Hidden amidst purple and black shade, little remains 
  of note, save for sections of marble flooring, long broken 
  by twisting vines and bold weedy growths, and tall granite 
  columns, of which some remain, their bases carved with 
  monstrous forms of creatures lost to memory. These frame 
  the onetime center of the shrine, a squat and curious silver 
  idol with huge eyes of ruby, toppled from the pedestal it 
  once stood upon. It stares blankly at any who enter the 
  shrine, its expression unknowable, though light still seems 
  to glimmer in the eyes.
  Lying in the middle of this place is a curious sight that 
  give make any human pause: a human skeleton, incredibly 
  fashioned out of — or encased in — the brightest and purest 
  gold, lying upon its back as if looking upward at the stars. 
  Rotath cursed the limitations of the flesh. 
  He felt his brain crumbling and he cursed all 
  the men of all the worlds. He cursed them by 
  Hotath and Helgor, by Ra and Ka and Valka.
  He cursed all men living and dead, and all the 
  generations unborn for a million centuries to 
  come, naming Vramma and Jaggta-noga and 
  Kamma and Kulthas. He cursed humanity by 
  the fane of the Black Gods, the tracks of the 
  Serpent Ones, the talons of the Ape Lords and 
  the iron bound books of Shuma Gorath.
  He cursed goodness and virtue and light, speaking 
  the names of gods forgotten even by the priests 
  of Lemuria. He invoked the dark monstrous 
  shadows of the older worlds, and of those black 
  suns which lurk forever behind the stars.
  — “The Curse of the Golden Skull”
  
  CHAPTER 3
  76
  It does not look entirely human. Examining the skeleton 
  with a successful Challenging (D2) Healing test reveals that 
  the finger-bones are longer than a human’s, the eye-sockets 
  deeper, the skull’s shape more elongated than that of a 
  human being, but from all details, the skeleton was once 
  clothed in human flesh.
  Should any player character succeed on an Epic (D5) 
  Lore test, they will remember a tale told long ago of a of 
  considerable fame — Rotath of the Moonstone and the 
  Asphodel, a sorcerer-priest of the time before the oceans 
  drank Lemuria — who taught the Lemurian king strange 
  magics but was slain by King Kull of Valusia dying out of 
  sight somewhere in a mountaintop shrine. Legends say 
  that a great curse was forged that day, calling upon forgot-
  ten gods, demon-lords, and other terrible entities. Such a 
  terrible enchantment was wrought that day, whisper those 
  who are wise and fearful, that it will supposedly outlast 
  eternity itself.
  Should any be so bold as to interfere with this curious 
  skeleton, they must make a Daunting (D3) Observation 
  test. Success means that they see an adder strike forth with 
  blinding speed from its hiding place within the golden 
  skull, while failure means that the gamemaster may spend 
  1 Doom to have the adder strike immediately with a Simple 
  (D0) Difficulty. See page 330 of the Conan corebook for the 
  venomous snake but increase its damage to 5§.
  The eyes of the silver idol are rubies, each worth 10 
  Gold. The idol itself is quite heavy (Encumbrance 50) and 
  is solid silver. If the skeleton is removed from the shrine 
  (Encumbrance 30), it is worth 20 Gold to a prospective 
  buyer, should one be found for such an ill-favored thing. 
  The gamemaster should be creative in applying following 
  states to Rotath’s death-curse, perhaps even allowing for the 
  skeleton to be haunted by its former owner. Additionally, 
  the ghosts of those who died on Rotath’s altars are bound 
  to his remains and this place and may still linger in one 
  form or another.
  Should one of the players be familiar with original Kull 
  story, the gamemaster is encouraged to alter the encounter 
  or have the adder be absent entirely, to appear later when 
  it is not expected.
  MARSH ISLAND
  Many leagues west of the Pictish coast, the island of Marogoz 
  — ‘Marsh Island’ —squats in festering isolation. Windswept, 
  marsh-bloated, and far from the eye of civilized man, it was 
  once a small but industrious fishing village. Now Marogoz 
  is a ghost isle. An old, abandoned village sits moldering 
  down by the harbor, lifeless and rotting. Warehouses, piers, 
  homes, mansions, and a curious temple lie empty and 
  long forsaken.
  But look closer and see the makeshift fortifications and 
  traps that have turned the settlement into a labyrinthine 
  fort where a half-mad hermit fights a nightly battle against 
  loathsome horrors from the sea, a battle he cannot hope 
  to win much longer.
  OVERVIEW
  The island was colonized more than a century ago by disaf-
  fected Zingaran commoners led by a charismatic sea captain 
  called Kortonez who had voyaged far and seen much. He 
  told them of a place they could settle, an island surrounded 
  by waters rich in fish but far from warfare and the cruelty 
  of petty nobles. Consisting of low hills, a natural harbor 
  deep enough for fishing boats, and miles of surrounding, 
  boggy saltmarsh, the colonists dubbed their new home 
  Marogoz, or ‘Marsh Island’.
  Around the harbor they built wharves and on the hills 
  above constructed a village of houses, palisades and a little 
  grazing land for goats and hens. The near-impassable bogs 
  and a large, jagged reef to the south and west afforded the 
  islanders considerable protection from pirates and other 
  shipborne raiders. For years, the people of Marogoz lived 
  in peace and comparative prosperity, with little contact 
  with the outside world.
  At some point Kortonez began to traffic with inhuman, 
  amphibious dwellers of the deep. Most islanders believed 
  that the sea creatures had been lurking in the nearby reef 
  for years, waiting for the right time to show themselves. But 
  others whispered nervously that the captain himself had 
  brought them back from one of his protracted voyages far 
  to the south. Whatever the truth, Kortonez contrived for 
  his people and the creatures to meet, mix, and even mate. 
  Their children were strange hybrids, at home both on land 
  and under the water. To seal their union, the islanders built 
  a temple down at the harbor to a watery god called Dagon.
  The changed people of Marogoz gradually forsook the 
  village to frolic with their monstrous relatives in the briny 
  deeps of the reef. Only a handful of families remained on 
  “Here and there the ruins of wharves jutted out 
  from the shore to end in indeterminate rottenness, 
  those farthest south seeming the most decayed. 
  And far out at sea, despite a high tide, I glimpsed 
  a long, black line scarcely rising above the 
  water yet carrying a suggestion of odd latent 
  malignancy. This, I knew, must be Devil Reef.”
  — “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, 
  H.P. Lovecraft
  
  77
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  dry land, choosing to remain untainted by the sea-creatures’ 
  blood. But their watery neighbors became bold and large 
  in number, venturing back onto the island each night to 
  stare up at the village with dark, unblinking eyes. They 
  clambered over the harbor wall and hopped up the village 
  lanes to drag the struggling people down to the shoreline 
  for sport and for mating. Now only a single human survives, 
  driven half-mad by years of lonely nocturnal struggles 
  to repel the assaults of the dwellers of the deep and their 
  mocking hybrid children.
  Players characters may learn of the existence of Marsh 
  Island from an old Zingaran sea map, or from gossip and 
  folklore among sailors and merchants who recount the 
  legend that old Kortonez found a fabulous treasure far to 
  the south and brought it back to his secret island west of 
  the Pictish Wilderness.
  KEY FEATURES
  The eerie, ghostly region known as Marsh Island is broken 
  into the following areas, which may each contain one or 
  more zones.
  The Streets of Marsh Island
  The narrow, fortified streets of the decaying village are 
  choked with staked barricades, booby traps, and pits (see 
  Hazards on page 274 of Conan corebook). This deadly laby-
  rinth surrounding the hermit’s mansion enforces cautious, 
  single-file movement (see Hindrances on page 111 of the 
  Conan corebook). Avoiding the traps is a Daunting (D3) 
  Survival test.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters may spend 2 Momentum to 
  maneuver an enemy in Close range into a trap.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ At a cost of 2 Doom, the webs of interconnected 
  tripwires and snares lurch and shift perilously, 
  increasing the Difficulty of disarming (Thievery 
  tests) and avoiding (Survival tests) the traps by one 
  step for the rest of the scene.
  Bright braziers burn at night throughout the streets, 
  increasing the Difficulty of Stealth tests by one step.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ For 2 Momentum, player characters may spill a 
  burning brazier over an enemy within Close range, 
  or to drive them face first into a brazier.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ Some of the open braziers have fallen or been 
  knocked over. With a spend of 2 Doom, old timber 
  buildings catch fire, and it begins to spread across 
  the village, coming between the player characters 
  and a place of safety.
  The Mansion
  The hermit’s fortified mansion is well protected from con-
  ventional attacks with high walls, firing holes, and barred 
  doors. A Challenging (D2) Warfare test indicates the defenses 
  are professional in nature.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ The player characters may spend 2 Momentum to 
  knock a handy barrel of slippery, flammable oil 
  over the floor.
  ■
  ■ Another 2 Momentum lets a player character 
  reach out and trigger a spike trap in the ceiling 
  (3§ damage to a single enemy).
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The dwellers have been secretly tunneling under 
  the mansion. For 4 Doom, they erupt from the 
  floor in a flood, having finally breached the cellar!
  The Temple of Dagon
  In the temple of Dagon, art depicts a horrid union 
  of man and dweller, as well as some of the history of 
  Kortonez and the islanders. A Daunting (D3) Lore test 
  suggests the connection between the dwellers, Dagon, 
  and these humans.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Magic is tinged by the god’s dark influence in this 
  place of power. Each point of Momentum spent 
  on Sorcery tests inflicts 2§ mental damage on 
  enemies in Medium range, while the caster takes 
  on a temporary amphibious tinge to their skin.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ At a cost of 4 Doom, Dagon’s presence is felt, 
  reaching out across the void to assault all 
  non-worshippers present with paralyzing fear 
  as the temple floor appears to become a great 
  yawning cetacean mouth, threatening to swallow 
  everyone (6§ mental, Stun).
  
  CHAPTER 3
  78
  INHABITANTS
  Though the island’s only remaining fully human inhabitant 
  is mad, there lies greater madness in the black fish-eyes of 
  the bastards which assault him nightly.
  The Hermit (Nemesis)
  An aging half-mad Zingaran mariner with a talent for 
  building defensive fortifications. Clad in rusting armor 
  cobbled together from scrap metal, he talks to himself and 
  to the handful of goats and hens penned in the mansion 
  he claims as his own.
  His instinct is to drive off any newcomers with his traps, 
  but he doubtless fails. If subdued or befriended, the hermit 
  tells a little of the island’s history, but glosses over his own 
  role if he is in fact old Kortonez himself — see The Hermit’s 
  True Identity sidebar, page 78. He asks the player charac-
  ters to help defend the village against the nocturnal assaults 
  of the dwellers of the deep and their hybrids.
  ATTRIBUTES
  Awareness
  Intelligence
  Personality
  Willpower
  9
  10
  9
  10
  Agility
  Brawn
  Coordination
  7
  7
  7
  FIELDS OF EXPERTISE
  Combat
  2
  Movement
  1
  Fortitude
  1
  Senses
  1
  Knowledge
  1
  Social
  2
  STRESS AND SOAK
  ■
  ■ Stress: Vigor 8, Resolve 11
  ■
  ■ Soak: Armor 2 (Rusting Armor), Courage 2 
  (Madness)
  ATTACKS
  ■
  ■ Rusted Cutlass (M): Reach 2, 3§, 1H, Parrying
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  ■
  ■ The Marsh is My Home: The hermit never needs 
  to make Survival tests in the marsh and can pay 1 
  Doom to avoid any trap or hazard. In addition, 
  he can pay 3 Doom to simply vanish so long as 
  he can gain full cover from all characters at the 
  same time. After he vanishes, a Daunting (D3) 
  Observation test will discover a secret tunnel, 
  ladder, rope bridge or other such construction, 
  which will have been broken to prevent pursuit.
  ■
  ■ Traps, Tricks, and Pitfalls: The hermit has a per-
  sonal pool of 4 Doom which he can use to activate 
  Hazards (see the Conan corebook, page 273) or 
  use his other special abilities.
  ■
  ■ A Sharp Blade Rife with Filth: The hermit has 
  many rusty sharp pieces of metal hidden in the 
  marsh. When he triggers a trap it automatically 
  gains +2§ damage with the Vicious 1 Quality.
  The Dwellers of The Deep
  Foul amphibious humanoids, as presented on page 336 of 
  the Conan corebook. These croaking creatures of the sea 
  attack the village every night from different directions; 
  sometimes directly up over the harbor wall, sometimes 
  across the marshes to the rear of the town. They are intent 
  on taking the hermit, who they seem to have a fixation on, 
  down into the water to their reef.
  The creatures can be defeated through sufficient force 
  of arms, intelligent deployment of traps, or risky use of 
  fire. They can also be led on a chase away from the village, 
  allowing other player characters to escape or even take 
  the fight to the reef itself. If not dealt with decisively, the 
  amphibious horde eventually overwhelms the hermit’s 
  defenses, dragging him and anyone who stands with him 
  down to a horrific, watery fate.
  Dweller of The Deep Hybrids
  Half dweller, half human. See page 337 of the Conan 
  corebook. One of the attacking hybrids is the grizzled 
  THE HERMIT’S COMPANION
  If the player characters lack a strong fighter, the hermit 
  has a powerful companion he calls “Winter” — a tall, mute 
  Cimmerian. The sole survivor of a shipwreck, Winter is 
  named for the season when the barbarian washed up on 
  the shore. Winter is loyal to the hermit but possessed 
  of a certain nobility toward those who act with honor 
  and bravery.
  Use the Bodyguard (Nemesis) template (page 313 
  of the CONAN corebook) or use the writeup of Fenwar 
  (page 389, CONAN corebook) for Winter.
  THE HERMIT’S TRUE IDENTITY
  One option for the gamemaster to consider is that the 
  half-mad hermit is the old sea captain Kortonez him-
  self, his lifespan extended through herbal preparations 
  stowed in his fortified mansion. Perhaps Kortonez now 
  regrets his hubris and wickedness and mourns what he 
  did to the islanders. Or perhaps he is unrepentant and 
  seeks only to survive the ungrateful creatures’ attacks 
  and escape the island for good.
  
  79
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  hermit’s own daughter, who comes every night specif-
  ically to taunt him. If pressed the hermit admits that 
  he had once lain with a dweller. A Challenging (D2) 
  Awareness test reveals the physical similarities between 
  hermit and spawn.
  TREASURE
  Idol of Dagon
  This horrid batrachian statuette greatly increases the cha-
  risma and persuasiveness of whatever of the marsh folk 
  possesses it when they are speaking to their own kind. It is 
  sacred to the dwellers of the deep but worth up to 10 Gold 
  to the right buyer.
  EXPERIENCE
  For escaping Marsh Island, the gamemaster should award 
  each of the player characters 100 experience points. Some 
  reasons why 50 additional points might be handed out are 
  given below.
  ■
  ■ Discovering the full history of the island.
  ■
  ■ Deducing the hermit’s complicity in the doom that 
  came to Marogoz (if he is old Kortonez).
  ■
  ■ Particularly brave defense of the village or creative 
  use of the fortifications.
  ■
  ■ Clever ruses to mislead the dwellers leading to escape.
  The gamemaster should try to ensure that no player 
  character earns more than 100 additional experience points.
  MI-GO MINING 
  ENCAMPMENT
  Bizarre alien entities have descended from the stars! The 
  mi-go have landed upon a Hyborian mountain range, draw-
  ing out precious metals and harvesting fossilized organic 
  matter. They have chosen a remote corner, sparsely inhab-
  ited. They do not wish to draw the attention of the natives, 
  finding contact with such primitives creates unnecessary 
  delays. This caution should not be mistaken for fear; they 
  are entirely capable of defending themselves.
  OVERVIEW
  The mi-go mining encampment can be placed in any place 
  in the world, away from any major settlements or trade 
  routes. The alien beings will work day and night until 
  
  CHAPTER 3
  80
  their task is done, then unceremoniously depart. Their 
  work site involves a few outer structures, necessary for 
  collecting the ores and fossils, and a few interior chambers 
  to make burrowing into the rocky earth easier. The most 
  horrific site is inside the mountain, the place that holds 
  the human salvage.
  ZONES
  The mi-go mountain mining camp contains the fol-
  lowing zones.
  Mountain Approach
  The mi-go are deliberate in selection of their base of opera-
  tions. Seeking peace from any meddling natives, they target 
  rugged, primal places, inaccessible by road or sail. Simply 
  carving through the wilderness will require days of hard 
  travel, and perhaps several feats of endurance. Rocky paths, 
  wild streams, bramble-choked forests are just some of the 
  hazards the player characters may face. There are also those 
  desperate souls, bandits and criminals, who may not wish 
  to have their solitude ruined.
  Momentum Spends
  With a successful Average (D1) Survival test, each 
  player character can spend 1 Momentum to do any of 
  the following:
  ■
  ■ Ford a stream while others flounder.
  ■
  ■ Climb a tree that will show a clearer path ahead.
  ■
  ■ Swing from a tree or branch to attack a foe.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to trap player 
  characters in a thicket that slows movement 
  to a crawl.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 2 Doom to have a flash 
  flood that threatens to wash away player charac-
  ters and their possessions.
  ■
  ■ Foes can spend 1 Doom to successfully ambush 
  the player characters; perhaps carrying one away 
  without the others noticing.
  
  81
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  Work Site
  Weeks ago, when the moon was hidden and the stars veiled, 
  the mi-go landed. Using their membranous wings, they 
  spiraled down to their chosen site. Once assembled, they set 
  to their work. Strange machines, borne across the cosmos in 
  their clawed clutches, were used to rip open the mountain-
  side. They constructed along the perimeter three 20-foot-tall, 
  conical buildings, angled too oddly to be towers or silos 
  perched here. These windowless and doorless structures 
  were pieced together from clumps of a secreted substance 
  akin to black basalt in appearance.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to make 
  it to the buildings undetected.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have mi-go 
  patrolling over the work site, spotting any arriving 
  player characters.
  Storage
  Two of these buildings serve as storage bins for the raw 
  materials. To gain access will require the imprint of one 
  of the mi-go’s pincers. Upon its touch, whether flying or 
  on the ground, the basalt sludge will coil inwards to allow 
  access into the interior. The rock exerts a weird gravity and 
  its pull will keep any of the stored materials from spilling 
  out. Player characters can learn this by watching it happen, 
  or perhaps making a Challenging (D2) Observation test to 
  spot the fading residue of a mi-go palm print. Once inside, 
  player characters will have extreme difficulty with perspec-
  tive and coordination, adding two steps of Difficulty to any 
  appropriate skill tests.
  Another of the rock’s properties is that it vibrates pan-di-
  mensionally, making the interior larger than is possible 
  on the outside. Because of their limited perception, it will 
  appear that the rock is at times expanding or melting, poten-
  tially causing mental trauma. Time itself may seem to loop 
  or be non-linear to those affected. If given a moment to 
  stabilize, the player characters find one vast room lined 
  with rows of rock shelves, holding containers of chipped 
  metals or an assortment of bizarre fossils. The mi-go are 
  completely unaffected by any type of disorientation.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can use a point of Momentum 
  to stabilize themselves and get a truer sense 
  of orientation.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have player 
  characters suffer from spatial poisoning — they 
  will find themselves forced to re-enact their 
  actions of the two prior turns for next two turns. 
  If they do not do so, the gamemaster is awarded 2 
  Doom per action.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have mi-go 
  arriving to get an item from storage, spotting any 
  arriving player characters.
  Barracks
  “Barracks” is the closest human counterpart to this struc-
  ture. It also has the warping effect described above on 
  any human intruders. A clear view will show a two-story 
  tower-like room, with an assortment of fleshy tubes, and 
  metal-plated hoses dangling limply from the walls, in no 
  discernible pattern. The mi-go do not rest, or sleep, as 
  terrestrial beings. They will work until their biological 
  frames need to be re-nourished. When it is time, they will 
  enter this building to attach themselves to the network. At 
  any given time, there may be 3§ mi-go here undergoing 
  this procedure.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ As in the storage facility, player characters can 
  spend 1 Momentum to stabilize their mindset.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have mi-go 
  finish re-nourishment just as player charac-
  ters enter.
  Extraction Point
  A section of rock wall, 60 feet deep and 80 feet wide, was 
  gouged free by the mi-go in their first night. At all times, 
  two mi-go will be stationed here. One will patrol this area, 
  flying a circular perimeter of roughly a quarter mile. It does 
  its best to maintain its invisibility, using the darkness of 
  the night, rocky outcroppings, and the trees in the area. 
  If it senses the player characters, it will attempt to swoop 
  in for a closer look. If attacked, or if it deems the player 
  characters a threat, it will attempt to fly to the best vantage 
  point and use its antennae to summon the workers and 
  other guard on duty.
  If the player characters can make it to the rim, they will 
  have to use ropes or other means to make the drop down 
  into the mountain. The mi-go have no need to erect any 
  ladders or ramps, and simply use their wings.
  
  CHAPTER 3
  82
  Momentum Spends
  With a successful Average (D1) Stealth test, a player 
  character can spend 1 Momentum to:
  ■
  ■ Make it to the rim undetected.
  ■
  ■ Stealthily make the drop unaided (acrobatic style).
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have mi-go 
  patrolling over the extraction point, spotting any 
  arriving player characters.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a sec-
  tion of rim break away, forcing player characters 
  to make a Coordination roll or fall below and take 
  falling damage.
  Center Well
  A vast, inverted bowl-shaped chamber. Rough-hewn chan-
  nels have been bored away from the central bowl in all direc-
  tions. The center well is the hub of the mi-go operations at 
  this camp. By accessing a network of subterranean tunnels, 
  they can mine deep and wide. There may be 3§ mi-go here 
  at any given time, carrying conical basalt rock containers 
  filled with their finds back up to the surface.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ With a successful Average (D1) Acrobatics or 
  Stealth test (player choice), a player character can 
  spend 1 Momentum to remain undetected (diving 
  at the last minute inside an empty tunnel space).
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have mi-go 
  spot and attack player characters.
  Mining Tunnel
  Unless some disturbance has called them away, most of the 
  mi-go will be scattered through the tunnels, boring through 
  the rock with slices of their claws. These unlit tunnels will 
  be roughly eight feet high, six feet wide, and may go for 
  any distance ranging from feet to miles.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ With a successful Average (D1) Acrobatics or 
  Stealth test (player choice), a player character can 
  spend 1 Momentum to remain undetected (diving 
  at the last minute inside an empty tunnel space).
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have mi-go 
  spot and attack player characters.
  Chorus Room
  A secondary objective for these invaders is cultural knowl-
  edge. Any local, or player character, who learns or sees too 
  much about the mi-go is at risk of a bizarre fate. Particularly 
  capable leaders or wizards may find themselves as part of 
  the chorus room.
  As the player characters approach this room they will 
  hear dozens of voices, speaking a variety of languages, 
  droning, babbling, or screaming over one another. They 
  do not sound human, but rather a metallic chorus imita-
  tion of the human throat. Hearing it for the first time can 
  cause the player character to suffer a point of Trauma, at 
  the gamemaster’s discretion.
  Proceeding into this chamber puts any player character 
  at risk of suffering another point of Trauma. Three tiers of 
  shelves have been carved out of the rock walls and sitting 
  upon them are about 40 metal cylinders with a small clus-
  ter of precise, tiny holes grouped at the bottom. Should a 
  STORY SEEDS
  Black Smoke on the Mountain
  The people in this part of the world know how to keep 
  secrets; it’s what binds this collection of trappers, hunters, 
  farmers, and fishermen together. Each keeps to their 
  own. This makes their tales of the strange happenings 
  on the mountain that much more credible. At the trading 
  posts these recalcitrant souls all talk about the eruption 
  of fire and smoke a few weeks past. All know that the 
  mountain is rich in ore, but so far none has cut a path to 
  it, or tunneled into its depths. Has some noble or king 
  ordered for work to begin up there? Will these miners soon 
  swagger to market stalls with pouches of ore, smuggled 
  out of the mining camp?
  The Woodsman and the Wizard
  Vulko, a man of the Border Kingdom, is renowned for 
  his tracking abilities. His service on the Pictish frontier 
  gave him a talent unmatched. The strange Brythunian 
  scribe Isidor, decked in silks like those of a wizard, some 
  say, recently sought out Vulko and paid richly for his 
  service. The two have been gone into the wilds at the 
  foot of the mountains for weeks. Where have they gone? 
  Did a rockslide or beast kill them? If one can find their 
  tracks, then perhaps they can find the answer and any 
  coin now unneeded by the scribe? What if Isidor’s brain 
  is now a resident of the chorus room?
  
  83
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  player examine a cylinder, they will find that a portion of 
  each metal cylinder is like a sheathe, sliding up to reveal 
  the ghastly contents. Floating inside the cylinders, bobbing 
  on a current of noxious bluish water are the collected brains. 
  Electrodes and wires, which look to the player characters 
  like thin silvery cords running from metal coins, attach 
  the brain to the base of the cylinder. It is from this pocked 
  opening (an audio microphone) that the mechanical voices 
  babble. The mi-go plan to transport these brain-cylinders 
  to their home on the celestial frontier of the solar system, 
  the planet Pluto.
  This experience has greatly traumatized the individuals 
  inside the cylinders. Most of them are outright mad, lost 
  in their own conversation, or cursing the player characters, 
  while others are convinced they are in hell. Some are from 
  distant kingdoms and may be speaking a language never 
  heard in this part of the world. If the player characters can 
  contact one of these unfortunates through a successful 
  Average (D1) Linguist test, they will have 2§ turns of 
  coherent conversation before it breaks down again.
  Removal of the cylinder from the site will result in death 
  of the brain within six hours, as neither the player characters 
  or the brains themselves have any idea how to operate the 
  nourishment filters.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ With a successful Average (D1) Discipline test, a 
  player character can spend 1 Momentum to ward 
  off the effects of trauma.
  ■
  ■ With a successful Average (D1) Linguist test, a 
  player character can spend 1 Momentum to con-
  tact one of the harvested brains.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to inflict 
  another point of trauma upon a player charac-
  ter (one that hears one of these things calling 
  directly to him).
  INHABITANTS
  The mi-go (described in Horrors of the Hyborian Age) and the 
  harvested humans are the only occupants of the encamp-
  ment. Rather than have the mi-go attack the player char-
  acters when spotted, they could simply streak past, call to 
  others, and assemble to attack when the player characters 
  are at rest, or they could choose one player character to try 
  to carry off and drop from great height, or take to the Chorus 
  Room. If the mi-go begin to feel their operation is compro-
  mised (loss of workers, damaged brains, destroyed tunnels) 
  they will pull up encampment and return to the stars.
  TREASURE
  The treasure held in the encampment is from anything left 
  behind by the mi-go. Raw ore is plentiful, and it is likely 
  the player characters would see gold, silver, and maybe 
  precious stones in some of the rooms.
  EXPERIENCE
  Blazing a path to the encampment should earn the player 
  characters 50 experience points each. Getting into the 
  encampment and confronting any of the mi-go is worth 
  another 50. Causing the mi-go to leave is worth 300 expe-
  rience points.
  PLATEAU OF LENG
  North of the mighty Himelian Mountains lies the high, 
  arid Plateau of Leng where the ever-present wind blows 
  across the plateau and through its ravines and heights with 
  irregular cadences that suggest a wild and half-sentient 
  musical piping. The plateau receives little snow and has no 
  vegetation larger than a small bush. At night, in the cold air, 
  the stars are so bright that they seem preternaturally close.
  OVERVIEW
  The remote Plateau of Leng is cloaked in mystery. 
  Surrounded by high, inaccessible mountains and cold, 
  arid deserts, the plateau is difficult to reach, and few travel 
  there willingly. The site is also notable as it offers gateways 
  to other places and times, or it may be that it is unmoored 
  in space and time. As well as the many hazards involved 
  in traveling to the plateau, there is the added risk that you 
  may not return to the same time and place from which 
  you left. Dreamers under the influence of black lotus have 
  reported finding their way to this place through a land of 
  dreams adjacent to our earth.
  “A merchant in Ulan Bator spoke of Leng 
  and showed me a small figure of striking 
  transparency that he explained was used to 
  access the forbidden plateau. Gazing on the 
  broad-faced figure, the piping from the inn’s 
  musicians took on a striking cadence, and 
  an obsession began to grow in my mind.”
  — Unaussprechlichen Kulten, 
   Friedrich von Junzt
  
  CHAPTER 3
  84
  There are a few merchants who claim to know how 
  to reach the plateau and its unspeakable monastery. 
  These traders are as likely to abandon or enslave 
  anyone who hires them as a guide as to take travel-
  ers to the plateau.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The wind blowing across the plateau has an eerie, 
  lilting cadence, sounding like unearthly piping. 
  For 1 Doom, a gamemaster may inflict on a player 
  character, or for 3 Doom on an entire group of 
  player characters, a Challenging (D2) Willpower 
  test where they suffer 2§ mental damage if they 
  fail. Any character that fails will also be haunted 
  by the sound of the piping while they remain on 
  the plateau, and any future tests against it will be 
  Daunting (D3).
  THE UNMENTIONABLE 
  MONASTERY
  The only significant structure on the plateau is a monastery 
  built of ancient stones. The monastery is a windowless, 
  squat building set within a circle of crude, stone monoliths. 
  This vast building with cold, dark halls is home to only a 
  single priest who wears a mask of yellow silk over its face. 
  The walls of the monastery are decorated with frescos that 
  display frightful scenes older than history and more recent 
  settings. Every traveler describes the frescos differently, 
  for it seems that each visitor sees a mix of scenes showing 
  both the history of the monastery and places and people 
  from their own journeys.
  It is not clear what god the monastery and its priest 
  honor. Some claim it is an avatar of Nylarlathotep who 
  dwells there. It is possible that the monastery was raised 
  by an even more ancient race and that the lone priest is but 
  the most recent inhabitant.
  A common epithet is that the plateau is “demon-haunted”. 
  Visitors returned from the place speak of evil presences and 
  nameless sentinels that dwell among the scattered rocks. 
  It is possible that abominations, devils of the Outer Dark, 
  or other horrors may be found there (Conan corebook, 
  pages 345 and 347). It is not known who, or what, the lone 
  priest is. Certainly, it is a being of great power. It may be of 
  surpassing antiquity or outside of time as we know it. Its 
  power would certainly be greater than that of a mummified 
  sorcerer (Conan corebook, page 339) and likely exceed that 
  of the demons that haunt the plateau.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ A fresco in the monastery provides an insight 
  into future events, and the player character may 
  spend 1 Momentum to gain 1 point of Fortune, 
  once per day.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ A player character that studies the frescos in the 
  monastery and succeeds on a Challenging (D2) 
  Observation test sees a fateful sign of their death 
  and suffers a Display of Dread, 3§, Stun.
  TRIBESMEN OF THE PLATEAU
  The only other people found on the plateau are a savage, can-
  nibal tribe that are described in chronicles as a degenerate, 
  mixed race of yellow-eyed men whose ancestors interbred 
  with serpents or other unknown monsters. They dwell in 
  horrible stone villages along the edges of the plateau and, 
  at night, their evil fires can be seen from afar through the 
  FINDING THE PLATEAU OF LENG
  Friedrich von Junzt completed his masterwork 
  Unaussprechlichen Kulten shortly after he returned from an expe-
  dition to Mongolia. It is not known whether he visited the 
  Plateau of Leng as part of this trip. However, his Black Book 
  has several passages that discuss “keys” that are used to access 
  realities similar to Leng, hidden within space and time. The 
  keys range in size and type, from a jewel small enough to be 
  set within a necklace to a monolith. They can be of red, black, 
  and a variety of other colors, but the one trait that they all have 
  in common is that they are made from stones unknown to even 
  the most discerning of crafters.
  Surprisingly, the keys are widely distributed around the 
  world in locations as diverse as Hungary and Central America. 
  While such keys are not mentioned in the Necronomicon, Abdul 
  Alhazred did describe the dog-headed sphinx amulets as the 
  soul-symbol of the cannibals of Leng.
  It is possible that the keys are related in some way to 
  the tribe of the Tcho-Tcho. Several chronicles associate the 
  Tcho-Tcho with the Plateau of Leng, and the tribe is unusu-
  ally dispersed across Central and Southeast Asia with isolated 
  populations in remote locations.
  Professor William Dyer reported that he found evidence 
  of Leng in Antarctica during the 1930 Pabodie Expedition from 
  Miskatonic University. However, it is possible that, under the 
  stresses of their exceptionally arduous expedition, he merely 
  developed associations between Leng and the Antarctic wil-
  derness that became fixed in his mind.
   
  —Professor John Kirowan, Miskatonic University
  
  85
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  thin, cold air of adjacent regions. The few neighboring tribes 
  despise them and avoid them whenever possible. They use 
  images of a sphinx with a canine head as a sign on posts and 
  piles of stones to mark the boundaries of their lands and 
  as a warning to others. The rare trader who braves — and 
  survives — meeting with the tribesmen may be granted an 
  amulet bearing an image of such a sphinx which the trader 
  can use to regain admittance to the plateau. Use the stats 
  for Savages, Conan corebook, page 320, with the attack 
  Dread Name (T), Range C, 3§ mental, Stun, and with the 
  following additional Doom spends.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The savage tribesmen of the plateau do not fight 
  fairly and rely on sneak attacks and skullduggery 
  to attack travelers. They receive 1 bonus Doom 
  on all Movement tests to gain surprise at the start 
  of a combat.
  ■
  ■ With an ancient heritage that goes back to Yig or 
  Set, the tribesmen of the plateau cannot be trusted. 
  They automatically gain one success on a test to 
  resist a Grapple, and reduce the Difficulty of the 
  test one step.
  SUNDERED MOUNT
  All know that cataclysm has come to the world before, and 
  that on a whim of the gods it will descend again. Pieces of the 
  older realms survive, cast about the continent like pieces of 
  an obscene puzzle. These fragments can bring knowledge, 
  power, and wealth (but seldom wisdom) to those who can 
  locate and decipher their mysteries.
  OVERVIEW
  During the reign of Xaltotun, an army flying the banner of 
  Acheron marched far into the Kothian Hills. Seeking slaves 
  and plunder for their necromantic master, the invaders 
  drove their way into a remote western corner of a desolate 
  mountain chain.
  Among the towering field of rock loomed a strange peak. 
  It soared above the rest yet was riven in scores of places. 
  Immense cracks burrowed down through its base and crept 
  upwards, converging to crack open the summit to its core. 
  Bulbous slabs of rock, ill-fitted against one another, jutted 
  outwards like warring hands. Cavernous openings pocked 
  the places between.
  Native legends, gleaned from their prisoners, named 
  it Sundered Mount, claiming it was the sole remnant of 
  a once-majestic range that straddled a green coast in a 
  remote age. Ancient pre-Kothian tribesmen once lived in 
  its shadow. This vanished tribe buried their dead, swaddled 
  in sacred cloth, inside its hollows for reasons unguessed.
  Adepts from Python were summoned to mine the secrets 
  of the mount and the cairns but were killed by the treacher-
  ous rock. Another expedition was planned, but then came 
  the collapse of Acheron, and lost were any records with a 
  mention of the mount.
  ZONES
  The Approach
  Petroglyphs halo the base of the mount. These pictures 
  were chiseled with crude tools in a non-linear fashion. Due 
  Volcanoes broke forth and terrific earthquakes 
  shook down the shining cities of the empires. 
  Whole nations were blotted out.
  — “The Hyborian Age”
  
  CHAPTER 3
  86
  to their age and fading, success with a few Average (D1) to 
  Daunting (D3) Observation tests is needed to spot them 
  all. Another Average (D1) Lore test is needed to mentally 
  shuffle the information into a usable order and decode its 
  allegorical information. The images (which can be doled 
  out in any order by the gamemaster) show the following:
  ■
  ■ Angry gods breaking the old world.
  ■
  ■ A Lemurian sorcerer taking refuge on the mount as a 
  tidal wave crests behind her.
  ■
  ■ The sorcerer calling upon her patron (a 
  winged horror).
  ■
  ■ The horror lifting the mount (with the sorcerer cling-
  ing upon it) and dropping her in a strange country.
  ■
  ■ The precursors to the Kothians coming upon the 
  mount and worshiping the sorcerer (depicted as atop 
  the mountain drawing down lightning).
  ■
  ■ The sorcerer dying and being wrapped in cloth.
  ■
  ■ The sorcerer’s remains being lowered into the crest 
  surrounded by riches.
  ■
  ■ The precursor Kothians following suit with their own 
  dead, mummifying them, putting them in cracks and 
  erecting cairns over the bodies.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to 
  spot some of the more difficult petroglyphs 
  or intuit the meaning of one that is faded 
  beyond comprehension.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have player 
  characters inadvertently destroy a key petroglyph.
  The Mountainside
  Because the mountain is so broken, climbers will some-
  times find plentiful handholds and edges. Other times 
  these openings can be dangerous to use, as they are prone 
  to collapsing. The skill of the climber and equipment used 
  can make a difference here. The suggested Difficulty ratings 
  and number of tests are found at each of the cairn descrip-
  tions. The Momentum and Doom spends below can be used 
  during any of the treks to the cairns.
  Momentum Spends
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum to make 
  an easy ascent for one roll.
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 2 Momentum to 
  help another character on their ascent (or catch a 
  falling ally).
  ■
  ■ Player characters can spend 1 Momentum 
  to avoid a slide of jagged rocks — 2§ of 
  damage otherwise.
  ■
  ■ Player characters spot movement at the Archer’s 
  Cairn and are forewarned about an attack.
  Doom Spends
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 1 Doom to have a 
  player character miss a handhold. Alternately, 
  their rope breaks, or a grappling hook comes 
  loose! The player character must succeed in a 
  Challenging (D2) Athletics test or fall.
  ■
  ■ The gamemaster can spend 2 Doom to rain an ava-
  lanche down upon the players — they must pass 
  a Challenging (D2) Athletics test to maintain their 
  grip or fall. Either way, they take 6§ damage, 
  +1§ damage per additional Doom point spent.
  ■
  ■ A barbed arrow flies from inside the Archer’s 
  Cairn (see page 87, below), targeting the player 
  character having the greatest difficulty climbing. 
  It has a TN 10, and if it strikes, the arrow inflicts 
  5§, Vicious 1. If surprised, the wounded player 
  character must make a Challenging (D2) Athletics 
  test or lose their handhold (they will hang on for 
  one turn and fall the next if not assisted).
  The Scorched Cairn
  The player characters must make an Average (D1) Athletics 
  test to reach the lip of this lowest cave. The inside of this 
  oblong space is fire-scorched (from the last stand of the 
  Acheronian wizards). There was once a cairn and a body here, 
  but the rocks have been scattered (now covered with ash) 
  and the corpse is gone. One of the Acheronian wizards set 
  loose a shadowy creature (see A Shadow on the Wall on page 
  183 of the Conan corebook) during the battle with the horror 
  they unleashed here. The shadow is bound inside this cave 
  and will use the darkness to its advantage. It will attack any 
  sorcerers in the group first. If defeated, it will become a per-
  manent black blotch on the wall or floor where it was felled.
  The Shepherd’s Cairn
  Breaching the pile of stones covering the entry to this cairn 
  requires a Challenging (D2) Athletics test. Just inside the 
  entrance is a grave dug into smooth river rock, with several 
  flat and relatively thin pieces of stone arranged to cover it. 
  Beneath the stone cover is a badly-decayed body of a man, 
  wrapped in rotting strips of linen. Next to him is a stout 
  
  87
  MYSTERIOUS PLACES
  shepherd’s staff. While not fashioned for combat, it was 
  made from the wood of a tree that no longer stands anywhere 
  in the world. In addition to having the attributes of a wooden 
  staff (page 147, Conan corebook), it has the Stun Quality.
  The Fighting-Man’s Cairn
  This cairn requires a Challenging (D2) Athletics test to breach. 
  The cavern is T-shaped: on the left end of the T is a cairn of 
  heavy stones (the kind used in catapults). Beneath the cairn are 
  the remains of a once-eminent warrior. He has been wrapped, 
  and then encased in a crude bronze hauberk, still well-pre-
  served. A great sword is at his side. The hauberk is treated 
  as Light Armor, covering the torso, but has Encumbrance 2.
  Commoner Cairns (4)
  These cairns require a Challenging (D2) Athletics test to 
  breach. Inside each of these octagonal chambers are two or 
  three cairns fashioned from a hodgepodge of rocks. Beneath 
  each is a family of commoners, deemed pious enough to 
  deserve a space in the mount. Broken tools, satchels of seeds, 
  tanned hides, etc. are the sort of items buried with them.
  The Archer’s Cairn
  This cairn requires a Daunting (D3) Athletics test to reach. 
  The archers once buried here have clambered out from 
  the rocks as ghouls (Conan corebook, page 338), two to 
  four in number, to repel the invaders. They will each fire 
  one arrow every turn (see potential Doom spends above) 
  at random targets. The bows they are using are treated as 
  Stygian short bows, and the arrows have Vicious 1 Quality. 
  Because of their superior position, they fire at an advantage, 
  the player characters at a disadvantage.
  Each ghoul has five usable arrows in its quiver; after 
  that they will attack with knives. If the player characters 
  are outside, they will attempt to engage them on the slope!
  The Sorcerer’s Cairn
  This cairn requires a Challenging (D2) Athletics test to reach. 
  At the summit the player characters see a narrow path down, 
  leading to an area like a flattened volcanic cone. The risen 
  mummified sorcerer is here, chanting a prayer to her patron 
  in an ancient tongue (use the statistics for a mummified sor-
  cerer, on page 338 of the Conan corebook). She is clad in faded 
  and moldering robes of Lemurian make, with a distinctive 
  peaked head-dress, her long now-white hair pleated into tail-
  like braids woven with gold wire. Her eyes glow like green fire.
  Depending upon the story seed used (see page 87), a 
  female captive will be buried beneath the cairn, wrapped in 
  bandages. She is still very much alive, and nearly mad with 
  terror; shouting occasionally loud enough to be heard as a 
  whisper. She will breathe her last in the next hour if not freed.
  The defeated sorcerer leaves behind a silver signet ring 
  of Lemurian make, worth 10 Gold.
  Inhabitants
  Besides curious locals (who will keep their distance) the 
  player characters can encounter a shadow on the wall, archer 
  ghouls, and a mummified Lemurian sorcerer. If the captive 
  story seed is used, she will travel with the player characters 
  until reaching the nearest city and arrange a reward of 100 
  Gold for her rescuers to split amongst themselves.
  TREASURE
  The individual cairn descriptions contain the treasure for 
  this location.
  EXPERIENCE
  Those that successfully explore the cairns should receive 50 
  experience points. Defeating the archers is worth another 
  25. Rescuing the captive is worth another 50 and defeating 
  the sorcerer should net another 100 experience points.
  STORY SEEDS
  The Coward of the Caravan
  The player characters come upon the ruined train of a 
  merchant caravan. The guards and passengers have been 
  horribly slain. The wagons have been knocked over and 
  burned, but much of the trade goods lie scattered about 
  the road undamaged. Lurking in the woods, and visible 
  with an Average (D1) Observation test, is a paid guard 
  who refused to fight. He says that last evening as they 
  camped, there was a minor earthquake rumbling out of 
  the mountain. Shortly afterwards, “a devil” came out of 
  the woods. The devil slew everyone but him with magic, 
  and took a female passenger, a minor noble, captive. 
  They went back towards the mountains.
  Under duress, the guard will confess that he fled in 
  the woods upon seeing the devil and hid until after the 
  slaughter. He will offer to help track the prisoner to 
  redeem himself.
  Lightning Strikes
  The player characters are camped on a Kothian trade 
  road when a storm brews up suddenly around them. In 
  the distance, they see bolt after jagged bolt of lightning 
  called down onto the Sundered Mount. If they do not go 
  on their own to investigate, they are approached by locals 
  who implore them to put an end to the old evil on the 
  mountain. They know that after sleeping for centuries 
  it has woken again and will give them no peace. They 
  offer no coins, but superior mounts and fresh supplies 
  for their services. One or two will even serve as guides 
  and companions in the fight.
  
  T
  he civilizations of the Hyborian Age are built upon 
  the dust and bones of their predecessors. Though 
  Nemedian scholarly knowledge of the history of 
  the world barely extends back to the utmost latter days of 
  the pre-Cataclysmic era, it is accepted that unwritten ages 
  existed eons past. Before the kingdoms of Kamelia, Valusia, 
  Verulia, Grondar, Thule, and Commoria came countless 
  others, some pre-dating the appearance of humanity upon 
  the globe. All, in time, fell.
  These kingdoms of dream and nightmare, of the height 
  of civilization or inhuman barbarity, nonetheless left their 
  marks upon the world; strange ruins and haunted cities 
  that can be found — by luck, consulting moldering tomes, 
  rumor, visions, or misfortune. Some contain untold wealth, 
  others occult knowledge, and many simply stand as hollow 
  monuments to their mysterious architects, mute testament 
  to the passage of the ages.
  All are dangerous in some form — haunted by unquiet 
  shades, home to horrifying creatures, laden with hidden 
  traps that still retain their lethality, accursed by some for-
  gotten sorcerer, or inhabited by the degenerate descendants 
  of old races. To dare such places demands utmost courage 
  (or foolishness), skill, and, perhaps, a touch of madness.
  There is a saying among the explorers, heroes, fools, 
  scholars, and madmen that dare to penetrate the secrets 
  of these ruins: “If should one return alive and whole with 
  some treasure in hand, it’s a miracle. If one returns at all, 
  it’s a success. If you avoid some fatal misfortune, it’s a stroke 
  of luck. Anything else is fate.”
  GENERATING RUINS
  “Ruin” is an all-inclusive term for abandoned locales that 
  would reward the player characters’ exploration. It can 
  be an actual ruin, the temple of a nameless and forgotten 
  chthonic god, the fortified stronghold of a gang of bandits, 
  the byways and avenues of a pre-Cataclysmic city, or the 
  tunnels connecting a living city to something buried deep 
  within the earth and stone. Foremost, ruins must be inter-
  esting. They form the backdrop of a session or adventure, 
  and their lifeblood is challenging situations, perils, and 
  rewards that make sense.
  What follows is a method for procedurally generating 
  ruins for Conan, providing the gamemaster with the broad 
  details necessary to keep ruins-based adventures bold and 
  lively alongside a logical framework. This chapter provides 
  a map of the overall story rather than a detailed, room-
  by-room accounting. During each step, you’ll also create 
  the Ruin Pool for the ruin itself, a resource used to keep 
  exploration exciting for the player characters and move 
  things along when needed.
  MAKING RUINS
  CHAPTER 4
  But it was a startling experience to come upon a 
  walled city here so many long weeks’ march from the 
  nearest outposts of any sort of civilization.
  — “Red Nails”
  
  89
  MAKING RUINS
  PROCEDURAL 
  GENERATION STEPS
  Begin with the Era of the ruin. The older a ruin is, the more 
  likely it is to have been repurposed over time. Civilizations 
  change through the centuries, and so do the things they 
  leave behind.
  After determining the ruin’s age, identify its Original 
  Purpose by randomly-rolling or picking from the table in 
  this chapter. Identifying the original role of a ruin makes 
  it easier to flesh out internal locations, choose interesting 
  features for the player characters to encounter, and deter-
  mine what sort of inhabitants would make the most sense 
  for the place. Particularly large ruins might be composed of 
  several sub-ruins that each have their own identity. Knowing 
  the original purpose of the ruin leads naturally into the 
  next steps — its History and final Downfall.
  While little enough is likely to be known of the ruin’s cir-
  cumstances in the Hyborian Age, having a few quick details is 
  important for giving the players a sense of place, establishing 
  the proper air of menace, and providing bits of lore. It gives 
  the gamemaster a jumping-off point to add further embellish-
  ments. Make notes during this step about what kind of lore 
  can be discovered beforehand, keeping it handy for the player 
  characters to ‘remember’ by making the appropriate skill 
  challenges, spending Fortune, or adding to the Doom pool 
  (see Doom in Chapter 9: Gamemastering in the Conan corebook).
  Likewise, determine the reason for its downfall to explain 
  why the ruin is still a ruin and hasn’t already been looted 
  bare. It could be a plague, a long-forgotten war, or sinister 
  eldritch forces at work. Whatever happened, it should be 
  unique and somewhat bizarre, as is appropriate for the 
  weird menace style that comes naturally to exploring a ruin.
  Flesh things out by choosing or rolling for the number of 
  Areas in the ruin. Repeat this step for the number of Zones. 
  This also determines the maximum amount of points that 
  can exist in the Ruin Pool (see The Ruin Pool sidebar, page 
  89, for details).
  Add the Details for each Area of the ruin, again picking 
  or rolling on the provided tables. Note any special effects 
  the Types or Descriptors might have, as per the rules for 
  Hazards and Hindrances in the Conan corebook. Once the 
  Areas, their Zones, and details are in place, determine the 
  Obstacles preventing the player characters’ progression or 
  threatening them in some fashion. Hostile creatures, bizarre 
  events, traps, even the mundane hazards that an ancient site 
  represents as the sands of time wear away at its integrity can 
  all be leveraged to provide excitement for the exploration.
  Every area has a Cliffhanger — a turn in the explora-
  tion that can either threaten or aid the player characters, 
  activated by the Ruin Pool. Unlike obstacles in an Area, 
  Cliffhangers are purely environmental and can potentially 
  aid the player characters during their expedition.
  THE RUIN POOL
  The Ruin Pool determined at the end of ruin generation 
  functions much like the Dread Creature (X) Special Ability 
  of page 308 of the CONAN corebook, with one notable 
  exception — the Ruin Pool begins at 1 point per player 
  character, and its maximum is the amount determined 
  during generation.
  The Ruin Pool serves as a ‘timer’ — as the player char-
  acters explore the Areas and zones of a ruin, its Ruin 
  Pool acts as both a resource and a countdown on the 
  scene! The gamemaster may add Doom to the Ruin Pool 
  on a 1-for-1 basis, and the Pool also rises for every zone 
  explored. If the number of points in the Ruin Pool rises 
  to double its starting amount or empties entirely, the 
  gamemaster should trigger the Cliffhanger that moves 
  the scene to the next area of the ruin.
  In the case of the Ruin Pool emptying, the gamemaster 
  can create a new Ruin Pool by spending 4 Doom.
  RUIN PROCEDURAL 
  GENERATION SUMMARY
  ■
  ■ Determine ruin ERA.
  ■
  ■ Determine ruin’s ORIGINAL PURPOSE.
  ■
  ■ Determine WHAT REMAINS.
  ■
  ■ Create ruin HISTORY and determine the cause of 
  its DOWNFALL.
  ■
  ■ Determine ruin SIZE, number of AREAS, then 
  determine ZONES for each Area.
  ■
  ■ Note RUIN POOL.
  ■
  ■ Add Area TYPES AND DESCRIPTORS.
  ■
  ■ Add OBSTACLES.
  ■
  ■ Determine CLIFFHANGERS.
  Using the Generator with the 
  Conan Gamemaster’s Toolkit
  The Ruins Generator stands on its own, but the Conan 
  Gamemaster’s Toolkit can be used alongside it, combining 
  the two can produce truly epic, memorable adventures 
  for the player characters. The tables from either product 
  can largely be used interchangeably as suits the game-
  master. Doing so will provide finer detail and scope for 
  ruins-based adventures.
  
  CHAPTER 4
  90
  Table 1: Ruin Era
  Civilizations are built upon the bones and remnants of their 
  forebears, only to fall again and again throughout the march 
  of time. Not all those eras are known… or human. Roll 1d20 
  on this table to determine the ruin’s era. Depending on the 
  era rolled, there will also be additional rolls made on the 
  Original Purpose of Ruin table. Finally, each era’s ruins have 
  a set of likely foes and obstacles to assist the Gamemaster 
  in populating the ruin with appropriate opposition. This 
  is in addition to those generated during the Cliffhangers! 
  portion of creating the ruin.
  Time of the Great Old Ones: As the Earth formed out 
  of primal chaos and stellar matter, the unknowable Great 
  Old Ones descended upon it like locusts from the Outer 
  Dark. Some of their incomprehensible constructions still 
  exist in far-flung places.
  The Age of the Serpent Men: The first empire to call 
  itself Valusia was dominated by the inhuman serpent-men, 
  servants of the god Yig, known in the Hyborian Age as Set. 
  Though their civilization fell, their architecture remains, 
  hidden beneath the skin of the world.
  RUIN ERA
  Roll
  Era
  Additional Rolls 
  on Table 2
  Likely Obstacles and Foes
  1
  Time of the Great Old Ones
  1
  The Unnatural Thing, Foulness in the Air, Ancient and 
  Deadly Mechanism, Foul Sorcery, The Weight of Ages
  2–3
  The Age of the Serpent Men
  2
  The Unnatural Thing, Foulness in the Air, Ancient and 
  Deadly Mechanism, The Weight of Ages
  4–5
  The Great Ice Age
  3
  Foulness in the Air, Ancient and Deadly Mechanism, 
  Precarious Locale, Feral Fiends, Natural Disaster
  6–7
  The First Age of Humanity
  4
  Foemen, The Unnatural Thing, Ancient and Deadly 
  Mechanism, Feral Fiends, Precarious Locale
  8–11
  The Thurian Age
  5
  Foemen, Ancient and Deadly Mechanism, Feral Fiends, 
  Deadly Dog-brothers, The Unnatural Thing
  12–14
  The Cataclysm
  —
  Foulness in the Air, Ancient and Deadly Mechanism, 
  Precarious Locale, Foul Sorcery, The Weight of Ages
  15–20
  The Hyborian Age
  6
  Foemen, Feral Fiends, Foul Sorcery, Deadly 
  Dog-brothers
  
  91
  MAKING RUINS
  The Great Ice Age: Some unknown event caused the 
  great glaciers to march forth from their realms in the far-
  flung extremes of the world. As the planet cooled, entire 
  civilizations rose and fell, their names long-lost to human 
  history, for those civilizations were quite inhuman.
  The First Age of Humanity: As the primitive anthro-
  poids of earlier ages evolved into the form of modern man, 
  the first of the pre-historic civilizations flourished. Some 
  of them, it is rumored, were educated and encouraged by 
  creatures that plunged to Earth from the Outer Dark, and 
  the remains of those civilizations are surprisingly advanced.
  The Thurian Age: Known history begins at the ragged 
  end of the pre-Cataclysmic Thurian Age. This is the time of 
  the great kingdoms of Kamelia, Valusia, Verulia, Grondar, 
  Thule, Atlantis, and Commoria. Though the names are 
  familiar to Hyborian Age scholars, many times the ruins 
  left behind are strange and wondrous in unexpected ways.
  The Cataclysm: The great cataclysm sank Atlantis 
  and Lemuria, raised new continents out of the ocean, and 
  destroyed all the great civilizations of that time. Here 
  and there, mankind struggled to rebuild, but the changes 
  wrought prevented any kind of true civilization from taking 
  root. A few civilizations survived, such as ancient Lemuria 
  or the Zhemri, but were marginalized by the disaster and 
  receded dramatically.
  The Hyborian Age: After a few millennia in which 
  mankind had been plunged back into savagery, new cul-
  tures and kingdoms rose, laying the foundations of the 
  contemporary Hyborian Age, named for the rise of the 
  tribe of Bori, father of the Hyborians. Early in the age saw 
  the flourishing of Acheron and the older incarnations of 
  the Stygian and Kosalan empires. Many civilizations from 
  the earliest part of this epoch are barely remembered, such 
  as builders of the green stone cities and other remote and 
  vanished cultures.
  Table 2: Original Purpose of Ruin
  It is rare indeed to find a ruin that does not serve more than 
  a single purpose. As the sands of time flow, so do the uses 
  of places. Roll 1d20 on this table to determine the original 
  purpose(s) of the ruin. Multiple purposes may be chosen 
  if the gamemaster wishes or if the appropriate result was 
  rolled on the Ruin Era table.
  ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF RUIN
  Roll
  Long Ago, This Place Was Once…
  1
  …a home to the aristocracy.
  2
  …a port for ships.
  3
  …an outpost.
  4
  …a center for scholarship and learning.
  5
  …a haven for criminals.
  6
  …a wondrous monument.
  7
  …cultivated land, with long-disused irrigation 
  and farms.
  8
  …the capital of a forgotten nation.
  9
  …one or more temples to the gods of the era.
  10
  …a military base of operations.
  11
  …a place where goods were crafted or 
  manufactured.
  12
  …a crossroads for travel.
  13
  …a marketplace and center of trade.
  14
  …a vault where valuables or relics were stored.
  15
  …a necropolis where the culture placed their 
  dead.
  16
  …a vast mine, extracting mineral wealth from 
  the depths.
  17
  …a fell site of occult power.
  18
  …a frontier settlement at the edges of a lost 
  nation.
  19
  …an enormous vessel (but not necessarily 
  seagoing).
  20
  …a hidden camp or stronghold for spies or a 
  forgotten rebellion.
  A Home to the Aristocracy: Once, this ruin served as 
  the decadent playground for the elite of its society. Now it 
  stands as a testament to its decadence and fall.
  A Port for Ships: This ruin was a place where ships (not 
  necessarily of the sea-going variety, depending on the age 
  of the ruin) were constructed, arrived, and departed. Their 
  hulks, whole or in part, remain.
  An Outpost: Whatever its size, this ruin was beyond 
  a neighboring region’s borders. Its existence may be the 
  cause of some great war, a source of plague, or overrun 
  with horrors.
  A Center for Scholarship and Learning: A great library, 
  a gathering place for the wise, a forum for philosophers. All 
  their knowledge and wisdom availed them naught. Scraps 
  of their lost knowledge remain.
  A Haven for Criminals: Like the city of Shadizar or the 
  Baracha Islands, this ruin served as a hive of smugglers, 
  slavers, ne’er-do-wells, and other shady sorts. Perhaps the 
  army or law enforcement of its era wiped it away.
  
  CHAPTER 4
  92
  A Wondrous Monument: A stunning architectural 
  achievement, likely decades in the making and requiring 
  the labors of hundreds, if not thousands of slaves, craftsmen, 
  and artisans. Once it proudly displayed the very pinnacle 
  of architectural achievement; now it lies broken.
  Cultivated Land, With Long-disused Irrigation and 
  Farms: For whatever reason, this land was once arable, 
  providing food for the region or a nation. The nature of 
  that food ranges widely, and only remnants of the means 
  of producing it remain intact.
  The Capital of a Forgotten Nation: This ruin once 
  served as the center of governance for a region or nation. 
  The name of those it served may be lost to the sands of time, 
  but scraps of laws and other civil artifacts remain.
  One or More Temples to the Gods of the Era: 
  Unfamiliar gods have the rubble of their temples here… 
  or the ruin may have been inhabited by terrible god-things, 
  depending on the era.
  A Military Base of Operations: The arming point, 
  training grounds, and barracks for a mighty army. Its relics 
  might survive into the current era.
  A Place Where Goods Were Crafted: In the past, this 
  ruin served as a mecca for artisans and craftsmen creating 
  their wares. Depending on the nature of those goods, some 
  may be plundered.
  A Crossroads for Travel to Distant Lands: As a nexus 
  for travelers, this ruin was once a bustling, cosmopolitan 
  locale. It may have been an oasis, an inn, or grandiose 
  city-state.
  A Marketplace and Center of Trade: While the ruins 
  for artisans and craftsmen made goods, this is where those 
  goods were sold. Even more so than its close cousin, this 
  ruin is likely to contain treasures.
  A Vault Where Valuables or Relics Were Stored: The 
  wealth of nations lies not only in gold and jewels, but in 
  information, in the secret knowledge they retain. Sealed 
  for ages or cracked wide by cataclysm, above ground or 
  buried beneath, ruins such as this present an irresistible 
  lure to treasure seekers.
  A Necropolis Where the Culture Placed Their Dead: 
  All things die, or at least slumber akin to death. This ruin 
  served as the place for the honored (or dishonored) dead. 
  For those willing to tomb-rob, the rewards are vast, as is 
  the danger.
  A Vast Mine, Extracting Mineral Wealth from the 
  Depths: With even a small amount of knowledge, a people 
  need not limit themselves to the surface. Gold, silver, gems, 
  and stranger things buried by prior ages lurk beneath the 
  thin skin of the world. Those seeking that wealth must 
  inevitably navigate narrow tunnels, mazes, and hazards 
  to retrieve it.
  A Fell Site of Occult Power: Shunned in later ages 
  or sought out by sorcerous cabals, these ruins are where 
  confluences of supernatural energy collide. Great power 
  can be gathered here, and the lost knowledge of ages as 
  well, if one is willing to risk curses, foul horrors, or worse.
  A Frontier Settlement at the Edges of a Lost Nation: 
  Even the greatest of nations has borders, and this ruin lies 
  along some forgotten, lost boundary serving as such. It may 
  hold the key to uncovering why the nation fell or simply be a 
  small fortress that ceased to be when its mother country fell.
  An Enormous Vessel, Not Necessarily Seagoing: 
  Much like the port, this ruined vessel may not necessarily 
  ply the seas, depending on the era. Regardless, it is massive, 
  beyond even the pinnacle of current shipbuilding of any 
  sort and could still hold the loot of ages past.
  A Hidden Stronghold for Spies or a Forgotten 
  Rebellion: There is something wrong about it, something 
  sly. It is well-hidden, certainly, and could be found anywhere, 
  from the heart of the ruler’s palace to the barest wasteland 
  at the farthest reaches of a fallen kingdom. What secrets 
  does it hold?
  Table 3: Ruin History Part 1 — What Remains
  Few civilizations vanish without any trace; the existence 
  of their ruins speaks to that truth. While the complete 
  history of a ruin is rarely found, the artifacts, architecture, 
  and other traces left behind hint at a past lost in the mists 
  of time… for those who wish to see. This history informs 
  description for the gamemaster and can suggest further 
  details that add to the proper atmosphere for explorations.
  WHAT REMAINS
  Roll
  Historical Event or Era
  1–2
  Founding
  3–4
  Classical Antiquity
  5
  Great Man or Woman
  6–9
  Decadent Nobility
  10–12
  Disaster!
  13
  Great Leap Forward
  14–16
  Conquered or Enslaved
  17–18
  Religion
  19
  War!
  20
  Revival
  Classical Antiquity: Trade routes, expansionism, and a 
  period of plenty help define this period in the culture. The 
  developments of prior eras are examined and expanded, 
  and this era is often considered the height of the culture.
  Decadent Nobility: The noble classes become indepen-
  dent from the crown and the culture disintegrates into rival 
  factions. After a period of wars, a legendary figure reunites 
  the culture, or a conquering nation takes its place on the 
  site. This can alternatively be the expansion of any class of 
  
  93
  MAKING RUINS
  people in the city. Perhaps the soldier class has expanded 
  and gained new power, or the priestly class, or the merchant 
  class, or the craftsman class, or the scholarly class.
  Disaster: A natural disaster rocks the culture or set-
  tlement. It does not destroy the culture, but it does bring 
  about changes in the culture.
  Conquered or Enslaved: A group or culture is conquered 
  or enslaved by another people but later returns after winning 
  freedom. Alternatively, another group defeats it and lives 
  in the site, either replacing the old culture or mingling the 
  two cultures into one.
  Founding: The ruin is founded, the capital city is 
  founded, or some other well-known relic or location related 
  to the site and/or culture is founded. This can also include 
  the founding of a dynasty. Societal forms are developing. 
  Some cultures have more than one founding era, such 
  as an early, middle, and late pre-classic era, each with its 
  own events.
  Great Leap Forward: Development of calendar, alpha-
  bet, or recorded events for the culture, along with other 
  technological developments such as the use of metals.
  Great Man or Woman: A legendary figure plays an 
  important role in some aspect of the culture due to their 
  personal charisma, intelligence, wisdom, military, or polit-
  ical skill. Whoever they were, they had a profound impact 
  on the culture and some trace referring to them remains 
  in the ruin itself.
  Religion: A religion develops or is further refined. The 
  power of the cult (or cults) overshadows the power of the 
  crown, or the reverse happens, and the throne oppresses 
  the religion. A demon-god may be summoned to live among 
  the people at this point in history and given a home in 
  the temple.
  Revival: The culture has entered a period of cultural 
  revolution as they explore new ways of doing old things 
  and going about the process of reinventing themselves. Arts 
  and humanities have the center stage during this period — 
  and the culture may be at odds with its traditional religion 
  and/or rulers. The culture may have become hedonistic or 
  even more puritan in its style.
  War: Some important city or ruler fell, creating a period 
  of unremitting war as the culture attempts to fill the vacuum 
  of power. It could be a war of conquest, a defense of the 
  culture, or even more bizarre, such as demons of the Outer 
  Dark descending.
  Table 4: Ruin History Part 2: Downfall
  Nothing lasts forever, least of all the works of men, or other 
  things that walk like men. Whether by their own hand, by 
  some terrible disaster, sorcery, or other causes, the world 
  is littered with the bones of those who came before. Those 
  that dare to explore the ruins of the past can often uncover 
  some clue as to what brought the once-mighty to their knees.
  RUIN HISTORY
  Roll
  Event
  1
  Authority’s Greed
  2
  Barbaric Banditry
  3
  Climatic Shift
  4
  Conspiracy of Shadows
  5
  Consuming Horde
  6
  Decadent Decline
  7
  Eldritch Event
  8
  Falling Star
  9
  Final War
  10
  Forbidden Knowledge
  11
  Ghosts of the Past
  12
  Infertility
  13
  Madness
  14
  Mass Suicide
  15
  Natural Disaster
  16
  Plague
  17
  Religious Mania
  18
  Signs and Portents
  19
  Torments of the Damned
  20
  Unknown
  Authority’s Greed: Corrupt officials caused the 
  collapse of the region, either deliberately or by inevita-
  ble incompetence.
  Barbaric Banditry: Unable to protect their lifeline of 
  trade from attackers, the inhabitants found themselves 
  deprived of the resources to sustain themselves.
  Climatic Shift: Some catastrophic shift in the environ-
  ment around the ruin forced its residents to leave before it 
  became too hostile to sustain them. Their descendants may 
  have been absorbed into another culture or vanished entirely.
  Conspiracy of Shadows: A group of foreign spies, 
  dissidents, or wicked sorcerers succeeded in plotting the 
  downfall of the region. In time, they too were swept away.
  Consuming Horde: A swarm of locusts, a blight, or 
  horrors, consumed the entirety of a resource needed by 
  the inhabitants once living in the ruin.
  Decadent Decline: The society that built the ruin 
  reached a point where they did not need or wish to per-
  form the necessary work to sustain it.
  Eldritch Event: Some great horror arrived in the region, 
  first dominating it then consuming the inhabitants. Likely, 
  it yet sleeps within the ruin.
  Falling Star: Some terrible body from the Outer 
  Dark plunged forth, either striking the city or a nearby 
  region, slaying any who failed to escape the resulting 
  minor cataclysm.
  
  CHAPTER 4
  94
  Final War: A rival nation, region, or city-state prose-
  cuted a genocidal war against the ruin’s former inhabitants, 
  wiping them out utterly.
  Forbidden Knowledge: An occult discovery, usually 
  dealing with demons of the Outer Dark, swept away all 
  human life within the region. Whatever was unleashed 
  may yet lurk within the ruin.
  Ghosts of the Past: A promise unfulfilled, a forgot-
  ten curse, or literal spirits of the dead rose and drove the 
  inhabitants away.
  Infertility: The inhabitants on the ruin ceased repro-
  ducing for some reason, leading to the eventual decline 
  and destruction of their population.
  Madness: Mass insanity seized the populace, turning 
  their society upon itself in destructive rage.
  Mass Suicide: The inhabitants of this ruin never left, 
  electing to kill themselves in the face of some event or at 
  the urging of others.
  Natural Disaster: A sudden volcanic eruption, sea-
  level rise, drought, or other disaster destroyed the region’s 
  ability to sustain itself. Unlike a climatic shift, the event was 
  unforeseen and sudden, allowing no time to escape its wrath.
  Plague: A pandemic in the region swept it clean, or 
  nearly so, of human and possibly animal life. The disease 
  may still be present in the ruin itself.
  Religious Mania: The rise of one cult choked the loca-
  tion’s ability to sustain itself, leading to the demise or escape 
  of the inhabitants. Any competing theologies’ temples and 
  iconography have been long-since vandalized and defaced.
  Signs and Portents: The ruin’s fall was fated by the gods, 
  the stars, or simply foretold by some oracle. Whatever the 
  cause, the inhabitants evacuated or died within its borders.
  Torments of the Damned: Those who once inhabited 
  the ruin were possessed, cursed, or otherwise supernatu-
  rally-affected, leading to their downfall.
  Unknown: The reason for the ruin’s abandonment is a 
  mystery that is lost to the ages, with no evidence or clues 
  to the truth.
  Table 5: Ruin Size
  To determine the overall size of the ruin, roll twice on the 
  table below, once for the number of Areas, then for the 
  number of zones within each area.
  RUIN SIZE
  Roll
  Number of 
  Areas/Zones
  Ruin  
  Pool
  Ruin Size 
  Example
  1–4
  1
  1
  Outpost or 
  Village
  5–9
  2
  2
  Small Town or 
  Temple
  10–15
  3
  4
  Temple 
  Complex or 
  Average City
  16–17
  4
  8
  Regional City 
  or Center of 
  Worship
  18–19
  5
  10
  Capital City
  20
  6
  12
  Vast Metropolis 
  or Cyclopean 
  Complex
  Table 6: Area Types and Descriptors
  Ruins are never homogenous: there are always specific 
  buildings even within necropoli or temple complexes, not all 
  of them created by the original builders. To fill out specific 
  Areas within your ruin, consult this table, making a note 
  not only of the Type and Descriptors but also the number 
  rolled. This plays an important part in assembling the ruin. 
  Roll for Type and again for Descriptor.
  AREA TYPES AND DESCRIPTORS
  Roll
  Type
  Descriptor
  1
  Temple
  Peaceful
  2
  Militia Compound
  Abandoned/Derelict
  3
  Courtyard
  Windswept
  4
  Hovel
  Dreadful
  5
  Merchant’s Villa
  Overgrown
  6
  Noble’s Mansion
  Submerged
  7
  Civil Structure
  Ancient
  8
  Marketplace
  Impossible
  9
  Storehouse
  Perched
  10
  Aqueduct
  Elevated
  11
  Prison
  Near-Collapse
  12
  Palace
  Subterranean
  13
  Graveyard/Tombs
  Silent
  14
  Brothel
  Dripping
  15
  Sewer
  Chilly/Cold
  16
  Animal Pens/Stables
  Infested
  17
  Thieves’ Den
  Filthy
  18
  Tavern/Inn
  Cramped
  
  95
  MAKING RUINS
  AREA TYPES AND DESCRIPTORS
  Roll
  Type
  Descriptor
  19
  Hostel
  Vandalized/
  Destroyed
  20
  Forum or Arena
  Choking Odor
  Table 7: Cliffhangers!
  Cliffhangers provide the gamemaster with both a sort of 
  timer and a way to keep the action moving during ruin 
  exploration. As such, no Cliffhanger should halt play: if 
  the player characters are overwhelmed, allow them to fail 
  forward, as described on page 267 of the Conan corebook.
  The basic Difficulty for a Cliffhanger should equal 1§+ 
  the number of Areas encountered during the session, with 
  a minimum Difficulty of Challenging (D2) to a maximum of 
  Epic (D5). The gamemaster is encouraged to use Cliffhangers 
  generated here by their original meaning of the term: to 
  end a session, picking up directly with the action later.
  Many Cliffhangers have a cost associated with them 
  which may be drawn from the Doom pool or the Ruin Pool. 
  Additionally, the gamemaster may spend 2 points from the 
  Ruin Pool to add a single element to an existing Cliffhanger, 
  where appropriate.
  CLIFFHANGERS
  Roll
  Cliffhanger
  1
  Foes
  2
  The Unnatural Thing
  3
  Go the Other Way!
  4
  Outrageous Fortune
  5
  It’s Personal
  6
  Foulness in the Air
  7
  Ancient and Deadly Mechanism
  8
  Precarious locale
  9
  Feral Fiends
  10
  No Escape!
  11
  Natural Disaster
  12
  Betrayal
  13
  Time to Run
  14
  Bad Information
  15
  Foul Sorcery
  16
  Deadly Dog-Brothers
  17
  Didn’t We Come This Way Already?
  18
  Pandora’s Box
  19
  The Sands of Time Run Short
  20
  The Weight of Ages
  Foes: A group of enemies lies in wait to bedevil the 
  player characters. They are classed as Minions, numerous 
  enough to provide a substantial challenge. See Mortal Foes, 
  page 311 of the Conan corebook for examples.
  The Unnatural Thing: A Horror related to the history 
  of the ruin makes an appearance, likely having stalked the 
  player characters for some time. The Horror is a Minion by 
  default, but the gamemaster may spend Doom or a point 
  from the Ruin Pool to make the abomination Toughened. 
  For examples, see Otherworldly Horrors or Monstrous Foes, 
  on pages 345 and 333 of the Conan corebook.
  Go the Other Way!: Some hazard prevents progress via 
  the player characters’ original route, forcing them to spend 
  time doubling back and retracing their steps. Whatever 
  the cause, the gamemaster should ensure that staying in 
  the area is dangerous, if not downright deadly. The base 
  Difficulty for the obstacle or Hazard should be Challenging 
  (D2), and the gamemaster may increase that by one step 
  for every 2 Doom or 1 point from the Ruin Pool spent, to a 
  maximum of Epic (D5) Difficulty.
  Outrageous Fortune: An earlier Complication generated 
  by the player characters comes back to haunt them in the 
  worst possible way. This Complication costs one less Doom 
  or Ruin Pool to bring into play.
  It’s Personal: Some event from a player character’s past 
  is reflected in the Cliffhanger, forcing them to confront their 
  history. This is a Complication in function, and its form is 
  entirely dependent on the player character’s background.
  A Foulness in the Air: A miasma, plague, or some 
  other illness-causing hazard must be overcome if the player 
  characters are to proceed. Given its status as a Cliffhanger, 
  the gamemaster is encouraged to make the threat both 
  obvious and as gruesome as group preferences allow. See 
  Diseases on page 127 of the Conan corebook for examples.
  Ancient and Deadly Mechanism: A vicious and deadly 
  trap provides the final challenge for this area and must be 
  disarmed, bypassed, or simply survived to move forward. 
  Some examples can be found on page 279 of the Conan 
  corebook in the Hazards tables.
  Precarious Locale: Ruins are dangerous places for the 
  unwary. Debris falls, rotten floors, weather-eaten structures, 
  alien devices, insane twists of logic, all can make an area 
  hazardous to the player characters’ health. In this case, what-
  ever form the Cliffhanger takes, it must be overcome lest 
  the player characters fall victim to its effects. See Movement 
  and Terrain on page 111 of the Conan corebook for details.
  Feral Fiends: A pack of vicious wild animals has made 
  their home in this area of the ruin, forcing the player charac-
  ters to confront them. By default, these animals are Minions, 
  but may be upgraded by spending Doom or from the Ruin 
  Pool. For samples of such creatures, see Wild Beasts on page 
  322 in the Conan corebook.
  
  CHAPTER 4
  96
  No Escape!: The player characters’ escape is seemingly 
  cut off, requiring a challenge against their physical or 
  mental prowess to leave. This can take the form of strange 
  twists of space, sudden debris falling, puzzle mechanisms, 
  whatever might suit the area in question.
  Natural Disaster: A rising river, vicious storm, sear-
  ing heat, earthquake, or other widespread catastrophe 
  takes place, forcing the player characters to take shelter 
  elsewhere. For an additional Doom or Ruin Pool point, the 
  disaster may have lingering Complications for the player 
  characters. This counts as Poor Weather (page 97 of the 
  Conan corebook) and a Hazard.
  Betrayal!: Someone with the player characters turns 
  on them, requiring quick thinking, a glib tongue, or deadly 
  combat to resolve. If the player characters have ventured 
  into the ruin without such a person, the gamemaster should 
  have a past rival or foe appear dramatically to provide the 
  appropriate drama.
  Time to Run: The player characters are mighty, but 
  some challenges are too great even for them. Floods of 
  flesh-eating scarab beetles, lethal lava flows, and worse 
  are all things that simply must be fled rather than fought. 
  This Cliffhanger should award a Fortune point if the player 
  characters are wise enough to flee. If they are not, this 
  Cliffhanger will leave them stinging, if not perished entirely.
  Bad Information: Whoever gave them information, 
  whatever rumor they overheard, the old map they have 
  in hand… the player characters have received exactly the 
  wrong information. With this Cliffhanger, there are several 
  options: present a Complication at −1 cost, introduce a new 
  Complication to use later, or if there is another Cliffhanger 
  in the area, increase its Difficulty by one step without cost.
  Foul Sorcery: The ruins of old often seethe with 
  occult energies and the power of the Outer Dark. With 
  this Cliffhanger, the player characters are the victims of 
  some ancient and vile magic. It might be some seeming 
  trinket or simply a lingering effect. The gamemaster should 
  select a spell that hinders or harms the player characters in 
  some fashion and inflict it upon them. The sorcerous effect 
  has a Sorcery Expertise 12, Focus 3 for the purposes of the 
  Sorcery test. Such vile magics can be found in The Book 
  of Skelos and in Chapter 7: Sorcery of the Conan corebook.
  Deadly Dog-Brothers: A hardened band of enemies 
  confronts the player characters, bloody-handed and with 
  murder in mind. Though the foes are human, they are 
  Toughened and well-equipped, presenting a serious threat. 
  These villains can be found in the Mortal Foes section in 
  Chapter 10: Encounters of the Conan corebook.
  Didn’t We Come This Way Already?: Through some 
  trickery or simple mistake, the player characters find them-
  selves lost and in an utterly unexpected part of the ruin. 
  They can choose to proceed along this new path (and its 
  attendant, unknown dangers) or make the appropriate tests 
  to find their way onto more familiar ground.
  Pandora’s Box: Much like the Natural Disaster and Foul 
  Sorcery Cliffhangers, this is an environmental effect with 
  long-reaching consequences for the player characters, 
  created by unleashing some sort of triggering event. The 
  means should be made eminently clear to the player charac-
  ters and likewise endanger the immediate area they are in.
  The Sands of Time Run Short: This Cliffhanger works 
  best when combined with another that is a more direct 
  threat. It can be used by itself to represent time running 
  out in the area for whatever reason: the approach of some 
  foe, the area crumbling, or another effect of the gamemas-
  ter’s devising.
  The Weight of Ages: A strange melancholy afflicts 
  this area, the inexplicable sense of loss and loneliness 
  pressing down upon the player characters like a physical 
  weight. The player characters must face this dread with 
  a Challenging (D2) Discipline test or suffer 3§ mental 
  damage, and possibly Despair if a Complication is rolled.
  
  T
  he ancient vistas of the Hyborian Age have been 
  opened. The contents of impenetrable jungles are 
  disgorged; impassable planes of ice have withdrawn 
  and left behind the vestiges of civilizations long since struck 
  from the history books. Crumbled temples, dilapidated 
  palaces, wrecked ships — all is revealed and is ripe for 
  plunder, should any possess the daring to do so.
  So what is the gamemaster to do with such a bounty?
  Obviously, the answer is to make things hellish for the 
  player characters but leave them wanting more. That’s 
  what being a gamemaster and, most importantly, a Conan 
  gamemaster, is all about — finding the most creative means 
  of allowing the player characters to be brutal, brilliant 
  heroes. This chapter is designed to give the gamemaster 
  ideas about how to do just that, making the places in this 
  book more than simply individual locations which player 
  characters might visit, explore, and then forget. With these 
  suggestions, the gamemaster can make the Hyborian world 
  portrayed in the Conan game feel more and more like the 
  seething, vivid landscape of Robert E. Howard’s imagination.
  DARK CORNERS 
  IN THE EARTH
  Everyone loves the visceral thrill of a submerged complex 
  filled with deadly foes and lethal traps. Conan has plenty of 
  room for such explorative and straightforward approaches 
  to gaming — occasionally deploying an ancient ruin or 
  lost city in this fashion is a way of ensuring that things 
  remain exciting, fresh, and unpredictable. But that’s not, 
  and shouldn’t be, the only way in which these ruins make 
  their presence felt.
  Perhaps the first thing to think about is why these ruins? 
  When the player characters stumble across a ruined temple, 
  it might be just that, but if it’s the temple which one of their 
  mothers used to worship at and where she was murdered, 
  when raiders razed the place seeking a famed icon of the 
  god’s cult, then things become more personal and more 
  immediately affecting. Howard himself used a variation of 
  this: while locations rarely had any personal meaning for 
  Conan himself, they were steeped in Hyborian Age history. 
  Whether it was the mountain where the jewels of Gwahlur 
  could be found, or the house of the infamous Red Priest, 
  his locations were carefully woven into the local geography.
  LIFE IN THE RUINS
  CHAPTER 5
  Broken columns glimmered among the trees, the straggling lines of 
  crumbling walls meandered off into the shadows, and under his feet 
  were broad paves, cracked and bowed by roots growing beneath.”
  — “The Devil in Iron”
  
  CHAPTER 5
  98
  The nature of the short story meant that Howard was 
  able to provide his readers with background lore about these 
  places, taking them through the topography in surprising 
  detail. This won’t always be an option for the gamemaster. 
  Roleplaying games are a very different medium, so one 
  good way of achieving that same feeling of a real world 
  revealed is to involve the player characters in the history 
  of the places directly.
  This is made easier, in Conan at least, by the presence 
  of War Stories, Education, and the other character gener-
  ation sections that focus on a character’s past. These are 
  ripe with potential means of tying one or more potential 
  locales from this volume to the player characters, from the 
  very outset of an adventure.
  Perhaps a character whose background emphasizes that 
  they have always lived on the streets can have discovered 
  the vestiges of an alien citadel, somewhere in the sewers 
  below them. Young, scared, and poor, the player charac-
  ter ran, and has never been able to find those bizarrely 
  constructed remains again. Until now, of course. A priest 
  might find that an ancient ruin contains a temple to their 
  god, known by a far older name and worshiped in a much 
  crueler aspect. A family heirloom may have come from 
  one of these sites, either a cherished hand-me-down or 
  pilfered by an ancestor.
  Through binding the overarching story of the game and 
  the player characters’ pasts — so clearly spelled out on the 
  character sheet — together in this way, whole adventures 
  present themselves. Was there another street-rat alongside 
  the player character when they stumbled into this subterra-
  nean ruin? And did they return to the strange place prior to 
  the adventurer’s showing up, only to be hideously twisted 
  by what they found there? Or is this erstwhile friend, now 
  grown, leading a small band of vicious mercenaries into the 
  bowels of the city in search of the ruin too? Does a former 
  mentor of the player characters, now grizzled and senile, 
  hold the key to finding the place once more?
  All these plot details can be extracted from the connec-
  tion drawn between a location and a player character’s past. 
  It also helps motivate player engagement and action. Pulp 
  adventure heroes such as the player characters are driven 
  by simple urges, not the subtle psychological imperatives 
  of literary fiction. Greed, lust, vengeance, guilt — these are 
  the primal, elemental forces that power games of sword 
  and sorcery. Let these ruins, in combination with the player 
  characters themselves, energize Conan adventures, and 
  make it easier to devise them in the first place!
  USING ZONES
  Most locations in this book are broken up and subdivided 
  into zones. This is mainly a matter of convenience for 
  gamemasters when trying to keep track of who can kill 
  what and where, once combat begins in earnest. While it is 
  a useful, abstract shorthand for knowing how far an arrow 
  can reach when fired from a bow — without having to reach 
  
  99
  LIFE IN THE RUINS
  for the measuring stick — it can also make locations feel a 
  touch artificial, as though what was once a real place has 
  become broken up into conveniently discrete locations for 
  the purposes of the game. It has, of course, but that doesn’t 
  mean it should feel like it!
  So, how does the gamemaster get around issues like 
  this when swords are drawn and the blood starts flying — 
  how does one make sure that the feeling of chaotic pulp 
  combat isn’t lost when keeping track of which zone is 
  which? Following are some suggestions.
  Doom
  The Doom spends each location suggests are a great way 
  of making sure that one part of the terrain blends into the 
  next. After all, should the floor give way beneath a player 
  character in one zone, why does it stop there? Surely the 
  ground quakes beneath all the player characters in each 
  zone, or half of them, say, spread through Zones 1 and 
  2. As the stone starts to slip away beneath their feet, the 
  player characters must make it to Zone 3. Such things are a 
  great way of ensuring that there is no risk of the individual 
  combats beginning to feel disparate or dissociated from 
  one another.
  Zones exist to make things convenient for the gam-
  emaster, but they shouldn’t be a barrier from breaching 
  those arbitrary boundaries to deliver something dramatic 
  and exciting for the player characters to deal with. At the 
  same time, of course, the gamemaster should be fair to 
  those player characters — if they are bound by geographical 
  limitations, the gamemaster must also normally abide by 
  them. That’s why Doom is perfect for making things a tiny 
  bit more madcap and frantic, without creating a sense of the 
  gamemaster being unfair or opposing the player characters.
  Forgetting the Past
  The past is behind. Think solely of what is ahead. If all the 
  player characters are within a single zone, the gamemaster 
  shouldn’t bother continuing to keep track of zones. If the 
  gamemaster likes to keep things fast, furious, and blood-
  soaked, they shouldn’t bother with any demarcation of zones 
  until the player characters splinter. Even then, this isn’t 
  essential unless the battle becomes especially wide-ranging. 
  After all, if the player characters have an archer among their 
  number, it isn’t necessary to know that the archer is in Zone 
  3 and is firing into Zone 2 — a skilled killer isn’t going to 
  wander out of range and then be surprised when the arrows 
  they are trying to kill enemies with keep landing short.
  The gamemaster should keep the thematic integrity of a 
  location intact by keeping the location intact until it really 
  must be broken into zones. If three additional city guards 
  suddenly turn up some distance away, with one running 
  towards the archer, one running towards the melee, and 
  one summoning additional reinforcements, then splitting 
  locations into Zones 1, 2, and 3 suddenly becomes much more 
  appealing. The gamemaster should play it as desired, and 
  not to be worried about keeping track of zones, deliberately 
  or not. They are there to help, not to force the gamemaster 
  to submit to their might!
  Opening New Paths
  A great way the gamemaster can use zones to their advantage 
  is not just using them to keep the topography of a battle 
  handily divided, but also a way of incentivizing the players 
  to more fully engage with the style of game the gamemaster 
  wants to run. Page 111 of the Conan corebook states that a 
  full Action or a terrain test might be required for a player 
  character to move from one zone to the next while still being 
  able to attack. However, to encourage greater movement, 
  the gamemaster may also permit such a combination of 
  movement and action with a Momentum spend, rather 
  than requiring a test.
  The environments within this sourcebook have been 
  described to include architecture and environmental ele-
  ments specially designed to encourage acts of bold athleti-
  cism, and if the player characters think of something wildly 
  original to do with a rock formation, a collapsed altar, or a 
  giant lizard egg… the gamemaster should let them utilize 
  that aspect to its fullest extent!
  USING THE ENVIRONMENT
  Conan rarely lets things like furniture and upholstery get 
  in his way. After all, the Cimmerian is a barbarian unac-
  customed to niceties and comforts, so soft velvet curtains 
  and gold-inlaid chairs are good for either ripping down 
  and selling or hurling at the foe. The infamous Red Priest 
  Nabonidus is not killed by the sword of Murilo or the cruel, 
  furred hands of Thak: no, he is struck in the head by one of 
  his own stools after Conan threw it at him.
  It is something of an ignominious end for an enemy of 
  such cunning and calculation, but it also points an intriguing 
  path for how player characters can make use of objects and 
  Too quickly for the sight to follow, Conan 
  caught up a stool and hurled it. Nabonidus 
  instinctively threw up his arm with a cry, but not 
  in time. The missile crunched against his head, 
  and the Red Priest swayed and fell face down 
  in a slowly widening pool of dark crimson.
  “His blood was red, after all,” grunted Conan.
  — “Rogues in the House”
  
  CHAPTER 5
  100
  what they can do with them. Many players have told the 
  gamemaster at some point that they want to break open 
  the door in a hail of splinters and sundered iron — rather 
  than, more prosaically, picking the lock — but there are 
  many other things one can do with common furnishings 
  or debris. Realistically, the only limit on what can be done 
  with the various items of haberdashery and carpentry is 
  the imagination of the players, the physical capacities of 
  the player characters, the tolerance of the gamemaster, and 
  the roll of the dice.
  Using elements of the world in an impromptu but useful 
  fashion brings the game environment to life and presents 
  ample means of recovering from a setback. Did a warrior’s 
  sword just break on the iron helm of an enemy soldier? 
  Fortunately, the player characters are fighting in an aban-
  doned catacomb, surrounded by the bones of the dead. If 
  a rusting blade in a moldering scabbard can’t be wrenched 
  from the hands of a skeletal king of old, a savage blow to 
  the jugular with a broken thigh bone will quickly convert 
  the gloating smirk of victory on a foe’s face to the puzzled 
  gasp of the dying.
  The Using Scenery table provides players and gamemaster 
  alike with ideas for what that rotting wooden table might be 
  used for. Take your pick and be as creative as possible. All 
  it can cost is a few points of Momentum… and potentially 
  the gamemaster’s goodwill. A small price to pay!
  USING TRAPS
  In Howard, traps present a very different challenge than 
  Conan’s usual encounters. The Cimmerian is routinely 
  confronted by human adversaries and by natural obstacles 
  but all-too-rarely is he forced to overcome traps. The reason 
  for this is because traps are impersonal, and lack dramatic 
  urgency. Conan’s encounters with traps are primarily to allow 
  a villain to taunt him, or to create dramatic tension while 
  he is trapped, held in place. Traps, in and of themselves, 
  are of less interest to Howard as an author.
  Traps are a man-made threat, but they work by assuming 
  the appearance of the scenery — they are naturalesque. So, 
  how does the gamemaster best use them? Firstly, be fair; 
  player characters won’t be anticipating traps as a routine 
  element of their adventuring, so, when traps are going to 
  appear, make sure they are either a) not fatal, or b) detect-
  able before they are set off. For example, the player char-
  acters encounter three corpses killed in the same way but 
  USING SCENERY
  Item of Furniture or 
  Scenery
  Potential Uses
  Wooden Doors
  Improvised shields and bludgeoning weapons, for a start (if ripped from its hinges). Can 
  also be used as an improvised raft in areas in which architecture is replaced by natural 
  terrain.
  Wooden Tables
  Overturned and placed on its side, one can make an effective barricade for two to six 
  people, depending on the size of the table. Can also be used to conceal player characters, if 
  they are prepared to be quiet enough. Provides 3§ Cover Soak.
  Collapsed Stone 
  Columns
  Depending on the size and weight of the column — and its state of dilapidation — picking 
  up a collapsed column or similar architectural feature can provide player characters with 
  a formidable weapon or battering ram. Particularly cunning adventurers might consider 
  rigging such a column as part of a trap; a cascade of carven marble will cause damage to 
  even the most resilient of foes.
  Wooden Treasure 
  Chests, Crates, and 
  Mysterious Boxes
  Aside from being an excellent place to conceal wealth purloined by murky means, chests 
  and crates are an excellent way of capturing and hiding prisoners (provided one doesn’t 
  object to prisoners being discomforted). Rigging these as booby-traps is almost too easy 
  — particularly for any well-trained thief with a sutli bomb (see Conan The Thief, page 19).
  Smashed Vases, Broken 
  Glass, and Pottery 
  Shards
  As any Hyborian-era scholar will verify, venture far enough into any abandoned tomb, 
  temple, or tavern and there will be potsherds of one sort or another. The resourceful 
  player character knows this too — but for different reasons. The larger of these remnants 
  make excellent improvised stabbing weapons, and those smaller, finer shards are ideal for 
  flinging into the face of a foe who is gaining the upper hand in a fight.
  Skeletons and Other 
  Assorted Bones
  Bones, scattered around an ancient ruin or a cursed city are to be expected. But they 
  can be put to many uses — as any reckless player character will tell you, a twirl of cloth 
  and a leg-bone can become an improvised torch very easily. Break a femur in half for a 
  serviceable dagger. Rib-cages make useful improvised traps for small creatures and fish, if 
  stranded without food.
  
  101
  LIFE IN THE RUINS
  with no clear indication of what caused their demise. If 
  they don’t suspect a trap might be concealed somewhere 
  nearby, then what happens next is as much their own fault 
  as anything else.
  Designing A Trap
  When designing a trap, the gamemaster should be imag-
  inative, but also conscious of the situation and the story. 
  Traps should be escapable but dangerous. They should 
  force the player characters to engage with the world, and 
  the specific location, around them differently but for a lim-
  ited time. A trap shouldn’t irrevocably alter their approach 
  to perusing a desolate throne room in an ancient palace, 
  but it should occasionally make them pause when staring 
  down an apparently peaceful corridor. The gamemaster 
  should utilize traps as a means of making player characters 
  think like Conan most of the time — a tigerish awareness 
  of everything going on around them, constantly alert and 
  suspicious and poised for action — and, very occasionally, 
  use it to remind them to be less like Conan and a little more 
  like the ever-cautious master thief, Taurus of Nemedia.
  Traps should try to keep player characters conscious of 
  the situation they are in — Howard used them to increase 
  the sense of danger and despair, but he also used them to 
  reveal character and to reinforce thematic elements of his 
  stories: Conan is uncivilized and doesn’t expect traps and 
  duplicity from his enemies. In “Red Nails”, the diabolical 
  ruler Tascela is too civilized: she’s decadent and warped. 
  She uses traps everywhere. Traps make nature unnatural; 
  they are the uncivilized tools of the civilized. They are a 
  great element for any Conan game… but the gamemaster 
  should use them sparingly.
  Trap Door
  ■
  ■ Doom Cost: 6 or 3
  ■
  ■ Description: A hinged doorway, cunningly disguised 
  as a section of the floor, giving way to whatever the 
  gamemaster wants, or what the player characters 
  dread. Sharpened stakes? Flames? Snakes?
  ■
  ■ Effects: Causes 3§ of damage from the fall. This can 
  be increased, depending on what lurks at the bottom. 
  For example, 6§ for impaling stakes lining the pit, 
  or 3§ fall damage + four snakes (see page 330 of the 
  Conan corebook).
  ■
  ■ Avoiding and Escaping the Trap: A successful 
  Dire (D4) Athletics test should be sufficient to allow 
  a player character to leap to safety. The gamemaster 
  might like to reduce this Difficulty by a step, should 
  the player character have been on the alert for such a 
  trap. Climbing back out of a pit should require a Dire 
  (D4) Athletics test, with reductions for the use of rope 
  or assistance from companions.
  Sprung Jaws
  ■
  ■ Doom Cost: 5
  ■
  ■ Description: This trap, when set off, flings vicious, 
  spiked jaws up and into the body part of the victim 
  which activated the trigger. Usually, and most fortu-
  nately, this is a leg.
  ■
  ■ Effects: Causes 2§ damage from the initial shock of 
  impact, and a further 1§ bleeding damage for every 
  2 turns spent trapped. Any attacks from an enemy 
  positioned behind the trapped player character 
  ignore all Soak.
  ■
  ■ Avoiding and Escaping the Trap: Escaping from 
  this trap requires a successful Dire (D4) Brawn 
  test, to prize apart the glistening steel teeth and 
  force the trap back to its original starting position. 
  This difficulty can be reduced via the assistance 
  of companions.
  The jaws of an iron trap had closed on his leg, 
  with teeth that sank deep and held. Only the 
  ridged muscles of his calf saved the bone from 
  being splintered. The accursed thing had sprung 
  out of the smoldering floor without warning. 
  He saw the slots now, in the floor where the 
  jaws had lain, perfectly camouflaged.
  “Fool!” laughed Tascela. “Did you think I would 
  not guard against your possible return? Every 
  door in this chamber is guarded by such traps.”
  — “Red Nails”
  
  CHAPTER 5
  102
  Falling Axes
  ■
  ■ Doom Cost: 2+
  ■
  ■ Description: Two or more axes or other vicious 
  bladed weapons, are held suspended in the ceiling 
  above. The tripping of a wire, or the depression of 
  a trick stone, results in the axes being unleashed. 
  Swinging down in dreadful unison, mulching flesh 
  and bone in a spray of gore, the poor victim gets a 
  moment to see their death hurtling toward them.
  ■
  ■ Effects: Each axe causes 5§ damage, on the first 
  swing, 4§ on the second, and so on, until the pen-
  dulum effect finally dissipates, and the axes come 
  to a halt.
  ■
  ■ Avoiding and Escaping the Trap: Upon springing 
  the trap, the player character who has done so may 
  generate 1 Doom and make a Daunting (D3) Athletics 
  test to attempt to leap to safety. If the player character 
  fails this first test, to avoid the axes on the backswing 
  costs 2 Doom and requires a Daunting (D3) Athletics 
  test. By the time of the third swing, if the player char-
  acter is still in the way, they may escape by generating 
  2 Doom and making a Challenging (D2) Athletics test.
  Shooting Darts
  ■
  ■ Doom Cost: 4
  ■
  ■ Description: From apertures in the walls, perhaps 
  disguised as part of an elaborate fresco, or crudely cut 
  into the stone, vicious darts are suddenly hurled with 
  lethal velocity. Are they poisoned, or do they merely 
  intend to pinion their target to the other wall where 
  they’ll bleed to death?
  ■
  ■ Effects: Crossing a zone through which darts are 
  being fired exposes the player characters to 4§ 
  darts. The player character may make a Simple (D0) 
  Athletics test and reduce the number of darts they 
  are struck by according to the number of suc-
  cesses generated.
  Each dart does 1§ damage and can be tipped 
  with poison should the gamemaster so choose.
  ■
  ■ Avoiding and Escaping the Trap: Upon springing 
  the trap, the player character who has done so may 
  generate 1 Doom and make a Daunting (D3) Athletics 
  test to attempt to leap to safety. If the player character 
  fails this first test, to avoid the axes on the backswing 
  costs 2 Doom and requires a Daunting (D3) Athletics 
  test. By the time of the third swing, if the player char-
  acter is still in the way, they may escape by generating 
  2 Doom and making a Challenging (D2) Athletics test.
  Rolling Boulder
  ■
  ■ Doom Cost: 6
  ■
  ■ Description: A vast, roughly spherical rock plunges 
  down upon the player characters; it had been 
  restrained (barely) with rope and the careful posi-
  tioning of supports, which a careless footstep has 
  dislodged. It rolls forwards, an unstoppable orb, as 
  though the world itself had fallen from its axis.
  ■
  ■ Effects: Being hit by the rolling boulder during 
  its forward impetus inflicts 6§ damage with the 
  Intense Quality. The boulder will roll through three 
  consecutive zones before slowing down and gradually 
  coming to a halt.
  ■
  ■ Avoiding and Escaping the Trap: Avoiding the 
  boulder requires an Average (D1) Athletics test, with 
  each point of Momentum reducing damage by 2§. 
  Alternatively, if a player character can find a place 
  within the path of the rolling boulder they might 
  conceivably hide in, then they may attempt to do so 
  with a Daunting (D3) Acrobatics test. Each point of 
  Momentum so generated will reduce damage by 1§. 
  Stopping the boulder will require access to some-
  thing strong enough to resist, or divert, the boulder’s 
  relentless force — a thick slab of rock or wood — and 
  a successful Epic (D5) Brawn test. This can be reduced 
  with the assistance of fellow player characters.
  
  103
  LIFE IN THE RUINS
  Crushing Wall
  ■
  ■ Doom Cost: 10+
  ■
  ■ Description: The walls either side of the player 
  characters begin to close, inexorably, in on them-
  selves. They are trapped between them, their fates 
  increasingly clear and the chances of escape nar-
  rowing as quickly as the once-broad corridor they 
  stumbled into.
  ■
  ■ Effects: It can take as many, or as few, rounds as the 
  gamemaster chooses to have these walls finally, fully 
  close in upon the player characters. Once they have 
  done, though, death is instant. It is suggested that it 
  takes between 10 and 15 play rounds before the walls 
  finally close together. Until then, the player charac-
  ters take only superficial damage. Once those rounds 
  have elapsed, however, it is all over.
  ■
  ■ Avoiding and Escaping the Trap: Bracing the walls 
  with strong boughs or using spears or something 
  similar will buy player characters between two and 
  five extra rounds before death. The player charac-
  ters can also attempt to jam the mechanism which 
  moves the walls inwards. This requires a Dire (D4) 
  Observation test to locate and then a Daunting (D3) 
  Brawn test to wedge something into the mechanism 
  with sufficient force to prevent it being quickly 
  dislodged. This may buy the player characters an 
  additional ten rounds or stop the crushing trap alto-
  gether. Alternatively, the player characters can simply 
  escape from the other side of the corridor… again, 
  this depends on how cruel the gamemaster is feeling. 
  It may be an enclosed room after all.
  This is far from an exhaustive list of traps, hidden threats, 
  and mechanical monstrosities which can be used to inflict 
  grievous bodily harm on player characters, but it offers some 
  ideas of how to make locations that little bit more lethal, 
  that little bit more alien, that little bit less safe.
  BEFORE YOU FLEE…
  The locations in this book are drawn directly from or 
  inspired by Howard’s tales of Conan the Cimmerian, as 
  well as some of Howard’s other stories. They were created 
  to be dangerous, fantastical, and faintly familiar. They are 
  designed to hold terror, trauma, and triumph in roughly 
  even measures. When making your own areas for player 
  characters to explore, or when using those contained in 
  these pages, remember that the purpose of every location 
  — whether lovingly detailed and scrupulously mapped out 
  or invented two minutes before the player characters arrive 
  in it (because, really, that wasn’t the route they were meant 
  to take) — is to give the player characters a chance to act as 
  boldly and effectively as Conan, not to stymie their actions 
  with physical barriers.
  Conan himself might have been challenged and occa-
  sionally thwarted by the terrain and the locations he visited, 
  but never permanently. The player characters likely have 
  greater destinies to confront; even grimy, occasionally 
  morally-suspect characters. That’s what these temples, 
  cities, seraglios, and sanctuaries are designed to provide: 
  opportunities for the player characters themselves to become 
  legends of the Hyborian Age.
  She scrambled up to the summit of the spire and looked toward the horizons. The forest 
  roof — which looked like a floor from her vantage point — was just as impenetrable 
  as from below. She could not even see the pool by which she had left her horse. She 
  glanced northward, in the direction from which she had come. She saw only the rolling 
  green ocean stretching away and away, with just a vague blue line in the distance to 
  hint of the hill range she had crossed days before, to plunge into this leafy waste.
  — “Red Nails”
  
  TREASURE HOARDS
  The lure of sparkling gems and the luster of gold is one of 
  the most common reasons to explore an abandoned ruin. 
  Many are the tales of great wealth left hidden and forgotten 
  as cataclysm and brutality claimed its owners. In Conan 
  terms, a treasure hoard is any accumulation of wealth 
  that contains Gold equal to 10 times the number of player 
  characters investigating any site. At first this may seem 
  paltry — after all, when the player characters can slay 10 
  minions and pile their mail and blades on a wagon, they can 
  easily make Gold equal to this number — but it’s important 
  to note that while finding buyers for armor and weapons 
  can be time-consuming, Gold is universal.
  Creating new and interesting treasure hoards can be a 
  challenge for the gamemaster. The following inspiration 
  tables assume that there will be coins of some sort present 
  and ignores them to focus on more interesting items. This 
  doesn’t stop the gamemaster from using the tables to create 
  memorable currency, but as an element to a treasure hoard, 
  currency is a common standard that can be assumed to fill 
  in the gaps and is less interesting than other pieces.
  Each hoard should possess at least one interesting ele-
  ment to focus the discovery and could include as many 
  as one interesting element for each player character. If 
  multiple elements are present, they do not have to be of 
  equal value. These elements serve more as a way of adding 
  to an adventure’s story than they do to mark actual wealth.
  All interesting elements of a hoard have four main 
  qualities: element, dominant substance, provenance, 
  and legend. Element tells us what the item is in general 
  terms, whether it’s a ring, a cup, a statue, or something else 
  entirely. Dominant substance gives us an impression of what 
  the item looks like, its color, and the material components 
  that indicate why it’s considered a treasure. Provenance 
  gives us a quick glance at the item’s history. It tells us who 
  might have made the item and where it might have been 
  made. Legend is the rich story that takes the other descrip-
  tive elements and gives them life.
  By combining these four elements, a treasure begins to 
  become a three-dimensional character in the story, rather 
  than a simple value on a piece of paper.
  ELEMENTS OF A HOARD
  Jewelry
  Jewelry covers any item used to adorn the human form 
  and is as varied as its wearers. It fits into roughly three 
  categories: common, unusual, and royal. Common jewelry 
  includes all basic rings, bracelets, necklaces, chains, and 
  charms. Unusual jewelry includes both larger and more 
  LOST TREASURES
  CHAPTER 6
  His fingers itched to plunge among the gems he had heard described 
  by story-tellers in the market squares of Keshia, who repeated tales 
  handed down from mouth to mouth through the centuries — jewels 
  not to be duplicated in the world, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, 
  bloodstones, opals, sapphires, the loot of the ancient world.
  — “The Servants of Bit-Yakin”
  
  105
  LOST TREASURES
  intricate versions of common jewelry, as well as forms of 
  jewelry not found in day-to-day wear. Royal jewelry tends 
  to be both more intricate and larger than common jewelry, 
  often incorporating dozens of sizable jewels.
  Decorations
  This includes any artifact that has little practical purpose 
  except to adorn a property or palace. Decorations can vary 
  in size tremendously depending on the place they were to 
  adorn. Their nature depends a lot on the culture that was 
  using them. Savage cultures tend to prefer stark remind-
  ers of might, where civilized cultures prefer more effete 
  adornment. When a hoard is being transported between 
  homes it will often include decorations that will be used 
  in the new dwelling. Valuable decorations are often a part 
  of dowries or other bride-price agreements, in which a 
  purely commercial price paid in Gold might cause offense.
  Dishes and Utensils
  Often a hoard will include semi-practical goods engraved 
  or bejeweled as a way of showing status. Like decorations, 
  these are seldom used for commerce but exist to express 
  personal wealth. In some cases, these items have a religious 
  element, but often they are purely secular displays of power.
  Religious Artifacts
  Religious treasures are often jealously guarded, mixing 
  material and religious values to make unparalleled treasures. 
  They are more likely to be protected from the elements and 
  wrapped in sturdy cloths, leather cases, or padded wooden 
  cases full of clay and straw.
  DOMINANT SUBSTANCES
  Treasures can come in a multitude of shapes but also 
  in a variety of materials. They might be made of metals, 
  carved stones, exotic woods, gemstones, or even human 
  bones. Sometimes they may combine these substances, 
  and sometimes legends even hint that they were made of 
  one substance, now transformed into a more valuable one. 
  While for the most part the culture of the maker determines 
  the substance used, exotic treasures could be made of very 
  different substances, especially if the maker was involved 
  in a diaspora or had resettled after an evacuation.
  Metals
  There are vast amounts of precious and base metals used 
  in the making of treasures. Cultural preferences may laud 
  one material over another, debase materials for economic 
  
  CHAPTER 6
  106
  reasons, or alloy and pattern precious metals to create 
  new and interesting colors of metal. In some cases, metals 
  may have been chosen for their durability or some other 
  alchemical property, such as being able to conduct electricity.
  Carved Stone
  Often used to make barbaric or savage trinkets, carved stone 
  can be as varied as simple beach stones taken and engraved, 
  to gilded marble beads. Often, geographic availability will 
  determine the nature of the stone used, but sometimes an 
  uncommon substance is used. For the gamemaster this is 
  a great way to show the size and scope of an empire or a 
  way to show migration or past trade links.
  Gems
  Whether ornamental shells, mother-of-pearl, sea glass, or 
  the richest diamonds, gems are seldom found alone. Where 
  an item is composed of stones there is often a metal setting 
  or string that holds them together. Occasionally gemstones 
  will be set within other gemstones to grant them additional 
  luster, but even these arrangements are usually attended by 
  a setting in gold or some other precious metal. Gemstones 
  are a great way to speak about the values of the culture that 
  has mounted them.
  Exotic Woods, Horn, and Bone
  Depending on the environmental conditions surround-
  ing the hoard, there may only be scant remnants of these 
  materials. The rate of decay might leave a rotting mass, or 
  it could leave a remarkably preserved remnant of creatures 
  long since extinct. If enough time has passed, it may leave 
  behind strange curved spider webs of precious metal mark-
  ing where the adjoining material once was, such as the metal 
  ornamentation adorning a now-rotted turban or scabbard.
  PROVENANCE AND LEGEND
  The history and location where each treasure is fashioned 
  is perhaps the most important and varied part of describing 
  any treasure. Without a sense of how the treasure fits into 
  the world, it is little more than a number. Treasures of value 
  — those that player characters have heard about and might 
  seek out — inevitably have a tale to tell. This tale consists of 
  details such as when and why the item was constructed, as 
  well as by whom, and ultimately what these factors mean to 
  the local population. It might detail how the treasure was 
  lost, whether it has been found and lost again, or whether 
  there is a powerful guardian preventing its retrieval.
  Ultimately, the richer the story of the treasure, the more 
  interesting its involvement into the surrounding area, and 
  the more dangerous its recovery is likely to be.
  NEW QUALITIES
  The new Qualities listed below can be assigned to certain 
  items in a treasure hoard; artifacts or other magic items 
  and items of note; or even to structures.
  Blessed X
  Blessed items have been enchanted by a god. They contain 
  magic beyond that of mortal sorcery and can bestow special 
  abilities, described in each item’s description. These abil-
  ities have the Malediction Quality (see below) equal to X 
  which can be activated as a Minor Action. Unless otherwise 
  stated, they are active for only one turn, and can be used 
  once per scene.
  Brilliant
  Brilliant items reflect light in a dazzling fashion. If held to 
  the light, they can often dazzle the unprepared and prevent 
  an attack. To use the Brilliant Quality, the player character 
  must make a Challenging (D2) Thievery test, which can be 
  resisted with either Insight, Parry, or Thievery. If the test 
  is successful, the target is momentarily blinded, suffering 
  the Blind condition for one turn plus one turn for every 2 
  Momentum spent.
  Cursed X
  Cursed items, for good or ill, bear contagious magic. When 
  first held by a player character, that character must make a 
  Discipline test equal to X or the spell housed within the item 
  will be immediately cast upon the wielder. Attempting to 
  avoid contact with such an item requires a Sorcery test with 
  a Difficulty equal to one step lower than that Discipline test.
  Enchanted X (Spell)
  Enchanted items have had a spell placed within them. 
  Suggested guidelines for using and creating enchanted 
  items can be found in the Conan corebook on page 143. 
  Where the Enchanted Quality has a value, this indicates 
  the amount of Doom that the player character must pay to 
  activate the item’s spell. Enchanted items do not allow player 
  characters to change the Momentum spends listed into 
  their construction, but a sorcerer possessing an enchanted 
  item can spend a Fortune point to cast its spell as if they 
  had learnt the spell themselves. If a sorcerer chooses to do 
  this, the item confers no additional benefit beyond allowing 
  for the spell to be cast
  Ensorcelled X
  Ensorcelled items are items that have the capability of 
  harming Horrors and other magical entities. So long as the 
  wielder pays X Doom at the start of combat, Ensorcelled 
  items gain the Piercing X Quality against any creature 
  
  107
  LOST TREASURES
  TREASURE HOARD INSPIRATION, TABLE 1
  Roll
  Element
  Dominant metal or 
  substance
  Provenance
  Legend
  1–5
  Common jewelry 
  (see Treasure Hoard 
  Inspiration, Table 2)
  Common gold or silver
  Ancestral civilization 
  (base on ruins location 
  or roll on Homelands 
  table in Conan corebook, 
  page 14)
  Item was owned by a 
  powerful ruler.
  6–7
  Unusual jewelry
  (see Treasure Hoard 
  Inspiration, Table 2)
  Colored or debased 
  gold (black, blue, green, 
  purple, red rose, white, 
  etc.)
  Ancestral diaspora (base 
  on ruins location or roll 
  on Homelands table in 
  Conan corebook, page 
  14 to determine the 
  diaspora)
  Item was used by a 
  nefarious sorcerer.
  8–9
  Decorations (see Treasure 
  Hoard Inspiration, Table 2)
  Copper or copper alloys 
  (brass, bronze etc.)
  Tributary goods (base 
  on ruins location or roll 
  on Homelands table in 
  Conan corebook, page 14 
  for strange details)
  Item was owned by a 
  warlord slain by their 
  own lieutenant(s).
  10–11
  Cups, utensils, and 
  dinnerware (see Treasure 
  Hoard Inspiration, Table 2)
  Nickel silver or 
  palladium
  Weathered beyond 
  recognition
  Item is believed to be 
  powerful and cursed.
  12–13
  Religious artifacts 
  (see Treasure Hoard 
  Inspiration, Table 2)
  Base metal such as iron 
  or tin
  Acheronian
  Item is believed to 
  bestow good fortune.
  14–15
  Talents or ingots
  Patterned bimetals, such 
  as Akbitanian steel
  Lemurian
  Item is believed to be 
  haunted.
  16–17
  Royal jewelry
  (see Treasure Hoard 
  Inspiration, Table 2)
  Carved stone or wood 
  inlaid with precious 
  metals or stones
  Kosalan
  Item has a legacy of 
  stories and folklore.
  18–19
  Unrecognisable item
  Ornamental shells, 
  mother-of-pearl, pearl, 
  or sea glass
  Atlantean
  Item is known as a 
  common element in 
  historical accounts.
  20
  Ornate armor
  Horn or bone decorated 
  with precious stones
  Alien or pre-Lemurian
  Item is known of by even 
  the most ignorant.
  TREASURE HOARD INSPIRATION, TABLE 2
  Roll
  Common 
  Jewelry
  Unusual or Royal 
  Jewelry
  Decorations
  Cups and Utensils
  Religious Artifacts
  1–4
  Necklace, chain
  Torc
  Figurines or poppet
  Knives or cutlery
  Painted icons
  5–8
  Ring
  Harem or  
  puzzle ring
  Bust or statue
  Bowl or quaich 
  (cup)
  Tablets
  9–12
  Armlet, bracelet
  Amulet or pectoral
  Mosaic or bas-relief
  Amphorae or jugs
  Figurine or statue
  13–14
  Belly chain
  Cloth-of-gold veils 
  or clothing
  Decorative weapons 
  or helmets
  Cauldrons, kettles, 
  or pots
  Symbolic sacrifice or 
  grave goods
  15–16
  Barrette (hair 
  clasp)
  Crown, headdress, 
  tiara, or wreath
  Decorative tools
  Chalice, goblet, or 
  ladle
  Chalice or other 
  utensil
  17–18
  Brooch, pin
  Scepter or orb
  Furniture
  Platters
  Human remains
  19–20
  Headband, fillet
  Prayer beads
  Human remains
  Serving dishes
  Engraved or inscribed 
  prayer
  
  CHAPTER 6
  108
  gaining Soak from being a Horror, and bypass any Soak 
  gained from the Incorporeal special ability.
  Intriguing X
  Intriguing items draw much attention from the great and 
  the good. If an Intriguing item is possessed by a single 
  player character, that player character gains X Gold every 
  Carousing phase, after they’ve paid their Upkeep.
  Malediction X
  Some items refuse to impart their powers without some 
  form of compensation, and in this case, the price is ill luck 
  in the immediate future. When an item has the Malediction 
  Quality, it can’t be used for any skill test without paying X 
  Doom first.
  Purpose (Type)
  An item with this type is an armor, weapon, or another piece 
  of equipment of the type stipulated. It has all the abilities 
  and effects of such an item.
  Regal X
  A regal item is any item which is accepted as a symbol of 
  authority. Using it in a social setting binds the parties that 
  recognize its historical importance but forces the wielder to 
  live up to the importance and legend of the object. Wielders 
  who are deemed unworthy of holding the item will find 
  that allies begin to turn away from them and that they are 
  despised. When used as a part of a Command or Persuade 
  test to create or enforce peace, govern a region, or control 
  an army, the item provides +1d20 to relevant skill tests and 
  bonus Momentum equal to X. If a player character ever 
  fails a test where they have called upon the item’s power, 
  they must pay Doom equal to two times the rating of the 
  Regal Quality.
  Sanguine X
  Some items act as mystical powerhouses, capable of storing 
  life energy in the form of a charm. When the item inflicts a 
  Wound on a player character or is held by a player character 
  while inflicting a Wound, the user can spend 2 Doom and 
  must perform 1 Minor Action to create a charm which is 
  housed indefinitely within the item. The item can only 
  hold as many charms as it has ranks in Sanguine. Each 
  charm can be exchanged for 1 bonus Momentum to Sorcery 
  tests attempted while in the possession of the item, once 
  per attempt.
  Trapped X (Difficulty and Effect)
  Items with the Trapped Quality are trapped in some strange 
  and unusual way. When a player character attempts to 
  steal the item, they immediately generate X Doom for the 
  gamemaster to use in springing a trap. This trap can be 
  avoided if the player character makes a Thievery test with 
  a Difficulty equal to that stated in the trap’s description.
  Other Qualities of Note
  Magic items also can include familiars or patrons, though 
  such items invariably have the Malediction or Cursed Quality. 
  Weapons might have additional weapon Qualities or, in 
  rare cases, special abilities.
  TREASURES OF THE 
  HYBORIAN AGE
  These items — priceless and varied in their degree of fame or 
  infamy — are provided for the gamemaster’s use, for adding 
  to treasure hoards, placement within an appropriate envi-
  ronment from this or another sourcebook, or as focal points 
  by which new adventures might be crafted. Possession of 
  any one of these is more than enough for a player character 
  party, as they will inevitably draw unwanted attention and 
  shape future encounters to a significant degree.
  THE STYGIAN BOOK 
  OF THE DEAD
  Considered by scholars to rival the legendary Book of Skelos 
  or scrolls of Vathelos in occult importance, this tome of 
  collected papyrus and parchment is often found bound 
  in embossed sycamore wood, decorated with spirals of 
  powdered sapphire and sharp lines of solid gold. Some 
  copies are reputed to have intricate locking mechanisms 
  with vicious alchemical traps.
  Despite the magnificent effort put into preserving these 
  tomes, these books are either fakes, truncated copies, or 
  sanitized editions used by the priesthood of Set to curry 
  favor and buy influence. The real Book of the Dead is twice 
  the size of its imitators, with pages written in a range of 
  exotic inks rumored to include snake venom, human blood, 
  and powdered gold.
  Whether real or falsified, the Book of the Dead outlines 
  the funerary customs of the Stygian people, including the 
  rites of the cult of Set, the cult of Isis, and several other 
  minor Stygian cults. For this alone the tome is invaluable, 
  as no body interred using the book’s wisdom correctly will 
  ever rise from its grave.
  
  109
  LOST TREASURES
  The real book contains much more than mere funerary 
  customs. By reading the full extent of the work, a player 
  character can teach themselves the sorcerous arts of conjura-
  tion and placation, though the instruction is a nightmarish 
  affair of experimentation.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 30 Gold as a religious artifact 
  covered in gold and gem dust (fake books are 
  worth 6 Gold).
  ■
  ■ Qualities (real copies only): Intriguing 1, Patron 
  (demands 5§ Resolve in nightmares and fell experi-
  mentation; can teach Placate the Dead, Raise the Dead, 
  and Summon a Horror), Sanguine 1, Trapped 5, requir-
  ing a Challenging (D2) Thievery test to avoid.
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: A copy of the Book of the Dead has been 
  sighted in the home of a wealthy collector. Sorcerers 
  and ambitious Set worshipers are all being courted 
  as potential buyers. While some are concerned that 
  the book might be a fake and seek to verify its power, 
  others plot to steal it. Meanwhile, the merchant 
  hires the best mercenaries available to guard this 
  incredible find.
  THE QUAICH OF BORI
  Buried in an unknown tomb with one of Bori’s many suc-
  cessors, the Quaich of Bori is a silver two-handed drinking 
  bowl bearing the tribal symbols of the Bori. This silver 
  has been added to the original horn cup that served Bori 
  when he united the tribes that swept over what are now the 
  Hyborian kingdoms. The silver is an unknown alchemical 
  alloy that resists all manner of stains and tarnishing, lead-
  ing the superstitious to believe that it is blessed by ancient 
  unknown gods.
  Whether there is any truth to the rumors or not, the 
  alloy makes the Quaich easily recognizable. Any Hyborian 
  that swears a pact by the drinking of the Quaich will feel 
  bound to follow that pact, if not because of the honor that 
  is drinking from Bori’s own Quaich, then from the potential 
  social ramifications of ignoring ancestral traditions.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 30 Gold to any ruler of a 
  Hyborian kingdom.
  ■
  ■ Qualities: Brilliant, Intriguing 1, Regal 1 (Hyborian 
  kingdoms), Regal 3 (Cult of Bori).
  ■
  ■ Qualities (optional): Blessed (inured to poison, 1-day 
  duration after drinking from the Quaich).
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: With the discovery of the Quaich of Bori, 
  a petty barony in the Border Kingdoms begins to take 
  on new importance. Even the most corrupt of kings 
  dare not steal the cup, though all would use its power 
  to improve their positions. How will the barony 
  survive the ambitions of these treacherous mon-
  archs? Will a kingdom from the south seek to take the 
  Quaich for purposes of their own?
  THE DAGGER OF DERKETA
  With a blade rippling with gold, silver, and steel, the Dagger 
  of Derketa is a powerful magical tool and a powerful weapon. 
  Legend tells that the Dagger of Derketa was forged by the 
  death-goddess Derketa herself, granted to her followers so 
  that any who left her service could be slain.
  Whether or not this is true there is something about the 
  dagger that stirs up revulsion in any who set eyes upon it. 
  Craftsmen who have examined the Dagger say that the wavy 
  lines of the blade bend at angles which confuse the eye and 
  distract the mind. The superstitious who flinch from its 
  presence say that the eye-like ruby set in the pommel always 
  seems to be looking directly at them, and that a viewer can 
  feel the weight of the lives the Dagger has feasted upon.
  Even when the dagger is returned to Derketa’s greatest 
  temple, it is held chained within a great brass box. The box 
  has the symbols and prayers of the Derketa cult etched on 
  every surface and even then, the presence of the Dagger 
  can be felt by any who stand too close.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 20 Gold to any collector of weap-
  ons, or 30 Gold to a sorcerer aware of its powers or a 
  member of the Derketa cult.
  ■
  ■ Qualities: Blessed (Fear 1), Familiar, Fear 2, 
  Sanguine 3, Purpose (Dagger).
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: The Dagger has gone missing, stolen 
  from the temple at Luxor. Who has stolen it and who 
  is marked by death herself?
  THE JEWELS OF BALKIS
  The great Queen Balkis was favored above all the wives of 
  the great Sultan Solamehmet. Though her family gratefully 
  offered the sultan vast wealth to take her as his bride, he 
  refused to take more than was proper, and bestowed many 
  gifts and treasures back to her family in return. The most 
  famous of these many treasures was a pair of earrings 
  each of which was worth a full quarter of Balkis’ dowry. 
  Solamehmet gave these fantastic pieces of jewelry to Balkis 
  as a promise that he loved her more than wealth.
  His other wives were mortified at this action, and as 
  days turned to weeks, they grew to hate Balkis and the favor 
  
  CHAPTER 6
  110
  Solamehmet showered upon her family. Hatred turned to 
  conspiracy. Conspiracy turned to the murder of Balkis on 
  the road to her family’s estate. In the bloody aftermath, 
  the bandit lord who performed the act kept one earring 
  for his pay and sent the other to be broken up and shared 
  amongst the wives.
  Solamehmet mourned Balkis and buried her with 
  replacement earrings. Maddened by grief, he set about 
  seeking revenge. After many years, he discovered the bandit 
  who had kept the left earring as his prize. After crushing the 
  bandit and burning his encampment, Solamehmet returned 
  to the palace with the bandit’s admission of guilt and of 
  the harem’s part in Balkis’ death. The sultan stormed his 
  own harem, putting all to the sword, and taking back the 
  emeralds they had stolen from his beloved and concealed 
  since her death. With his wives slain, Solamehmet stole 
  away with the body of his beloved Balkis and the emeralds 
  that had cost her life.
  Legend says that deep in the sand of the southern desert, 
  the body of Balkis has been secretly entombed, adorned 
  with the stolen emeralds, along with grisly trophies taken 
  from those who plotted her death.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 50 Gold in emeralds of every color, 
  consisting of two earrings worth 15 Gold each and 
  one necklace of teeth and emeralds worth 20 Gold.
  ■
  ■ Qualities (optional): Enchanted X (contains the spell 
  Raise the Dead, see sidebar below).
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: The wives of the necklace constantly 
  conspire to bring ruin to the living. While spying on 
  a sorcerer, they have learnt of a place where the dead 
  can take the bodies of the living. Even now they lure 
  their hapless master to this secret place so that they 
  can shed their cursed existence.
  THE EYE OF THE SERPENT
  The Eye of the Serpent is a 500-carat diamond reputed to 
  be the last remaining stone from the great serpent throne 
  of Old Karnath. While the throne’s many other gems have 
  long since been recut, this dazzling monster of a stone 
  invites opportunistic thieves and covetous nobles alike. 
  It is a well-known gem, perhaps too much so, as multiple 
  fakirs and alchemists have come forward with gemstones 
  purported to be the great Eye, only for master jewelers to 
  discover well-hidden flaws or ingenious forgeries.
  Rumors about the gem abound, with curses and powers 
  as varied as the teller’s imagination, but perhaps the truth in 
  these tales comes down to the fact that so long as avaricious 
  eyes look upon easily carried wealth, there will always be 
  one willing to take it. For the owner there will be many lords 
  and nobles wishing to see the fabled diamond, bringing 
  presents, and even trying to add the stone to their collection.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 30 Gold.
  ■
  ■ Qualities: Intriguing 1.
  ■
  ■ Qualities(optional): Trapped 4. The Eye of the Serpent 
  is cursed and blessed with a powerful protection. 
  Until it finds the one who will seat it once more in the 
  serpent throne, it enslaves the weak of will by making 
  them wish to have the Eye for themselves. This uses all 
  4 Doom gained by Trapped 4, and anyone touching the 
  Eye must make a Challenging (D2) Discipline test or be 
  affected by the Enslave spell with the Fortune Favors 
  the Bold Momentum spend, as the Eye compels the 
  player character to steal it for their own.
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: The temple of Set in Punt is seeking to 
  recreate the serpent throne to gain influence with 
  the wider cult in Stygia. To this end they have hired 
  thieves to reclaim the gems known to have been cut 
  from the stones of the original throne. Are the players 
  thieves, guards, or even nobles unwilling to part with 
  their treasures? What will the Stygian priests make of 
  this effort to usurp their authority?
  THE TRIDENT DAGGER 
  OF PAIKA DASHA
  Known as the Trident, this rare kris-bladed katar was forged 
  by an Odai metalsmith from the eastern lands of Vendhya 
  and was presented to the famed general Paika Dasha in 
  gratitude for his successfully negotiating peace between 
  the Odai and the king of Vendhya. In less-flattering por-
  trayals of Dasha, it is written that he was a poisoner and 
  that the Trident was later decorated with a fabulous oily 
  black stone that dripped venom onto the blade. Regardless 
  of whether this is true, the blade accompanied the general 
  THE GHOSTLY HAREM
  The necklace can summon the ghosts of the sultan’s 
  jealous wives and command them to do service. The 
  apparitions are hideous to behold (Fear 2) but any who 
  holds the necklace and can stand their presence can 
  command them. The ghosts are willing spies, skilled 
  in intrigue, and will grant +2d20 to Insight and Society 
  tests. At any time one of the ghosts can be sent out to 
  spy for their master. They can be very effective, though 
  sorcerers using Astral Wanderings will immediately see 
  the ghosts, as they rely solely on their invisibility to hide. 
  If discovered, the ghosts are disloyal to even the kindest 
  master and will tell all their secrets with capricious glee.
  
  111
  LOST TREASURES
  on many adventures. It was finally buried with him after 
  he died mysteriously on the open road. Only when the 
  royal dead were moved after an earthquake was the Trident 
  discovered missing.
  Due to the Trident’s unique spring-loaded blades, a 
  wielder can choose to use the blade defensively or offensively. 
  When used offensively, the blade is kept in a collapsed form 
  and triggered once plunged deeply into a foe. This robs the 
  blade of its Parrying Quality but grants it the Intense Quality 
  for the very first strike made with the blade. When used 
  defensively or after the first strike, the blades are extended 
  and Intense is replaced with Parrying.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 20 Gold to any collector of weap-
  ons or member of the Vendhyan royal family.
  ■
  ■ Qualities: Purpose (Katar), Special (see description).
  ■
  ■ Qualities (optional): Blessed (Fear 1), Blessed 
  (Persistent 4).
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: Long missing, the return of this relic to 
  the court of Vendhya brings great celebration, until 
  a soothsayer predicts that disaster will be visited 
  upon the royal family unless the Trident is reinterred. 
  Will the court listen to the warning, and if not, what 
  horrors await?
  TEARS OF THE MERMAID
  Though the ground has been tilled and there are few places in 
  the civilized world that haven’t known human hands, the sea 
  remains the domain of unknowable secrets and undreamed 
  beasts. The tides carry many legends of strange uncovered 
  treasures, but none stranger than the Tears of the Mermaid.
  The Tears were uncovered by an Aquilonian known only 
  as Zorian. Legend says that Zorian came across a wreck 
  listing in the waters off Zingara. Going to investigate, his 
  crew witnessed a mighty kraken crushing the mermaids 
  that had also gone to investigate the wreckage. Try as he 
  might to rescue the mermaids, their fate was sealed, and 
  as their bodies were pulled aboard their tears turned to 
  diamonds and their bodies to ash. Zorian saved a handful 
  of these treasures. He is a common figure in Barachan tales, 
  and it is said that the Tears are what ensured that his luck 
  held, despite his many misadventures.
  Though the story of the Mermaids’ Tears is likely to 
  contain no truth, diamonds with a strange green tinge have 
  shown up time and again, their owners claiming that each 
  gem grants its owner a measure of fortune — both good 
  and bad! This is, in fact, true. Each Tear grants its owner 
  a Fortune point, but when this Fortune point is used, it 
  automatically triggers a Complication on any associated 
  roll, above and beyond any result rolled.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: The Tears consist of ten diamonds 
  of varying sizes and value (1–3 Gold per diamond).
  ■
  ■ Qualities: Blessed (1 Fortune point, 1 Complication).
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: Prior owners of the Tears have been 
  found murdered. Someone is collecting the stones for 
  some unknown purpose. Sailors say that the shade 
  of Zorian has returned and is looking to regain his 
  long-lost treasure.
  THE STAFF OF EPEMITREUS
  Lost centuries ago, when the Mitran cult was still young, the 
  Staff of Epemitreus is a fragile husk of the mighty weapon 
  it once was. The wooden core of the staff has long rotted 
  away, leaving only the decorations that were placed upon 
  it by later members of the faithful to immortalize this 
  once-simple rod. To look at the staff is to see a spiderweb of 
  fragile golden swirls and patterns, with a simple steel tube 
  holding the pattern in place. Only one part of the original 
  staff remains and on this is burnt the symbol of the Phoenix.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 30 Gold to any Mitran cult 
  or collector.
  ■
  ■ Qualities: Intriguing 1, Blessed 2 (all attacks against 
  Horrors gain Vicious 2).
  ■
  ■ Qualities (optional): Delicate 3.
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: Aquilonia’s ruler has long desired the 
  staff so that it might be placed within the tomb 
  of Epemitreus. With the staff being unearthed in 
  Brythunia, rivalries are inflamed. The Mitran cult is 
  thrown into panic when rumors spread that the staff 
  is to be melted down and forged into a wedding ring 
  for one of the royal sons.
  The altar did not come off the ground, but it 
  revolved suddenly on its side. And simultaneously 
  there was a grinding rumble above and the 
  tower came crashing down, covering the 
  four black men with broken masonry.
  A cry of horror rose from their comrades. Bêlit’s 
  slim fingers dug into Conan’s arm muscles. “There 
  was no serpent,” she whispered. “It was but a ruse 
  to call you away. I feared; the old ones guarded 
  their treasure well. Let us clear away the stones.”
  — “Queen of the Black Coast”
  
  CHAPTER 6
  112
  THE SONGBIRDS OF KHITAI
  The songbird is a miraculous bejeweled statue of a bird. 
  Standing a foot in height, at its base is a small furnace 
  where scented oils can be burnt. It is only when the fur-
  nace is alight that the bird reveals its true purpose. It is a 
  fantastical music box which mimics the call of a songbird 
  in much the same way as a brazen bull turns the screams 
  of agony into bellowing. It is said that five of these birds 
  have been fabricated and when they are combined they 
  perform a unique harmony that can bring tears of joy to 
  the most callous heart.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: 30 Gold for all five together, or 5 
  gold apiece.
  ■
  ■ Qualities: Intriguing 1 (2 if all five songbirds 
  are together).
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: A sixth songbird in pristine condition, 
  almost as if new, was recently discovered, suggesting 
  that somewhere they may still be manufactured. 
  Particularly ambitious alchemists and craftsmen will 
  be very keen to learn the secrets of making such a 
  bird. Can the source be discovered? What other won-
  ders will this lead to?
  THE TREASURE OF SELEUCUS
  Of all the treasures of the world the treasure of the famed 
  Argossean sea-trader and pirate Seleucus has been sought 
  the most. Its location is unknown, though maps claiming 
  to mark its secret can be found in abundance. Seleucus 
  was the greediest miser ever to set sail. He robbed simply 
  because he wouldn’t part with a copper more than he had to, 
  and while many a crew mutinied under his command, his 
  ruthlessness and cunning ensured that few such mutineers 
  survived the attempt.
  It is claimed that Seleucus hid most of his wealth in 
  a secret place where vast pipes of unknown origin were 
  buried in the rock. He would take his gold and forge it into 
  long thin rods before lowering the rods into these pipes. As 
  the pipes were filled one by one he would bury them. Many 
  consider this tale too strange to be true, but as there is no 
  other detailed account of how Seleucus disposed of his 
  wealth treasure hunters scour the world looking for tales 
  of these mysterious pipes.
  ■
  ■ Mundane Value: Rumors place the value between 50 
  and 500 Gold.
  ■
  ■ Qualities: None.
  ■
  ■ Plot Hook: The strange tale of Seleucus suggests that 
  an alien intelligence of some sort was guiding his 
  actions. Players might hear tales of a regional bandit 
  that has become a gold-obsessed miser, forging his 
  share into golden rods. What strange purpose do 
  these rods serve? What has driven the miser to hoard 
  their wealth in such a fashion?
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Conan RPGs/Conan (2d20)/Conan 2d20 - Ancient Ruins and Cursed Cities {MUH050396}.pdf