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When the PCs approached the ruined temple I needed to figure out which god the temple was dedicated to. I knew from my background notes that the Norse pantheon had been worshiped in this area by the Norskans, and I briefly considered re-assigning the temple to Thor. (The image of a hammer stuck in my head. If you take a peek at areas 15 and 16 on the map tomorrow, you should be able to figure out why.) Then, at the last minute, I decided not to change Illhan’s identity… but I also kept the Norskan connection. The result was the Neo-Norska Pantheon.

NEO-NORSKA PANTHEON

When the Nidhogg, the Great Serpent of Shadows, gnawed its way free from the prison which had been formed for it within the roots of Yggdrasil, it passed into the Realm of Midgard and there wrought horrible deeds and raised a mighty legion of darkness. It formed alliance with Surtr and the Muspelheim, the Realm of Fire, and with their aid prepared a great siege to sweep aside the gods.

But the ravens of Odin brought tidings of Nidhogg’s legions. The blind seers of Valhalla foretold that this might prove one of the Ragnaroks. The gods did not believe that any power could stand against the might which Nidhogg had raised, and so they closed the gates of Yggdrasil and cast loose the nine worlds – sealing themselves from the terror.

But not all within the halls of Valhalla believed that the Realm of Midgard should be abandoned. With the aid of Heimdall, the Eight Sons of Thor and the Three Daughters of Hel crossed the Rainbow Bridge, leading the Court of Young Gods to rally the armies of men and oppose the shadows of Nidhogg.

ILLHAN: Thor’s Eldest. He proved himself a great hero during the war and became known as the Bearskin Knight. He wielded a hammer in each hand.

LATER TALES: In the days after the War of the Great Serpent, the Court of Young Gods turned against itself. One of the Daughters of Hel, the Queen of Rivers, was murdered. Her sisters – the Ice Queen and the Fire Queen – accused each other of the crime and the Second War of the Young Gods began.

During the latter days of this second war, Illhan, who had pledged himself to the Ice Queen, saw the Fire Queen from afar and his ancient passion for her was lit afresh.

For more details of the sad tale which follows, see the Pleasure Palace of Izrigul in Nod #6. (Which I’m incorporating into the Neo-Norska myth cycle because it’s too cool not to use. It’s free, so check it out.)

Continued tomorrow…

Recently my open table megadungeon campaign has been expanded into an open table hexcrawl campaign. One of the interesting consequences is that players can become intensely focused on the idea of being “scooped” by other groups: There have been discussions about need to “get back here quick” before someone else can swoop in; there have been a few feelings of friendly acrimony about groups “getting lucky” on the backs of another group clearing out the “tough stuff”; and at some point there is going to be a group that goes delving into a complex that has recently been emptied by someone else.

The adventure I’m about to share is not one of those. But it was designed with that final concern in mind: Knowing that cleared out dungeon complexes were going to crop up eventually, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to key a few in ahead of time. I knew that I was going to be keeping a “restock checklist” as part of my campaign status document for the hexcrawl, and I figured pre-seeding it with a few entries would actually be for the best.

Which brings us to hex K13: The Ruined Temple of Illhan.

I’ve mentioned previously that I drew on the work of Dyson Logos considerably when it came to stocking the hexes for this campaign. The Temple of Illhan was one of those maps, and you can find Dyson’s original maps on his site (along with a lot of other wonderful stuff). In this case, Dyson had posted the map, but not the key. So it was very easy to simply plug in the map; write, “Nothing down here. Currently completely cleaned out.” And then move on to the next hex.

A few days ago, one of my groups stumbled onto the temple while looking for something else entirely. They decided to check it out, quickly concluded that it was not the place they were looking for, and then decided to continue exploring it any way. I found the resulting session (and the need to make an empty complex as entertaining as possible) intensely interesting and it seems like most of the players agreed.

(One of the players, unfortunately, was less than happy with exploring an entire complex that had nothing he could stick a sword in. It clashed hard with his expectation that “if there’s a dungeon, there will be monsters”. But based on the brief discussion I had after the session with him, it seems like the session helped reinforce the idea that, in a sandbox, you don’t have to stick around. Because there are a lot of options to pursue, you don’t have to engage with the options that don’t entertain you. That’s the great thing about them: As a DM I’m there to facilitate your entertainment, but I’m not responsible for it. It takes a lot of pressure out of the prep work.)

What I’ll be presenting over the next few days is the full key for the dungeon as it was developed in play. We’ll start today with the portion of the temple which remains above ground.

Special thanks to Dyson Logos for giving me permission to reproduce his maps and the adventure key as part of this series. (It should be noted, however, that the map of the above ground temple below is not Dyson’s work. His stuff is much, much cooler.)

I’ll also note that Dyson has has posted some session logs of his group playing through the original version of the temple. My version of the temple isn’t based on those logs at all, but it might be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison of the same map being used in two different ways.

THE RUINED TEMPLE

(Map drawn in Dundjinni.)

DOORS: Front doors hang loosely from their hinges. They appear to have been smashed open. The splintered wood is gray and desiccated, however, indicating the damage is well-weathered with age.

TREE: A stunted, twisted growth.

COLLAPSE: Tumbles out across the prairie. Grass is growing up amidst the rubble pile. The pile can be easily climbed over to enter or exit the church.

INTERIOR: Filled with rubble. It appears that the upper floors of the building collapsed at some point. This rubble has been scooped out to the right and the left beyond the door, however, forming a path leading to a stone block in the far end of the building (the altar).

ALTAR: A kind of stone block. On the side of which is a bas relief depicting crossed hammers.

SECRET STAIRS: The stone block has actually been pushed forwards towards the door, partially revealing stairs going down. (Originally it would have cleared the stairs entirely, but it has ground to a halt and is now jammed halfway open, forcing human-sized characters to squeeze through.)

Continued tomorrow…

I was working on underwater rules that would be both (a) useful and (b) simple when I came across this photograph. Although the explanation for this ladder is probably pedestrian, it evokes in me a deep sense that something is down there. Something strange or magical or enigmatical or terrifying. But something.

You’ve got a ladder leading down into a placid pool of endless blue-green. Small waterfalls babble and crash through the quiet confines of the emerald forest.

So you tell me: What’s down the ladder?

Cricket = PC.

After viewing the photo above, I had a sudden compulsion to map out the demesnes and citadels of the ice dwarves.

Let us take Gimli’s speech regarding the Glittering Caves and reshape it to our purposes:

“Strange are the ways of men! Here they have one of the marvels of the Northern World, and what do they say of it? Ice, they say! Ice! Glaciers to take water from in time of need! My good elf, do you know that the glaciers of the Frozen Sea are vast and beautiful? There would be an endless pilgrimage of dwarves, merely to gaze at them, if such things were known! Aye indeed, they would pay pure gold for a brief glance!

“Do think those halls are fair where your King dwells in his castle of ice mounded up from the snows? It is but a hovel compared with the wonders I have seen here: Immeasurable halls, filled with everlasting music of water that tinkles into pools as fair as the mirrored sea in moonlight!

“And when the torches are kindled and men walk upon the snowy floors, ah! Then the walls cast shadows that dance with all the puppeteer’s skill among rivulets and eddies of twisted frost! There are columns of hard white holding up roofs of endless, perfect blue — waves of an ocean which laps but once in a millennium! It is a glimmering world viewed through cerulean glass; cities, such as the mind of Durin could scarce have imagined in his sleep, stretch on through avenues and pillared courts, on into dark recesses where no light can come. And plink! A silver drop falls, and round wrinkles in the glass make all the towers bend and waver like weeds and corals in a grotto of the sea.”

Thus did the first dwarf fall in love with realms of ice and turn his purposes towards them.

But that was long ago, and the halls which those elder races wrought have been compressed and changed and turned by the tides of time. They are now perilous with the weight of the ice above them, but the slow, grinding pressures of those places have not wholly deformed the wonders which have been left behind.

In addition to whatever other treasures may lurk down there, there’s a fair market for the snow suns which once lit those halls. The art of their craft has been lost, but they burn with a cold light which can nonetheless light fires to keep the limbs of the living warm while leaving untouched the ice about them.

(You should also click thru; the original photographer has a lot of really great inspirational photos.)